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Nomonhon Mongolia
9/13/39
1700 Hours

We have detrained and are marshalling our forces to move up to the front. The plan is for us to advance against the Russians near Nomonhon. Have been told to expect a heavy concentration of troops and tanks. Although the Russians are undisiplined brutes it will still be a tough fight. There will more then likely be a heavy concentration of artty as well. It seems there supply of ammo is unlimited and they have no qualms about using a lot of it. Have also been told they will throw human waves at us. They must have unlimited supply of men as well as ammo.

I am proud to lead the finist fighting force in the world. They are dedicated to Japan and our Holy Emperor. They will fight to the last man.
Our force consists of the following units. Three companies of A units:

3 Platoons of 3 squads w/ATR attatched to each Platoon
2 sec HMG 92
1 Platoon of Engineers
2 Sec 37mm AT
1 Sec 70mm IG
1 Sec 75mm Mt
1 Observer
1 sec 81mm Mortar
1 Sec 150mm mortar
1 sec 70mm FG
1 sec Trip 25mm AA

2 companys of tanks w/3 platoons of 5 tanks to ea.
3 Ha Go
2 Yi Go

30 tanks plus the ATR and ATG should take care of any Russin tanks they throw at us.

As we prepare for battle tomorrow and the possibility of death, Our spirits are high and all thru the camp there is nothing but the talk of Victory.
Banzai Banzai can be heard all thru the encampment. I have heard no chatter about the thought of losing at all.

HQ: XI Imperial Army
Col: Chi Namora

Nomonhon Mongolia
9/14/39
0820 Hours

We began our advance at 0800 hours. There is a sudden sandstorm that sprang up all of a sudden. This will slow our advance down some. Visability is still around 1200 yards. We have a long way to go to reach any of our objectives. It is going to be a tough road to travel today. The men are in high spirits and rarin to get at the Russian aggressors.

A and B co are spread out in a two company front across a road in the north half of the map. They will follow this road to 2 different hills. The south hill in front of A Company is 1300 yards away thru open country. The hill runs SE to NW for 800 yards. Objective is 50 yards south of this road on the very top of hill.

B Co has 750 yards to the foot of hill in front of them. It is 1200 yards long running SE To NW as well. There objective is 350 yards north of road on the SW side of hill. About 50 yards behind the Sw corner of the hill. They too must cross open ground but also have some small spines of low rises in front of them.

C Company is in the south part of map at least 1500 yards south of the left flank of A Co. They are to capture a hill in front of them. This hill is 700 yards long running SE to NW. It is maybe 500 yards to the front slope and another 100 to the top. There objective is 300 yards to the rear and 250 to the south of this hill. There hope is to meet little to no resistence here. Then to turn NW and come up behind the hill Co A will be trying to take.

A russian 122 mm gun opened up 5 minutes ago on C co in the south and the north flank of B in the far north. A Co has recieved some light MG fire in the middle as well. No damage to anyone so far. Our guns can be heard firing maybe one battery at a time. I believe they are searching for the enemy with this fire. Or this may just be harrassing fire to keep the enemys heads down as we advance. Will order smoke on the front slopes of all 3 hills as we approach to with in firing range. Hope to stop any long range guns or tank fire on our troops from these hills.

HQ: XI Imperial Army
Col: Chi Namora

Nomonhon Mongolia
9/14/39
0850 Hours

C Co in the south has reached the east slope of there hill. Has begun the climb to the top. Have come under fire from there right flank. Finally located the sucker firing the MG. Laid in some 81 and 150 mortar on the position. Hasnt been heard from since that salvo landed.

A and B Co are still moving well at least as well as the sandstorm will allow. Have come under some MG fire from hidden locations. No loss of life so far. Have been laying in some 150 searching for there locations to no avail so far.

Couple of 50mm mortars opened up on the right flank of B in the north. No loss of life but did slow down a sec of IG guns there. There 122mm has taken at least seven lifes so far no loss of equipment as yet. Our 150 took some pot shots at the suspected location of the guns. Dont know how effected they were tho. Really hasnt seemed to make any difference so far.

All in all it has been rather slow so far. But now we are getting close to there suspected locations. Should heat up here real soon. The men are still in very high spirits and anxious to engage the enemy at close quarters. The only Russians we saw was that lone squad and that was at long range. We know they are there but where is the big question we have at the moment. We shall see what the day brings as it progresses. I will say one thing about the enemy, he sure knows how to hide real well. Our men will have to get in and dig the suckers out is all.

HQ: XI Imperial Army
Col: Chi Namora

Nomonhon Mongolia
9/14/39
0925 Hours

C Co in the south has taken the hill in front of them. They control the top and soon will have artty there as well. This will give them a clear shot at the hill NW of them. This is the hill that A co in the center must take to accomplish there mission. C has begun to turn NW towards the center to help them. I have anchored the right flank as the co does a right oblique and comes into line and move north. As C came over the hill they ran into at least 3 companys of Russians sitting maybe 200 yards west of the hill. These have pertty well been dealt with. Sent a platoon of tanks 150 yards south of the hill to capture the objective there. It is in our hands and they have begun to move NW as well to protect the left flank of C.

