prying eyes around the world eagerly followed  the events that were unfolding in front of them.  

In the US in particular, many still advocated  for anti-war sentiment, but President Franklin  

Delano Roosevelt had decided that he was not  going to tolerate anymore the aggressions of  

the Japanese or the Germans. In 1941, he would  finally draw a line to stop Japan that would  

surely risk war. And although FDR didn't want to  fight against the Japanese, or at least not yet,  

this was a risk worth taking for the preservation  of democracy around the world; a risk that would  

inevitably ignite war in the Pacific. Welcome  to our final prelude of the Pacific War,  

as the growing tensions between the US and Japan  eventually ended in another act of aggression.

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It is mid-1940, and Great Britain and China  stand alone against the full might of Japan  

and the Axis. In Asia, the now four-year-long  conflict was completely depleting the resources  

of the Japanese Empire, even though Japan already  relied on other countries for the resources needed  

for its war material. The Americans alone provided  them with 54.4% of their weapons and supplies,  

76% of their aircraft, 59.7% of their  scrap iron, 60.5% of their petroleum,  

and all of Japan's lubricating oil, machine tools,  special steel, and high-test aircraft petrol.  

Furthermore, Communist and Nationalist  guerrillas constantly harassed Japanese troops  

and sabotaged their infrastructure in occupied  territories, and with each passing campaign, more  

and more soldiers were left behind to join these  underground groups. The Communists in particular  

were very capable of waging guerrilla warfare, as  they had been doing so since the last two decades,  

and their experience allowed them to become ever  more influential in the regions they defended,  

something that was not seen very fondly by  their Nationalist allies. To fight against these  

guerrillas, the Japanese would resort to puppet  units of the new Reorganized National Government  

of the Republic of China, uniting all previous  collaborationist states under Wang Jingwei's  

central government. But the Red Army would also  prove that it was capable of executing important  

military operations, with Peng Dehuai's Hundred  Regiments Offensive being launched in late August.  

Using a total of 400000 soldiers, albeit poorly  armed and equipped, over 115 regiments of the  

Eighth Route Army, commanded by Zhu  De, would attack railways and roads  

and would target isolated Japanese strongpoints  and forts all along with northern China. 

The offensive would be very successful, inflicting  more than 20000 casualties, taking almost 3000  

strongholds, sabotaging many bridges , mines , and  tunnels , and destroying large tracts of railways.  

The operation was controversial as Peng Dehuai  initiated it without authorization from Mao  

Zedong and would be criticized harshly for this.  Although the Japanese response to guerrillas had  

always been brutal, the defeat against the  Communists had an unexpected consequence:  

Japan would adopt the Three Alls Policy, as  their forces would then start to kill all,  

loot all, and burn all . With this bloodier  response against Chinese resistance,  

many war crimes would be committed by Japanese  soldiers and resentment would erupt once again  

between Nationalists and Communists, as Chiang  Kai-Shek's followers blamed the Red Army,  

and Mao Zedong blamed Peng Dehuai,  for the harsher Japanese acts.  

Furthermore, from October to December, Japanese  counterattacks would successfully regain  

control of railway lines and would inflict  heavy casualties on the Eighth Route Army. 

At this point, Japan knew that prolonging the war  would be dangerous if foreign powers decided to  

intervene, so it needed to completely cut off the  enemy capital at Chongqing from the foreign aid  

that it was receiving. Since the outbreak of the  war, the British and Americans had been sending  

war material by sea to the main Chinese ports  and Hong Kong, as well as through the railway  

connecting French Indochina to Yunnan and South  Guangxi. Moreover, the Soviets, long-time rivals  

of Japan in the East, were also sending much  aid through the Old Silk Road, although this  

would only last until the outbreak of Operation  Barbarossa. With most of the main Chinese ports  

already occupied and the British possessions in  China surrounded, the Japanese then prepared for  

an offensive against Indochina, the last Chinese  lifeline. In that regard, they had advanced up  

to the Indochinese border by late July, taking  the key district of Longzhou in South Guangxi. 

Already back in June, the Fall of France had also  allowed Tokyo to issue a series of ultimatums  

demanding the closure of all supply lines to  China, among other things. The Indochinese  

government had no other alternative but to comply,  and by September 22, the Japanese had successfully  

negotiated to station 6000 troops in Tonkin and  to move 25000 soldiers through Tonkin to Yunnan.  

