Reichsfuhrer Heydrich

The coup of April 20, 1964 saw the removal and execution of Albert Speer and the rise of SS Reichsfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich to the position of world leader.

Due to Speer's refusal to attack Japan over its nuclear program as well as his plans to initiate multi-party elections, Heydrich struck against the Reichs Chancellor. He found numerous allies throughout the Reich: party members afraid of losing their place in the upcoming elections; Wermacht, Luftwaffe, and Kriegsmarine commanders sure that Speer was prepared to enact further budget cuts to the military; industrialists promised the renewal of slave labor and less government intervention. Heydrich built a coalition among these men before embarking on his daring strike for power.

Known as Operation Phoenix, the SS rounded up Speer and his closest allies the night of Germany's greatest triumph: landing an Aryan on the moon. Only Goebbels avoided imprisonment, his usefulness as a propagandist a sure asset the SS could exploit to explain the shift in power and prevent full-scale civil war. President Goering was quietly retired to his estate at Karinhall and his office fused once more with that of the chancellor which was in turn fused with that of Reichsfuhrer.

Speer would be put on trial and found guilty of betraying Germany for his refusal to strike at Japan, for his undermining of the military, and for threatening to dissolve the Party. Found guilty on all charges, he was executed and denied a state funeral, branded a traitor instead and his body cremated with the ashes scattered.

Heydrich proved an adept leader. Realizing the importance of Speer's programs and government design, he did little to upset them. The bureaucrats and technocrats continued to work smoothly under his reign, though the government increasingly found itself integrated into the SS with the requirement of a rank structure, uniforms, and swearing of allegiance to the Reichsfuhrer.

Heydrich's first act was to prepare for war with the Japanese Empire. Military leaders were saw their budgets swell as reserves were mobilized and plans made. He signed a treaty with President Vlassov offering the Russian leader the return of Siberia in exchange for his invasion of said Japanese province following the initial German strike. Vlassov readily accepted under the condition that no German soldiers would move through Russian territory and an extension of their non-aggression pact be included. Secret negotiations with India assured her neutrality in the war to come in exchange for Burma.

June 21, 1965, Heydrich initiated Operation Sunblossom. From three aircraft carriers which had covertly moved into the Pacific via Chile, the island of Honshu was struck by numerous nuclear weapons destroying key cities such as Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima. Russian forces immediately struck into Siberia surprising Imperial Troops still confused following the collapse of the Japanese High Command. German forces would strike into Western China through Central Asia and take advantage of the uprisings of the Chinese who saw the Germans as liberators. The Japanese grip on China proved tenuous despite nearly thirty years of occupation (and wiping out three-quarters of the Chinese population through their "three alls" program). The Japanese quickly lost control of the Chinese Provisional Government which proclaimed independence in September. Within three months the war was over. Sporadic fighting continued with scattered pockets of Japanese forces, especially in Southeast Asia, but the main phase of the war was finished. China would be recognized as an independent entity as would Manchukuo, Tibet, and Korea, though German industrialists were already looking for ways to penetrate the new markets. Southeast Asia (French Indochina, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Siam) remained in Japanese hands though with the collapse of authority in Japan itself, General Umezu declared a military junta under his rule. Siberia was turned over to Russia while India was informed that if they wanted Burma they would have to earn it "with their own blood." The Japanese home islands suffered greatly for the remainder of 1965. Millions died in the nuclear strikes, tens of millions more in the starvation and chaos caused by the sudden collapse in their infrastructure. The Emperor and the entire royal family were wiped out dispelling the myth of his immortality and power. The Empire of Japan was no more.

Heydrich would be noted for numerous wars during his reign including Yugoslavia, Turkey, Afghanistan, and the states of the Arabian peninsula where slaughter and bloodshed reached epic proportions as Heydrich demanded the wiping out of all untermenschen. Full scale war with Iran nearly occured following the capture and sacking of Mecca and Medina by the Wermacht. Though Iran would eventually back down, a jihad was declared and an insurgency begun though failing miserably as the native populations dwindled and the insurgents found it increasingly difficult to blend in.

Heydrich would turn his attention to other matters. The remaining untermensch in Africa, Europe, and Asia under German hegemony would be culled as factories began to move into China and Machukuo to make use of the cheap labor within. Also on the economic side, a treaty was drawn up to include all nations outlawing trade barriers, tariffs, and other boundaries to German economic dominance in the international arena. With cheap labor derived from Asia, no power could match Germany's low costs of production. No country dared resist under the threat of nuclear extinction.

Heydrich began to foster and support fascist parties abroad. Their greatest successes came in South America. Following their success in Brazil, the National Congress was dissolved and the and power centralized in the executive while Argentina and Chile ascended to membership in the Germanic Union. The National Socialist States and Confederate States of America would also see ascension to the Germanic Union. Switzerland would see an increase of funding and support for the rise of a pan-german movement aimed at the union of Switzerland to the Germanic Union. It would also see itself blockaded and pressured politically until anschluss occured in 1972 finally uniting the whole of Europe under one power. Brazil would likewise join the Germanic Union in 1972.

Brazil proved a pet project for Heydrich. A country long noted for its interracial past, the Reichsfuhrer, the SS, and the leaders of Brazil worked to turn the public against those dubbed untermenschen via a gradual series of repressive laws and edicts. Blame for economic stagnation, political instability, and more were laid at the feet of non-whites. Soon camps began to arise with the properties and assets of non-whites being transferred to the government for distribution among the whites further solidifying their support for the regime's assaults. Many close friends of Heydrich stated that the Reichfuhrer took excessive glee in watching the steady change in Brazil. Brazil would join the Germanic Union in 1974.

Through Argentina and Chile, Heydrich was able to fight proxy wars drawing numerous nations into conflict with the Reich. Chile battled Peru and Bolivia as Argentina fought Uruguay, Parauguay, and Bolivia.

In space, Heydrich ordered the construction of weapons platforms. Fearing that keeping nuclear weapons on the ground would leave them vulnerable, launch platforms were constructed in orbit as a threat to those who would challenge the almighty power of the Reich. Construction of these platforms would continue until the mid-eighties with the final warhead being shipped into space in 1987.

The Church would undergo further change as pagan ceremonies began to be introduced and Christian values were stripped out. The figure of Jesus was increasingly buried with Hitler taking far greater prominence. This would culminate in the shift of the calendar from Christian (AD) to a Reich (DR) centered numerology with year 1 being the Christian year 1932, the year that Hitler was elected president and the Third Reich established. The usage of the Christian system would only continue in the United States of America, Central and parts of South America.

Those few Jews still alive continued to hide from the all reaching hand of the SS in South America and the United States.

Heydrich would die in 1976 (44 DR) from a heart attack. At his lavish funeral, the new Reichsfuhrer proclaimed Heydrich Hitler's true successor, a valiant Aryan, and a conqueror whom Germania should worship and remember for all time.

SOURCE: Harpenau, Franz Rise of the Reichsfuhrer: Heydrich the Great

John Foster Dulles

John Foster Dulles - 34th President of the United States
The first president in American history never to be elected, John Foster Dulles' short term in office (12 July 1944 - 20 January 1946) is considered perhaps the most controversial in the annals of the United States.

Biography
Born in Washington, D.C., he was the son of a Presbyterian minister and attended public schools in Watertown, New York. After attending Princeton University and The George Washington University Law School he joined the New York City law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, where he specialized in international law. He tried to join the United States Army during World War I but was rejected because of poor eyesight. Instead, Dulles received an Army commission as a Major on the War Industries Board.

Both his grandfather John W. Foster and his uncle Robert Lansing served as Secretary of State.

Political career
In 1918, Woodrow Wilson appointed Dulles as legal counsel to the United States delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference where he served under his uncle, Robert Lansing, then Secretary of State. Dulles made an early impression as a junior diplomat by clearly and forcefully arguing against imposing crushing reparations on Germany. Afterwards, he served as a member of the War Reparations Committee at the request of President Wilson. Dulles, a deeply religious man, attended numerous international conferences of churchmen during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1924, he was the defense counsel in the church trial of Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, who had been charged with heresy by opponents in the denomination, a case settled when Fosdick, a liberal Baptist, resigned his pulpit in the Presbyterian Church, which he had never joined. Dulles also became a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, an international law firm. According to Karlheinz Deschner's book The Moloch, Dulles gave assets of $1 billion to the Nazi party in 1932 after Hitler's election, and according to Stephen Kinzer's 2006 book Overthrow, the firm benefited from doing business with the Nazi regime, and from 1933-1934, Dulles was a public supporter of Hitler. However, the junior partners, led by his brother Allen, were appalled by Nazi activities and threatened to revolt if Dulles did not end the firm's association with the regime. In 1935, Dulles closed Sullivan & Cromwell's Berlin office; later he would cite the closing date as 1934, no doubt in an effort to clear his reputation by shortening his involvement with Nazi Germany.

Dulles was a close associate of Thomas E. Dewey, who became the presidential candidate of the United States Republican Party in the 1940 election. During the election, Dulles served as Dewey's foreign policy adviser. Upon Dewey's election to the presidency, Dulles was appointed Secretary of State. It was Dulles who encouraged Dewey's policy of confrontation with Japan which disastrously brought German invasion.

Secretary of State
As Secretary of State, Dulles was one of the pioneers of brinkmanship. In an article written for Life Magazine in early 1941 to describe America's new aggressive approach towards Japan, Dulles defined his policy of brinkmanship: "The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art."

In a foreshadowing of his confrontational style of politics, Dulles received a standing ovation from Congress when, on February 9, 1941, he argued in one speech that "neutrality has increasingly become an obsolete and, except under very exceptional circumstances, it is an immoral and shortsighted conception."

In his drive to isolate Japan and unify a front against further Imperial expansion, Dulles provided some consternation and amusement to the British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand ambassadors by his repeated attempts to tell substantially different versions of events to them. Apparently, unbeknownst to Dulles, the men had all attended Cambridge together and followed up meetings with Dulles by comparing notes and reporting the discrepancies to their home countries.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Dulles was not altogether surprised, stating that, "They would drive the Japs back into their caves." However, when Hitler declared war on America, many say they saw the Secretary of State at a loss for words for the first time in his life.

Presidency
Dulles' ascension to the presidency was an unexpected one. Vice-President Charles McNary died February 1944 from complications involving a brain tumor. No new vice-president was named due to Congress' inability to meet in total following repeated attacks on the capital and the war making travel nearly impossible. President Dewey would die in a plane crash, shot down by the Luftwaffe as he attempted to flee Washington D.C. shortly before it fell July 4, 1944. In the confusion following the fall of the American capital, many were unsure exactly who was next in line for presidential succession as no one was sure who was still alive. It would take a week to establish Dulles in office.

Dulles found himself confronted with a difficult situation. American forces had been largely destroyed east of the Mississippi with valuable reserves of manpower now located in German occupied territory along with the bulk of American industry. Army Group South under Colonel General Heinrich von Vietinghoff was tearing through the Dixie states with a ferocity not seen since Sherman while Guderian was consolidating the Wermacht's hold on the east coast as Rommel turned west with his sights set on Chicago.

Dulles was informed by Eisenhower, who had miraculously escaped Washington, that their hold on states east of the Mississippi were untenable and that the best course of action was to gradually withdraw via a scorched earth policy while building a defensive line from Louisiana to Minnesota. This would require the demolition of all known factories, the burning of all crops, and the destruction of bridges and railroad tracks in their retreat in order to leave nothing of value for the enemy. To the surprise of his staff, Dulles said no and instead ordered that a line of communication for possible peace talks be opened through the British.

