WesWorld

The decision by China to employ poison gas bombs against targets where collateral civilian casualties were possible is a move that only escalates the conflict for little gain. The deaths of Japanese citizens will not be taken lightly by the Japanese Government - and even a proportional response is beyond imagination. Any further widening of the sphere of the conflict will certainly provoke reaction by the world community.

Well Chosen started the war for unclear ends, and now its reaping the whirlwind. I'm guessing some kind of Japanese intervention is inevitable before the Chosen Army cracks and all air superiority is lost. If the front collapses there is nothing to stop China occupying the entire Chosen peninsula within a few months.
If that happens, OOC that's highly unlikely and we know some kind of ceasefire in inevitable, but something has to make China willing to stop its offensive and if its winning what could Chosen offer? Only a Japanese intervention would be the event to cause that to happen.

Comments on the propaganda front:

Chosen - rather less blatant, almost plausible, given the concomitant Chinese admission of the use of poison gas against unspecified military targets. The illustration was rather over the top and not quite necessary. A comment from the Japanese Foreign Ministry in Edo would really strengthen the Chosenian case.

China - reactive rather than active; admitting use of poison gas, even on miliary targets, is a down-check in International Opinion. Collateral civilian casualties should have been expected as poison gas is a weapon of mass destruction and subject to target error and windage. Chinese statements are not likely to inspire much sympathy abroad.

Quoted from "BruceDuncan"

The illustration was rather over the top and not quite necessary.

I chose one of the less graphic images.
While I want to describe the war in an authentic (and thus violent) way I am fully aware that exploiting real footage for a "wargame" can seem distasteful to some people.
The dramaturgy will probably suffer, but I will avoid such pictures in the future.

The historian in me finds this change of government ominous. While Wesworld Japan does not seem to be wracked by competition between the Toseiha and the Kodoha, the appointment of two historically infamous "Strike South" officers to key positions might be worrisome.

Well, Konoe's Cabinet has not really fallen. It has just been relabeled the Tōjō Cabinet with the only addition to the government being General Sugiyama. Ominous? Probably. Worrisome? Maybe. At least he is decent enough here not to declare war of the Chinese the moment he is Prime Minister.

(Originally I had something else in mind for the post, but then I remembered a complaint from a certain someone (and I won't mention your name DF... Whoops! I just did! ) so instead I decided to change it and make Tōjō Prime Minister and have Sugiyama replace him as Minister of the Army)

What did I do? Hehehe...

So, 38 "civilian" technical advisers get caught up and killed in a war which Japan is already involved in and Japan suddenly has a military government?

Britain is going to take a dim view of these developments.

I worked temporarily at the Valkenburg Naval Air Base's officers/NCO mess in the mid 90s through an employment agency, but I was still a civilian and not a "civilian".

Despite the fact that the firms are making military stuff, men working for Mitsubishi, Nakajima, etc. are still civilians and not "civilians". While tragic, it is a bit of a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Also the guy running the Sushi joint near one of the targets is quite angry at the Chinese. He lost quite a few good customers in the attack and is going to sue the Chinese military for compensation of the revenue lost due to the deaths of those customers.

Quoted from "Desertfox"

What did I do? Hehehe...

You were whining about the fact that none of the axis leaders were around anymore. "How are we going to have WWII now?" you said.

Well, guess what? Bad Boy Tōjō is still around.

... so it was that what you said back then in 2008 which caused me to make the minor change in government.

Any nation that has a complaint about the new military government of Japan should send their letters to either the Mexican or Australian ambassador in their country.

Quoted

"Well, I never alleged that this battle is going to be a picknick. The Chinese forces are strong but they don't stand a chance against our well trained Japanese comrades."

Well-trained? Yes. Superbly equipped? Yes. Battle-tested? Uh, no.

No plan ever survives contact with the enemy; but the Japanese will learn from this experience - one way or the other.

Given the way the conflict is going, and how it's slowly starting to suck in Japan, I'm going have to issue some retroactive French responses to what's happening here. I'd hoped not to have to issue retroactive news, but things are getting a bit too wild and wooly for me to pretend to ignore it.

• NOTICE: If the war has not ended by March 31st 1944 and the Chinese war production declaration of Q1/44 canceled, then in Q2/44, Indochina declares war production for their factories to represent their response to the greater tensions. This will result in war production for the two Indochina factories becoming available in Q4/44.
  
• Official statement: "The Republic of France deplores the use of poison gas by the combatants." Official French government reports, cited by the newspapers, indicate that both sides are using chemical weapons, although it is unclear which side initiated their use. Most reports by Indochinese newspapers cite China as having initiated chemical weapon use, but French newspapers are divided.
  
• Q4/43: Air France announces that civil flights between Indochina and Japan, and Indochina and Vladivostok, will take routes further away from the Chinese and Korean coastlines to avoid encountering combatant aircraft. The schedules and routes for these flights are made known to the combatants, who will be held responsible for ensuring no incidents occur.
  
• The Indochinese armed forces will be strengthened at an increased rate. The Indochinese governing bodies begin discussing laws for mandatory military service for all Indochinese citizens coming of age, following the French practice. (Turn eighteen, spend two years in the military then a few years in the Reserves.) If the war does not end by March 31st, 1944, this legislation will be approved.
  
