Thanks! These updates are way slower to write than the usual for me, but I can at least promise the war will advance faster than real time hehe.
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Thanks! These updates are way slower to write than the usual for me, but I can at least promise the war will advance faster than real time hehe.
Nice historical cameos. Always liked the idea of the Flying Tigers. 
Lots of day-to-day things, but international events are definitely getting closer. First Mao, now the Tibetans... And inevitably, sooner or later, Japan...
Lots of day-to-day things, but international events are definitely getting closer. First Mao, now the Tibetans... And inevitably, sooner or later, Japan...
Nice historical cameos. Always liked the idea of the Flying Tigers.
Hehe. But be warned, anyone could be redshirted!
Japan will end up being both sooner *and* later, but it will be a few weeks yet (of real life) before that story develops more.
Excellent start -- I'm subscribing immediately.
Welcome, and thanks!
[size=+1]
[size=-2]January issue featuring Henry and Edsel Ford[/size]
12 January: The so-called Nationalist forces in Spain have taken Madrid from the Republican government. Franco has released some propaganda footage showing their triumphs, but his films aren’t the only ones coming out of Spain.
This conflict is rapidly becoming an international one. Franco has a great deal of support from other right-wing governments such as Germany and Italy which have already contributed both men and materiel. Of course, the men have arrived in the form of `advisors` and `volunteers`. Germany has effectively provided the entire air force for Franco with a group called the Condor Legion. I’m no legal expert but I’m not sure how having this aviation equipment isn’t a German violation of the Treaty of Versailles. However since Britain and France said nothing when troops were sent into the Rhineland, the major powers don’t seem to be taking that treaty too seriously.
[size=-2]Men of the German Condor Legion with a Dornier aircraft[/size]
Strangely enough the USSR is supporting the elected Republican government even though it isn’t Communist in outlook. They are however promoting themselves as the champion of the rights of the Spanish worker, so that is apparently close enough. It would seem that Stalin didn’t learn his lesson from the recent events in China and what happened between Chiang and Mao. Even if the Republicans remain in power, I find it unlikely that he will find himself pleased with the outcome. The country isn’t going to suddenly become Communist out of gratitude.
Stalin’s involvement has indirectly had repercussions back in the States. Members of the American Communist Party have been travelling to Spain in droves to fight in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, although I hear other Americans eager to fight have been joining up as well. Officially, the American government is neutral in this conflict (well, they’re all `neutral`, even the Germans). Already in 1935, the American Republican Party had rammed through a set of Neutrality Acts to forbid the selling of materiel to belligerents. The Republicans are still fighting the political battles from the Great War and riding the rising tide of American isolationism. These Acts were renewed last year in 1936, but certain companies back in the States (mainly in the automotive industry) found a legal loophole that would allow them to sell to Franco since the Acts apparently don’t cover civil wars. I hear from both Peter and Henry that Franco is millions in debt to these companies. Henry says that the general should finish his splurge soon since the renewal of the Acts which comes up for a vote this month in the American legislature will close these loopholes.
[size=-2]The state of the Spanish Civil War in January[/size]
22 January: I’ve had my first taste of combat and I can’t say I care for it. Two days ago I was out at dawn near the edge of town talking to the Militia guarding the city and hoping to get some decent shots I could send to Henry. There had been some word that Tibet had collected some infantry off to the west, but the government announcements over the wireless had been stating they were far away and no threat. In fact the Tibetans had been moving up under the cover of darkness and attacked shortly after I was there. Both sides were horribly exposed as the terrain here is fairly flat and open due to the lakes and salt marshes. The Tibetans chose to avoid the marshes and came down the main road, hoping to catch us by surprise it seems.
The Militia was alert enough to spot them before they got too close to the city and a furious fight broke out. Afterwards I learned that casualties were a bit low overall (thank God) as both sides were using old rifles from the War and nobody seemed to have any of the modern machine guns. Even so, you don’t want to get hit even with an old rifle. Most of the bullets are large caliber and low velocity, causing large exit wounds and frequently not leaving the body at all. Imagine what it must be like to have a bullet nearly the size of your little finger lodged in your gut.
I was fortunate enough to be near the still-incomplete earthworks when the fighting broke out, and the young militiaman I had been speaking to grabbed me immediately and dropped us both down behind a berm. My camera was set aside and I worked to assist the men around me with reloading their weapons. The smoke from the rifle discharges was foul-smelling but it wasn’t the only horrible odor there. Later I came to realize that some of the young men near me had soiled themselves from fear during the engagement. Events were quite terrifying for me, as well. Nothing I saw while stationed in Peking even came close to this experience since most of the trouble there during the War was over a year or two before I arrived.
The constant barrage of bullets created a mixture of noises- the sharp cracks of the Militia rifles near me mixed with the whines of bullets passing overhead and the pings of ricochets. I tried to keep my head down as much as possible. Luckily since the berm my group was hiding behind was a literal earthwork, I only suffered a few dirt clods in the face that were thrown up by impacting bullets. The poor fellow who grabbed me wasn’t so lucky, however, and caught a bullet in the eye as he popped up just a bit too far to return fire. I had a full view of this as I had just turned to speak with him, and the back of his head seemed to just disappear of a sudden. I stared at him in shock for a moment or two and then tried to vomit, but as I hadn’t had any breakfast as yet all I got were dry heaves. Another man nearby took the dead man’s rifle and thrust it into my hands and indicated he wanted me to shoot back. I rested the rifle in a shooting position on the berm but I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger.
The battle lasted all through the morning and well into the afternoon but of course there is no accounting for time in such a situation- it all seemed a blur. I started to get very hungry and thirsty and I can imagine the other men near me felt the same. Once the battle had reached the afternoon, I began to notice that our lines looked a little thinner than they had been this morning. When the men next to me suddenly got up and started running back into town, I realized that the battle was ending and the local Militia was in a full-blown rout to get away. Several more of the men I was with were cut down as we crowded the road back into Golmud. The panic was contagious and I kept thinking to myself over and over `my camera, my God, I’ve left my camera! `
We were very fortunate that in the end the battle was saved. As the panicked mob of Militia poured into Golmud, we were passed by Ma Buqing’s regular infantry that were heading out to engage the Tibetans. These troops pinned the enemy down while some cavalry looped around the north of the city to try and catch the enemy in the rear, but the Tibetan commander caught wise to this trap before it was fully sprung and disengaged from the attack in time. They marched back to their camps in good order and the cavalry was ordered not to pursue.
[size=-2]The local Militia were no match for the advancing Tibetans[/size]
Later I would exchange a wire with my father telling him what happened and saying he shouldn’t worry, as the regular infantry division is here in the city to stay. I also told him I finally understood why he was so determined to keep me out of the Army during the War. In his reply he mentioned that many of his older Anglophone friends off in Chicoutimi had lost their own sons in the Boer War back at the turn of the century, with the bodies not ever being recovered in most cases. War only ever seems to be glamorous when you’re not in it. Needless to say I never went back to look for my camera.
[size=-2]The Cavalry arrived in the nick of time and also remained stationed in Golmud[/size]
February 3: Stayed up most of the night talking with Jie at The Americaine. It was nice having somebody to talk to in order to take my mind off the battle. I’ve had a hard time recently staying asleep as I can’t escape having dreams of the militiaman who was killed right in front of me. I’m going to have to be careful that I don’t take to drink after this.
February 13: Some news that the Republicans have retaken Madrid. They have been hyping this up as a great victory, but the front lines seem too fluid for anyone to believe they are going to keep control of the city.
February 15: Word from Peter that the Mas have commissioned orders of infantry equipment from the Communist enclave of all places. I would presume this is a direct response to the attacks by the Tibetans, but as usual there is little sign of this equipment actually being delivered. I’ve had chats about this with Peter over Pinochle and he is of the opinion that the Mas really want to be able to produce their own military gear locally and are focusing on developing local industry.
February 20: Henry did a cover story last month on another Henry, Henry Ford and his son Edsel Ford. Most people only think of Henry Ford when they picture the Ford Motor Company, but Edsel is important, too. Henry himself is mainly an `ideas` man and it was Edsel who is the businessman, having been made president of the company in 1918. The two are at loggerheads on occasion, with Henry being resistant to implementing some of Edsel’s plans to stay competitive in the exponentially growing automotive market. As an example, Edsel wanted to allow customers to have a payment program to get their cars, which of course is commonplace today, but Henry fought it for years.
Henry himself is a bit of an odd duck (of course, nearly every notable figure is). He’s been accused of being an anti-Semite, mainly based on several articles that were published in the company newspaper in the 1920s, The Dearborn Independent. He has also been quoted as making statements such as `if one wishes to know the trouble with American baseball they have it in three words: too much Jew. ` A libel lawsuit against the paper was filed in 1927, and during the trial there was much discussion on how much of the content of the paper was Ford’s own views, if any, or how aware he might have been of what went into the paper. The paper was shut down and Ford publicly recanted any anti-Semitic statements he may have uttered, but the truth of his own views will of course only ever be known to him.
Be that as it may, the paper had a huge impact over in Germany. The articles were collected and published there under the title The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem. Allegedly, the German Chancellor has a life-size portrait of Ford hanging in his office and he is also the only American mentioned by name in Mein Kampf. The Germans are apparently working wholeheartedly to apply Ford’s factory principles of efficiency and conformity to their entire society. While the Chancellor himself has not been to the States to visit Ford, several of his notable officials have.
16 March: Franco has moved into Barcelona. The Republican government came there after they lost Madrid for the first time, and now I believe they are relocating to Huelva. They can’t go back to Madrid as the Nationalists took it on the 4th as might have been expected. War is never pleasant, but this one has had plenty of atrocities. Bombings from the Condor Legion have been proving far more deadly than any aerial activity from the Great War.
[size=-2]German-built Stukas fighting for Franco[/size]
[post=13279444]Forward to next Update[/post]
[post=13199871]Back to previous Update[/post]
1937, Winter - First Blood
[/size]
[size=-2]January issue featuring Henry and Edsel Ford[/size]
12 January: The so-called Nationalist forces in Spain have taken Madrid from the Republican government. Franco has released some propaganda footage showing their triumphs, but his films aren’t the only ones coming out of Spain.
