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This AAR has died and been revived many, many times. I'm hoping to see Saithis back here by... Christmas? Can you do that Sai?
It will return. I'd actually like to finish it before HOI4 comes out, so Christmas isn't an unrealistic timeline, I just have to sort out some stuff in my personal life right now.
In the meantime, please try to avoid thread necromancy and rest assured this isn't dead, just on hold.
In the meantime, please try to avoid thread necromancy and rest assured this isn't dead, just on hold.
Hi everyone!
So it's time for that yearly update again (ho ho ho, almost exactly a year this time!) and time again for the promises. First, I swear to update three times a week until this AAR is done, which given what's left can't take me too far into the new year. Why? Because I want to start more AARs of course once HOI4 comes out, but Australia deserves completion!
Second, the reason I've taken so long is in addition to building a surprisingly active real social life and maintaining a full time job, I've also been working on getting together writing and hobbies that will earn me cash instead of forum plaudits (not that those are bad), still, it was only a matter of time before I'd find my way back here!
That's enough about me, let's get on to the show. I've played through to 1942 and have enough material to bash out a few updates, so let's get a move on!
Chapter 5.4 - Up the Chao Phraya
British and Australian troops on their long, difficult march through Japanese-held Siam.
Come the dawn of September, thousands of troops organized under the Australasian Army found themselves slogging through the Thai landscape, marching through dense vegetation, farmlands, hills and villages. A great confrontation with the Imperial Japanese Army had been expected, but what had occurred instead was a series of brief and bloody skirmishes against a skittish foe uneager to make a stand. Soon it was clear that the Japanese were making a desperate fighting withdrawal from Siam, attempting to escape the Australasian offensive. General Northcott's Light Infantry Corps was advancing up the River Chao Phraya without opposition.
What few battles erupted were short-lived as the Japanese attempted to outmarch their pursuers and escape to China.
It quickly became clear to Allied command how desperate the Japanese were. Villages and towns showed signs of looting, nary a trace of food or fresh water left for the inhabitants. Behind the Kwangtung Army was left a sullen trail of bodies and broken land, burnt or blown bridges and damaged roads as they desperately attempted to slow down the Australians. Scorched earth tactics were nothing new to warfare, and they would only subtly impede Australasia's progress here.
Unopposed, Australasian troops march into Phnom Penh.
To the east, Allied troops were dispersing throughout Indochina and Eastern Thailand, seizing major towns and roadways and securing their new rule over the region. Without any local garrisons remaining and no significant resistance from Japan by sea or land, everything seemed to be going too smoothly...
At sea, the HMAS Vanguard had been forced to retreat, but now ships of the former Royal Navy could be put to good use patrolling the South China Sea and protecting Indochina from any counterattack by the Japanese. The stronger of the fleets, headed by the HMAS Royal Sovereign, sailed in patrol off the north coast...
...while the weaker, but quicker, guarded the coasts of Annam and kept watch for any attempts to slip Japanese vessels past Thailand and the Philippines. Combined with a network of submarine raiders and scouts, the Allies were feeling relatively confident in holding their new Indochinese front.
These Japanese formations are dangerously close to being encircled by the Australian push.
To the west, Australian advances had overtaken the Japanese and seized a number of key roads near the Burmese border. As road after road became blockaded by well-entrenched, experienced and well-fed soldiers, the Japanese became increasingly desperate to escape, scrabbling northwards and eastwards but always falling just short of escape. The net was closing...
...and by the morning of September 11th, entire divisions were becoming trapped west of Northcott's central thrust. The mobile Australian units had outpaced their Japanese rivals and while the encirclement was not complete, there was little the Japanese could do other than fight in the hopes of escape or a quick death - and fight they would. Rapidly running out of ammunition and low on food, the Japanese officers whipped up their units into a frenzy, barking propaganda about the horrors they would face as Australian prisoners, and how it would be better to die in battle than live captive. Many would give their lives in suicidal charges on Australian positions, only to gain little if anything for their trouble. Amongst the Kwangtung elite, mass formations of conscripted Chinese soldiers were encountered, panicked and terrified at their hopeless situation - unlike the drilled veterans of the IJA, they were quick to surrender to the Australians and the situation for Japan deteroriated even further.
On the morning of September 16th, the guns of HMAS Royal Sovereign roared to life in anger.
After two quiet weeks at sea, few expected the explosive cacophany of Royal Sovereign's guns to echo as loud or long as they did. Finally, contact had been made with the Japanese navy off the coast of Hainan. It was early morning and Japanese naval bombers had deployed further east, apparently hunting elusive Allied shipping efforts. Taking the opportunity to strike at Japanese convoys had been a simple decision, but it had provoked the Japanese to action. Fleet Group Royal Sovereign had come under fire from a Japanese battlegroup of unknown size and strength, believed to be based out of Zhangjiang. Soon the sky swarmed with Oscars and Zekes and only determined anti-aircraft fire was keeping the RAN's battleships safe. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, the British ships retreated from Hainan rather than risk overstaying their welcome.
The incursion was not without reward. Confirming damage in the chaos and poor visibility of the battle had been difficult, but intelligence and aerial reconnaissance had reported within the day that shots fired by the group - credited to Royal Sovereign by most, had struck the IJN Fast Battleship Kongō in the parting moments of battle. Struck once in her stern below the water level and once again near her forward guns, Kongō was both taking on water and aflame, and before long her ammunition stores exploded violently, nearly tearing the ship in two. She would sink to the depths of the Chinese sea as the first Japanese capital ship sunk by the Allies in the Pacific War.
Resistance by the Chinese and Japanese troops near the Burmese border was weakening by the day. Faced with no way out, units continued to surrender or disperse, fleeing as Australian and Indian units converged on them. There was no longer any pretense of being able to escape, and it was clear that the bulk of the Kwangtung Army had abandoned them in order to make good on their retreat. Now the only question was how long they could hold out.
The Chinese port city of Qinzhou fell without resistance, but the Japanese would not be content to let this insult pass without response.
To the northeast, the 12th Infantry Division marched into Qinzhou, boldly seizing the port facilities there and taking part in the supplies stashed. There had been no Japanese resistance to their push so far, and Major General Dougherty sent a request to Allied Command for reinforcements, claiming he could hold the city without difficulty. Ultimately, Qinzhou was not seen as important to White Typhoon's objectives, and he was ordered to move on and take Nanning, cutting off the primary ingress point for Japanese reinforcements. Japan would not take the losses in Siam or Indochina lightly - South China was likely to see mass reinforcements soon, and Australia's bloodiest battle yet was on the horizon.
Kuwait stands alone, but it stands strong.
One of the great surprises of 1941 was the resistance of Kuwait. Formally, Kuwait's army held just 15,000 men, and a measly 200 tanks, mostly of British Interwar design. In spite of this, they stood tall and proud against the Arabic Axis, the last bastion of Allied power in the Middle East. Under siege for weeks now, they had held out against Italians, Iraqis, Palestinians and Syrians, all without help of the western allies.
