Recaps

After Germany rejected the Island Nation’s peace proposal, Shigenori Tōgō reported the failure to Hideki Tojo. The Island Nation’s leaders chose to prepare for a fight to the bitter end, hoping heavy German casualties would force negotiations.

• Shigenori Tōgō read Matsumoto Taro’s Telegram and concluded that war with Germany was unavoidable.
• Shigenori Tōgō told Hideki Tojo that Germany had rejected the peace negotiations.
• General Gen Sugiyama urged the government to fight until German losses forced it to compromise.
• Hideki Tojo and the Cabinet agreed to fight Germany to the bitter end.
• Hideki Tojo placed the Island Nation under emergency status and ordered weapons distributed to civilians.

Germany concentrated massive army, naval, and air forces in the Far East and Australia for its planned invasion of the Island Nation. The chapter ended with the forces organized under Army Groups E through H and unified naval and air commanders.

• Germany sent fourteen army corps and 2.8 million troops east aboard a vast transport fleet, while the Navy escorted the ships through the Indian Ocean.
• German air units transferred to the Far East and Australia, giving Germany overwhelming air superiority over the Island Nation's forces.
• Germany reorganized its twenty army corps into Army Groups E, F, G, and H, appointing Rundstedt, Fedor von Bock, Wilhelm Keitel, and Frank von Leeb as commanders.
• The Imperial Navy placed the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean Fleets under Rolf Kars, while the Imperial Air Force was placed under Hugo Spee.

Field Marshal Manstein convened German commanders in Rangoon to plan the war against the Island Nation and meet Emperor Qin Tian’s deadline of defeating it before Christmas. The meeting ended with Germany preparing to attack the Indonesian and Philippine Islands before striking the Island Nation’s Mainland, while the Navy and Air Force were assigned key roles.

• Manstein told the gathered commanders that all German forces had reached their posts and that they had five months to destroy the Island Nation.
• Manstein described the Island Nation’s large forces in the South Seas and on its Mainland, and warned German troops not to spare anyone who threatened them.
• Manstein announced that German forces would first attack the Indonesian and Philippine Islands, then invade the Island Nation’s Mainland.
• Manstein tasked Field Marshal Rolf Kars with eliminating the Island Nation Navy before the mainland invasion, and Kars pledged to seek an opportunity.
• Manstein assigned General Hugo Speet’s Air Force responsibility for air support and strategic bombing, and Speet agreed.

Field Marshal Manstein ordered the German forces to begin a major offensive against the Island Nation's Southern Army in three days. In Batavia, General Terauchi Juichi gathered his commanders as the threatened army braced for an attack it had little confidence of surviving.

• Field Marshal Manstein ordered Army Groups E, F, and G to attack Sumatra, Java, and New Guinea, followed by operations against Borneo and the Philippine Islands.
• The German army, navy, and air force began preparing for the counteroffensive while the Island Nation's forces withdrew and strengthened their defenses.
• General Terauchi Juichi took command of the Southern Army, canceled his offensive plans after the United States fell, and shifted his forces to defense.
• General Terauchi Juichi inspected the coastal defenses and returned to Batavia on July 20.
• General Terauchi Juichi convened the Southern Army's field army and army commanders, who gathered tensely for a combat meeting.

General Terauchi Juichi ordered the Island Nation’s Southern Army to fight the advancing Germans to the death, as its generals prepared to defend key islands despite their military inferiority. After the meeting in Batavia, they returned to their assigned zones, hoping that heavy German losses might force a negotiated peace.

• General Terauchi Juichi warned the generals that the German offensive was near and ordered every unit to fight without retreating.
• General Seishiro Itagaki and the other generals said the Bushido spirit would help them defeat the Germans.
• The Southern Army’s forces were concentrated mainly on Sumatra, Java, and New Guinea, with fewer troops on Borneo and in the Philippine Islands.
• The generals hoped that inflicting enormous casualties would make Germany retreat and allow the Island Nation to secure peace.
• After the meeting ended, the Southern Army generals left Batavia and returned to their defensive zones.

General Terauchi Juichi and Lieutenant General Tadaichi Tsukada prepared the Southern Army to resist Germany’s offensive, while hoping to hold the enemy back despite the Germans’ strength. On July 23, German air and naval forces began bombing Island Nation positions across the South Seas, opening the counteroffensive.

