Or if it does, the perps are gonna wind up staring down the wrong end of a firing squad.
When the Emperor tells the CO that any atrocities are gonna be HIS responsibility, you can damn well bet word's gonna filter on down.
The Sun, The Stars and The Sickle: Alt-WWII and a Tripolar Postwar World
- Thread starter WaterproofPotatoes
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When the Emperor tells the CO that any atrocities are gonna be HIS responsibility, you can damn well bet word's gonna filter on down.
I don't think you'll have to worry about that. MacArthur is just managing his assets
Besides, ol' Adolf is no friend of Uncle Sam and the feeling is mutual.
EDIT: Ah, I should have explained it. OTL, the USA developed colour-coded war plans for various nations, the USA was represented as Blue. They were superseded by the Rainbow plans in 1939. The colour plans were:
Green: Mexico
Red: The British Empire; each territory got a different shade of red
Orange: Japan
Black: Germany
Gold: France
Yellow: China
Tan: Cuba
Purple: South America
Violet: Latin America
Indigo: Occupation of Iceland
Brown: Rebellion in the Philippines
White: A threat within
A war against Britain and Japan would thus be Red-Orange, OTL WWII would be Orange-Black.
Many of these made it into war games.
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There's some carrot-and-stick in there too. It implies that if he carries the order out, there just might be a Marshal Tojo in the future, and that said gensui badge won't save even a marshal's skin, so better he commit suicide before the kempeitai does it for him should he not carry the order out.
Hardly. The US certainly wouldn't mind the British-Japanese alliance being strained, but the Japanese are practically a nonentity in the force disparity, and that's even more obvious right now. There's a reason so little material produced was sent to the Pacific front OTL.
The biggest problem is that Germany is a much greater threat than Japan can ever be. If Germany manages to pierce through France and takes it as per OTL, that puts them on the verge of conquering the Continent, which will push them even further
On the naval front alone, the USN is finishing up 4 battleships and laying down two, and something like 5 carriers (just from memory, I'll have to check our notes!) while the IJN is just working on two big carriers, Shokaku and Zuikaku.
Still, King and Mac aren't taking any chances, and Willoughby is sniffing out what the Japanese are up to. Things will get... interesting
Propaganda Vignette 3
Berlin, Germany
June 28, 1940
JOSEPH Goebbels was not in the best of moods lately.
His latest propaganda comedy "The Tokio Kid" was a box-office flop so far, not in the least because the fanged dentures worn by the actors portraying Japanese characters made them all but unintelligible.
Sure, it was no Triumph of the Will, but it wasn't that bad, especially the bit with the Japanese soldiers all tripping over their comically oversized rifles, while Sigi, the German hero-protagonist made good his escape.
Now, he had a new project. Quisling. Just how do you make that into something inspiring?
That SS uniform is going to need some more horsehair padding in the shoulders, for starters.
June 28, 1940
JOSEPH Goebbels was not in the best of moods lately.
His latest propaganda comedy "The Tokio Kid" was a box-office flop so far, not in the least because the fanged dentures worn by the actors portraying Japanese characters made them all but unintelligible.
Sure, it was no Triumph of the Will, but it wasn't that bad, especially the bit with the Japanese soldiers all tripping over their comically oversized rifles, while Sigi, the German hero-protagonist made good his escape.
Now, he had a new project. Quisling. Just how do you make that into something inspiring?
That SS uniform is going to need some more horsehair padding in the shoulders, for starters.
And All the King's Men, Part 3
Manila, Philippines
September 28th, 1939
------
Info-dump-y briefing goes here:
OPERATION Kingsman was the name given to the strengthening of the defenses of the Philippines in case of a Japanese invasion. A "Battleship Row" was planned to fill Subic Bay along with aircraft carriers, one of which was Admiral King's old command, Constellation. An additional Army division was requested to be transferred from the United States; The 2nd Infantry "Indian Head", under Major General Walter Krueger were chosen, and were to be dispatched to the Philippines in October.
If the Japanese were nervous about Kingsman- or what they knew about it, at least, they certainly weren't showing it. Most of their battle fleet was kept close to home; a fast battleship, two battlecruisers and two carriers were dispatched as distant cover for the oil convoys from the Persian Gulf bound for Japan. Rubber from Ceylon, aluminum and nickel from Canada were other major cargoes. Truk remained largely empty, with the old battleship Ise standing guard along with some lighter ships.