His Highness Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, 10th Monarch of Kuwait
Al-Sabah was the mastermind behind this resistance, for he had used his connections with the old British Empire to mastermind the funding and building of a significant defense force and to fortify his small country against attack. Kuwait boasted one of the best qualities of life in the Middle East and its people were determined not to fall under the yoke of another power. Fighting against the odds and without the aid of a great power, Emir Al-Sabah and the Kuwaiti people would become symbolic of the resistance that every nation and every people could bring against the Axis and the tide of fascism, a living propaganda piece for Allied command.
General Dougherty's 12th - now affectionately dubbed the "Doughboys" thanks to the fine dust and the namesake of their general - had finally encountered some real resistance from the Japanese. No longer content with leaving simple police forces or hoping that local Chinese militias would slow them down, the Australians dug into Nanning on the 28th of September, finding themselves coming under heavy fire and attack by a well-disciplined Japanese force. Dougherty's orders were to "hold Nanning for as long as reasonably possible, but to withdraw to Hanoi if the situation gets dicey"; one division of Japanese infantry wasn't enough to spark a full retreat, not yet...
Experienced and hardy, the Japanese troops made excellent progress against an Australian defense which outnumbered them. These were experienced occupation forces who were quite familiar with Guangxi due to its history of rebellion and militia uprising; this enabled them to outflank Australian positions at several key points and take back a number of villages north of Nanning itself. Having had an easy time of it up to this point, the Australians were stunned at the ferocity of the Japanese counterattack, and came to terms with the distinct possibility that they might lose this battle.
One division wasn't enough to stall the Australian push...but three might be. Aerial reconnaissance and intercepted radio transmissions suggested a fresh column of Japanese infantry were on the march south, headed for Hanoi and the critical port at Haiphong. If the Indochinese city fell, Australia would be losing a critical staging ground for any Allied operations against China. On the 1st of October, just a few days after the Battle for Nanning had begun, Dougherty was ordered to abandon the city and march south. The Australians were to form a defensive line against the oncoming Japanese reinforcements and to hold out until fresh troops were available to help.
Two days later, on October 3rd, Australian Command dispatched a report confirming that the bulk of the Imperial Army had escaped the Australian encirclement and was fleeing north towards China faster than could be caught. Nonetheless, Operation White Typhoon had proven to be a huge victory, delivering Indochina and Siam into the hands of the Allies and some 100,000 Japanese troops and allies were killed or captured during the retreat - approximately half of the Southern Kwangtung Army's forces. The Japanese would be able to recruit more men, but they had no easy answer for the loss of experience and equipment, nor could they account for the worrying surrender of some 30,000 Chinese auxiliaries with hardly a fight. It seemed that their iron grip on the Republic of China was beginning to rust away, and their indomitable position would become more tenuous every day...
So it's time for that yearly update again (ho ho ho, almost exactly a year this time!) and time again for the promises. First, I swear to update three times a week until this AAR is done, which given what's left can't take me too far into the new year. Why? Because I want to start more AARs of course once HOI4 comes out, but Australia deserves completion!
Second, the reason I've taken so long is in addition to building a surprisingly active real social life and maintaining a full time job, I've also been working on getting together writing and hobbies that will earn me cash instead of forum plaudits (not that those are bad), still, it was only a matter of time before I'd find my way back here!
That's enough about me, let's get on to the show. I've played through to 1942 and have enough material to bash out a few updates, so let's get a move on!
Chapter 5.4 - Up the Chao Phraya
British and Australian troops on their long, difficult march through Japanese-held Siam.
Come the dawn of September, thousands of troops organized under the Australasian Army found themselves slogging through the Thai landscape, marching through dense vegetation, farmlands, hills and villages. A great confrontation with the Imperial Japanese Army had been expected, but what had occurred instead was a series of brief and bloody skirmishes against a skittish foe uneager to make a stand. Soon it was clear that the Japanese were making a desperate fighting withdrawal from Siam, attempting to escape the Australasian offensive. General Northcott's Light Infantry Corps was advancing up the River Chao Phraya without opposition.
What few battles erupted were short-lived as the Japanese attempted to outmarch their pursuers and escape to China.
It quickly became clear to Allied command how desperate the Japanese were. Villages and towns showed signs of looting, nary a trace of food or fresh water left for the inhabitants. Behind the Kwangtung Army was left a sullen trail of bodies and broken land, burnt or blown bridges and damaged roads as they desperately attempted to slow down the Australians. Scorched earth tactics were nothing new to warfare, and they would only subtly impede Australasia's progress here.
Unopposed, Australasian troops march into Phnom Penh.
To the east, Allied troops were dispersing throughout Indochina and Eastern Thailand, seizing major towns and roadways and securing their new rule over the region. Without any local garrisons remaining and no significant resistance from Japan by sea or land, everything seemed to be going too smoothly...
At sea, the HMAS Vanguard had been forced to retreat, but now ships of the former Royal Navy could be put to good use patrolling the South China Sea and protecting Indochina from any counterattack by the Japanese. The stronger of the fleets, headed by the HMAS Royal Sovereign, sailed in patrol off the north coast...
...while the weaker, but quicker, guarded the coasts of Annam and kept watch for any attempts to slip Japanese vessels past Thailand and the Philippines. Combined with a network of submarine raiders and scouts, the Allies were feeling relatively confident in holding their new Indochinese front.
These Japanese formations are dangerously close to being encircled by the Australian push.
To the west, Australian advances had overtaken the Japanese and seized a number of key roads near the Burmese border. As road after road became blockaded by well-entrenched, experienced and well-fed soldiers, the Japanese became increasingly desperate to escape, scrabbling northwards and eastwards but always falling just short of escape. The net was closing...
...and by the morning of September 11th, entire divisions were becoming trapped west of Northcott's central thrust. The mobile Australian units had outpaced their Japanese rivals and while the encirclement was not complete, there was little the Japanese could do other than fight in the hopes of escape or a quick death - and fight they would. Rapidly running out of ammunition and low on food, the Japanese officers whipped up their units into a frenzy, barking propaganda about the horrors they would face as Australian prisoners, and how it would be better to die in battle than live captive. Many would give their lives in suicidal charges on Australian positions, only to gain little if anything for their trouble. Amongst the Kwangtung elite, mass formations of conscripted Chinese soldiers were encountered, panicked and terrified at their hopeless situation - unlike the drilled veterans of the IJA, they were quick to surrender to the Australians and the situation for Japan deteroriated even further.
On the morning of September 16th, the guns of HMAS Royal Sovereign roared to life in anger.
After two quiet weeks at sea, few expected the explosive cacophany of Royal Sovereign's guns to echo as loud or long as they did. Finally, contact had been made with the Japanese navy off the coast of Hainan. It was early morning and Japanese naval bombers had deployed further east, apparently hunting elusive Allied shipping efforts. Taking the opportunity to strike at Japanese convoys had been a simple decision, but it had provoked the Japanese to action. Fleet Group Royal Sovereign had come under fire from a Japanese battlegroup of unknown size and strength, believed to be based out of Zhangjiang. Soon the sky swarmed with Oscars and Zekes and only determined anti-aircraft fire was keeping the RAN's battleships safe. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, the British ships retreated from Hainan rather than risk overstaying their welcome.
