Battle of Nihhon-koku
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The Battle of Nihhon-koku was a military campaign of the Second Europan War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Nihhonese Air Force (RNAF) defended the Nihhonese homeland from a threatening land, sea, and airbourne invasion by the Imperial Quenminese Army. It was also the largest air battle fought in the Asianna and the Pacific Campaign during the Second Europan War. Planned out by Quenminese Naval and Air Marshals, the Invasion of Nihhon-koku was dubbed as Operation Hammerthrust by the planners. Estimated that a campaign to annex Nihhon-koku would seem more cheaper than an invasion of Zanarkand, it was approved by Quenminese High Command and the Quenminese Marshals, with support from the Archadian and Guadonian Marshals were able to assemble the largest air and naval force in the world at that time. With a combined force of the three nations, it was an air and naval armada that was feared by many, even in North Amerigonna.
The Lucis High Command, fearing that a Quenminese Annexation of Nihhon-koku would prove to be a disaster and an extremely dangerous threat of an Invasion of Rubrum and Concordia by the Quenminese and Archadians, immediately sent all available forces that were stationed in the Lucis Commonwealth in North Amerigonna. The Lucis High Command also had installed the Dowding System, which was the world's first Ground-controlled interception and perfected by the Lucis Home Defence Systems since the First Europan War, which used a widespread dedicated land-line telephone network to rapidly collect information from Chain Home (CH) radar stations and the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) in order to build a single image of the entire Nihhonese airspace and then direct defensive interceptor aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery against enemy targets. It remained a classified advantage until the 1950s. The system eventually contributed to the low losses of Lucis Commonwealth aircraft and naval ships.
Just 200 km Southwest of the Nihhonese archipelago, the Quenminese and Archadian forces occupied the Nansei Islands, which were a chain of Nihhonese islands that would prove pivotal to invading the mainland. The Imperials seized the islands from June 1940 to August 1940, thereby establishing bases and refuelling lines. Later, the Imperials redirected their attention to bombing Nihhonese cities and factories. Imperial Admiral Tan's objective was to attain air superiority over the Nihhonese airspace before such invasion could be carried by the land forces. She mainly focused on destroying Nihhonese factories that produced many Lucian aircraft and ships. However, in the midst of the battle, many had concluded that she had underestimated the production capacity since Nihhon-koku was also the source of most planes used by the Lucis Commonwealth Air Forces in Amerigonna and Oceania, which meant that numerical losses inflicted on the Commonwealth could be easily replaced. The Imperials, although larger, also had problems on replacing the losses suffered. The aircraft quality in the Quenminese or Archadian Air Forces were also inferior than those of the Lucis Commonwealth Air Forces. Another problem was that the Imperial Navies were in Lucis Commonwealth-controlled waters, which meant that it had to deal with several navies from Rubrum, Concordia, Nihhon-koku, and even the UK, Zanarkand, and New Akiba. As weeks passed, the Imperials had to switch tactics several times until February, when it was finally decided that an ambitious invasion of Nihhon-koku could not succeed.
Overall, the Battle of Nihhon-koku was the first and the last time that the Quenminese and Archadians had planned a big operation to attempt to invade an island that was extremely distant. It also proved costly as the losses were significantly higher for the Imperials. The carefully planned preparations carried by the Lucis Commonwealth proved pivotal in driving the Imperials out of Commonwealth waters and territory.