Hehe I just gave similar answers in my own AAR. Would you provoke your own war with Japan eventually or is it enough to let them stay at peace as long as they like?
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Hehe I just gave similar answers in my own AAR. Would you provoke your own war with Japan eventually or is it enough to let them stay at peace as long as they like?
I'll pick a fight with Japan if it comes down to that, but unifying the rest of China needs to come first. If Japan is a member of the Allies, then that may complicate things a bit. In that case I may need to join the Comintern first 
Chapter 5.5: World War II
While the focus of this narrative is the Communist Party of China's War of Liberation against the enemies of the people, the international situation in Europe during the late 1930's cannot be ignored. China could not be truly unified until Japan's grasp over Manchuria was removed, as well as the large French, Portuguese, and British concessions in Guangdong and the other concessions located in Shanghai and Tianjin. Due to the strength of the imperialists, Mao and the CPC knew that China alone could not face the Europeans and the Japanese. Outside help was essential, and that aid was to come from the Soviet Union. With the USSR having been soundly beaten by Japan during the two short border skirmishes, the resulting NAP between the two major powers moved the USSR's attention to the west.
On September 1, 1939, after months of threats and belligerent negotiations, Germany declared war on Poland. Emboldened with its earlier diplomatic successes, Germany felt that the weak capitalist societies would cave in to the threat of a new global war and not follow through on the Entente's guarantee of Poland's borders. However, the capitalists were not bluffing, and France and the British Commonwealth responded to Germany's declaration of war with their own. At the time, many Europeans believed that the war would be short and limited in scope. Afterall, Germany wasn't the only nations with claims on Polish territory. The Soviet Union, shortly after its birth lost large portions of Belarus and Ukraine to Poland during the 1919-1921 Polish-Soviet War. Lithuania's ancestral capital was also held by Poland. As Germany hadn't negotiated any formal non-aggression pacts with either Lithuania or the Soviet Union, the theory of Germany limiting the war with Poland to reclaiming Prussian land lost after 1918 became more credible. Surely Germany wouldn't risk another two-front war?
As such, everyone observing the situation was stunned when Germany forced Poland's unconditional surrender and full annexation after only 13 days of combat. According to the CPC ambassador in Moscow, Stalin was outraged when he heard news of Germany's attack. Apparently negotiations to split Eastern Europe into Soviet and German spheres of influence were nearly completed when Germany attacked and annexed Poland. With the Entente, as the Allies were called upon the start of the war, busy fighting Germany's western defenders and Germany unlikely to intervene, Stalin issued an ultimatum to 3 of the 4 Baltic States. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were to rejoin Mother Russia and become Soviet Republics inside of the USSR. On September 4, the 3 nations caved in to Soviet pressure and relinquished their short-lived autonomy.
Three of the four Baltic states relinquished their autonomy in the face of Soviet might
At this point, an already chaotic situation began to spiral completely out of control. On September 17, Japan joined the Entente as it did 25 years earlier to contain German aggression. Japan had a vested interest in seeing Germany's demise, as Germany was the #1 buyer of tungsten from China and top supplier of weapons and military trainers to China. Defeating Germany would indirectly aid Japan in any future aggression in China. Japan's entry into the alliance between France and the United Kingdom worried not only Mao, but the KMT leadership in Nanjing as well. Any future attack on Japan would also bring in Japan's new allies, and any Japanese attack upon China would bring the imperialists back to China in order to secure more concessions.
Japan joined the Allied Powers on September 17, 1939
On September 27, Stalin once again applied pressure to the USSR's weaker neighbors in an attempt to regain land lost during the Russian Civil War. This time his target was Romania. The Ukrainian SSR had lost the region of Bessarbia to Romania, and now that the Soviet Union's greatest potential enemy was involved in a war against the capitalists, Stalin felt he held the upper hand in any negotiations with nations that held land that was rightfully part of the Soviet Union. While Germany had good relations with Finland (as a buffer against the USSR) and Romania (the main source of German fuel), it could not afford to antagonize the USSR for fear of another 2-front war. As such, Romania not only agreed to Stalin's demand for Bessarbia, but his demand for North Bukovina as well, which was formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Of note is that the Red Army hadn't yet mobilized to deal with any serious fighting. Stalin felt the Red Army's mere presence was enough of a threat to force his way diplomatically as well as deter any German aggression.
