They have already discussed it. They can mount an operation to seize Memel, but anything more - the General Government of Poland for example - would take too long.
A Blunted Sickle - Thread II
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A Blunted Sickle - Thread II
Norway will likely do as it did OTL and go with the entente due to fears of being left behind by said entente if it goes with sweden/finland. Not to mention built in hesitation about going into any sort of union with sweden which they had left a union with and were close to going to war with...
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The Soviets haven't had time. The entire Entente Push (from controlling a *tiny* piece of Germany) to having Troops in Poland has taken less than two weeks, in the depths of Winter. The Soviets *have* grabbed the small pieces of pre-war Lithuania which the Nazis controlled, but figured that anything other than that would take too long to get troops ready or piss off the Entente or both. If the Entente had waited for April, possibly, but in this case the jump in the depths of winter caught both Mussolini and Stalin off guard.
While I totally agree with you, I also understand if someone would just skip through some parts of the timeline. Often it just goes into really detailed discussion about things such as pom-pom gun calibers which is a sort of niche topic (which is okay!), while a lot of people probably would be more interested in the big picture.
This was probably discussed before, but it's frankly not hard to get lost among the comments 
So what is the current state of the Soviet military right now? I assume without the experience of the Great Patriotic War and no Lend-Lease or other Allied material support they are nowhere near OTL levels of the same year. Where would you guys place them? Pre-Barbarossa? Pre-Winter War even?
So what is the current state of the Soviet military right now? I assume without the experience of the Great Patriotic War and no Lend-Lease or other Allied material support they are nowhere near OTL levels of the same year. Where would you guys place them? Pre-Barbarossa? Pre-Winter War even?
Probably pre-Barbossa. Similar re-equipment plans but similar flaws. Especially logistics, as @dmg86 notes and also command and communications.This was probably discussed before, but it's frankly not hard to get lost among the comments
So what is the current state of the Soviet military right now? I assume without the experience of the Great Patriotic War and no Lend-Lease or other Allied material support they are nowhere near OTL levels of the same year. Where would you guys place them? Pre-Barbarossa? Pre-Winter War even?
And with most of their trucks that they sold the Germans either in Entente hands or in pieces. It will be interesting to see how much German military equipment will be available post war simply because the Germans either lacked fuel to use it, munitions to fire out of it or troops willing to use it. Initially, I expect a *lot* of it will be given to the Poles but some will make their way to the Far East, and then as the Poles move to whatever the Entente standard is, the rest of it will be moved to the Far East.
The question will be whether the Chinese can maintain a Panzer III. (I presume these came to production in 1941) . If they can, the IJA will need a least a Medium tank in production.
The IJA does have a medium tank, the Type 97 Chi-Ha, in production. They also have the Type 97-Kai ShinHoTo Chi-Ha about to enter production and the Type 1 Chi-He in development.
Panzer III was already in service at the start of the war, first ones came off the production line in 1937 with volume production from 1939 with the III Ausf F.
The question is how any of these stack up against a Panzer III. And yes, the Japanese may be able to make more of these tanks without being at war, but I think think that the Japanese are going to be worse off in China with the German cast offs ending up there...
Things like aircraft & rifles are easier to transport or can self-transport whereas a tank is either going to need access to a port or a rail-line leading from a friendly port.
Otherwise if a tank self-transports over hundreds of miles it's going to virtually need re-building before it can go into action.
True, but the Japanese having to prepare based on the *possibility* that the Chinese will have a tank will still snarl things up. I wouldn't be surprised if the Japanese start bombing the railroad connecting to FIC on a regular basis.
It should be possible to get Pz3 sized tanks to most of the areas that tanks were used in China OTL (and ITTL) though as the Pz3 is heavier and larger, maybe not quite everywhere. But is it worth it when
AT rifles and lightweight AT guns (PaK37, French 25) are effective against IJA tanks, need less maintenance and are no longer first choice weapons in Europe.
It depends on whether the goal is to deter and counter Japanese aggression with defensive weapons (easy to justify to a war weary Europe and America) or to provide tanks so Chinese forces can reclaim conquered territory (harder to justify).
But if they're starting from Malaya or Vietnam it's a considerable distance to transport them. It's not as if they can ship them in via Hong Kong.