There have been numerous debates on the exact reason for Dulles' refusal to continue the war. One point is that the plan devised by Eisenhower and the General Staff was not only barbaric (casually outlining the hundreds of thousands of casualties it would accrue while encouraging further destruction to the nation) but would prove wholly inadequate in the long run. The bulk of the American population was in German hands. The ability to raise future armies was unlikely and the industry to arm it was rapidly being lost. There was also the (perceived) threat of an attack from the west by Japan.

A second point made is that Dulles felt overwhelming guilt for having caused the war in the first place. It was his style of diplomacy which forced Japan into an aggressive posture and then drew Hitler's attention. Dulles' game of brinksmanship had killed his friend, Dewey, and nearly destroyed the country. This, coupled with the nadir of American morale, was known to have affected the president deeply. He was seen weeping when told of civilians in Georgia using private weapons trying to hold off Wermacht forces being gunned down. Other atrocities reached his ears but there was nothing he could do to stop it. Ever the religious man, he had to repent this sin of pride and end the war despite what it would do to him. He would become the martyr to save America's future. He had nearly destroyed his country. It was time to sacrifice himself that no one else need die in a war they could not win.

A third point, and the most controversial, is that Dulles had a pro-German attitude which is supported by his past. His attempts to lessen Allied punishments under the Treaty of Versailles, his dealings with Hitler and various German functionaries shortly after the Nazi rise to power, and even donations made to German politicians and businessmen raise questions as to the relationship Dulles had with Hitler and the Nazis; especially after the war when he renewed business contacts with Germany.

1 August 1944, Dulles agreed to an armistice with Germany. On October 31, a peace treaty was signed between the Third Reich and the United States whose main points recognized the following:
The United States had been the aggressor in their conflict
All territory occupied by Germany north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi was to remain occupied at American expense (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and West Virginia)
The American military was to be limited to a 100,000 man standing army (with no more than 10,000 allowed east of the Mississippi River), light tanks were the only armor allowed in the American forces, a navy set at the limits of the Washington Naval Treaty, and their air force was not to employ bombers
Reparations were to be paid
German inspectors were to be allowed into American territory to ensure that the treaty was being followed
The United States was to drop all trade barriers with Germany
Recognized Germany hegemony over Canada

Dulles would later sign an armistice with Japan in early 1945 which recognized Imperial hegemony over Asia and the Pacific (including Hawaii), and returned Attu, Kiska, and Dutch Harbor to the United States thus ending the Pacific War.

The twin wars effectively over, Dulles authorized the first American elections since 1942 (national elections being hard to outright impossible in the east). Dulles quickly found himself rejected by the Republican Party for its presidential nominee. He would retire from politics branded a traitor, returning to New York to take up international law.

Legacy
Dulles' term in office draws divided opinions. There are those who say he didn't do enough, failing to exhaust every opportunity available before surrendering and stabbed America in the back. Others claim he did too much, pushing America into a war it wasn't ready for and then folding when it came time to take responsibility for it. In the Confederate States, there are many who defend Dulles. They state that Dulles saved them when Eisenhower wanted to render their lands barren and sacrifice them for their own survival.

Dulles' name opens many old wounds, the deepest being America's first loss to a foreign power.

SOURCE: Garfield, Richard American Presidents at a Glance

The Invasion of Hawaii

With the fall of China in mid-October, the Japanese were finally willing to commit to a full scale invasion of Hawaii. By December 1943, Japan initiated its assault. With fuel stocks depleted, the USAAF was unable to challenge Japanese aircraft as it soared over the islands strafing American forces, defending the Japanese landings. Oahu was first. The US Army's emaciated soldiers failed to hold back the charging Imperial troops. Pushing inland, Japanese soldiers discovered atrocities. Tales of cannibalism were related to the Japanese by Nissei who had been rounded up in camps and systematically butchered to feed the citizens. They also spoke of being beaten by American soldiers and used as slave labor to haul around equipment when fuel had run out. For the smallest offense, many were shot point blank. Others were raped. Imperial troops were quick in capturing and executing every American soldier they could find. They would also commit violent acts of murder and rape against the white civilian inhabitants as retribution.
With Oahu in their hands, and the sad state of American forces revealed, Japanese forces expanded their operations seizing the remainder of the chain throughout the end of December. Plans were drawn up to begin rebuilding the former naval installations. The Nissei became willing supporters of the Japanese, renouncing their American citizenship following the vile treatment they had received at the hands of American forces. The rays of the Imperial standard extended further eastward.

SOURCE: Yoshi, Hiramato Shores of Blood: The Atrocities of Hawaii

Sichuan Clique Switches Sides!

21 September 1943 - The Sichuan Army has parted ways with Chiang Kai-shek threatening to bring down Nationalist forces in China. Representing over a quarter of Nationalist forces, the Sichuan Army broke from Nationalist ranks via an alliance between faction leaders Yang Sen, Liu Wenhui, Deng Xihou, and Tian Songyao. All had grown tired and bitter over the three sided war devastating China and Chiang's handling of domestic affairs. With the United States suffering through a war on two fronts, the British retreating from India, and all hope of supply gone, the Sichuan Clique had finally had enough. There had been grumbling over the decline in their independence under Chiang and rumors that the Nationalist leader had poisoned one of their own, Liu Xiang, in order to exert greater control over Sichuan Province.

Chiang Kai-shek finds himself in a desperate battle to hold onto Sichuan. There are fears that if he allows one ally to desert him, others will follow.

Wang Jingwei has already voiced his support for Sichuan Province to join his Provisional Government and to oust the rebellious Chiang. Japanese, Mengjiang, and Provisional Chinese forces have begun an assault south through eastern Gansu into Sichuan in what many believe to be the final showdown between Japanese and Chinese forces. Should Sichuan fall, Chiang's capital, Chengdu, would fall with it and possibly spell the end of organized Kuomintang resistance.

SOURCE: The Daily Telegraph

The Siege of Hawaii

By December 1942, Japanese forces had successfully reached and begun to blockade the Hawaiian Islands after a skirmish that saw the remnants of the American Pacific Fleet retreat to San Francisco. Following the Battle of Midway, American naval power in the Pacific was at its nadir and unable (some would say unwilling) to hold back the advancing Imperial Fleet of Japan.

Over the next two months, Japan worked at cutting Hawaii's supply lines and eroding its military capabilities. Japanese Zeroes battled a desperate American USAAF. Though they fought valiantly, the American pilots would eventually succumb not due to Japanese superiority but to a lack of fuel and parts. Once air supremacy had been established, the Japanese began to bomb every military target they could find. Special importance was placed on Pearl Harbor's fuel storage, maintenance, and dry dock facilities. The noose became tighter.

An American naval response to lift the siege was not to be had. With the German campaign raging along the east coast and the successful Nazi attack on the Panama Canal, the American fleet was simply not able to be everywhere it needed to be. Dewey reluctantly left Hawaii to its fate as the country rushed to rebuild the shattered Pacific Fleet.

Food supplies on the islands were largely gone by early June 1943. The population of the islands was too big to support natively. Other supplies, such as medical, became scarce leading to a rise in deaths from infection. Black outs became common, the power plants systematically destroyed by the IJN, though often rebuilt with what materials Hawaiians could scrounge up.

The situation would become strained. Some citizens grumbled over the fact that the Army got precedence when it came to food stocks, sometimes forcibly expropriating food at rifle point. Others wanted the Japanese population (Nissei), locked up fearing they were working with the enemy. One radical idea was to use the Nissei as a bargaining chip with the IJN, using them as hostages for food, fuel, and supplies.

Starvation was a cruel weapon the Japanese were all too willing to use. After the death toll of the Midway invasion, the Japanese were not willing to attempt a landing on another island and relive the horrific experience. They were inclined to grind down American forces and then simply step over their emaciated bodies.

SOURCE: Yamauchi, Minoru The Siege of Hawaii

Japs Threaten Hawaii!

7 December 1942 - With American naval forces shattered, the Japanese have cruised through the Pacific on a rampage and are now returning to finish what they started at Pearl Harbor. From bases on the Palmyra Atoll and Johnston Island, the Imperial navy and air forces have been sending sorties time and again to harass Oahu in what appears to be a prelude to invasion. Supplies have already been virtually cut off by Yamamoto's battleships with only the smallest percentage sneaking through.

The nation's nightmares have been realized with the Japs poised to invade American soil. Many point to Midway as the hinge upon which history has taken this dark turn. With American naval power crippled in the battle, no one could stand against Japanese encroachment. Just three weeks after Midway, Dutch Harbor was invaded by Imperial forces and occupied. Through an island hopping campaign, the Japanese seized Guadalcanal virtually unopposed and continued through Espiritu Santo, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa. It has only been in the past month that the Japanese turned north in an assault on Canton and Phoenix islands before their invasion of Palmyra. Contact with Australia has been cut off leading to fears for the future of seven million lives.

This comes on the tails of a Nazi invasion in Labrador where German beachheads get stronger everyday. How long before they drive south to our borders?

President Dewey went on record in a speech to Congress: "America is facing her greatest test. The armies of darkness are closing in to smother the last glimmer of democracy in the world. Though we face anihilation, America will survive. We must be brave, be vigilant, and fight not only for ourselves but for the salvation of the world. We cannot, must not fail or else the world itself shall be lost."

Many wonder what the president will fight with. With rearmament barely two years old, already bottlenecks have stifled lines of production. After the loss at Midway, Congress pressed the Dewey to increase the Army to 100 divisions, robbing expanding industry of manpower and trashing schedules slowing down our military growth. With Hitler on our doorstep, the need for men at the borders is greater than ever yet production has only recently been streamlined and fear runs through the nation that we may be too late to stave off the Devil and his forces.

SOURCE: Courier-Journal

Armistice between Russia and Japan

8 July 1942 - Vlassov has concluded an armistice with the Imperial Government of Japan. Following the United States' defeat at Midway, there was a fear in many circles that Japan might turn its attention back to Russia and finish what it had started. Since October of last year, the Russo-Japanese front has largely been quiet. Immediately after news of America's loss became known, Vlassov contacted the Germans to serve as intermediaries for a truce. Ribbentrop accepted for the Reich on the condition of Russia's recognition of independence of the Central Asian republics.

Vlassov is expected to accept Japan's terms for ceding of all of Siberia east of Lake Baikal in exchange for a ten year non-aggression pact and the repatriation of all White Russians to Vlassov's ever shrinking country.

SOURCE: Münchener Beobachter

The Battle of Midway: Planning Stage

The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific War. It took place from April 4, 1942 to April 7, 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, five months after the Japanese capture of Wake Island, and exactly six months to the day after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese plan of attack was to lure America's remaining carriers into a trap and sink them. The Japanese also intended to occupy Midway Atoll to extend Japan's defensive perimeter farther from its home islands. This operation was preparatory for further attacks against Fiji and Samoa, and Hawaii.

The Midway operation was aimed at the elimination of the United States as a strategic Pacific power, thereby giving Japan a free hand in establishing its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. It was also hoped another defeat would force the U.S. to negotiate an end to the Pacific War with conditions favorable for Japan.