• Lieutenant General Tadaichi Tsukada told General Terauchi Juichi that the Southern Army was ready and could aim to delay the Germans and inflict casualties.
• General Terauchi Juichi admitted that stopping the German advance would be extraordinarily difficult, and he and Tsukada invoked Amaterasu Omikami for support.
• German forces completed their preparations, with army units in position and the German Navy and Air Force ready to provide fire support.
• On July 23, German aircraft took off from Indochina and Australia to attack Island Nation defenses on Sumatra, Java, and New Guinea.
• German Navy capital ships bombarded Island Nation coastal positions in the Malacca Strait, northern Java, and southern New Guinea as German aircraft attacked from the sky.

German forces began a major offensive against Sumatra and Java, bombarding Island Nation defenses and preparing landings while the Island Nation's commanders ordered their troops to brace for the assault. The chapter ended with General Terauchi Juichi learning that German bombers had devastated airfields across Java, Borneo, and Sumatra.

• German warships and aircraft bombarded Island Nation coastal positions in northwestern Sumatra, inflicting heavy losses.
• General Yamashita Tomoyuki ordered the 14th Area Army to conserve its strength under bombardment, then fight to the death when German landings began, and called for reinforcements.
• German forces attacked Java Island, using Batavia as a feint while preparing major landings at Cirebon, Pekalongan, and Semarang.
• General Terauchi Juichi ordered the Island Nation's Air Force to attack German ships in the Java Sea.
• Lieutenant General Tadaichi Tsukada reported that German bombers had struck airfields on Java, Borneo, and Sumatra, devastating the Island Nation's Air Force.

The German Air Force destroyed most of the Island Nation's Army Air Force in the South Seas, while German forces began a coordinated offensive against Sumatra Island, Java Island, and New Guinea Island. Deceptive bombardments inflicted heavy casualties before the German Marine Corps launched its landings.

• German strategic air groups bombed Island Nation's Army Air Force airfields on Sumatra Island, Java Island, and Borneo, causing heavy losses.
• General Terauchi Juichi ordered the Southern Army to resist as German forces attacked Sumatra Island and New Guinea Island and the homeland offered no support.
• German naval forces bombarded the Island Nation's Army defenses near Port Moresby on New Guinea Island.
• General Tomoyuki Yamashita ordered his troops into position after the first German bombardment of Sumatra Island stopped, but German ships and aircraft resumed their attack.
• German forces repeated the deceptive bombardment tactic on Java Island and New Guinea Island, then began Marine Corps landings on all three islands.

German forces launched amphibious landings on Sumatra, Java, and New Guinea, overwhelming Island Nation defenses with naval gunfire and air support. The Marine Corps secured beachheads, allowing German Army corps to come ashore and begin attacks on coastal cities and Island Nation forces.

• German Marine Corps Divisions 1, 2, and 3 landed on northern Sumatra after bombardment by the German Navy and Air Force.
• Island Nation troops fought back with artillery and machine guns, but German aircraft and armed helicopters destroyed their firepoints and weakened their defenses.
• German Marines broke through the coastal defenses and established secure landing beaches on Sumatra, after which German Army corps began landing and attacking coastal cities.
• German Marine Corps Divisions 4, 5, and 6 landed at Cirebon, Pekalongan, and Semarang on Java, while German forces struck Batavia without landing there.
• German Marine Corps Division 7 landed south of Port Moresby on New Guinea, followed by Army Corps 22 and 24, which were assigned to defeat Island Nation forces there.

German forces overwhelmed the Island Nation’s defenses at Semarang and Banda Aceh, prompting desperate counterattacks by the 5th Area Army and 16th Army Corps. The chapter ended with the 4th Tank Wing destroyed and the 27th Independent Mixed Brigade collapsing.

• Lieutenant General Hagi Saburo reported that the 42nd Division had lost over two-thirds of its troops and that German forces were landing near Semarang.
• Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro ordered Lieutenant General Sano Torata to counterattack and requested reinforcements from Batavia.
• General Terauchi Juichi ordered the 38th Army Corps to reinforce the beleaguered 5th Area Army.
• German forces attacked Banda Aceh, where the 48th Division had already lost two infantry wings during the landing.
• Lieutenant General Nagano Yuichiro ordered the 4th Tank Wing and 27th Independent Mixed Brigade to counterattack.
• German armed helicopters destroyed every tank in the 4th Tank Wing, and the 27th Independent Mixed Brigade collapsed.

German forces advanced across Sumatra and Java, overwhelming the Island Nation's Army and cutting off its reinforcements. In Semarang, Lieutenant General Kiichiro Higuchi faced the imminent destruction of the 5th Area Army as the wider South Seas front continued to collapse.

