2nd Area Army HQ

[el cid again]

Location File, Slot 10: Second Area Army

Stock: Forms July 1, 1942 at Tokyo, assigned to Southern Area Army.

IRL: Forms July 4, 1942, probably at Changchun, assigned to command reserve and rear area
troops under Kwangtung Army. Remains under Kwangtung Army until 1945.

Query: Why is it assigned to SRA by Matrix?

[Symon]

Because this is a game.

Oops, sorry, the OOBs are from those Japanese documents you say have never been translated.

Well, they have been, and you have been told so for the past six years, so why don't you just take your little mod back to your little thread and stop interrupting people with double posts.

[Kereguelen]

ORIGINAL: el cid again

Location File, Slot 10: Second Area Army

Stock: Forms July 1, 1942 at Tokyo, assigned to Southern Area Army.

IRL: Forms July 4, 1942, probably at Changchun, assigned to command reserve and rear area
troops under Kwangtung Army. Remains under Kwangtung Army until 1945.

Query: Why is it assigned to SRA by Matrix?

Because it didn't remain under Kwantung Army but was instead transferred to Celebes to command IJA forces covering the Southern DEI and Western New Guinea. If we would have it (historically correct) enter the game under Kwantung Army, players would have been able to transfer Kwantung Army units to 2nd Area Army at low PP cost and then assign 2nd Area Army to Southern Army (unrestricted command).

[el cid again]

I did ask.

The information I found follows, and does not quite contradict your view.

However, what is clear, even from you, is the unit appears in Manchukuo, not in Japan. Also that it is assigned to Kwangtung Army. Here below, with command or reserve and rear area forces.

The WITP/AE Matrix SOP is supposed to be you get a unit when it appeared, where it appeared.
The RHS convention is that, except where there is a major reason to assume the fictional game war world must model the historical real world, months and years later, we leave the players to decide if a unit is to be assigned somewhere else. We give player somewhat more pp to implement such choices, but not so many they don't have to wait a week or two to implement a significant change.

I offer data for your consideration. Nothing more. Do what you wish with it, including nothing. It is an error in the stock OB and I, for one, didn't realize it was wrong. In RHS strictly historical scenarios (we have other kinds) the unit will start in the right place with the right command HQ.

History [edit]

The Japanese 2nd Area Army was formed on July 4, 1942 under the control of the Kwantung Army as a reserve and garrison force to maintain security and public order in Manchukuo. It was disbanded on June 13,1945, and its various components were reassigned to other commands.

List of Commanders [edit]

Commanding officer [edit]



Name

From

To

1 Lieutenant General Korechika Anami 1 July 1942 26 December 1944
2 Lieutenant General Jo Iimura 26 December 1944 29 May 1945

Chief of Staff [edit]



Name

From

To

1 Major General Kane Yoshihara 4 July 1942 9 November 1942
2 Major General Yo Watanabe 9 November 1942 29 October 1943
3 Lieutenant General Takazo Numata 29 October 1943 26 December 1944
4 Major General Ryozo Sakuma 26 December 1944 29 May 1945

References [edit]
Jowett, Bernard (1999). The Japanese Army 1931-45 (Volume 2, 1942-45). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-354-3.
Madej, Victor (1981). Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing Company. ASIN: B000L4CYWW.
Marston, Daniel (2005). The Pacific War Companion: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-882-0.

[dwg]

ORIGINAL: el cid again
It is an error in the stock OB

'Error' implies mistake, whereas this is obviously a deliberate design decision. I think it's a reasonable change to make given the historic use of 2nd Area Army, which the Wikipedia article you quote unfortunately doesn't elaborate on (which says that the Wiki article needs extending, not that it's wrong per se), but there are arguments for both options. Given the pp system, the existing solution is the simpler, and therefore preferable, way of dealing with the issue. If you deviate from the pp system then other solutions may make sense, but the original OOB goes together with the pp system.

[Kereguelen]

ORIGINAL: el cid again

I did ask.

The information I found follows, and does not quite contradict your view.

Wow, a quote from Wikipedia. Now I'm really impressed! Really outstanding research work[&o]