The incursion was not without reward. Confirming damage in the chaos and poor visibility of the battle had been difficult, but intelligence and aerial reconnaissance had reported within the day that shots fired by the group - credited to Royal Sovereign by most, had struck the IJN Fast Battleship Kongō in the parting moments of battle. Struck once in her stern below the water level and once again near her forward guns, Kongō was both taking on water and aflame, and before long her ammunition stores exploded violently, nearly tearing the ship in two. She would sink to the depths of the Chinese sea as the first Japanese capital ship sunk by the Allies in the Pacific War.
Resistance by the Chinese and Japanese troops near the Burmese border was weakening by the day. Faced with no way out, units continued to surrender or disperse, fleeing as Australian and Indian units converged on them. There was no longer any pretense of being able to escape, and it was clear that the bulk of the Kwangtung Army had abandoned them in order to make good on their retreat. Now the only question was how long they could hold out.
The Chinese port city of Qinzhou fell without resistance, but the Japanese would not be content to let this insult pass without response.
To the northeast, the 12th Infantry Division marched into Qinzhou, boldly seizing the port facilities there and taking part in the supplies stashed. There had been no Japanese resistance to their push so far, and Major General Dougherty sent a request to Allied Command for reinforcements, claiming he could hold the city without difficulty. Ultimately, Qinzhou was not seen as important to White Typhoon's objectives, and he was ordered to move on and take Nanning, cutting off the primary ingress point for Japanese reinforcements. Japan would not take the losses in Siam or Indochina lightly - South China was likely to see mass reinforcements soon, and Australia's bloodiest battle yet was on the horizon.
Kuwait stands alone, but it stands strong.
One of the great surprises of 1941 was the resistance of Kuwait. Formally, Kuwait's army held just 15,000 men, and a measly 200 tanks, mostly of British Interwar design. In spite of this, they stood tall and proud against the Arabic Axis, the last bastion of Allied power in the Middle East. Under siege for weeks now, they had held out against Italians, Iraqis, Palestinians and Syrians, all without help of the western allies.
His Highness Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, 10th Monarch of Kuwait
Al-Sabah was the mastermind behind this resistance, for he had used his connections with the old British Empire to mastermind the funding and building of a significant defense force and to fortify his small country against attack. Kuwait boasted one of the best qualities of life in the Middle East and its people were determined not to fall under the yoke of another power. Fighting against the odds and without the aid of a great power, Emir Al-Sabah and the Kuwaiti people would become symbolic of the resistance that every nation and every people could bring against the Axis and the tide of fascism, a living propaganda piece for Allied command.
General Dougherty's 12th - now affectionately dubbed the "Doughboys" thanks to the fine dust and the namesake of their general - had finally encountered some real resistance from the Japanese. No longer content with leaving simple police forces or hoping that local Chinese militias would slow them down, the Australians dug into Nanning on the 28th of September, finding themselves coming under heavy fire and attack by a well-disciplined Japanese force. Dougherty's orders were to "hold Nanning for as long as reasonably possible, but to withdraw to Hanoi if the situation gets dicey"; one division of Japanese infantry wasn't enough to spark a full retreat, not yet...
Experienced and hardy, the Japanese troops made excellent progress against an Australian defense which outnumbered them. These were experienced occupation forces who were quite familiar with Guangxi due to its history of rebellion and militia uprising; this enabled them to outflank Australian positions at several key points and take back a number of villages north of Nanning itself. Having had an easy time of it up to this point, the Australians were stunned at the ferocity of the Japanese counterattack, and came to terms with the distinct possibility that they might lose this battle.
One division wasn't enough to stall the Australian push...but three might be. Aerial reconnaissance and intercepted radio transmissions suggested a fresh column of Japanese infantry were on the march south, headed for Hanoi and the critical port at Haiphong. If the Indochinese city fell, Australia would be losing a critical staging ground for any Allied operations against China. On the 1st of October, just a few days after the Battle for Nanning had begun, Dougherty was ordered to abandon the city and march south. The Australians were to form a defensive line against the oncoming Japanese reinforcements and to hold out until fresh troops were available to help.
Two days later, on October 3rd, Australian Command dispatched a report confirming that the bulk of the Imperial Army had escaped the Australian encirclement and was fleeing north towards China faster than could be caught. Nonetheless, Operation White Typhoon had proven to be a huge victory, delivering Indochina and Siam into the hands of the Allies and some 100,000 Japanese troops and allies were killed or captured during the retreat - approximately half of the Southern Kwangtung Army's forces. The Japanese would be able to recruit more men, but they had no easy answer for the loss of experience and equipment, nor could they account for the worrying surrender of some 30,000 Chinese auxiliaries with hardly a fight. It seemed that their iron grip on the Republic of China was beginning to rust away, and their indomitable position would become more tenuous every day...
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Sweeping the Japanese out of south-east Asia and eliminating a significant number of divisions is indeed a major success for Australia. The question now is whether you can keep them off balance and sustain the momentum - given time I'm sure Japan has enough units left to re-build a front in southern China and make life difficult. Sinking the IJN Kongo was a nice bonus prize!
Reading through this reminds me how I've missed your elegant prose.
You've given the Japanese a good hard shove and they're off-balance. The question now is whether you have enough forces available to keep pushing, or whether the armies of the Rising Sun will recover and start pushing you back again. My biggest concern is that you don't seem to have enough units in southeast China to stop all the Japanese incursions - it looks like you can hold off a direct Japanese offensive in any particular location, but that doing so would leave several other provinces at their mercy. Hopefully, it won't come to that.
You've given the Japanese a good hard shove and they're off-balance. The question now is whether you have enough forces available to keep pushing, or whether the armies of the Rising Sun will recover and start pushing you back again. My biggest concern is that you don't seem to have enough units in southeast China to stop all the Japanese incursions - it looks like you can hold off a direct Japanese offensive in any particular location, but that doing so would leave several other provinces at their mercy. Hopefully, it won't come to that.
Great tha you are back!
Could you do update with some kind of recap? I mean world map, situation on all fronts and list of nations in war?
Could you do update with some kind of recap? I mean world map, situation on all fronts and list of nations in war?
Nice to see this is still active!
Australia marches on, Japan is being pushed back, and Kuwait has an incredibly strong force!
Your descriptions of everything was terrific, Saithis, and very evocative. I felt immersed into this story of Australia. And I would like to second a world map request.
Australia marches on, Japan is being pushed back, and Kuwait has an incredibly strong force!
Your descriptions of everything was terrific, Saithis, and very evocative. I felt immersed into this story of Australia. And I would like to second a world map request.
Great to see this AAR back. Will you Reinforce Kuwait after mopping up in thailand/burma?
This is a little late, but I'll make up for the lost updates last week with some extra ones this week. I took the screenshots for the update well in advance, but then foolishly forgot to load them onto my laptop for when I went away for Thanksgiving. Such foolishness! Hopefully this (and an upcoming world map later) will help make up for it!
Southeast Asia a good base for future operations, but taking China with the few divisions I have available is a very difficult proposal, and one that doesn't exactly draw in a huge scope for reward, due to the Red Army entering war with Japan... Maybe I can pull something out of this, though, we'll see!
