What if Japan....?
What if instead of Japan attacking the US at pearl harbor, they diverted theyre fleet and airforce, and available ground forces towards the russians? I certainly beleive that the long range G4m and the zero could have done some serious damage to tagrets 900 miles inland of the soviet union, and that the IJN could have reaked havoc against the soviets. Carrier based bombers, fighters, and battleships could attack coastal targets, and targets in northern russia. Land based bombers in china and manchuria could reach far, far into the mother land. Granted campaigns were raging in china, and manchuria at one point, but without facing the US, japan had the power to at least make an attempt at this. When the soviets moved production facilities from its western front, they would have put them within range possibly of japanese bombers and ground forces. Yes, japan had very poor tanks, and theyre infantry werent winter specialists, but if they attacked along with germany, they might have crippled russia before the harsh winter could hamper them, and result in theyre own stalingrad. They were timid because of previous defeats yes, but that doesnt mean they couldnt win. They got resources in manchuria, and air bases to launch air craft, and theyre navy could crush an soviet resistance. At this point, japan and the soviets had a peace treaty in terms, so the soviets would not be fully prepared, and in this area had little air force, and what they had was equipped with obsolete fighters and bombers, that would have probably been crushed on the ground in the intial surprise bombings. Please post comments to this, id love to hear them.
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