Romania cedes its north-eastern most territory to the USSR in order to avoid war
However, Romania's fate was not yet sealed, as Hungary also had claims on Romanian-held Transylvania, which had off-and-on been a Hungarian possession since the 9th century. With German support, Hungary demanded that Romania cede the majority Magyar northern portion of Transylvania to Hungary. With Hungary having been stripped of its former power due to the Treaty of Trianon and Germany being occupied, Romania refused Hungary's demands. With Germany already stretched with substantial forces along the new Soviet/German border to discourage a Soviet attack and along the German/French border to prevent French offensives into Germany itself, Hungary was left alone to enforce its claims. Due to Hungary's poor situation, the country had no chance to force its claims upon Romania, and gave up on September 27.
Hungary fails in its bid to peacefully reincorporate ethnically-Hungarian Transylvania
As Europe spun further into chaos, Hitler apparently thought the situation was too calm, and on October 9 Germany declared war on the Soviet Union. Even before his imprisonment in 1924, Hitler had publicly committed to a policy of racism and eastward expansion. In his many speeches and written works, he had declared the Soviet Union to not only be the enemy of both the capitalists and national socialists, but the location of Germany's future "living space". Many thought his rants were focused solely upon gaining more votes for his party. However, on October 9, 1939, Hitler once again plunged Germany into a two-front war, but did so this time on ideological grounds. While the attack was strategically a poor choice, since two of the three nations that brought Germany to its knees in 1918 still existed to the west and now had plenty of time to strengthen themselves, from a tactical level Hitlers decision was sound. The Red Army wasn't fully mobilized, was poorly trained, was poorly led, had a large front to defend, and the USSR had many raw materials that Germany lacked. In the long-term, Germany would lose any war it engaged in due to lack of natural resources. Defeating the USSR quickly while holding the French and British at bay would secure the necessary resources for Germany to defeat its capitalist foes.
Germany once again willingly starts a 2-front war
The next day, October 10, 1939, the UK and USSR partition Iran amongst themselves. Once the war began, the Shah of Iran had expressed sympathy to Germany's situation and had begun to sell oil to Germany at discounted rates. At the time, the British oil company BP had near monopoly drilling and refining rights in Iran. The Shah bypassing BP's monopolistic authority threatened oil shipments to the UK. At the same time, the Soviet Union had a desire to use the Trans-Iranian Railway to ship Allied support directly to the Soviet Union, bypassing the long route from Vladivostock and the treacherous routes through the Baltic and White Seas. The result of the occupation was the USSR annexing the southern shore of the Caspian Sea and the UK installing a cooperative puppet regime in Tehran.
Iran is occupied by the USSR and UK for the dual purposes of increasing Allied support and safeguarding UK oil sources
While the focus of this narrative is the Communist Party of China's War of Liberation against the enemies of the people, the international situation in Europe during the late 1930's cannot be ignored. China could not be truly unified until Japan's grasp over Manchuria was removed, as well as the large French, Portuguese, and British concessions in Guangdong and the other concessions located in Shanghai and Tianjin. Due to the strength of the imperialists, Mao and the CPC knew that China alone could not face the Europeans and the Japanese. Outside help was essential, and that aid was to come from the Soviet Union. With the USSR having been soundly beaten by Japan during the two short border skirmishes, the resulting NAP between the two major powers moved the USSR's attention to the west.
On September 1, 1939, after months of threats and belligerent negotiations, Germany declared war on Poland. Emboldened with its earlier diplomatic successes, Germany felt that the weak capitalist societies would cave in to the threat of a new global war and not follow through on the Entente's guarantee of Poland's borders. However, the capitalists were not bluffing, and France and the British Commonwealth responded to Germany's declaration of war with their own. At the time, many Europeans believed that the war would be short and limited in scope. Afterall, Germany wasn't the only nations with claims on Polish territory. The Soviet Union, shortly after its birth lost large portions of Belarus and Ukraine to Poland during the 1919-1921 Polish-Soviet War. Lithuania's ancestral capital was also held by Poland. As Germany hadn't negotiated any formal non-aggression pacts with either Lithuania or the Soviet Union, the theory of Germany limiting the war with Poland to reclaiming Prussian land lost after 1918 became more credible. Surely Germany wouldn't risk another two-front war?