Thanks! Good to be back!
Yes, but unfortunately not for this update or the next update, as I saved all my screenshots in advance for multiple updates. It's coming, though, and soon.
Reading this reminds me how I've missed your insightful, detailed commentary. Good to be back, good to have you back!
I have more units in Southeast Asia than first glance would indicate, the only problem is that they're clustered around the west (due to the offensive focusing on Thailand) and not on the Chinese border. The situation will develop and should be a little more clear in a couple updates, once the blitz into SEA has settled a bit. I am, however, outnumbered even with the divisions I encircled, so you're right to be concerned...
As above, yes, I'll be doing an update with a recap/world map update, but it has to wait for another couple updates due to taking too many screenshots/play in advance. I can, however, list out the nations now involved in each faction for you:
Allies: USA (+ Liberia, Philippines), Free France (in Exile), Australia (+ Indonesia), Canada, India, Burma, Norway, Netherlands (in Exile), Kuwait
Axis: Germany, Italy, Japan (+ China, Manchukuo, Mengjiang), France, Britain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Oman, Transjordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Malaya
Comintern: USSR (+ Mongolia, Tannu Tuva), Finland
Neutral: Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, all of Central/South America
That and some of the wider shots from the new updates and the 5.x updates should hopefully give you an idea of what things are like until then. It's also worth noting that for a variety of reasons, it's very likely that a bunch of the nations currently listed as neutral won't be neutral for that much longer - more to be illuminated on this topic soon, but a LOT of countries are swinging to the extremes of political camps and global threat is huge for some nations now.
Thanks, I'll try not to drop it this time before it's finished, and I'll try to proofread more, haha. See above on world map request!
Maybe. Kuwait has little strategic importance for me, but Basra does, so by that logic it's likely to happen.
Chapter 5.5 - Operation Hanging Garden
Newly elected President Wendell Wilkie rides triumphantly through the streets, an unlikely leader for the world's richest and most powerful democracy.
The American people placed their faith in Republican presidential hopeful Wendell Wilkie after the tragic passing of President Roosevelt, but this would prove not to be the spark needed to galvanise the Arsenal of Democracy into action - in fact, it was becoming quite the contrary. Wendell Wilkie had been elected off the backs of an isolationist voter base that would prefer to see America abandon the war and focus on her own needs. Forced to balance his own internationalist agenda with the demands of the public, the hard work Roosevelt had done to build the power and prestige of the presidential position was now in a dangerously tenuous position. While many celebrated, strikes and protests against the war and the state of the economy worsened as many called for a stop to US involvement abroad. This pressure was sufficient to force even the Pacific Fleet into a defensive stance, waiting for the Japanese to come to them rather than vice versa.
American pressure to contribute to the Western Front was significant; the Commonwealth mustered eight of its finest divisions in response to this need.
Wilkie's stance to the Commonwealth was clear: there would be no assistance in Asia unless the Empire could first help America's efforts to secure Africa. Fears of a fascist or communist takeover of Eurasia necessitated a vast offensive to turn Africa into a foothold from which any strike could be launched to the north with ease, but Operation Torch was progressing slowly due to its Subsaharan beginnings. Allied Command agreed that in order for this to be completed at any respectable pace, Allied troops would be required to strike from the east as well as from the west. British and Australasian troops would form the core of the 1st Middle Eastern Army, a highly mobile and motorized strike force intended to carve a path into the heart of the Middle East. As long as this elite force could secure the ports required to ship supplies overseas, there would be little to stop them from meeting the Americans and Free French Foreign Legion in Egypt.
Pleased at the plans, Wilkie agreed to continue lending support to the Australian government, albeit on slightly different terms: no longer would lend-lease apply in full to the United States shipments, but in order for Australia to secure much-needed shipments of coal and coke, they would be required to pay for it - a situation untenable were it not for the extremely profitable counter-trade of natural rubber and rare metals from Southeast Asia which would help to fuel the American industry.
This also came with the help of US scientists and engineering. Together with Boeing, the Vickers' engineers developed a powerful new engine which could vastly improve the performance of the Spitfire and Seafire, if early calculations were correct. These technologies would be of help developing and improving all of Australasia's air forces, a critical step to keeping up with the Axis war machine.
As Pownall's 4th Mot. Cavalry cross the Indian border into Iran, the 1st and 2nd divisions make landfall along the southern coast.
On the morning of October 4th at 7am, the first divisions landed on the shores of Iran in massive waves, unopposed by any local forces. Crossing the border from India, Pownall's 4th Cavalry found that the army of Iran had all but abandoned the front, presumably to fight the Russians in the north and leaving themselves exposed. Garrisons and fortified towns were held by old men and children, most of whom surrendered without a fight. It seemed at first that the invasion would be all too easy.
Inglis' Armoured Cavalry land west of the critical port at Bandar Abbas, threatening to envelop the city's defenders completely.
To the west of Bandar Abbas, fresh Allied tanks rolled off the landing craft and onto the soil of Asia. The port city was critical to the offensive in Iran, as supplies could be shipped directly to the docks rather than overland via India, which would slow supply trails to a crawl.
British and Australian light tanks make quick progress across the flat ground of the southern coast, but they will face tougher trials further inland...
Consisting of a maddening hodgepodge of various French and British light tanks, Inglis' 2nd Cavalry quickly enveloped the city from the west, inflicting huge casualties on the port's defenders and shocking a totally unprepared Persian defense. The plan called for Inglis to spearhead a thrust towards the critical oil fields in the west, while the bulk of Allied forces pushed north towards the capital of Tehran.
A unit of the German Asienkorps is spotted in central Persia, suggesting the battle for Iran may be tougher than previously surmised.
The Allies had heard of the Asienkorps - a well-trained, elite unit of Germans fighting in the Middle East under General Erwin Rommel, but this was the first time they had encountered such a foe. The Germans here did not live up to their reputation - underfed, undersupplied and low on morale, they were hardly the elite fighting force that had been feared and if this division was any indication, they would pose no obstacle to the battle for Iran.
The landings and presence of HMAS Vanguard had a powerful effect on the region, and the Persian military was totally unprepared and unequipped for this kind of fight. Control of the Strait of Hormuz was relinquished almost immediately, and what few Axis naval elements existed in the Persian Gulf soon disappeared rather than contest allied control. Total command of the West Indian Ocean now belonged to the Allies, only the Red Sea remained in Axis hands...
Bandar Abbas falls to Inglis' men on the 8th of October, opening the port for vital shipments of supplies to the Allied Front.
Just 4 days after the first landings, Bandar Abbas' garrison was forced to retreat before the two-pronged Australian attack. The ferocity of the Allies' offensive shattered any sense of resistance amongst the Persians and the port city was soon put to work landing additional troops, vehicles, fuel and supplies for the offensive ahead. It was time for the Empire to strike back in the Middle East.
In Burma, over 80,000 Japanese and Chinese soldiers were killed or captured, crippling the offensive efforts of the Imperial Kwangtung Army.
