Chapter 705: From Naso (National Socialism) to Namo (National Monarchism)
  • Chapter 705: From Naso (National Socialism) to Namo (National Monarchism)
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    The most common misconception about National Monarchism/ Fascist Royalism/ and Aristrocratic Syndicalism is the fact that Fascism and Nationalism evolved out of Aristocratic Royalism and Monarchism, not the other way around. Fascism and Nationalism meanwhile similar to Communism were born out of the Syndicalist ideal that arose during the great societal, economic, industrial ethnic and religious changes of the Industrial Revolution. Therefore National Monarchism (Namo) can bee seen as the answer of the Aristocrat ruling class to those changes and revolutions against their rule and established system of state. Beginning with Benito Mussolini the inventor of Fascism and his National Fascist Party in the Kingdom of Italy who outlined the spirit and driving force of fascism, but Mussolini himself had stated that it was more style then substance, that it was unity and action rather then any specific points or party program, clarifying that the only true program the Fascist had was to smash the head of the socialists. Many said this was Mussolini himself was inconsistent, doing whatever fit his goals and hopping to any possible change handed to him, similar to Hitler. Action and outcome to them was more important to them then a certain political dogma that could work today but fail tomorrow. In short it meant that a state and therefore it*'s leadership had to be able to adapt to the situation around it, instead of sticking to a specific political dogma. No specific promises, but a broad vision and what it would take to get there should in their ideals lead a nation forward. The trial and error method where something is done, as long as nothing new could do the job better. Strenght in unity and national symbols was a important core principle to the Fascists, action rather then talking to forge their legal existence, do what had to be done and not limit themselves or their work in any way or form. The state re-envisioned as a machine after the industrial revolution had to run, and the single citizen was just a small gear that could be replaced at any time. Partly these fascists and nationalists used almost religious terms and had a rather spiritual movement as well as a political one to regain the national sense of pride and strength. To preserve their culture and glorify their national unity by including the church in the new state (even if some fascists and nationalists had wished to rather replace it). The fact that the Holy See accepted such treaties was huge news back then and there the main similarities of the fascist nationalist and royal monarchists can be seen, both viewed state and church as tools to further legitimate their own rule and increase their power. Their original opposition of the royal rule soon faded away, not only by Mussolini, who started to back the monarchy as a symbol of national strength and unity. Many fascists and nationalist were supportive to the monarchy in public, but disliked it privately, seeing it as a tool to gain more supporters and own legitimacy only.

    Fascist and Nationalist groups and parties therefore had many supporters of aristocratic monarchies and royal ruling classes. These often emphasized more on the unique histories and cultures of the people of their nation, sometimes even their dominant religion, tending to preserve traditional values and often but not always opposing democracy, liberalism and many if not all civil rights that could damage or endanger the national cohesion. Religion often is used as another unifying source and supported as long as it doesn't oppose or contest their own authority and control of power. Unity and the greater good and glory of a nation were their called goals and ideals, meaning that this goals of unity often included control of the economy, the means of production by regulations, restrictions and state guidance, even if said control was not as complete as under the planned economy of the Socialists, Communists and Bolshevist. Their goal was to unify ownership and labor as another means to unite the nation, thereby organizing the economy around industry, forcing both workers and owners to unite behind their industrial codes in the form of corporations, national syndicates, trade unions or others. The economy would remain private, but controlled and guided by the state and therefore national interests and economic independence. It was both a opposition of international finance and borrowing and lending, opposing Capitalism and Communism alike. Outright expansionist wars o imperial aggression were viewed as acceptable by both groups as long as they brought prestige and glory to the state and his rulers and increased their benevolent rule to new territory. However not all National Monarchist or Fascist Royalist states outright attacked their neighbors and expanded into other states and regional territory. Race and racism wasn't a primary concern even if some unwanted ethnic or social groups were sent to penal colonies or fare away from the home, mother and core lands of some of their core territory. Most of them emphases on putting their own people first but made no distinction between race or nationality, rather viewing any loyal subject of their Kings and Emperors as a full citizens. That was mainly because most of these royal monarchies already had a core center of a national ethnic and little to no other races or nationalities inside their governed border regions of their main core empire.

    The Netherland Nsb as a example supported the Dutch Empire and were themselves supported by a large number of mixed race people who lived in the Dutch East Indies. For the fascist-nationalists as well as the royal monarchists there was no greater ideological enemy then the internationalists of the communist countries. Because many Jews had been part of the Communist takeover of Russia and others were in the leadership of communist movements like Bela Kun in Hungary, Rosa Luxembourg and the Frankfurt School in Germany, Ludovic-Oscar Frossard in France, Jacques de Kadt in the Netherlands, Ruth Fischer in Austria or Max Goldstein in Romania, other Jews and Jewish groups strongly opposed Communism and Bolshevism, especial after anti-Semitism rose in the Soviet Union too once again under Stalin. Therefore many Jews supported the new National Monarchist and Fascist Royalist movements. This was one of the main reason why most of these regimes still deported their Jewish populations to the Kingdom of Ruthenia or the Jewish Ottoman province of Judea during or after the Second Great War, as they hoped getting rid of such remaining minority groups would further increase their national unity and stability. Some of this opposing ideals and feelings towards each other came from the entrancement of Christianity or Mohammedanism in National Monarchist or Fascist Royalist Ideologies, while at the same time all other religions were opposed as dangerous to the royal nation state and it's unity. Kurt von Schuschnigg helped restore the Habsburg Monarchy with a Catholic State as a more unifying element of their multicultural, multinational royal state. Others like General Ioannis Metaxas were strong royalists already and supported their local Kings and monarchies. Others like the Romanian Iron Guard of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu supported their King Carol II. In Yugoslawia Serbian monarchism and nationalism rose when they were annexed by Austria-Hungary, while the Ustaša of Ante Pavelić supported their own catholic, national monarchist state and kingdom within the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. In Belgium nationalist, coprospist and Catholic renewal groups split between the NSB and the Rexist into a French and Dutch (German) part, but were otherwise not outright racist. The NSB were even split between the followers of Queen Wilhelmina royal government in exile and the new German King.

    The British Royal Monarchist Union of Fascist had a similar approach “For King and Country” under Oswald Mosley, wishing to replace the house of lords by a Chamber of Corporations, only later combining both ideas to a new British Empire were the monarchy was restored stronger then ever before. The same was true for France, were the Action supported nationalism, Catholicism, monarchy and integralism, were corporatism was a part of society and were highly suspicious of Jews, Masons, Protestants, Marxists, Socialists, Communists and other leftist elements. They too were split between the Orleonists (the most French faction), the Bourbon (who had claims on the Spanish throne as well but were opposed by the Germans) and the Bonapartists who were later installed as the new ruling monarchy once again. They were opposing of most things post-Revolution and wished the Kingdom and Empire of the French to be restored to absolute power. The Orleonists meanwhile favored capitalism, free markets and other ideas opposed by the French Action, one of the reasons why they were not chosen in the end. It also showed that various royal, monarchic groups were so opposed of one another, that they themselves were another form of separation instead of unity to the nation. At the same time the Catholic Church had a troubling relationship with National Monarchist Movements in Italy, France and Spain, as some of them outright opposed Church authority and influence, while others wished to replace it with their own national churches. In Portugal Antonio de Oliveira Salazar supported a corporatist, nationalist and catholic state, proud of Portugese history and later restored the monarchy by inciting the royal family back to Lisbon. The laws banning the Portuguese Royal Family from the country were ended and Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza was crowned King Duarte II of Portugal supported by the National Union Party, creating a parliamentarian monarchy that fought against independent, partly socialist and communist, as well as coprospist rebels in it's African colonies. Some fascist and nationalist groups had been pro-monarchistic, others were at least been open to the idea, on the condition that doing so would not oppose their own political efforts and vice versa. Nationalism was simply out another form of tribalism, were traditionally a chieftain ruled as a hereditary leader of his people and the story of their bloodlines and their people were greatly interlinked together.

    In the end national unity, putting the own people and nation first, traditional values, self-interest policy opposed multi-party democracy and corporatism who seamed to be clashing ideas against a traditional authority. To them liberal state was a facade, a mask lacking any face behind and in opposition to that the monarchistic, royal state was not only a face (quit literally), but also a heaven for all citizens and classes, unlike the democracy or Bolshevism, where the simply minority of a certain party or class would rule the rest of the nation. No the goal of National Monarchism and Fascist Royalism was no such totalitarian state dictatorship, but a authoritarian state that would look after all classes and citizens equally, not favoring or oppressing any world view, but supporting the people, the nation of the state as a whole as he and his royal line represented it and gained legitimacy and power from it. A monarch could not dare to oppress or destroy his people, as without them he would be king of nothing, that was the lesson the french revolution and the industrial revolution had thought the National Monarchists and Fascist Royalists, that was what had transformed and shaped them themselves. Therefore monarchism and traditional authority preserved stability and fairness, no matter with or without political parties, as the economical and societal changes since the two major revolutions had ensured that liberalism and at least somewhat private economics were one of the pillars upon which a strong monarchy was established. It could not hope or believe to oppose anything that gave hope and betterment to the masses and the protection of the nation and the people that was coming along with this ,was in the eyes of National Monarchists/ Fascist Royalists a natural mechanism and survival guarantee for the future.
     
