Days of Infamy: Invasion, Occupation, and Liberation of Hawaii (1941-1943)

U.S. I Corps: 32nd, 33rd, 37th, and 43rd IDs and 158th RCT. Elements of the 11th Airborne Division dropped on Aparri on 23 June 45 and pushed south to link up with the 37th ID.

Don't imagine it was easy fighting then. Still with a bit of help from the Australians it probably would have been a bit easier.
 
True, but then the United States would have had to admit the British Empire was actually good for something in the Pacific and I'm sure "Dugout Dug" couldn't possibly want THAT!
 
On a more serious note, it's more than a little intriguing to imagine the "Army" of Royal Hawaii going up against the US invasion force - the mental image it produces is of US Soldiers c.1941 Vs US Soldiers 1943 (Brody V M1, Springfield V Garand etc).
 
On a more serious note, it's more than a little intriguing to imagine the "Army" of Royal Hawaii going up against the US invasion force - the mental image it produces is of US Soldiers c.1941 Vs US Soldiers 1943 (Brody V M1, Springfield V Garand etc).

Heh. It'd be like pitting the old equipment against the new. The Pre-war soldier against the mid-war soldier. Would probably a bit confusing too on the battlefield as US soldiers, but perhaps not.

The greatest difference would be in firepower between two sides. Reliable and tried as the Springfield was the Garand is the next generation in this field, simply coming down to how many bullets it can put down range.
 
Not to mention that some of the Japanese were using Springfields due to losing their own rifles when barracks were bombed...They actually liked them due to more stopping power than their Arisakas.
 
Not to mention that some of the Japanese were using Springfields due to losing their own rifles when barracks were bombed...They actually liked them due to more stopping power than their Arisakas.

The Springfield had more stopping power huh? I thought the Arisakas were in par with that?
 
Springfields were better overall. Well made, and even the Japanese IRL in the Philippines learned to respect them.

I read that as "Japanese learned to use them and respect them". Well certainly do a bit of both in this story, that's for sure. The likelihood of the Japanese using US equipment during the fight for Oahu wouldn't be entirely out of the question then.
 
The weapons used by a collaborationist Hawaiian government.

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Goodness me, is 2019 really years ago? Time flies, my friends, and sometimes the sands stirred up by those all-powerful wings leaves us coughing as we look around wondering "Where did the time go?"
 
Also, on a less gloomy note, may I please ask how those officer's swords would have been worn? (Cutting edge up or cutting edge down? Pushed through the belt or hanging from the belt?). It's easy to imagine 'Royal Hawaiian' officers wearing those swords on parade, but one suspects that they would be somewhat leery of using them in battle (preferring to favour modern firearms, pointed or - at a pinch - clubbed) not being raised with the sword-swinging culture of the Imperial Japanese Army.
 
Hawaiian nationalism will be associated with Imperial Japan, even among those who want nothing to do with the Empire of the Rising Sun.
And, iirc, even the surviving Hawaiian royal family will be tarnished because, despite almost all of them refusing to work with the Japanese occupiers, the actions of “King Stanley” basically made the entire Hawaiian Royal family out to be quislings.
 
I’ll bet that Japanese-American Internees are going to be allowed much less sympathy than they command in our own timeline to boot…

Also, I wonder to what degree the Occupation will have set back Statehood for Hawaii?
 
Also, on a less gloomy note, may I please ask how those officer's swords would have been worn? (Cutting edge up or cutting edge down? Pushed through the belt or hanging from the belt?). It's easy to imagine 'Royal Hawaiian' officers wearing those swords on parade, but one suspects that they would be somewhat leery of using them in battle (preferring to favour modern firearms, pointed or - at a pinch - clubbed) not being raised with the sword-swinging culture of the Imperial Japanese Army.

They're worn in the ways seen below. Edge down, hanging from a belt from a sheath.

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I wonder how many of these weapons the RHA would have been issued and how many they would have been obliged to pick up from the fallen when the Liberation Fleet arrives?
It would depend on how many men decide to enlist in this new army, combined with how many guns and how much ammunition the Japanese manage to capture. If we're just talking about the native Hawaiian population (including those of Half-Hawaiian descent) we're probably looking at a small army compared to what the other Japanese allies are capable of fielding. By comparison, they should have more than enough arms to outfit this small army. The US Army garrison in December 1941 was rather large and well supplied.
 
I’ll bet that Japanese-American Internees are going to be allowed much less sympathy than they command in our own timeline to boot…

Also, I wonder to what degree the Occupation will have set back Statehood for Hawaii?
A lot of it depends on how the US treats the Japanese-American population post-war. As of 1941, roughly 1/3 of the territory’s population was ethnically Japanese. If they had legal resident status, will they be expelled? Will they have their citizenship blanket revoked? Even the ones born there? Would such a move stand up in court (the court upheld internment IOTL, didn’t it?)?

Losing a substantial portion of its citizen population will certainly hurt any bid for statehood.
 
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