A scene from the Japanese film series
War of our Fathers, in which Japanese and Russian (to the right offscreen) Naval Commanders are shown aboard the battleship Mutsu planning their major operation against the Union held Queen Charlotte Islands.
The
War of our Fathers series would comprise of five films which were from different point of views ranging from a squad of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers, pilots of the Imperial Japanese Navy stationed aboard an aircraft carrier, to commanders of both the Army and Navy, and there a few non-Japanese characters in the film such as the German Admiral Kurt Fricke (played by Italian actor Adolfo Celi), whom Fricke was historically the Commander-in-Chief of the German Far East Fleet in 1941. The film utilized many SGW era vehicles and aircraft, including 7 Ki-43 Hayabusa and the
Ki-121 trainer variant, 13 A6M5 Zero fighters as both themselves and as US Navy fighters, 5 Chi-Ha Kai medium barrels, one restored Russian BT-7 cavalry barrel, and scaled models of Japanese, Union, British, Russian, and German warships that served during that time. In addition, the film was shot in Japan, Korea, Manchuria, the Philippines, and in the Seto Inland Sea as well as aboard the museum ships
Nagato and
Kaga as well much of the indoor sets being done at Toho Studios. The
War of our Fathers series would prove to be one of the most expensive movies ever made in Japanese history and it would receive mixed reviews, with one German critic stating "Though the series' battle scenes are well made, I got a feeling that this film got tainted by Japanese bias when it comes to the bigger picture."
Film I: Storm over Asia - A fresh group of Japanese Army soldiers and the rest of their unit (being part of the 25th Infantry Division) would take part in the Chungyuan Operation and win a significant victory against the Chinese National Revolutionary Army. Meanwhile war commences in Europe between the Central Powers and the Radius, Japan would follow suit by taking part in the Invasion of German New Guinea. The film's climax would center around the Battle of the Bismarck Sea which would see the destruction of the German Far East Fleet, in which air supremacy of the Japanese Fleet proved decisive, which the German defeat would pave the way for the Fall of German New Guinea by ANZAC forces. Towards the end of the film, the Japanese Empire would also declare war on the United States following a successful Confederate Invasion of Ohio with Operation Blackbeard.
Film II: Of Steel and Fire - After the Union enters the conflict, the Imperial Japanese Navy would begin conducting operations against the USN in the Central and Eastern Pacific. These engagements between the USN and the IJN would eventually cumulate with the Battle of Midway in December of 1941, in which the Japanese would sink the aircraft carrier
USS Remembrance during the battle, thus ensuring the fall of Midway. At the same time, the Russians would request Japanese reinforcements to aid in their fight against Union Forces on the Alaskan Front, and thus the 25th Division was sent out to be part of the Japanese Expeditionary Force, in which the 25th would fight in American Columbia, mainly in the fighting around Kitimat.
Film III: Turning Point - Film III actually comes in two parts, Part 1; The Aircraft Carrier
Kaga (which the one group of protagonist pilots were based on) would sent out to the waters of Russian Alaska along with a few other major IJN vessels to aid the Russian Navy in a major naval operation in the region. This would lead up to the Second Battle of the Three Navies near the Queen Charlotte Islands, in which two of the characters from the Kokutai would die. The resulting battle would see heavy losses on both sides, including both the IJN and the USN each losing two carriers. On land, the 25th Infantry Division would be struck by the Union Army's October Counter-Offensive at Kitimat, where they suffered heavy losses to the enemy, and ended up being pulled out of the Alaskan Front. The IJN task force there would follow suit shortly thereafter, at the same time, the Radius Alliance was suffering major defeats in Norway, Poland, and at Pittsburgh.
Part 2; After returning to Japan, the battered remnants of the 25th Infantry Division is reformed as a motorized infantry division and was soon sent off to Korea. The Japanese High Command would begin drawing up plans to backstab their Radius Allies and to conquer the Far Eastern possessions of Russia and Britain. The 1st Carrier Division (in which the
Kaga is apart of) would be sent out to Java following a refit of the aircraft carriers and major warships.
Film IV: The Beginning of the End - On April 4th, 1943, the Japanese Empire would officially change sides in the War as their forces would initiate their attacks against Russian and British Far Eastern possessions. The 25th Motorized Division would spearhead the attack from Korea, smashing the Russian frontier defenses on the Korean-Manchurian border. Large numbers of soldiers of the Manchurian National Army would desert and join the Japanese forces. In South-East Asia, the Japanese would quickly seize control of Borneo, Sumatra, and much of Malaya from the British and the 1st Carrier Division's aircraft in conjunction with land-based bombers from Indochina would successfully attack and destroy Force Z near Singapore.
Film V: The Last Assault - The 25th Motorized Division would take part in the Crossing of the Amur, crushing the Russian defenses and making their "Drive towards the Baikal." The 1st Carrier Division along with a lot of other IJN carriers and capital ships would battle the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean, which would result in the destruction of the British carrier
HMS Hermes and several cruisers, which eliminated the Royal Navy as a major force in the Indian Ocean. The British would capitulate following the Superbombing campaign of British cities by Germany and the signing of the Treaty of Hiroshima on September 2nd 1945, the film would end with the Victory Parade in Tokyo on September 26th, 1945.
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I have largely based this film series off the OTL Soviet film series
Liberation.