[video=youtube;MrjIOoVHhlA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrjIOoVHhlA[/video]
This conflict is rapidly becoming an international one. Franco has a great deal of support from other right-wing governments such as Germany and Italy which have already contributed both men and materiel. Of course, the men have arrived in the form of `advisors` and `volunteers`. Germany has effectively provided the entire air force for Franco with a group called the Condor Legion. I’m no legal expert but I’m not sure how having this aviation equipment isn’t a German violation of the Treaty of Versailles. However since Britain and France said nothing when troops were sent into the Rhineland, the major powers don’t seem to be taking that treaty too seriously.
[size=-2]Men of the German Condor Legion with a Dornier aircraft[/size]
Strangely enough the USSR is supporting the elected Republican government even though it isn’t Communist in outlook. They are however promoting themselves as the champion of the rights of the Spanish worker, so that is apparently close enough. It would seem that Stalin didn’t learn his lesson from the recent events in China and what happened between Chiang and Mao. Even if the Republicans remain in power, I find it unlikely that he will find himself pleased with the outcome. The country isn’t going to suddenly become Communist out of gratitude.
Stalin’s involvement has indirectly had repercussions back in the States. Members of the American Communist Party have been travelling to Spain in droves to fight in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, although I hear other Americans eager to fight have been joining up as well. Officially, the American government is neutral in this conflict (well, they’re all `neutral`, even the Germans). Already in 1935, the American Republican Party had rammed through a set of Neutrality Acts to forbid the selling of materiel to belligerents. The Republicans are still fighting the political battles from the Great War and riding the rising tide of American isolationism. These Acts were renewed last year in 1936, but certain companies back in the States (mainly in the automotive industry) found a legal loophole that would allow them to sell to Franco since the Acts apparently don’t cover civil wars. I hear from both Peter and Henry that Franco is millions in debt to these companies. Henry says that the general should finish his splurge soon since the renewal of the Acts which comes up for a vote this month in the American legislature will close these loopholes.
[size=-2]The state of the Spanish Civil War in January[/size]
22 January: I’ve had my first taste of combat and I can’t say I care for it. Two days ago I was out at dawn near the edge of town talking to the Militia guarding the city and hoping to get some decent shots I could send to Henry. There had been some word that Tibet had collected some infantry off to the west, but the government announcements over the wireless had been stating they were far away and no threat. In fact the Tibetans had been moving up under the cover of darkness and attacked shortly after I was there. Both sides were horribly exposed as the terrain here is fairly flat and open due to the lakes and salt marshes. The Tibetans chose to avoid the marshes and came down the main road, hoping to catch us by surprise it seems.
The Militia was alert enough to spot them before they got too close to the city and a furious fight broke out. Afterwards I learned that casualties were a bit low overall (thank God) as both sides were using old rifles from the War and nobody seemed to have any of the modern machine guns. Even so, you don’t want to get hit even with an old rifle. Most of the bullets are large caliber and low velocity, causing large exit wounds and frequently not leaving the body at all. Imagine what it must be like to have a bullet nearly the size of your little finger lodged in your gut.
I was fortunate enough to be near the still-incomplete earthworks when the fighting broke out, and the young militiaman I had been speaking to grabbed me immediately and dropped us both down behind a berm. My camera was set aside and I worked to assist the men around me with reloading their weapons. The smoke from the rifle discharges was foul-smelling but it wasn’t the only horrible odor there. Later I came to realize that some of the young men near me had soiled themselves from fear during the engagement. Events were quite terrifying for me, as well. Nothing I saw while stationed in Peking even came close to this experience since most of the trouble there during the War was over a year or two before I arrived.
The constant barrage of bullets created a mixture of noises- the sharp cracks of the Militia rifles near me mixed with the whines of bullets passing overhead and the pings of ricochets. I tried to keep my head down as much as possible. Luckily since the berm my group was hiding behind was a literal earthwork, I only suffered a few dirt clods in the face that were thrown up by impacting bullets. The poor fellow who grabbed me wasn’t so lucky, however, and caught a bullet in the eye as he popped up just a bit too far to return fire. I had a full view of this as I had just turned to speak with him, and the back of his head seemed to just disappear of a sudden. I stared at him in shock for a moment or two and then tried to vomit, but as I hadn’t had any breakfast as yet all I got were dry heaves. Another man nearby took the dead man’s rifle and thrust it into my hands and indicated he wanted me to shoot back. I rested the rifle in a shooting position on the berm but I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger.
The battle lasted all through the morning and well into the afternoon but of course there is no accounting for time in such a situation- it all seemed a blur. I started to get very hungry and thirsty and I can imagine the other men near me felt the same. Once the battle had reached the afternoon, I began to notice that our lines looked a little thinner than they had been this morning. When the men next to me suddenly got up and started running back into town, I realized that the battle was ending and the local Militia was in a full-blown rout to get away. Several more of the men I was with were cut down as we crowded the road back into Golmud. The panic was contagious and I kept thinking to myself over and over `my camera, my God, I’ve left my camera! `
We were very fortunate that in the end the battle was saved. As the panicked mob of Militia poured into Golmud, we were passed by Ma Buqing’s regular infantry that were heading out to engage the Tibetans. These troops pinned the enemy down while some cavalry looped around the north of the city to try and catch the enemy in the rear, but the Tibetan commander caught wise to this trap before it was fully sprung and disengaged from the attack in time. They marched back to their camps in good order and the cavalry was ordered not to pursue.
[size=-2]The local Militia were no match for the advancing Tibetans[/size]
Later I would exchange a wire with my father telling him what happened and saying he shouldn’t worry, as the regular infantry division is here in the city to stay. I also told him I finally understood why he was so determined to keep me out of the Army during the War. In his reply he mentioned that many of his older Anglophone friends off in Chicoutimi had lost their own sons in the Boer War back at the turn of the century, with the bodies not ever being recovered in most cases. War only ever seems to be glamorous when you’re not in it. Needless to say I never went back to look for my camera.
[size=-2]The Cavalry arrived in the nick of time and also remained stationed in Golmud[/size]
February 3: Stayed up most of the night talking with Jie at The Americaine. It was nice having somebody to talk to in order to take my mind off the battle. I’ve had a hard time recently staying asleep as I can’t escape having dreams of the militiaman who was killed right in front of me. I’m going to have to be careful that I don’t take to drink after this.
February 13: Some news that the Republicans have retaken Madrid. They have been hyping this up as a great victory, but the front lines seem too fluid for anyone to believe they are going to keep control of the city.
February 15: Word from Peter that the Mas have commissioned orders of infantry equipment from the Communist enclave of all places. I would presume this is a direct response to the attacks by the Tibetans, but as usual there is little sign of this equipment actually being delivered. I’ve had chats about this with Peter over Pinochle and he is of the opinion that the Mas really want to be able to produce their own military gear locally and are focusing on developing local industry.
February 20: Henry did a cover story last month on another Henry, Henry Ford and his son Edsel Ford. Most people only think of Henry Ford when they picture the Ford Motor Company, but Edsel is important, too. Henry himself is mainly an `ideas` man and it was Edsel who is the businessman, having been made president of the company in 1918. The two are at loggerheads on occasion, with Henry being resistant to implementing some of Edsel’s plans to stay competitive in the exponentially growing automotive market. As an example, Edsel wanted to allow customers to have a payment program to get their cars, which of course is commonplace today, but Henry fought it for years.
Henry himself is a bit of an odd duck (of course, nearly every notable figure is). He’s been accused of being an anti-Semite, mainly based on several articles that were published in the company newspaper in the 1920s, The Dearborn Independent. He has also been quoted as making statements such as `if one wishes to know the trouble with American baseball they have it in three words: too much Jew. ` A libel lawsuit against the paper was filed in 1927, and during the trial there was much discussion on how much of the content of the paper was Ford’s own views, if any, or how aware he might have been of what went into the paper. The paper was shut down and Ford publicly recanted any anti-Semitic statements he may have uttered, but the truth of his own views will of course only ever be known to him.
Be that as it may, the paper had a huge impact over in Germany. The articles were collected and published there under the title The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem. Allegedly, the German Chancellor has a life-size portrait of Ford hanging in his office and he is also the only American mentioned by name in Mein Kampf. The Germans are apparently working wholeheartedly to apply Ford’s factory principles of efficiency and conformity to their entire society. While the Chancellor himself has not been to the States to visit Ford, several of his notable officials have.
16 March: Franco has moved into Barcelona. The Republican government came there after they lost Madrid for the first time, and now I believe they are relocating to Huelva. They can’t go back to Madrid as the Nationalists took it on the 4th as might have been expected. War is never pleasant, but this one has had plenty of atrocities. Bombings from the Condor Legion have been proving far more deadly than any aerial activity from the Great War.
[size=-2]German-built Stukas fighting for Franco[/size]
[post=13279444]Forward to next Update[/post]
[post=13199871]Back to previous Update[/post]
Last edited:
I liked Terry relating his experience of battle - and especially the shock at witnessing violent death for the first time. I fear he'll become much more accustomed to it before this AAR is through (in fact, before too long).
As usual, the Republicans seem to be losing the Spanish Civil War, which always saddens me way beyond what it should, considering it's just a game.
Looking forward to finding out what Terry's future experiences with the Tibetan-Ma-Clique war will be...
As usual, the Republicans seem to be losing the Spanish Civil War, which always saddens me way beyond what it should, considering it's just a game.
Looking forward to finding out what Terry's future experiences with the Tibetan-Ma-Clique war will be...
I liked Terry relating his experience of battle - and especially the shock at witnessing violent death for the first time. I fear he'll become much more accustomed to it before this AAR is through (in fact, before too long).
As usual, the Republicans seem to be losing the Spanish Civil War, which always saddens me way beyond what it should, considering it's just a game.
Looking forward to finding out what Terry's future experiences with the Tibetan-Ma-Clique war will be...
Thanks!
Hehe why does everybody seem to assume that some sort of general war is about to break out? Is there a leak in my office...? Hehe...