Japan had been highly successful in rapidly securing its initial war goals, including the takeover of the Philippines, capture of Malaya and Singapore, and securing vital resource areas in Java, Borneo, and other islands of the Dutch East Indies. As such, preliminary planning for a second phase of operations commenced as early as November 1941. However, because of strategic differences between the Imperial Army and Imperial Navy, as well as infighting between the Navy's GHQ and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s Combined Fleet, the formulation of effective strategy was hampered, and the follow-up strategy was not finalized until February 1942. Admiral Yamamoto succeeded in winning a bureaucratic struggle placing his operational concept — further operations in the Central Pacific — ahead of other contending plans. These included operations either directly or indirectly aimed at Australia and into the Indian Ocean. In the end, Yamamoto's barely-veiled threat to resign unless he got his way succeeded in carrying his agenda forward.

Yamamoto's primary strategic concern was the elimination of America's remaining carrier forces. This concern was acutely heightened by the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo (February 18, 1942) by USAAF B-25s, launching from USS Hornet. The raid, while militarily insignificant, was a severe psychological shock to the Japanese and proved the existence of a gap in the defenses around the Japanese home islands. Sinking America's aircraft carriers and seizing Midway, the only strategic island besides Hawaii in the East Pacific, was seen as the only means of nullifying this threat. Yamamoto reasoned an operation against the main carrier base at Pearl Harbor would induce the U.S. forces to fight. However, given the strength of American land-based air-power on Hawaii, he judged the powerful American base could not be attacked directly. Instead, he selected Midway, at the extreme northwest end of the Hawaiian Island chain, some 1,300 miles (2,100 km) from Oahu. Midway was not especially important in the larger scheme of Japan's intentions; however, the Japanese felt the Americans would consider Midway a vital outpost of Pearl Harbor and would therefore strongly defend it.

Yamamoto's Plan
Typical of Japanese naval planning during the Second World War, Yamamoto's battle plan was quite complex. Additionally, his designs were predicated on optimistic intelligence information suggesting USS Enterprise and USS Hornet, forming Task Force 16, were the only carriers available to the U.S. Pacific Fleet at the time. USS Lexington had been sunk and USS Yorktown severely damaged (and IJN believed her sunk) at the Battle of the Coral Sea just a month earlier. Likewise, the Japanese were aware USS Saratoga was undergoing repairs on the West Coast after taking torpedo damage from a submarine. As such, the Japanese believed they faced at most two American fleet carriers at the point of contact.

More important, however, was Yamamoto's belief the Americans had been demoralized by their frequent defeats during the preceding six months. Yamamoto felt deception would be required to lure the U.S. Fleet into a fatally compromising situation. To this end, he dispersed his forces so their full extent (particularly his battleships) would be unlikely to be discovered by the Americans prior to battle. However, his emphasis on dispersal meant none of his formations were mutually supporting.

Critically, Yamamoto's supporting battleships and cruisers would trail Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's carrier striking force by several hundred miles. Japan's heavy surface forces were intended to destroy whatever part of the U.S. Fleet might come to Midway's relief, once Nagumo's carriers had weakened them sufficiently for a daylight gun duel to be fought; this was typical of the battle doctrine of most major navies.

Also, Japanese operations aimed at the Aleutian Islands (Operation AL). However, a one-day delay in the sailing of Nagumo's task force had the effect of initiating Operation AL a day before its counterpart.

Prelude to Battle
U.S. Forces
In order to do battle with an enemy force anticipated to be composed of 4 or 5 carriers, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, needed every available U.S. flight deck. He already had Vice Admiral William Halsey's two-carrier (Enterprise and Hornet) task force at hand; Halsey was stricken with psoriasis and was replaced by Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance (Halsey's escort commander). Nimitz also hurriedly called back Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher's task force from the South West Pacific Area. He reached Pearl Harbor just in time to provision and sail. Saratoga was still under repair, and Yorktown had been severely damaged at the Battle of the Coral Sea, but Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard worked around the clock to patch up the carrier. Though several months of repairs at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard was estimated for Yorktown, 72 hours was enough to restore her to a battle-worthy (if still not structurally ideal) state. Her flight deck was patched, whole sections of internal frames were cut out and replaced, and several new squadrons (drawn from the Saratoga) were put aboard. Nimitz showed disregard for established procedure in getting his third and last available carrier ready for battle — repairs continued even as Yorktown sortied, with work crews from the repair ship USS Vestal—herself damaged in the attack on Pearl Harbor six months earlier—still aboard. Just three days after putting into drydock at Pearl Harbor, Yorktown was again under steam.

Japanese Forces
Meanwhile, as a result of their participation in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese carrier Zuikaku was in port in Kure, awaiting a replacement air group. The heavily damaged Shōkaku was under repair from three bomb hits suffered at Coral Sea, and required months in drydock. Despite the likely availability of sufficient aircraft between the two ships to re-equip Zuikaku with a composite air group, the Japanese made no serious attempt to get her into the forthcoming battle. Consequently, instead of bringing five intact fleet carriers into battle, Admiral Nagumo would only have four: Kaga, with Akagi, forming Division 1; Hiryū and Sōryū, as the 2nd Division. At least part of this was a product of fatigue; Japanese carriers had been constantly on operations since October 7, 1941, including pinprick raids on Darwin and Colombo.

Japanese strategic scouting arrangements prior to the battle also fell into disarray. A picket line of Japanese submarines was late getting into position (partly because of Yamamoto's haste), which let the American carriers proceed to their assembly point northeast of Midway (known as "Point Luck") without being detected. A second attempt to use four-engine reconnaissance flying boats to scout Pearl Harbor prior to the battle (and thereby detect the absence or presence of the American carriers), known as "Operation K", was also thwarted when Japanese submarines assigned to refuel the search aircraft discovered the intended refueling point — a hitherto deserted bay off French Frigate Shoals — was occupied by American warships (because the Japanese had carried out an identical mission in January). Thus, Japan was deprived of any knowledge concerning the movements of the American carriers immediately before the battle.

Japanese radio intercepts also noticed an increase in both American submarine activity and U.S. message traffic. This information was in Yamamoto's hands prior to the battle. However, Japanese plans were not changed in reaction to this; Yamamoto, at sea in Yamato, did not dare inform Nagumo without exposing his position, and presumed (incorrectly) Nagumo had received the same signal from Tokyo.

Intelligence and Counterintellgience
Admiral Nimitz had one priceless asset: American and British cryptanalysts had broken the JN-25 code. Commander Joseph J. Rochefort and his team at HYPO were able to confirm Midway as the target of the impending Japanese strike and to determine the date of the attack as either 4 or 5 April (as opposed to mid-April, maintained by Washington).

This was not accomplished without ingenuity on the Navy's part. They had only cracked 10% of the Japanese code and had to rely heavily on hunches and guesses to determine Japanese plans. When knowledge of a Japanese offensive aimed at some point in the Pacific became known, AF, the Naval cryptographers nailed down a potential list and began openly broadcasting the status of these "candidates" to see the Japanese response. For Midway, a broadcast of the island "being short of water" was sent over the airwaves. Midway was later confirmed as point AF when the Japanese broadcast that "AF was short of water".

This "intelligence" had not been discovered by sheer American and British skill and luck. A Japanese sailor, Ryu Hayabusa, was responsible for transcribing American radio messages the day the broadcast of Midway's water problem was received. After copying the message down, something gnawed at him. The content of the message and the way it was received did not quite fit. Hayabusa turned to his superior and asked, "Why are they broadcasting this message in the clear? Don't they care if we know that Midway is running short of water?" His superior would pass on Ryu's doubts. This led to questions being asked by cryptographers and cipher specialists in Tokyo over whether the Americans had broken their code. One specialist reasoned that perhaps the Americans were reading their messages and using a gambit to link potential objectives and cipher designations, in this case the code word for Midway. This raised a red flag at Imperial General Headquarters Tokyo.

Many of the Imperial Staff argued that Yamamoto's planned invasion should be cancelled, but Yamamoto would not hear of it. If the Americans had, in fact, gotten wind of their operations, all the better. Knowing the objective, the Americans would not allow Midway to fall into Japanese hands without a sizable fight. This was his opportunity to finally draw the Americans into the decisive battle he'd been hoping for.

On March 19, 1942, the Japanese radioed that "AF was running short of water." The Japanese were going to lure the Americans in.

SOURCE: Dietrich, Robert Point Luck: The American Tragedy of Midway

Pacific War: October 1941 - March 1942

On October 8, 1941, The United States declared war on Japan. The United Kingdom, Australia, and the Dutch government-in-exile would follow suit two days later.

The Japanese had been planning for war in the South Pacific for months. As the battle lines in Russia became static yet stable at Lake Baikal, the Japanese went on the defensive in early July 1941 and began withdrawing troops for the coming assault south, supplementing their positions in Siberia with Mengjiang and Manchukuon soldiers.

To protect their western flank in Burma, the Japanese ( as well as the Germans) had been supporting Subhas Chandra Bose, delivering arms and economic aid to him in what would lead to a minor rebellion the Japanese hoped would ignite a general conflagration. Bose had fled India at the outbreak of war between Britain and Germany but returned to India following Britain's armistice with Germany in 1939. He quickly built up the Indian National Army (trained and supplied by German and Japanese officers covertly), attaining followers from all corners of the subcontinent who became increasingly hostile to British rule; many were still bitter over Britain forcibly declaring war on India's behalf. Bose became famous for the quote: "Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom!" Ghandi found himself sidelined as the pre-eminent leader of the Indian independence movement, his followers disillusioned by the failures of the Indian National Congress to attain any measure of self-rule. When the Japanese began invading British territory, Bose tied down the bulk of the British Army as it tried to hold onto India.

Thus, British and Dutch forces, already drained of personnel and matériel following war with Germany, were unable to provide much more than token resistance to the battle-hardened Japanese in the opening phase of the war (October 1941 - March 1942). The Allies suffered many disastrous defeats in the first six months of the war. Two major British warships, HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales were sunk by a Japanese air attack off Malaya on October 10, 1941. Siam surrendered within 24 hours of the Japanese invasion and formally allied herself with Japan on October 21, allowing her bases to be used as a springboard against Singapore and Malaya. U.S. bases on Guam and Wake Island were lost October 25.

The Allied governments appointed the British General Sir Archibald Wavell to the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM), a supreme command for Allied forces in South East Asia. This gave Wavell nominal control of a huge but thinly-spread force covering an area from India to the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. Other areas, including Australia and Hawaii, remained under separate local commands. On November 15, Wavell moved to Bandung in Java to assume control of ABDA Command.

In January, Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and captured Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Rabaul. After being driven out of Malaya, Allied forces in Singapore attempted to resist the Japanese during the battle of Singapore but surrendered to the Japanese on December 15; about 130,000 British, Australian and Dutch personnel became prisoners of war. The pace of conquest was rapid: Bali and Timor also fell in December. The rapid collapse of Allied resistance had left the "ABDA area" split in two. Wavell resigned from ABDACOM on December 25, 1941, handing control of the ABDA Area to local commanders and returning to the post of Commander-in-Chief, India.

Meanwhile, Japanese aircraft had all but eliminated Allied air power in South-East Asia and were making attacks on northern Australia, beginning with a psychologically devastating (but militarily insignificant) attack on the city of Darwin on December 19, which killed at least 243 people.

