Lost Freeway
Banned
What would happen if Japan hadn't followed up the Pearl Harbor attack with an attempted invasion of Hawaii?
Those forces, if they had instead been used in the Philippines and Indonesia like originally planned, could cause them to fall in a matter of weeks. Instead the allies held out for several months. Japan would be in a much better position overall.
In a short term. However if they took Hawaii, then they could have taken both PI and Dutch East Indies at their leisure, completely safe from US interference. That gambit was pretty much an all-or-nothing gambit typical to the Japanese mentality in the period. It was also typical Yamamoto gamble. It made sense, had the Japanese had access to full intelligence and appraised the US combat strength in Hawaiian Islands accurately and realistically.
Why would they attack Pearl Harbor at all, if not as the start of an invasion?
OOC: VCs are for bravery in the face of the enemy... not a position a General is likely to find himself in. Probably best to replace it with a Peerage.Field Marshal Percival wouldn't have earned his VC for his skillful training and handling of the forces in the Far East. He crushed General Yamashita's forces and broke any further attempts by the Japanese to advance into the Dutch East Indies.
Well, the war may have gone on years longer, the Japanese lost 50% of their naval vessels and 43% of their aircraft during their foolish Hawaiian Gambit, it was amazing luck that they were able to occupy Oahu for the few months that they did anyway.
OOC: How in hell could the Japanese even hold Oahu a day? With maximum luck on their side the logistical situation was such that they might have enough ammo to last them a couple days or so. They are lucky if they make it a mile off whatever deserted beach they land on not talking about taking the entire island.
OOC: I went with a more successful Pearl Harbor scenario here, it's not terribly realistic; but it was more interesting then the ROFLSTOMP scenario that would have been likely to crop up otherwise.
OOC: The problem isn't tactics it's logistics. The Japanese could only drop them off to die. Whatever they carried in the transports is all they would ever get. The ships would have to leave almost immediately after dropping them off as they were running out of oil. The point is that they didn't have the oil to stay and support the invasion they would have to go back the thousands of miles it took to get home, refuel and come back. Long before that happens the troops run out of ammo and the US troops completely slaughter them.
Well, their supply lines don't get stretched to Oblivion. They were already overextended without Hawaii.
The Japanese could have done quite well if they had attacked the Philippines and Dutch East Indies first instead of Hawaii; in actuality.
OOC: That is why the occupation only lasts a few months at best.
Agreed. As unprepared as the U.S. was for an invasion of Hawaii, it was also extremely unprepared in the Philippines. McArthur was pretty negligent, to say the least.