Chapter Summaries

Ivan gave Major Schulz the guerrillas’ location to save Ilena, leading the German forces to their forest camp. At dawn, Schulz’s troops surrounded the camp and prepared to attack, while Ivan watched in guilt.

• Major Schulz threatened Ilena and the village until Ivan agreed to reveal the guerrillas’ base.
• Schulz ordered Captain Franz to guard the village and took Ivan into the forest.
• Ivan led the Germans near the base, where scouts confirmed a camp of at least two hundred guerrillas.
• Schulz planned to surround the base at dawn and ordered the special forces to clear its hidden sentries.
• The 2nd and 3rd Reconnaissance Companies spread out around the camp as Ivan blamed himself for the coming attack.

Major Schulz’s German forces attacked and destroyed the guerrilla camp with armored vehicles, troops, and helicopters. After killing Ivan and wiping out the guerrillas, Schulz ordered his men to leave no survivors, and they burned Iboka as they withdrew.

• German special forces cleared the guerrillas’ sentries and warning traps before Major Schulz ordered the attack.
• German scouts and armored vehicles stormed the camp, killing guerrillas and setting their cabins ablaze.
• Vasily ordered a retreat, but the guerrillas found themselves surrounded by German troops and armored vehicles.
• Four German helicopters fired rockets and machine guns into the camp, devastating the guerrillas.
• Ivan attacked Major Schulz, who knocked him down and shot him after declaring he was no longer useful.
• Major Schulz ordered his troops to check for survivors and withdraw, and the Germans burned Iboka as they left.

German forces devastated Buru’s guerrillas and bombed its industrial centers, weakening its ability to resist the planned 1940 offensive. In Moscow, Joseph heard about American aid and captured German pilots, then ordered the pilots executed.

• German forces used elite troops, helicopters, and armored vehicles to suppress Buru’s guerrillas, destroying many units and securing occupied supply lines.
• German Emperor Qin Tian prioritized the guerrilla campaign and strategic bombing as preparations for a major offensive against Buru.
• General Astakhov told Joseph that the United States would supply air-defense early-warning Radar systems and aircraft engines.
• Joseph demanded that Buru build an air force capable of stopping German air raids, while Astakhov said the engines could help bring the Yak-1 fighter into service.
• General Astakhov reported that Buru had captured over a hundred German pilots, and Joseph ordered them executed.

Buru hanged more than a hundred captured German pilots in Red Square, prompting Germany to learn of the executions and Emperor Qin Tian to demand retaliation. The chapter ended with the Empire facing a decision about how to respond as its major offensive approached.

• Buru staged a public execution in Red Square, where a Russian general condemned Germany and over a hundred captured German pilots were hanged.
• Hans and the other pilots faced their deaths by declaring that the Empire would avenge them.
• German intelligence agents witnessed the executions and sent news of Buru’s actions back to Germany.
• General Heidrich reported the executions to Emperor Qin Tian, who demanded that the Empire begin retaliating against the Russians.

After Russia executed captured German pilots, Oscar ordered the German Air Force to shoot Russian pilots who parachuted and to intensify strategic bombing. A major raid on Ufa demonstrated the deadly consequences for Russian airmen and civilians.

• Kesselring and Manstein urged retaliation against Russia, but Ribbentrop warned that executing Russian prisoners would strengthen Soviet resolve.
• Oscar ordered German pilots to shoot down Russian airmen who parachuted and authorized less restraint during strategic bombing.
• The German government publicized Russia’s execution of captured pilots, stirring outrage among the German public, Allied Powers, and German airmen.
• On January 18, 1940, German bombers attacked Ufa while more than four hundred BF-110 fighters defeated the Russian interceptors.
• German fighters strafed Russian pilots as they parachuted, killing many before they reached the ground and increasing Russian losses.

Japan’s leaders prepared to enter the war against Germany as American envoy Hopkins was due to arrive and press them to honor their promise. The chapter left the Five Cabinet Ministers readying Japan’s forces while hoping to use the conflict to become a leading world power.