The war in the east was showing equal success. Over 100,000 Axis soldiers had been taken prisoner in Operation White Typhoon, delivering a substantial blow to the Japanese Army presence in Southern China. Most of these prisoners were Chinese, and in turn most of those had been press-ganged into the war for fear of their lives or their family's lives. Nearly half the Imperial units encountered during the offensive consisted of relatively poorly trained Chinese auxiliaries; this, the Allies reasoned, was a sign of how desperate for manpower the Japanese were, and how close to achieving victory in the east they must be.
A counterattack begins in northwest Indochina as Japanese and Manchurian troops assault Australia's defensive positions.
If the Japanese were losing this war, however, nobody bothered to tell them that. On October 11th, Australian troops holding the northwestern city of Vienpoukha in Indochina came under fierce assault by a combined assault of Japanese and Chinese soldiers, including heavy artillery barrages and air support. At first, it seemed that the Australians would hold, and over the cousre of two days they dealt considerable damage to their assailants. On the afternoon of the 14th, however, fresh divisions of Axis soldiers joined the fray, and the Australians soon realized that they would be ground to dust if they held their ground.
The Australians lose the battle to hold Vienpoukha, but continue to push the Japanese Army back into China.
The Australian retreat from Vienpoukha marks the first significant setback of the Allies in Southeast Asia, despite a stunningly successful campaign. The Imperials turned against the Australian push across the entire line, and fought with a sudden and intense ferocity that no one had expected until now. Veteran Japanese units formed spearheads as Chinese conscripts filled the bulk of the army, but try as they might, they found themselves blunted everywhere but Vienpoukha - the Kwangtung Army would continue to be pushed back.
Further attempts to push the Australians back into Siam are futile, resulting only in heavy casualties for the Kwangtung Army.
The massive Japanese counter-offensive would come to a grinding halt in the mountains of Northern Indochina and Thailand. Here, the Allies demonstrated their excellent training and material superiority over the Japanese, efficiently and excellently holding their positions against an intense onslaught of Axis firepower. By the 20th, the Japanese offensive ground to a total halt and was soon called off, leaving significant casualties on both sides. The Australians were undeterred, however, and they would be ready to continue...
The experiences gained in Europe, Asia and the Middle East were piling up, and it was soon acknowledged that the Australian Army was the most veteran and grizzled fighting force the Allies could field. Formed largely of the Empire's toughest survivors and having fought many battles in all kinds of terrain, they were now experts of war; and they intended to prove it.
The defense of Nanning becomes untenable if Hanoi is to resist the oncoming counter-offensive, forcing the Australians to retreat from China.
The counter-offensive was enough to shake Allied belief in the speed of their advance, however, and intelligence suggesting the Axis would soon descend on Hanoi was enough to worry the Australian command. Dougherty's men were withdrawn from Nanning and ordered back to Hanoi itself, where the Australians began to prepare a long defensive line against the expected Japanese attack.
As the autumn rains and freezing temperatures descend upon Eastern Europe, the Eastern Front has slowed to a bloody grind, and after nearly a month of fighting, the Red Army retakes Kiev...
In Europe, the war was beginning to go nowhere. Germany's famous 'blitzkrieg', which had broken the back of the French and won them the land battle in Britain, had now finally faltered before the one enemy no man can fight: Mother Nature. Autumn winds turned to storms, and the downpours transformed Russia's rural landscape into an easily-churned sea of slick mud. As the temperature continued to drop, freezing weather would rapidly begin to set in, and a long battle raged over the city of Kiev, where fresh Russian recruits and Siberian reinforcements arrived to launch a counterattack against the German-held city. It wasn't until October 27th when the Germans finally withdrew from the city, fearing encirclement by the fierce Red Army counterattack. The Soviets had won their first major victory of the war.
A column of German troops retreat from Kiev, where the fighting was bloodiest; perhaps this was the first sign of vulnerability in the seemingly invincible German war machine.
Hitler was furious; Operation Barbarossa had called for the capture of Moscow before the winter set in and began to do its worst, but the blitzkrieg had totally failed him on all fronts. The Wehrmacht had failed to take Vilnius, and now - against his orders for no retreat - they had faltered and retreated from Kiev. They were knocking upon the doors of Dnipropetrovsk and Stalino, which held coal fields critical to the Soviet War Industry's success, nor were they far from the major city of Minsk, but there was no hope of reaching Leningrad or Moscow in 1941, and the cold winter would give the Russians a much-needed chance to rebuild and strike back. Just months earlier, Axis domination of the continent seemed all but certain - now, against General Winter and a war on all sides, the Germans faced down the possibility of defeat for the first time.
Southeast Asia a good base for future operations, but taking China with the few divisions I have available is a very difficult proposal, and one that doesn't exactly draw in a huge scope for reward, due to the Red Army entering war with Japan... Maybe I can pull something out of this, though, we'll see!
Awesome! I'm looking forward to the new updates
Thanks! Good to be back!
Yes, but unfortunately not for this update or the next update, as I saved all my screenshots in advance for multiple updates. It's coming, though, and soon.
Reading through this reminds me how I've missed your elegant prose.
You've given the Japanese a good hard shove and they're off-balance. The question now is whether you have enough forces available to keep pushing, or whether the armies of the Rising Sun will recover and start pushing you back again. My biggest concern is that you don't seem to have enough units in southeast China to stop all the Japanese incursions - it looks like you can hold off a direct Japanese offensive in any particular location, but that doing so would leave several other provinces at their mercy. Hopefully, it won't come to that.
Reading this reminds me how I've missed your insightful, detailed commentary. Good to be back, good to have you back!
I have more units in Southeast Asia than first glance would indicate, the only problem is that they're clustered around the west (due to the offensive focusing on Thailand) and not on the Chinese border. The situation will develop and should be a little more clear in a couple updates, once the blitz into SEA has settled a bit. I am, however, outnumbered even with the divisions I encircled, so you're right to be concerned...
As above, yes, I'll be doing an update with a recap/world map update, but it has to wait for another couple updates due to taking too many screenshots/play in advance. I can, however, list out the nations now involved in each faction for you:
Allies: USA (+ Liberia, Philippines), Free France (in Exile), Australia (+ Indonesia), Canada, India, Burma, Norway, Netherlands (in Exile), Kuwait
Axis: Germany, Italy, Japan (+ China, Manchukuo, Mengjiang), France, Britain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Oman, Transjordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Malaya
Comintern: USSR (+ Mongolia, Tannu Tuva), Finland
Neutral: Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, all of Central/South America
That and some of the wider shots from the new updates and the 5.x updates should hopefully give you an idea of what things are like until then. It's also worth noting that for a variety of reasons, it's very likely that a bunch of the nations currently listed as neutral won't be neutral for that much longer - more to be illuminated on this topic soon, but a LOT of countries are swinging to the extremes of political camps and global threat is huge for some nations now.
Nice to see this is still active!
Australia marches on, Japan is being pushed back, and Kuwait has an incredibly strong force!
Your descriptions of everything was terrific, Saithis, and very evocative. I felt immersed into this story of Australia. And I would like to second a world map request.
Thanks, I'll try not to drop it this time before it's finished, and I'll try to proofread more, haha. See above on world map request!
