It has been nearly five full years since the beginning of the war against the Allies, and with great pride I can now say that I have brought low the mightiest military-industrial power of the western hemisphere, possibly in the world. On October 4th, 1944 AD, I received formal notification of the surrender of the sovereign government of Paraguay. Is this the greatest moment of my war-gaming life? Perhaps. Also, a couple months later the United States surrendered, but that was a formality after their Paraguayan protectors collapsed.
The Fall of Paraguay
I have a tried and true method for conquering South America. Normally, I start with Colombia, sending mountain troops in to take Bogota, while I take Barranquilla with an amphibious assault. Next, Venezuela. I hit Maracaibo from Barranquilla, and take Caracas with an amphibious assault. The mountain troops from Bogota will move southward to take Quito, Ecuador by land, if necessary; otherwise, I can launch an amphibious invasion there as well. A simultaneous landing at Lima and Arequipa takes care of Peru, and a quick jog north from Arequipa puts me in position to take La Paz, Bolivia. Then I launch amphibious assaults to knock out Chile. After that, I launch a long-distance assault on Uruguay, which serves as a launching pad for a largely land invasion of Argentina. Paraguay is knocked out as an afterthought once the northern victory points in Argentina are taken. Brazil is last, with a coordinated series of amphibious assaults against their coastal points.
This plan works well. For this run, however, I opted not to follow it. Among other issues, I was importing metals from Chile, and didn’t want to commit the troops to conquering Argentina, which is easier done as soon as possible after the conquest of Chile. Consequently, I ended up making a lengthy overland drive from Peru, through Bolivia, and to the southeast portion of Paraguay just to secure my South American conquests. As I noted in my previous posts, my drive through occupied Bolivia was actually halted, due in large part to the fact that my mountain corps was split into two parts. Once the left wing arrived, however, we started to turn the tide. By mid-summer, opposition was virtually non-existent, and most of the time was spent marching through the rugged terrain. The Andes aren’t as bad as the Himalayas, but they still aren’t a cake walk. We finished the march in Asuncion in early autumn, and my mountain troops, now too far inland to be of any immediate use anywhere, idled on the Argentina border (eating guinea pigs or whatever they do for fun in Paraguay) while our other troops take care of business in North America.
Wrapping Up Eastern Canada
At the end of the summer, XVI Gun had pushed north to the Canada border, and was well-positioned to launch across the St. Lawrence River and occupy the last few strategic points in the northeast. The plan is fairly straightforward, although a bit risky. Ottawa, with its stockpiles of supplies, is the nearest and most important target. I will leave 76 Shidan at Watertown, to anchor the corps’ left. The remainder of the corps attacks Ottawa, leaving 77 Shidan behind at Ogdensburg after driving the defenders out. 78 Shidan and the corps headquarters will defend Ottawa while 79 and 80 Shidan press forward, taking Alexandria and Montreal.
The plan is risky because it leaves the front only one division wide, and could lead to problems similar to those VI Gun is experiencing in the Carolinas. Regardless, the plan goes off with little trouble. We occupy Ottawa on October 11th, and Montreal about a week and a half later. The Canadians launch a few counter-attacks, but are unable to keep up any sustained pressure. Newly arrived XVIII Gun establishes a solid line in New England, allowing LXI Gun concentrate along a narrower front, and guard XVI Gun’s right flank. By the end of October the line is well positioned, dug-in, anchored on both sides, and has fended off a number of minor counter-attacks. Aside from a few secondary strategic points (the air and sea ports at Quebec, St. Johns, etc), I have accomplished all of my goals in the region, and I decide to have the troops settle in for a couple months of “sitzkrieg” while other corps close out the war elsewhere.
Across the Appalachians
My greatest advances this season came in the eastern United States front. At the beginning of the season, the front stretched from the western tip of Lake Erie (south of Detroit) roughly south-by-southeast to the Atlantic coast, between North and South Carolina. X Gun, in the far north, was responsible for occupying the northwestern corner of Ohio and securing Detroit. VIII Gun was responsible for the remainder of Ohio; VII Gun for most of Kentucky, and IX Gun for Tennessee. VI Gun, now re-aligned and re-consolidated, was responsible for South Carolina, and eventually Georgia. VIII Gun had the easiest course, with fairly straightforward advances over easy terrain. X Gun was responsible for changing its front from west-facing to north-facing, a movement which turned out to be somewhat complicated. VII and IX Gun had the toughest route, as they were in the middle of the roughest terrain of the Appalachian mountain range.
Despite the severe shellacking I’ve been dealing to the Allies over the last year, they were still able to put up a pretty strong front, and resist conventional attacks. This was especially a problem in the mountainous areas. Thus I resorted to a new tactic which was particularly well-suited for this situation. Refer to the painstakingly-crafted grid below:
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In most cases, I rely on superior technology, division composition, air power and overwhelming numbers to achieve victory. Thus, I would normally attack from D to A, E to B, and F to C, simultaneously. This allows me to maintain a constant, steady advance. This autumn, however, my air power was tied up elsewhere, I lacked overwhelming numbers, and had no technology or division strength advantage. Therefore, I employed staggered concentrated offensives to move the front forward. That is, I used the forces at E and F to simultaneously attack C. When they were victorious, F advanced into C while E was halted where it was. Then, I attacked from C and E to take B; E then advances to B, where I combine it with D to attack A.
This process is obviously slower, since I am advancing only one province at a time. The battles, however, are quicker, as I am allowed to take advantage of a 2-to-1 numerical superiority. This tactic should also be avoided early in the game, since you will be facing 96 or 130 hour waits between combats, which will slow the process down much further.