As such, everyone observing the situation was stunned when Germany forced Poland's unconditional surrender and full annexation after only 13 days of combat. According to the CPC ambassador in Moscow, Stalin was outraged when he heard news of Germany's attack. Apparently negotiations to split Eastern Europe into Soviet and German spheres of influence were nearly completed when Germany attacked and annexed Poland. With the Entente, as the Allies were called upon the start of the war, busy fighting Germany's western defenders and Germany unlikely to intervene, Stalin issued an ultimatum to 3 of the 4 Baltic States. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were to rejoin Mother Russia and become Soviet Republics inside of the USSR. On September 4, the 3 nations caved in to Soviet pressure and relinquished their short-lived autonomy.
Three of the four Baltic states relinquished their autonomy in the face of Soviet might
At this point, an already chaotic situation began to spiral completely out of control. On September 17, Japan joined the Entente as it did 25 years earlier to contain German aggression. Japan had a vested interest in seeing Germany's demise, as Germany was the #1 buyer of tungsten from China and top supplier of weapons and military trainers to China. Defeating Germany would indirectly aid Japan in any future aggression in China. Japan's entry into the alliance between France and the United Kingdom worried not only Mao, but the KMT leadership in Nanjing as well. Any future attack on Japan would also bring in Japan's new allies, and any Japanese attack upon China would bring the imperialists back to China in order to secure more concessions.
Japan joined the Allied Powers on September 17, 1939
On September 27, Stalin once again applied pressure to the USSR's weaker neighbors in an attempt to regain land lost during the Russian Civil War. This time his target was Romania. The Ukrainian SSR had lost the region of Bessarbia to Romania, and now that the Soviet Union's greatest potential enemy was involved in a war against the capitalists, Stalin felt he held the upper hand in any negotiations with nations that held land that was rightfully part of the Soviet Union. While Germany had good relations with Finland (as a buffer against the USSR) and Romania (the main source of German fuel), it could not afford to antagonize the USSR for fear of another 2-front war. As such, Romania not only agreed to Stalin's demand for Bessarbia, but his demand for North Bukovina as well, which was formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Of note is that the Red Army hadn't yet mobilized to deal with any serious fighting. Stalin felt the Red Army's mere presence was enough of a threat to force his way diplomatically as well as deter any German aggression.
Romania cedes its north-eastern most territory to the USSR in order to avoid war
However, Romania's fate was not yet sealed, as Hungary also had claims on Romanian-held Transylvania, which had off-and-on been a Hungarian possession since the 9th century. With German support, Hungary demanded that Romania cede the majority Magyar northern portion of Transylvania to Hungary. With Hungary having been stripped of its former power due to the Treaty of Trianon and Germany being occupied, Romania refused Hungary's demands. With Germany already stretched with substantial forces along the new Soviet/German border to discourage a Soviet attack and along the German/French border to prevent French offensives into Germany itself, Hungary was left alone to enforce its claims. Due to Hungary's poor situation, the country had no chance to force its claims upon Romania, and gave up on September 27.
Hungary fails in its bid to peacefully reincorporate ethnically-Hungarian Transylvania
As Europe spun further into chaos, Hitler apparently thought the situation was too calm, and on October 9 Germany declared war on the Soviet Union. Even before his imprisonment in 1924, Hitler had publicly committed to a policy of racism and eastward expansion. In his many speeches and written works, he had declared the Soviet Union to not only be the enemy of both the capitalists and national socialists, but the location of Germany's future "living space". Many thought his rants were focused solely upon gaining more votes for his party. However, on October 9, 1939, Hitler once again plunged Germany into a two-front war, but did so this time on ideological grounds. While the attack was strategically a poor choice, since two of the three nations that brought Germany to its knees in 1918 still existed to the west and now had plenty of time to strengthen themselves, from a tactical level Hitlers decision was sound. The Red Army wasn't fully mobilized, was poorly trained, was poorly led, had a large front to defend, and the USSR had many raw materials that Germany lacked. In the long-term, Germany would lose any war it engaged in due to lack of natural resources. Defeating the USSR quickly while holding the French and British at bay would secure the necessary resources for Germany to defeat its capitalist foes.
