Nippon

While talking about the poor strategy of Nazi, I must say his counterpart in Asia – the Royal Army of Nippon – shared the same problem.

The original plan of Hideki Tojo was simple: The north-east part of China should be conquered quickly; the place was full of petroleum and iron, and should serve as the supply center for further invasion. (You would understand what I mean by supply center if you have ever tried the board game Diplomacy.) Unfortunate for the Japanese invaders, but fortunate for us, was that Manchuria under Zhang Zuolin (張作霖) was largely a deserted area. Yes, there were petrol and iron, but no facility for extraction.

And there came the tough luck (again!) of the Nippon Army (partly because their ambassador to Germany was rudely treated by Hitler but friendly hugged by Stalin): They decided to head south rather than west, leaving the rich ores of fuel and metal in Siberia and Ural untouched, while forcing their soldiers to evaporate one after another on Pacific islands.