Britain also shuffled her forces in the Far East; Hood was dispatched to Hong Kong and Renown to Singapore. Far cover for convoys in conjunction with the IJN was their secondary duty; simply maintaining a presence their primary mission.
As for Japan's conquests on land, they had captured the city of Wanping, and were now in position to capture Beiping [AN: Modern-day Beijing]. Heavy artillery was brought up- notably, the Type 98 15 cm Cannon; the replacement for the less-satisfactory Type 89; the latter had to travel in two loads, the former in one despite having a longer barrel, and had a longer range, was lighter, and fired a heavier projectile faster at the cost of slightly higher barrel wear. Batteries of the Type 92 10cm Cannon were also brought westward in order to lay siege to Beiping. General Dengyu Zhao's forces outnumbered Tojo's by a considerable margin but only outnumbered the IJA's armour by a 4:3 margin; the IJA had overwhelming artillery superiority and barely-contested air supremacy.
-------
MACARTHUR was quite satisfied with how progress was going. He relaxed at his desk, lit his corncob pipe, and retreated into thought.
The Fleet would be able to repel anything that the Japanese tried- and so far, it looked like it was working. There were no movements made anywhere near the Philippines, with the Canadian convoys steering well clear.
The Army situation was looking good too. Krueger, a bit of a stiff-necked sort, was nonetheless a very competent officer, and proved excellent at training his men. MacArthur had worked with him before, although they were not close.
The situation in China was more of a cause for concern. The Japanese, having sufficiently reinforced their puppet states, were pushing into China, and routing the Chinese army. They were well-trained, highly disciplined, and absolutely fearless. The Chinese National Army, on the other hand, was fraught with problems. It was huge, and had not-inconsiderable help from Germany via the Sino-German Co-operation Pact, but it suffered from bad leadership, inadequate training, and deep factional rifts. Chiang himself was bellicose, and, if anything, seemed more concerned with dislodging the Communists than the Japanese, even though Mao was nominally co-operating.
MacArthur himself had a great affinity for the Chinese people. They had a long, rich history, and one marked with near-constant colonization and invasion. There was something disheartening about watching China be carved up by a resurgent Japan, even if they argued it was no different than what Britain and France had done in Africa- something which the United States opposed anyway.
Then there was the fact that American companies did a lot of business through Shanghai, and that wasn't a trade anybody wanted the Japanese taking over.
Willoughby, although he had been able to learn some more of Chiang's concerns about the Communists, had yet to come up with anything regarding a southward push by the Japanese.
Still, MacArthur was confident that his plan would make America's position in the Far East unassailable.
He put down his pipe. Time to call up King...
September 28th, 1939
------
Info-dump-y briefing goes here:
OPERATION Kingsman was the name given to the strengthening of the defenses of the Philippines in case of a Japanese invasion. A "Battleship Row" was planned to fill Subic Bay along with aircraft carriers, one of which was Admiral King's old command, Constellation. An additional Army division was requested to be transferred from the United States; The 2nd Infantry "Indian Head", under Major General Walter Krueger were chosen, and were to be dispatched to the Philippines in October.
If the Japanese were nervous about Kingsman- or what they knew about it, at least, they certainly weren't showing it. Most of their battle fleet was kept close to home; a fast battleship, two battlecruisers and two carriers were dispatched as distant cover for the oil convoys from the Persian Gulf bound for Japan. Rubber from Ceylon, aluminum and nickel from Canada were other major cargoes. Truk remained largely empty, with the old battleship Ise standing guard along with some lighter ships.
Britain also shuffled her forces in the Far East; Hood was dispatched to Hong Kong and Renown to Singapore. Far cover for convoys in conjunction with the IJN was their secondary duty; simply maintaining a presence their primary mission.
As for Japan's conquests on land, they had captured the city of Wanping, and were now in position to capture Beiping [AN: Modern-day Beijing]. Heavy artillery was brought up- notably, the Type 98 15 cm Cannon; the replacement for the less-satisfactory Type 89; the latter had to travel in two loads, the former in one despite having a longer barrel, and had a longer range, was lighter, and fired a heavier projectile faster at the cost of slightly higher barrel wear. Batteries of the Type 92 10cm Cannon were also brought westward in order to lay siege to Beiping. General Dengyu Zhao's forces outnumbered Tojo's by a considerable margin but only outnumbered the IJA's armour by a 4:3 margin; the IJA had overwhelming artillery superiority and barely-contested air supremacy.