Germany once again willingly starts a 2-front war
The next day, October 10, 1939, the UK and USSR partition Iran amongst themselves. Once the war began, the Shah of Iran had expressed sympathy to Germany's situation and had begun to sell oil to Germany at discounted rates. At the time, the British oil company BP had near monopoly drilling and refining rights in Iran. The Shah bypassing BP's monopolistic authority threatened oil shipments to the UK. At the same time, the Soviet Union had a desire to use the Trans-Iranian Railway to ship Allied support directly to the Soviet Union, bypassing the long route from Vladivostock and the treacherous routes through the Baltic and White Seas. The result of the occupation was the USSR annexing the southern shore of the Caspian Sea and the UK installing a cooperative puppet regime in Tehran.
Iran is occupied by the USSR and UK for the dual purposes of increasing Allied support and safeguarding UK oil sources
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I assume what happened to Iran is a special HPP event. Does this leave it unaligned, or has it been forced into the Allies?
Operation Countenance is an HPP event that gives Iran the option of siding with Germany or becoming a UK puppet. As a puppet it'll join the Allies.
As far as what happened here, I guess an explanation is in order. After or while Slan was making his USSR first strategy AAR Slan coded the HPP German AI to try the same thing. IIRC, the German AI has about a 10% chance to not declare war on the countries in the west, not fire the M-R Pact, and attack the USSR once it has troops on the common border. Sometimes it works out for the AI, sometimes it doesn't. Japan becoming a constitutional monarchy also has a very low chance of happening, but that chance isn't zero. Same thing with the RoC abandoning Chiang. I guess this particular game lined up for me to show off the ahistorical possibilities in the mod.
As far as what happened here, I guess an explanation is in order. After or while Slan was making his USSR first strategy AAR Slan coded the HPP German AI to try the same thing. IIRC, the German AI has about a 10% chance to not declare war on the countries in the west, not fire the M-R Pact, and attack the USSR once it has troops on the common border. Sometimes it works out for the AI, sometimes it doesn't. Japan becoming a constitutional monarchy also has a very low chance of happening, but that chance isn't zero. Same thing with the RoC abandoning Chiang. I guess this particular game lined up for me to show off the ahistorical possibilities in the mod.
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Operation Countenance, nice and fun, not something you see often. Good luck to the USSR, you'll need them if you don't want to see China eventually become one more puppet to the Japanese or Americans.
It seems that the German AI is a bit too fast declaring war on Russia. It would've made more sense to finish off the western Allies first...
OK, going for the Soviets first... could well work out very nicely for Germany. We will see, but it looks like Mao has a lot of problems! With Japan in the Allies and the Republic of China now more than likely to join the Axis it looks like the battle for China will turn into a struggle between factions. And your only potential ally could be about to be knocked out... hmy:
hmy:
It may work well, though. The Soviets are hardly prepared for war in 1939/1940 - in fact, they are probably not even done with expanding their industry. The French-German border is not that hard to defend.
This is exiting. Completely ahistorical an thus a lot of fun :rofl:
What does Axis-Japan and Axis-NatCHI do for the chance of a war between those two? I don't know much about the Asian theater but how important is the USSR for the PRC ingame-wise (supposing GER will bitter peace them)?
Cheers
Moe
What does Axis-Japan and Axis-NatCHI do for the chance of a war between those two? I don't know much about the Asian theater but how important is the USSR for the PRC ingame-wise (supposing GER will bitter peace them)?
Cheers
Moe
wow. speaking of unique timelines! much to ponder for frail little ComChi. If Japan DoWs Natchi, while those are still at war with Mao's troops, that would put you in the Allies camp (well, sort of anyway). can't wait to see what happens next.