• Japan’s government abandoned its bid to join the Allied Powers and prepared to fight Germany under American pressure.
• Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe arranged for Hopkins to meet him at the Prime Minister’s residence when the envoy arrived in Tokyo.
• Konoe told the ministers that Japan’s entry into the war was unavoidable and asked about its military preparations.
• Army Minister Seishiro Itagaki reported that the Army had mobilized one hundred divisions and planned to expand to two hundred by year’s end.
• Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonai said the Navy was prepared to attack Germany’s Pacific and Indian Ocean fleets, though he doubted Japan had a clear advantage.
• Konoe urged the ministers to treat the dangerous war as an opportunity for Japan to become one of the world’s foremost powers.

Fumimaro Konoe and the Island Nation’s ministers discussed what they would demand from the United States in exchange for entering the war against Germany, including territory, reparations, and wartime supplies. Their talks awaited the arrival of American envoy Hopkins, who reached Tokyo aboard a converted B-17 transport aircraft.

• Fumimaro Konoe asked his ministers what demands they should make of the Americans before the Island Nation joined the war against Germany.
• Kuniaki Koiso and Seishiro Itagaki demanded that the South Seas, Australia, and German-held Pacific islands belong to the Island Nation after victory.
• Seihin Ikeda proposed claiming India, while Konoe doubted the Americans would accept that demand and Naruhiko Higashikuni suggested beginning negotiations with a high asking price.
• Naruhiko Higashikuni called for a share of Germany’s war reparations, and Konoe said the Island Nation should receive at least one-quarter.
• Mitsumasa Yonai urged the Americans to provide steel, coal, oil, and other supplies needed to fight the war, and Konoe agreed that victory was the priority.
• Hopkins arrived in Tokyo aboard a transport aircraft converted from a B-17 Bomber.

Hopkins met with Fumimaro Konoe and the Island Nation’s senior officials to secure their promised entry into the war against Germany. Konoe confirmed that Island Nation troops would attack without a prior declaration, while Hopkins offered supplies and intelligence about resources in the South Seas and Australia.

• Shigenori Tōgō welcomed Hopkins at the airport, and Hopkins insisted on meeting Fumimaro Konoe without resting first.
• Hopkins urged the Island Nation to honor its promise to fight Germany, warning that a German victory would threaten every other nation.
• Fumimaro Konoe said the Island Nation would send its troops into action but would not declare war before launching its attack.
• Konoe requested American support with war resources, and Hopkins promised increased supplies of steel and oil.
• Hopkins revealed that Germany had found oil in the Dutch East Indies and iron ore in Australia, prompting the Island Nation’s senior officials to eagerly consider seizing those regions.

Hopkins negotiated with Fumimaro Konoe over the Island Nation’s entry into the war and its expected rewards, while concealing the United States’ plans to limit its ally’s future power. Konoe demanded vast territories and resources, and the talks ended with him challenging Britain’s claim to its colonies.

• Hopkins assured Konoe that the United States would supply the Island Nation and enter the war by the end of the year.
• Konoe asked about postwar spoils and demanded the South Seas, Australia, German-held Pacific islands, India, and a share of Middle Eastern oil.
• Hopkins rejected the demands as excessive and argued that Britain’s claims to its colonies had to be respected.
• Konoe replied that Britain would deserve to keep its colonies only if it made a contribution to the war comparable to the Island Nation’s.

Hopkins negotiated with Fumimaro Konoe and Seishiro Itagaki over the Island Nation’s rewards for fighting Germany. Roosevelt approved an agreement granting the Island Nation the South Seas, Australia, and twenty percent of postwar reparations, while the United States kept control of the Middle East.

• Hopkins offered the South Seas to the Island Nation if it helped defeat Germany, but Seishiro Itagaki demanded greater rewards for committing millions of troops.
• Hopkins agreed that the Island Nation could govern the South Seas and Australia after the war, while refusing to offer India.
• Fumimaro Konoe asked for Middle Eastern oil, and Hopkins offered low-priced US oil sales and a chance to invest in its development.
• Hopkins warned that the Island Nation had to commit all its strength to the war, and Fumimaro Konoe promised it would fight Germany fully.
• Fumimaro Konoe demanded thirty percent of postwar reparations, and he and Hopkins settled on twenty percent after bargaining.
• Roosevelt approved the agreement, granting the Island Nation the South Seas, Australia, and twenty percent of reparations.

After Hopkins left Tokyo, the Island Nation’s leaders and military chiefs finalized preparations for war against Germany and discussed the risks of a naval campaign. Isoroku Yamamoto proposed striking one of the two German fleets first, but the Combined Fleet had no firm plan and the meeting ended with victory still uncertain.

