<Snipped quote by Nerevarine>I think you can raise the size of your army still but it' all up to you.

Knock, knock. Who's- BANZAI!

The Greater Japanese Empire

Origin:
An extremely successful game of Hearts of Iron III. This is the world by November 29, 1947.

Faction Type:
Empire

Leader:
Major General Kozuki Yoshio

Faction Rank:

Color:
Red

Assigned GM:

Starting Area:


Faction Introduction:

The Rising Sun [+]

When the Japanese Empire geared for total war against the Allies in 1939, everyone, even herself, expected only moderate success. Though guarded by only colonial infantry, there was no doubting the impregnability of the fortresses of the East Indies nor the ferocity and skill of the cooperating British, French and Dutch navies. China, after the encirclement of most of her professional army near Menjiang and the surrender of the People's Republic, had mostly been child's play after that - an avenue with which to test new and experimental mobility-oriented doctrines and tactics. Japanese generals did not expect to perform the grand encirclements that saw tens or even hundreds of thousands of the enemy trapped and helpless at once; facing Perfidious Albion's notoriously tough soldiers in the jungle was different from surrounding demoralized Chinese conscripts. So when Japan declared war upon the Allies in June of 1940 and announced her alignment with Germany, she braced herself for painfully slow, grinding warfare across South East Asia. But instead, she slapped the world across the face and rendered it - and also herself - absolutely stunned:

She conquered Australia by 1942.

Then took Outer Manchuria and East Siberia from the Soviet Union in 1943.

Then annexed India in 1944.

Then drove up through Persia, Iraq, Oman, Kuwait, even Palestine in 1945, before taking the Suez Canal and landing an army directly into Rome to liberate Italy from British occupation in 1946. Mussolini laughed as he was returned to power. Photos of German, Italian and Japanese troops shaking hands in Florence were on the front page of every newspaper in the world. What a time to be alive.

Japanese soldiers, the rank-and-file, did not contemplate overmuch the ridiculous successes that held so much of the international audience in awe and disbelief. Veterans and recruits alike contentedly said it was because of His Divine Majesty's deeply enlightened rule and left it at that. Those of higher rank and better perception of the strategic image shook their heads, however. There were so many lucky breaks along the path of this glorious conquest, like when the Australians underestimated the presence of the Imperial Navy and attempted to land 50,000 troops to retake New Guinea, only for those poor souls to drown as the air groups of six carriers bombed and torpedoed their transports and escorting vessels, halving their entire homeland defense force and utterly crushing their whole surface fleet. Or when the Soviets clearly had enough firepower to break out of the Vladivostok pocket, but didn't, simply out of doubt. They instead waited patiently for an attack that never came, allowing the Japanese to reinforce, before surrendering on the verge of starvation.

While intellectuals might ponder about the alternate histories of such close-cut scenarios where the defeated simply did slightly better and won, Japan no longer had to rely on fickle luck to assert or expand her dominance. For the year is now 1947, and with her industry completely mobilized for war and for so long, she almost rivals the output of her returning trading partner, the United States. The new American president, Truman, had reworked the foreign policy of the dysfunctional Roosevelt administration and restored the commerce and friendliness with Japan that had been lost in that regrettable embargo. Supercharged by American steel and oil, the dockyards at Sasebo, Kure and Tokyo can now work on five carrier hulls at once while Mitsubishi's new factories churn out A8 Reppu aircraft and Chi-Ri medium tanks by the dozens every day for the Empire's scattered but still undeniably mighty military.

The Allies are on the verge of collapse. Britain lost 250,000 men in Italy and 350,000 in Spain, unable to evacuate them in the style of Operation Dynamo due to Japanese battle fleets patrolling the Mediterranean. Churchill's popularity wanes but he is desperate to reclaim their once glorious empire. Meanwhile, in the east, Stalin fights on four fronts. While the Red Army may have pushed back the Germans all the way to Poland, the Japanese invasion via the Caucasus and Central Asia were nasty surprises that needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. Forced to divert divisions from the Western Front to these two new theaters, the Red Army at Hitler's doorstep falters and is slowly being pushed back again by a tired but determined Wehrmacht. The end of an era is nigh. The Axis victory is inevitable, absolute, and breathtakingly near.

Gateway in Egypt [+]

The Japanese invasion of Egypt was a quick, albeit strange one. It had taken only a week and met only comparatively light resistance, specifically a veteran infantry division. Japanese intelligence and high command never questioned the far-off placement of so prestigious a unit as the 19th Mountain and brushed it off as mere British incompetence until their captured officers began to talk. And what they said was very, very interesting. Intriguing enough to pull back the 27th "Kyoku" Infantry Division from its redeployment to the Caucasus.

