8th December: Communists defeated
The Japanese paratroopers final closed in around government buildings. Despite large numbers of troops nearby the Communists were forced to surrender.
9th December -> January 1939 : Retreat and trap
The plan after taking over the communist lands was to leave them alone. Two defensive lines would be formed, roughly along the rivers. One in the west one in the south. All other troops would retreat to airfields. Hopefully the Chinese would pore into the gap and then could be encircled by dropping paratroopers behind them again.
This would also free up some time to bring in the rest of the paratroopers (4 Divisions) from Naha. However, it was decided that they would re-liberate Taiwan again first:
In early January 1939 the encirclement operation was launched:
Everything worked exactly as planned, and several Chinese divisions were suddenly without supply and at serious risk of being trapped and forced to surrender.
Plan China
With everything going well in the north the Japan started to formulate "Plan China". The plan to force Nationalist China to surrender. Once the divisions in the former Communist territories were defeated a defensive line would be set up. There would then be three large offensive phases.
1) "Shandong". Attack and encircle any Chinese troops in Shandong. This should help cut back the number of Chinese forces and make them send any reserves they have to the north.
2) "Air Train". Paradrop from airfield to airfield across the southern half of Nationalist China. Hopefully the airfields and strategic locations will be largely unguarded due to the offensives in the north before that. As there would be no direct line for supplies an "Air Train" will send supplies from airfield to airfield.
3) "Crush". Final push from the north and the capture of remaining cities.
During Phase #1 "Shandong", any islands occupied by Nationalist China in the Pacific would also be liberated.
The Japanese paratroopers final closed in around government buildings. Despite large numbers of troops nearby the Communists were forced to surrender.
9th December -> January 1939 : Retreat and trap
The plan after taking over the communist lands was to leave them alone. Two defensive lines would be formed, roughly along the rivers. One in the west one in the south. All other troops would retreat to airfields. Hopefully the Chinese would pore into the gap and then could be encircled by dropping paratroopers behind them again.
This would also free up some time to bring in the rest of the paratroopers (4 Divisions) from Naha. However, it was decided that they would re-liberate Taiwan again first:
In early January 1939 the encirclement operation was launched:
Everything worked exactly as planned, and several Chinese divisions were suddenly without supply and at serious risk of being trapped and forced to surrender.
Plan China
With everything going well in the north the Japan started to formulate "Plan China". The plan to force Nationalist China to surrender. Once the divisions in the former Communist territories were defeated a defensive line would be set up. There would then be three large offensive phases.
1) "Shandong". Attack and encircle any Chinese troops in Shandong. This should help cut back the number of Chinese forces and make them send any reserves they have to the north.
2) "Air Train". Paradrop from airfield to airfield across the southern half of Nationalist China. Hopefully the airfields and strategic locations will be largely unguarded due to the offensives in the north before that. As there would be no direct line for supplies an "Air Train" will send supplies from airfield to airfield.
3) "Crush". Final push from the north and the capture of remaining cities.
During Phase #1 "Shandong", any islands occupied by Nationalist China in the Pacific would also be liberated.
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