Maybe. Kuwait has little strategic importance for me, but Basra does, so by that logic it's likely to happen.
Chapter 5.5 - Operation Hanging Garden
Newly elected President Wendell Wilkie rides triumphantly through the streets, an unlikely leader for the world's richest and most powerful democracy.
The American people placed their faith in Republican presidential hopeful Wendell Wilkie after the tragic passing of President Roosevelt, but this would prove not to be the spark needed to galvanise the Arsenal of Democracy into action - in fact, it was becoming quite the contrary. Wendell Wilkie had been elected off the backs of an isolationist voter base that would prefer to see America abandon the war and focus on her own needs. Forced to balance his own internationalist agenda with the demands of the public, the hard work Roosevelt had done to build the power and prestige of the presidential position was now in a dangerously tenuous position. While many celebrated, strikes and protests against the war and the state of the economy worsened as many called for a stop to US involvement abroad. This pressure was sufficient to force even the Pacific Fleet into a defensive stance, waiting for the Japanese to come to them rather than vice versa.
American pressure to contribute to the Western Front was significant; the Commonwealth mustered eight of its finest divisions in response to this need.
Wilkie's stance to the Commonwealth was clear: there would be no assistance in Asia unless the Empire could first help America's efforts to secure Africa. Fears of a fascist or communist takeover of Eurasia necessitated a vast offensive to turn Africa into a foothold from which any strike could be launched to the north with ease, but Operation Torch was progressing slowly due to its Subsaharan beginnings. Allied Command agreed that in order for this to be completed at any respectable pace, Allied troops would be required to strike from the east as well as from the west. British and Australasian troops would form the core of the 1st Middle Eastern Army, a highly mobile and motorized strike force intended to carve a path into the heart of the Middle East. As long as this elite force could secure the ports required to ship supplies overseas, there would be little to stop them from meeting the Americans and Free French Foreign Legion in Egypt.
Pleased at the plans, Wilkie agreed to continue lending support to the Australian government, albeit on slightly different terms: no longer would lend-lease apply in full to the United States shipments, but in order for Australia to secure much-needed shipments of coal and coke, they would be required to pay for it - a situation untenable were it not for the extremely profitable counter-trade of natural rubber and rare metals from Southeast Asia which would help to fuel the American industry.
This also came with the help of US scientists and engineering. Together with Boeing, the Vickers' engineers developed a powerful new engine which could vastly improve the performance of the Spitfire and Seafire, if early calculations were correct. These technologies would be of help developing and improving all of Australasia's air forces, a critical step to keeping up with the Axis war machine.
As Pownall's 4th Mot. Cavalry cross the Indian border into Iran, the 1st and 2nd divisions make landfall along the southern coast.
On the morning of October 4th at 7am, the first divisions landed on the shores of Iran in massive waves, unopposed by any local forces. Crossing the border from India, Pownall's 4th Cavalry found that the army of Iran had all but abandoned the front, presumably to fight the Russians in the north and leaving themselves exposed. Garrisons and fortified towns were held by old men and children, most of whom surrendered without a fight. It seemed at first that the invasion would be all too easy.
Inglis' Armoured Cavalry land west of the critical port at Bandar Abbas, threatening to envelop the city's defenders completely.
To the west of Bandar Abbas, fresh Allied tanks rolled off the landing craft and onto the soil of Asia. The port city was critical to the offensive in Iran, as supplies could be shipped directly to the docks rather than overland via India, which would slow supply trails to a crawl.
British and Australian light tanks make quick progress across the flat ground of the southern coast, but they will face tougher trials further inland...
Consisting of a maddening hodgepodge of various French and British light tanks, Inglis' 2nd Cavalry quickly enveloped the city from the west, inflicting huge casualties on the port's defenders and shocking a totally unprepared Persian defense. The plan called for Inglis to spearhead a thrust towards the critical oil fields in the west, while the bulk of Allied forces pushed north towards the capital of Tehran.
A unit of the German Asienkorps is spotted in central Persia, suggesting the battle for Iran may be tougher than previously surmised.
The Allies had heard of the Asienkorps - a well-trained, elite unit of Germans fighting in the Middle East under General Erwin Rommel, but this was the first time they had encountered such a foe. The Germans here did not live up to their reputation - underfed, undersupplied and low on morale, they were hardly the elite fighting force that had been feared and if this division was any indication, they would pose no obstacle to the battle for Iran.
The landings and presence of HMAS Vanguard had a powerful effect on the region, and the Persian military was totally unprepared and unequipped for this kind of fight. Control of the Strait of Hormuz was relinquished almost immediately, and what few Axis naval elements existed in the Persian Gulf soon disappeared rather than contest allied control. Total command of the West Indian Ocean now belonged to the Allies, only the Red Sea remained in Axis hands...
Bandar Abbas falls to Inglis' men on the 8th of October, opening the port for vital shipments of supplies to the Allied Front.
Just 4 days after the first landings, Bandar Abbas' garrison was forced to retreat before the two-pronged Australian attack. The ferocity of the Allies' offensive shattered any sense of resistance amongst the Persians and the port city was soon put to work landing additional troops, vehicles, fuel and supplies for the offensive ahead. It was time for the Empire to strike back in the Middle East.
In Burma, over 80,000 Japanese and Chinese soldiers were killed or captured, crippling the offensive efforts of the Imperial Kwangtung Army.
The war in the east was showing equal success. Over 100,000 Axis soldiers had been taken prisoner in Operation White Typhoon, delivering a substantial blow to the Japanese Army presence in Southern China. Most of these prisoners were Chinese, and in turn most of those had been press-ganged into the war for fear of their lives or their family's lives. Nearly half the Imperial units encountered during the offensive consisted of relatively poorly trained Chinese auxiliaries; this, the Allies reasoned, was a sign of how desperate for manpower the Japanese were, and how close to achieving victory in the east they must be.
A counterattack begins in northwest Indochina as Japanese and Manchurian troops assault Australia's defensive positions.
If the Japanese were losing this war, however, nobody bothered to tell them that. On October 11th, Australian troops holding the northwestern city of Vienpoukha in Indochina came under fierce assault by a combined assault of Japanese and Chinese soldiers, including heavy artillery barrages and air support. At first, it seemed that the Australians would hold, and over the cousre of two days they dealt considerable damage to their assailants. On the afternoon of the 14th, however, fresh divisions of Axis soldiers joined the fray, and the Australians soon realized that they would be ground to dust if they held their ground.
The Australians lose the battle to hold Vienpoukha, but continue to push the Japanese Army back into China.
The Australian retreat from Vienpoukha marks the first significant setback of the Allies in Southeast Asia, despite a stunningly successful campaign. The Imperials turned against the Australian push across the entire line, and fought with a sudden and intense ferocity that no one had expected until now. Veteran Japanese units formed spearheads as Chinese conscripts filled the bulk of the army, but try as they might, they found themselves blunted everywhere but Vienpoukha - the Kwangtung Army would continue to be pushed back.
Further attempts to push the Australians back into Siam are futile, resulting only in heavy casualties for the Kwangtung Army.