[size=+1]
[size=-2]May issue featuring the new Golden Gate Bridge[/size]
20 April: The Americans have had dedication ceremonies for the new Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, which cuts off the bay and connects that city with Marin County to the north. If you imagined taking your right hand and almost making a circle with your thumb and index finger (but not touching), then San Francisco Bay would be the interior of the circle, emptying out into the Pacific Ocean to the left. Your thumb would be the city and your finger Marin County, with the bridge crossing your finger and thumb. This is the first bridge connecting San Francisco with the `mainland`, as it were. Previously the city was served entirely by ferries, the major one being owned by the Southern Pacific railroad. Not wanting to lose business (obviously) the railroad opposed construction of the bridge, and the American Navy also opposed it from fears it would obstruct ship traffic into the bay. After the eventual approval of the bridge, the Navy then wanted to have it painted in black and yellow stripes to make it more visible to shipping. Can you imagine?
The bridge has been under construction since 1933, making this project incredibly fast to build, just like when they erected the Empire State Building in New York in record time[size=-2][1][/size]. One of the things attributed to this speed was the fact that gigantic safety nets were strewn all about the bridge as it was going up to catch any workers that might fall. If a steel worker feels completely safe, then they are more productive. Peter tells me that the costs for the bridge went over $35 million, and there is a rough rule of thumb that you can expect one worker killed for every million spent on a massive project like this. As the bridge neared completion, thanks to the nets the rule had been soundly beaten with only one worker killed in a fall, but then a disaster struck. Ten men fell when part of their scaffolding came loose, and the combination of the weight of the men plus the scaffolding caused the nets to break and the men were killed. Other men who went into the nets and survived over the course of construction formed an unofficial group of sorts called the `Half Way to Hell` Club[size=-2][2][/size].
[size=-2]Men from the informal `Half Way to Hell` Club[/size]
24 April: Spent my birthday down at The Americaine. Paddy and Crosetti finally indulged me and Peter and tried to give a go of bridge, but it didn’t play out well despite their best efforts. I took pity on them and changed the activities to shooting craps before they got too miserable. I was very surprised to see that Jie had made me some moon cakes to eat. These cakes are pastries with a bean filling that typically get eaten during a festival in the fall, so it is very unusual to see them out of that context. I’m not a big fan of bean paste but I ate the cakes wholeheartedly as I was very touched by the gesture.
26 April: I had a meeting with the chief strongmen of the Ma Clique today. Thuggish-looking men came to get me in the early morning hours so naturally I thought I was in some sort of trouble, but they took me to the main government building here in Golmud and Ma Hongkui himself was waiting for me outside. It seems that word of my visit with Chiang Kai-shek had gotten back to them so they were curious to see who I was. I also discovered that during their researches on me they found out about my connection back to Henry, but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Ma Hongkui had his wife with him, who was wearing a black armband to honor those killed during the Tibetan attack.
[size=-2]Ma Hongkui and his wife[/size]
Hongkui took me inside where I was ushered into a small conference room that held the four Mas and a secretary of some sort who took copious notes during our meeting. They obviously knew I spoke Mandarin as no communication took place at all in English, not even to exchange courtesies. We spoke for several hours and then adjourned for lunch, after which I was dismissed and sent back to my hotel. During the session I was able to learn a bit about the Mas. Chiang has given them pretty wide authority and they are essentially running the region as if it was a small country (and from what I understand, many other regions are operating the same). From the way the others deferred to him, I got the idea that Ma Hongkui was essentially in charge even though he himself never said as much. Ma Hongbin is running Intelligence operations and handling both internal and external security issues as I had already discovered. I tried to draw out some information about Frank Cho and much to my surprise, Hongbin actually came out and admitted Frank had been a spy under orders to stir up trouble with Mongolia. I then wanted to find out why it was so important that there *was* trouble with Mongolia, and the answer surprised me. Hongkui told me that there was a danger that the Hui Chinese here were too far away from China’s real enemies to keep up a lingering sense of fear in the populace. Without that fear, they would be unwilling to support the measures necessary for the upcoming struggles. This was apparently a slip-up of some kind, as he wouldn’t divulge any other information when I tried to press him for details on exactly what kind of struggle he was envisioning.
Ma Buqing is acting as head of the local armed forces as well as well as specifically managing the local army. This surprised me somewhat since his younger brother Ma Bufang has far more experience in direct combat against both Tibetans and Mongols. So instead of having a high-ranking Army position, he is currently serving as head of the Navy and Air Force, even though there are no military aeroplanes here and of course no ships of any kind. With the overall seriousness of the men in the room, I declined the opportunity to make some kind of jest about that situation. Bufang asked me several questions about my experience during the engagement with the Tibetans and I told him all he wanted. Then I had one of the shocks of my life- he made a motion to the secretary who dashed out of the room and came back with another man who had my discarded camera, of all things! It was totally ruined, of course, but I nevertheless thanked them for the courtesy of seeing it returned to me. I decided not to try and press them for details on why there seemed to be no ongoing military action whatsoever against the Tibetans, who are still camped close to the city.
Well, as I wrote earlier, they were very keen to question me on my relationships with Chiang and Henry. They especially wanted to know if Henry might ever be willing to tell the American Congress to start giving their support to a leader here other than Chiang- without specifically mentioning whom, of course. There were more than enough things left unsaid and shifty glances exchanged that I am sure something is in the wind vis-à-vis Chiang, but what that is, I could not say. I know from Henry that Chiang himself is getting progressively more worried about the Japanese, but there is no sense of that amongst these men.
I did get one positive outcome before they dismissed me. I led them to believe that I could easily get anything I wanted printed in either Time or LIFE magazine, so I essentially offered them free press. This went over really well and I got the idea that I might get greater access to government personnel in the future if they think I’m about to write an article on it. Hongkui made a bit of a joke that he takes a much better picture than Chiang, but that seemed to be filled with more meaning than I think he intended. Of course, he might be one of those `I know that you know that I know` types who never does anything by accident, so I’ll have to be careful what I say if we have any other encounters in the future. Anyway the truth is Henry obviously won’t print anything he isn’t truly happy with, so I will just keep my fingers crossed that the Mas don’t expect to see themselves in the news any time soon.
6 May: A horrible accident has occurred back in the States. The German dirigible Hindenburg, the largest one ever built, had its tail catch fire shortly before landing. Due to the hydrogen gas used to fill it, the whole thing caught fire in seconds and dozens of people were killed. Ironically, the owners were very well aware of the dangers of hydrogen and had intended to fill it with inert helium gas instead. However, only the Americans are producing enough helium at the moment to make it commercially viable to use in a dirigible, and the military embargo in place due to their Neutrality Acts have made it unavailable for Germany.
This event will certainly be a turning point in the history of commercial aviation. It has only been 10 years since Colonel Lindbergh made his famous solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic. Dirigibles had been a strong stopgap measure as winged aircraft continued to make advances in range and capacity... they have been popular enough in their heyday that even buildings like the Empire State in New York have been designed to accommodate them[size=-2][3][/size]. I’ve never been in one myself, but it looks like I may never have the chance now.
26 May: A major riot of sorts has taken place back in the States. I believe I’ve mentioned already that Henry Ford has remained old-fashioned in outlook as time marches on. One of his ultra-conservative views is to try and keep unions out of his plants as much as possible as he sees them as being harmful to productivity. The history of the Ford Motor Company has proved him correct in a way. He started out by offering the highest wages possible under the theory that the best wages attract the best workers, who will then give him the most profitable company. In order to compete with him, rival automakers were forced to raise their wages as well, and the standard of living for all the auto workers increased. So initially, free market principles worked out just as good for everyone as their proponents like to claim.
Ford’s generosity has kept his company union-free for some time, but the United Auto Workers are trying to unionize his plant and demand salary increases that Ford views as unreasonable[size=-2][4][/size]. Some UAW organizers went out to take publicity photos near a Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan, where they were accosted by Ford security personnel. These security officers proceeded to beat men and women alike with no provocation and the Dearborn police allegedly stood by and did nothing. Even though multiple witnesses have made statements to the contrary, Ford executives still claim that no union personnel were specifically targeted. The whole incident is already being called the `Battle of the Overpass`.
30 May: Sent a wire to my parents to congratulate them on the occasion of their 40th wedding anniversary. I know it troubles them that I have remained a bachelor all this time, but marriage just hasn’t felt right to me. I enjoy travelling far too much to think of trying to start a family, and besides, I haven’t found anyone as yet that really takes my fancy. Later in the evening I went down to the public house to discuss these things with Jie, and she seemed to get remarkably upset to hear my views. I guess you just never know what will upset a dame.
[size=-2]Jean-Paul Theriaux and Evelyn Fisher at their wedding in 1897[/size]
31 May: Stayed up late with a lot of the expats at The Americaine to listen to the Indianapolis 500 race on the wireless. Paddy and I are mainly horse racing fans (and Seabiscuit has provided a lot of excitement for us this year) so we left a lot of the cheering to Crosetti. The finish was one of the most dramatic I have ever listened to. The famed racer Wilbur Shaw had over a one-lap lead near the end, but his engine started to leak oil. He was forced to slow down a little and the number two man, Ralph Hepburn, came after him for all he was worth. By the final lap of the race Hepburn had closed the distance to only being a few seconds away, but now that he no longer needed to coddle his car, Shaw gunned it and took the win. The announcer gave him a time of 2.16 seconds over Hepburn, which Crosetti tells me is a new record[size=-2][5][/size].
5 June: Peter and I managed to arrange a nice surprise for Konrad. We were able to convince the Coca-Cola Company back in the States that the Muslim population here is a burgeoning market for soft drinks that is just waiting to be tapped. They sent a representative (from one of their German plants, as it turned out) over to interview local businessmen to see what, if anything, they might want to do to expand their market share out here. It worked out well that the Coca-Cola representative was from Germany, as he and Konrad got along like gangbusters. Konrad convinced him that Golmud could drink all the Coca-Cola they could ship out here, but their agent said it might be preferable to just simply construct a small bottling plant in the city instead. In the after-hours of the evening we had a discussion on what sort of tariffs either Chiang or the Japanese might impose if ingredients to be used by such a bottling plant had to be shipped in instead of being produced locally. Peter was of the opinion that if the French can maintain their rail link between Hanoi and Yunnan, it might be better to handle all traffic that way instead of shipping via Shanghai. There was also a little discussion on the current political climate in Germany. The representative mentioned that he might actually move here himself to manage the plant if Coca-Cola decides to open one since he doesn’t like what is currently happening in his country. There was a semi-private conversation that followed between him and Konrad as I still don’t know that much German, a conversation that seemed to leave Konrad especially moody. My instincts told me not to press him on it but I could see that there were things that bothered him. Coca-Cola arranged to have their man arrive here by aeroplane, so he’ll get to leave the same way, the lucky devil. We all wished him well on his return trip.