At the battle of the Java Sea in late February and early March, the Japanese Navy inflicted a resounding defeat on the main ABDA naval force, under Admiral Karel Doorman. The Netherlands East Indies campaign subsequently ended with the surrender of Allied forces on Java.

In January and February, a raid into the Indian Ocean by a powerful Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier force resulted in a wave of major air raids against Ceylon and the sinking of a British aircraft carrier, HMS Hermes as well as other Allied ships and driving the British fleet out of the Indian Ocean. This paved the way for a Japanese assault on India.
In the midst of these Japanese victories, cooperation between the Chinese Nationalists and the Communists waned from its zenith at the Battle of Wuhan, and the relationship between the two became sour as both attempted to expand their area of operations in occupied territories. Most of the Nationalist guerrilla areas were eventually overtaken by the Communists. On the other hand, some Nationalist units were deployed to blockade the Communists and not the Japanese. Furthermore, many of the forces of the Chinese Nationalists were warlords allied to Chiang Kai-Shek, but not directly under his command. Of the 1,200,000 troops under Chiang's control, only 650,000 were directly controlled by his generals, and another 550,000 controlled by warlords who claimed loyalty to his government; the strongest force was the Szechuan army of 320,000 men. These warlords were beginning to tire of the unending war with Japan as well as the civil war brewing between the communists and Chiang. It would not be long before Wang Jingwei's offers began to seem too easy to pass up.

Filipino and U.S. forces put up a fierce resistance in the Philippines until March 8, 1942, when more than 80,000 of them surrendered. By this time, General Douglas MacArthur, who had been appointed Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific, had relocated his headquarters to Australia. The U.S. Navy, under Admiral Chester Nimitz, had responsibility for the rest of the Pacific Ocean. This divided command had unfortunate consequences for the commerce war, and consequently, the war itself.

The one bright spot for the Allies in the first six months of war would be the Battle of the Coral Sea which saw Allied forces turn back a Japanese invasion force.

SOURCE: Webber, Julius The Gathering Storm: The Opening Stages of the Pacific War

Hitler Declares War on the United States

11 October 1941 - Following Japan's successful assault on the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hitler today declared that Germany was now in a state of war with the American nation. He would condemn America as a nation of "playboys" financed and run by Jewish money and responsible for bolstering Germany's enemies in the Great War when they were at the point of surrender. Hitler would later say:

"It is a fact that the two conflicts between Germany and the U.S.A. were inspired by the same force and caused by two men in the U.S.A.-Wilson and Dewey. History has already passed its verdict on Wilson, his name stands for one of the basest breaches of the given word, that led to disruption not only among the so-called vanquished, but also among the victors. This breach of his word alone made possible the Dictate of Versailles. We know today that a group of interested financiers stood behind Wilson and made use of this paralytic professor because they hoped for increased business. The German people have had to pay for having believed this man with the collapse of their political and economic existence.

"But why is there now another President of the U.S.A. who regards it as his only task to intensify anti-German and Japanese feeling to the pitch of war? I tell you it is economic. He has no solution for the problems of his country. Their decadent lifestyle brought a bill they cannot pay. A threatening opposition was gathering over the head of this man. He guessed that the only salvation for him lay in diverting public attention from home to foreign policy. Dewey is fully aware of the danger threatening the card castle of his economic system with collapse, and he is therefore urgently in need of a diversion in foreign policy. He was strengthened in this resolve by the Jews around him. Thus began the increasing efforts of the American President to create conflicts, to do everything to prevent conflicts from being peacefully solved. For years this man harboured one desire-that a conflict should break out somewhere in the world.

"But Mr. Dewey has gone even farther. In contradiction to all the tenets of international law, he declared that he would not recognize certain Governments which did not suit him, would not accept readjustments, would maintain Legations of States dissolved long before or actually set them up as legal Governments. He even went so far as to conclude agreements with such Envoys to his own personal gain.

"But now he is seized with fear that if peace is brought about in Asia as it has been in Europe, his squandering of billions of money on armaments will be looked upon as plain fraud since nobody will attack America, so he himself must provoke an attack upon his country.

"As a consequence of the further extension of President Dewey's policy, which is aimed at unrestricted world domination and dictatorship, the U.S.A. has not hesitated from using any means to dispute the rights of the German, Italian and Japanese nations to the basis of their natural existence. The Government of the U.S.A. has therefore resisted, not only now but also for all time, every just understanding meant to bring about a better New Order in the world. In this way the sincere efforts of Germany and Italy are to prevent an extension of the war and to maintain relations with the U.S.A. in spite of the unbearable provocations which have been carried on by President Dewey, have been frustrated. Germany and Italy have been finally compelled, in view of this, and in loyalty to the Tri-Partite act, to carry on the struggle against the U.S.A. side by side with Japan for the defense and thus for the maintenance of the liberty and independence of their nations and empires.

"Our enemies must not deceive themselves-in the 2,000 years of German history known to us, our people have never been more united than today. The Lord of the Universe has treated us so well in the past years that we bow in gratitude to a providence which has allowed us to be members of such a great nation. We thank Him that we also can be entered with honour into the ever-lasting book of German history!"

SOURCE: Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung

Attack on Pearl Harbor

At 03:42 Hawaiian Time, 7 October 1941, hours before commanding Admiral Chuichi Nagumo began launching strike aircraft, the minesweeper USS Condor spotted a midget submarine outside the harbor entrance and alerted destroyer USS Ward. Ward was initially unsuccessful in locating the target. Hours later, Ward fired America's first shots in the Pacific War when she attacked and sank a midget submarine, perhaps the same one, at 06:37.

Five midget submarines had been assigned to torpedo U.S. ships after the bombing started. None of these returned, and only four have since been found. Of the ten sailors aboard, nine died; the only survivor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured, becoming the first Japanese prisoner of war. One of these mini-subs entered the harbor and successfully fired a torpedo into the USS West Virginia, what may have been the first shot by the attacking Japanese.

First wave
The first attack wave launched north of Oʻahu, commanded by Captain Mitsuo Fuchida. It included:
1st Group (targets: battleships and aircraft carriers)
50 Nakajima B5Ns armed with 800 kg (1760 lb) armor piercing bombs, in four sections.
40 B5Ns armed with Type 91 torpedoes, also in four sections.
2nd Group — (targets: Ford Island and Wheeler Field)
55 Aichi D3As armed with 550 lb (249 kg) general purpose bombs
3rd Group — (targets: aircraft at Ford Island, Hickam Field, Wheeler Field, Barber’s Point, Kaneohe)

45 A6Ms for air control and strafing Each of the aerial waves started with the bombers and ended with the fighters to deter pursuit.

As the first wave approached Oʻahu, an Army SCR-270 radar at Opana Point, near the island's northern tip (a post not yet operational, having been in training mode for months), detected them and called in a warning. Although the operators reported a target echo larger than anything they had ever seen, an untrained officer at the new and only partially activated Intercept Center, Lieutenant Kermit A. Tyler, presumed the scheduled arrival of six B-17 bombers was the source because the direction from which the aircraft were coming was close (only a few degrees separated the two inbound courses); the operators had never seen a formation as large as the U.S. bombers' on radar; and possibly because the operators had only seen the lead element of incoming attack.

Several U.S. aircraft were shot down as the first wave approached land; one at least radioed a somewhat incoherent warning. Other warnings from ships off the harbor entrance were still being processed, or awaiting confirmation, when the planes began bombing and strafing. Nevertheless, it is not clear any warnings would have had much effect even if they had been interpreted correctly and much more promptly. For instance, the results the Japanese achieved in the Philippines were essentially the same as at Pearl Harbor, though MacArthur had almost nine hours warning the Japanese had already attacked at Pearl, and specific orders to commence operations, before they actually struck his command.The air portion of the attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time (3:18 a.m. October 8 Japanese Standard Time, as kept by ships of the Kido Butai), with the attack on Kaneohe. A total of 353 Japanese planes in two waves reached Oʻahu. Slow, vulnerable torpedo bombers led the first wave, exploiting the first moments of surprise to attack the most important ships present (the battleships), while dive bombers attacked U.S. air bases across Oʻahu, starting with Hickam Field, the largest, and Wheeler Field, the main U.S. Army Air Corps fighter base. The 171 planes in the second wave attacked the Air Corps' Bellows Field near Kaneohe on the windward side of the island, and Ford Island. The only air opposition came from a handful of P-36 Hawks and P-40 Warhawks.

Men aboard U.S. ships awoke to the sounds of alarms, bombs exploding, and gunfire prompting bleary eyed men into dressing as they ran to General Quarters stations. (The famous message, "Air raid Pearl Harbor. This is not drill," was sent from the headquarters of Patrol Wing Two, the first senior Hawaiian command to respond.) The defenders were very unprepared. Ammunition lockers were locked, aircraft parked wingtip to wingtip in the open to deter sabotage, guns unmanned (none of the Navy's 5"/38 AA and only a quarter of its machine guns, and only four of 31 Army batteries got in action). Despite this and low alert status, many American military personnel responded effectively during the battle. Ensign Joe Taussig got his ship, USS Nevada, underway from dead cold during the attack. One of the destroyers, USS Aylwin, got underway with only four officers aboard, all Ensigns, none with more than a year's sea duty; she operated at sea for four days before her commanding officer managed to get aboard. Captain Mervyn Bennion, commanding USS West Virginia (Kimmel's flagship), led his men until he was cut down by fragments from a bomb hit to USS Tennessee, moored alongside.

Second wave composition
The second wave consisted of 54 B5Ns, 81 D3As, and 36 A6Ms, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Shigekazu Shimazaki. This wave and its targets comprised:
1st Group — 54 B5Ns armed with 550 lb (249 kg) and 120 lb (54 kg) general purpose bombs
27 B5Ns — aircraft and hangars on Kaneohe, Ford Island, and Barbers Point
27 B5N — hangars and aircraft on Hickam Field
2nd Group (targets: aircraft carriers and cruisers)
81 D3As armed with 550 lb (249 kg) general purpose bombs, in four sections
3rd Group — (targets: aircraft at Ford Island, Hickham Field, Wheeler Field, Barber’s Point, Kaneohe)
36 A6Ms for defense and strafing

The second wave was divided into three groups. One was tasked to attack Kāneʻohe, the rest Pearl Harbor proper. The separate sections arrived at the attack point almost simultaneously, from several directions.

Ninety minutes after it began, the attack was over. 2,386 Americans died (55 were civilians, most killed by unexploded American anti-aircraft shells landing in civilian areas), a further 1,139 wounded. Eighteen ships were sunk, including five battleships.

Of the American fatalities, nearly half of the total were due to the explosion of USS Arizona's forward magazine after it was hit by a modified 40 cm (16in) shell.

Already damaged by a torpedo and on fire forward, Nevada attempted to exit the harbor. She was targeted by many Japanese bombers as she got under way, sustaining more hits from 250 lb (113 kg) bombs as she was deliberately beached to avoid blocking the harbor entrance.

USS California was hit by two bombs and two torpedoes. The crew might have kept her afloat, but were ordered to abandon ship just as they were raising power for the pumps. Burning oil from Arizona and West Virginia drifted down on her, and probably made the situation look worse than it was. The disarmed target ship USS Utah was holed twice by torpedoes. USS West Virginia was hit by seven torpedoes, the seventh tearing away her rudder. USS Oklahoma was hit by four torpedoes, the last two above her belt armor, which caused her to capsize. USS Maryland was hit by two of the converted 40 cm shells, but neither caused serious damage.

