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quote:
ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus
It would be extremely interesting if we could opt for a delayed war with western powers. Like: I DON'T attack any western position and there is no war for a while. At that point, I suppose there are many arguments supporting an attack on the soviets.
Still, it would be something reasonable only if the western powers would be otrageously limited in the actions they could do in the meanwhile. Even being able to build forts alone would make the attack on the soviets strategically unwise.
Well, wish upon a star, and you’ll be granted.
I did it, a few years ago. I had read a discussion on the forum about a what-if scenario where Japan would bypass the Philippines and only attack the British, Dutch and other allies, and the effect it would have on the defense of the Philippines. So, I got curious and edited a scenario to test an invasion of Siberia by Japan, with the other Allies being untouched, and played both sides.
I moved the troops Japan unleashed on the SRA to good starting positions against the Soviet (so, it wasn’t a usual Scen #1 start, but better positions for such a case are logical), and set the Soviet actives at game start (to let the ships be in port).
For the other Allies, I decided a build-up was possible, but shouldn’t be unlimited, and in short :
- reinforcing the DEI/Malaya/Philippines/NG only with troops and support units of the appropriate nationality (ie, no US anywhere else than US or Philippine territory)
- no direct shipping of supply to China (except to Hong Kong, but it was isolated from the Chinese), and no Western units besides the AVG
- no movement of HQ restricted units beyond their borders
- India proper had to have at least as much AV as Malaya & Burma together
- CMF divisions could not be sent to NG
- shipping had to be kept clear from Japanese islands (supplying the Philippines from the US but passing south of NG and through the DEI).
I basically set most Allied LCU’s to rest, let the engineers build the forts and bases, set the air units to training, and only moved a few units. I didn’t touche the Japanese industry, nor China/Thailand/CenPac, beyond ensuring enough supply reached the outposts.
Strategically, I roughly followed the ideas you put forward. Massed troops at Mishan crossed the border in the plains just north of Rybolov, and drove to Vladivostok, while other troops crossed the river near Birobidzhan, in the undefended plains hexes with a major road, to link up with the troops taking Komsomolsk. Nikolaevsk was taken by amphibious assault too, before sending a fleet to Komsomolsk, but I’m not sure Nikolaevsk’s coastal defenses would have been all that terrible (there aren’t that many big guns).
The IJN was mostly tasked with taking the ports on the coast, from Olga to Petropavlosk, and Sakhalin - the latter was problematic, as the SNLF and Naval Guards lack artillery, armor and combat engineers. Okha was particularly difficult, given the division and the brigade on defense there, with good forts, and so I ended up bringing an elite IJA division with some more support.
Other offensives started from Heiho towards Kuibyshevka (again, crossing into an undefended plains hex), and from Hailar towards the north (on the map, towards the west if looking at an actual map), towards Borzya/Chita/Irkutsk.
On the Soviet side, I maximized the defensive value of the terrain and the good forts, and tried to concentrate the dispersed forces. I managed to pull nearly 3000 AV to Voroshilov/Vladivostok (pay attention to the color of the hex sides with F6). Most of the Soviet ships were sunk or severely damaged in the opening hours.
At least 80% of the Soviet airplanes got destroyed during the campaign, with very few replacements available, but several hundreds IJA planes were shot down, either A2A or flak, with a big loss of pilots (but an overall increase in the quality of the IJA pilots, given the number of missions flown and enemies shot down). The air tempo was quite low, compared to what happens further south, given the Winter conditions.
The war in the north (west?) quickly came to a standstill between Ulan-Ude and Chita. The Soviets do have a lot of light tanks, but they’re as lightly armored as IJA tanks, so the 1E bombers made a lot of damage. Once more troops were brought (from the middle region and from China), the Japanese managed to push towards Irkutsk, but by then I was stopping the experiment.
Between Chita and Vladivostok, all bases were taken, somewhat more easily than expected, due to the multi-pronged offensive. However, a massive para drop on the base right next Kuibyshevka failed (and it was defended by a lone NKVD Rgt). On the coast, with the exception of Sakhalin, the conquest was easier than expected too (the big guns of the BB & cruisers helped) but I was happy the amphibious bonus was active (which helped mitigate the consequences of winter conditions).