    Chapter 706: The Central Pacific Defense Pherimeter
  • Chapter 706: The Central Pacific Defense Pherimeter
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    The Japanese strategy in the Central Pacific called for the maintaining of their Co-Prosperity Sphere Region of Defense, the National Defense Zone so that they would maintain the current front lines until they could rebuild their carrier strength for a more offensive operation against Hawaii and Alaska during the next year in 1943. Limitations of fuel at the frontlines heavily limited the current operations, as the Imperial Japanese Navy wished to hold back a reserve for a possible counter of the American Fleet, so that only minor operations could be planned for now. Because of that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto had a new plan; like during the conquest of the Southern Resource Area, were the Japanese forces had bypassed the Americans on the Philippines and rushed south even if not all Allied forces there had been beaten. The same so Yamamoto could be implemented in the Solomones and New Guinea (Niugini/Niu Gini/ Papua) but their attempt to do so in Australia had nod produced the desired outcome by now. That was the reason that Yamamoto ordered 8 heavy cruisers, 10 light cruiser and 16 destroyers alongside 18 transport ships, to head east from Truck under command of Admiral Nobutake Kondō to assault and capture Howland Island and Baker Island on 14 December 1942. Both islands combined had around 855 acres (1.336 sq mi; 3.46 km²) of uninhabited land, just a little bit more territory then the New York Central Park with it's 805 acres (1.258 sq mi; 3.26 km²). Both islands were volcanoes and the only mining potential would later be found offshore of the islands themselves with phosphates, sand, gravel, and coral, while some phosphorite and guano resources could be found on the island itself, while additionally fishing and deep-sea mining would later become important for Japanese settlers too. Even the coming Japanese garrison would partly live from the fish they cough themselves too.
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    Before that the Americans had attempted to colonize the island with the help of the American Equatorial Islands Colonization Project, when American colonists arrived upon the USCGC Itasa to both islands in April 1935. A lighthouse and substantial dwellings were build, and they attempted to grow various plants. The settlement was named Meyerton, after Captain H.A. Meyer of the United States Army, who helped establish the camps in 1935. One sad-looking clump of coconut palms was jokingly called King-Doyle Park after two well-known citizens of Hawaii who visited on the Taney in 1938. This clump was the best on the island, planted near a water seep, but the dry climate and seabirds, eager for anything upon which to perch, did not give the trees or shrubs much of a chance to survive. The later population was four American civilians, all of whom were evacuated in 1942 after Japanese air and naval attacks reached the islands. Afterwards the US military occupied the islands and their defense force was planned to arrive on August 1943 alongside the planned campaign at the Gilbert and Marshall Island Campaign. The Japanese Invasion Forces, much to their own surprise, therefore encountered no true resistance, or anyone at all. Therefore the Japanese started building local defenses, landing stages for ships and flying boats alike. The Japanese even build one airfield on each island for their fighters and bombers, so that they alongside Japanese submarines could harass the American supply lines to Australia from Baker Island and Howland Island. They Japanese even attempted to mine these convoy routes and later send further artillery, naval guns and anti-air guns to further increase the defenses of both Howland Island and Baker Island. Meanwhile the Americans after finding out about the Japanese landings here fortified the nearby Phoenix Islands of Arariki and Noriti trying to build their own defenses in the area and prepare for a counter offensive against the nearby Japanese bases and outposts.
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    Chapter 708: Lessons Learned at Midway: IJN Flying Boats, Flying Tanks and Cruiser Submarines
  • Chapter 708: Lessons Learned at Midway: IJN Flying Boats, Flying Tanks and Cruiser Submarines
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    After the disaster at Midway and their heavy losses, Japanese and Co-Prosperity Sphere overal Planning changed. New ideas from Korean, Yan, Han and Tai Generals and Admirals was put into consideration. Inspired by the French cruiser submarine Surcouf of the French Navy named after the French privateer Robert Surcouf, as well as the British Royal Navy HM Submarine X1submersive commerce raider. Both submarine cruisers had been inspired by original German plans for a uncompleted 2,000 ton U-cruiser (U-Kreuzer). The Japanese got their hand to one of these old German plans. Therefore the Japanese incorporated the design into their own plans for the Sentoku type submarine (潜特型潜水艦, Sen-Toku-gata sensuikan, Submarine Special), shortened Toku-gata Sensuikan (特型潜水艦, Special Type Submarine) that would become the biggest submarines to ever be build until the 1950ies when the Japanese outdid their previous build ships with new ballistic missile submarines, battleship submarines and carrier submarine ones. Designer to travel anywhere in the world and return, the first of their kind, the original planned 24 boats of the I-400 class 12 were planned as carrier submarines and the other half as battleship submarines, similar to the cruiser submarine. Part of them would be outfitted with the guns of channeled Cruisers, Destroyers and Battleships that would be converted to carriers or hybrid-/half-carriers, while the rest of these unused guns was meant to strengthen island defenses of the Japanese Empire. Additionally to their airplanes and naval guns, all of the I-400 class still carried torpedoes for close combat. Designed alongside the submarine transports and submarine fuel tankers, this new classes of Imperial Japanese Submarines would not be the only new designs the Empire of the Rising Sun came up with.

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    Another invention was the Ku-Ro Special Number 3 Light Tank, that was designed to be transported by Gliders such as the Kokusai Ku-8, that already transported the Type 94 and Type 94 75mm mountain guns. But they lacked the mobility and anti-tank capabilities required by Japan's paratroopers, so the Armoured Army Headquarters (army aviation headquarters) and the Fourth Army Institute of Technology worked together to find a solution. In 1943 they had come up with the new tank who'se weight was reduced from 7.2 tons to 2.9 tons and the crew was brought down from 3 to 2.Light tank Ku-Ro would have the commander sitting in the turret and acted as both gunner and loader. The driver's position was located in the chassis. The turret was rear-mounted and housed the tank's only weapon was a Type 100 37 mm tank gun, the same used by the Ke-Ni. There was no coaxial or hull mounted machine gun. Other even lighter, more anti-infantry versions mount either a flamethrower or 7.7 mm Type 97 machine gun in place of the tank's 37 mm gun. The glider developed for the Ku-Ro was the Maeda Ku-6 a 700 kg twin boom craft that was specially designed to fit the tank. When mounted in the Ku-6 glider, the Ku-Ro had a wingspan of 22 m, a length of 12.8 m and a total weight of 4.2 tons. The glider was designed to be towed behind a Mitsubishi Ki-21 medium bomber. The tracks of the tank were unable to match Ki-21's take-off and landing speeds and since taking-off and landing would cause a great amount of damage from friction to the tracks, a pair of detachable skis were made part of the glider. The glider, after being launched and landing could quickly be disassembled and removed from the Ku-Ro tank. Later versions were therefore planned to be carried by the the Kawanishi H11K and the Nakajima Crane (Tsuru 鶴) a Japanese version of the German Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant ("Giant") that was designed to transport trucks, transports as well as canons, artillery, light tanks and even some Japanese medium tanks. The new tanks, gliders and transports were the main reason, why the Japanese Paratroopers (the 日本海軍空挺部隊, Nippon kaigun kūtei butai), part of the Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF or Rikusentai) became interesting for the Army once again, now that they could transport heavy equipment and tanks.

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    At the same time the Kawanishi and Nakajima Zaibatzu had been tasked with supporting their overall rebuilding program of the navy in the air. Part of this program was not only battle carrier hybrids, but also the so called Wokou program, where the Imperial Jjapanese Navy tried to upgrade civil merchant vessel looking ships to seaplane and midget-submarine tenders, that would be able to patrol, search, and hunt to devastate even larger areas of the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, by serving as tenders and transports for seaplanes and midget-submarines with torpedoes to massively increase their range and are of operation, even behind enemy lines. Other civil merchant vessels were planned to be upgraded into blockade runners and armed merchant raiders, disguising themselves as the civil, non-combat merchant vessels. The ideas to support the Imperial Japanese Navy often included boosting the plans of Admiral Yamamoto's defense by the combining the mobile Imperial Japanese Navy with supporting island bases for Imperial Japanese Navy ships and air forces, where in a comparison by Yamamoto, the islands were the Wakizashi (short sword), while the Imperial Japanese Navy was the Daito (long sword) of the Japanese State (Samurai). This already massive Imperial Japanese Navy plans involved the Kawanishi K-200, another plan for the Pacific Bomber that should reach America. Another project the Kawanishi KX-03 was even planned as a flying boat with a overall length of162m, a span of 180m and a height of 35.4m. With 500 planned tons it was clear that this truly was a flying boat that was planned to have a range of 18,520 km and could carry around 800 to 900 soldiers with normal equipment as well as heavy equipment up to tanks itself. Other variations of the massive plane called for it to carry a huge bomb load to the American Pacific Coast or Pacific bases and ships, or even function as a carrier plane for smaller fighters and bombers to carry them over wast distances.
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    Chapter 709: From Aztlan to Mexico, the Second Christero War
  • Chapter 709: From Aztlan to Mexico, the Second Christero War
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    During the Second Great War Mexico entered into the conflict against the Axis Central Powers on 22 May 1942, after German submarine U-564 had attacked a seized Italian tanker on 13 Mai 1942, killing 13 of the 35 crewman. On 20 May 1942 a second tanker the Faja de Oro another seized Italian ship was attacked, killing ten of 37 crewman. Economical pressure from the United States played a important role too, but the overall Mexican involvement in the war would be the sending of Mexican Air Force's Escuadrón Aéreo de Pelea 201 (201st Fighter Squadron, the Aztec Eagles), a group that consisted of more than 300 volunteers, who trained in the United States to fight against Imperial Japan. It was the first Mexican military unit trained for overseas combat and had seen combat in the Philippines against Imperial Japan. In addition to those in the armed forces, tens of thousands of Mexican men were hired as farm workers in the United States during the war years through the Bracero Program that gave the opportunity for many Mexicans to work in the US in support of the war effort. This also granted them an opportunity to gain US citizenship by enlisting in the military. The Second Great War also initially sparked an era of rapid industrialization known as the Mexican Miracle. Mexico supplied the United States with more strategic raw materials than any other country, and American aid spurred the growth of industry. President Manuel Ávila Camacho who had been in office since 1940, was able to use the increased revenue to improve the country's credit, invest in infrastructure, subsidize food, and raise wages. He had before participated in the Mexican Revolution and achieved a high rank, he came to the presidency of Mexico because of his direct connection to General Lázaro Cárdenas (who had ruled the country before him), as a right-hand man, serving as his Chief of his General Staff during the Mexican Revolution and afterwards. He was called affectionately by Mexicans "The Gentleman President" ("El Presidente Caballero"). As president, he pursued "national policies of unity, adjustment, and moderation." His administration completed the transition from military to civilian leadership, ended confrontational anticlericalism that had split state and church since the Constitution of 1917 (and sparked the Cristero Rebellion in the 1920ies to enforce secular, atheist laws), reversed the push for socialist education, and restored a working relationship with the United States during the Second Great War. As a professed Catholic he said, "I am a believer".
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    Still all wasn't well in Mexico and the land and society still was split between Christero Clericalist and Socilist Atheist groups, as well as between the Allies, the Axis Central Powers and the Co-Prosperity Sphere. The fact that the Americans exported so many Mexican resources was not popular, especially since it partly had been American economic and political pressure that had forced Mexico into the war. Mexico only recently has had turbulent times and most of it's leaders had come out of the military, but regional stongmen (caciques and caudillos) had gained some influence and control because of this too, rising private militias and opposing a professional, centralized army, giving some regions still very rebellious tendencies. Some claimed the government abused it's powers, made Mexico a colony of Imperial American interest and allowed the 'roboluncionarios', robber-revolutionaries that formed the government to enrich themselves from the Mexican people by exploiting Mexico to foreign companies and interests.
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    In opposition to this was the politician and leading synarchist of Mexico; Salvador Abascal, the leader of the National Synarchist Union (Spanish: Unión Nacional Sinarquista, UNS) , who also represented the orthodox Catholic tendency within the movement. Seeing a opportunity the Axis Central Powers aided him with propaganda, finances and even some equipment, while the UNS allied with other groups and militias, like the Knights of Christus, the Legion of Christ, the Gold Shirts and the Green Shirts to pressure the government for pro-Catholic politics and a neutral Mexico. Falangist Veterans from the Spanish Civil War helped build up their local militias and armed forces and soon the Catholic Mexico rose in a Revanchist Revolution (the 2nd Christero War) against left leaning government. Their goal was to make Mexico a Catholic State once more and some elements at least were National Monarchist, aiming for a new Mexican Empire. Wherever they took control, Social Catholic Synerchism ruled the towns and cities, Church Schools were established in new Synarchist Communes and the Cristero Guard and Synarchist Youth forced the Nationalisation of the Industries, the Control the Unions and Corportism. They called for a Reconquista of Mexico from foreign influence and anti-catholic tendencies, forced captured prisoners in work camps and under the banner of Hispanidad sought close relations with the rest of Latin America and the Spanish World.

