100 - The Wehrmacht - an Army on Horseback - WW2 - July 25 1941

by Panzer
A 100 weeks!
I know, time flies.
You know, the first one was 225.
Oh, you this’ll beat that?
Nah, not a chance!
Alright.
July 25, 1941
Japan has been fighting in China for four
years now, and it has been not only a real strain on the Japanese economy, they are also
experiencing severe shortages of raw materials.
Well, this week they up the stakes; this week they turn their attention to the south.
I’m Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.
Last week, the Allied invasion of Syria ended with an Allied victory.
As for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, the Germans were stopped in the north, but
AG Center completed most of a pocket based around Smolensk, with hundreds of thousands
of Red Army soldiers inside.
German High Command was having issues, though, deciding where to attack next, and Japan got
a new Foreign Minister.
Japanese politics is more and more having to deal with the issue of not being able to
finish the war in China.
Military spending was up to 70% of the budget already three years ago, and by now the idea
of any sort of backing down is extremely remote.
Japan has rejected the idea of joining Germany in attacking the Soviets.
Thing is, since they haven’t made much more headway in China, they want to turn their
attention to SE Asia for things like oil and rubber that they need for their war effort.
On the 19th, they give Vichy France an ultimatum demanding bases in French Indochina.
The French say okay.
By the end of the week, 125,000 Japanese troops move into Indochina.
The Japanese will begin occupying the bases next week on the 28th.
What this illustrates though, can only be a shift from focusing on war with China to
war with the Western Powers- Britain, the Netherlands, and the US- to get what they need.
See, occupying Northern Indochina makes sense against China because you can blockade China
better from there, but occupying Southern Indochina points in exactly the opposite direction-
moves against the British and Dutch to the south and the Americans in the Philippines
and the edges of the Pacific.
It’s not exactly subtle, but their war isn’t going by the book.
Neither is the Germans’ war.
Well, according to Abwehr Chief Wilhelm Canaris, who says the 20th that the mood at Rastenburg-
Adolf Hitler’s current HQ- is jittery, since it’s more and more obvious that the campaign