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lionhead

Colonel
1 Badges
Dec 1, 2006
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My 4th AAR, hoping to improve my AAR writing skill by relying less on the actual game.

Scenario:

1936(playing in 1944)
HOI2: DD Armageddon 1.3A
Mods: GIP 2
Difficulty: Normal/Agressive
Goal in-game: Defeat of Nat. China,
actual goal: improvement of my writing skills.


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Mao Zedong gets the last laugh

Part 1, confession of a Japanese.

Mao Zedong, the ruler of the Communist faction, from his point of view the region of China belonged in communist hands. Since the start of the civil war its been clear to Mao that the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek was too weak to lead China and become a world power along with USA and UK. He also found that the Fascists had been given too much space, leading to the declaration of war by Japan on China in 1937. Mao was able to stay neutral, even though he had the entire north part of China, Shanxi occupied. When the time was right(at the point most Japanese forces where in recently occupied Vietnam) he struck on the Japanese, blasting through Manchuria in a few months and was able to get a peace agreement from the Japanese when the PLA was going into Korea. It was 1941. Since the total occupation of Manchuria the production and resource output of the PRC had been outstanding. The People's Liberation Army had been building itself up while their equipment had been greatly improved. Since the test of the new bombers and fighter planes Mao Zedong was convident about their position in China.

mao1.jpg

February9beforethewar.jpg


After the defeat of the Japanese Mao's spies where able to kidnap the Japanese General Yoshijiro Umezu. After months of interrogation Umezu gave much valuable information. Deep operations, Defence in Depth, Pocket defence systems and Large front operations where all tactics he had developed as a Japanese general and now he gave the idea to the Communists under much pressure.

umezu001.jpg


Its now February 1944, the nationalists and Japanese are at a stalemate in the south. They had been for for 6 years now, unable to break eachothers positions. The supplies neccesary to keep the large armies strong was playing in great favor of Mao. For the past 6 years, using the Industry and manpower from both Shanxi and Manchuria Mao build up his professional army(militia where given up once the Communists had enough money to pay the troops), making sure to stay ahead of the Nationalists. A tank division rolled out of production around 1942 and the Communist Airfoce, named the PLAF was swelling with bombers and fighters.

The Japanese wheren't a problem anymore since they got humiliated in Korea, relations where neutral for the time being. Mao's true enemy had to be ridden off first. The Republic of China, being the target for 6 years now had almost 3 times as much troops. Their army was 5 million men strong while the PLA was only 1,6 million strong. Better equipment, better tactics, the element of surprise, tanks and highly advanced planes(though only a few) made it up though. A plus as well is that Chiang Kai-Shek had been fighting the Japanese for quite some time now and most soldiers where down south, for now at least(stacks of Millions).

All plans where laid out, all equipment ready, all soldiers strong, able and eager to go. The planes where filled up with fuel, the tanks that the PLA had where cleaned and painted one more time. Mao Zedong wrote a telegram to Chiang kai-Shek on February 9th 1944. The People's Republic of China had declared war on the Republic of China.

February9declarationofwar.jpg

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Please enjoy. update tommorow and very steadily every week onward as i started this AAR after i finished the game already. Still in another AAR, which i'm trying to get back too as well.
 
Nice AAR, I'm looking forward to seeing the next update. :)
 
Don't know that AAR.

thanks for all the good lucks.

Update:

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Part 2, casualties

First military actions on the first day of the war where decisive defeats of a Nationalist army group at Xi'an. The nationalist army was stationed there to prevent any attempt of Mao to go down south towards the large industrial sites at Chongqing and Chengdu(industry which Chiang Kai-Shek had moved their in fear of a Japanese amphibious assault).

February9firstsurpriseattack.jpg


A great number of 400,000 men under command of General Zhou Enlai stormed towards the enemy positions. They where supported by 160,000 more troops to the North-East, who where beating back the Nationalist armies from their defensive postition so they stood open for attack by Zhou's troops. The main nationalist division lost half its men during their defenses along the eastern part of the region and had to pull back towards the city of Xi'an(the place where peace was made years ago, in light of the Japanese threath, as well as the place of the Communist defeat during the short skirmisch against Nationalists after Mao's victory over Shanxi). Zhou's army reached the walls of the city within hours and beat heavily upon the Nationalist soldiers inside. The Nationalist army was already escaping the city from the south though and soon the few soldiers left inside the city surrendered. Xi'an was occupied.