B co in the north has made it to with in 450 yards of there target. Some resistence has been met and delt with here as well. The heavist is more to the center where the two flanks connect.

A has come under the toughest fighting so far especially on there left flank. This is where we have lost the most casualties.Still our rate of men killed is way lower then was calculated. Lost 2 tanks here from Co D 1st platoon. One Ha Go destroyed and another disabled. Thought we had lost a Yi Go as well but the crew had jumped out and ran to the rear. They were happy to get back in and join the fight tho. Of course this was after i talked to them and threaten to cut the dam sgt in command head off. They have now moved to with in 550 yards of there objective. All forward targets should be within our control by 1030 hours. The rear ones will be another story. May have to run some tanks out in front of the infantry in order to do this.

The damage to our tanks came from a 37mm AA gun sittin on the hill in front of them. Had a devil of a time trying to locate the dam thing. Have begun to put some fire on there location. It has been quite for the last ten minutes. Should be able to sight it with my infantry soon as we get closer. One squad got some knee mortar fire in on it as well.

Have not seen one Russian piece of armor so far. They may have got into the front lines with out it. Maybe were to fast trying to get in line to block our advance. Or maybe they goofed and sent the armor some where else. Dumb ass Russians do stuff like this.

HQ: XI Imperial Army
Col: Chi Namora

Nomonhon Mongolia
9/14/39
0945 Hours

We finally caught some of those pesky 50mm mortars out in the open. Couple of squads rooted out 3 of them and sent them to hell. No more boom boom from those 3 any more. Still got at least 5 more some where in front of us. There 122 continues to lay in a salvo every five minutes. Seems to be 2 batterys of them. Our guns have not been able to locate there new positions. Lost another Ha Go to a 7.62 dp mg. The steel in our tanks must be paper thin. The 122 although firing constantly has done no damage to equipment but has taken at least 40 lives. Some of the men are having to be shown the right way to move. A little prodding from a long sword seems to work just well.

C co has almost gotten there left flank turned and begun the move NW towards center. Have been pushing at least 3 companys of troops in front of them. They have taken out at least half of these men as they push. It is a 50 yard battle every time they try to move.
Slow but surely tho they are still advancing.

B and A have both moved up to the foothills of there respective hills. The enemy still controls the heights but soon will be pushed off of them. B has come under a lot of small arm fire from there right flank. Have begun to use the 150s i had in reserve to counter the 122. All the rest of our guns have run out of ammo. They have found there mark and the fire has been cut in half from that direction.
B has 250 yards to there target and A in the center still has about 350.

I put our losses at some where around 200 men so far. This is way below what it has cost the enemy. I estimate there losses has gone over 1000 men. The Russians spirit has broken and they retreat a lot faster now. Although some small pockets are putting up stiff resistence still. All the forward objectives will soon be in our hands and we will begin the push to the rear.

HQ: XI Imperial Army
Col: Chi Namora

Nomonhon Mongolia
9/14/39
1050 Hours

We have routed the enemy and the battle is over. It was not a decisive victory but any battle where you kill more of them and push the enemy back is still a victory. It was a bloody battle they fought hard and gave up ground slowly. I believe what saved us was that they had very little armor. Our 150s took out 2 T-35 tanks and one of our 37mm ATG blowed up another one. They were sitting around or near the rear flags. There could have been more that we never saw but as we only got to within 1000 yards of the rear objectives we did not run into them. This is why I believe we only got a marginal victory.

Our loss of life was higher then I had hoped, but a lot lower then I expected to hear. We lost 182 men mostly from 122 and 50 mm bombardment. Also lost 1 artty and the 4 tanks this was caused mostly from 37mm AA fire. We chewed up there ground forces bad, they lost 1726 men. We also over ran and destroyed 24 artty mostly of the 50mm mortar type and a few 37 mm AA.

All and all the men performed well. Had a few men that will be delt with later. One tank crew abandoned there tank when they came under heavy small arm fire. They ran and left there fellow tankers alone to fight off at least 2 companys of infantry. They are no longer around and will not disgrace our Emperor any more. The other men in the platoon have been cited for a medal. It is over and will never be brought up again.

We are to pull back to repair, rest and recuperate. Understand we will also be reciving 4 of the heavier Chi Ha type tanks as replacements for the four we lost. They have thicker armor and better guns. So the men and tanks we lost was not in vain. We have heard but it is not certain for now. That we are to once again go up against the Russians some time next month. I will be taking some time off to go back to Tokyo. I will then travel 50 miles west to a small village where my family lives. My under officers are very capable and will handle getting supplies and replacements for the men we lost.

HQ: XI Imperial Army
Col: Chi Namora