The Indochina Expeditionary Army under General  Nishimura Takuma was then formed, starting to  

travel to their destination on the same day.  But at the same time, General Kuno Seiichi's  

22nd Army at Nanning independently invaded Annam  and started to fight local forces across the  

border . The fighting ended when General Maurice  Martin's Indochinese forces got surrounded at Lạng  

Sơn [suun], finally surrendering on September 25.  Furthermore, the IJN blockaded the Gulf of Tonkin  

and Nishimura landed in Indochina, fighting a  series of minor battles at Dong Tac, Haiphong,  

and Hanoi. By the evening of September 26, Kuno's  forces had reached Lao Cai at the Yunnan border  

and Indochinese resistance had crumbled.  The invasion was a huge success,  

but it was against Tokyo's wishes due to  the agreement that the Japanese had reached.  

All occupied towns would be then returned and  Kuno would be punished for his insubordination,  

although the Japanese were now undisputed  in the region and could then station 40000  

soldiers in northern Indochina. But the  Japanese success wouldn't be long-lasting,  

as the British consequently decided in October to  open the Burma Road, connecting the Burmese city  

of Lashio with Yunnan's capital at Kunming.  Thus, to the relief of Chiang's government,  

a new lifeline was created, allowing the Chinese  to continue to resist for the next few years. 

Moreover, General Sonobe Waichiro's 11th Army  tried to capitalize on the last victory in Yichang  

to completely take over the province of Hubei.  On November 25, the Japanese offensive began,  

striking against the Chinese defenses east  and west of the Hsiang River and enjoying  

some initial successes. But, in coordination  with local guerrillas, Li Zongren's forces would  

manage to stop the invaders and counterattack,  forcing the Japanese to retreat by November 30.  

Meanwhile, the US government was outraged and  alarmed by the Japanese invasion of Indochina,  

so President Roosevelt would then double  the amount of aid delivered to China  

and would order the evacuation  of all Americans in the Far East.  

Although the Americans were still woefully  unprepared for a war in the Pacific,  

they now began to see that a confrontation  with the Japanese was very possible. 

Japan's 1940 move into Vichy-controlled Indochina  along with its war with China, withdrawal from the  

League of Nations, alliance with Germany and  Italy, and increasing militarization raised  

tension and induced the United States to intensify  its measures to restrain Japan's economy.  

Scrap-metal shipments to Japan were embargoed  and the Panama Canal closed to Japanese  

trade . Despite these moves, in early 1941 Japan  moved into southern Indochina, thereby threatening  

British Malaya, North Borneo, and Brunei. On December 29, FDR then delivered his tough  

Arsenal of Democracy speech against Germany and  Japan, clearly identifying them as the enemies of  

democracy and finally dropping the neutrality  doctrine that had been sponsored in the 30s.  

Consequently, American industries would start  to arm and support China and the Allies in  

their respective wars. This would eventually  lead to the Lend-Lease program of March 11,  

1941, in which the US pledged to support the  Allies and China with food, oil, warships,  

warplanes, and other weaponry. the US froze  Japanese assets on July 26, 1941, and on August 1  

established an embargo on oil and gasoline  exports to Japan, which was a strong response  

as 80% of Japan's oil was coming from the US and  oil was crucial for the war-making in that period. 

Concurrently, the Kingdom of Thailand, which  had seen a rise of ultranationalism and the  

establishment of a dictatorship under Plaek Phibun  in the last few years, also detected the weakness  

in French Indochina and thus decided to take  back some disputed areas that had been ceded  

in the last century. After the outbreak of border  skirmishes, the Thais started aerial bombing runs  

over the main Indochinese cities and launched an  offensive on Laos and Cambodia in early January.  

Laos would be quickly overrun, but French  resistance in Cambodia would be fierce,  

and with the French naval victory at the Battle  of Koh Chang on January 17, the situation soon  

started to deteriorate for the Thais. Fearing a  French victory in the war, the Japanese would then  

intervene, forcing the Indochinese government  to sign an armistice and to cede the disputed  

provinces. This was a personal victory for  Phibun, but the real beneficiaries of the war  

would be the Japanese, who further increased their  influence in both Thailand and Indochina. Fearing  

a Japanese takeover, Phibun would then reach out  to the US and the UK for guarantees, consequently  

stressing his relationship with Japan. And  back in China, 1941 would start with the sudden  

breakout of hostilities between Nationalists and  Communists. Chiang Kai-Shek ordered a withdrawal  

of the fourth army from Anhui and Jiangsu in  late December. As a result of numerous alleged  

treacherous acts and harassment, Chiang would  take action of retribution against the communists.  