Interrogation had become an art form for Japanese intel divisions. Gone were the truncheons and the bamboo stakes that went under prisoners' fingernails until they howled out unit movements and troop compositions. Instead, there was food and plenty of hospitality designed to guilt the weary enemy into leaking information, and the method was very, very effective. It wasn't long until the British began talking of a secret weapons facility in the Upper Nile and the Japanese sent agents to investigate. When this was confirmed, a team of specialists was sent to secure the area. Turned out that they weren't needed, however. The facility's meager garrison and craven scientists put their hands up as soon as the commandos made themselves known.

Unlike the other major powers of the war, Japan never enamored itself with superweapons. Nuclear research was slow, and jet engines, even in 1947, were still in the prototype stage. After RADAR, it was thought that there was little else to invent and that energy should be redirected to refining existing technology. As such, the Japanese infantryman boasted the latest assault rifle, and the armored crewman sported the fastest, heaviest and the most deadly tank. Officer's manuals were thick and comprehensive, and watching an offensive on the operational level was like seeing a ballet. However, Japanese pilots and their A8's, much to their frustration, could only fight defensively against Gloster Meteors while outperforming Me 262's swooped in for the kill. And in the sea, the Royal Navy's acoustic torpedoes were making merry hell on Japanese merchant shipping and even the destroyer escorts sent to counter them.

These facts encouraged Japan to hasten their secret nuclear and jet engine research projects, but what they saw in that underground bunker complex in upper Egypt rocked the Japanese military's scientific community and forced them to rethink their conservative philosophies. British scientists, having no personal interest in the war other than government funding and actually possessed of right-wing beliefs, spoke freely of their work. There, in the deepest layer, in a massive cavern that could double as the perfect secret staging area, was a shimmering portal. Octagonal in construction, with the gateway 5 meters across and the same length high, it was claimed that it lead to another world. The commandos' CO scoffed, until he ordered a handful of British personnel escorted by some of his men into the supposed "wormhole," as one egghead called it. When he reported back to high command, an immediate spate of new Japanese personnel flooded into the complex within the month. Doctors, researchers, scientists and their families - construction workers to expand the place and even soldiers of the 27th "Kyoku" Infantry Division. With the facility's staff expanded or replaced, task is now to understand the science, replicate the engineering, and explore the alternate reality to determine its readiness for colonization.

Faction Features:

The Greater Japanese Empire is currently on an exploratory - but heavily armed - stance regarding Worluk. Filtering through the portal will be scientists, botanists, cartographers and other such researchers guarded by elite infantry. They are currently in the process of fortifying the gate's entrance on both sides, and 1/3 of the 27th Infantry Division is planned to be permanently based in Worluk's side of the gate.

Military:

Members of the 12th Infantry Regiment during Operation Downfall in China, October 21, 1939

27th "Kyoku" Infantry Division:
As of now, His Divine Majesty has allocated only the 27th Infantry Division for the protection of Project Chrysanthemum and the exploration of the alternate reality. European Operations High Command will send more units as necessary. The 27th Infantry is a veteran division with participation in the Chinese, Javanese, Australian, Indian, Persian, Middle Eastern and Italian Liberation campaigns. Composed of the 11th, 12th and 29th infantry regiments, and supplemented by the 1st Motorized Support Brigade, the division numbers 10,000 men in total.

The Division is only semi-motorized. Its vehicles are used primarily for transporting supplies and equipment rather than troops.

Due to the small size of the portal, the Division is having difficulty transporting supplies and heavier equipment into Worluk. As such, the first combat units to cross over can be considered as "light infantry," operating without equipment heavier than Type 11 Grenade Dischargers or Type 6 HMG's.

27th "Kyoku" Infantry Division Inventory:

25,520x Assorted Infantry Grenades
10,812x Type 6 Assault Rifle
2,504x Type 5 Service Pistol
2,248x Type 6 Machine Gun, Light Variant
1,636x 75mm Type 5 Rocket-propelled Anti-Tank Projector
868x Type 6 Machine Gun, Heavy Variant
798x Type 11 "Knee Mortar" Grenade Discharger
596x 81mm Type 99 Mortar
66x 4cm Type 7 AA Gun
54x 150mm Type 97 Infantry Mortar
34x 88mm Type 99 AA/AT Gun
16x 15cm Type 96 Howitzer

340x Trucks
800x Bicycles