    They were partly supported by the Mexican Japanese Community who numbered around 6,000 and while smaller then that of the United States (285,000), Brazil (205,000), Canada (22,000) and Peru (18,000) had common intermarriage, breaking down ethnic and cultural barriers over generations, at least until the Second Great War. Most of these Japanese were forced out of Pacific Coast such as Baja California, Sinaloa and Chiapas, as well as the Mexican-American border further inland in fear of Japanese spies and sabotage that worked as a fifth column for the Japanese Empire and the Co-Prosperity Sphere. While nearly none of them openly supported the Empire and the Sphere at first, some had Coprospist ideals and ideology that only grew once innocent families were forced out of their homes. Therefore many Mexican Japanese joined the UNS and sided with them during the 2nd Christero War. Until 1944 the UNS would control most of Mexico and officially switch sides to the Axis Central Powers, declaring itself to be neutral between them and the Co-Prosperity Sphere while denouncing all allegiances to the Allies. Under them relocated Japanese people were allowed to return to their former homes and retake possession of their property, something that greatly helped this new Mexican relations with the Japanese Empire. During the 2nd Christero War, the Americans would officially send troops to support the government (forces that they then missed in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Pacific), while remaining to do so even after the Second Great War. At the same time, the Axis Central Powers of France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria-Hungary and even Japan would send their own volunteer and expeditionary forces after the Second Great War to Mexico, to quickly help the UNS gain control over all of Royal Nation State.
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    (Mexico 1943, 1944 and 1945)
     
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    Chapter 710: Far Eastern Front Trench Warfare
  • Chapter 710: Far Eastern Front Trench Warfare
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    In Siberia the clash between the Soviet Union, the Mongolian People's Republic in opposition to the Japanese, Manchurian, Mengjiang and Yankoku forces of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Japanese had put around 2,000,000 of their overall 5,500,000 soldiers during the war to the Siberian frontline and around 534,380 Japanese would die in Siberia. Their Soviet enemies lost around 790,370 soldiers of his roughly 1,500,000 frontline forces during the fights against the Japanese led Co-Prosperity Sphere. Overall roughly two out of five Japanese soldiers (including Imperial Armored Samurai elite soldiers) would serve in Siberia throughout the Second Great War. Those who did would experience the horrors of the Western Front in the First Great War all over again. Trench warfare, well fortified enemy positions and the use of biological and chemical weapons occurred on both sides. The Japanese would use as many forces on the front then they had used for their initial Southern Expansion against South-East Asia combined. True the same among of forces had once again been prepared as reserves to guard and secure these conquered regions behind this main invasion forces, as well as help train local militias and Co-Prosperity Sphere armies, but they did not operate together. This meant that Siberia had the greatest concentration of Japanese Army Forces in the overall Second Great War, even bigger then the around 1,000,000 “expeditionary forces” the Japanese deployed in Mengjiang, Yankoku, National Han China and Taikoku against the Chinese United Front. This meant that the Japanese Garrisons of the Home Islands (that included Farmosa/ Taiwan, Karafuto and the Bonin Islands) were the only place to have truly more Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy forces, but this included garrison forces and freshly trained recruits as well. Compared to this the Japanese Navy and Japanese Army forces in the Pacific looked rather small in comparison, with only a few divisons and local small “armies” guarding certain islands or island chains. Only New Guinea (Niugini/Niu Gini/ Papua) and Burma/ India had the similar amount of Japanese forces and soldiers (as well as causalities) in such masses and were main areas of continued fighting and battle.
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    Like anywhere in the Co-Prosperity Sphere, the armies of the Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere allies and auxiliary forces fought on the side of their Japanese comrades. Like in the First Russian-Japanese War, this Second Russian-Japanese War, or Soviet Union-Co-Prosperity Sphere War proved once again that the much shorter Japanese supply and reinforcement lines (that also had a much bigger and better overall infrastructure in the Manchurian-Mengjiang region as a whole) were the key to their earlier advances and victories. The Russian trans-Siberian railroad was crumbling on the need of the supplied Red Army and Mongolian People's Army of the Far East Theatre, where they had to support around 2 million Comintern soldiers and the additional population of roughtly 6,000,000 of the around 8,400,000 citizens, as most of the Russians and Ukrainians who had previously settled there had fleet northwards into Siberia to escape the Co-Prosperity Sphere Armies. Now stranded in mostly frozen lands unfit for farming, the suffering of those civilians was immensely, as Stalin prioritized his Red Army massively over the civilians, who were often forced into camps where they had some form of shelter, but not much food. The Situation was made even worse, when the Japanese and Manchu forced all European Russians out of their conquered lands that were annexed by Japan (Karafuto) or Manchuria (Far East) respectively. Another problem was the frozen landscape itself and some soldiers froze to death when they tried to escape their bunkers, fortified positions and trenches during biological, or chemical attacks. This Siberian Hell would after the Second Great War even become worse, when the Co-Prosperity Sphere forces stopped in their advance at the border they agreed upon with the Russian Empire and the remnants of the Red Army established Siberian warlord states in the overall region that fought each other as well as the Imperial Russian Army.
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    Chapter 711: The Occupation of Uruguay
  • Chapter 711: The Occupation of Uruguay
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    Uruguay originally had hoped to remain neutral during the Second Great War, but despite their declaration of a 500-kilometer (310 mi) exclusion zone extending from its coast (that was acknowledged by neither the Allies or the Axis Central Powers, When British warships and the German ship Admiral Graf Spee fought the Battle of the River Plate in the zone, Uruguay knew it's neutrality was compromised. This prompted a joint protest from several Latin American nations to both sides. After the Battle Admiral Graf Spee took refuge in Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, claiming sanctuary in a neutral port, but was later ordered out, something that damaged Imperial German and Uruguay relations deeply. In early 1942, President Baldomir broke off diplomatic relations with the Axis Powers. Soon afterwards, a possible coup of local German and Italian minority groups was detected and crushed before it could even get truly started. These militia groups stood no chance against the 12,000 soldiers of the Uruguayan Army cracking down on them alongside the Uruguayan police. However the Uruguayan army was spared serious budget cutting but was reorganized into smaller units intended to be expanded in wartime. The increase in the number of units meant more officers and more promotions; at the same time, the increase in the number of units also made it harder for officers to forge a unified political force. The government and the armed forces leadership placed new emphasis on developing an apolitical and professional military institution, and as a result the army essentially withdrew from the political arena. After the First Great War, the army came under the influence of a French military mission, and officers began to train at the Military Academy at St. Cyr, France, and at various specialty schools of the French army. Under a French plan, the country was divided into four military regions, and the military air arm was strengthened. Modern equipment, including aircraft, was imported from various European sources. The army was used to support a coup by President Gabriel Terra (1931-38) in 1933 but did little except to prevent legislators from entering the General Assembly (the nation's bicameral legislature). During the Second Great War, the United States replaced France as the nation's foremost foreign military influence. United States assistance under the Lend-Lease Agreement focused primarily on aviation.
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    But because of the supposed pro-Axis Central Powers coup of the German and Italian minorities inside the small many South American Countries feared a Axis Central Powers influence spreading to their continent. Claiming to prevent just that, the country with a large Prussian and German military influence, Argentinia intervened. There many army officers supported the Germans, while many inside the Argentine Navy favored the British. The overall Argentine population was divided between two major groups “pro-allies" (aliadófilos) and “pro-neutral" (neutralistas). The first group was in favor of Argentina entering the war on the side of the allies, while the latter argued that the country should remain neutral. A third group of “pro-Germans” (germanófilos) remained a minority; because it was extremely unlikely that Argentina would enter the war on the side of the Axis Central Powers, or that the Axis Central Powers would be able to support them against the Americans and the British even if they did, so they tended to support neutrality. Despite this the authoritarian Argentine State marched into Uruguay, claiming that their march into the neighboring country would prevent a imminent pro-Axis Central Powers takeover. Quickly overwhelmed and overpowered, Argentine President Ramón Antonio Castillo Barrionuevo, who feared the pro-Axis Central Powers tendencies of his army, had wished to show determination and strength with this move and declared Uruguay to be annexed as a part of Argentina (as the Eastern Province, or Banda Oriental; Eastern Bank, referring to the Uruguay River), reclaiming the title of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata for his country. Nearby Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile and Brazil therefore (rightfully so) feared Argentine territorial ambitions in South America. Historically it would be the beginning of the Argentine-Brazilian rivalry in South America and lead to the joining of Brazil, Chile, Peru (rather pro-National Monarchist), Paraguay (rather democratic socialist, even if Argentine claimed they were Socialist-Communists). A rising new National Monarchist faction in Bolivia and Peru (the Inti) even suggested a Peru-Bolivian union against this threat, that was later planned to include Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile as former parts of the Inca Empire too. With the Argentine conquest of neighboring regions and the American dropping out of the Second Great War in 1944 and overall out of Latin America after the 1948 breakup of their Nation and the Beginning of the Divided States of America era.
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    (Argentine forces entering Montevideo)