• Field Marshal Bock reported that German forces had captured Banda Aceh and destroyed the Island Nation's Army 16th Army Corps, while German units continued landing on Sumatra.
• Field Marshal Manstein ordered the German forces to accelerate their landings and take Sumatra Island within half a month.
• German corps established footholds around Cirebon, Pekalongan, and Semarang on Java, and began attacking the Island Nation's defensive lines as armored units came ashore.
• Lieutenant General Saburo Hagi told Lieutenant General Kiichiro Higuchi that the 42nd Infantry Division had been wiped out, the 7th Infantry Division was encircled, and Semarang was close to falling.
• Higuchi learned that German forces had blocked the reinforcements west of Cirebon, leaving his 5th Area Army unable to hold out much longer.

General Terauchi Juichi and Lieutenant General Tadaichi Tsukada discussed the Southern Army’s worsening position as German forces overwhelmed Island Nation troops on Sumatra. They decided to request reinforcements and urge the navy to defeat the German fleet, though Terauchi Juichi doubted he could persuade it to risk a decisive battle.

• Lieutenant General Tadaichi Tsukada warned General Terauchi Juichi that German attacks had slowed the 14th Area Army’s reinforcements and could destroy the 7th Area Army before they arrived.
• Terauchi Juichi and Tsukada concluded that German naval bombardment and air superiority were causing severe losses and that requested air reinforcements would likely not reverse the situation.
• Tsukada proposed that the Island Nation Navy defeat the German Navy and support a counterattack against German forces on Sumatra.
• Terauchi Juichi recognized that persuading the navy to fight would be difficult because the army and navy were at odds and the German fleet was powerful.
• Terauchi Juichi ordered a telegram home requesting reinforcements and naval action against the German Navy.

The German offensive devastated the Island Nation's Army in Java and Sumatra, despite repeated orders to send reinforcements. As Medan came under encirclement and the relief force struggled to advance, General Terauchi Juichi faced the prospect that the fighting on Sumatra Island would also become unsustainable.

• General Terauchi Juichi ordered the 4th Army to reinforce the 5th Area Army, but German air attacks delayed and devastated it on the road.
• The German military annihilated the 5th Area Army before the 4th Army arrived, and Lieutenant General Kiichiro Higuchi and Lieutenant General Saburo Hagi committed seppuku after the defeat.
• German forces landed on Java Island and forced the 38th Army and 4th Army onto the defensive.
• German forces advanced on Medan after destroying the 16th Army and encircling the remaining forces of the 25th Army and 29th Army.
• General Seishiro Itagaki requested help, so General Tomoyuki Yamashita sent a reinforcement force that German air and naval attacks slowed and battered.
• Lieutenant General Tadaichi Tsukada reported that Medan was close to falling, and General Terauchi Juichi questioned whether the 14th Area Army had reinforced it.

Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and General Gen Sugiyama discussed the Island Nation’s mass conscription and the Southern Army’s retreat under the German offensive. Tojo ordered air reinforcements and summoned navy leaders to push for the Combined Fleet to enter battle.

• Hideki Tojo asked Gen Sugiyama about conscription, and Sugiyama reported that five million troops could be recruited soon but would lack weapons.
• Hideki Tojo ordered the recruits to receive rifles or grenades and called for civilians to resist a German mainland invasion.
• Gen Sugiyama relayed Terauchi Juichi’s request for reinforcements as the Southern Army retreated under German attacks.
• Hideki Tojo agreed to send two Army Air Forces to support the Southern Army.
• Hideki Tojo ordered Gen Sugiyama to summon Shigetaro Shimada, Oshimi Nagano, and Isoroku Yamamoto and pressure the navy to deploy the Combined Fleet.

Prime Minister Hideki Tojo urged the Island Nation Navy to sortie against the stronger German Navy to support the collapsing Southern Army. Admiral Shigetarō Shimada and the other naval leaders warned that a decisive battle could destroy their fleet, but Tojo pressed them to risk everything for the South Seas.

• Admiral Shigetarō Shimada, Admiral Oshimi Nagano, and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto arrived at Prime Minister Hideki Tojo's residence and discussed the Navy's disadvantage against Germany.
• Hideki Tojo explained that German naval and air attacks had devastated the Southern Army and demanded Navy support to keep it from losing the South Seas.
• Hideki Tojo asked the Combined Fleet to sortie and defeat the German Navy while the Army sent two more Air Forces south.
• Admiral Shigetarō Shimada warned that German aircraft outnumbered and outperformed theirs, and that inexperienced replacement pilots made a decisive battle perilous.
• Admiral Oshimi Nagano argued that a Navy defeat would leave the mainland without a way to resist Germany, while Hideki Tojo insisted the Army could defend it with eight million troops.
• Hideki Tojo pressed the Navy to fight despite the risks, arguing that victory would secure resources and defeat would leave the Empire unable to replenish its forces.