On January 7, while withdrawing from Anhui  and Jiangsu, the Communist New Fourth Army  

was allegedly ambushed and encircled by an  80000-strong Nationalist force of Gu Zhutong's  

3rd War Area. After heavy fighting and many  casualties, only 2000 Communist soldiers were able  

to break out of the encirclement by January 13. This marked the end of the Second United Front,  

as the Nationalist act of treachery would  destroy any possibility of further cooperation.  

At the same time, Sonobe would start two new  operations against South Henan and Western  

Hubei , as well as a large offensive against the  city of Shanggao . Yet again, the Chinese would  

successfully flank and defeat the Japanese  invasions by late March, inflicting heavy  

casualties and forcing the invaders to retreat and  to leave behind substantial amounts of military  

equipment and supplies. As the latest defeats  were very demoralizing for the Japanese forces,  

their victory at the Battle of South Shanxi in  May would luckily restore their fighting spirit. 

On May 7, General Tada Hayao's North China  Area Army launched a full offensive against  

the mountainous region of South Shanxi, quickly  breaking through the Chinese defensive lines  

at Mengxian, Jiyuan, Hengpu, and Wangyuan and  managing to encircle the Nationalist army as a  

result. Worthy of mention is that the Communist  8th Route Army nearby refused to assist the  

Nationalist forces in the struggle, in  retribution of the South Anhui Incident  

and in the struggle allowed them  to be surrounded and destroyed.  

This was remembered as one of the worst  defeats of the entire war for China. Meanwhile,  

the outbreak of the German Invasion of Russia in  late June permitted Japan to sign a non-aggression  

pact with the Soviet Union and thus to secure its  northern border in case of war with the Allies. 

This finally allowed the Japanese to begin  preparations for a strike against the  

resource-rich region of Southeast Asia, which  had been earmarked to provide the necessary raw  

material for Japan's industry . The Dutch East  Indies and their precious rubber plantations  

and oil fields were one of the most important  objectives of the Japanese Empire; so on July 21,  

more than 50000 soldiers would invade southern  Indochina to prepare naval bases against the Dutch  

colony. Accurately detecting the intentions of the  Japanese, FDR would form the USAFFE in response,  

nationalizing the Philippine Army and  appointing General Douglas MacArthur  

to lead American forces in the Pacific. In  coordination with the British and the Dutch,  

he would also stop the exports of iron ore, steel  and oil to the Japanese; and as we've seen, this  

was a crippling embargo for Japan, as the Empire  relied on foreign imports for its war machine,  

but also for its home economy. FDR's gamble  was to put an end to the Japanese expansion,  

but Japan's leaders now saw war with the West as  their best option, encouraged by their Nazi allies  

that were overrunning Europe. On September 3, the  Supreme War Council met at the Liaison Conference  

and decided that if the US didn't resume oil  shipments by October, then they would start  

preparations for simultaneous attacks against the  Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, and Malaysia.  

The Commander-in-Chief of the IJN, Admiral  Yamamoto Isoroku, also proposed a plan for a  

surprise attack against Pearl Harbor, intending to  destroy the American Pacific Fleet in one decisive  

strike. This was very advantageous, because if the  US lost their main naval forces in the Pacific,  

then it would take them years to build another  fleet capable of fighting against the IJN,  

and that would give the Japanese a  free hand to expand in Southeast Asia. 

While tensions in the Pacific  reached a climax, the 11th Army,  

now under General Anami Korechika, launched  a new offensive against the city of Changsha.  

On September 27, the Japanese managed to enter  the city, but by October 8, successful Chinese  

counterattacks carried out by General Xue Yue  had expelled the invaders once more. This would  

end up being the last Japanese operation in China  before the breakout of hostilities with the West.  

As negotiations with the US were  leading nowhere, on November 26,  

a Japanese task force of six aircraft carriers  left the Kuril Islands heading to Hawaii  

in strict radio silence, and troop transports  also started to move southwards from Formosa.