IMG_5722.jpg

the surprised discovery of the terracotta army was used in propaganda by communist forces to show the PLA might

Second opening attack of the war was the attack against Xibei San Ma warlord, led by Mao Zedong himself. For the capture of the western regions of China Mao had put around 320,000 troops and as he knew how important it was to secure this part of China he led and coordinated the attacks himself. Thats way he could also use less able Generals for this section, while more experienced Generals, like Zhu De and Lin Biao could lead the attacks East. Mao's forces attacked the enemy forces head on, and greatly outnumbered them. His forces quickly defeated the few divisions guarding the border with his nation and so he could move in, being able to position himself early to help out the more larger forces of General Zhou towards the South.

In the East General Lin Biao was given command of the PLA's brand new tanks and cavalry units. His job was to outflank the Nationalist positions at the coasts, making sure that when General Chen Yi's forces attacked the Nationalist army from Yucheng it was pocketed in and had to give up quickly. This maneuver was essential to the survival of the PLA in the east, as there where great numbers of Nationalist forces to the South.

February9maneuverseast.jpg

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Nice update. :)

Not critising it, just a note. The Terracotta Army was not found until 1974...... :wacko:
 
In real life, sure. But the PLA found it after intense fighting at the location. ;)
 
What to do when China is united then?
Maybe a strike against the pseudo-socialists in Moscow?;)
 
Good luck! I'll be following.
 
The_Carbonater said:
What to do when China is united then?
Maybe a strike against the pseudo-socialists in Moscow?;)

Strike against the USSR? no way, i'm lucky there is at least a country that likes me and can give me much needed resources. the fascists are the target. Soviet Union isn't doing well against gemrany though, they pretty much lost the war.



Update:

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Part 3: Advances

After the succesfull first attacks the PLA advanced into China as planned. It became clear though after a few days that Lin Biao's outflanking manuever had failed horribly. Nationalist forces where fast, and soon the 16 divisions that where supposed to be trapped leaked out towards the location where the pocket was to be closed. Lin Biao was inexperienced with this new pocketing manuever he had learned. He didn't put in the cold weather in his calculations and his tanks where frequently a ball and chain to the horseman. The East was also the region choosen that could use the airsupport that was available. The PLAF had a great deal of tactical bombers along with a fighter squadron that could cause havoc on the Nationalist positions. The head of the airforce felt it neccesary to mostly bomb the potential reinforcements coming from the south.

Il-DB-3.jpg

MiG-3.jpg

planes used in the PLAF, the IL DB-3 bomber and MIG-3 fighter aircraft

On February 14th Bin Liao's tank forces, on their way to City of Lianyungang (which had an important crossroad in and out of the pocket to the north and was the place that would close the pocket) was attacked by the Nationalist army that had leaked out of the pocket. Bin Liao's tanks where unable to be used due to the fact it was really cold(below 0 celcius) and their tracks had been stuck in snow for the past couple of hours. His cavalry units however where able to fight their way towards the city, but the Nationalist army was greater in numbers and the wide stretched plains and irrigation fields made it excellent for digging in(not to mention all the snow). Lin Biao's army was therefore put to a halt but where able to stay put against the weak enemy counter attacks, with minimum casualties.

This however did mean that the pocket movement failed and the Nationalist army couldn't be trapped. Immediately Generals Zhu De and Chen Yi attacked the remaining enemy troops and advanced towards the coast.

March2advances.jpg

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Part 4: The Western front

While in the East things where at a slow start, Mao had gained a lot of territory himself and was now coördinating the attack of more Xibei San Ma forces North of his position, at Yinchuan. The Xibei San Ma troops where totally outclassed and where defeated, at this rate this region should be in Mao's full control pretty soon. He then started to focus on the attacks towards the south. The forces of General Die Rongzhen where ordered to go East and then South towards the very important city of Zhengzhou, which hold some factories and large metal mines. General Deng Xiaoping on his own accord attacked Nationalist forces in Yichang. But Mao predicted he failed at this on his own, the region was way to inland and uncovered to be taken now. First Akang to the south had to be reached by General Zhou Enlai and as soon as Deng's troops where reorganized again he could try to take the province with help of General Zhou's troops.