6 June: Konrad seemed his usual self today, but I asked Jie to try and keep an eye on him just the same. Spent a little time shooting craps with Paddy and Crosetti but left early as dice games aren’t as interesting to me as card games- I prefer skill over luck, especially if money is to be wagered.
20 June: The World’s Fair for 1937 is running in Paris for the next few months under the title Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. I’m very disappointed I will be missing it since I’m out here. Even if I wanted to leave, there is no way for me to get there in time before the Fair shuts down due to the remoteness of Golmud. Now that the airstrip is under construction, I might see some passenger service out here one day, but that day is not yet come. From what I’ve heard the Fair has been a real cultural war between Germany and the USSR, each one trying to outdo the other with their accomplishments. So these two sides are fighting peacefully in Paris and fighting each other by proxy in Spain. The things that can happen in the world never cease to amaze me. I heard a rumor that Germany was going to decline to participate this year, but that their chief architect Albert Speer somehow managed to get a sneak peak of the pavilion design for the USSR and was then able to convince the Chancellor that Germany should come since he could then guarantee that the German pavilion would be the most grandiose one there. From what I’ve seen from the papers that make their way out here, Speer certainly succeeded.
[size=-2]The Paris Exposition featuring the German pavilion on the far left
and the Soviet pavilion on the far right[/size]
A wire from my mother tells me her cultural circles are all abuzz about the new work the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso is debuting at the Fair. I could take or leave his work, but he’s aces in her book. Despite the travails of their ongoing civil war, the Spanish Republican government still managed to get a pavilion running. Picasso’s big showing is his new work entitled Guernica, named after a town in Spain that has seen some severe bombing thanks to the Condor Legion. Going by the commander’s report, the Junkers involved in the attack essentially started dropping their bombs indiscriminately as they were unable to properly identify their targets thanks to the smoke that was obscuring the city due to the earlier aerial attacks. Many civilians had gone to the center of town as it was a market day and were slaughtered. Guernica is a key city on the route to Bilbao in the north, but it is unclear why this area was attacked as the Nationalist forces have had the entire region secured under their control for quite some time. Both Franco and the commander of the Condor Legion have denied all knowledge of ordering the attack, and of course the stories being told by the military and civilian authorities are completely at odds with each other. The truth of the matter will probably never be known. Picasso’s work will remain as a mute testimony to the madness of war.
[size=-2]Guernica by Pablo Picasso[/size]Canada had its pavilion there too, featuring work by our own artist Joseph-Émile Brunet. Brunet is best known for making large bronze sculptures and this outing was no exception. The centerpiece was an 8 1/2 meter statue of a buffalo. While apropos, I suppose, it might be nicer if Canada became well-known for other things than just the wildlife.
---
[size=-2]Editor’s Notes:
1. Groundbreaking Jan 21, 1930, dedication May 1, 1931
2. The `Half Way to Hell` Club was known to have 19 members, but a complete list of their names was never published
3. Conditions at the top of the spire proved too windy to make it safe to moor Zeppelins and this usage soon was abandoned. The spire would later be adapted as a television tower
4. Ford’s initial worker salary was $5 a day. By 1937 this was up to $6 a day, but the UAW wanted an increase to $8 a day
5. A record which stood until Gordon Johncock beat Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds in 1982[/size]
[post=13318338]Forward to next Update[/post]
[post=13252269]Back to previous Update[/post]
1937, Spring - Triumphs and Tragedies
[/size]
[size=-2]May issue featuring the new Golden Gate Bridge[/size]
20 April: The Americans have had dedication ceremonies for the new Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, which cuts off the bay and connects that city with Marin County to the north. If you imagined taking your right hand and almost making a circle with your thumb and index finger (but not touching), then San Francisco Bay would be the interior of the circle, emptying out into the Pacific Ocean to the left. Your thumb would be the city and your finger Marin County, with the bridge crossing your finger and thumb. This is the first bridge connecting San Francisco with the `mainland`, as it were. Previously the city was served entirely by ferries, the major one being owned by the Southern Pacific railroad. Not wanting to lose business (obviously) the railroad opposed construction of the bridge, and the American Navy also opposed it from fears it would obstruct ship traffic into the bay. After the eventual approval of the bridge, the Navy then wanted to have it painted in black and yellow stripes to make it more visible to shipping. Can you imagine?
The bridge has been under construction since 1933, making this project incredibly fast to build, just like when they erected the Empire State Building in New York in record time[size=-2][1][/size]. One of the things attributed to this speed was the fact that gigantic safety nets were strewn all about the bridge as it was going up to catch any workers that might fall. If a steel worker feels completely safe, then they are more productive. Peter tells me that the costs for the bridge went over $35 million, and there is a rough rule of thumb that you can expect one worker killed for every million spent on a massive project like this. As the bridge neared completion, thanks to the nets the rule had been soundly beaten with only one worker killed in a fall, but then a disaster struck. Ten men fell when part of their scaffolding came loose, and the combination of the weight of the men plus the scaffolding caused the nets to break and the men were killed. Other men who went into the nets and survived over the course of construction formed an unofficial group of sorts called the `Half Way to Hell` Club[size=-2][2][/size].
[size=-2]Men from the informal `Half Way to Hell` Club[/size]
24 April: Spent my birthday down at The Americaine. Paddy and Crosetti finally indulged me and Peter and tried to give a go of bridge, but it didn’t play out well despite their best efforts. I took pity on them and changed the activities to shooting craps before they got too miserable. I was very surprised to see that Jie had made me some moon cakes to eat. These cakes are pastries with a bean filling that typically get eaten during a festival in the fall, so it is very unusual to see them out of that context. I’m not a big fan of bean paste but I ate the cakes wholeheartedly as I was very touched by the gesture.
26 April: I had a meeting with the chief strongmen of the Ma Clique today. Thuggish-looking men came to get me in the early morning hours so naturally I thought I was in some sort of trouble, but they took me to the main government building here in Golmud and Ma Hongkui himself was waiting for me outside. It seems that word of my visit with Chiang Kai-shek had gotten back to them so they were curious to see who I was. I also discovered that during their researches on me they found out about my connection back to Henry, but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Ma Hongkui had his wife with him, who was wearing a black armband to honor those killed during the Tibetan attack.
[size=-2]Ma Hongkui and his wife[/size]
Hongkui took me inside where I was ushered into a small conference room that held the four Mas and a secretary of some sort who took copious notes during our meeting. They obviously knew I spoke Mandarin as no communication took place at all in English, not even to exchange courtesies. We spoke for several hours and then adjourned for lunch, after which I was dismissed and sent back to my hotel. During the session I was able to learn a bit about the Mas. Chiang has given them pretty wide authority and they are essentially running the region as if it was a small country (and from what I understand, many other regions are operating the same). From the way the others deferred to him, I got the idea that Ma Hongkui was essentially in charge even though he himself never said as much. Ma Hongbin is running Intelligence operations and handling both internal and external security issues as I had already discovered. I tried to draw out some information about Frank Cho and much to my surprise, Hongbin actually came out and admitted Frank had been a spy under orders to stir up trouble with Mongolia. I then wanted to find out why it was so important that there *was* trouble with Mongolia, and the answer surprised me. Hongkui told me that there was a danger that the Hui Chinese here were too far away from China’s real enemies to keep up a lingering sense of fear in the populace. Without that fear, they would be unwilling to support the measures necessary for the upcoming struggles. This was apparently a slip-up of some kind, as he wouldn’t divulge any other information when I tried to press him for details on exactly what kind of struggle he was envisioning.
Ma Buqing is acting as head of the local armed forces as well as well as specifically managing the local army. This surprised me somewhat since his younger brother Ma Bufang has far more experience in direct combat against both Tibetans and Mongols. So instead of having a high-ranking Army position, he is currently serving as head of the Navy and Air Force, even though there are no military aeroplanes here and of course no ships of any kind. With the overall seriousness of the men in the room, I declined the opportunity to make some kind of jest about that situation. Bufang asked me several questions about my experience during the engagement with the Tibetans and I told him all he wanted. Then I had one of the shocks of my life- he made a motion to the secretary who dashed out of the room and came back with another man who had my discarded camera, of all things! It was totally ruined, of course, but I nevertheless thanked them for the courtesy of seeing it returned to me. I decided not to try and press them for details on why there seemed to be no ongoing military action whatsoever against the Tibetans, who are still camped close to the city.
Well, as I wrote earlier, they were very keen to question me on my relationships with Chiang and Henry. They especially wanted to know if Henry might ever be willing to tell the American Congress to start giving their support to a leader here other than Chiang- without specifically mentioning whom, of course. There were more than enough things left unsaid and shifty glances exchanged that I am sure something is in the wind vis-à-vis Chiang, but what that is, I could not say. I know from Henry that Chiang himself is getting progressively more worried about the Japanese, but there is no sense of that amongst these men.
I did get one positive outcome before they dismissed me. I led them to believe that I could easily get anything I wanted printed in either Time or LIFE magazine, so I essentially offered them free press. This went over really well and I got the idea that I might get greater access to government personnel in the future if they think I’m about to write an article on it. Hongkui made a bit of a joke that he takes a much better picture than Chiang, but that seemed to be filled with more meaning than I think he intended. Of course, he might be one of those `I know that you know that I know` types who never does anything by accident, so I’ll have to be careful what I say if we have any other encounters in the future. Anyway the truth is Henry obviously won’t print anything he isn’t truly happy with, so I will just keep my fingers crossed that the Mas don’t expect to see themselves in the news any time soon.
6 May: A horrible accident has occurred back in the States. The German dirigible Hindenburg, the largest one ever built, had its tail catch fire shortly before landing. Due to the hydrogen gas used to fill it, the whole thing caught fire in seconds and dozens of people were killed. Ironically, the owners were very well aware of the dangers of hydrogen and had intended to fill it with inert helium gas instead. However, only the Americans are producing enough helium at the moment to make it commercially viable to use in a dirigible, and the military embargo in place due to their Neutrality Acts have made it unavailable for Germany.
