Recaps

Germany began strategic bombing of Buru and crushed guerrilla resistance while preparing a major offensive. After Buru executed captured German pilots, Qin Tian ordered retaliation, and German airmen began killing Russian pilots who bailed out.

• Qin Tian warned his ministers not to underestimate Russia or Germany’s other potential enemies, while Manstein outlined plans for a spring offensive and Raeder prepared the fleets against Island Nation Navy.
• Qin Tian ordered Kesselring to bomb Buru’s industrial and transport infrastructure, and German aircraft destroyed Kazan’s factories and much of the city before striking Nizhny Novgorod.
• Roosevelt approved increased bomber production and aid to Buru, including radar, aircraft engines, and pilots sent under the cover of retirement, while ordering Island Nation to enter the war.
• Vasily’s guerrillas ambushed a German supply convoy, took its provisions, and withdrew to their forest stronghold, but Major Schulz captured Ivan and used him to locate the camp.
• German troops, aircraft, and armored vehicles destroyed the guerrilla camp and burned Iboka, while Joseph ordered German prisoners executed after learning the United States would supply Buru with radar and engines.
• Buru publicly hanged more than a hundred captured German pilots, and Qin Tian ordered retaliation despite Ribbentrop’s warning that killing Russian prisoners could strengthen Soviet resolve.
• German forces publicized the executions and attacked Ufa on January 18, 1940, where BF-110 fighters routed Russian interceptors and strafed Russian pilots as they parachuted.

The Island Nation joined the war against Germany in exchange for territory and supplies, then launched a surprise assault on German Pacific airfields. The Combined Fleet and the German Pacific Fleet met at night near Ponape Island, beginning a major capital-ship battle.

• Fumimaro Konoe negotiated with Hopkins for the South Seas, Australia, and twenty percent of postwar reparations in return for the Island Nation’s commitment to fight Germany.
• Isoroku Yamamoto sent the Combined Fleet from Sasebo, and Conrad Albrecht dispatched the German Pacific Fleet from Lion City to meet the threat.
• Isoroku Yamamoto approved Chuichi Nagumo’s plan to attack German bases across the Mariana Islands, Palau, and Yap by surprise.
• The Island Nation’s aircraft and battleships devastated German airfields, while German fighters inflicted heavy losses on the attacking aircraft.
• Oscar declared Germany at war with the Island Nation after German forces reported the destruction of more than six hundred aircraft.
• Isoroku Yamamoto approved Yoshida Zengo’s plan to draw the German fleet toward Ponape Island while Takasu Shirō’s squadron hunted its carriers.
• Conrad Albrecht sent the German Pacific Fleet to intercept the Island Nation fleet near Ponape Island, while keeping German carriers south of the island.
• The German and Island Nation fleets met at night, and German shells exploded around Nagato as Yoshida Zengo ordered his fleet to prepare for battle.

The German and Island Nation fleets fought a costly night battle as German radar and firepower sank several Island Nation battleships. The Island Nation battlecruisers then sank German carriers, but German aircraft caught them during their retreat as both sides launched air strikes.

• Tokunaga Sakae’s Nagato took repeated German hits and sank, while Yoshida Zengo ordered the Island Nation fleet to close with the German ships.
• Yoshida sent the four Kii-class battleships against the German line, but Kii and König were lost, and Owari was destroyed by an ammunition explosion.
• Yoshida ordered a retreat, but Schneewind’s Indian Ocean Fleet intercepted Fuso and Yamashiro, while German forces also sank Tosa.
• Takasu Shirō’s Amagi-class battlecruisers found the German carriers, and Akagi and Atago sank Wilhelm the Great after striking its flight deck and igniting its hangar.
• The Amagi-class ships sank Frederick III, while German torpedo attacks hit Wilhelm II and Wilhelm III as dawn broke.
• Albrecht sent German carrier aircraft and Ponape Island planes against the Amagi-class battlecruisers, while Yamamoto ordered Island Nation carriers to withdraw to Naha after launching their aircraft.
• Takasu ordered his battlecruisers to retreat as German aircraft approached, and Yamamoto sent fighters to protect them while Nagumo prepared an attack on the German carriers.

Germany destroyed the Island Nation’s Second Carrier Squadron and inflicted heavy losses on its fleet, while the Island Nation and the United States concealed the defeat and planned a new offensive. The arc ended with a secret agreement for the Island Nation to occupy the Philippines as a springboard against the South Seas and Australia.

• German aircraft sank Amagi, Akagi, and Atago, damaged Takao, and repelled the Island Nation’s carrier attack despite severe damage to Crown Prince from suicide strikes.
• German forces located and destroyed the Second Carrier Squadron’s four carriers, while the First Carrier Division escaped with nearly all its aircraft and pilots lost.
• Admiral Konrad Albrecht ordered repairs after the battle, and Marshal Raeder reported Germany’s losses to Emperor Qin Tian.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto returned to the Island Nation as Mitsumasa Yonai and Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu learned of the defeat and sought resources to rebuild the navy.
• Mitsumasa Yonai defended the navy before Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe’s Cabinet, while the Island Nation and Germany issued competing victory claims.
• Charles Edison and President Roosevelt decided to continue supporting the Island Nation, and Roosevelt approved providing naval steel for its new ships.
• Eisenhower proposed using aircraft based on Okinawa and Treasure Island to support an Island Nation offensive through the Philippines, and Roosevelt approved the plan.
• Advisor Hopkins persuaded Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe and his ministers to agree to a surprise occupation of the Philippines, and the Island Nation began moving aircraft to prepare for attacks south.