Mao was now going to go West himself, closing in on the border with the Yunnan region. General Lin Biao tried to attack Lianyungang again and again failed to capture the city. He needed more troops or air support. Bombers where busy delaying the many Chinese forces to the South of Lin's position, but their attacks seemed to hardly affect them. More andm ore Chinese froces came north and stationed themselves all around Lin Biao's position. By the beginning of March the situation in the East was pretty much the same, only Lin Biao forces where advanced in Chinese territory, unable to do anything untill the forces from the north arrive and assist him with a little manpower problem. In the Center troops where marching steadily to Zhengzhou and Ankang was taken, a forward post that had to hold for General Deng Xiaoping to succesfully attack Yichang so they could continue their push south. In the West 2 provinces of Xibei San Ma where occupied and the North most army was well inland of the third, much larger region.

For the next week Mao's forces again won a number of small victories over overwhelmed Nationalist forces on all sides. However, the troops building up in the East had reached a high point and on March 12th they launched a full scale attack on Lin Biao's tanks. His forces where utterly beaten off the hilltops loosing 120 tanks of the 600 and almost 20,000 horsemen of the 100,000. He retreated North. In 2 days the Communist troosp to the north wil be done with their sweep towards the coast and will be heading down South, taking on the Nationalist army stationed in the City of LianYungang.

March13tankarmyretreating.jpg

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Part 5: Bearing down

Being forced to focus on the center now Mao gave responsibility to General Deng Xiaoping to force the Nationalist army away from the city of Zhengzhou that was occupied by General Die Rongzhen.
His forces had been able to repel the nationalist army that was moving West of the city into Communist territory. After that Deng Xiaoping moved his forces towards the South and created a pincher maneuver. However, his forces where to weak to make the maneuver work so they had to wait.

Meanwhile Mao found himself able to attack towards the South again and took Tianshui, closing in on the large factories within only a few kilometers. He could smell the burning coal already. His attack gave way for new attacks in the East, making a big piece of land secure and ensuring their advance would go on.

April23Chinaimportantindustrybases.jpg

Mao ordered a large army more South, making the industrial sectors easy targets

To the East coast another large Nationalist Army group attacked Lin Biao's tanks, but his forces where already reinforced and his losses again replenished, on the lower field now he could maneuver his tanks much easier and the attack on his position by dubble the amount of soldiers was crushed.

To the West the invasion of Xibei San Ma was going fast and the warlord gave up his position and gave control of his forces to the Nationalist army. Under command of the Nationalists they still couldn't prevent the Communist from advancing more West though.

April23XibeisanMaoverrun.jpg

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You're advancing really fast. Good!
 
The longer i wait the more troops the Nationalist bring in.


Update:
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Part 6: Take these broken wings

The end of April and first week of May saw a lot of action, Mao's army was going forward fast and wanted to hold the important industrial bases before May 7th. On April 24th ZhengZhou was attacked on 3 sides by Nationalist forces and Die Rongzhen had to pull out, leaving the city in ruins. On April 25th the troops in the east had replenished and reorganized themselves enough to begin their attacks once more. The Nationalist forces in the area had been shrinking ever since Lin Biao's tank force defeated the large army group that attacked him. Now only 3 divisions per province stood in their way of reaching the capital Beiping. The army of about 200,000 men that retook their lands after defeating Lin Biao's tanks was now located at a point somewhere North of where Lin Biao had placed his defences for the attack which he lost. He made a counter attack on April 23th with help of the 140,000 soldiers of the armies to the North-East. After a short skirmish by General Zhu De's divisions against the Nationalist forces, Lin Biao's penetrated hard into enemy frontlines and got them on the run oncemore. A few hours later his tank army had once again retaken the entire region and set up tough defences, ready to take on any counter. That counter came a few days later on April 25th by a smaller force of 100,000 well equipped forces. This time Lin Biao held his his position, ready to advance again towards the coast, this time backed up by General Zhu De and General Chen Yi's forces, who where taking up positions in the regions North of the City LianYungang, ready to advance into it once Lin Biao´s tanks where in sight. Their final push onto the city, that was defended by 120,000 forces with Artillery to back them up came on April 28th and was a great succes. The PLA entered the city, citing casualties of Nationalist forces up to 20,000. A day after the capture of the city they where re-attacked again by an army corps to the South, but they repelled the attack quickly. They hold the region and they would never let go. Their advances however did have a devastating flaw. The forces of Lin Biao left the region between Kaifeng and Liangyugang and crossed it pretty quick without securing the area. They left it unprotected and a Nationalist division penetrated into the Communist lines, going all the way North to the airfields of Jinan, where they totally overrun the Communist Airforce, destroying all planes on the ground. The PLAF was no more, the Nationalist division responsible was now setting up defensive postions in the airbase, as they knew they would be totally surrounded pretty soon.