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    Chapter 712: A String of Pearls as a Gateway to China
  • Chapter 712: A String of Pearls as a Gateway to China
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    In Asia at the once Chinese Imperial Coast, former International Settlements and American as well as European Concessions had been given to (or rather had been partly conquered by) the Japanese Empire. They and other coastal cities under control of the Japanese Empire (or those having at least some Japanese settlements; Japantowns and extraterritorial Imperial Japanese Army, Navy and Zaibatsu regions inside of them) were governed by Katsuo Okazaki in Shanghai, the former Japanese Consul-General in Hong Kong and since early January 1942 Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council after the British and American members resigned following the commencement of the Chinese Civil War, the Asian War and the Pacific War and the occupation of the Shanghai International Settlement by Japanese troops. In 1943 the Council was disbanded and Okazaki took direct control of these Japanese concessions, as well as the Japanese railroad, transportation and mining rights in the coastal Chinese provinces. He referred to this territories as the so called String of Pearl along the Chinese Coast. However the westerners were soon sidelines as Japanese businessman, traders, consuls, politicians, army and navy personal gained more and more influence. However what some believed to be a problematic situation and a troubling development would be nothing compared to the things that were about to come. Japanese Influence grew with their involvement in the Chinese Civil War, as the legation cities and other coastal ports provided the main lines of supplies for the pro-Japanese, Coprospist forces under Wang Jingwei's Shanghai Government (and later Nanjing Government). However Consul-General Okazaki and many inside the Japanese military and the Japanese Zaibatsu wished for more and therefore established contacts to local Triads, Gangs and other criminal groups, bringing them on their side trough bribery and violence.
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    With the support of local collaborates and militias of these groups, like the Red Lanterns (whose red paper lantern symbolized the sun), skirmishes and street battles in these cities happened, giving the Japanese the perfect opportunity to increase their own police, military and intelligence service operations in these coastal cities. With the increasing Japanese presence and direct rule in the coastal cities and their control of all trade going into Yankoku, National Han China and Taikoku. Soon European residents of these regions were forced to wear armbands to differentiate them, were evicted from their homes and were liable to maltreatment. All were liable for punitive punishments, torture and even death during under Consul-General Okazaki's regime. The Japanese sent European and American citizens to be interned at the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center, a work camp on what was then the outskirts of Shanghai. At the same time one European group was encouraged to not only live and settle in the cities (as well as in Manchuria and other regions) were European Jews who thanks to Japanese positive prejudice about them were encouraged to help with the administration of these coastal cities. While officially returned to the Japanese puppet states and vassals that were formed out of the former Chinese Empire, the true rulers and those in control were the Japanese. This however did not automatically mean the Japanese Empire, but often rather Japanese local governors, zaibatsu or the Imperial Japanese Military.
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    Chapter 713: The reborn Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal Navy during the Second Great War
  • Chapter 713: The reborn Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal Navy during the Second Great War
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    The reborn Austro-Hungarian Navy or Kaiserliche und Königliche Flotte (Imperial and Royal Navy), much of the early Austrian-Hungarian Navy came form the former state of Yugoslavia (which in return had many ships gained from Austria-Hungary before, others were of French, Italian, British and German origin). In 1941 it had 41 combatants, 19 auxiliaries and 150 seaplanes. During the Conquest of Yugoslavia, 3 destroyers and 3 submarines as well as 210 to 300 aircraft had been captured by the Axis Central Powers, most of them were afterwards given to Austria-Hungary. This was the base of the new Imperial and Royal Navy of Austria-Hungary, but soon with access to the sea once again a new strong navy worthy of a empire was planned. Overall 20 Battleships, 20 Cruisers (5 of them heavy), 30 Destroyers and 80 smaller ships like coastal torpedo boats were planned alongside 60 submarines (many of them of German origin, delivered by train and assembled in the Adriatic Sea). As the main pride of the new navy, 8 ships of the Joseph Radetzky-Class (1936 battleship) were planned and finished in 1940 after roughly 4 years. They were followed by the so called Erzherzog Karl-Class (1940 battleship) with six of this newer ships ordered to be finished in 1943-1944 and later completed by the following six Franz Ferdinand-Class (1944 battleship) that would be finished in 1948. Main pride of this new Austro-Hungarian Navy however would be the carriers, beginning with the Franz Joseph-Class (1938 Carrier) with only one ship finished in 1940, followed by three ships of the Charles-Class (1940 Carrier) completed in 1942 and the later four ships of the Otto-Class (1942 Carrier) completed in 1944.
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    Build by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, one of the largest shipyards in the Mediterranean, alongside Seearsenal, Österreichischer Lloyd and others places like Cattaro, Pula and others, the main Imperial and Royal Navy feared the French and British bombing of their newly build ships or even Vienna, so Austria-Hungary only declared war on France after the Fall of Paris, when large parts of the Mediterranean were already under Axis Central Power Control. The Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Navy was later boosted by Bulgarian, Romanian and Greek ships that had to be given to Austria-Hungary once it dominated the Balkan Peninsula as a hegemonic power. Half ot the new Imperial and Royal navy stayed in the Mediterranean, were they participated in the Battle for Crete and the Battle of Cyprus and bombed Allied positions along the coast of Egypt and Syria. The other half of the Imperial and Royal Navy operated in the Black Sea were they played a huge role in cutting of the encircled Red Army in the Crimean Peninsula and help liberating the Kingdom of Ukrainia with naval landings along the coast that cut of enemy supply and retreat lines. Here the Austrian-Hungarian Army and the Austro-Hungarian Navy worked very closely together with the Gothic Order and the Austrian-Hungarian AEIOU Order as local elite forces in the Balkans and Southern Russia. Later they even participated in the joint Austria-Hungarian, Second Ottoman and German Caucasus Campaign, helping to cut off the massive Georgian Red Army and completely annihilate these Georgian and Russian forces with shore bombardments on coastal cities and mountain defenses.
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    Chapter 714: Japanese conquered Pacific Ocean Islands
  • Chapter 714: Japanese conquered Pacific Ocean Islands
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    Nauru had been seized by Japanese forces on 15 May 1942 during Operation RY, but nearby Ocean Island (Banaba Island) had been seized just a day later. Around 800 Japanese soldiers accompanied by around 50 forced labor workers occupied the island on 16 May 1942. Shortly before the British had evacuated all but 5 Europeans and around 800 Chinese workers of the local company. Around 700 natives and 713 work migrants (mostly Chinese) remained on the island, 175 of them would not survive the Japanese rule of Ocean Island. Shootings, corporal punishment with wooden batons torture and electronic shocks as well as rapes happened daily. Unlike China, mainland Asia or South-East Asia where the Japanese hoped to use, work with and incorporate the local masses into their Co-Prosperity Sphere, the Pacific Islands like Nauru and Ocean Island/ Banaba Island were sparsely populated and the Japanese planned to use the locals as a workforce for future Japanese mining operations and plantations. This and the great distance to Tokio lead to little control from Tokio in this Pacific Islands Garrisons, as well as on New Guinea. Even children were beheaded before their parents for little offensives like stealing coconuts when they were hungry. Many who had remained on the islands were soon forced labor, as much slaves as the Chosen and workers the Japanese had brought with them. Nearby in the west on Ulawa southeast of Malaita, north of San Cristobal and Rennell Island another 800 Japanese soldiers landed shortly after the the Australians had tried their best to evacuate much of the 1,217 people living on the island. They managed to safe around 800, mainly Europeans, Chinese workers and some natives, most of them were evacuated to nearby San Cristobal where they would help build up Allied defenses on the Island against the Japanese Tsunami that still seamed unstoppable at the moment.
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    Meanwhile the Imperial Japanese Navy who dominated the seas at night and with air superiority partly even during the day, managed to renew their offensive during Operation RY. They would use this at least temporary situation to their advantage and bring in more forces into Guadalcanal with the hope of finally pushing the American forces out of the island for good and afterwards force them out of the Solomon Islands to blockade the Australian Continent as a whole. They now even managed to destroy or force Allied convoys to turn away from the island, thanks to a combination of Japanese naval bombers, battleships and submarines paroling around Guadalcanal. They tried to rebuild the heavily damaged Henderson Field to bring in fresh Japanese fighters and bombers, to even increase their superior position on the overall island, while the Americans were only supplied by airplane parachute drops, as well as a few submarines that managed to reach Guadalcanal. Therefore American supplies and reinforcements were sparse and got even worse, the further the Japanese, Koreans and Taikoku forces were increased on the islands. This lead to the decision by the Admiral Chester Nimitz and General Douglas MacArthur to decide they would slowly but completely evacuate all American forces from the island to strengthen their defenses on Makira and New Guinea with them, instead of letting them slowly bleed out by superior Japanese forces. Therefore the American withdrawal from Guadalcanal was decided while at the same time in other Pacific places the Americans prepared their first counter-offensive to distract the Japanese and split up their forces, so they could be defeated in detail. No America would not give up so easily by a few defeats and it's industrial and numerical power would crush the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Asia and the Axis Central Powers in Europe, at least that was what most Americans still believed in between 1942 and 1943 as their losses and defeats still were minimal, compared to what they would loose overall in this war.
     