-------
MACARTHUR was quite satisfied with how progress was going. He relaxed at his desk, lit his corncob pipe, and retreated into thought.
The Fleet would be able to repel anything that the Japanese tried- and so far, it looked like it was working. There were no movements made anywhere near the Philippines, with the Canadian convoys steering well clear.
The Army situation was looking good too. Krueger, a bit of a stiff-necked sort, was nonetheless a very competent officer, and proved excellent at training his men. MacArthur had worked with him before, although they were not close.
The situation in China was more of a cause for concern. The Japanese, having sufficiently reinforced their puppet states, were pushing into China, and routing the Chinese army. They were well-trained, highly disciplined, and absolutely fearless. The Chinese National Army, on the other hand, was fraught with problems. It was huge, and had not-inconsiderable help from Germany via the Sino-German Co-operation Pact, but it suffered from bad leadership, inadequate training, and deep factional rifts. Chiang himself was bellicose, and, if anything, seemed more concerned with dislodging the Communists than the Japanese, even though Mao was nominally co-operating.
MacArthur himself had a great affinity for the Chinese people. They had a long, rich history, and one marked with near-constant colonization and invasion. There was something disheartening about watching China be carved up by a resurgent Japan, even if they argued it was no different than what Britain and France had done in Africa- something which the United States opposed anyway.
Then there was the fact that American companies did a lot of business through Shanghai, and that wasn't a trade anybody wanted the Japanese taking over.
Willoughby, although he had been able to learn some more of Chiang's concerns about the Communists, had yet to come up with anything regarding a southward push by the Japanese.
Still, MacArthur was confident that his plan would make America's position in the Far East unassailable.
He put down his pipe. Time to call up King...
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The 2nd ID is nicknamed Indianhead and why is the US reinforcing the Philipines again? The Islands are scheduled to gain Independence in a little under a decade and the US isn't in the mood to spend resources building up bases that will soon cease to be American territory and then there is the problem that the bases in Subic can't sustain the deployment of the fleet and I doubt the USN is happy about basing its main striking power so far forward
There's one thing about pre-WWII Japan that needs to be addressed, the Kempeitai and the Tokko (aka the Thought Police); IOTL they were instrumental in fermenting ultranationalist militarism in quashing dissent and were participants in the Imperialist antics across Asia to the point were the Kempeitai were rightly compared to the Nazi Gestapo, though before the turn to the far-right, they were merely tools of the government in quashing internal dissent that would have destabilized the nation, whether imagined or not. ITTL, with the turn to far-right militarism squelched at the last minute, there might not be much of a need for the two agencies to enforce such rhetoric; not that they would not be used at all.
Only good spot nearby there? Plus, it is still a decade or so til they're no longer a US state. Best to avoid Japan snapping them up.
You mean a base that is within a few hundred miles of Formosa and has most of bases well within the range of Japanese aircraft?
Good catch on the 2nd, I saw the Blitz name when I was
Now, Japan attacking the Philippines would definitely provoke a war, and it would definitely be one Japan would lose.
Over OTL, the USN has +5 battleships, +2 battlecruisers, +2 carriers and far more heavy cruisers. The IJN is at +4 battleships, -1 carrier and down a lot of heavy cruisers. As such, Japanese doctrine has shifted to a faster fleet to attrit a US fleet as it approaches Japan rather than a decisive battle.
The problem for Japan is, that doesn't work when the US fleet is closer in. A Kongo class battlecruiser, which TTL will have had even less up-armouring, isn't going to be bouncing 16" shells with 6-8" of armour. The US also still has the bulk of its Pacific assets in Pearl and another 6 BBs on the building ways, 4 of which are almost done, so Pearl Harbor-ing Subic won't do anything more than annoy the Americans.
The other problem is, if Japan attacks US territory, then they've pretty much literally torpedoed their alliance with Britain. Their fleet is thirstier TTL so they need oil even more, and an embargo would be even more of a disaster. They can also kiss goodbye their access to Ceylon rubber, Canadian aluminum and nickel, and just made an enemy with another fleet that outnumbers theirs 5:3.
No amount of Yamato spirit makes those odds workable.
As for the US? Well, the Philippines isn't independent yet, there's no way the Filipino army can repulse the IJA, and a presence there confounds Japan- they can't hit Pearl without leaving themselves wide open.