PLAF1.jpg
PLAF2.jpg


After a rest of a day the forces of Generals Zhu De and Chen Yi went South again, along the coast straight towards Changhai. Meanwhile Lin Biao turned his tanks around again and started to pocket the suicidal Nationalist army that took out the Airforce. Nationalist armies had been building up again around their capital, it was now up to about 850,000 men.
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Part 7: The final countdown

Meanwhile in the West Mao had advanced into Yunnan territory and was surprised of the lack of resistance. He was able to cross large portions of land and reach the area's exactly West of the large industrial bases. Deng Xaoping's(head of intelligence btw) army was holding back Chinese forces to the East, advancing just enough Southward to be alligned with Mao. This way, the Communist army that was in between them, led by General Li Xiannian could get closer to the Industrial bases. Li Xiannian could take them himelf, but mao wanted to be responisble himself. So, when Li Xiannian was stationed East of the Regions and another General by the name of Zhou Enlai secured the territories East of Xiannian's. The advance in territory in just 2 weeks was huge, mainly becuase they had met with minimal resistance. Even when Mao started his adavcne into the Inudtial regions he could not find a sinlge soldier. At the start of May he had fully taken the region and had set up guarding posts all over to keep the flow of production towards the Capital located in Yan'an safe.

May17thsituation2.jpg


Now Mao waited, first he needed to hear good news from the East before he would push on towards the South coast.

Back in the East, General Zhu De was put in charge of the capture of the Capital, he and General Chen Yi took positions far North of the capital, which was being defended by around 160,000 troops while sometimes a much larger army group of around 400,000 men took a visit.

Zhu De gave an army of 9 divisions to the much newer General Chen Changhao and ordered him to attack Shanghai.

On May 4th General Chen Changhao and his 180,000 infantry troops attacked the divison at Shanghai. By small boats they crossed the mouth of the Yangtze river and arrived directly into the heart of the city. His divisions quickly organized themselves and surprised the enemy division that was stationed to defend the West of the city. They where quickly beaten and the city was secured within 24 hours. Details about the attack are still unknown.

Immediately he went onwards, to the South-West to face the capital of Nanjing from the south, to be able to help on the true attack.
During his long march that started on May 5th Generals Zhu De and Chen Yi advanced closer to city of Nanjing, attacking with about 360,000 men the army of 60,000 men that was located there. The battles that they engaged in took long. The original 60,000 Nationalist soldiers where frequently backed up by much more soldiers located in Nanjing, meaning that Zhu De wasn't really fighting 60,000 men but more like 600,000 men. For a whole week the fighting continued, the Nationalists being pushed back and back but killing many Communist soldiers and being reinforce constantly. Finally, on May 12th a breakthrough was made and about 200,000 Nationalist soldiers retreated West, away from the city. Zhu De and Chen Yi set up positions near the city to make life very hard for the enemy army that was still stationed in it. They could still be resupplied and reinforced as before though, about 700,000 soldiers stood between Zhu De's army and Chen Changhao's army to the South.

General Chen Changhao arrived south of Nanjing the same week Zhu De and Chen Yi had gained victory over the army to the North. When he did a large part of the Nationalist army left nanjing to Zhengzhou, as General Nie Rongzhen had again attacked it and was going to enter the devastated city. Still around 400,000 men where left to defend Nanjing and the rest of their army was close.

Lin Biao repelled an attempt to save the pocketed division that took out the PLAF and so another 8 divisions where on its way to the capital.

May17thsituation1.jpg

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Nice update, let's seize the presidential palace in Nanjing! :D

Nanjingcapitolpropaganda.jpg
 
Kill them!! :mad: :D