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    Chapter 715: The Dutch-German United Netherlands
  • Chapter 715: The Dutch-German United Netherlands
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    Inside the Kingdom of the United Netherlands, the population faced even more severe bombing then that of the German Empire against Rotterdam and Middelburg in 1940, as Allied bombers starting from Britain targeted Germany right behind them. Some of their bomb drops hit the wrong target, others were meant for Axis Central Powers airbases nearby Dutch cities (a placement the Germans did on purpose to paint the Allies as evil barbarians) and in the Far South East of Asia, the Japanese had taken Netherlands East Indies and liberated it into island nations. Still some Dutch fought in the Battle of Britain all the way to the Pacific on Allied sides. The remaining Free Dutch large oil facilities on the islands of Aruba and Curacao in the Netherlands West Indies were of major importance for the Allies in Europe and Africa. Because of this, as a protection, a considerable U.S. military force was stationed on the island as well. Meanwhile Dutch Unity was promoted inside the thanks to Prince Aschwin of Lippe-Biesterfeld as the newly proclaimed King (King Aschwin I.) of the Netherlands, who followed in the footsteps of his brother Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (later Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands) who had married Princess Juliana of the Netherlands in 1939. He was supported by the National Monarchist Movement in the Netherlands (NMMN) and the German-Dutch National Netherlands People's Party (German: Deutsch-Niderländische Nationale Volkspartei, DNNVP, or DNUNVP) in his pro-German politics, that quickly introduces a copy of the German education system and promoted the Dutch as Dutch-Germans, like Bavarians and Saxons were to further encourage them to embrace the German Empire and join it as one of it's Kingdoms under a German Emperor. The strong Royal Power in the new Kingdom was supported by helpful German Security and German Army forces, that helped the local Royal Dutch Field-Gendarmery, Police, Militias and their Army to secure peace and stability in the new Axis Central Powers Kingdom.
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    The Royal Dutch-German State as a whole focused mainly on his Protestant North, as this promised to bring them closer to mainly Protestant Germany instead of the Catholic France once again and soon the local Protestant Church in the Dutch-German Kingdom was incorporated into the German Church as a part of ti, sparking the so called Dutch Religious Opposition by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Dutch Reformed Churches that united as the Protestant Church of the Netherlands (Dutch: de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, abbreviated PKN) to oppose this political and religious Germanification of Dutch State, Culture, Society and Religion. Under the new Kingdom, the new Royal Army of the United Netherlands were established as a Defensive Mobile Army, ready to quickly aid the German Garrisons against any Allied Invasion against the United Netherlands and Western Europe when it would arrive. They were armed by Philips, Spyker-Trompenburg and Fokker. At the same time many Dutch also volunteered for the United Netherlands Royal Air Force to shoot down Allied bombers and fighters dropping bombs on the United Netherlands, or flying over them to reach Germany. Because of this Germany and the Axis Central Powers portrayed the defeated Dutch as the Shield-bearer Knight of the Axis Central Powers, boosting the pride of the little small nation inside their ranks. Meanwhile the 62,000 members strong Burgundian Order had it's very own goals inside the United Netherlands. Their goal was to annex all of the former Burgundian Kingdom into the German Empire. Among their most prominent members were Dutch General Hendrik Alexander Seyffardt who led the Dutch-German Legion to the Eastern Front and later watched the buildup of the Royal Army of the United Netherlands. Another important member of the Burgundian Order was Johannes Hendrik Feldmeijer a Dutch National Monarchist politician and member of the NMMN, Max Wünsche a regiment commander of the Burgundian Order who received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and fought in the Netherlands and the Balkans as well as the Eastern Front. Another member included Johann Baptist Albin Rauter who helped the Burgundian Order as the Leader of their own Burgundian Order Police Force in the United Netherlands were they took part in firing squads that killed communist rebels and other anti-monarchist rioters.
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    Chapter 716: The Fall and Retreat from Guadalcanal and Malaita
  • Chapter 716: The Fall and Retreat from Guadalcanal and Malaita
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    Since October 1942 the Japanese Army accompanied by Chosen and Taikoku forced had pushed back the Americans from the Islands of Guadalcanal and Malaita. The Americans tried multiple time to retake the islands, but the Japanese numerical superiority, air and naval dominance proved to strong after the recent losses of American carriers at the Battle of Midway. Slowly pushed back to the Tanaru to Koli Point defenses, the Bolesuno River, Tasimbako (Tsimboko) and Taira Point, the Americans at first tried their best to ship fresh forces between both islands, increasing their numbers this way, while decreasing the risk of long range interception, but even their build-up of new airfields in the east of Guadalcanal and the south of Malaita were able to save their hold on the islands, as the Japanese bombed it with mountain artillery, dive-bombers, bombers and ships whenever they could to keep their dominance in the region, using it long as the newly build American ships would not arrive in the Pacific. Constant bomings, raid and night attacks weakened and annihilated the last remaining American defences over the next months. In the End the Americans would loose 14,200 soldiers, 42 ships and 830 aircraft during the fighting for both islands while the Japanese would loose around 12,400 soldiers, 28 ships and 660 aircraft. Still overall the Americans could much more easily replace said losses of trained pilots and aircraft then the Japanese could. There was also a reason why the Americans waited till January/ February 1943 until they fully retreated their forces from both island, as this further tied down Japanese and Co-Prosperity Sphere forces on both islands and gave them more time to increase their defenses on the islands of Makira Island and Renell Island further south. The Americans anticipated the Japanese Navy to target Makira Island next and therefore the island with a small population of over 1,200 only, suddenly housed around 26,000 to 34,000 additional Allied troops already before the evacuation of Guadalcanal and Malaita, as most of these forces there were reserves for the nearby Solomone islands, while reserves for New Guinea mostly came from Australia directly.
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    By then these mostly fresh American forces had fortified the small island, established defenses and used it after Ulawa Island had fallen to the Japanese before. Now the tens of thousands of American soldiers on the island of San Cristobal/ Makira. Most defenses were concentrated around Arosi, Bauro, Ravo and Wainoni along the northern coast of the island, as Allied planners believed that was the most logical place for the Japanese to land their forces. The plantation fields in these areas were spiked with booby traps, barbed wire and hidden machine gun positions to make the assault on the island as difficult as possible. Further artillery, anti-tank guns, anit-air guns and other installations originally meant for Guadalcanal and Malaita now went into the defense of Makira/ San Cristobal and nearby Renell Island. Airfields were constructed and Allied fighters and bombers stationed there were planned by Nimitz and MacArthur to help with the repelling of a Japanese Invasion Force that attempted to take the island of Makira/ San Cristobal from them to complete their conquest of the Southern Solomone Islands. However The massive amount of Japanese and Co-Prosperity Sphere forces on New Guinea and their more direct threatening of Australia were they had landed two beachhead invasions already meant that combined with their own limitations of capacity on the island of Makira/ San Cristobal as a whole, the possible Allied reinforcements, supplies and defenses still were more then limited, if there were any at all. Especially if the Japanese would manage to establish a beachhead and successfully land on the island and were able to use their momentary air and naval superiority in the region for combined coastal and air bombardments of the Allied defenses here. This meant that a Japanese victory was possible as long as their forces ruled the Pacific uncontested, as the Japanese had learned much about ground support by air and shore bombardment on Guadalcanal, Malaita and New Guinea. Because of this Nimitz and MacArthur did their best to delay the Japanese on Guadalcanal and Malaita, hoping to further slow down their advance down the Solomone islands and their assault on Makira/ San Cristobal by doing so long enough for the newly build US Carrier Fleet to arrive in time.
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    Chapter 717: A Red Spark
  • Chapter 717: A Red Spark
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    Known as Operation Operation Iskra (Russian: операция Искра, Operation Spark), the Soviet Union tried to break the Imperial Russian hold of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and retake the capital city of their ideological and mortal enemy. Part of a new Red Army offensive operation across the whole front, the main front was here at St. Petersburg and in southern Russia in hopes to regain Ukraine and deal a heavy blow to the enemy morale. To help with the operation a railroad was swiftly build to the frontline here and hold the retaken city as well as splitting up German, Imperial Russian and Finnish forces. The Sinyavino Offensive had tried so before, but had failed, so after this failed attempts in 1942, the Red Army began planning a new offensive in October 1942, calling it Iskra (Spark) as it was meant to be the spark that started the Red Army's push westwards towards Berlin. As the area to Leningrad was forested wetlands and heavily fortified by the Soviet Union and later the Germans along the Russian Empire, the situation got worse, as the forest shielded each side from visual observation. Both factors greatly hindered the mobility of artillery and vehicles in the area, providing a considerable advantage to the defending forces. The Sinyavino heights were a key location, with terrain 150 meters (490 ft) higher than the surrounding flat terrain. Because the front line had changed very little since the blockade was established, German and Imperial Russian forces had built an extensive network of interconnected trenches and obstacles, interlocking artillery and mortar fire, making them well prepared for any Red Army offensive on the important city of St. Petersburg. Thanks to the German, Imperial Russian, Austrian-Hungarian and Second Ottoman victories in the south in the Caucasus and north in Finnland a whole new army and nine other divisions could be send north to help strengthen the St. Petersburg Front. When the Red Army attacked, the German and Imperial Russians used their reserve divisions to keep the Soviet Union from pushing in their defenses, but as the frontline had virtually changed little here in the area the Germans and Imperial Russians were also well fortified. The Red Armies Sinyavino Offensive had tried to encircle the German and Imperial Russian forces in the city and therefore went to far south, leaving it's flanks open for Axis Central Powers attacks. This time the Soviet Union planned a more direct assault on the city because of this. This removed the threat of encirclement and flanks from the north, but also made their own offensive push and front rather narrow. After a month of training and received significant reinforcements in December the 67th Army, the 2nd Shock Army and the 8th Army commanded by Major General M.P. Dukhanov, Lieutenant General V.Z. Romanovsky and Lieutenant General F.N. Starikov started their offensive on Leningrad. This time the Soviets even had air superiority with around 800 planes, mostly fighters. As large tank forces could not operate well in the swampy terrain, the tanks were used primarily as battalions reinforcing divisions or slightly larger brigades, which were to operate independently. Poor ice conditions in the swamps forced the offensive to be delayed until 12 January with heavy artillery fire and a attack on German and Imperial Russian headquarters, artillery positions and airfields. After nearly two and a half hours of artillery preparations, the Soviet Offensive started 5 minutes before their own artillery ended with a Katsyusha barrage.
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    While Red Army divisions with supporting tanks managed to break into the frontline roughly 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) wide and 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) deep they had constructed pontoon bridges in the swamps to allow their second group to advance, however their attack failed as they did not manage to take the Germen trenches, while further south at least a few German and Imperial Russian trenches could be captured. With this bridgehead the Soviets hoped to further advance onto the city, but the German and Imperial Russian strongpoints remained intact, supported by heavy German and Imperial Russian flanking fire. The Axis Central Powers side reacted by deploying their reserves to the region throughout the night. Fresh infantry, support artillery and Tiger tanks were moved in alongside a motorized and a mechanized division. The next few days the Red Army tried to advance slowly, but German and Imperial Russian counterattacks repelled them while on 13th January bad weather prevented the Red Army to deploy their air force, giving the Germans and Imperial Russians a secure path to the front for their heavy equipment and reinforcements. The Soviet Union had gained no additional ground while the Germans and Imperial Russians had increased their reinforcements and defenses. With good weather again on 14 January the Red Army advanced once again, but slower this time, using Ski Brigades to cross frozen lake terrain, cutting off a few German and Imperial Russian front forces from the rest of their defenses. For their advance from 15 to 17th January Govorov was promoted Colonel General. However on the 18th January the German and Imperial Russian counter attack with a tank division, two motorized and one mechanized division began, using the overstretched Red Army spearhead to their advantage and relieving the cut off German and Imperial Russian forces, while encircling the Soviet Union spearhead in the west. Heavy German and Imperial Russian artillery meanwhile held of the Spearhead at the trenches and bunkers before St. Petersburg. At the same time the defenses around St. Petersburg were further increased by Police and Army forces of the Teutonic Order and the Russian Empire, alongside local militias from the city itself. The cut of Soviet Forces of the Red Army were now completely encircled and slowly eliminated, while the main German and Imperial Russian forces that had encircled them prevented any attempt of the Red Army to break them free much to the relief of Tzar Vladimir in St. Petersburg. In the End the Red Army lost around 210,000 soldiers (147,000 of them as prisoners of war) when most of their 20 divisions, 15 brigades, 4,600 artillery, 500 tanks and around 364 of their 900 aircraft were destroyed during the operation, another 81,274 were wounded. The Germans and Imperial Russians thanks to their encirclement of the Red Army spearhead had only lost 14,600 forces and 64,327 wounded. As a result of the Battle the Red Army planned the future Operation Polyarnaya Zvezda (Polar Star), a even more ambitious plan to encircle the whole German and Imperial Russian Army in Leningrad, but their operations in this area would only contain several other small offensives, when the Germans and Imperial Russians started their own renewed attack on Moscow and the Red Army had to defend the city by engaging them in the Battles of Rzhev, Mozhalsk, Tula and Kalomna. Because of this the Frontline in St. Petersburg stabilized for most of 1943, as the Germans too concentrated their forces around Moscow, even if they planned to further push east in the north to in hopes to better secure St. Petersburg from future attacks.
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    Chapter 718: Red Sun White Sky the Coprospist Society
  • Chapter 718: Red Sun White Sky the Coprospist Society
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    Instead of the Blue Sky with a White Sun that served as the design for the party flag and emblem of the Kuomintang (KMT), the national flag of the Republic of China and the naval jack of the Republic of China under Chiang Kai-shek, that represented in it's twelve rays of the white Sun representing the twelve months and the twelve traditional Chinese hours (時辰; shíchen), each of which corresponds to two modern hours and symbolizes the spirit of progress, the Kuomintang under Wang Jingwei used not only a different flag later on, but also a different ideology. Under Coprospist ideology the new state of Wang Jingwei on the coast administrated from Shanghai and later Nanjing used a White Sun in a Red Sky to show the new order rising in China. Supported by the Buddhist Sect known as the White Lotus, the Yiguandao (mainly among the government and officials of Wang Jingwei but soon spreading), the Guiyidao and other Japanese supported sects, cults and secret societies, the reverse symbol of Wang Jingwei's political Coprospist movement (the Red Sun and the White Sky) became known as the Coprospist Society for a new China/ East Asia (CSNC/ CSEA or often simply CPRS) inside the Coprospist States of Yankoku, the National Han Chinese Empire, the Taikoku Empire and the Yikoku Kingdom. The very own flag and symbol of the Coprospist Society was also a slap in the face of Chiang, his Kuomintang and the Chinese United Front, as well as everything they stood for. Instead of autonomy and independence for China, it would turn Chinese States into Japanese Protectorates, Puppets and Vassals. While originating from Japan were they had many supporters too, their Chinese headquarters were in the Japanese parts of Shanghai, the gateway to China, with local Branches in Guangzhou (Canton), Tianjin (Tientsin) and Dairen (Kwantung). As well as any other major local port and trade city and some major cities further inland. Many Japanese military and zaibatsu members, as well as local diplomats and politicians joined the Coprospist Society, that would later in 1942 change it's name to Coprospist Society for a new Asia/ Pacific (CSNA/SCNP). They were closely supported by the Sakurakai (Sakura Tree Society and Cherry Blossom Society) and other Coprospist groups, parties and factions.

