Talk:Second Operational Phase (1942)

More citations are needed, and the text can be further split for reading convenience

As I understand that this is a newly created article, some improvements can still be expected!

Firstly, current citations only include sources from two books, with only name and pages mentioned. Are there any other sources? Especially any English and website sources?

Secondly, the textwalls make it quite hard to read, maybe consider break them down to more sections and subtopics, or just more paragraphs?

All the best for the editing and have a good day! HolyCrocsEmperor (talk) 03:21, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

Discussion about Second Operational Phase (1942)

This article is a stub that only cites primary sources and begs the question of the first operational phase. I am opening a discussion about the future of this article. Is there a better place for this content to reside (an existing article) or perhaps a refactoring to expand it to encompass Japanese strategic planning more broadly leading up to and in the early stages of the war? Cinderella157 (talk) 02:23, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Notifying MilHist and ping Parsecboy, given their recent work at Pacific War. Cinderella157 (talk) 02:23, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Note: Japanese strategic planning for the Pacific (1905-1940) is a redirect to Nanshin-ron. Cinderella157 (talk) 02:25, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Given how short this article is (and Nanshin-Ron, too), it probably makes the most sense to roll it in there.

There’s more that could be said about this topic (I recently read Toll’s Pacific Crucible, and he made clear how ad hoc and contentious the decision to attack Midway was, for instance, which isn’t addressed here at all, it’s just listed in the operations, as though it was decided in January 1942). But I don’t know how much room there is to grow beyond things like that, which wouldn’t add a ton of material, I’d think. Parsecboy (talk) 13:03, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Third Operational Phase and general thoughts

I launched this page because, watching Japanese-language videos (esp. 祖国日本 channel) about the Pacific War, the Second Operational Phase (SOP) was repeatedly mentioned, and although Japanese Wikipedia has an article, English has none. The nearest thing: Proposed Japanese invasion of Australia during World War II (should that image be added to this article?), a muddled article that (deliberately, as though more abstract) confuses Australian perceptions of the Japanese threat with actual Japanese war plans; I thought an independent article with a clear exposition of Japanese discussions about invading Australia would be helpful. There are in fact English-language sources that discuss, in the context of SOP, IJN and IJA estimations of the number of divisions needed to occupy all of Australia, only eastern Australia, only northern Australia, etc. (Google Scholar, but "Second Operational Stage" more useful) (I definitely hope to include here, but I'm in no rush, so others please preempt me). I used "Phase" for SOP because this term is already used in Wikipedia's Pacific War article; there may be reasons for using "Stage" (more academic?). The Japanese article on the Third OP is a stub, started in 2014.09.13 and last updated in 2017.11.29; this suggest a lack of reliably sourced material to go beyond a single paragraph: what you read in the section I added today is basically my translation of everything but the introductory sentence of TOP Japanese article. Whether SOP and TOP should be merged into a big article ("the Three OPs") or not, I don't know. I'm not interested in starting a First OP article (this would relate to Nanshin Ron, although I think of Nanshin Ron as the political struggles, not the operational planning process). The Japanese article mostly relies on one source (original, impeccable Imperial General Headquarters archives), but there are at least five English language sources that can be used ("Second Operational Stage" is the most helpful search string), so this article has the potential of filling out to a modest length. My basic curiosity about the reality of SOP has been satisfied, so I'm not in any particular rush; I'm mostly interested in watching Japanese videos! Maybe not NPOV, but definitely JPOV, which by counterbalancing, helps establish an overall objective POV. Vagabond nanoda (talk) 22:49, 1 December 2023 (UTC)