Empire at War (1940-1945)

Felchan Involvement: 22 July 1940 - 15 May, 1945

For the Felchan Empire, the Second World War began with a massive loss of life. On 22 July, 1940, the Empire of Japan made their first strike on the continent of Alkmon, furthering their efforts from the 30s in expanding into the Pacific. Simultaneously striking the Port of Argai, IFN Installation 06 in Mentaka, and the military facilities in and around Vrelens, two of the largest Allied nations on Alkmon were suddenly thrust into conflict. With the attacks, Hegemon Sentӕris d’Argus immediately signed a declaration of war against Japan, prompting Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Romania to send their support. Calling upon their largest former production colony, the Republic of Kriegsrecht, Germany waged a direct land and naval war against Sarder Nat, the Felchan Empire, and the Geroniman Republic. For the next year, the Japanese and Germans pushed through the less-defended nations of the Central West, launching from the Port of Ta’ora an enormous land, air, and sea offensive on one of the most important targets between them and victory: Antroi. This would fail. On 19 November, 1941, the Japanese attacked Antroi. In the sudden attack, six Felchan ships were put under the Imperial Bay at Installation 01, cutting short the lives of over a thousand IFN crewmen. Instantly, FONAC and the Imperial Navy from Antroi, Argai, and the East Pacific mobilised, pushing the Japanese combined fleet out into open waters. With the safety of Felchah at least somewhat secured from one side, the Japanese prematurely moved to their next target: the United States. On 7 December, 1941, the Empire of Japan struck the US’s forward operating base at Pearl Harbour, wreaking havoc on the US’s supply of battleships and aircraft in the Pacific. With the Americans swiftly entering the war, Felchah pledged its support to its wounded brother as well to the pushed-back ANZACs in the South Pacific. Sentӕris d’Argus, for the purpose of mobilising men to send to Western Alkmon, reintroduced conscription for the first time since the Great War, drawing up a total military of twenty million. The military swelled to the largest it had ever been, but problems soon arose. Orders from High Command were incohesive, operations were left incomplete, and issues within the chain of command rendered this massive force near useless for close to a year.

By 1943, the government and the people were fed up with such apparent incompetence and put forward a vote of no-confidence at Hegemon d’Argus on 26 November. Instead of complying with the Pillars of Mandate, d’Argus took to force, using his personal forces to ensure his place in the Miagsregh, essentially having the military take over the parliament. Returning from a campaign in Sovuncessia, Grand Marshal Faranencia Zorvak, commanding the Imperial Second Army, was immediately contacted for assistance by the resisting parliamentary members in hiding in the outskirts of Antroi. Storming the Miagsregh Building, Zorvak forced out d’Argus and his supporters, nearly capturing them had they not had a backup escape plan. Leaving in a transport plane to Kriegsrecht, d’Argus disappeared and was assumed dead. General Zorvak was voted into power the day after by the Miagsregh and immediately began a reconstruction of the IF’s military. Largely wanting to stay out of the war as much as it could during this crucial point, the IF reduced its Allied assistance to the Pacific Theatre, supporting the US and ANZAC navies in their campaigns while taking care of those on the continent itself. Rapid development of Felchan jet projects through Acrashawk and Felchan Aerotech were catalysed through new, exorbitant funding, with the Miagsregh finally realising the need for a strong air force in a maritime scenario. FONAC and the IFN gained new channels of support, and quickly the IFN rose to the seat of the largest navy in the world, followed closely by the US. Even without conscription, these new mandates and formations brought in recruits like no other emergency in Felchan history.

For the first time since the Great War, Felchan morale soared and the Miagsregh was confident in being on the offensive. Meeting with military representatives from Australia and the United States, the IFN mobilised the First, Third, and Eighth Fleets to participate in the 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf, aiding in the swift end to Japanese maritime superiority in the Philippines and Central Pacific. German battleships, rapidly put out by the largely-untouched Kriegsrecht shipyards, still plagued the West Alkmon Sea as they battered Felchan, American, and Russian warships in their attempt to weaken the Russians for the Japanese’s land offensives, prompting a military response by the Allies. Luring and surrounding the largest of the Kriegsrecht-German super-battleships, Furchterregend and Heinrich von Preußen, and their escort fleets, on 3 January, 1945, the combined Allied Pacific Fleet engaged in the Battle of the Bering Strait and eliminated the bulk of Kriegsrecht naval power. Turning their sights on Kriegsrecht itself, Felchah, Cascadia, and Sarder Nat drew up Operation: FONTAINEBLEAU, a combined land-air-sea offensive that would push into Weizenmüller itself and take out the German puppet government while simultaneously crippling supply lines and production yards for the German military. On 1 February, 1945, the Felchan Second, Third, and Fifth Armies began their push through the Pagryan Salient, backed up by the Ninth and Tenth Hurricanes. Four weeks later, Weizenmüller would be under Imperial control, and remaining German personnel would be on the run to Malacca. With the Germans thoroughly removed from the Pacific Theatre, the Allies could focus solely on Japan, who had been on the defensive since their defeat at Leyte Gulf. Without German economic and military support, the waning resources of Japanese production collapsed, leaving the IJN with little more than hulls to put into battle. On 8 May, 1945, the war in Europe ended, leaving Japan well and truly alone, and completely surrounded. With pushes from the crippled IJN high command staff, the Japanese officially surrendered on 15 May.