The tactic worked quite well, and allowed me to advance the front by 200-400 miles in only two months. Indianapolis, Louisville, Sumter and Charleston were all summarily captured, with Detroit finally falling on November 25th. By the end of November, my intelligence indicated the Americans were within two or three cities of surrendering completely. I decided to throw caution to the wind and line up my final pushes. There were several possible targets on the Eastern US Front. Despite a somewhat far distance over rough terrain, Nashville was the most appealing target, as it was only two provinces from the front, and the Allies had been completely broken apart in this area. Atlanta and Macon were the next targets. In order to make the drive quickly, I would need to unhinge VI Gun from the Atlantic shoreline; this was risky (as recent history indicates), but I felt there was a good chance I could bring the Americans to their knees prior to any discomfiture. As a back-up plan, I launched a drive towards Chicago and Milwaukee. These areas were fairly far from the front, however, and it would involve stretching our forces in the region thinner, making these less appealing targets.
As it turned out, most of the effort put into the final push was unneeded. VI Gun occupied Macon within a few days. As expected, the Allies attempted to squeeze up the coastline, either to encircle me or attempt a dash at Charleston. They lacked the strength to accomplish anything with this effort – they weren’t able to even launch discouraging counterattacks, and nothing came from this effort. We drove the defenders out of Atlanta and were in the process of occupying it when news of the armistice came through. Likewise Nashville, which was only defended by a single headquarters brigade. The drive towards Chicago was noticeably unproductive, but was moot with the final captures taking place out west.
The Sun Sets in the West
On the Pacific Front, most of the action centered around the northwest region, specifically from Portland to Vancouver. We also made modest gains in Texas and the area around Idaho, but these had no impact on the outcome of the war.
The biggest contest was the occupation of Portland. Despite the fact that we were on the outskirts of the city, it took us two months to actually occupy it. Partly, the problem was mine. I made an effort to surround the city, in hopes that I could avoid fighting all the way northward to Vancouver. The weather (bad) and terrain (worse) combined to slow this encirclement down dramatically. By the time I decided it wasn’t worth the trouble of encircling the enemy, we were already committed.
XI Gun, which arrived late in the summer, moved up the coast and maintained the areas west and north of the city. XIII Gun kept pressure up on the area south of the city, and XIV Gun moved up the east side of the city. Due to the oddities of terrain in the area, XI closed off the escape route northward long before XIV Gun closed the east gate. XI Gun launched the final attack in late November. They suffer a few hundred casualties, marking the largest loss of the season. The three defending divisions are captured, including the frequently-destroyed 82nd Airborne. The city is occupied on December 2nd, and is the penultimate occupation of the war.
Farther north, things move much more smoothly. XII Gun, which, like XI Gun has spent most of its existence suppressing partisans in southern Asia, is deployed to the Vancouver area in mid November. Vancouver itself is undefended and falls to an amphibious assault. Seattle is defended by two garrison divisions, but they are quickly driven out of that city and overran.
Ultimately, the last drive of the war was essentially an afterthought in a quiet area of the front. Due to the painfully rugged terrain around Utah, I had largely abandoned the idea of advancing in this region for the remainder of the war. As a third or fourth tier backup plan, I had 16 and 17 Shidan of III Gun advance towards Montcello, an otherwise insignificant victory point in southern Utah. It came as quite a surprise to me when this obscure town became our final conquest in the United States on December 7th, 1944 (a day that will live in … well, you know). The United States formally surrendered on that day; all other occupied nations, completely abandoning hope, likewise surrendered. Canada, Mexico, South Africa and Portugal are now all that remains of the once-vaunted Allies. All occupied territories are now legally part of their occupiers; unoccupied British and French colonies in Africa and elsewhere have also been annexed into the Japanese Empire.
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| Front Line on December 1, 1944. Portland, Macon, and Montcello will fall within the week. |
Also Mexico
Newly formed XIX Gun was originally slated to join the other corps of 4 Homen-Gun in Eastern Canada and Northeastern United States. However, even before they boarded the transports, it was clear there was no need for them on that front. Consequently, I sent them to Panama for an amphibious invasion of Mexico instead. I decided to take the historical invasion route of the country: a landing at Veracruz, followed by a drive straight to Mexico City. This would be supplemented with a drive up the coast, then westward to occupy Monterrey. The occupation of the three provinces of Monterrey, Mexico City and Puebla should be sufficient to force a surrender.
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| My invasion plan for Mexico |
The transports were accompanied by 5 and 11 Kaigun, in case the Mexicans had any warships remaining that might interfere with the landing. It turns out that, yes, they did have an adorable little navy of four destroyers and six transports. My warships disposed of these craft in short order, and the landing was completed with little difficulty. Veracruz itself was undefended, and was occupied on November 9th. The forces landed there pressed inland over rugged terrain, through Puebla, and captured Mexico City in early December.
94 and 95 Shidan, landing at Tampico, had more resistance from the Allies but less from terrain. Ideally, I could have landed them farther north; however, I was concerned about maintaining a ground supply line, so I took the safe route. Despite mild opposition both during landing and throughout the advance, I was able to capture Monterrey on December 22nd. The Mexican government subsequently surrendered, bringing the number of my remaining opponents down to three.
Going Forward From Here
Ahead of me, the only immediate objective is the capture of Winnipeg, the last victory point in Canada. I have several divisions converging on that point from multiple directions, and I expect to take it by mid February at the latest. Other than that, the next few months will be relatively quiet as I march my vast horde back to their nearest ports and begin to redeploy them for the final conquests. My next post, then, will largely be a retrospective of the Allied War, now effectively ended, as well as a preview of my future plans.
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