TTL, the latter nails it. They're still a presence, but to a lesser degree.
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Pearl and then go with the USNs pre-war plan and leapfrog its way through Japanese island garrisons better than putting half a dozen BBs and wasting several hundred million dollars on facilities in exposed and virtually unusable positions
Granted, OTL that does make the most sense.
Here, you have a stronger Japan, yet a Japan still as weak vis the US- same 5:3 ratio. The US has them in a position where they really can't attack (that would ruin their alliance, which the US isn't happy about), and even if they did, the plans which they built their fleet around won't work- too close to get the USN to punch itself out, too dispersed for decisive battles. There can't be a Round 2- Japan's industrial capacity just can't compare to the USA's.
The IJN doesn't want a war with the USA, nor do the Prime Minister nor the Emperor.
A base as far forward as the Philippines with such an advantageous position also teaches the biggest threat to the USA's Pacific interests that Uncle Sam can build a base right in your backyard and there's nothing you can do about it.
Il Duce's Speech
Rome, Italy
August 6th, 1940
12:30 PM
Excerpt from a very long speech
MY people! Today, Italy stands at a crossroads. The once-great powers of Europe are in upheval. Both sides of this conflict desire our aid in their struggles. I, however, think of only one thing: What will bring the greatest benefit to Italy?
I ask you this: Did Caesar ask permission of Barbarian chieftains before acting? Did Caesar accept a subordinate position in an alliance with Gaul and Albion? Of course not! Our ancestors ruled them with their mighty hand and wise judgement! You, my people, deserve no less!
But Duce, they ask: What of Britain's ships in our Mediterranean? To these voices I say- And what of them? They may decorate the harbour of Valletta, but they dare not challenge us! They make no moves to harrass the ships of our neutral nation- to cut us off from our ancient empire which we are rightfully reclaiming would provoke war, and they dare not risk that!
I am also asked "Duce, why do we not join our forces with Hitler's? Do we not share the common purpose of saving Europe from Communist tyranny?" To them, I say, I shall protect Italy from communism- we have crushed the Bolshevists here; they pose no threat to us. But to make a deal with Hitler? I do not oppose it in principle if it benefits Italy, but how would such a deal benefit us? He has gained Poland and Holland, but could not capture Norway. Could he make good on his promises to us? I am unsure- and I would not lead us into a partnership if I were unsure.
I will also not accept any partnership with any nation unless Italy is truly an equal partner! We, the heirs of Rome, are vassals to no one! We dictate terms; we are not dictated terms! If any nation desires that we should renounce our neutrality, it must be made worth our while.
I have promised you greatness, and no one on this earth has the power to make a liar of Il Duce!
August 6th, 1940
12:30 PM
Excerpt from a very long speech
MY people! Today, Italy stands at a crossroads. The once-great powers of Europe are in upheval. Both sides of this conflict desire our aid in their struggles. I, however, think of only one thing: What will bring the greatest benefit to Italy?
I ask you this: Did Caesar ask permission of Barbarian chieftains before acting? Did Caesar accept a subordinate position in an alliance with Gaul and Albion? Of course not! Our ancestors ruled them with their mighty hand and wise judgement! You, my people, deserve no less!
But Duce, they ask: What of Britain's ships in our Mediterranean? To these voices I say- And what of them? They may decorate the harbour of Valletta, but they dare not challenge us! They make no moves to harrass the ships of our neutral nation- to cut us off from our ancient empire which we are rightfully reclaiming would provoke war, and they dare not risk that!
I am also asked "Duce, why do we not join our forces with Hitler's? Do we not share the common purpose of saving Europe from Communist tyranny?" To them, I say, I shall protect Italy from communism- we have crushed the Bolshevists here; they pose no threat to us. But to make a deal with Hitler? I do not oppose it in principle if it benefits Italy, but how would such a deal benefit us? He has gained Poland and Holland, but could not capture Norway. Could he make good on his promises to us? I am unsure- and I would not lead us into a partnership if I were unsure.
I will also not accept any partnership with any nation unless Italy is truly an equal partner! We, the heirs of Rome, are vassals to no one! We dictate terms; we are not dictated terms! If any nation desires that we should renounce our neutrality, it must be made worth our while.
I have promised you greatness, and no one on this earth has the power to make a liar of Il Duce!
Good old nationalistic chest beating and grandiose claims some things never change
Rather effective when it is used in combination with intelligent policy.
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