• Between Q4/43 and Q2/44, the Indochinese and French forces in Indochina will begin strengthening air and land defenses in northern and central Indochina. The Indochinese Air Defense Group (GDAI) will form three air-defense brigades (Hanoi AA Brigade, Ha Long AA Brigade, and the Red River AA Brigade). The French Navy, Indochinese Patrouille Navale, and GDAI will combine several units to form another AA brigade (Cam Ranh AA Brigade) based in Cam Ranh. Each brigade has a mix of 40mm, 75mm, and 100mm anti-aircraft guns, with the latter two types equipped with proximity-fused shells and radar-directed gunlaying systems.
  
• In Q4/43, the Indochinese Air Defense Group orders two hundred more MB.1052D Milan fighters and a hundred and fifty trainer aircraft (a mix of MS.472 Vanneaus and MS.730 Alcyons) to strengthen their air defenses.
  
• In Q4/43, construction of new airfields in northern and central Indochina begins in relative secrecy. These are mostly secondary airfields to scatter fighters, or dedicated bases to base interceptors.
  
• Between Q3/43 and Q3/44, the Indochinese Territorial Security Forces declare security zones along the border with China, predominantly in uninhabited mountainous areas; individuals moving into these territories are subject to detention. The goal of the security zones is to make any Chinese incursions easier to spot. Security along more populated border areas is enhanced, with strengthened border fences and more rigorous checks for individuals and merchandise crossing the border. In order to patrol these security zones, four new regiments of security troops are authorized (with an estimated total of 16,000 men), with one new regiment commissioned every three months.
  
• At the present time trade is still being carried out with China and Chosen, but the price of sea-shipping to both countries has risen as a result of the war and most imports and exports to Chosen have ended as a result of the increased prices and dangers of shipping. Exports to China continue via land borders, Hong Kong, Macau, and a few other southern Chinese port cities, but do not include war supplies, as France/Indochina have declared neutrality.
  
• Between Q1 and Q3/44, bombproof MTB bases are constructed on Cát Bà Island, with the ability to handle the twelve Typ-36 Vedette-torpilleurs used in the South China Sea by the French Navy. The Indochinese construct similar facilities for their own MTBs nearby. The bases range from the "tunnel in a cliff" type to the "concrete bunker" type.
  
• In Q2/44, the French Air Force orders 264 B-32 Dominator bombers from the United States. Half of the bombers will be delivered to G.B. II/18 based in Nha Trang and G.B. II/23 based at Anh Son. See French Q2/44 news.
  
• The French Navy begins expanding all stockpiles for naval mines and torpedoes in Indochina and Noumea, as well as expanding fuel stockpiles for warships. The French Air Force expands bomb stockpiles, as well as stores of fuel and vital lubricants.
  
• The Indochinese Territorial Security Forces order the Manurhin Modèle 44 automatic rifle (licensed FG42) in late Q2/44 for use by specialist troops. It will enter service in January 1945. Stockpiles of rifles, small arms ammunition, and grenades are increased.
  
• Arsenal facilities in Indochina which supply either French or Indochinese armed forces begin making preparations to shift to wartime production. Some large-scale factories in Metropolitan France, predominantly involved in the production of aircraft, tanks, and small arms, begin following suit.
  
• Early Q1/44: production and distribution of gas masks, and education in their use, begins. The objective is to provide all urban citizens of northern Indochina with some modicum of protection against chemical weapons by January 1945.
  
• Pro-Independence groups in Indochina begin circulating the rumors that France and Britain staged the Chinese-Korean War to cause increased Sinophobia in their Colonial dominions, thus acquiring a lever (fear) to use on the indigenous peoples.
  
• By Q1/44, several thousand members of the Viet Minh have arrived in Chosen to participate as volunteers against the Chinese. Note: the Viet Minh are currently outlawed by the French and Indochinese governments, and known members fighting for Chosen may have their citizenship revoked if their identities become known. The Viet Minh believe that a victorious postwar Chosen will support the Vietnamese Communist Party in a revolt against the current autonomous Indochinese government.

Note to Air France: The Imperial Japanese Navy will make Oroku Aerodrome on Okinawa available to Air France for a refueling stop if it is deemed necessary.

Quoted from "Rooijen10"

Note to Air France: The Imperial Japanese Navy will make Oroku Aerodrome on Okinawa available to Air France for a refueling stop if it is deemed necessary.

Air France is grateful for the Japanese offer and will take advantage of it, when and where it becomes necessary.

Once news of Indochinese preparations and Japanese participation reach Australia, Australia will go from completely indifferent to actively interested.

Quoted from "Desertfox"

Once news of Indochinese preparations and Japanese participation reach Australia, Australia will go from completely indifferent to actively interested.

Actively interested in what exactly?

Going to war production, without being at war, is an interesting move.

Quoted from "The Rock Doctor"

Going to war production, without being at war, is an interesting move.

I view it in the same vein as the enhanced preparations countries started making in the late 1930s when it became clear another world war was approaching - or the spending powers like Great Britain did during the war scares of the 1800s. Note that I've not actually declared war production, just stated that I shall declare war production if this situation continues.

I encourage Britain, Japan, the Philippines, Iberia, and Australia to take the same response to the Chinese declaration.

It's likely safe to say that if some non-belligerents starting doing so, everybody else will follow suit rather quickly. Bharat, for example, will be quick to join the party.

Quoted from "The Rock Doctor"

It's likely safe to say that if some non-belligerents starting doing so, everybody else will follow suit rather quickly. Bharat, for example, will be quick to join the party.

Likely true.

Actively monitoring the situation, and if Bharat goes to war production, Australia will do the same.