In our second developer diary we focus on one aspect of our flagship 1941 Day of Infamy campaign: Japan’s Allies!

Japan never fought alone in WWII, and to reflect this, units belonging to at least 8 separate entities can be deployed alongside Japanese forces to fight for the Axis.

The Indian Nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose giving a speech in Tokyo, 1943

Thailand
Thailand will join the Axis within a turn or two of the beginning of the Pacific War, deploying a Corps ready for service, with the potential to increase its forces further.

These will prove useful during the invasion of Burma and beyond, plus Thailand’s co-option into the Axis camp allows Japanese forces in the Gulf of Siam to concentrate on the conquest of Malaya and Singapore.

Free India
Following the capture of Singapore, Japan will be asked by the Indian Nationalist Mohan Singh for permission to raise an Indian National Army from among Indian deserters and Prisoners of War captured in Malaya.

This can be just the start of raising a sizeable Free Indian force, for should Japan invade India then it will be able to raise more Corps on seizing Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi and Dimapur. The 5 Corps that can potentially be raised will therefore prove a useful addition to Japan’s overall fighting strength, and they can even be given their own HQ in the shape of Subhas Chandra Bose.

"Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom!"
In 1943 the Indian Nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose will arrive in Japan from Europe, following his transfer from a German to Japanese submarine near Madagascar. Japan will then have the opportunity to deploy him as a HQ of the Indian National Army of Free India, enabling Bose to lead Indian forces into battle against the British!

Free Indian units including Subhas Chandra Bose fighting alongside Japanese forces in Burma

Japan can even gift some territory to the Indian National Army, for if it captures the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, then these islands can be handed over to Free India. Doing so will boost Japan’s National Morale as it will increase the credibility of Japan’s claims to be liberating Asia from Western Imperialism and founding a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in its place.

The State of Burma
With Burma and Malaya conquered, Japan’s successes will provide an impetus to supporters of Burmese Independence. These Burmese activists will already have helped Japan’s invasion by attacking British forces, and now they are willing to take up arms to fight alongside the Japanese. This unit could prove of use in in an invasion of India, or through supporting an advance into China and threatening Kunming.

China
Japan is greatly assisted in its war effort by all the dissension and divisions within Chinese society (see a future developer diary for details) and some Chinese factions have been recruited to fight alongside Japanese forces.

The most significant formation of Chinese to fight alongside Japan come under the nominal authority of Wang Jingwei’s collaborationist government based in Nanjing. However, Nanjing’s forces lack good leadership and are therefore best left in the rear to guard against partisan attacks.

Nevertheless, this lack of leadership can be rectified through capturing Taiyuan in Shanxi Province. For should they do so, Japan will have an opportunity to attempt to recruit the Shanxi Warlord Yan Xishan.

Negotiations were carried out during the war via Major-General Tanaka, a Japanese officer serving in China who was also a friend of his, and in 1942 Yan Xishan did tell the Japanese that he would be prepared to switch sides if he were provided with food, weapons and equipment with which to fight the Communists. Although he ultimately changed his mind and refused, Japan does have a significant chance of successfully convincing Yan Xishan to switch sides and deploy as a HQ in the service of Nanjing.

Additionally, there is Prince Demchugdongrub’s Mongolian Autonomous Federation, also known as Mengjiang, a small puppet state north west of Beiping that can deploy its own armed forces.

Demchugdongrub, also known as Prince de Wang, led a movement for Mongolian independence in the mid-1930s before collaborating with the Japanese, and in some circumstances his army can be expanded further in order to deploy cavalry for service in Mongolia or against the Soviet Union.

The Empire of Manchukuo
Manchukuo, Japan’s puppet state in Manchuria, has its own Emperor in the shape of Puyi, the former Emperor of China, and this minor empire also has its own armed forces.

These can be expanded later in the war as the threat of a Soviet invasion looms, with infantry and cavalry units being equipped and deployed ready to fight the Red Army. Will they be enough to make a difference when the decisive battle comes?

Some of the Emperor of Manchukuo’s soldiers

The Greater East Asia Conference
In November 1943 Japan can organise a Greater East Asia Conference of its allies, with attendees including Ba Maw (Burma), José P. Laurel and Sukarno (Philippines), Subhas Chandra Bose (India), and Wang Jinwei (China). There are both political and military benefits to Japan for organising this conference, for not only will its success boost Japanese National Morale, but it will also facilitate the recruitment of local volunteers in the Dutch East Indies, Malaya and the Philippines.

Laurel’s Philippines Republic will be prepared to raise a Makapili Militia that can assist with the defence of the country should MacArthur’s dream come true and he be able to return at the head of a US invasion force.

Militia units belonging to the Defenders of the Homeland (Pembela Tanah Air or PETA) can also be raised in the Dutch East Indies and Malaya. These are not strong units, but in the face of Allied invasions, every man may count!

PETA Militia undergoing training

Treachery and Desertion
Some of Japan’s allies are rather fickle, and if the war turns in favour of the Allies then they may switch sides or simply surrender. This could have disastrous strategic consequences, and therefore although these allies provide necessary reinforcements, some could also pose a threat.

While Thailand will be the first country to provide additional forces to fight alongside Japan’s in 1941 Day of Infamy, later in the war it could switch sides, deploying units to fight alongside the Allies. These units may not be strong, but they will at the bare minimum prove inconvenient to Japanese strategy, potentially facilitating a major Allied advance in South East Asia.