Although the Japanese concentrated on battleships (the largest vessels present), they did not ignore other targets. The light cruiser USS Helena was torpedoed, and the concussion from the blast capsized the neighboring minelayer USS Oglala. Two destroyers in dry dock were destroyed when bombs penetrated their fuel bunkers. The leaking fuel caught fire; flooding the dry dock in an effort to fight fire made the burning oil rise, and so the ships were burned out. The light cruiser USS Raleigh was holed by a torpedo. The light cruiser USS Honolulu was damaged but remained in service. The destroyer USS Cassin capsized, and destroyer USS Downes was heavily damaged. The repair vessel USS Vestal, moored alongside Arizona, was heavily damaged and beached. The seaplane tender USS Curtiss was also damaged. USS Shaw was badly damaged when two bombs penetrated her forward magazine.

Of the 402 American aircraft in Hawaii, 188 were destroyed and 159 damaged, 155 of them on the ground. Almost none were actually ready to take off to defend the base. Of 33 PBYs in Hawaii, 24 were destroyed, and six others damaged beyond repair. (The three on patrol returned undamaged.) Friendly fire brought down several U.S. planes on top of that, including some from an inbound flight from USS Enterprise. Japanese attacks on barracks killed additional personnel.

Fifty-five Japanese airmen and nine submariners were killed in the action. Of Japan's 414 available planes, 29 were lost during the battle (nine in the first attack wave, 20 in the second), with another 74 damaged by antiaircraft fire from the ground.

Thus began the Pacific War.

SOURCE: Banzai! The Japanese Assault on Pearl Harbor

The Fall of Konoe

In Siberia, Vlassov saw Japanese forces cross the Ussuri River in late May 1941. Following the collapse of Russian forces at Khabarovsk and the fall of Vladivostok, the Russian Army was rent through with pessimism and thoroughly demoralized. Not even stories of rape and murder filtering out of the occupied Far East could fire up their souls. Vlassov needed a victory to save his country. Desperate, he committed his final reserves of aircraft and armor to stop the Japanese drive at Irkutsk in mid-June. Japanese forces, overextended and overconfident, found themselves surprised. Japanese armor had failed to keep up with the infantry, breaking down along the rough terrian, their fuel tanks running dry as their supply line was stretched thin. Japanese aircraft also lagged behind, waiting for new airfields to be built to accomodate them. Caught off guard without air or armor support, the Japanese suffered heavy casualties. The Japanese drive once more stalled. With Russian survival feasible for the foreseeable future, Dewey had American military aid increased to Vlassov's government.

Back in Japan, the Imperial Staff continued to plan for war with the United States. While the Emperor received detailed reports from Sugiyama and Nagano about the planned operations in the South Pacific and the attack of Pearl Harbor, Prime Minister Konoe made one last desperate attempt to avoid war. That very evening, he arranged a secret dinner conference with the US Ambassador to Japan. Konoe told the ambassador that he was prepared to travel to meet Dewey on a moment's notice. The ship had already been prepared. He was convinced that the United States and Japan could reach a true agreement, and when that happened, he would radio back to the palace, and the Emperor would issue a rescript ordering a complete halt to all aggressive activities.

The US Ambassador was impressed with Konoe's sincerity. He cabled back, urging his superiors to advise Dewey to accept the summit proposal. The State Department continued to think that an open-ended summit was a waste of time. If Japan were serious, it would begin meaningful and detailed negotiations that would be affirmed at a summit. Konoe's last push for a diplomatic solution was taken in vain.

Throughout July the Army and Navy continued to prepare for war. Konoe had hoped that the August deadline would not be observed. The Army and Navy leaders disabused him of this notion. Japan had to act soon, because of the oil embargo. Otherwise it would be conceding defeat through delay. Also, American aid had to be cut off if Japan was to break through and finish off Russian forces. War with America had become inevitable in their eyes. This came to a head at a cabinet meeting on August 14. Army Minister Tojo Hideki stated that negotiations had failed, the deadline had passed. Konoe and his allies had become convinced that if the Army would only agree, in principle, to an ultimate withdrawal from China and SIberia, a negotiated settlement could be reached with the US. This was brought up at the meeting and General Tojo responded heatedly:

To yield to the American demand and withdraw their troops, he exploded, would wipe out all the fruits of the Chinese and Russian Wars, endanger Manchukuo, and jeopardize the governing of Korea. To accept troop withdrawal in name only would not benefit Japan either, he said. Withdrawal would mean retreat. It would depress morale. A demoralized Army would be as worthless as no Army. Our troops in China and Russia are the "heart of the matter," he persisted. Having made one concession after another, why should Japan now yield the "heart?" "If we concede this, what is diplomacy? It is surrender … a stain on the history of our empire!"

At the close of this meeting, Konoe realized that he had lost the struggle with the military. He knew that many in the Navy were convinced that war with the United States would end in disaster. Yet he was not able to win Navy backing against the adamant Army stance. Navy Admiral Nagano summed up his service's ambivalent attitude during this period by observing "The government has decided that if there is no war, the fate of the nation is sealed. Even if there is a war, the country may be ruined. Nevertheless, a nation that does not fight in this plight has lost its spirit and is doomed."
Konoe resigned on 16 August 1941, one day after having recommended Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni to the emperor as his successor. Two days later, Hirohito chose General Hideki Tōjō as Prime Minister despite the wish of the Navy and the Army, who would have preferred Prince Higashikuni. In 1946, he explained this decision : "I actually thought Prince Higashikuni suitable as chief of staff of the Army; but I think the appointment of a member of the imperial house to a political office must be considered very carefully. Above all, in time of peace this is fine, but when there is a fear that there may even be a war, then more importantly, considering the welfare of the imperial house, I wonder about the wisdom of a member of the imperial family serving [as prime minister]." Six weeks later, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

Konoe justified his demission to his secretary Kenji Tomita. "Of course his Majesty is a pacifist and he wished to avoid war. When I told him that to initiate war was a mistake, he agreed. But the next day, he would tell me : 'You were worried about it yesterday but you do not have to worry so much.' Thus, gradually he began to lead to war. And the next time I met him, he leaned even more to war. I felt the Emperor was telling me: 'My prime minister does not understand military matters. I know much more.' In short, the Emperor had absorbed the view of the army and the navy high commands."

SOURCE: The Legacy of Konoe

The Path to a Pacific War

Many questions have arisen as to why the Japanese invaded Russia (Operation Haichi-Go) with an ongoing conflict in China as well as American pressure not to intervene in Siberia. The leading theory is that the Japanese believed Russia was nothing more than a corpse waiting to be dismembered, the head chopped off by the Germans and the life blood of industry, population, and raw materials bled out and lost with its European lands. Siberia held less than 30% of the Soviet Union's former population, nearly every factory was now in German hands, and the Russian Army, or what was left of it, was poorly armed. The lure of potential raw materials and land at so little cost drew Japan like the Sirens' call.

Many in the Imperial Army were sure the campaign would be over quickly and that President Dewey of the United States would not intervene in their affairs, much like his predecessor, President Garner. Garner, being a staunch isolationist, was against any involvement in Asia despite Congress' constant attempts to intervene throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War as stories of atrocities and threats to American investment in the region mounted. Dewey's saber rattling was perceived as a hollow threat to sate the interventionists in America. Some records have arisen corroborating this theory with many Japanese generals on record stating their belief that the whole of Siberia would fall within a month. A thorough combing of Imperial records also revealed there was little to no planning on the contingency of American intervention in Operation Haichi-Go.

Thus it came as a surprise to the Kwangtung Army when their initial drive was blunted by dug in Siberian troops. Russian soldiers are famous for their defensive capabilities as the Japanese quickly discovered. The first week of fighting along the border was brutal with the Japanese taking incredible casualties for every foot of earth. Each step forward saw Siberian forces stiffen. Despite a numerical advantage of troops (3:1) and the use of aircraft and armor, the Japanese could not shatter the Russian line.

Though the Russians were surprising the world with their resistance, their forces were beginning to crumble. Nearly half of the Russian Air Force was lost in the opening stages of the war, the remainder pulled back to protect the core of the rump Russian nation should the Japanese break through. Russian armor, meanwhile, proved useless as fuel stocks quickly ran dry and resupply proved impossible. Vlassov knew there was no way to defeat the Japanese offensively. He could only hope to bleed the Japs and pray that the American embargo would make future attacks untenable. He sacrificed men and land for time.

With the failure of the opening week, many in the Imperial Staff were afraid they had found themselves in another China. Siberia had seemingly become another meat grinder into which Japanese soldiers were lost. The situation was further exacerbated by the American oil embargo. With stocks of oil limited, the campaign had to be settled quickly. Incredible solutions were offered to successfully conclude the war from the use of gas to biological weapons. The most radical approach of all was a proposal of diplomacy with America made by the Prime Minister. For once, the Imperial Staff was inclined to listen.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe felt pressure from the Imperial Staff to find some solution to the debacle they had bumbled into. Already, the Imperial Staff were putting together a plan to seize the Dutch East Indies to alleviate the oil problem, part of the staff certain America wouldn't end the embargo even if Siberia fell. The oil of the Indies would solve Japan's needs and make her immune to future American economic dependence. Likewise, seizure of British possessions in the region would help to create a buffer to protect against American counterattacks sure to come. British power had been waning since 1939, their colonies ripe for the taking. Also, problems continued to fester in India which Japan fostered tying up what few British troops were available. Initial victory seemed assured as there were no real forces to oppose their plan.

The very notion of assaulting the Indies and British possessions throughout the South Pacific horrified Konoe who saw such an act as likely to draw America into a war which could only end in Japan's utter devastation. The idea of launching yet another campaign while two others (China, Siberia) were ongoing, especially one that could draw the United States as an adversary, was to be avoided at all costs.

Konoe had been against the Russian invasion from the beginning, hoping instead to mend Japanese-American relations rather than gamble the destiny of his people on yet another military adventure. With detereorating conditions in China, Konoe had hoped to achieve recognition for the Wang Jingwei Government, stripping Chiang of support and possibly pushing the stubborn Generalissimo to the bargaining table so that the war could end. Garner had been deaf to such pleas, instead waiting for both sides to destroy each other and caring little for the bloodshed. With Dewey, Konoe hoped he'd found a ready ear. When the Army invaded Siberia, Konoe found his plans in tatters.

With the Imperial Staff drawing up plans for a strike likely to start war between America and Japan, Konoe made a desperate attempt to avert conflict. He proposed a personal summit with Dewey–in the United States if necessary–to come to some understanding. Konoe secured backing from the Navy and the Emperor for this move. The Army reluctantly agreed, provided that Konoe adhere to the consensus foreign policy, and be prepared to go to war if his initiative failed. Konoe secretly confided to a friend that he intended to grant concessions to the US, including withdrawal from Russia and China, using direct authority from the Emperor. His friend cautioned that he would be assassinated upon his return. Konoe agreed that this was likely, but felt that it was worth the personal risk.

