29年 10月 5日
The attack north was continued. 60,000 troops, the remains of the Japanese regular army on Honshu, were trying to create a redoubt in the north. The Chinese attackers had advantage in numbers, but the Japanese had far more heavy equipment. Even with air support, the first wave would be thrown back with heavy casualties.
A day later, newly arrived troops crashed into the defenses. The defenders had not had time to recover from the last attack and would be fighting at a disadvantage.
Their lines broke almost immediately. The ROCAF had used the previous attack to pinpoint enemy troop concentrations and was putting the information to good use.
29年 10月 7日
Akita held the last Japanese naval base on the Honshu and as such was a primary objective for the Republic of China Army. 36,000 elite Pabing soldiers faced 20,000 newly raised home defense troops. The mountains running towards Akita were the patch they had trained to follow.
The defenders were brave, but also inexperienced. They were shamefully easy to trap and ambush in the mountainous terrain. The ROCAF also arrived to help and meaningful resistance evaporated as the inexperienced troops devolved into heavily armed mobs with no strategic direction.
The most heavily damaged ships of the First fleet were docked in Kanazawa to await repairs.
29年 10月 9日
The 12th Juntuan arrived in Fukushima only to be immediately ordered north to chase after the city's fleeing defenders. The Japanese had been able to scrape together a single regular infantry division supplemented with a newly armed home guard unit.
29年 10月 10日
The swift arrival of the air force would once again be the key to victory. The last enemy holdout on Honshu was about to fall.
29年 10月 11日
The Japanese army wasn't done yet. The retreating divisions turned around and set up a new defensive line in good order. The IJA had always been famous for discipline in the face of overwhelming odds and they had earned that fame by making stands like this.
Still, they were outnumbered more than two to one and the Chinese airforce still had air superiority. The defenders would be forced to disperse.
29年 10月 13日
Japanese troops had made it across the channel and arrived in Hiroshima. This was exactly what the Chinese army had been hoping for.
29年 10月 16日
The First Fleet would move to once again block the connection to Kyushu. The Army would attack in hopes of pocketing what remained of the IJA.
Unfortunately, what "remained" was 84,000 of Japan's best troops. The attackers were actually outnumbered and would need all the naval and air support they could get their hands on.
29年 10月 20日
The first attack had failed but it had been a near thing. It was hoped that 36,000 fresh Chinese troops might be able to overcome a great deal more tired Japanese ones.
It too would fail, but another Juntuan might just have some hopes of cracking the defenders who had been under round the clock air and naval bombardment for the better part of a week.
29年 10月 21日
The loss of Hiroshima had opened up southern Kyushu, as the Chinese army hoped it would. Troops from the mainland were busy unloading onto Kagoshima when their transports were attacked by the IJN.
The one saving grace was that the IJN would stay at carrier range as their battleships were heavily damaged.
The transports would immediately turn and run as fast as they could. Luckily, losses had been light as carrier based planes were only able to sink a few transports at a time. The trasnsports would try to link up with the First Fleet below Honshu.
29年 10月 22日
The first pursuing ships to arrive were a few outdated destroyers and a Nagara class cruiser, Natori, that served as their flagship. (though the Chinese navy misidentified it as a Kuma class cruiser.)
They were thoroughly outclassed by the ROCN and were all sunk with extreme prejudice.
The next morning, the entire IJN fleet arrived to finish the job. Admiral Chen would immediately order his ships to close the gap.
The battle was massive. Both fleets were looking for a chance to avenge themselves against the other.
As the fleets closed, the Chinese Zheng He class cruisers were first to get into range and they started extracting a murderous toll on the less advanced Japanese escorts. The Hai Shen was able to land a volley against the Kuma class cruiser, Kuma, that resulted in an ammunition explosion that sunk the ship.
Unfortunately, the Japanese battleships had also closed the range. Any direct hit from them would spell instant doom for the Chinese ships as the Zheng He class, Hai Shen, found out after receiving a direct hit from the Battleship Nagato. Casualties continued to mount as the Chinese cruisers were orders of magnitude more accurate than their Japanese counterparts.
The Chinese Ying Ching would sink the outdated Chikuma class light cruiser, Yahagi. The Japanese battleship Yamashiro would extract vengeance on the unfortunate Ying Ching. In the middle of the battle, the Nan Shin class heavy cruisers Yao Shishi and He Wenting along with two light cruisers, the Ning Hai and the Hai Yung, tried to make a dash for the Japanese carriers. The Japanese fleet would switch priorities to stopping this fleet and almost succeeded when the Mutsu sank the He Wenting and Yamashiro claimed a second kill in the Ning Hai.
However, the other two ships made it within range and opened up on the unprotected carriers. The Hai Yung would claim the Amagi while the Yao Shishi easily destroyed the light carrier Ryujo.
With the loss of the carriers and the terrible casualties among the ligher ships of the fleet the Japanese admiral gave the order to withdraw.
China had successfully driven the IJN from the seas. They had sunk two destroyer flotillas, four light cruisers, one fleet carrier and one light carrier while only losing three light cruisers, a heavy cruiser and some transports in return.
29年 10月 24日
The complete failure of the IJN was showcased when 72,000 Chinese soldiers successfully landed on Kyushu.
The Japanese counterattack was swift. They were well rested and had more heavy equipment, but the Chinese had more troops as well as shore support.
They would acquit themselves well, even the secondary 国民 troops that had only been bought over for post war occupation duties.
29年 10月 25日
The battered Chinese First Fleet would reengage the Japanese in the Tshushima strait. This place was where the Japanese Navy had destroyed the Russian fleet in 1905, marking the beginning of Japan's naval supremacy. Admiral Chen was hoping to write the closing chapter of that period in the same place it began.
Neither fleet had really recovered from the previous battle, but the Japanese had fared worse as the Zheng He's had been able to stay out of range of most of the Japanese escorts.
This would have dire consequences for the already heavily damaged Japanese battleships.
The Zheng He class Ying Swei would destroy the Mutsu in a lucky shot that punctured and ignited the fuel tank. The resulting explosion could be heard on the Chinese mainland.
The Yamashiro was destroyed when ten light cruisers converged their fire on the Battleship, which had been trying to disengage.
The Japanese escorts converged on the Battleship Hyuga. Despite taking immense casualties, the newly combined fleet made a bee line towards the scout carrier Yun Weilian. The Battleship's shells were able to punch strait through the unarmored flight deck and the Yun Weilian started to take on water. Facing annihilation from the irate Chinese fleet, the Hyuga would withdraw with the few surviving Japanese escorts.
This was a stunning victory for the Chinese, but it also marked the end of the First Fleet as an offensive force. The Yun Weilian had been the only remaining scout carrier and without those planes, there was no way for the Chinese fleet to successfully locate an enemy carrier fleet. Whether the Japanese knew that they had sunk the last scout carrier was another matter entirely.
The war comes to its possibly thrilling conclusion. Up next!