• Shigenori Tōgō saw Hopkins off as the US envoy departed Tokyo for the United States.
• The Island Nation’s Army and Navy issued emergency combat-readiness orders and prepared for war.
• Fumimaro Konoe summoned senior Army and Navy leaders to discuss the coming campaign against Germany.
• Seishiro Itagaki said the Island Nation had to defeat the German Pacific and Indian Ocean fleets before landing troops in the South Seas and Australia.
• Mitsumasa Yonai and Isoroku Yamamoto warned that the German fleets’ coordination left the sides roughly equal despite the Combined Fleet’s strength.
• Isoroku Yamamoto said the Combined Fleet would seek a chance to strike one German fleet first, but admitted that no suitable battle plan had been settled.

Island Nation's leaders agreed to enter the war against Germany without a declaration, hoping the Combined Fleet could win control of the sea and enable the Army's campaigns in the South Seas and Australia. On January 28, 1940, the Combined Fleet secretly left Sasebo, formally beginning Island Nation's operations against Germany.

• Fumimaro Konoe and the naval leaders agreed that attacking Germany without declaring war offered the Combined Fleet its best chance of victory.
• Fumimaro Konoe asked whether the Army could attack the South Seas and Australia, and Prince Kan'in Kotohito said the Southern Army would need the Navy to secure maritime routes.
• Mitsumasa Yonai and Oshimi Nagano warned Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto that the Empire's fate depended on winning, while Yamamoto acknowledged the gamble and the Americans' orders.
• On the night of January 28, 1940, the Combined Fleet secretly sailed from Sasebo Naval Base with sixteen Capital Ships and eight aircraft carriers.

After U-204 reported that the Island Nation Navy’s ships had vanished from Sasebo, Admiral Conrad Albrecht ordered the German Pacific Fleet to its highest state of combat readiness and sent its main force out to sea. He authorized an attack if the fleet found the enemy under favorable conditions and notified the Indian Ocean Fleet to prepare to join forces.

• U-204 reported that all the Island Nation Navy’s warships had left Sasebo Naval Base.
• Admiral Conrad Albrecht ordered the Pacific Fleet to its highest state of combat readiness, citing the danger of a surprise attack.
• Albrecht ordered the Capital Ship Formation and aircraft carrier formation to leave Lion City that afternoon.
• Albrecht authorized Lieutenant General Theodor Burchardi to attack the Island Nation Navy’s main fleet if conditions were favorable.
• Albrecht told Lieutenant General Oskar Kummetz to notify the Indian Ocean Fleet and warn it to be careful.
• The Pacific Fleet’s main force sailed from Lion City with five Kaiser-class Battleships, three Derfflinger-class Battlecruisers, and four Constellation-class aircraft carriers.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto led the Island Nation Navy’s Combined Fleet south to confront Germany’s Pacific and Indian Ocean fleets, knowing the battle would determine whether Island Nation could invade the South Seas. After learning that the German Pacific Fleet had departed Lion City, he ordered an urgent search for both German fleets while American intelligence joined the effort.

• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto considered the strength of the Combined Fleet and the pressure to defeat Germany or at least secure the sea routes for Island Nation’s Army.
• Major General Takahashi Ibo reported that the German Navy Pacific Fleet had departed Lion City and that the Indian Ocean Fleet’s location was unknown.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ordered intelligence gathered on both German fleets and resolved to decide the naval battle within half a month.
• Island Nation’s intelligence department mobilized merchant ships and fishing boats to search the South China Sea and central Pacific Ocean.
• The American Navy’s intelligence department joined the search, and the German fleets’ movements could no longer remain hidden.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto learned that the German Navy’s Pacific and Indian Ocean Fleets planned to unite, creating a force that could match the Combined Fleet. He convened his commanders to discuss the threat, but they recognized that attacking either fleet near German land-based aircraft would be disastrous.

• Major General Takahashi Ibo reported the locations and planned rendezvous of the German Navy’s Pacific and Indian Ocean Fleets.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ordered Nagumo, Kakuta, Yoshida, Takasu, Koga, and Inoue to join him aboard the aircraft carrier Kii.
• Yamamoto warned his commanders that the united German fleets would have fifteen Capital Ships and eight aircraft carriers, making a decisive victory difficult.
• Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo argued that the Combined Fleet could not venture into the central Pacific because German land-based aircraft would inflict heavy losses.
• Yamamoto agreed that the Combined Fleet must avoid the central Pacific until it could destroy the German fleets.

Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo proposed a nighttime surprise attack to destroy German airfields and naval bases before the Combined Fleet faced the German fleets. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto approved the plan as their best chance of victory, leaving the officers to prepare for the operation.

• Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo argued that destroying German Pacific bases would weaken the German fleets and improve the Combined Fleet’s chances in a decisive battle.
• Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo proposed using battleships at night to bombard the Mariana Islands’ airfields, followed by carrier aircraft striking them at daybreak.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto endorsed attacking the four Mariana Islands airfields with four Capital Ship Squadrons and then extending the campaign against German bases across the Pacific.
• Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo suggested that the carrier task force attack Yap and Palau while the battleships struck the Marianas.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto concluded that the surprise attack was the Combined Fleet’s only present chance to win.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and the Combined Fleet commanders approved Chuichi Nagumo’s plan to launch a surprise attack on German bases in the Mariana Islands before the two nations formally went to war. They assigned targets across the fleet and agreed to move the Capital Ship Squadrons’ attacks to dawn, leaving the Island Nation Navy committed to the gamble.

• Kakuta Kakuji and the other commanders supported Nagumo’s proposal, while Takahashi Ibo warned that attacking the Mariana Islands would begin a war with Germany.
• Yamamoto accepted that risk and ordered the fleet to attack German bases across Palau, Yap, Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan.
• Nagumo asked Yamamoto to schedule the Capital Ship Squadrons’ attacks for dawn so the German bases would have less time to prepare.
• Nagumo argued that the ships could evade German aircraft and that destroying the Palau and Yap airfields would limit German reconnaissance in future battles.
• Yoshida Zengo, Kakuta Kakuji, and the other squadron commanders backed the plan, and Yamamoto approved the dawn attacks.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s Combined Fleet moved toward the Mariana Islands while Germany’s Pacific and Indian Ocean fleets stayed south to join forces. The Island Nation launched a surprise attack at dawn, confident that its carrier aircraft could strike the German airfields before Germany could respond.

• The Island Nation Navy entered the central Philippine waters on January 31 while German intelligence placed the German Pacific and Indian Ocean fleets in the Bismarck Sea.
• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ordered the Combined Fleet to attack the Mariana Islands, and its squadrons set out for assigned targets under radio silence.
• Lieutenant General Yoshida Zengo ordered seaplanes to watch for German warships and directed the fleet to maintain its course and speed after nightfall.
• At three o’clock on February 1, the eight carriers’ crews prepared aircraft while pilots received their briefings.
• The first Zero fighter took off from Ibuki at three-thirty, and the remaining aircraft launched in successive waves.

The Island Nation Navy launched more than two hundred carrier-based aircraft toward the German base on Yap, expecting a surprise attack. German radar detected the incoming force at 4:15 a.m., and the base sounded the alarm as its pilots and air defenses prepared for battle.

• More than two hundred Island Nation Navy aircraft took off from eight carriers, while Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo discussed the risks of the attack.
• A German air-defense warning Radar on Yap detected aircraft approaching from three hundred kilometers away at 4:15 a.m.
• The radar operator confirmed that no friendly aircraft were returning and sounded the alarm.
• German pilots, ground crews, and air-defense troops rushed to prepare their aircraft and weapons.
• The base duty officer reported to the Commander that more than one hundred aircraft were rapidly approaching.

The Island Nation Navy launched a surprise attack on German bases in the Mariana Islands before German aircraft could take off. Its battleships devastated the airfields at Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan, leaving the bases with catastrophic aircraft and personnel losses.

• German commanders at Yap and Palau ordered their bases to prepare for combat after detecting the approaching Island Nation aircraft.
• Yoshida Zengo learned that German forces on Guam were preparing their aircraft and ordered the Island Nation fleet to attack, while Isoroku Yamamoto ordered all four Capital Ship Squadrons to strike the Mariana bases.
• Four Kii-class Battleships bombarded Guam, destroying aircraft and damaging its runways before German planes could launch.
• The Guam base commander ordered personnel to withdraw after the runways were destroyed and aircraft could no longer take off.
• Island Nation battleships attacked Rota, Tinian, and Saipan, destroying aircraft and airfields and inflicting heavy losses on German pilots and ground crews.