Dewey played along, even though he felt that negotiations were probably a waste of time after his initial dealings with the Japanese. He also doubted that Konoe could make an agreement that was both acceptable to the US and to the militarists at home. Dewey told Ambassador Nomura that he would like to see more details of Konoe's proposal, and he suggested that Juneau, Alaska, might be a good spot for a meeting.
Meanwhile in Siberia, the strain of battle began to take its toll on Siberian troops. Repeated air attacks served to pound their nerves raw. Japanese armor would shatter them. Desperate for progress at any cost, the Japanese focused their assault at Khabarovsk in what was the first use of Japanese blitzkrieg tactics. They hoped to split the Russian line, roll up the east all the way to Vladivostok while using the Ussuri River to protect their flank, and then regroup for the push west. 29 April, Japanese forces commenced their assault. Softened up by artillery and air bombardment, the depleted Siberian ranks finally broke when Japanese armor crashed through. A sliver of Siberia was lost, the first hairline crack in Vlassov's defenses. This victory served to cool the Imperial Staff's initial interest in a diplomatic solution to the crisis. The Imperial Staff became even more averse to dealing with the United States when they found American weapons among some of the Russian soldiers' corpses.

On 5 May, Konoe met the Emperor with chiefs of staff Hajime Sugiyama and Osami Nagano. Alarmed at military officers accompanying the Prime Minister, Emperor Showa asked what happened to the negotiations with Dewey. Konoe replied that, of course, negotiations were primary, and the military option was only a fall-back position if negotiations failed. The Emperor then questioned Sugiyama about the current state of affairs in Siberia. After Sugiyama answered positively, smiling broadly as he releated the victory at Khabarovsk, Hirohito scolded him, remembering that the Army had predicted that the invasion of Russia would be completed in only one month.

The next day the policy about the preparation for war against "United States, United Kingdom, and Holland" was formally proposed at the Imperial Conference. Hara Yoshimichi, the Privy Council President, observed that the plan seemed to put military action ahead of diplomacy. Standing in for the Emperor, he asked if that was the case. There was silence. No other figure, including Konoe, attempted to answer the question.

The Emperor then stunned the gathering by speaking out. He stated that Hara's question was an important one, and that it was "regrettable" that none of the senior leaders had addressed it. He then read a verse that had been composed by the Emperor Meiji:

Throughout the world
Everywhere we are all brothers
Why then do the winds and waves rage so turbulently?

He stated that he had often reflected on this verse, which represented the Emperor Meiji's desire for peace, a desire that he shared. Stung by this unexpected rebuke, Navy Chief of Staff Nagano rose to defend the policy, assuring the Emperor that this consensus document was not a decision to go to war and that priority will be given to negotiations.

The Imperial Conference adopted the policy that would result in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The policy established a set of minimum demands that must be met through negotiations. If Konoe's negotiations did not bear fruit by mid-August, Japan would commence hostilities against the United States and the Netherlands' Pacific holdings. The minimum demands included a halt to the economic and oil embargoes, withdrawal of political support for the Chinese Nationalist government, an end to military aid for Russia, agreement to keep Western military forces in the Pacific at their current level, and non-interference in Japan's attempts to bring" peace" to China. In other words, to accept Japanese hegemony over China, Manchuria, Mongolia, Russia, Burma, and French Indo-China, and Japanese military primacy in an even broader swath of the East.

SOURCE: Dawn of the Pacific War

President Dewey Attempts to Cripple Japan!

8 April 1940 - Following Japan's invasion of Russia last week, President Dewey has cut all oil exports to Japan. The threat of an oil embargo was made by the president last month following a buildup of Imperial forces along the eastern Siberian border in what was perceived by many to be preparations for an invasion. This comes on the heels of Dewey's earlier Export Control Act passed in March which halted shipments of airplanes, parts, machine tools, and aviation gasoline; a move meant to slow if not halt Japan's growing militarism across the Asian continent. For the past year Congress had attempted to pass such legislation only to have it vetoed by President Garner who accused the legislature of trying to start a war. With Dewey, Congress has become much more confrontational with Imperial forces.

Since taking office in January, President Dewey had made an effort to bring Japan and China to the bargaining table to end their ongoing conflict. Rebuffed by the Japanese, who refused any negotiation that called for their retreat from Chinese territory, the president made it known he would not tolerate an expansion of Japanese military operations in Asia.

With reports of massacres and genocidal campaigns gradually emerging from China via survivors of those atrocities, America's isolationist stance has eroded. From San Francisco to New York City, many are demanding American moral action against the savage Japs.

In Washington, Senator Taft declared Dewey's act of embargo one more step forward on a path destined for war. He pointed out Dewey's immediate push for re-armament, the president's increasingly vocal attacks on the Imperial government, and now an economic blow meant to cripple the Japanese war machine. Taft went further, stating, "The president is poking at a snake. How long before it turns and bites him for it?"

Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy, Prime Minister of the Netherlands government in exile in the United States, has ordered the Dutch East Indies to likewise halt all oil shipments to the Japanese in a show of support for the American position.

With only eighteen months worth of oil stocks, the question is whether the Japanese will acquiesce to American demands to pull back from Russia.

SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Asia - March 1941

The New Republic of Xinjiang Proclaimed

November 27, 1940 - Sheng Shicai declared Xinjiang an independent nation today officially breaking away from Chiang Kai-Shek's government.

Xinjiang, though nominally a province of China, had been a de facto protectorate of the Soviet Union's up until September. Following the Second Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Sheng purged Xinjiang of all communist elements in order to curry favor with Chiang and the Kuomintang. His need for allies had grown with Mengjiang nipping at his eastern borders and no Soviet troops to help hold them back. To Sheng's regret, Chiang greatly distrusted him refusing to grant him aid and even calling for his ousting as governor of Xinjiang.

Many believe Sheng's declaration of independence is nothing more than show. Without Stalin or Chiang to protect him, he has seemingly chosen the Japanese as his new patrons. Treaties have already been signed between Sheng's new government and Japan allowing for a contingent of the Kwantung Army to be based there as well as various trade and economic treaties. There is already talk of Japanese investment in the new country.

SOURCE: The Philadelphia Bulletin

Invasion of Mongolia

September 1940 - With the Soviet Union reeling from Operation Babarossa, the Kwangtung Army began to plan for a rematch with the Red Army as early as June 1940. Their eyes fell on Mongolia.

What began in conception as a limited engagement to probe Russian strength in the region rapidly escalated into a minor offensive as the Germans neared Moscow and the Japanese believed the USSR approached collapse.

The Kwangtung Army built up their forces in the region from early August to mid-September, preparing to pounce when the Soviet's grip on Mongolia seemed weakest.

In early September, the Japanese began vocally protesting against local Mongolian forces committing hit and run incursions into Mengjiang. Citing the dissolving control the Mongolian central government had over its southern border, the Japanese demanded the right to occupy key points throughout the Sumbataar, Umnogovi, Dornogovi, Hovd, Govi-Altay, Bayanhongor, and Dornod provinces in order to prevent future assaults on Mengjiang. Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Mongolia's leader, stalled for time. He contacted General Vlassov, the junta leader of the rump Russian state, asking for military aid pointing to the former alliance between the Soviet Union and Mongolia and pleading for Vlassov to uphold that alliance.

General Vlassov had a tough decision to make. If he were to come to Choibalsan's aid, it may lead to war with Japan. That was something Vlassov was not sure Russia was ready for. With control of all European lands ceded to Germany, Vlassov had lost the majority of his heavy industry, military equipment, and manpower. To make matters worse was the composition of his forces in the Far East. Russian strength in the area had improved little since Nomonhan in 1939 which saw Russian armor drop to a mere 250 tanks and the utter anihilation of the Far East Air Force. Stalin had placed a priority for military equipment on his western border
believing the Japanese were too weak, and too smart, to try and assault Soviet territory again. Because of this, Soviet armor and aircraft were in short supply. Estimates range from 25-50% operational strength for Soviet armor and lower for Soviet aircraft, much of which was outdated to begin with. Fuel and ammo stocks were also limited. The ability to stop the initial Japanese drive seemed slim. Sure, Vlassov could use the forces at his disposal, a still commanding army of roughly 1.5 million, and counterattack the Japanese drive using the bones of his soldiers to stall the Japanese drive. But what then? He would exhaust his armor, lose precious aircraft, and be hard pressed to replace his losses. Even worse, what if the Japanese managed to break through? And even if they didn't, would the blood of so many dead draw the attention of the Nazis back to what was left of Russia? Was all this worth it for Mongolia, an arid, worthless piece of desert? Russia had enough problems with the central Asian republics already revolting, a faltering economy, and the nagging threat of Hitler just beyond the Urals.

Vlassov would turn his back on Choibalsan to buy time should the Japanese decide to continue north. The Kwangtung Army would march into Mongolia, officially annexing the nation to Mengjiang.

The long term effects of Vlassov's decision were enormous. Such wanton cowardice further demoralized Russian forces who had already seen too many defeats. Vlassov's refusal to aid Mongolia also emboldened the Japanese who saw Russia increasingly as a dying state ripe for dismemberment. A nation that had held them at Nomonhan now ran from battle. The Japanese continued to supply the central Asian republics with arms in exchange for influence in the region and to tie up Russian troops. Dreams of conquering Siberia began to reemerge among the inner circle of the Japanese High Command.

SOURCE: OnWar.com

Operation WOTAN: August 7, 1940 -September 24, 1940

Operation WOTAN Begins
On X-Day Panzer Group 1 was in action on the southern side of the encircling ring around Kiev; Guderian’s Group 2, leaving XXXXVIII Corps at Priluki, had disengaged from the encirclement’s northern side and had concentrated around Glukhov; while Panzer Groups 3 and 4 were still deeply committed to the battles at Briansk and Vyasma. The long advance to battle which they would have to undertake meant that they would enter late into the second stage of WOTAN. Guderian, impatient to march, decided that if the other groups were not in position by X-Day then he would open the operation without them. His formations moved forward, and at dawn on the misty morning of 9 August, the order came: “Panzer marsch.” Guderian named as his Group’s first objective the road and rail communications center of Orel. General Geyr von Schweppenburg’s XXIV Panzer Corps, with 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions in the line, advanced up the Orel Road, while Lemelsen’s XXXXVII Panzer Corps, fielding 17th and 18th Panzer Divisions, flooded across the lightly undulating terrain to the north of the highway.

Guderian’s soldiers were confident. On the eve of the offensive Heini Gross, serving in one of the panzer battalions of 4th Division, wrote “Last evening the Corps Commander visited us. There were several speeches and then we all sang the ‘Panzerlied.’ Very, very moving. Tomorrow at 05:30 we open the attack which will win the war.”

Guderian’s first blows smashed the left wing of Yeremenko’s Front and within a day had crushed Thirteenth Red Army. Soviet counterattacks launched by two Cavalry Divisions and two Tank Brigades were flung back in disarray by 4th Panzer Division. Through the gap which had been created XXIV Corps struck for Sensk, captured it and drove on towards Orel while XXXXVII Corps swung northeastwards for Karachev and Briansk. To the north of Guderian, von Weichs’ Second Infantry Army brought about the collapse of Yeremenko’s right wing when it split asunder the Forty-third and Fiftieth Red Armies. Within two days Panzer Group 2 had driven 130km through the Soviet battle line against minimal opposition. A breach had been made between Orel and Kursk and Kesselring directed the other Panzer Groups to reach and pass through “Guderian’s Gap,” in order to begin the exploitation phase of WOTAN. That order drove Kleist’s Panzer Group 1 northwards from the Kiev ring and was to send Groups 3 and 4 southwards once the main part of their forces had been withdrawn from the Vyasma encirclement battles.

