Long live Joachim

Chapter 85: Everything Has Two Sides At around 13:00 Greenwich Mean Time on April 19, 1946, a detailed report on the Battle of the Philippine Sea was presented to His Majesty Joachim I, the European Double Crown Prince. This member of the Hohenzollern family, born in 1890, although physically in his twilight years, his appearance and mental state are no different from his prime. What is even more admirable to the outside world is that he devoted his entire life to the construction of the German navy and the national development of Ireland with countless brilliant strategies, many of which have been regarded as classics by the world After reading the battle report sent by the special task force, Xia Shu calmly said to retired naval marshal Sean Purcell, a special advisor to the royal family, "It has been confirmed that this battle sank two large Japanese aircraft carriers, severely damaged two, lightly injured one, and sank one light aircraft carrier. Through a continuous daytime battle, the main carrier based aviation units of the Japanese Combined Fleet were basically destroyed, while the US fleet only paid the price of two aircraft carriers being heavily damaged and two aircraft carriers being lightly injured. Our St. Patrick was blessed by the goddess of luck, only receiving two near misses, four sailors were injured, and no one was killed The Irish naval admiral took the report from the king's hand, quickly and seriously read it, and then smiled: "The Japanese navy was as empty as we expected, while the Americans who endured hardships won an inevitable victory. Fortunately, Halsey became a hero in the spotlight, and he will be recorded in history for defeating the Japanese fleet, but few people know who the key figure behind the scenes was in this war Regarding Purcell's seemingly casual compliment, Xia Shu smiled calmly and said, "Actually, my influence on this war is far less than that of my brother who can make half the world tremble with just one stomp of his foot. Think about it, without the military control of Russians, Indians, and Australians, the strength of the Japanese navy would not have been as strong as it is now. If the Japanese could have deployed more than ten aircraft carriers in the Philippine Sea, Halsey would not have won so smoothly After reviewing the battle reports ahead following Purcell, the current Navy Commander, General Donal Kash, asked in confusion, "However, such a victory with vastly different losses is not what we truly expect. Apart from the slight loss of our participating ships, what else is there to be happy about Although General Cahill, from an old aristocratic family in Ireland, is the new head of the Irish Navy, he is not as trusted by the royal family as Purcell. He has never had access to the secrets behind the Tokyo nuclear explosion and therefore does not understand the meaning behind the words of these two people. Of course! "Xia Shu turned to General Kashi and said," Such a complete victory cannot maximize our interests. We may lose hundreds of millions of dollars in military orders, which is somewhat regrettable. However, for all innocent civilians in the Japanese occupied areas, this is a day worth celebrating. It may very well mark that Japan is going downhill faster and faster General Kashey shrugged and said, "To be honest, I don't really care about what kind of life those people who have never met are living at this moment. This is their fate and also the test of nature for them. Take us Irish people for example. A whole century ago, we were also deeply affected by disasters, but no one extended a helping hand to us out of pity and sympathy. As a result, half of the Irish people either starved to death or were forced to flee their homes, and Ireland fell into despair until Your Majesty's arrival Unlike Purcell, who excels in military command and has a good overall perspective and strategic awareness, General Kashi's strengths lie in organizational coordination and personnel management. After taking over the position of Commander in Chief of the Irish Navy, he quickly and effectively streamlined the originally somewhat cumbersome administrative structure of the navy, made drastic reforms to the policy of strategically storing old ships, and made reasonable adjustments to the development and construction plan of the navy. These measures enabled the Irish Navy to enter the new round of competition lightly and move forward quickly. In view of this, Xia Shu did not refute with words, but instead reached out and patted his arm: "You are grateful to me because I have reversed your fate. If we have reversed their fate, then they will also be grateful to us. Living in this world is not just to satisfy one's own desires. As a strong person, one should defend the morality and order of this era General Kashi nodded, seeming to understand but not quite. At this moment, if one turns their gaze to the same distant place, to the country still deeply suffering, they will find that the large-scale aggression of the Japanese army has tended to stop, but this does not mean that the situation has improved. After the Tokyo explosion, the reshuffled Japanese military and political leaders adjusted their invasion strategy of China, gradually allowing the puppet regime of Wang to take over all regions except for the northeast and northwest, while intensifying their efforts to lure and persuade the Nationalist government to surrender in the northwest. Under the financial and power offensive of the Japanese puppet regime, the Nationalist government, which relied on the assistance of Europe, America, and Soviet Russia to stabilize its position, once again faced difficulties. In the front lines of Qinghai, Ningxia, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia, which were facing off against the Japanese army, there were continuous incidents of mid to low level officers defecting, leading to serious leaks of information about the Lanzhou Battle actively planned by the Nationalist government in response to the Philippine Uprising and the United States' participation in the war. The army was attacked by the Japanese air force one after another during the movement and assembly process, and the combat operations were repeatedly delayed. The Japanese troops on the opposite side quickly increased their troops to strengthen their defense, causing the Nationalist government army to miss the opportunity to counterattack and control. Just as the US special task force dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese Southern Fleet and the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet hastily assembled and headed