[video=youtube;F54rqDh2mWA] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F54rqDh2mWA [/video]
This event will certainly be a turning point in the history of commercial aviation. It has only been 10 years since Colonel Lindbergh made his famous solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic. Dirigibles had been a strong stopgap measure as winged aircraft continued to make advances in range and capacity... they have been popular enough in their heyday that even buildings like the Empire State in New York have been designed to accommodate them[size=-2][3][/size]. I’ve never been in one myself, but it looks like I may never have the chance now.
26 May: A major riot of sorts has taken place back in the States. I believe I’ve mentioned already that Henry Ford has remained old-fashioned in outlook as time marches on. One of his ultra-conservative views is to try and keep unions out of his plants as much as possible as he sees them as being harmful to productivity. The history of the Ford Motor Company has proved him correct in a way. He started out by offering the highest wages possible under the theory that the best wages attract the best workers, who will then give him the most profitable company. In order to compete with him, rival automakers were forced to raise their wages as well, and the standard of living for all the auto workers increased. So initially, free market principles worked out just as good for everyone as their proponents like to claim.
Ford’s generosity has kept his company union-free for some time, but the United Auto Workers are trying to unionize his plant and demand salary increases that Ford views as unreasonable[size=-2][4][/size]. Some UAW organizers went out to take publicity photos near a Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan, where they were accosted by Ford security personnel. These security officers proceeded to beat men and women alike with no provocation and the Dearborn police allegedly stood by and did nothing. Even though multiple witnesses have made statements to the contrary, Ford executives still claim that no union personnel were specifically targeted. The whole incident is already being called the `Battle of the Overpass`.
30 May: Sent a wire to my parents to congratulate them on the occasion of their 40th wedding anniversary. I know it troubles them that I have remained a bachelor all this time, but marriage just hasn’t felt right to me. I enjoy travelling far too much to think of trying to start a family, and besides, I haven’t found anyone as yet that really takes my fancy. Later in the evening I went down to the public house to discuss these things with Jie, and she seemed to get remarkably upset to hear my views. I guess you just never know what will upset a dame.
[size=-2]Jean-Paul Theriaux and Evelyn Fisher at their wedding in 1897[/size]
31 May: Stayed up late with a lot of the expats at The Americaine to listen to the Indianapolis 500 race on the wireless. Paddy and I are mainly horse racing fans (and Seabiscuit has provided a lot of excitement for us this year) so we left a lot of the cheering to Crosetti. The finish was one of the most dramatic I have ever listened to. The famed racer Wilbur Shaw had over a one-lap lead near the end, but his engine started to leak oil. He was forced to slow down a little and the number two man, Ralph Hepburn, came after him for all he was worth. By the final lap of the race Hepburn had closed the distance to only being a few seconds away, but now that he no longer needed to coddle his car, Shaw gunned it and took the win. The announcer gave him a time of 2.16 seconds over Hepburn, which Crosetti tells me is a new record[size=-2][5][/size].
5 June: Peter and I managed to arrange a nice surprise for Konrad. We were able to convince the Coca-Cola Company back in the States that the Muslim population here is a burgeoning market for soft drinks that is just waiting to be tapped. They sent a representative (from one of their German plants, as it turned out) over to interview local businessmen to see what, if anything, they might want to do to expand their market share out here. It worked out well that the Coca-Cola representative was from Germany, as he and Konrad got along like gangbusters. Konrad convinced him that Golmud could drink all the Coca-Cola they could ship out here, but their agent said it might be preferable to just simply construct a small bottling plant in the city instead. In the after-hours of the evening we had a discussion on what sort of tariffs either Chiang or the Japanese might impose if ingredients to be used by such a bottling plant had to be shipped in instead of being produced locally. Peter was of the opinion that if the French can maintain their rail link between Hanoi and Yunnan, it might be better to handle all traffic that way instead of shipping via Shanghai. There was also a little discussion on the current political climate in Germany. The representative mentioned that he might actually move here himself to manage the plant if Coca-Cola decides to open one since he doesn’t like what is currently happening in his country. There was a semi-private conversation that followed between him and Konrad as I still don’t know that much German, a conversation that seemed to leave Konrad especially moody. My instincts told me not to press him on it but I could see that there were things that bothered him. Coca-Cola arranged to have their man arrive here by aeroplane, so he’ll get to leave the same way, the lucky devil. We all wished him well on his return trip.
6 June: Konrad seemed his usual self today, but I asked Jie to try and keep an eye on him just the same. Spent a little time shooting craps with Paddy and Crosetti but left early as dice games aren’t as interesting to me as card games- I prefer skill over luck, especially if money is to be wagered.
20 June: The World’s Fair for 1937 is running in Paris for the next few months under the title Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. I’m very disappointed I will be missing it since I’m out here. Even if I wanted to leave, there is no way for me to get there in time before the Fair shuts down due to the remoteness of Golmud. Now that the airstrip is under construction, I might see some passenger service out here one day, but that day is not yet come. From what I’ve heard the Fair has been a real cultural war between Germany and the USSR, each one trying to outdo the other with their accomplishments. So these two sides are fighting peacefully in Paris and fighting each other by proxy in Spain. The things that can happen in the world never cease to amaze me. I heard a rumor that Germany was going to decline to participate this year, but that their chief architect Albert Speer somehow managed to get a sneak peak of the pavilion design for the USSR and was then able to convince the Chancellor that Germany should come since he could then guarantee that the German pavilion would be the most grandiose one there. From what I’ve seen from the papers that make their way out here, Speer certainly succeeded.
[size=-2]The Paris Exposition featuring the German pavilion on the far left
and the Soviet pavilion on the far right[/size]
A wire from my mother tells me her cultural circles are all abuzz about the new work the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso is debuting at the Fair. I could take or leave his work, but he’s aces in her book. Despite the travails of their ongoing civil war, the Spanish Republican government still managed to get a pavilion running. Picasso’s big showing is his new work entitled Guernica, named after a town in Spain that has seen some severe bombing thanks to the Condor Legion. Going by the commander’s report, the Junkers involved in the attack essentially started dropping their bombs indiscriminately as they were unable to properly identify their targets thanks to the smoke that was obscuring the city due to the earlier aerial attacks. Many civilians had gone to the center of town as it was a market day and were slaughtered. Guernica is a key city on the route to Bilbao in the north, but it is unclear why this area was attacked as the Nationalist forces have had the entire region secured under their control for quite some time. Both Franco and the commander of the Condor Legion have denied all knowledge of ordering the attack, and of course the stories being told by the military and civilian authorities are completely at odds with each other. The truth of the matter will probably never be known. Picasso’s work will remain as a mute testimony to the madness of war.
[size=-2]Guernica by Pablo Picasso[/size]
---
[size=-2]Editor’s Notes:
1. Groundbreaking Jan 21, 1930, dedication May 1, 1931
2. The `Half Way to Hell` Club was known to have 19 members, but a complete list of their names was never published
3. Conditions at the top of the spire proved too windy to make it safe to moor Zeppelins and this usage soon was abandoned. The spire would later be adapted as a television tower
4. Ford’s initial worker salary was $5 a day. By 1937 this was up to $6 a day, but the UAW wanted an increase to $8 a day
5. A record which stood until Gordon Johncock beat Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds in 1982[/size]
[post=13318338]Forward to next Update[/post]
[post=13252269]Back to previous Update[/post]
Last edited:
great stuff as usual, really like the way you're taking this leisurely and mixing up in-game events with the wider narrative
Very informative on the period (I also liked your previous battle post). Those Nazi and Soviet pavilions look amazing.
Will the Japs make it to Xibei San Ma?
Will the Japs make it to Xibei San Ma?
Thank you both! I'm almost surprised that the designers didn't try to outdo the Eiffel Tower itself.
Hehe... well, I don't want to give anything away!
The Mas are muslim, right? 'Cos Ma Hongkui sure looks like he's trying to emulate Buddha...
Great mix of world news and local events. Oh, and Terry really is rather clueless when it comes to the opposite sex, isn't he? Even as a confirmed bachelor, he ought to have some suspicions about Jie's interests...
Great mix of world news and local events. Oh, and Terry really is rather clueless when it comes to the opposite sex, isn't he?
Even as a confirmed bachelor, he ought to have some suspicions about Jie's interests...
Maybe we should worry more on the Tibetans who are at the gates
Hehehe... maybe we can use that as the pitch for a new Jude Law movie? Luckily for the Mas the Tibetan economy is so poor the number of enemy divisions that have to be faced is unlikely to ever be on the increase.
Luckily for him 'moderation' isn't one of the Five Pillars!
Great mix of world news and local events. Oh, and Terry really is rather clueless when it comes to the opposite sex, isn't he?
Pretty oblivious, yeah. Some people only see what they expect to see and can overlook what should seem obvious...
Last edited:
[size=+1]
[size=-2]August issue highlighting Transatlantic travel[/size]
4 July: So much has happened today that I don’t even know where to begin, although `begin at the beginning` is usually sound advice. Nearly all the expats were down at The Americaine to have impromptu celebrations of sorts for the Independence of the United States. The main activities focused on lots of drinking (of course) and we were able to catch the latest Marx Brothers movie that had come out last month back there. This one has Groucho playing a horse doctor who ends up becoming the head of a regular hospital. Naturally, hijinks ensue. The Marx Brothers are always good for laughs, but I am more of a Chaplain man, myself. Of course, my mother is the *real* Chaplain fan in the family.
[size=-2]Movie poster from A Day at the Races
(image courtesy MGM studios)[/size]
After the movie we were doing more drinking and listening to music on the wireless when an announcement came in that Amelia Earhart, the famous aviatrix, was officially missing. Earhart was following in the footsteps of Wiley Post, who was the first man to fly around the world with his navigator Harold Gatty back in June of `31, and then became the first man to fly solo in July of `33. Earhart was travelling on what was likely the most dangerous leg of her journey with navigator Fred Noonan. The leg started in New Guinea and was to end at Howland Island in the Pacific. I had to pull out a map to see where exactly Howland Island is, as I’d never heard of it before. It lies almost dead center on a line between New Guinea and Hawaii and perhaps a bit south of that line. Certainly a very dangerous location to be in if you are low on petrol as there is nowhere else to go should you fail to find the island[size=-2][1][/size].