    Local businessman, politicians and military members in Manchuria, Mengjiang, Vietnam, Siam/ Thailand and other member states of the Co-Prosperity Sphere but mainly many inside of Yankoku, National Han China and Taikoku joined the society. Mostly because heir own money, power and influence either came directly, or indirectly from Japan and therefor preserving or even increasing the New Japanese Order was also in their very own best interests. Those opposing Coprospism, the Co-Prosperity Sphere and the Coprospist Society were branded as Manchujian, Mengjian, Yanjian, Hanjian (and later Tangjiang) or Taijian, race traitors of the local ethnic groups and their nation states, the worst kind of traitor known to the Chinese, but unlike the Chinese Untied Front Kuomintang Hanjian, these specific tearms also encouraged ethnic membership into these newly formed nations and societies. However the Coprospist Society worked to both sides and also opened up the possibility for many non-Japanese politicians, economic and military leaders to be represented much more at major Co-Prosperity Sphere conferences, events and even further include themselves in military, economic and technological planning of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, giving rise to new ideas, tactics and strategies, the Japanese Empire would not have had on it's own otherwise. It also allowed for more local development of infrastructure, industries, resource gathering as well as the build up of local defense forces, including armies, navies and air forces. New tactics and strategies were also introduced to the Coprospist Society, the Copropspist Leaders and the overall Co-Prosperity Sphere. Followed by new ideas for weapons and technology of all kind. It was this Corpospist ideal that gave the Co-Prosperity Sphere a fighting chance to beat their enemies in the Great Asian and Pacific War, even if it was a small one.
     
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    Pacific States Flag Ideas coming up
  • Planning some flags for the later Pacific Federation of America - PFA/ also known as the Pacific States of America -PSA-/ United States of the Pacific/ Pacific Union and Federate Pacific States (made up by former California and Oregon according to original Japanese plan, plus Washington, maybe Alaska too later TTL) will make it a poll again so you readers get to decide wich one we will use ultimately in the End. ;D
     
    Pacific States of America flag ideas
  • I read a comic where a future version of the US used a crane as its symbol, meant to represent a focus on the sea, that could work.
    Some form of Crane or Fish isn't a bad idea as it can represent these new states connection to Japan as well. Will have to draw a crane or fish for that (oh lord) XD

    Why not just use the one from the Man in the High Castle?
    Because I find it rather ugly and unrealistic, as you can bet your everything that the true Japanese Empire would have never used red stars on a flag for all kinds of reasons (one is the relationship they had to the Soviet Union and the socialist and communist movements in general). While the Japanese have tendet to use soem local color shemes to encourage local independence of their puppets from former states, they also never outrigt used their own sun flag for them as they were the only chosen people in the land of the rising sun were day for all mankind began in their racist minds back then), if anything the Pacific States would be the Land of the Sundown, so I would imagine some form of Sun invovlement just not a full circle and maybe additionally some blue stripes representing the Pacific Ocean somehow? Red stripes could also represent the sun insted but then it looks to similar to other true US flags and the Japanese wouldn't like that either I would assume.

