Asian fronts: just some ideas

[malika]

Indonesia:

Being from Holland we constantly get rubbed in our faces that the Japanese occupied Indonesia and werent that friendly tot the Dutch oppressors there, boohoo! While the Japanese were horrible during the war the Dutch werent the innocent sweethearts either, but that is a totally different discussion.

What Ive been pondering about are the battlefields in Asia, and Indonesia seemed cool. The Japanese would invade and would probably receive local support against the Dutch colonists. The Dutch colonists would also have local support and probably also support from Australia. (great way of including them and thus also the British into this) There was also a growing communist movement present, so having local militas supported by Russian Snipers might also be cool as a third party.

So there would be:
-Japanese + locals
-Dutch + locals + Australians (+ British)
-Local communist + Russians

Lots of jungle warfare and island hopping here!

Indochina:
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodja...another interesting area. The conflict would be somewhat similar to the Indonesian one that its a colonial power against the Japanese. However the French under Vichy were colaborating with the Axis forces and this is where the difference comes. You would have French troops fighting with the Japanese against the local insurgency which is supported by both the Americans and the Russians, you might be able to include British support in there as well. Heavy guerilla warfare in which it would be mainly the locals against the Japanese while the other factions would only supply minimal support. So instead of having some locals in your American army you would have some Americans in your local army.

Factions:
-Japanese + French (pro Vichy)
-Locals + minor Russian, US, British and French (De Gaulle) support

India:
An even more interesting battlefield since we are finally going to see Germans in Asia! I watched this documentary about German scientists travelling to Tibet, in order to keep the Nazi party to finance this they promised something along the lines of having Tibetan guerillas attack India. The basic idea is of having the Germans leading Tibeten guerillas against British India.

The factions:
-Germany with locals (Tibetans)
-Britian with locals (India and Pakistan)

Later on we might throw the Japanese navy into the mix, but for the time being we could stick to Germans vs British ;D

[xeoran]

That should be British Commonwealth for India. The majority of the troops were Indian with only a few British Officers. An interesting idea might be British (or Germans) in India hiring Afghan troops to raid into modern day Pakistan. In the same vein the British "North West Frontier" units (I'll find names but several existed) would be there (basicly elite light cavalry and scouts).
Good ideas!
Perhaps rather than the Russians in Indochina it would be the Soviet Chinese.
Korea is also interesting, a play off between pro-Communist, extreme nationalists and the Japanese opressors. Guerilla warfare and more, terrain very hilly so lots of mountain battles and defensive hill emplacements.
The Eastern coast of Soviet Russia would also be up against a Japanese invasion, both from Sea and from Manchuria. This would be a full fledged war with lots of naval assets.
Battles in Papa New Guinea, Malaysia and even possibly the North East coast of Australia would be very intersting with British commonwealth ANZAC, Ghurka and S. African regiments.

[malika]

That should be British Commonwealth for India. The majority of the troops were Indian with only a few British Officers. An interesting idea might be British (or Germans) in India hiring Afghan troops to raid into modern day Pakistan. In the same vein the British "North West Frontier" units (I'll find names but several existed) would be there (basicly elite light cavalry and scouts).

Sounds cool, but since in this game the war would be bigger it would also mean there are way more soldiers, hence the idea of also having British (and German) forces themselves present there.

Perhaps rather than the Russians in Indochina it would be the Soviet Chinese.

Well China is still struggling to become unified, its having a nationalist and a communist faction which are both too busy to fight against the Japanese (and each other). The Russian snipers were "Stalin's eyes" across the world, so that is also what they do, while the support the local revolution they gather intelligence for the Motherland.

[xeoran]

True but Russia to Indochina is quite leap and snipers cant hold it all on their own. Even Communist Chinese would have trouble as Indochina is neare to Taiwan and the Nationalists.

For India, what I mean is that British units were few, the vast majority are ANZAC, S. Africans (Springboks), Locals, and mostly Indian troops (after all there millions of them and they are very close). So while Britishunits would be there I would see them as specialists. An example s my Grandfather, he was Royal Artillery but was assigned as a Captain of a company to the Royal Indian Artillery where he served in Singapore, Malaysia and Burma. Most Britis would be Chindits, Commandos, Paras etc.

[malika]

True but Russia to Indochina is quite leap and snipers cant hold it all on their own.

The snipers are not supposed to be able to hold it all on their own. They are there to train the locals and support them while gathering intelligence. Smuggeling a person to Indochina from Russia is a possible thing, it migh take a while but it works.

Even Communist Chinese would have trouble as Indochina is neare to Taiwan and the Nationalists.

Most of the Nationalists moved to Taiwan after the Communists defeated them so Taiwan at the time being wouldnt be the main HQ of the nationalists, they would still be all around China, like the Communists.

[xeoran]

Yup...so I was saying Communists in China would have it hard as threy'd ahve to get through the Nationalists.
As for the Snipers...well I was thinking more of a real war not just guerilla, much like the French fough Indochina war and later the Americans in Vietnam.

[malika]

I think both a guerilla war and a "conventional" war took place, the Vietnamese however were more dependent on guerilla tactics against the superpowers. The Russian snipers would also support the "conventional" Vietnamese nationalists.

[xeoran]

Actually the Vietnamese mostly operated at battallion level in conventional warfare with intermittent skirmishes and the like, very similar to the Korean war. While Russian snipers can help train, lead etc there is distinct possibity for a Vietnamese army.

[recon63]

There's also the Papua New Guinea front which was majority held by Australian troops (the CMF - Citizens Milita Force) because the majority of the regular army was in N.Africa dusting up with Rommel, or in Geece with the Kiwi's (New Zealanders)

[xeoran]

The CMF sound interesting, as backround at the least. Defense of Papa New Guinea would be cool.

[malika]

We can definately also include Thailand into the mix, they were allied to the Japanese! Japan could use Thailand as a stagepoint for other attacks in the region. Of course the British would try to attack it together with the French and the Americans.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Thailand_%281932-1973%29#World_War_II

[xeoran]

Wowsers! That would make a great battlefield!

Perhaps we should throw you Dutch in their too!

[malika]

That could be very possible, however the Dutch got their asses kicked no matter where they were. I mean Holland got occupied so quickly...we had muskets as rifles and were riding bicycles. Oh we had two WWI tanks which we got from the French, one of them fell of a dike and the other one wouldnt start. The Germans must have cracked up when they saw that.

In Indonesia we all got put into Japanese concentrationcamps. But in this game we might have some naval stuff or something, I dunno...the Dutch were always known for their navy and capablity of holding back the water. (perhaps Dutch engineers or something?)

[xeoran]

Dutch navy and of course Free Dutch units. That way they are supplied by Britian/US and have right wepons. Dutch Resistance is always a possiblity.