On 11 August, the first air drop was made to Guderian’s Group. Friedrich Huber in a Flak battery recalled, “Fighter aircraft circled above us to drive off any Russian machines. Then the Ju-52s flew in, approaching from the west at a great height, descended lower and circled. They roared low above our heads, the yellow identification stripe [carried by aircraft on the Eastern Front] glowing in the sunlight. A cascade of boxes and the first flight climbed, circled and flew back westwards. In less than ten minutes forty Ju’s had supplied us. Another flight of forty came in, delivered and flew off to be followed by a third wave. This is an idea of the Fuhrer, of course. Simple and effective, swift and efficient…”

Stavka’s reaction to the 2nd Panzer Group attack was sluggish and the weak tank attacks against XXIV Corps were repulsed with heavy loss. Guderian’s Group gained ground at such pace that it was confidently believed the hard crust of the Soviet defense must have been cracked. But it had not. Supreme Stavka ordered that Tula, on the southern approaches to Moscow, was to be held to the last, and the fanatical Soviet defense of the area between the city and Mtsensk brought the first check to 2nd Panzer Group’s drive.

Kesselring, who had been elated at the fall of Orel on 12 August, intended to capitalize on that success by changing WOTAN’s thrust line. Hitler had ordered this to the northeasterly: Dankov-Kasimov-Gorki. That original direction Kesselring now changed so that it marched northwards from Orel, via Mtsensk and Tula, to attack Moscow from due south.

Guderian’s Panzer Group Checked at Mtsensk
It was Colonel Katukov’s armor positioned south of Mtsensk that checked Guderian. A post-battle report, by the staff of XXIV Panzer Corps described the first two days of battle:

“The unit confronting us on Tula road was 4th Tank Brigade. They fought with a terrifying ferocity, even their crews assaulting us with small arms once their tanks had been destroyed. We overcame such resistance by calling Stuka strikes and by setting up lines of our 88mm anti-aircraft guns and employing these in a ground role.”

Kesselring’s disobedience of Hitler’s order forbidding Panzer Army Group to become involved in pitched battles had resulted in Guderian’s drive faltering. To retrieve the situation OKH moved Second Infantry Army from 2nd Panzer Group’s left flank to its right and gave the infantry force the task of capturing Tula. Guderian’s Group, relieved on 16 August, then raced for its next objective, Yelets to the northwest of Voronezh and some 160km distant. Its advance was still unsupported. The other Panzer Groups had still not yet reached the breached area.

Hitler had correctly forecast that Stavka’s slow reaction to WOTAN would allow the Panzer Army Group to gain ground swiftly and Guderian met little organized opposition en route to Yelets. It was principally ill-trained local garrisons reinforced by untrained factory militias who came out to contest the German advance. Lacking adequate training they were slaughtered.

The crossing of the Olym river might have delayed Guderian more than the Russian enemy, but Hitler’s insistence upon extra pioneer units to accompany the Panzer Groups had proved him right and six tank-bearing bridges were erected in a single day. On 20 August Guderian’s reconnaissance detachments entered the outskirts of Yelets and quickly captured the town. The leading elements pressed on: the next water barrier was the mighty Don where Panzer Group 2 could expect to meet serious resistance unless the river could be “bounced”. For the Don crossing Guderian demanded the strongest Stuka support. His Divisions moved towards the river ready to cross on 23 August.

At dawn on that day the Stukas, the Black Hussars of the air, flew over the battle area and systematically destroyed everything which moved on the Don’s eastern bank. Yelets came within the defense zone of Voronezh and was ringed by deep field fortifications and extensive mine fields. “We attacked under cover of a smoke screen across a vast, flat and open piece of ground towards the Don,” explained Hauptmann Heinrich Auer. “On our sector the bluffs were over 100 meters high but upstream where they were almost at water level the Pioneers constructed bridges. We motorized infantry crossed in assault boats, then scaled the bluffs to storm the bunkers and trenches. The Stukas had bombed the Ivans so thoroughly that they were ready to surrender…

“It is not true that the crossing was easy. It was not but at its end we had broken the Don river line. Our panzers crossed the first bridge at about 1400hrs and came up to support us. Together we fought all that night and most of the next day. By the afternoon of the 24th we had reached the confluence of the Don and the Sosna, to the west of Lipetsk, and dug in there. The panzers left us at that point and wheeled north towards Lebyedan…”

Kleist Moves North
On 12 August, Kesselring ordered Kleist’s Panzer Group 1 to advance on a broad front, “…left flank on Kursk and the right on Gubkin…to drive northeastwards to gain touch with Guderian at Yelets.” Once he was in position on Guderian’s right Kleist was next to strike southeastwards and capture Voronezh before changing direction again, northwards to create the western wall of the salient.

Kleist’s Group, like Guderian’s, had not had to cover such vast distances as either Hoth or Hoepner but its advance had been slowed by deep mud and by a surprising fuel famine. A mechanical defect in Elekta, the ground identification signal apparatus, caused the Ju transports to overfly Kleist and to airdrop their cargoes over Guderian. It took nearly four days to identify and to rectify that fault, by which time Kleist was so short of fuel that his Group’s advance was reduced to that of a single Panzer Company. Drastic shortages call for radical action and Kesselring’s solution was direct. Every Heinkel III in VIII Air Corps was loaded with fuel and ammunition and the massed squadrons touched down on the Kursk uplands at Swoboda where Kleist’s Group had halted. A single mission was sufficient to replenish it and the Divisions resumed their drive across the open steppe-land.

On 23 August Panzer Group 1 forced a crossing of the Olym downstream from Guderian, and in the area of Kastornoye the point units of 1st and 2nd Groups met. Later that afternoon the main force of both groups linked up and a solid wall of armor extended from Gubkin to Yelets. Kleist Group moved out immediately to capture Voronezh but that city was not to be taken by coup-de-main. It was a regional capital with half a million citizens, most of whom worked in its giant arms factories. As in the case of Mtsensk, Stavka ordered Voronezh to be held at all costs, intending that Mtsensk be the northern and Voronezh the southern jaw of a Soviet pincer. Those two jaws would be massively reinforced and, when the Red Army opened it offensive, they would trap the Panzer Army Group and destroy it.

Hoepner Struggles to Reach Guderian’s Gap
Hoepner’s Panzer Group 4 had been so heavily engaged in the encirclement operations at Smolensk and in the continuing fighting around Vyasma that it could only withdraw individual Panzer Regiments from the battle line. Acting upon Kesselring’s orders these marched southwards to gain contact with Guderian now driving hard for Yelets.

On the Mtsensk sector Vietinghoff grouped his XXXXVI Panzer Corps in support of Second Infantry Army which was fighting desperately against the heavily reinforced Fiftieth Red Army. Stalin had ordered that Soviet formation in order to hold Mtsensk and Tula and form the northern pincer of Stavka’s planned counteroffensive. When Stumme’s XXXX Corps reached Vietinghoff he handed over the task of supporting Second Army and struck eastwards across the Neruts river, passed south of Khomotovo and halted at Krasnaya Zara where he positioned his Corps on Guderian’s left flank. Detained by the Vyasma battles and slowed by mud, neither Stumme’s XXXX nor Kuntzen’s LVII Panzer Corps had gained touch with Vietinghoff by the evening of 23 August, but late that night, to the west of Guderian’s Gap, the first elements of both Corps reached their concentration areas.

24 August, Vietinghoff swung towards Yefremov where his advance struck and dispersed the Twenty-first and Thirty-eighth Red Armies, both reinforced by workers’ battalions armed with Molotov cocktails and other primitive anti-tank devices.

Hoth Reaches Guderian’s Gap
Like Hoepner’s Group, Hoth’s Group 3 disengaged piecemeal from the Vyasma operation, then concentrated and began to march southwards, en route to “Guderian’s Gap.”

Through the end of August, Hoth drove his Group forward at top speed. Kesselring’s dispositions for the advance of Panzer Army Group to Gorki had long been redundant, but a rearrangement brought Panzer Groups 2 and 3 shoulder to shoulder forming the assault wave with 4 and 1 preparing to line the eastern and western salient walls respectively.

On the evening of 23 August Hoth’s Group gained touch with the others and halted at the junction of the Sosna and Don rivers with Hoepner’s Group on one flank and Guderian’s on the other. “Our pioneers worked all night bridging those rivers,” said Panzer Captain Wolfgang Hentschel, “so that the advance could press ahead.”

Panzer Army Group Drives on Gorki
Early in the morning of 25 August, Kesselring, set up his Field Headquarters in Yelets and coordinated the great wheeling movement which would bring the Panzer Groups in line abreast ready to advance towards Gorki, some 650km distant. WOTAN was behind schedule and it worried him, for every day’s delay served the enemy’s purpose. When his subordinates demanded time to rest their men and to service their vehicles he could give them only three days. WOTAN’s third phase had to open on 27 August. Military Intelligence had indicated that the Soviets were about to carry out a major withdrawal and Panzer Army Group had to be ready to exploit any weakness shown by the Red Army during that retreat.

The series of battles leading up to Gorki created a period of bitter fighting, of relentless attack and desperate defense. Weeks in which the sable candles of smoke rising in the still summer air marked the pyres of burning tanks. In essence, the course of operations from 27 August to the middle of September was characterized by the Soviets being confined to the towns along the salient walls from which they mounted furious attacks against the panzer formations ranging across the open countryside and destroying such opposition as they met. In its advance from Yefremov via Dankov to Skopin, Panzer Group 1 was so fiercely attacked by Red forces striking out of Novmoskovsk, that Guderian was compelled to detach Geyr’s XXIV Corps to support Kleist until an infantry Corps reached the area. A similar action was fought at Ryazan against an even heavier offensive, supported by troops of the Moscow Front, switched on internal lines from west to the east flank. Panzer Group 1 was fortunate in being aided by nature on the Ryazan sector. The river Ramova was not a single stream but a mass of riverlets running through marshland-a perfect barrier against Soviet armor striking from the west and from the northwest. Kleist needed only to patrol on his side of the river and concentrated the bulk of his force on the high ground between the Ramova and the Raga, the latter river forming the boundary between Panzer Groups 1 and 2.

Guided by reconnaissance aircraft and supported by Stukas the panzer formations of each Group dealt with any crisis which arose on a neighbor’s flank. An analysis of Russian tank tactics highlights the difference between the Red Army’s highly skilled, pre-war crews and its more recently trained men. A post-battle report stated:

The enemy’s second attack (on the right flank) made good use of ground, coming up out of the shallow valley of the river and screened by the low hills on the eastern side of the road. This wave of machines got in amongst the artillery of 3rd Panzer Division which was limbering up ready to move forward. Hastily laid belts of mines and flame throwers drove back the T26s…The third attack was incompetently mounted and a whole tank battalion moved on the skyline across a
ridge. Our anti-tank guns picked the machines off and destroyed the whole unit…

Kesselring’s handling of his Army Group was masterly and he coolly detached units to bolster a threatened sector or created battle groups to strengthen a panzer attack. His energy and presence were an inspiration to his men.