Vladivostok (& Voroshilov) was a grind, given the high number of forts (9 !) and the amount of troops and artillery present.
By late April, when Vladivostok fell to the 20 divisions massed, I stopped the scenario, as I considered by then the units originally used for the SRA invasion could be withdrawn and moved to attack the Western Allies.
On the whole, while I considered the invasion an operational success, I deemed it a strategic failure. Sure, the losses were greatly lower than the Soviet losses, but the situation may be summed up as such :
- a lot of the elite units who usually advance like juggernauts against the weak starting British & Dutch had suffered from high fatigue and lost many devices, which would need to be replaced, and thy probably would not have been ready before at least one or two month - hence, no invasion of the SRA before the end of June
- the supply situation was degraded, with a net loss of 2 million supply (without any expansion of the Japanese industry), with over half the Oil and Fuel reserves depleted
- the end of the amphibious bonus meant any future invasion would be much more costly, and would require further preparation of the LCU’s
- a lot of the original Manchukuo garrison units got pretty much shot up during the siege of Vladivostok, so many could have been bought for much less VP’s - however, most would require at least six months to recover, and the Soviet replacement rates allowing one division to be reconstituted every month meant a good sized force had to be kept near Lake Baykal
- even with restraint, the DEI, Malaya and Philippines’s defensive situation greatly improved, with all units having recovered from the disabled devices, and improved both XP and morale (plus a preparation of 100 for their base). Good leaders had also been assigned.
- big supply stockpiles had been made in Singapore and Manila, over 500k each (and it could have been way higher), with fort levels at 6 nearly everywhere, and many good airfields for the Allied 4E bombers. Likewise, the amount of supply available on West Coast, in PH (over 5M supply & Fuel), in Oz or India (and the latter two, despite shipping no supply from the US). Fuel shipped from the DEI and from Abadan to Oz also meant operations could be sustained for the USN from there, right at start of the war, with India overflowing with Fuel.
- Dutch and Philippine armies were consolidated and concentrated, respectively on Sumatra/Java and Luzon, with several Indian and Australian divisions ready to be shipped from India or Oz to the DEI in case of invasion, and the equivalent of two US divisions on Luzon (plus artillery, AA, tanks, engineers)
- the Allied air units trained to a level of skill and XP equivalent to the IJA/IJN, except KB. While a lot of the IJAAF/IJNAF squadrons had upgraded to a newer model, same was done with the Allies, with P-40E and Hurricanes in most places, and several groups of B-17D/E
- the Chinese front did not progress much, without the vast amounts of tanks, artillery and engineers you can usually divert from Manchukuo ; actually, a lot of Chinese Expedition support & shock troops had to be used in Siberia
- lack of pressure on the Chinese also meant most of their pilots trained a lot, and supply flowed from Burma, allowing a lot of LCU’s to recover, take replacements, and increase the fort levels too
- the USN had 5 CV’s with full air groups and plenty of trained pilots, while the Wasp would certainly arrive before the expected attack, and were all upgrading to F4F-4, SBD-3 and (soon) TBF
- three UK CV’s, while not equivalent to a USN or IJN CV’s individually, is still a force to reckon
- XP levels of Allied ships greatly increased through the unending shakedown cruises, and all the early ‘42 upgrades were done ; as such, AA was greatly improved, and radars were widespread
- US subs may still have had faulty Mk14, but better commanders were assigned, and the wait time for the January ‘43 upgrade was half as long as usual
- a total of no less than seven US infantry divisions available (with the important upgrade to the USA Rifle 42 squads very close) plus the equivalent of 2 USMC divisions (and would soon be three full divisions), three AIF divisions (and all five militia divisions upgraded to AIF infantry squads too), I don’t remember how many filled & trained Indian divisions...
Etc, etc.
In the end, I considered that the invasion of the SRA would certainly fail, even though I avoided bringing too many reinforcements, and even if one was to manage to reinstate an amphibious bonus and the December 7 Surprise rule. So, the invasion of the USSR was not really hard, but took time and a concentration of assets detrimental to the overall conduct of the war. VP’s obtained were plenty, but not enough to warrant a victory, and I’m sure a conquest of the SRA brings more VP’s.
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RE: I think I ruined the soviets.... - 
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