I once followed Slan's plan and while the AI isn't like human ingenuity, I can certainly attest to the fact that the SU's troops in '39, while numerous, are below the standard (in Vanilla anyway)
I once followed Slan's plan and while the AI isn't like human ingenuity, I can certainly attest to the fact that the SU's troops in '39, while numerous, are below the standard (in Vanilla anyway)
If you look closely, Japan joined the Allies, not the Axis
The best part is that all of this makes sense given the context of what's going on and what happened earlier. Because of Japan joining its old WW1 buddies to once again fight Germany, if I want to retake Manchuria I'll have to fight the Allies as a whole, and there's no way I can do that without the USSR. As such, the USSR AI needs to eventually win, otherwise I'll fall short of my goal to reunite all of China, since Manchuria and Mengjiang will be out of my reach since I can't fight Japan, the UK, and France all at the same time. Or maybe I can? I'm not sure how that would work. If Japan attacked the RoC, then the game mechanics I think would make the RoC auto-join the Axis. Or does that only happen if the faction leader declares war on a neutral country? I don't know, but I'll likely remain faction-less if Japan decides to get aggressive and pull the rest of the Allies in. However, that could happen anyway if the RoC joins the Axis and is pulled into the war via Germany, which is quite plausible in this time-line given that Japan is at war with Germany, leaving China and Germany with a mutual foe along with myself, and likely given the heavy historical German investment in China.
Actually, China joining the Axis might be my best option, as Japan would be pulled into the war indirectly so I wouldn't be at war with it, and that would pull KMT troops away from me to deal with Japan, turning the civil war into a race for VPs. Regardless, it's still 1939, and Mao is considering the ramifications of the war in Europe and how they impact his long-term goals...
I *think* that if anybody gives a DoW to a country, the victim only auto-joins a faction if their threat/neutrality ratio was the only thing preventing them from joining that faction to begin with.
I think you could fight the Allies if you wanted. As long as the USA is neutral, you can discount the UK and France since they have no real easy way to get to you. NE China has so few ports to defend they only way the Western powers would be a threat is if they dumped expeditionary forces in Korea... I doubt that would happen until Manchuria was long gone.
That was one of those typos that changed the meaning of the sentence dramatically. "Allies-JAP" is something you don't type every day in a WW2-wargame.
Chapter 6: Eastern Expedition, Phase 1 - April 3, 1940 to January 2, 1941
The Eastern Expedition began on April 3, 1940. Mao wished to wait for the weather to improve, the PLA expansion to complete, and the PLA's equipment to be updated to the latest Soviet weaponry. As the NRA was in no shape to conduct offensive operations, the PLA could afford to wait until conditions improved for the offensive. When it began, the PLA attacked across the entire southern front, not only probing for weakness in the NRA's defenses but to perform holding attacks as well. Unfortunately Tongchuan, the province designated as the break-out point, had been heavily reinforced with pillboxes and concrete bunkers. Only the attack on North Tianshui (author's note: there are two Tianshui provinces right next to each other. This has been fixed in the FtM alpha, but in the SF version the bug is still there. I'll call them North and West to differentiate between the two.) was a success. The massive failure of the attack forced the PLA to wait until August to reorganize and once again upgrade to the latest Soviet weaponry.
On April 3, 1940, the Eastern Offensive begins. The initial attack did not see the desired breakthroughs.
While the southern front was reorganizing, the NRA divisions based in Suiyuan attacked the northern city of Kuye He on June 10. Despite launching a counter-attack from a neighboring area, the NRA managed to defeat the two militia divisions charged with protecting this portion of the northern frontier. Two regular infantry divisions based in Yan'an arrived in the surrounding areas shortly after the KMT fully occupied the province on June 14, and within several days had retaken the province. The infantry then remained along the Suiyuan border to deter future NRA attacks, leaving them unavailable for the operation along the southern front.
The PLA's first loss of territory to the NRA
After several failed attacks on Tongchuan throughout the summer months, Mao decided to push from the western-most end of the front instead. West Tianshui could be assaulted from three directions simultaneously compared to Tongchuan's 2 possible axes of attack. The attack began on August 7 and ended on August 18, a quick victory by Chinese standards but a very costly one as well. Of the 80,972 attackers 3,751 were killed compared to 3,271 of 47,970 defenders. Despite having almost 2:1 numerical superiority, the latest available weaponry, and the 3 elite mountain divisions participating in the battle, the NRA was too well dug-in the mountains to be easily dislodged.