    Not like these but somewhat in that reguard I would assume:
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    flag_of_the_pacific_states_of_america_by_the_artist_64_dboz2y1-pre.jpg

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    But I'm not quit sure that's why I asked for further input and ideas ^^

    Only thing sure now, there will be blue stripes in soem form for the Pacifis and at least one Red Sun ray of the Japanese Sun to represent the Japanese Empire and the Japanese People as well (even if no full sun is shown, similar to the other Co-Prosperity Flags TTL). :3
     
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    Chapter 719: African Axis Central Power Reinforcements
  • Chapter 719: African Axis Central Power Reinforcements
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    In Africa, the Germans, Italians and Spanish heavily recruited local natives into their war machinery either to help with transportation, or outright be auxiliaries at the front. Around 120,000 of such forces served in the Axis Central Powers along the west coast alone, often even recruited by Fascist French local Generals like Jean-Pierre Esteva, who at the same time feared arming the locals and arrested members of independence parties like the Neo Destour. Over mounts they Allies and the Axis Central Powers had fought in Morocco and the West African Coast, some local rulers like Muhammad VII al-Munsif of Tunis and Mohammed V of Morocco. The Tunis Tirailleurs, Algerian Harki (war party/ war movement members) and Moroccan Goumiers (that while nominally serving the Sultan of Morocco, served in the French and Spanish Axis Central Power Forces made up 3 battalions and 4 companies). They were supported, or even part of the Fuerzas Regulares Indígenas ("Indigenous Regular Forces"), known simply as the Regulares (Regulars) of the Royal Spanish Army, while further south the Zaptié served the Italians in Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, Eritrea, Somaliland, Amara, Harrar, Galla-Sidamo and Scioa. All of them were volunteer units, often serving as gendarmerie behind the actual frontlines, even supported by some of the Tropas Nomads, who served in Spanish Sahara and Spanish Morocco as camel corps and desert gendarmerie for the Spanish and French Axis Central Powers. The Free French and Allies did the same with their own Tropas troops as well as their Senegalese tirailleurs. On the side of the German Empire, their African auxiliary forces were called Askari (meaning soldier or military) mainly from North African Coast, the Sahara, the Gold and Ivory Coast, Northwest Africa, Northeast Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Southwest Africa. Most of these native African forces were used as police, gendarmerie, security guards or auxiliary forces, to increase the numbers of the Allies and the Axis Central Powers in the region.
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    This meant that the natives were turned into a war they knew very little about, some of these local tribes and kingdoms didn't even knew they were subjects of any European powers at all. On sides of the Allies the situation was made worse, as outside of France, even the black soldiers of the United States were not outright accepted as equals either, but at the same time the Americans had a pretty anti-colonial stand that alienated their British, French and Dutch allies and sounded like Japanese Coprospist Propaganda to some of them. At the same time their allies view of regaining their lost colonies and continuing them sounded very much like the European Colonialism and Imperialism they fought believed many Americans. If anything this proved that the Allies were similarly like the Axis Central Powers and the Co-Prosperity Sphere towards one another more then they were true allies, similar to their own alliance with the Soviet Union as well. But were the Axis Central Powers and the Co-Prosperity Sphere were militarily and economically massively dominated by the German Empire and the Japanese Empire, with little to no overlapping zones of interest in politic, economic or military operations at all, at least none that caused too much tensions and problems during the Second Great War. This problems even led to a slow down of the recruitment of local forces by the Allies and the Axis Central Powers, as some of them only allowed for their own forces to directly recruit the natives into their own armies, but not even their allies as some of their politicians, generals and local governors outright refused even their own allies to do so in fear of losing potential soldiers and workforce during or for the time after the Second Great War. Still just like in Papua New Guinea, the African locals were in need of support from the natives to transport their supplies, help with scouting and the overall fighting, at least on the flanks and for back-line garrisons against other local bandits and raiders.
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    Chapter 720: The Japanese Pacific and the Outer Defense Perimeter Problem
  • Chapter 720: The Japanese Pacific and the Outer Defense Perimeter Problem
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    The Japanese Tactic and Strategy of the Outer Defense Perimeter surrounding their Home Islands and Core Resources Territories had one fatal flaw; the more the Japanese Empire and the Co-Prosperity Sphere expanded, the more their Core Region and Resource Region did to, meaning that in return their Defense Region had to grow to, until all of the world would one day be part of the Co-Prosperity Sphere if this logic would continue. The situation of the Pacific Islands had greatly changed after the First Great War, when Japanese gained the South Pacific Mandate and followed their own former economic involvement and Japanese traders, plantation workers and settlers, supported by the Nan'yō Kōhatsu kabushiki gaisha (南洋興発株式会社, abbreviated to Nankō or NKKK), also known the South Seas Development Company and the Japanese Mail Steamship Company (Nippon Yusen Kaisha). Japanese population grew from under 4,000 in 1920, to 70,000 in 1930 and then 80,000 in 1933. By 1935 the Japanese population had grown to 50,000 on Saipan alone almost 90 percent of the population on Saipan was Japanese (42,547 out of 46,748). In the census of December 1939, the total population was 129,104, of which 68,257 were Japanese the rest indigenous islanders and 124 foreigners. The rights and status of the indigenous Micronesian population differed from those of Japanese imperial subjects. Employment prospects for Micronesians were more restricted, with unequal labor conditions and pay Japanese Government of the Mandate built and maintained hospitals, schools and Shinto shrines, gave free education was for Micronesian children aged 8–15 and provided basic medical aid and support. Japanese language, Japanese culture, Buddhism and the state Shinto religion were massively promoted by these state run Japanese institutions and even before the Second Great War Christian mission schools were prohibited from taking Micronesian pupils when Japanese government schools existed, to decrease American-European and overall non-Asian, non-Japanese influence. The overall plan was to Japanize the locals, or replace them by Japanese directly, turning these Pacific Islands into a part of the Home Islands.
    The_Headquarters_of_the_South_Pacific_Mandate.JPG

    This was even increased during the Second Great War, more exactly during the Pacific War, when those locals unwilling to be integrated and assimilated into Japanese culture, language and religion were forcefully resettled into the Empire of Manchuria, as well as these parts of Siberia and the Far East conquered by the Manchurian and Japanese. The Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy believed that their Japanese soldiers would fight more fanatically, radical and hard if they protected parts of the Japanese Home Islands instead of just some colonial island in the middle of the Pacific. This exchange of population, culture and infrastructure massively changed many pacific islands during the Second Great War, as logistic requirements of the Allies and the Japanese. Those islands had experienced around 200 years of colonialism from Europe and America by them and some were planned to be fully annexed, while others were promised future independence. For the Japanese many indigenous people were not only Japanized or resettled, but used for labor and sometimes even forces prostitution, family separation, incarceration, execution, concentration camps, but also provided advanced education and medical support and infrastructure. During the Second Great War many Pacific Islands would experience military action, massive troop movements, and resource extraction alongside building projects as the Allies and the Japanese pushed against one another over control of the region. Many of the local, indigenous Pacific Islanders gained a new understanding about their understanding of their own relationship with the colonial powers. Many of these island communities had very little to none contact with European, American, Japanese or any outside forces and powers at all. The sudden arrival and rapid departure of so many men and machines led to the so-called cargo cults in parts of the Pacific Islands, were American and Japanese, pilots, sailors and crewman were worshiped alongside their planes and ships, sometimes even fallen ones were prayed to as deities and powerful gods. The Japanese later incorporated these local native "Samurai-Warrior-Cults" as they called them into their local network of State Shinto temples and shrines.
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    Chapter 721: National Monarchism: Georgian Bragatism
  • Chapter 721: National Monarchism: Georgian Bragatism
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    Under King Bragat IV, the reborn Georgian Kingdom, a constitutional democracy did it's best to find it's place in the Axis Central Powers and survive not only the Second Great War, but the ambitions of it's neighbors as well, the Azerbaijan Kingdom and the Armenian people (with their dream of a own Kingdom) both hoped to gain land from Georgia. Therefore King Bragat IV had to maintain a difficult balance act between the German Empire, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the Second Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire to maintain Georgian independence not only from them, but from neighbors like Azerbaijan too. He did so by becoming a German Protectorate Kingdom at first, allying with the Austrian-Hungarians to limit Ottoman Ambitions, but in the End he would marry his daughter Leonida to the Russian Tzar Vladimir Romanov in 1946. This way Georgian Independence was secured by a strong Axis Central Power member state and the Russian Empire in return had a loyal vassal that helped them regain some of the lost influence in Southern Russia and the Caucasus Region. As a vital source for textiles, munition and warplanes (like the Yak-3, LA-5 and the LaGG-3) for the Soviet Union before, the Georgians produced and supplied for the Army Group South (Heeresgruppe Süd), also known as the Caucasian Army Group (Heeresgruppe Kaukasus). Because they had been sympathic to the Germans and the Axis Central Powers in the Eastern Crusade, Stalin had ordered the deportation of local Chechen, Ingush, Karachay and the Balkarian peoples from the Northern Caucasus and transported them to Siberia and Central Asia, just as he had ordered the deportation of Turkic Uzbeks, Kazakh, Turkmen and Kyrgyz people alongside German further east to Siberia. Their respected autonomous republics had been abolished and the Georgian Kingdom gladly took some of their territory for their own nation state.

