Quote:
Originally Posted by agrims
If Japan hadn't attacked the U.S. and instead had a better build up period, attacking China inward instead of spreading outward like they did, this would have put them in a good place for resources and a joint attack on Russia with Germany. This would have a two fold problem for Russia. Attack from 2 angles, and atomic weapons. Stalin was a ruthless man, but he would have been no match for atomic weapons.
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Japan's problem in China was that their army was bogged down with logistical and terrain difficulties and the war there was unwinnable without the resources, metals and oil Japan purchased from abroad. With every advance and atrocity in China those supplies were being further boycotted by the Western Allies.
When the Pacific War broke out, the Japanese allocated just 11 divisions to the conquest of the Dutch, British and American possessions in the Pacific out of an army of over 50 divisions. It was all they could spare. Most of the rest remained bogged down in a vast land war in Asia that Japan simply couldn't win without those conquered resources they could never really fully exploit. This supports the view that China was a quagmire that kept the Japanese from deploying their full strength to the Pacific.