The massive Japanese counter-offensive would come to a grinding halt in the mountains of Northern Indochina and Thailand. Here, the Allies demonstrated their excellent training and material superiority over the Japanese, efficiently and excellently holding their positions against an intense onslaught of Axis firepower. By the 20th, the Japanese offensive ground to a total halt and was soon called off, leaving significant casualties on both sides. The Australians were undeterred, however, and they would be ready to continue...
The experiences gained in Europe, Asia and the Middle East were piling up, and it was soon acknowledged that the Australian Army was the most veteran and grizzled fighting force the Allies could field. Formed largely of the Empire's toughest survivors and having fought many battles in all kinds of terrain, they were now experts of war; and they intended to prove it.
The defense of Nanning becomes untenable if Hanoi is to resist the oncoming counter-offensive, forcing the Australians to retreat from China.
The counter-offensive was enough to shake Allied belief in the speed of their advance, however, and intelligence suggesting the Axis would soon descend on Hanoi was enough to worry the Australian command. Dougherty's men were withdrawn from Nanning and ordered back to Hanoi itself, where the Australians began to prepare a long defensive line against the expected Japanese attack.
As the autumn rains and freezing temperatures descend upon Eastern Europe, the Eastern Front has slowed to a bloody grind, and after nearly a month of fighting, the Red Army retakes Kiev...
In Europe, the war was beginning to go nowhere. Germany's famous 'blitzkrieg', which had broken the back of the French and won them the land battle in Britain, had now finally faltered before the one enemy no man can fight: Mother Nature. Autumn winds turned to storms, and the downpours transformed Russia's rural landscape into an easily-churned sea of slick mud. As the temperature continued to drop, freezing weather would rapidly begin to set in, and a long battle raged over the city of Kiev, where fresh Russian recruits and Siberian reinforcements arrived to launch a counterattack against the German-held city. It wasn't until October 27th when the Germans finally withdrew from the city, fearing encirclement by the fierce Red Army counterattack. The Soviets had won their first major victory of the war.
A column of German troops retreat from Kiev, where the fighting was bloodiest; perhaps this was the first sign of vulnerability in the seemingly invincible German war machine.
Hitler was furious; Operation Barbarossa had called for the capture of Moscow before the winter set in and began to do its worst, but the blitzkrieg had totally failed him on all fronts. The Wehrmacht had failed to take Vilnius, and now - against his orders for no retreat - they had faltered and retreated from Kiev. They were knocking upon the doors of Dnipropetrovsk and Stalino, which held coal fields critical to the Soviet War Industry's success, nor were they far from the major city of Minsk, but there was no hope of reaching Leningrad or Moscow in 1941, and the cold winter would give the Russians a much-needed chance to rebuild and strike back. Just months earlier, Axis domination of the continent seemed all but certain - now, against General Winter and a war on all sides, the Germans faced down the possibility of defeat for the first time.
Your political narrative is doing a really good job of explaining away the failings of the US AI...
... but what a long list of Axis countries! Given the scale of the challenge ahead, and that you're now fighting on two fronts and still a long way from Europe, I hope you have enough divisions to get the job done. It looks like the Germans are on the defensive in the east now so I'm guessing you might have twelve months before Stalin is knocking on Hitler's door.
... but what a long list of Axis countries! Given the scale of the challenge ahead, and that you're now fighting on two fronts and still a long way from Europe, I hope you have enough divisions to get the job done. It looks like the Germans are on the defensive in the east now so I'm guessing you might have twelve months before Stalin is knocking on Hitler's door.
Victorious Soviets and Isolationist Americans?
Australia should count itself lucky to be on the other side. Yikes.
Australia should count itself lucky to be on the other side. Yikes.
The 'Asienkorps' - I like that.
Good progress in the Middle East, mostly positive news from the Indochina front, and the Germans have shot their bolt in the Soviet Union. I wonder what kind of knock-on effects Germany's apparent failure on the Eastern Front will have for the war at large.
Good progress in the Middle East, mostly positive news from the Indochina front, and the Germans have shot their bolt in the Soviet Union. I wonder what kind of knock-on effects Germany's apparent failure on the Eastern Front will have for the war at large.
Thanks!
The 'Asienkorps' - I like that.
Good progress in the Middle East, mostly positive news from the Indochina front, and the Germans have shot their bolt in the Soviet Union. I wonder what kind of knock-on effects Germany's apparent failure on the Eastern Front will have for the war at large.
Full credit goes to the actual Germans for the historical Levantekorps or Asien-Korps in WW1, who helped hold the Palestinian front against the British. Still, as you say, things look bad for the Axis - losing the initiative is the worst for them, although with the might of all of Europe behind them, it's still questionable who will come out on top in this war...
I'm counting myself lucky not to be caught in the middle of the Soviets and Germans right now. Whoever comes out on top of that war is going to be monstrously powerful, and the only country who can stop something - the Americans - are happily sitting on their own thumbs...this is not a good timeline for the Allies!
Your political narrative is doing a really good job of explaining away the failings of the US AI...
... but what a long list of Axis countries! Given the scale of the challenge ahead, and that you're now fighting on two fronts and still a long way from Europe, I hope you have enough divisions to get the job done. It looks like the Germans are on the defensive in the east now so I'm guessing you might have twelve months before Stalin is knocking on Hitler's door.
Thanks, it's serving a purpose. The Axis countries look bad now, but trust me when I say it's going to get even worse - there's a fair number of countries that are pretty close to joining the Axis right now, including some I'd much rather stay out of this war entirely. More on that foreshadowing in a future update...
Chapter 5.6 - Counteroffensives
As the remaining Australians and British landed at Bandar Abbas, they prepared to move out in every direction, preparing to build a substantial beachhead in the south of Iran.
Supplies were limited for the Middle East Army, but moreso was time. The Persian Army was quite respectable in size and with enough time to respond, they would likely be able to bring the Australians to a halt. Rather than utilise a focused blitzkrieg in any one direction, the Allies opted for an enveloping, wide push, both in order to spread out the demands of their supplies and to attempt to seize multiple key targets simultaneously.
Australians moving to the northeast soon realized they were in an excellent position to outflank and encircle an entire Iranian army.
To the east, numerous Iranian divisions found themselves caught in a difficult position, enveloped by rapidly moving, outflanking Australian units. Soon to be caught without food or supplies, they dug in to prepare for a bitter guerilla war of attrition against the foreign invaders.
2nd Corps moves east in order to capitalize on this opportunity and crush a significant portion of the Iranian army in one blow.
Sensing the opportunity to trap and destroy a significant bulk of the Iranian army, the Australians soon changed their mind about consolidation of forces. Knowing they would stretch their supplies to the limit, 2nd Corps commander Bernard Montgomery was charged with taking his entire force east to destroy any resistance to the Australian invasion here and now. Against five of the Commonwealth's elite, there was little Iran's army could do but wait. This is not to say that all was going smoothly for the Australians, however...
A group of Turkish infantrymen pose for the camera shortly before the Battle of Sirjan.