Despite having several advantages over their opponents, the Battle of West Tianshui was still very costly.
The situation in the east finally came through for the PLA when the 3rd Battle of Tongchuan began on September 30, 1940. While starting off as poorly as the other battles, this time the soldiers had been equipped with the latest state-of-the-art mortars and rifles from the Soviet Union. The same weapons the Soviets were now using to halt the German war machine in Ukraine and Lithuania were put to good use against the outdated and poorly-led NRA, as the battle lasted until October 6. While casualties were still high, the reason for the high casualties was a combination of the bunkers the NRA had built along with the river crossing that had to be made to reach the heart of the province. Immediately after securing the province, the 3 regular infantry divisions that had advanced moved south, meeting no opposition from the NRA HQ battalion left behind. The breakthrough Mao had been looking for had finally been made.
The 3rd Battle of Tongchuan was a bloody, but a pivotal moment in the Civil War.
On October 15 the assault on Xi'an began, and the battle ended on October 23. The capture of the ancient city was highly symbolic, because it was in Xi'an in 1936 that Chiang Kai-Shek, the man who betrayed and began the persecution of the Communist Party of China 13 years prior, was murdered by his own generals for his refusal to stop the persecution of the CPC. The capture of the city by the communists Chiang had so despised that he chose death over reconciliation sent shockwaves throughout the KMT leadership. The CPC was serious and unwilling to back down, so there would be no future negotiations, for the PLA was more than the equal of the NRA, despite being outnumbered roughly 4:1.
The Battle of Xian was a very important strategic and morale victory for the CPC
Because the situation did not allow for trapping the NRA troops in Shaanxi as originally planned, Mao had to settle with pushing the NRA out of the province. Before the second phase of his plan could begin the PLA had to shorten the front lines in order to free up divisions for the trek along the Yellow River's northern shore. With this in mind, Mao ordered the PLA to prepare to conduct assaults upon Ankang and Hanzhong. As Ankang could only be assaulted by crossing the Yellow River, Hanzhong was to be taken first. While the first assault on the city failed, the second was a success, allowing for an assault on Ankang from 4 axes of attack. On January 2, 1941, the first phase of Mao's plan to devastate the NRA was almost complete.
The 1st Battle of Hanzhong was a failure, but the second battle succeeded in driving out the NRA defenders
The overall situation in China on January 2, 1941
The situation in Europe on January 2, 1941. The USSR had finally halted the southern and northern German advances and had penetrated into Belarus.
Note the Japanese invasion of Wilhelmshaven.
-----------------------------------------------
If this were any other game I'd probably rage at the Japanese landing in Germany. However, this is the HPP, and if you consider the fact that Japan suffered from a democratic coup in 1936, had the world's 3rd largest navy, had the world's most advanced navy, was at peace with its greatest enemy (the USSR), and its largest neighbor was involved in a decades-long civil war, then it makes sense that Japan could bring troops to Europe. The situation in China on the other hand is really slow. Technology is very important, and the #1 reason I made so little progress was because in 1939 I had 1936-level infantry techs, and by August 1940 I had 1940-level infantry techs. You can see how much of an impact 2 tech levels made, as my early attacks were complete failures yet my later ones were costly successes. To advance further I'll need to use the HPP's engineer techs to help my infantry cross rivers and attack forts, as those barriers were the second biggest reason for the slow progress. In SF 2.04f, there's a bug with toughness and defensiveness values in that they flat-out don't work. The HPP is the only mod for SF that fixes this bug, and the HPP's fix went into FtM 3.0. Also, as of this update I can now build artillery, which will help offset my numerical disadvantage.
The Eastern Expedition began on April 3, 1940. Mao wished to wait for the weather to improve, the PLA expansion to complete, and the PLA's equipment to be updated to the latest Soviet weaponry. As the NRA was in no shape to conduct offensive operations, the PLA could afford to wait until conditions improved for the offensive. When it began, the PLA attacked across the entire southern front, not only probing for weakness in the NRA's defenses but to perform holding attacks as well. Unfortunately Tongchuan, the province designated as the break-out point, had been heavily reinforced with pillboxes and concrete bunkers. Only the attack on North Tianshui (author's note: there are two Tianshui provinces right next to each other. This has been fixed in the FtM alpha, but in the SF version the bug is still there. I'll call them North and West to differentiate between the two.) was a success. The massive failure of the attack forced the PLA to wait until August to reorganize and once again upgrade to the latest Soviet weaponry.