    Stalins attempt to use patriotic unity to boost Georgian nationalism during the Second Great War backfired, when the Axis Central Powers (mainly the Austrian-Hungarians, Germans and Ottomans alongside Russian Imperial Forces). When the Red Army encircled in Georgia realized they would not break out or be relieved, they killed hundreds of Georgian students, intellectuals and political leaders who had been critical of the Georgian Socialist Soviet Republic, the Soviet Union, Stalinism, Communism and Bolshevism before. In a attempt of ending the soviet planned economy, centralization was stopped and local regional power bases and organization established. Georgian economy began to grow rapidly even after the Second Great War, house ownership exploded alongside saving levels and German Volkswagen, Daimler-Benz, Auto Union and Opel cars were mass imported. Under George Bagration alias King Bragat IV, Georgia become one of the economically most successful nation states and monarchies formed out of the former Soviet Union inside the Eastern Axis Central Powers and high or special education was at the highest number under these as well because they had copied the German school model. Despite this corruption was common too and the Russians, Germans, Austrian-Hungarians and Neo Ottoman all tried their best to gain more influence and access to the important land in the Caucasus bordering the Black Sea that shipped Azerbaijan and Russian oil over Batum and Tuapse into Central Europe. Some of the Azerbaijan and Russian oil however bypassed Georgia into the Ottoman Empire, were it connected with the Second Ottoman Empiresincoming own oil pipelines on the Turkish Peninsula (the former Arabian Peninsula). When King Bragat IV died in 1957 the Georgian-Russian Alliance opposed the Azerbaijan-Second Ottoman in the region and both blocks tried to use other local ethnic groups and their ambitions (like the Abkhaz, Armenians, Circasian Dagestani and Kurds) for their own ambitions and power play for local dominance as well. Former Prince Irakli, now King Irakli I therefore had the difficult task of preventing a Caucasian War similar to the Balkan Wars a few decades earlier, when he started to rule the Georgian Kingdom in 1957 for the next twenty years.
     
    Chapter 722: Arakan Campaign and Chindits, Allied pressure on Burma
  • Chapter 722: Arakan Campaign and Chindits, Allied pressure on Burma
    Aung_San%2C_1943.jpg

    The Allied Offensives into Burma were lead by the British and Indien forces, starting in the Summer of 1942 and lasting till 1944, when British and Indian Commando's entered from Assam into the Pinbon-Pinlebu area of Co-Prosperity Sphere Burma. Later further Chindits were flow in or infiltrated the region, to build up forward bases in the Burmese north, taking Indaw, Maingkwan and Myitkyina till August 1942. When Burmese-Japanese Army forces pushed them back with the help of armed, local Burmese militia and police, as irregular auxiliaries (that just like their army were led by Bogyoke or Major General Aung San), sometimes even only Burmese civilians, armed with wooden spears. On their way back the Chindits armed and trained local Lisu, Kachin, Shan, Khun, Chin and Rakhine ethnic groups and minorities in Burma, hoping they would take up the fight against the Burmese Copropsit ethnic nation state. Still the Chindits would try to infiltrate Burma and weaken the Japanese and Burmese defenses in this part of South-East Asia with roughly around 9,000 to 12,000 of their special forces operating in Assam and Burma against the Indian and Burmese Coprospist governments, states and military's. The British Army and the British Indian Army tried to use this distraction of Japanese, Burmese and Azad Hind forces in East India and North Burma for their one first major attack into Burma in December 1942. But the Allies were not as prepared as they believed and the terrain they encountered, together with their failure to organize and prepare their own civil government, industry and transport infrastructure of Eastern India to support the Army on the frontier with Burma would lead to their defeat in this campaign. On the other side the Burmese and Japanese defenders occupying well-prepared positions repeatedly repulsed the British and Indian forces, who were then forced to retreat when the Japanese and Burmese received reinforcements and counter-attacked. Till May 1943 the Assam Offensive of the Allies was pushed back into India, but what neither side knew, was that the Azad Hind leader of the Provisional Government of Northeast India/ Assam and Bengal, Netaji (Respected Leader) Subhas Chandra Bose had gained information about the British-Indian plans to attack into Burma, but did not warn the Japanese, as he hoped this would force them to push into India and liberate it for his Coprospist government. Originally Bose had hoped for a quick victory in China as that would have freed forces for other regions like the Pacific, or India too. Then they could link up with the Indian resistance, rebels and other Indian independence movements and forces that were actively opposing the British Rule of India/ Raj.
    640px-Burma_Independence_Army_enters_Rangoon.jpg

    As the British Army and the Indian Army tried their best to gain momentum for a assault into Burma again, local armed civilians and militia helped the Burmese and Japanese fighting them and afterwards continued to fight those local ethnic rebel groups that were aided or supported by the Allies (mainly the British and partly the Americans) that armed them and even promised them to aid their goals. However the various Burmese ethnic rebel groups opposing the Burmese Nation State, sometimes only wished for more local autonomy in ethnic provinces guided and ruled by themselves, even some more socialist and communist extreme rebel groups. The main reason for that was that they knew total autonomy would bring with it the danger and problems that other nearby powers and nation states would make them depend on them with their bigger populations, economy and military either way somewhere in the future. Therefore remaining partly autonomous and independent inside Burma was actually the better option for some of them on the long run and the moment the Burmese Kingdom and national Burmese government realized this too, they tried to strike deals with some of the local groups by giving into some of their promises, or promising other authority and self-rule in some way or form, while turning the nearby local ethnic groups against one another. This way the Burmese hoped to distract them, weaken them with infighting, or even truly integrate them into their National Burmese Kingdom with some self-determination, or even fully integrate them into a Burmese dominated nation state and Burmeseize them to be assimilated by the major Burmese culture, religion and traditions. At the same time the Japanese, Burmese, Yikokuo and Taikokuo forces used the old Allied build Burma Road that they had used to supply the Chinese Untied Front with to reinforce their own position at the Indian-Burmese front. At the same time Japanese disguised as Chinese, Chinese, Burmese and Indian members of the Kempeitai and Co-Prosperity Sphere intelligence did everything they could to smuggle in finances, supplies, weapons and ammunition, but most were uncovered and arrested by the British authorities before they even managed to get into India itself.
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    Chapter 723: War in Arctic and Antarctica
  • Chapter 723: War in Arctic and Antarctica
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    While many would argue that the Second Great War, while a Global Conflict and a World War was mainly fought in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Pacific, no one would deny that it was also fought in the Northern and Southern Polar regions. In the north this was mainly the Germans, the Norwegians and the Finnish on sides of the Axis Central Powers, as well as the Americans, the British and the Canadians on side of the Allies. The main engagements here in the frozen north were at first in the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. There the Axis Central Power airplanes and ships stationed in Norway tried to intercept the Allies Northern Convoy Route trough the Barents Sea to the Soviet Union. Once the Imperial German Army and the Royal Finish Army had managed to conquer the Kola Peninsula and the Karelia Peninsula they completely blocked of this northern supply route, freeing some of the fighters, bombers, ship and submarines used to raid the Allied convoys and their escorts here and allowing them to be redirected into the Atlantic Ocean. The fight for the Arctic however continued, as German, Norwegian and Finnish forces landed in Svalbard (Spitzbergen), Iceland (Island, Eisland or Thule) and Greenland (Grünland) in a attempt to establish a base to observe the weather in a attempt to gain foresight of weather changes in the North Sea and Russia, so that they could plan their air, naval and land operations accordingly. As the Allies realized too how important these bases were for the Axis Central Power operations on the continent, they constantly scouted for these often well hidden small outposts to ensure they could destroy them and capture those German soldiers operating them. However overall this counter operations mainly cost much more finances, ships, airplanes and soldiers then it did for their Axis Central Powers counterparts, as often single Axis Central Powers submarines, transports, warships and planes brought in the crew and all operational equipment of these small outpost in a single or at least only few short transports.
    arctic-world-war-ii%2016x9%20iwm.jpg

    The situation in Antarctica was rather different, as in 1938 Nazi German had organized the Third German Antarctica Expedition to preempt Norway's claim to Queen Maud Land. The expedition served as the basis for a new German claim, called New Swabia. A year later, the United States Antarctic Service Expedition established two bases, which operated for two years before being abandoned in 1941. Responding to these encroachments, and taking advantage of Europe's wartime turmoil, the nearby nations of Argentina and Chile started making their own claims in Antarctica. In 1940 Chile proclaimed the Chilean Antarctic Territory in areas already claimed by Britain, while Argentina proclaimed Argentine Antarctica in 1942 in an overlapping area. In response to the activities of Germany in the area, the Allies launched Operation Tabarin in 1943 with the objective to establish a permanent presence and assert Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands Dependencies as well as to deny use of the area for the submarines and warships of the German High Seas Fleet (Hochseeflotte) German, which was known to use remote islands as rendezvous points, while rumors about a secret German operation base in the area increased as well. There was also the fear that Japan might attempt to seize Madagascar and the Falkland Islands, to use them as bases against the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Because of this the Allies lanched a major Antarctica Operation, with the goal to establish bases on Deception Island, the coast of Graham Land, and at Hope Bay. The research begun by Operation Tabarin continued in subsequent years, ultimately becoming the American Antarctica Survey (until 1948) and the British Antarctica Survey (until 1956). In the postwar period, competition continued among Antarctica's claimant powers, as well as the German Empire and the Japanese Empire who started their own claims in the region once again to oppose the claims of other powers.
     
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