While Iran lacked the organizational capacity to bring her populace to bear against the Australians, her neighbour and long-term rival would. The Turkish Army was a tough force, embittered against the former Entente Nations which had brought their former empire to ruin during the Great War. Eager to rebuild themselves and to exact revenge on the west, the Turks arrived in Iran, ready to fight against the Australian landings with determination and grit. Expecting an easy victory against a foe armed so cheaply and so outdated, the remaining Australians continued to push northwards.
The Turkish Army was holding its own against a numerically and technologically superior Australian force.
They would be disappointed. Despite outnumbering the Turks and holding the advantage of motorization, both the foot and the infantry were intimately familiar with this sort of terrain and had dug in across all the key mountain passages. Though the Australians held superior firepower and numbers, they were met with a determined an well-organized defense, and soon found their offensive floundering in the face of this resistance. The offensive towards Tehran was soon delayed while Montgomery's 2nd Corps dealt with the Iranian Eastern Army - once finished, they could turn against the Turkish defensive line and break it.
A popular propaganda photo portraying the Red March, the frequently lionized counter-attack of the USSR on Germany.
For the Comintern, no Axis foe would prove to be too much this day. While 1941 would be remembered by the Russians as the year of betrayal and the great loss, culminating in the fall of Kiev, they now sowed the seeds of their victory. Over the course of Novemeber, the Soviets would begin to press back against the Germans, determined to crush their foe under boot and tread. Mobilizing their army at a pace which the Germans alone could not match, the Axis were suddenly finding themselves pushed steadily back to the pre-war borders, unable to find a good footing against a larger and more determined foe.
The Red March was having serious results, and the Germans were being pushed back across much of the line.
Following a month of grinding war, the beginning of December saw the Soviets build two huge salients around Kiev and Vilnius. Driving back German spearheads and taking advantage of their foe's lack of preparation for the winter, the colder things got, the better the Russians performed. On the 2nd of December, 1941, they took back the Lithuanian city of Kaunas and were driving onwards towards Brest-Litovsk. Stalin proclaimed the same day that "Germany's stab in the back has done little but enrage the sleeping bear. She will pay dearly for this crime, now that Russia is prepared."
The Red Army was not doing so well in the Caucasus, where the Turks and Germans were giving them a bloody nose.
Despite Stalin's boasting, not all was going well for the Soviets. Their initial attack on Turkey had been met with success, but now the Turks were fighting back, bolstered by the forces of Iran and the Asien-Korps. What little ground they had gained had been lost, and now over the last month, the Axis were driving into the Caucasus intent on revenge. Hitler was eager to blunt the Soviet offensive somehow, and set his generals a new objective: the capture of Baku and the critical oilfields that lay there. By taking Baku, he reasoned, and preventing the Allies from connecting with Russia through Iran, they would be able to starve their giant foe of fuel and resources, and achieve victory in a battle of attrition.
Not all Japanese units were so organized, however, and some left themselves vulnerable.
To the east, the Japanese were also moving aggressively, pressing deep into Allied-held territory in an attempt to cut off Hanoi from the rest of the Australasian Army. The Kwangtung Army's forces on the South Chinese border were going stronger, and they were almost ready to launch their counterattack, but they were still spread out and mistakes were made...
An glorious charge by the Japanese 37. Hoheishidan was soon transformed into inglorious defeat as they were surrounded and wiped out.
One Japanese division, led by an overambitious general whose political authority gave him great autonomy, overstepped his bounds and launched the attack a week early, seeking revenge for the humiliating defeat received in Southeast Asia. His light infantry were elite, the cream of the Imperial Army, yet their lives would be thrown away as they soon became surrounded by a numerically superior Australian foe. The trap they had sought to spring on Hanoi was turned on its head, and Japan's reputation in the land war would falter from bad to worse.
As the Siamese front stabilized, it became clear that neither side could effectively attack each other over such rough terrain, and the two sides dug in for a prolonged confrontation.
To the west, the front line against Japan had stabilized and attempted counterattacks by Japan resulted in little more than wasted lives and inches of ground gained. Well-entrenched Australian machine gun posts and canny patrols deflected every thrust and every attack with ease, whittling down a numerically superior foe with cunning and skill. As the Kwangtung Army's supplies continued to dwindle, they at last called off the western offensive, realizing that there was little more to be gained from it - they would simply have to be content with holding the Chinese border.
Japanese tanks move quickly through the dense forest of Northern Indochina, on their way to confront the Australasian Army.
Not all Japanese units would have to sit and wait, however, as the Imperial counterattack inevitably began in force. To the east, Australian units would be caught by surprise as masses of armoured vehicles crashed through the jungle and down narrow Indochinese roads, spearheading a sudden and energetic offensive from the Japanese. Caught by surprise, the Australians had not yet moved into defensive positions and were overwhelmed by the pace and ferocity of the attack.
This offensive would place serious pressure on an outnumbered and tired Australian army, which had covered massive amounts of ground in a short period of time and lacked the capacity to be pulled from the front line.
Japanese infantry now marched into the northern sections of Hanoi unopposed, clashing with Australian patrols and assisting their armoured spearhead in pushing the Allies back at every step. The Japanese were intent on taking the city, and General Dougherty found himself in command of a desperate, losing defensive action.
Days of combat turned into weeks, and soon Hanoi came under pressure from the north, east and west, at risk of becoming encircled...
Caught out of position and outnumbered by their attackers, the Australians were forced to withdraw to the port city of Haiphong, where they would attempt to hold against this counterattack and pray for deliverance.
Here, an Australian anti-tank crew steels itself against a Japanese armoured push against Haiphong.
Allied command was not deaf to their pleas for assistance, however, nor had it failed to predict this kind of intense response from Japan. Within the week of the assault's beginning, ships loaded with heavy anti-tank guns arrived in the port at Haiphong, along with a fresh wave of reinforcements and supplies for the exhausted divisions. Armed with their new guns, the port at Haiphong would at least be able to hold its own against the armoured spearhead...
Hanoi falls to the Japanese attacks, placing the Australian formations in real danger of becoming trapped and destroyed.
Determination and guns alone would not save Hanoi, however, and by the 1st of December, the Australians were forced to pull out, having lost some three thousand men defending the city. Coming under subsequential attack at Hung Yen to the west, and encircled by a Japanese division moving southwards past them, it seemed that the Allied divisions holding northern Indochina would be close to cracking, should this pressure continue.
Reinforcements begin to arrive, just in time to rescue their comrades from almost certain defeat - but can they retake the Indochinese capital?
Thankfully, they wouldn't have to hold much longer. Four fresh divisions of Australian infantry arrived from southern Indochina, where they had busied themselves securing the country and retaking Pnomh Penh from its Thai occupiers. The Japanese offensive began to taper off as they soon found themselves under too much pressure to react. Hanoi was still in Imperial hands, but while the battle was lost, the Australians now held enough forces in the east to regroup and strike back...
I gather from the lack of naval narrative that you have most of your fleet in port?
What about the Americans? Still twiddling their thumbs?
What about the Americans? Still twiddling their thumbs?
That sounds intriguing!
Let's hope the Turks/Germans can be contained until the Iranian army can be destroyed - but it does look like the Middle East operation is facing some serious opposition. At least you were able to relieve the men in Indochina after the reverse at Hanoi, because you certainly don't want to be losing any divisions!