Earhart has had quite an impressive career, although one that perhaps didn’t quite develop as she might have wished. She married her promoter, George Putnam, and he has done his best to keep her face in the news as much as possible. I remember back in `28 there was much made in the papers of her being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, even though she was actually just a passenger and the whole trip was arranged as a publicity stunt. She did do the flight solo herself though in `32 which made her not only the first woman but only the second person after Colonel Lindbergh to make the trip solo. I would guess that she might have been happier if her career would have remained focused on her real achievements and not the corny headlines drummed up by Putnam. I think he even had her endorsing automobiles at one point, with some sort of oddball name like the `Terraplane` or some such.
Based on what happened later in this same evening, there was some talk in the public house that perhaps the Japanese could be suspected of some sort of foul play, but that is all wild supposition at this point.
No sooner were we discussing this piece of news than we had another shock. The newscast on Earhart was interrupted by a local emergency announcement. The Japanese Army stationed in Manchuria has garrisons that are literally right outside the gates of Peking. Their camp is across a bridge that is known as the Marco Polo Bridge[size=-2][2][/size] in the West but is known as Lugouqiao to the Chinese, which means `Moon Over the Lugou Bridge at Dawn`. The newscaster was very unclear on the details of what happened, but the summary of it all is that some sort of flare-up between the rival garrisons at Peking is escalating into full-scale war. The announcement concluded with Chiang addressing the nation with a statement that further Japanese aggressions toward China will no longer be tolerated and the new watchword is resistance to the last man.
I can’t see how this is going to go well. Peking is at the edge of Shaanxi province, which is another of these areas that is largely self-governing. So troops under Chiang’s direct control are stationed well away from the new front lines. I believe that the forces in Shaanxi province proper have also been badly laid out for an attack against Japan. The Empire has several advantages going for it in a wider war with China. While some of the industry is located in the western regions, most of China’s population is concentrated in the river deltas and the coasts, and most of the best farmland is along the major rivers, too. Thanks to its naval power, which is known to be formidable, Japan should be in a position to seize these areas quickly. In a long-term war, Chiang will likely be forced to retreat to the west and hole up in the mountains. He could conceivably defend these areas for a long time, but being on defense doesn’t necessarily win wars. The plan would have to be that the Japanese would give up, but you can ask the Koreans and Manchus how well that plan works.
[size=-2]Chinese forces were unprepared to face Japanese aggression[/size]
The biggest short-term worry is the potential loss of Peking. With the Japanese Army in such proximity the city will effectively be under siege immediately. With a bold attack it might fall into their hands before I even finish writing this. Needless to say, the mood quickly soured in the public house and the military men who were there departed right away to get back to their posts. Konrad decided to shut down early tonight.
5 July: A formal announcement came in on the wireless that Germany has signed a treaty of alliance with Japan. The diplomat who made the pronouncement talked about the Berlin-Tokyo Axis about which the world will turn, which sounded silly to me since those cities don’t lie on a line about which the world *could* turn. A needless quibble, I’m sure, but it bothers me as a writer! This treaty is a bit odd for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it goes against the strong traditions of Sino-German cooperation that have been running since the Great War. I would be willing to bet the government in Berlin didn’t consult their own businessmen before they made this deal. This leads me to suspect also that Berlin must be convinced that Japan will either defeat Chiang quickly, or else that Japan can act as a bulwark in the east in case Stalin takes some unexpected action. That ties into the other reason I find this alliance odd, since Germany and Japan are not in any sort of position to help each other militarily in any real capacity. About all they can do is attack the USSR from both sides if some sort of general war breaks out.
If I was going to add a third reason from the German point of view, it would be that this is bound to start souring their relationship with the United States. The Western powers have been full of criticism ever since Japan moved into Manchuria back in the early 30s (which led to Japanese withdrawal from the League of Nations). So far of course it has only been just criticism, but now this will attach to Germany as well by association. I mentioned before that the States are limiting their exports of materiel like helium... if Japan becomes the subject of a wider embargo, Germany will likely get the same. Again, not a move that is likely to be in their best long-term interests.
18 July: Recruitment notices have been going up around town to encourage men to join the infantry, so it looks like the Mas are finally committing to getting some more boots on the ground, as it were. I managed to get a nice shot of the training camp that was erected outside of town, but the negatives must have already been spoiled somewhat before I even stuck the film in my camera, as the quality of the pictures I developed was way below what I’d need to get them used in LIFE. The expats at The Americaine said they looked fine, but they’re not photographers. Maybe I am being too hard on myself but it seems like I should have been able to get the photos to be crisper.
[size=-2]New infantry recruits training near Golmud[/size]
While I was lamenting the state of my shots, Paddy came in with a crumpled telegram in his hand and a sad look on his face. After we got a beer in him it didn’t take much prompting to find out what was going on. It turns out Paddy is in love with a lady named Kathleen (it seems every Irish lady is named Kathleen, Colleen, or Bridget) whose parents also ended up in Pennsylvania after leaving Ireland when the War ended. Most of his love has been unrequited as Kathleen’s parents didn’t feel he earned enough money to be able to woo her. Part of the reason he took this assignment to come out to Golmud was to earn enough extra cash to be able to convince her father he was worthy. Apparently he struck a deal with the father that if he came up with enough bread to buy a house, the marriage would be allowed. All to the good so far, but now Paddy has just received a wire informing him that the family has received some kind of ancestral inheritance and are packing back up to move back to Ireland. He was clearly not in a mood to be consoled so we let him off by himself to drown his sorrows.
2 August: General Franco announced the end to the Civil War in Spain with a victory for his Nationalist forces. This comes as no surprise since the war was clearly over back in late May, with the Republicans holding only a small area near Gibraltar.
[size=-2]Franco formally announced victory, but the war was long since over[/size]
What happens next will be interesting. Franco’s principles align closely with the other authoritarian governments sitting in Berlin and Tokyo, so he seems like a perfect candidate to join their new `Axis` alliance. But Spain is largely in ruins following the war and it will need years to recover. Also, aside from the issue of Gibraltar, Spain has no particular axe to grind with the other major European powers such as France or the United Kingdom. If Franco allows himself to be pushed into a major war with them, the British could land at will anywhere along the Spanish coast while the French tie him down in the Pyrenees. I would suspect that if he is indeed recruited by Berlin, that it only happens at a point where the democratic powers are clearly in a losing position.
5 August: Chiang seems to have managed to stabilize the front, and not only that, pushed up a little into Manchuria using Peking as an anchor. It seems remarkable that the Japanese weren’t able to take this city on the first day of the war. This advance has come at a price, however, since it took every available division he had. Well, not quite every available division, because none of the men serving under the Mas have moved one centimeter! I’ve been able to use my association with Chiang and the Mas to get myself into meetings with quite a few of the top commanders in the area and what they have to say surprised me quite a bit, needless to say. It seems that Chiang has been sending telegrams back to Golmud for the last three weeks ordering the Mas to advance to the east and has been given no reply. And yesterday, a Colonel from his General Staff arrived in person to make the same request. The Colonel has been detained indefinitely but the commanders I spoke to couldn’t say why. They did say that they have been ordered to be ready to move out and are just waiting for the signal from Ma Buqing to do so.
[size=-2]Chinese armies have acquitted themselves well in the first month of war[/size]
10 August: I’m sleeping in a tent with Ma Bufang himself. After talking with the other commanders who assured me that some kind of action was due to take place soon, I went back and wrangled a meeting with Ma Hongkui. I asked him to attach me to a front-line unit so I could directly record the war against Japan. For some reason this made him laugh out loud, but he said he would grant my request. As a compromise between safety and being right at the front where I wanted, he placed me with Ma Bufang’s staff. Bufang has taken command of a two-brigade Cavalry division and is currently sited right at the edge of Ma territory, as are all of Buqing’s troops that aren’t screening Golmud from the Tibetans. I wouldn’t say I have any kind of a death-wish, but I feel badly about how I acquitted myself in the earlier battle and would like a chance to do better. I also sincerely feel that if these men are willing to risk their lives somebody should be there to tell their story. Jie seemed to get really upset when I told the regulars at The Americaine I would be gone for a while on the road. That response elicited little sympathy from the other men there and she was treated to a lot of eye-rolls and snickers. I felt terrible but was in too much of a hurry to get back to my hotel and pack to deal with it.
25 August: Our Cavalry division is racing to the south, with the Republic of China our enemy! Our immediate target is to reach Chungking. As the Cavalry forges a path ahead, the Infantry will back-fill the regions behind us to create a defensible line. The strategic goal is to slice off western China from Chiang’s control and form the anvil to the Japanese hammer. Chiang will be forced to fight a two-front war and gradually be squeezed out. This move surprised me, to say the least, although the signs of this betrayal were all there, going back months if I had been more observant. I had a brief discussion with Bufang this morning as he confided in me what our orders were just before the Cavalry moved out at dawn. I’ll try to jot down what I remember...
[size=-2]Chiang sent everything he had right at Japan, leaving him open for betrayal[/size]
`Chiang is weak and unfit to rule. In olden times we would say he has lost the Mandate of Heaven. He sends his generals like my brother and I out to fight his wars while he keeps the spoils of those wars for himself. `
`And Ma Hongkui has it, then? `
`It is never a question of having it so much as seizing it. Ma Hongkui has shared with us the full accounting of how much of the money that America sends to China ends up in Chiang’s hands alone. There has been discussion before on supplanting him, but the time has never been right. Chiang has ruled very cleverly. He gives each governor just enough power to do what needs to be done, but not so much that Chiang could not defeat them if they rebelled. And the governors will not consolidate to rise up against him since each one would want to be ruler if he could. With this new war going against Japan, there will not be enough forces left behind to confront us. The time is ripe. `
`But doesn’t that leave Hongkui facing off both Chiang *and* the Japanese? `, I felt compelled to ask.