Of no less importance to Japan’s position in South East Asia is Indochina. Indochina has been under Japanese occupation since 1940, though its French authorities are neutral and are nominally still in power.

As the war progresses the French may develop plans to assist the Allies, timing their actions to take place at the same time as Allied forces advance into Indochina.

To prevent a French uprising, Japan can launch Operation Bright Moon to secure the country and disarm French forces. Casualties may be suffered in doing so, though it may be better than letting French forces rise and attack Japanese forces, especially as an Allied presence here would break Japan’s communications with Thailand and the frontline in Burma.

However, even having defeated French forces in Indochina, Japan’s problems may not end there as Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh can initiate Partisan activity in the north.

Overall, the many allied units that Japan can deploy to fight alongside her armed forces in 1941 Day of Infamy are a useful asset, providing us with a reminder that this was much more than a conflict fought between existing states. Axis players will therefore do well to mobilize these forces as much as possible in her favour, for one thing is certain: the Allies will be mobilizing massively for the battles ahead, and every single unit will have the potential to count in determining the winner of WWII: War in the Pacific!

Welcome to our first Developer Diary for Strategic Command WWII: War in the Pacific, and here we focus on one of the smaller campaigns that comes with the game!

1945 August Storm

40 years have passed since Japan’s imperial sunrise brought humiliation to Russia and revolution to the Tsar. Now, in the dying days of World War II, the time for revenge is at hand!

This map may look familiar, but much has changed over the last four decades…

The Red Army

Honouring his promise made at the Yalta Conference, in the summer of 1945, Stalin has transferred hundreds of thousands of the Red Army’s finest soldiers to the Far East. Organised into three fronts, they have been secretly deployed along the frontiers of Japanese-held Manchuria.

The forces sent to Manchuria represent the culmination of the Red Army’s wartime experience, perhaps the most powerful military force assembled to this point in history: most are veterans of Stalingrad, Kursk and the battles that drove the Wehrmacht all the way to Berlin, and they will be supported by the best equipment the USSR has available: T-34 tanks, Il-2 bombers and the famous Katyusha rocket-launchers. The Eastern Front was a harsh place to learn the arts of war, but its lessons have been well learned.

The Kwantung Army

By contrast, the Japanese garrison in Manchuria, the Kwantung Army, is woefully unprepared. Once Japan’s mightiest army, years of neglect have left it a shadow of its former self. Competing priorities saw the Kwantung Army’s best units diverted to China and the Pacific, while Japan’s leaders placed their faith in a non-aggression pact with Stalin to keep Manchuria safe from attack.

Yet even the cancellation of that pact in April 1945 has done little to rouse the Japanese defence: aside from a number of strongpoints across Manchuria and the formidable entrenchments at Mutanchiang, few defensive positions have been prepared and most Japanese troops have been positioned to maintain internal order. The rare Japanese commanders who believe an attack is coming at all have placed their faith in the difficult terrain of Manchuria to slow the Soviets down.

The Battlefield

Japanese confidence in the difficulty of traversing Manchuria is not entirely misplaced. The region covers an area the size of Western Europe, making the proposed invasion dwarf even the likes of Operation Bagration in scope.

In the west, the first obstacle the Soviet Trans-Baikal Front will face is the Gobi Desert: hundreds of kilometres of barren terrain. With few tracks and no proper roads, merely transporting supplies to the front will require a herculean effort by the Red Army’s quartermasters. Beyond the Gobi lays the Grand Khingan mountain range, whose peaks the Japanese consider to be impassable by a large army.

Further east, the valleys of the Ussuri River are covered with swamps, and much of eastern Manchuria is also heavily forested. While the terrain poses less of an obstacle here than in the west, the Japanese have also concentrated most of their best troops in this region, and thus the largest battles of the campaign are likely to be fought here.

But it may be across the Sea of Japan where the most difficult objective of all is located: the island of Hokkaido. As part of the Lend-Lease program, the United States has provided the USSR with limited numbers of transport ships, arguably too few to launch a major amphibious invasion at all. Such an operation would also be operating beyond the range of most Soviet aircraft, and while the Japanese air force has been greatly reduced in combat against the United States, all reserves will be made available if the Home Islands themselves are attacked. This makes an attack against Hokkaido an enormous gamble, but few could deny the prestige such a success would grant the Soviet Union.

The Campaign

Unlike most Strategic Command campaigns, in 1945 August Storm both sides will be limited to a fixed pool of MPPs provided at the beginning of the campaign, and careful management of these resources will be required to ensure that crucial reinforcements can be provided where they are most needed.

Japan will have the ability to rebuild units that have been destroyed, representing the regrouping of formations shattered by the Soviet advance, however it is unlikely that Japan will be able to afford to replace all of its losses, making it vital that the units that will be replaced are carefully chosen.

As the Trans-Siberian Railroad is operating at capacity just bringing supplies to the front, the Red Army will not be able to replace any units that are destroyed, although with such a powerful army available, the outright destruction of any Soviet units will be a significant setback to the Red Army’s advance, to say nothing of the humiliation to Soviet arms!

With the date of Japan’s surrender rapidly approaching, Stalin can ill afford even the slightest setback. The Red Army will have just 18 turns to secure its objectives, which include Mukden, Seoul and the site of the Tsar’s famous defeat itself – Port Arthur. Reaching these objectives will require a relentless pace of advance, one certain to stretch the Red Army’s supply line to breaking point.