Collapsing Pacific

The year is 1944

The Pacific War enters its third year, as the dawn of January continues to see epic fighting across the entire expanse.

The Japanese Empire has resolutely switched to the strategic defensive, while the Allies are on the offensive everywhere. In Burma, the British and Indian forces have liberated Burma, now pushing into Thailand and Malaysia, while they have also landed at the western tip of Sumatra, threatening the precious oil wells that Japan has recently secured from the Dutch in 1942. Things are not looking well for the Japanese in the area and they will have to do something about it or risk losing all.

In the South Seas, General Douglas MacArthur is ready to execute the last few steps of Operation Cartwheel, the campaign that should culminate in the liberation of the main Japanese base at Rabaul in New Britain. A landing is in the works at Cpare Gloucester while the forces from Bougainville are ready to jump into New Ireland and on the southern coast of New Britain.

In the Central Pacific, things are taking a turn for the force for the imperial forces. Admiral Nimitz has completely gutted the Johnston Island Base and is about to launch the killing stroke on the last tidbits of defenses (the two concrete battleships Fuji and Yashima) with the all-new and powerful American super battleship Montana.

A multitude of operations are also on the way toward the Marshalls and Gilbert Islands, as well as an attack on Japanese-occupied Samoa and New Caledonia.

All the while, Grand Admiral Yamamoto sits in Kure, waiting for his fleet to be repaired and needing to decide where to send his depleted forces. The unavoidable reality of Allied overwhelming superiority does not make the entire picture look good for the Japanese naval commander.

This is the story of the war in the Pacific.