south, the hesitant Nationalist government finally ordered the front-line departments to launch operations according to a new combat plan. 11 reorganized divisions, 4 newly formed divisions, and over 200000 independent tank brigades besieged three and a half divisions of the Japanese Northwest Front around Lanzhou under the cover of the air force. In order to fight for the air supremacy in the battlefield, the air forces of the National Government poured out, and the Japanese army sent nearly 1000 fighters from North China and Central China to support the front line. The aviation forces of both sides carried out 16 days of intense air combat around Lanzhou. In this battle, the situation of the Nationalist Government Air Force improved significantly before the retreat. They were equipped with advanced fighter jets such as the IR-39 and Me-90 provided by the Western Allies, with the I-16 and Yak-1 provided by the Soviet Union as the main force. The vast majority of pilots received formal flight and combat training in Soviet territory. Therefore, in the initial stage of the battle, the Nationalist Government Air Force showed its sharpness and gained the upper hand in direct confrontation with the Japanese aviation forces, and also provided firepower assistance for ground troops' attacks. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Faced with a continuous influx of Japanese aviation and ground air defense units arriving at the front line, they were caught in a fierce tug of war of will and endurance. With a shortage of spare parts, insufficient supplies, and an absolute disadvantage in terms of military strength, they gradually lost the initiative in combat. Eventually, they became exhausted from dealing with waves of Japanese fighter jets' attacks and had to accept the result of "glory even after defeat". The air force was defeated, and the ground combat that was once "guaranteed" was also on the verge of success. Out of the 11 reorganized divisions, 7 were disabled, and half of the 4 newly formed divisions collapsed in the later stages of the battle. Several reinforcements were also mostly casualties. The independent tank brigade, built with standard German equipment and combat training system, was once seen as the "elite among the elite" and the "ace among the aces" for continuously breaking through two strong Japanese defense lines during the battle. In the end, it repeated the mistakes of friendly forces and lost most of its heavy equipment on the battlefield during the retreat. It can be said that in the battle of Lanzhou, the Nationalist government's military spirit was completely lost, coupled with the complete loss of the country's territory, the political system and tax system had already collapsed, and it was difficult to see hope of turning things around on its own. From then on, even if the Western Allies maintain the current considerable military assistance, the power balance between the Nationalist government army and the Japanese puppet army will only become increasingly disparate. To change this desperate situation and free China and India, the two most populous countries in the world, from the exploitation and oppression of Japanese aggressors, we must fundamentally dismantle Japan's military power, completely cut off the claws of this war monster, pull out its sharp teeth, smash its head... But this is not easy? After winning the Battle of the Philippines, the US Pacific Task Force 1, which had been engaged in combat for nearly a month, began to withdraw from the operational area and entrusted the task of blockading and harassing the Japanese army in the Philippines and supporting the Philippine resistance alliance to the weaker US Pacific Task Force 2 and submarine units. Most of the main ships under Halsey's command will return directly to Hawaii for repairs, while light ships with no losses or minor damage will go nearby for supply and rest, and then join the 2nd Special Task Force commanded by Spruance to continue operations. Regarding the changes in the situation in the Philippine theater of war and the deployment adjustments of the US military, the US side reported to the Western allied countries that it secretly cooperated with a few days later, and made an official response to the questions raised by the Western allied countries. In the event that the main naval force suffered a heavy blow, the Japanese side did not express any intention of ceasefire to the US side in any form. If there is any diplomatic contact with the Japanese side in the future, the US government will definitely inform the Western allied countries as soon as possible, and will never hold formal talks with the Japanese side without the attendance of representatives from the Western allied countries, nor sign any agreement with the Japanese side without the consent of the Western allied countries. Shortly thereafter, with the active promotion of Ireland, representatives from Germany, the United States, the Soviet Union, Ireland, France, and the Netherlands held a high-level meeting in Murmansk, a northern port in Soviet Russia, to discuss joint intervention in Japan and the restructuring of the Asian order. Although each country had no intention of restoring old colonies or creating new colonies, they unanimously agreed that Japan should withdraw from the colonial territories seized during World War II, and the pre war asset investments of various countries in these areas should also be returned or compensated by Japan. The biggest challenge at present is that Japan still ranks second in the world in terms of economic scale and comprehensive military strength. Its military and dispatched institutions continue to plunder resources from most of Asia to supply the mainland, causing local enterprises to produce thousands of weapons and tens of thousands of tons of ammunition every month. The traditional approach of sending naval marines to land and intervene is completely ineffective for it. The Russians have made it clear that even if European and American countries provide them with military supplies without restrictions, they do not have enough troops to launch a large-scale land war against Japan. To defeat Japan militarily, they must first cut off the transportation between the Japanese archipelago and various occupied areas with their superior maritime power, and destroy the military industry of Japan and its occupied areas with strong enough air power. The,At that time, the Soviet Union will mobilize one million elite troops to fight alongside the European and American coalition forces, driving all Japanese people back to the islands where they have lived for generations.