Under pressure from Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto agreed to send the Combined Fleet into a decisive battle against the stronger German Navy. He reached the fleet’s flagship, Taihō, and ordered it south to seek battle, leaving his commanders to face a fight with slim chances of victory.

• Prime Minister Hideki Tojo told Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto that the Navy had to act quickly to protect the Southern Army and the Island Nation’s access to South Seas resources.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto warned Admiral Shigetarō Shimada and Admiral Oshimi Nagano that German carrier and battleship strength gave the Island Nation Navy less than a thirty percent chance of victory.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto flew to the Philippines and joined the Combined Fleet aboard its flagship, the aircraft carrier Taihō.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ordered the Combined Fleet to sail south and seek a decisive battle with the German Navy.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto urged the fleet’s commanders to fight to the death, and they pledged to give everything in the battle.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto committed the Island Nation Navy to a desperate battle against Germany, ordering an attack on the Caroline Islands to draw the German fleet into a favorable engagement. After the Island Nation Navy destroyed the German bases there, Marshal Rolf Kars led the German main force north to meet it.

• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto told Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo that the Empire faced destruction unless its navy defeated Germany, and ordered an attack on the Caroline Islands.
• On July 29, the Island Nation Navy sent more than five hundred carrier-based aircraft to destroy German Navy bases in the Caroline Islands.
• Lieutenant General George Fredberg reported the attack and the Island Nation Navy's location east of the Philippines to Marshal Rolf Kars.
• Marshal Rolf Kars dismissed concerns about a trap and ordered the German main force north toward the Caroline Islands.
• The German fleet sailed from the northern Coral Sea to meet the Island Nation Navy in battle.

The German Navy prepared to destroy the Island Nation Navy after it emerged in the South Seas, while Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto moved the Combined Fleet north to avoid German searches and seek the enemy. A German submarine spotted the Combined Fleet north of Palau, prompting two German fleets to accelerate their pursuit from the east and west.

• Marshal Rolf Kars ordered the German Navy to seize the chance to destroy the Island Nation Navy and discussed a plan to search and advance with separate fleets.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ordered the Combined Fleet north after Rear Admiral Shikazo Yano warned that German reconnaissance aircraft were searching nearby.
• The Combined Fleet launched seaplanes to search for the German Navy as both sides tried to locate the enemy first.
• On August 1, a German submarine spotted the Combined Fleet two hundred kilometers north of Palau and sent a Telegram.
• Marshal Rolf Kars ordered the Atlantic Fleet and the other German fleet to accelerate their pursuit of the Combined Fleet from opposite directions.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto changed the Combined Fleet’s course to evade the German Navy, then ordered a mass aircraft launch after a seaplane helped locate the enemy. The carrier-based aircraft took off as the naval battle began.

• After learning that German submarines had intercepted a signal, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ordered the Combined Fleet southwest toward waters west of Palau and planned a dawn search.
• The German Navy’s two fleets accelerated in pursuit and closed together to avoid being caught separately by the Island Nation Navy’s Capital Ships.
• On the morning of August 2, both navies launched seaplanes to search for the enemy, and German fighters shot down an Island Nation Navy seaplane after it sent a Telegram.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ordered the aircraft carriers to launch their remaining carrier-based aircraft in two waves, keeping some fighters for air defense.
• The carriers launched their aircraft, and the first Zero fighter took off from Taihō as the battle began.

The Island Nation Navy launched its first carrier-air strike against the German Navy Pacific Fleet, while Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto watched the planes depart. After German radar detected the incoming force, the Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Atlantic Fleets launched 270 FW-190 fighters to intercept it, reserving their remaining fighters for a second wave.

• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto watched the Island Nation Navy's first wave take off from Taihō, with 150 Zero fighters, 138 Type 99 dive bombers, and 178 Type 97 attack aircraft.
• Marshal Rolf Kars ordered German seaplanes and island-based reconnaissance aircraft to search farther and directed the Aircraft Carrier Formation to prepare its air defenses.
• At 7:45, German radar detected the incoming Island Nation carrier aircraft, and Lieutenant General Wilhelm Canaris ordered fighters into the air.
• The Pacific Fleet's four Constellation-class carriers launched 72 FW-190 fighters, while the Indian Ocean Fleet launched 54 fighters.
• The Atlantic Fleet launched 144 FW-190 fighters, bringing the German fleets' interception force to 270 fighters and leaving the other half of their carrier fighters for the expected second wave.