On April 3, 1940, the Eastern Offensive begins. The initial attack did not see the desired breakthroughs.
While the southern front was reorganizing, the NRA divisions based in Suiyuan attacked the northern city of Kuye He on June 10. Despite launching a counter-attack from a neighboring area, the NRA managed to defeat the two militia divisions charged with protecting this portion of the northern frontier. Two regular infantry divisions based in Yan'an arrived in the surrounding areas shortly after the KMT fully occupied the province on June 14, and within several days had retaken the province. The infantry then remained along the Suiyuan border to deter future NRA attacks, leaving them unavailable for the operation along the southern front.
The PLA's first loss of territory to the NRA
After several failed attacks on Tongchuan throughout the summer months, Mao decided to push from the western-most end of the front instead. West Tianshui could be assaulted from three directions simultaneously compared to Tongchuan's 2 possible axes of attack. The attack began on August 7 and ended on August 18, a quick victory by Chinese standards but a very costly one as well. Of the 80,972 attackers 3,751 were killed compared to 3,271 of 47,970 defenders. Despite having almost 2:1 numerical superiority, the latest available weaponry, and the 3 elite mountain divisions participating in the battle, the NRA was too well dug-in the mountains to be easily dislodged.
Despite having several advantages over their opponents, the Battle of West Tianshui was still very costly.
The situation in the east finally came through for the PLA when the 3rd Battle of Tongchuan began on September 30, 1940. While starting off as poorly as the other battles, this time the soldiers had been equipped with the latest state-of-the-art mortars and rifles from the Soviet Union. The same weapons the Soviets were now using to halt the German war machine in Ukraine and Lithuania were put to good use against the outdated and poorly-led NRA, as the battle lasted until October 6. While casualties were still high, the reason for the high casualties was a combination of the bunkers the NRA had built along with the river crossing that had to be made to reach the heart of the province. Immediately after securing the province, the 3 regular infantry divisions that had advanced moved south, meeting no opposition from the NRA HQ battalion left behind. The breakthrough Mao had been looking for had finally been made.
The 3rd Battle of Tongchuan was a bloody, but a pivotal moment in the Civil War.
On October 15 the assault on Xi'an began, and the battle ended on October 23. The capture of the ancient city was highly symbolic, because it was in Xi'an in 1936 that Chiang Kai-Shek, the man who betrayed and began the persecution of the Communist Party of China 13 years prior, was murdered by his own generals for his refusal to stop the persecution of the CPC. The capture of the city by the communists Chiang had so despised that he chose death over reconciliation sent shockwaves throughout the KMT leadership. The CPC was serious and unwilling to back down, so there would be no future negotiations, for the PLA was more than the equal of the NRA, despite being outnumbered roughly 4:1.
The Battle of Xian was a very important strategic and morale victory for the CPC
Because the situation did not allow for trapping the NRA troops in Shaanxi as originally planned, Mao had to settle with pushing the NRA out of the province. Before the second phase of his plan could begin the PLA had to shorten the front lines in order to free up divisions for the trek along the Yellow River's northern shore. With this in mind, Mao ordered the PLA to prepare to conduct assaults upon Ankang and Hanzhong. As Ankang could only be assaulted by crossing the Yellow River, Hanzhong was to be taken first. While the first assault on the city failed, the second was a success, allowing for an assault on Ankang from 4 axes of attack. On January 2, 1941, the first phase of Mao's plan to devastate the NRA was almost complete.
The 1st Battle of Hanzhong was a failure, but the second battle succeeded in driving out the NRA defenders
The overall situation in China on January 2, 1941
The situation in Europe on January 2, 1941. The USSR had finally halted the southern and northern German advances and had penetrated into Belarus.
Note the Japanese invasion of Wilhelmshaven.
