Post # 17
jungleguerilla:
Lack of oil is not Japan’s problem?
That’s news to me, because almost the entire foundation of Japanese expansion into the South Pacific basin is to obtain and retain the NEI (nowadays Indonesia) oilfields, as direct result of the LACK of oil in the Home Islands.
Japan went to war to secure oil, so I cannot see how a LACK of same is a non-issue for Japan.
With gentle respect, I feel you may need to study the matter further.
Kind and Respectful Regards, Uyraell.
Yep. I thought access to oil was one of the prime movers of the Japanese expansion into, and conquest of, the Pacific realm…
You couldn’t be more wrong.
Lack of oil was what started the war.
Japan got almost all of its oil from the US before the US imposed an oil embargo in 1941, which cut off almost all of Japan’s oil imports.
This left the IJN with oil reserves which would run out with normal usage in a couple of years.
Once the IJN was out of oil, the US would control the Pacific and Japan would be neutralised so far as its ambitions outside China were concerned. It would also lack the ability to launch an attack.
So, the solution was for Japan to seize the NEI oilfields well before its oil reserves ran out so it could pursue its expansionist ambitions without regard to the loss of oil from the US.
You couldn’t be more wrong.
Lack of oil was what started the war.
Japan got almost all of its oil from the US before the US imposed an oil embargo in 1941, which cut off almost all of Japan’s oil imports.
This left the IJN with oil reserves which would run out with normal usage in a couple of years.
Once the IJN was out of oil, the US would control the Pacific and Japan would be neutralised so far as its ambitions outside China were concerned. It would also lack the ability to launch an attack.
So, the solution was for Japan to seize the NEI oilfields well before its oil reserves ran out so it could pursue its expansionist ambitions without regard to the loss of oil from the US.
I stand corrected, sorry for the unresearched facts there guys. That’s why I ask you to enlighten me. 
No, the Soviet Manchurian campaign is one of the most crushing victories you can find, EVER. Enormous hordes of Japanese surrendered after being subjected to what was essentially an extremely warhardened Soviet army using shock and mobility warfare of similar style with that of Germany in the early years of WWII.
The Japanese defeat was total, extreme and about as fast as the Soviet attack could effectively move.
The Manchurian campaign is still used by many officer academies as a showcase on a near perfect large scale offensive. It managed to retain almost total strategic surprise, it completely disrupted enemy resistance, it shocked the enemy into surrendering in such scale that wasnt seen again until the 2nd and 3rd Gulf wars, and it managed to maintain a functional logistics to a degree that has never happened again since(and thats really exceptional to say the least)…etc etc…
As for a Japanese attack on the USSR
… the Japanese had a non-agression treaty with the USSR, which both sides honored until it lapsed in 1945. Then the Russians attacked.