Guderian’s Group, bypassing towns and crushing opposition, moved so fast that on 5 September, Kesselring was forced to halt it at Murom until Hoth and Hoepner had drawn level. The towns of Kylebaki and Vyksa fell to Panzer Group 3 on the following day and Hoth detached his LVI Panzer Corps to help take the strategic road and rail center of Arzhamas against the fanatic defense of a Shock Army specially created to hold it. With the full of Arzhamas on the 7th, the Soviet formations opposing Panzer Group 4 broke. As they fled Hoepner sent out his armored car battalions to patrol the west bank of the Volga, while 2nd and 10th Panzer Divisions went racing ahead to pursue the enemy and to gain ground. Wireless signals advised Hoepner that Bogorodsk had been taken, then that the advance guard had seized Kstovo and later that day had pushed on to the Volga. But Hoepner desperately needed infantry reinforcements and Kesselring sent in waves of Ju-52s, each carrying a Rifle Section. Within five hours two battalions of 258th Division had been flown in. The 5th and 11th Panzer Divisions of XXXXVI Corps moved fast to support Stumme’s XXXX Corps while LVII Corps continued with the unglamorous but vital task of strengthening the salient walls. By 10 September the Panzer Army Group was positioned ready to begin the final advance to Gorki. Group 1, on the left, had reached the Andreyevo sector and Guderian was advancing towards Gorki supported by Hoth’s Group 3. Meanwhile Hoepner’s Group 4 crossed the Volga against fanatical resistance and massive, all-arms counterattacks, and went on to establish bridgeheads on the river’s eastern bank.

On 12 and 13 September a vast air fleet, under Kesselring’s direct control, launched waves of raids upon Gorki. Stukas bombed Russian strongpoints and gun emplacements, until there was no fire from Soviet anti-aircraft batteries to defer the Heinkel squadrons which cruised across the sky bombing Gorki and the neighboring town of Dzerzinsk at will. The impotence of the Red Air Force is explained in a Luftwaffe report covering the period from the opening of WOTAN: “Soviet air operations were made initially on a mass scale but heavy losses reduced these to attacks by four or even fewer Stormovik aircraft on any one time…[they were] nuisance raids which had little effect…” The total number of enemy aircraft destroyed during the period was 2700 but the report does not state aircraft types: “…the Soviets could produce planes in abundance but not pilots sufficiently well trained to challenge our airmen…”

Resistance to the infantry patrols of 29th Division which entered both towns on the following day was weak and soon beaten down. Opposition on the eastern flank had been crushed and when Kleist Group secured Andreyevo, to the southeast of Vladimir the western sector was also firm. A German cordon, with both flanks secure, extended south of the Gorki-Vladimir-Moscow highway.

On 14 September Panzer Army Group Headquarters ordered a defensive posture for the following day in anticipation of massive Russian attacks. Those assaults came on the 15th and 16th, employing masses of infantry, tanks, and cavalry supported by artillery barrages of hitherto unknown intensity. Furious though those assaults were they were everywhere beaten back by German troops who knew they were winning: as one German major put it, “Thank Heaven for Ivan’s predictability. He attacks the same sector at precise intervals. Once his most recent assaults have been driven off we know things will be quiet until the stated interval has elapsed. When that new attack comes in we are ready for it. His tactics are almost routine. A very long preliminary barrage which ends abruptly. Then a short pause and the barrage resumes for five minutes. Under its cover his tanks roll forward and as they come close our panzer outpost line swings round and pretends to flee in panic. The Reds chase the ‘fleeing’ vehicles and are impaled on our anti-tank line…It never fails…”

But those days had been ones of deep crisis causing a signal to be sent to all units on the 17th for the defensive posture to be maintained throughout the following two days. Where possible, the time was to be spent in vehicle maintenance so that when the attack opened against Moscow, every possible panzer would be a “runner.”

Causes for Concern
On 9 September, the Field armies reported to OKH that losses from casualties and sickness were not being made good. Statistically, each German Infantry Division had lost the equivalent of a whole regiment and that scale of losses was also reflected in armored fighting vehicle strengths. When WOTAN opened only Panzer Group 4 had been at full establishment with Groups 1 and 3 at 70% and Panzer Group 2 at only 50%. To OKH the worrying question was whether Kesselring’s Army Group would be so drained of strength that it would be too weak to fulfill its mission. On the same day a memo from Foreign Armies (East) advised Hitler that the Red Army in the West had 200 front-line Infantry Divisions, 35 Cavalry Divisions, and 40 Tank Brigades, with another 63 Divisions in Finland, the Caucuses, and the Far East. That memorandum went on to warn that “…the Russian leaders are beginning to coordinate all arms very skillfully in their operations…” The warning was clear: WOTAN should be cancelled. Hitler ignored that warning. The operation would continue.

The second week of September was highlighted for the infantry and panzer forces around Mtsensk and Voronezh by a series of major Red Army offensives.

The Intelligence Section summary of 20 September reported, “The Siberian troops first encountered (on 15 September) maintained their attacks until yesterday morning. These attacks were bravely made but badly led. Prisoners stated that they had been foot marching for six weeks…There are 36 Divisions still in the Far East preparing to move westwards…”

Supreme Stavka, in desperation, were dredging the depths to stave off German conquest and launching major offensives with their reserves. Those at Mtsensk and Voronezh, made to close “Guderian’s Gap,” were the major ones. Whole Divisions of NKVD troops were concentrated in both areas and swung into action with such élan that their initial attacks forced the German infantry to retreat. But Stavka had made two errors. Firstly, so great a concentration of men in the cramped Mtsensk appendix restricted the armored formations, and secondly, although at Voronezh there was room for maneuver the garrison was equipped with only undergunned, light, T26 tanks. The fighting at both places was bitter and both sides knew that its outcome would depend upon which of them broke first. It was the Soviets, bombed from the air, pounded by artillery, and facing the fire of German soldiers fighting for their lives, whose morale cracked. Although the NKVD still marched into machine gun fire as unwaveringly as the Siberians or the cadets of the Voronezh military academies, the German troops sensed that the enemy’s spirit was gone. General Lothar Rendulic, commanding 52nd Infantry Division, wrote “Stavka recognized…that the standard Russian infantryman’s offensive quality was poor and that he needed the prop of overwhelming artillery and armor.” In the Mtsensk and Voronezh battles the Red Army’s armor and air support was eroded, and without those buttresses the Soviet infantry lost heart and were slaughtered. This paradox-initial fanatical struggles followed by a sudden and total collapse-was a feature encountered during the subsequent stages of WOTAN. The failure of the NKVD and the Siberians to crush the Germans affected the morale of the ordinary Red Army units encountered by the Panzer Army Group.

The presence of the Siberians on the battlefield was countered politically. Messages between Berlin and Tokyo were followed by belligerent, anti-Soviet editorials in semi-official Japanese newspapers. These alarmed the Kremlin, which halted abruptly the flow of Siberian Divisions to the west, for these might be needed to fight in Manchuria. The surge of reinforcements from the central regions of the Soviet Union also slowed as Panzer Army Group’s advances and Luftwaffe air raids cut railway lines forcing the Red Infantry to undertake wearisome foot marches to the battle front.

The Westward Advance to Capture Moscow
On 19 September, Sovinformbureau announced “The battle for Moscow has resumed with attacks…by the fascist Army Group von Bock…Waves of enemy troops made one assault after another…” On the same day OKH also reported that Maloarchangelsk had been captured without resistance and that German formations were within 7km of Aleksin. It concluded “Weak enemy attacks indicate that the Red Army’s resistance is beginning to crumble…”

Concurrent with the opening of Army Group Center’s offensive against Moscow, the leading elements of Panzer Army Group having spent two days regrouping and replenishing, began their westward drive. Hoepner created a strong battle group from units lining the salient’s eastern wall and sent it out to gain the area between Kstovo and Balaxna. Battle group Schirmer not only enlarged the bridgeheads on the Volga’s eastern bank but also cut the main east-west railway line.

While Panzer Groups 2 and 3 completed their regrouping, Panzer Group 1, echeloned along the salient’s western wall, was defending itself tenaciously against the Red Army’s fanatical assaults. Pioneer detachments working at top speed repaired the railway line between Michurinsk and Murom so that Infantry Divisions could be “lifted” by train to release the panzer formations for more active duties; and one Corps of Kleist’s Panzer Group promptly struck and seized Krasni Mayek to protect Panzer Army Group’s southern flank.

On 19 September, under a lowering sky, Panzer Group 2 on the right of Moscow highway and Panzer Group 3 on left, moved from Gorokovyets to open WOTAN’s final phase. The number of “runners” with each Group had sunk considerably in the bitter fighting but the Field workshops had repaired damaged vehicles and had cannibalized those too badly wrecked to repair. The first waves of Panzer Group 2 disposed 200 machines and Group 3 nearly 240. Throughout the two days of inactivity relays of transport aircraft brought in only shells and fuel. With petrol tanks filled to the brim and covered by a rolling barrage the two Groups advanced side by side westward towards Moscow. At midday the September gloom vanished to be replaced by cloudless blue skies. The Stukas which had been grounded reentered the battle, taking off from advanced airfields outside Murom, Kylebaki, and Vyksa. Opposition to the German advance, light to begin with, grew despite the dive bomber raids, and the combined forces of XXIV and XXXXVII Panzer Corps were able to advance only slowly on the northern side of the highway. The two Corps of Panzer Group 1 made better progress along the southern flank bouncing across marshland.

Panzer Group 4’s war diary entry of 21 September records that 2ns Panzer Division (XXXX Corps) was attacked south of Kstovo by what was estimated to be a whole Division of Cavalry. The horsemen’s assaults to break through the Group’s front were crushed with almost total loss, but that series of charges had unnerved many German soldiers who saw with horror wounded horses galloping across the battlefield screaming in pain. Shrapnel had disemboweled others who dragged their entrails leaving swathes of blood in their wake.

Panzer Group 1 reported minimal opposition on 24 September, not the furious assaults out of Vladimir and Sudogda that had been anticipated. 1st Group’s right-wing Corps, amalgamated with the left-wing Corps of Panzer Group 3, attacked and gained ground quickly. The frontline soldiers realized that the weak opposition they were meeting indicated that the Red Army was all but defeated. One of these soldiers, Sergeant Strauch, said “24 September. We found the bodies of a number of their Commissars, all shot at point-blank range. If the Party isn’t executing them then the rank and file are…”

The recce battalions of Groups 2 and 3 approaching Vladimir met the phenomenon of large, organized bodies of Red Army troops standing, lining the roads, waiting to surrender. The officer commanding one group told General Geyr von Schweppenburg, who was riding with the recce point detachment, that revolution had broken out in Moscow, the government had been overthrown and its leaders shot. Von Bock’s soldiers were already in the capital’s inner suburbs. A flurry of signal messages confirmed the story. General Vlassov, a former dedicated communist, whose Twentieth Army had up to now staunchly defended the northwestern approaches to Moscow, was leading a military junta which had sued for peace terms.

“Our battalion and two others were ordered from the armored personnel carriers and into passenger trains. Russian officers, many with Tsarist cockades, escorted us…After several hours we reached Moscow’s West Station and marched to the city center. Units of Bock’s Army Group were already there and in Red Square an SS detachment was blowing up Lenin’s tomb. At dusk massed searchlights lit up the flag staff over the Kremlin and deeply moved we saw the German War Standard flying at the mast head…”

The war in Russia was over. Now there would be a period of tidying up, politically, socially, and economically. The population had to be fed, the Red Army demobilized, and Russia incorporated into the Reich’s New Order. Hitler was triumphant. His battle plan Operation Wotan had won the war on the Eastern Front.

SOURCE: Reich Historical Archives