The German Navy intercepted the Island Nation Navy’s first carrier-aircraft wave and inflicted devastating losses while its reconnaissance aircraft searched for the Combined Fleet. After a scout located the fleet, Marshal Rolf Kars ordered the German fleet west and prepared its carriers to launch an attack.

• Marshal Rolf Kars ordered the German fleet into an air-defense formation and expanded reconnaissance searches for the Island Nation fleet.
• German carrier-based FW-190 fighters ambushed the Island Nation’s first wave, shooting down most of its aircraft while German fleet defenses destroyed the few attackers that got through.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto launched a second wave, which German fighters also met and began overwhelming.
• A German reconnaissance aircraft located the Combined Fleet about 450 kilometers away before being shot down, and Lieutenant General George Fredberg reported its position.
• Kars ordered the fleet to turn west and prepare its carrier aircraft, and sixteen German aircraft carriers began launching planes to attack the Combined Fleet.

The German Navy launched a vastly larger carrier-aircraft attack against Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's Combined Fleet, overwhelming its fighters and anti-aircraft defenses. The Island Nation Navy's carriers and battleships were sunk, leaving the Combined Fleet completely defeated.

• The German Navy launched 638 aircraft from 16 carriers, while the Combined Fleet had only 150 air-defense fighters remaining.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ordered the fighters to intercept, but German FW-190s mauled the Zero fighters before the German formation reached the fleet.
• German dive bombers and torpedo bombers attacked the Combined Fleet, sinking its escort ships and targeting its carriers.
• Taihō sank after taking 18 bombs and 9 torpedoes, followed by Shōkaku, Zuikaku, Ryūhō, and the four Unryu-class carriers.
• The German Navy's second wave struck the remaining formations, sinking every Yamato-class battleship and completing the Combined Fleet's crushing defeat.

The German Navy destroyed the Island Nation Navy's Combined Fleet, leaving the Island Nation almost defenseless against a German attack on its mainland. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto died by seppuku, while Island Nation leaders learned of the fleet's catastrophic defeat.

• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto declared the Combined Fleet finished and committed seppuku in his cabin.
• Major General Shikazo Yano found Yamamoto's body, and news of his death prompted many Combined Fleet officers to commit seppuku.
• Marshal Rolf Kars canceled a third attack because the pilots were exhausted and the fleet was nearing the Philippine Islands; he said the Army would next take on the Island Nation.
• First Sea Lord Shigetarō Shimada received confirmation that the Combined Fleet had been nearly annihilated and collapsed in shock.
• Prime Minister Hideki Tojo learned of the defeat and realized the Island Nation might not be able to stop a German attack on its mainland.

German forces overwhelmed the Island Nation’s Southern Army across the South Seas after the Combined Fleet was destroyed. The Southern Army’s remaining forces were annihilated, its territory fell to Germany, and Terauchi Juichi and Tadaichi Tsukada died by seppuku.

• German forces captured Medan and destroyed the 7th Area Army, then drove the Island Nation’s armies back across Sumatra, Java, and New Guinea.
• On August 2, Tadaichi Tsukada told Terauchi Juichi that the Combined Fleet had been almost completely wiped out, and Terauchi ordered troops to defend Batavia while he fled to Manila.
• German forces captured Batavia after five days of fighting, then continued their advance into Borneo and landed on Luzon.
• On August 14, as German forces took most of Manila, Terauchi Juichi and Tadaichi Tsukada committed seppuku, and Manila fell that evening.
• By August 20, German forces had wiped out the Island Nation’s forces on Borneo and taken the entire South Seas.

After losing the Southern Army and its holdings in the South Seas, Island Nation prepared for an expected German invasion of the Mainland. Hideki Tojo and Emperor Hirohito rallied the military and civilians to resist, leaving the country poised for a decisive battle.

• Hideki Tojo told the Cabinet that Germany would attack the Mainland and that Island Nation had to repel the assault to survive.
• Gen Sugiyama reported that five million new soldiers had been recruited but lacked sufficient weapons, and Shigetarō Shimada agreed to redirect navy shipbuilding resources to the army.
• Sugiyama told Tojo that troop morale had suffered but soldiers and civilians were being prepared to fight, including with bamboo weapons and explosives.
• Tojo and Sugiyama committed to resisting the German attack and preserving Island Nation for another opportunity.
• Emperor Hirohito gave a radio address urging the people to take up arms, and tens of millions prepared to resist Germany.