`No. Hongkui has been making many secret trips to Peking to have discussions with the Japanese ambassador there. He has managed to convince them that attempting to take all of China is a fruitless task. They will get the coasts, of course, but they would be years fighting their way all through the west, and there is simply not enough here to make the task worthwhile. All of China’s finest cities are in the east. The Japanese care only for what will make them a great economic power which can surpass the nations of the West. Fighting their way to Golmud will not give that to them. `
Of course, I wasn’t done playing Devil’s Advocate: `How then is China any better off being ruled by Japan than ruled by Chiang? `
`Ma Hongkui is convinced it will not come to that. Much of China’s industry is located here in the western provinces, including Chungking, where we will make our base. Once we sweep up this territory, Chiang will see that it is hopeless and turn over control of the Republic to us. While the Japanese might have such places as Peking and Shanghai in their hands, most of China will still in fact be ours. We can then start the great task of reclaiming all of China- Manchuria, too, from the Japanese. Of course, even if you published this, we would just denounce it as lies, but the Japanese will know it to be true. Hongkui doesn’t expect them to honor any agreements any more than we expect them to. There is no honor among thieves when nations are at stake. If I used boxing terms, I would say we will divide up China between us in round one, and then look for the knockout blow in round two. But the advantage is ours. We know that in any great struggle between China and Japan the Western powers will support China. So even if we are the weaker, we will be able to call in powerful allies. We have had many discussions on this topic and our ultimate success is certain. ` Seeing my somewhat incredulous face he smiled and slapped me on the shoulder. `Just think, Terry, you can be the one to help chronicle China’s resurgence as the power she deserves to be. But first we ride! `
17 September: So far there has been no military action taken against us in our ride to the south, for which I am thankful. Ma Buqing timed the betrayal for a moment when Chiang would be entirely committed to facing off the Japanese. There is no strategic reserve anywhere in the country, so any division that comes back to face Ma troops is one that has to be pulled directly away from the fighting against the Japanese, which will only make Chiang fold the faster. And clearly the faster he folds the better it will be for China, since under their agreement with the Mas the Japanese will stop advancing (well, until they decide to betray China again, anyway). We’re closing on Chungking and should reach it soon.
[size=-2]Our division is nearly in reach of its goal[/size]
In every major town we pass through the troops post some broadsides announcing that Ma Hongkui is now the lawful head of the Republic of China, and that any orders coming from Nanking are to be ignored. They also clip the telegraph wires running east to help slow down communications.
[size=-2]Chinese peasants queue to read the news about their new masters[/size]
The peasants I’ve spoken to have taken the news with a lot of sang-froid as we say in French. Since the fall of the Qing dynasty such notices are common enough and have made little difference in their daily lives. Unless their situation actually improves many of them could care less what the man on the throne calls himself. Most of them are worried however about an invasion by Japan. I’ve done my best to assure them that the Emperor’s troops are still far away in Peking.
It’s been well over a month now since I’ve been in Golmud and I’m naturally curious as to how things are going back there. To my surprise I find myself missing little Jie more and more. Is this love? Most of my life I’ve been too busy to have any real relationship with a woman so these feelings are all new to me. There are no real friends around now I can discuss it with... and certainly not Ma Bufang! Ha! Military strongman and counselor... can you imagine?
---
[size=-2]Editor’s Notes:
1. In 2010 bone fragments thought to be Earhart’s or Noonan’s were found on Gardner Island, 400km to the south of Howland Island. Testing results on the fragments were inconclusive; however, similar fragments had been found there in 1940 and reported as coming from a man and a woman. These samples were sent to a British doctor in Fiji who tested them, but were lost afterward
2. So-called because Marco Polo wrote about a bridge at that site in his famous book about his travels in China. The bridge Polo visited was built in 1192 and washed away in the 1600s, the current bridge was built by one of the early Manchu Emperors shortly thereafter[/size]
[post=13372254]Forward to next Update[/post]
[post=13279444]Back to previous Update[/post]
1937, Summer - A Series of Unfortunate Events
[/size]
[size=-2]August issue highlighting Transatlantic travel[/size]
4 July: So much has happened today that I don’t even know where to begin, although `begin at the beginning` is usually sound advice. Nearly all the expats were down at The Americaine to have impromptu celebrations of sorts for the Independence of the United States. The main activities focused on lots of drinking (of course) and we were able to catch the latest Marx Brothers movie that had come out last month back there. This one has Groucho playing a horse doctor who ends up becoming the head of a regular hospital. Naturally, hijinks ensue. The Marx Brothers are always good for laughs, but I am more of a Chaplain man, myself. Of course, my mother is the *real* Chaplain fan in the family.
[size=-2]Movie poster from A Day at the Races
(image courtesy MGM studios)[/size]
After the movie we were doing more drinking and listening to music on the wireless when an announcement came in that Amelia Earhart, the famous aviatrix, was officially missing. Earhart was following in the footsteps of Wiley Post, who was the first man to fly around the world with his navigator Harold Gatty back in June of `31, and then became the first man to fly solo in July of `33. Earhart was travelling on what was likely the most dangerous leg of her journey with navigator Fred Noonan. The leg started in New Guinea and was to end at Howland Island in the Pacific. I had to pull out a map to see where exactly Howland Island is, as I’d never heard of it before. It lies almost dead center on a line between New Guinea and Hawaii and perhaps a bit south of that line. Certainly a very dangerous location to be in if you are low on petrol as there is nowhere else to go should you fail to find the island[size=-2][1][/size].
Earhart has had quite an impressive career, although one that perhaps didn’t quite develop as she might have wished. She married her promoter, George Putnam, and he has done his best to keep her face in the news as much as possible. I remember back in `28 there was much made in the papers of her being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, even though she was actually just a passenger and the whole trip was arranged as a publicity stunt. She did do the flight solo herself though in `32 which made her not only the first woman but only the second person after Colonel Lindbergh to make the trip solo. I would guess that she might have been happier if her career would have remained focused on her real achievements and not the corny headlines drummed up by Putnam. I think he even had her endorsing automobiles at one point, with some sort of oddball name like the `Terraplane` or some such.
[video=youtube;2yX83mJ-Wmk] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yX83mJ-Wmk[/video]
Based on what happened later in this same evening, there was some talk in the public house that perhaps the Japanese could be suspected of some sort of foul play, but that is all wild supposition at this point.
No sooner were we discussing this piece of news than we had another shock. The newscast on Earhart was interrupted by a local emergency announcement. The Japanese Army stationed in Manchuria has garrisons that are literally right outside the gates of Peking. Their camp is across a bridge that is known as the Marco Polo Bridge[size=-2][2][/size] in the West but is known as Lugouqiao to the Chinese, which means `Moon Over the Lugou Bridge at Dawn`. The newscaster was very unclear on the details of what happened, but the summary of it all is that some sort of flare-up between the rival garrisons at Peking is escalating into full-scale war. The announcement concluded with Chiang addressing the nation with a statement that further Japanese aggressions toward China will no longer be tolerated and the new watchword is resistance to the last man.
I can’t see how this is going to go well. Peking is at the edge of Shaanxi province, which is another of these areas that is largely self-governing. So troops under Chiang’s direct control are stationed well away from the new front lines. I believe that the forces in Shaanxi province proper have also been badly laid out for an attack against Japan. The Empire has several advantages going for it in a wider war with China. While some of the industry is located in the western regions, most of China’s population is concentrated in the river deltas and the coasts, and most of the best farmland is along the major rivers, too. Thanks to its naval power, which is known to be formidable, Japan should be in a position to seize these areas quickly. In a long-term war, Chiang will likely be forced to retreat to the west and hole up in the mountains. He could conceivably defend these areas for a long time, but being on defense doesn’t necessarily win wars. The plan would have to be that the Japanese would give up, but you can ask the Koreans and Manchus how well that plan works.
[size=-2]Chinese forces were unprepared to face Japanese aggression[/size]
The biggest short-term worry is the potential loss of Peking. With the Japanese Army in such proximity the city will effectively be under siege immediately. With a bold attack it might fall into their hands before I even finish writing this. Needless to say, the mood quickly soured in the public house and the military men who were there departed right away to get back to their posts. Konrad decided to shut down early tonight.
5 July: A formal announcement came in on the wireless that Germany has signed a treaty of alliance with Japan. The diplomat who made the pronouncement talked about the Berlin-Tokyo Axis about which the world will turn, which sounded silly to me since those cities don’t lie on a line about which the world *could* turn. A needless quibble, I’m sure, but it bothers me as a writer! This treaty is a bit odd for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it goes against the strong traditions of Sino-German cooperation that have been running since the Great War. I would be willing to bet the government in Berlin didn’t consult their own businessmen before they made this deal. This leads me to suspect also that Berlin must be convinced that Japan will either defeat Chiang quickly, or else that Japan can act as a bulwark in the east in case Stalin takes some unexpected action. That ties into the other reason I find this alliance odd, since Germany and Japan are not in any sort of position to help each other militarily in any real capacity. About all they can do is attack the USSR from both sides if some sort of general war breaks out.
If I was going to add a third reason from the German point of view, it would be that this is bound to start souring their relationship with the United States. The Western powers have been full of criticism ever since Japan moved into Manchuria back in the early 30s (which led to Japanese withdrawal from the League of Nations). So far of course it has only been just criticism, but now this will attach to Germany as well by association. I mentioned before that the States are limiting their exports of materiel like helium... if Japan becomes the subject of a wider embargo, Germany will likely get the same. Again, not a move that is likely to be in their best long-term interests.
18 July: Recruitment notices have been going up around town to encourage men to join the infantry, so it looks like the Mas are finally committing to getting some more boots on the ground, as it were. I managed to get a nice shot of the training camp that was erected outside of town, but the negatives must have already been spoiled somewhat before I even stuck the film in my camera, as the quality of the pictures I developed was way below what I’d need to get them used in LIFE. The expats at The Americaine said they looked fine, but they’re not photographers. Maybe I am being too hard on myself but it seems like I should have been able to get the photos to be crisper.