-----------------------------------------------
If this were any other game I'd probably rage at the Japanese landing in Germany. However, this is the HPP, and if you consider the fact that Japan suffered from a democratic coup in 1936, had the world's 3rd largest navy, had the world's most advanced navy, was at peace with its greatest enemy (the USSR), and its largest neighbor was involved in a decades-long civil war, then it makes sense that Japan could bring troops to Europe. The situation in China on the other hand is really slow. Technology is very important, and the #1 reason I made so little progress was because in 1939 I had 1936-level infantry techs, and by August 1940 I had 1940-level infantry techs. You can see how much of an impact 2 tech levels made, as my early attacks were complete failures yet my later ones were costly successes. To advance further I'll need to use the HPP's engineer techs to help my infantry cross rivers and attack forts, as those barriers were the second biggest reason for the slow progress. In SF 2.04f, there's a bug with toughness and defensiveness values in that they flat-out don't work. The HPP is the only mod for SF that fixes this bug, and the HPP's fix went into FtM 3.0. Also, as of this update I can now build artillery, which will help offset my numerical disadvantage.
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Your campaigns really are quite tough, aren't they? Some defeats and no easy victories.
I can accept the Japanese intervening in Europe. As you said, they have a first rate fleet and they can make use of all the naval bases of their British and French allies. It's not really much different from the US sending forces around the world in the real war.
I notice that the German invasion of the USSR was rather late in the year in 1939, so they were probably held up by the winter of 1939-40. The fact that the Soviets are holding the line where it is after over a year of war gives me hope that they have stopped the Germans. Even so, it will probably be a long struggle to turn things around.
This is still a fascinating game!
I can accept the Japanese intervening in Europe. As you said, they have a first rate fleet and they can make use of all the naval bases of their British and French allies. It's not really much different from the US sending forces around the world in the real war.
I notice that the German invasion of the USSR was rather late in the year in 1939, so they were probably held up by the winter of 1939-40. The fact that the Soviets are holding the line where it is after over a year of war gives me hope that they have stopped the Germans. Even so, it will probably be a long struggle to turn things around.
This is still a fascinating game!
I've learned more about wartime China in this AAR than anywhere else. The only thing that kind of bugs me is the name PLA. For some reason I keep expecting Arafat to show up in Yan'an
So far, yes. Germany made good progress at first but then was bogged down once the narrow front widened. With the USSR-first strategy, it all comes down to how quickly the USSR can reorganize, and in this particular game it seems as though it did so quickly, after a year.
Your campaigns really are quite tough, aren't they? Some defeats and no easy victories.
I can accept the Japanese intervening in Europe. As you said, they have a first rate fleet and they can make use of all the naval bases of their British and French allies. It's not really much different from the US sending forces around the world in the real war.
I notice that the German invasion of the USSR was rather late in the year in 1939, so they were probably held up by the winter of 1939-40. The fact that the Soviets are holding the line where it is after over a year of war gives me hope that they have stopped the Germans. Even so, it will probably be a long struggle to turn things around.
This is still a fascinating game!
I think WW1 saw more land transfers than what's happened so far. Bad terrain, bad infrastructure, no heavy weapons support, and no air support for both sides is making this one heck of a shoving match. The RoC has been using a solitary medium bomber wing against me, but that one wing along isn't decisive to any of the battles.
Japan's little adventure in north-west Germany will ultimately cause Germany's downfall. I don't know exactly what happened, but I'm familiar enough with how the AI works to make a guess a to what happened. If anyone's read my Teutonic Dreams AAR, they've seen how the AI overreacts to amphibious invasions. Since the invasion occurred in the west, the only place Germany could pull troops from was the French border...
I've learned more about wartime China in this AAR than anywhere else. The only thing that kind of bugs me is the name PLA. For some reason I keep expecting Arafat to show up in Yan'an
Thanks. Outside of the links provided in the first two chapters this hasn't been anywhere near historical, yet the problems plaguing the NRA are still there, which is namely poor leadership and poor equipment. The People's Liberation Army has been around a lot longer than the Palestinian Liberation Army. Even the Irish National Liberation Army used to be called the PLA, making things more confusing.
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