1945: Operation August Storm (Russian vs. Japan)

1943: Operation Husky, The Invasion of Sicily

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DESCRIPTION

At the Yalta Conference in Feb 1945, Joseph Stalin had agreed to end the non-aggression pact with Japan, immediately followed by a declaration of war, three months after Germany would be defeated. On 8 Aug 1945, exactly three months after the German surrender, Russia abided by her promise and invaded Japanese puppet state Manchukuo in northeastern China. The three Russian Armies (Fronts) of the Far Eastern Command was under the overall command of Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky. In the field, Marshal R. Y. Malinovsky commanded the Transbaikal Front, Marshal K. A. Meretskov the 1st Far East Front, and General M. A. Purkayev the 2nd Far East Front. Fielding over 1.5 million men in 80 division with the support of over 5,000 tanks and 4,300 aircraft, the Russian forces completely outnumbered General Otsuzo Yamada's Kwangtung Army's 600,000 men in 25 divisions with a 40,000-strong Manchukuo Defense Force in 8 divisions, supported by 1,215 tanks and 1,800 aircraft.

The main invasion came across the Gobi desert, a desolate region that the Japanese did not expect any army to march through. Aside from the numerical superiority, the Russian invasion came at a total surprise to the unprepared Japanese troops in western Manchuria, which was further exploited by the Russian usage of airborne units at key airfields and population center. Within two weeks, major Manchurian cities of Mukden, Changchun and Qiqihar were under Russian control.

While the main invasion came across from the west, the eastern pincer made several amphibious landings on 18 Aug in northern Korea, Sakhalin, and in the Kuril Islands. The northern Korean landing was undeniably military in nature, but the landings made in southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were likely more political in nature, aiming for a long term occupation of Japanese territories.

On 14 Aug 1945, through a radio address, Emperor Hirohito of Japan declared his wish to surrender to the Allied powers. By this time, Russian troops reached the vicinity of the northern bank of the Yalu River, but stiff Japanese resistance prevented them from reaching it even though a small Russian contingent were probing behind the Japanese lines in northern Korea while the Japanese 17th Army marched north to meet them.. They failed to secure all of the Korean Peninsula before the 2 Sep Japanese surrender ceremony in order to establish a solely-Russian occupation area. On 8 Sep, American troops landed at the port city of Inchon, ending the Russian dream of being the sole occupier.

The Japanese northern-most home island of Hokkaido was in the invasion plans along with an air campaign of striking against the Japanese islands from the mainland, but Japan surrendered before Russian forces were ready to mount such an invasion.

This FSO is a what if scenario which posits that Japan did not surrender on Sep. 2nd but instead fought on for several months afterwards. Allowing the Russians to push into parts of south Korea while trying to eradicate large pockets of  resistance in North Korea, conduct air strikes on the Japanese home islands, and interdicting naval and merchant marine traffic in the Sea of Japan.

NOTE: We will be using the Japan terrain for this event.

COUNTRY PERCENTAGES

Roughly 50 / 50 with the Axis having slightly more.

SCORING

CA - 40 points
DD - 20 points

5 pts - Single Engine AC with 1 crew
10 pts - Single or double engine AC with 2 crew
15 pts - Double Engine AC with 3+ crew

192 - Small Airfield
264 - Medium Airfield
381 - Large Airfield
TBD - Port
146 - Vehicle Base

ARENA SETTINGS

- Japan Terrain
- Fuel 1.0
- Icons short
- 0.5 Ack
- Fighter and Bomber warning range 52,000 (about 10 miles)
- Tower range set to 52,000 (for display only to match the above setting)
- Clouds / visibility
      Frame 1, 13 miles
      Frame 2, 23 miles
      Frame 3, 16 miles
- Radar off
- Formations off - Friendly collisions off
- Kill shooter off
- Calm winds
- Time: 11 AM

SPECIAL RULES

Note special rules sent out with the objectives trump these special rules.


1. Nobody on the allied life gets a second life flying a plane.

2. Bomber formations are enabled / available.

3. A minimum and maximum number will be assigned to each aircraft type. The CiC of each side must deploy the designated minimum per aircraft type and can not more than the maximum per aircraft type. Outside of that the CiCs can deploy the aircraft types anyway the want (i.e. can have squads fly 2 aircraft types and in split they wish as long as squads are assigned same objective).

4. If both CiCs agree they may have the setup CM end the frame early. This is usually done if one side wipes out the other side (i.e. 60 versus 5).

5. Dead pilots may gun bombers. They may not man the guns of airfields or ships.

6. Ships can maneuver by the allied side during the frame as long as they stay in their containment area. Ships must stay in containment area defined in the objective orders. If they go outside of the containment area a penalty will be assessed.

7. All targets must be attacked within the first hour of the event. Both CiCs should include sending their battle plans to me so that I have proof that they planned to attack their targets by T+60.

8. All targets must be attacked by a credible force. I define a credible force to be at the very least 2 x 4-6 squads (so 8-12 planes) or 1 7x10 squad. Obviously CiCs can deploy a larger force per target as their plan dictates but no defending or attacking with just 1 x 4-6 squad.

9. All targets must be defended by a credible force. I define a credible force to be at the very least 2 x 4-6 squads (so 8-12 planes) or 1 7x10 squad. Obviously CiCs can deploy a larger force per target as their plan dictates but no defending or attacking with just 1 x 4-6 squad. 

GROUND RULES

A ground combat element will be incorporated into the event. Specific rules regarding the ground combat will be forth coming. Basically I will be using the same rules and capture the flag idea that was used in the Tunisia FSO

First off the ground combat will be a type of capture the flag. Both sides will spawn outside of a base not controlled by either and will be tasked with capturing the neutral (third party base) and holding it until end frame (so a sort of capture the flag but with a stationary flag).

Also GV life might either be a one life affair for those assigned to GVs or if I determine that the GV players get a second life in planes later in frame they will not be allowed to up in planes until after a specific time marker (i.e. T+40 or T+50, etc.   ... it is to TBD). However dead GV players may man the guns of other tanks and vehicles.

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