[size=-2]New infantry recruits training near Golmud[/size]
While I was lamenting the state of my shots, Paddy came in with a crumpled telegram in his hand and a sad look on his face. After we got a beer in him it didn’t take much prompting to find out what was going on. It turns out Paddy is in love with a lady named Kathleen (it seems every Irish lady is named Kathleen, Colleen, or Bridget) whose parents also ended up in Pennsylvania after leaving Ireland when the War ended. Most of his love has been unrequited as Kathleen’s parents didn’t feel he earned enough money to be able to woo her. Part of the reason he took this assignment to come out to Golmud was to earn enough extra cash to be able to convince her father he was worthy. Apparently he struck a deal with the father that if he came up with enough bread to buy a house, the marriage would be allowed. All to the good so far, but now Paddy has just received a wire informing him that the family has received some kind of ancestral inheritance and are packing back up to move back to Ireland. He was clearly not in a mood to be consoled so we let him off by himself to drown his sorrows.
2 August: General Franco announced the end to the Civil War in Spain with a victory for his Nationalist forces. This comes as no surprise since the war was clearly over back in late May, with the Republicans holding only a small area near Gibraltar.
[size=-2]Franco formally announced victory, but the war was long since over[/size]
What happens next will be interesting. Franco’s principles align closely with the other authoritarian governments sitting in Berlin and Tokyo, so he seems like a perfect candidate to join their new `Axis` alliance. But Spain is largely in ruins following the war and it will need years to recover. Also, aside from the issue of Gibraltar, Spain has no particular axe to grind with the other major European powers such as France or the United Kingdom. If Franco allows himself to be pushed into a major war with them, the British could land at will anywhere along the Spanish coast while the French tie him down in the Pyrenees. I would suspect that if he is indeed recruited by Berlin, that it only happens at a point where the democratic powers are clearly in a losing position.
5 August: Chiang seems to have managed to stabilize the front, and not only that, pushed up a little into Manchuria using Peking as an anchor. It seems remarkable that the Japanese weren’t able to take this city on the first day of the war. This advance has come at a price, however, since it took every available division he had. Well, not quite every available division, because none of the men serving under the Mas have moved one centimeter! I’ve been able to use my association with Chiang and the Mas to get myself into meetings with quite a few of the top commanders in the area and what they have to say surprised me quite a bit, needless to say. It seems that Chiang has been sending telegrams back to Golmud for the last three weeks ordering the Mas to advance to the east and has been given no reply. And yesterday, a Colonel from his General Staff arrived in person to make the same request. The Colonel has been detained indefinitely but the commanders I spoke to couldn’t say why. They did say that they have been ordered to be ready to move out and are just waiting for the signal from Ma Buqing to do so.
[size=-2]Chinese armies have acquitted themselves well in the first month of war[/size]
10 August: I’m sleeping in a tent with Ma Bufang himself. After talking with the other commanders who assured me that some kind of action was due to take place soon, I went back and wrangled a meeting with Ma Hongkui. I asked him to attach me to a front-line unit so I could directly record the war against Japan. For some reason this made him laugh out loud, but he said he would grant my request. As a compromise between safety and being right at the front where I wanted, he placed me with Ma Bufang’s staff. Bufang has taken command of a two-brigade Cavalry division and is currently sited right at the edge of Ma territory, as are all of Buqing’s troops that aren’t screening Golmud from the Tibetans. I wouldn’t say I have any kind of a death-wish, but I feel badly about how I acquitted myself in the earlier battle and would like a chance to do better. I also sincerely feel that if these men are willing to risk their lives somebody should be there to tell their story. Jie seemed to get really upset when I told the regulars at The Americaine I would be gone for a while on the road. That response elicited little sympathy from the other men there and she was treated to a lot of eye-rolls and snickers. I felt terrible but was in too much of a hurry to get back to my hotel and pack to deal with it.
25 August: Our Cavalry division is racing to the south, with the Republic of China our enemy! Our immediate target is to reach Chungking. As the Cavalry forges a path ahead, the Infantry will back-fill the regions behind us to create a defensible line. The strategic goal is to slice off western China from Chiang’s control and form the anvil to the Japanese hammer. Chiang will be forced to fight a two-front war and gradually be squeezed out. This move surprised me, to say the least, although the signs of this betrayal were all there, going back months if I had been more observant. I had a brief discussion with Bufang this morning as he confided in me what our orders were just before the Cavalry moved out at dawn. I’ll try to jot down what I remember...
[size=-2]Chiang sent everything he had right at Japan, leaving him open for betrayal[/size]
`Chiang is weak and unfit to rule. In olden times we would say he has lost the Mandate of Heaven. He sends his generals like my brother and I out to fight his wars while he keeps the spoils of those wars for himself. `
`And Ma Hongkui has it, then? `
`It is never a question of having it so much as seizing it. Ma Hongkui has shared with us the full accounting of how much of the money that America sends to China ends up in Chiang’s hands alone. There has been discussion before on supplanting him, but the time has never been right. Chiang has ruled very cleverly. He gives each governor just enough power to do what needs to be done, but not so much that Chiang could not defeat them if they rebelled. And the governors will not consolidate to rise up against him since each one would want to be ruler if he could. With this new war going against Japan, there will not be enough forces left behind to confront us. The time is ripe. `
`But doesn’t that leave Hongkui facing off both Chiang *and* the Japanese? `, I felt compelled to ask.
`No. Hongkui has been making many secret trips to Peking to have discussions with the Japanese ambassador there. He has managed to convince them that attempting to take all of China is a fruitless task. They will get the coasts, of course, but they would be years fighting their way all through the west, and there is simply not enough here to make the task worthwhile. All of China’s finest cities are in the east. The Japanese care only for what will make them a great economic power which can surpass the nations of the West. Fighting their way to Golmud will not give that to them. `
Of course, I wasn’t done playing Devil’s Advocate: `How then is China any better off being ruled by Japan than ruled by Chiang? `
`Ma Hongkui is convinced it will not come to that. Much of China’s industry is located here in the western provinces, including Chungking, where we will make our base. Once we sweep up this territory, Chiang will see that it is hopeless and turn over control of the Republic to us. While the Japanese might have such places as Peking and Shanghai in their hands, most of China will still in fact be ours. We can then start the great task of reclaiming all of China- Manchuria, too, from the Japanese. Of course, even if you published this, we would just denounce it as lies, but the Japanese will know it to be true. Hongkui doesn’t expect them to honor any agreements any more than we expect them to. There is no honor among thieves when nations are at stake. If I used boxing terms, I would say we will divide up China between us in round one, and then look for the knockout blow in round two. But the advantage is ours. We know that in any great struggle between China and Japan the Western powers will support China. So even if we are the weaker, we will be able to call in powerful allies. We have had many discussions on this topic and our ultimate success is certain. ` Seeing my somewhat incredulous face he smiled and slapped me on the shoulder. `Just think, Terry, you can be the one to help chronicle China’s resurgence as the power she deserves to be. But first we ride! `
17 September: So far there has been no military action taken against us in our ride to the south, for which I am thankful. Ma Buqing timed the betrayal for a moment when Chiang would be entirely committed to facing off the Japanese. There is no strategic reserve anywhere in the country, so any division that comes back to face Ma troops is one that has to be pulled directly away from the fighting against the Japanese, which will only make Chiang fold the faster. And clearly the faster he folds the better it will be for China, since under their agreement with the Mas the Japanese will stop advancing (well, until they decide to betray China again, anyway). We’re closing on Chungking and should reach it soon.
[size=-2]Our division is nearly in reach of its goal[/size]
In every major town we pass through the troops post some broadsides announcing that Ma Hongkui is now the lawful head of the Republic of China, and that any orders coming from Nanking are to be ignored. They also clip the telegraph wires running east to help slow down communications.
[size=-2]Chinese peasants queue to read the news about their new masters[/size]
The peasants I’ve spoken to have taken the news with a lot of sang-froid as we say in French. Since the fall of the Qing dynasty such notices are common enough and have made little difference in their daily lives. Unless their situation actually improves many of them could care less what the man on the throne calls himself. Most of them are worried however about an invasion by Japan. I’ve done my best to assure them that the Emperor’s troops are still far away in Peking.
It’s been well over a month now since I’ve been in Golmud and I’m naturally curious as to how things are going back there. To my surprise I find myself missing little Jie more and more. Is this love? Most of my life I’ve been too busy to have any real relationship with a woman so these feelings are all new to me. There are no real friends around now I can discuss it with... and certainly not Ma Bufang! Ha! Military strongman and counselor... can you imagine?
---
[size=-2]Editor’s Notes:
1. In 2010 bone fragments thought to be Earhart’s or Noonan’s were found on Gardner Island, 400km to the south of Howland Island. Testing results on the fragments were inconclusive; however, similar fragments had been found there in 1940 and reported as coming from a man and a woman. These samples were sent to a British doctor in Fiji who tested them, but were lost afterward
2. So-called because Marco Polo wrote about a bridge at that site in his famous book about his travels in China. The bridge Polo visited was built in 1192 and washed away in the 1600s, the current bridge was built by one of the early Manchu Emperors shortly thereafter[/size]
[post=13372254]Forward to next Update[/post]
[post=13279444]Back to previous Update[/post]
Last edited:
Author's Note:
In the interests of full disclosure, I have to mention that I edited the save file at this point. When the July incident fired, Communist China was my puppet. It is 100% essential to my long-term strategy that they don't get involved in the war with Japan at this early stage. In all of my dozens of test games, they always failed to honor the guarantee on Shaanxi. However, when the time came in this game, they handed a DoW to Japan! Right after this I fired up a fresh unmodded game to verify that I wasn't crazy and that there should have been no war... and right on cue, I got the expected behavior. So for some reason something in my mod changed how the AI responded to their guarantees. I had to fix this by going back to the start-of-the-month save and removing the Communist China guarantee on Shaanxi.
In the interests of full disclosure, I have to mention that I edited the save file at this point. When the July incident fired, Communist China was my puppet. It is 100% essential to my long-term strategy that they don't get involved in the war with Japan at this early stage. In all of my dozens of test games, they always failed to honor the guarantee on Shaanxi. However, when the time came in this game, they handed a DoW to Japan! Right after this I fired up a fresh unmodded game to verify that I wasn't crazy and that there should have been no war... and right on cue, I got the expected behavior. So for some reason something in my mod changed how the AI responded to their guarantees. I had to fix this by going back to the start-of-the-month save and removing the Communist China guarantee on Shaanxi.
A classic betrayal there.
It sounds like you have long term plans to take on the might of the Japanese. I hope the IC in Chungking is enough.
It sounds like you have long term plans to take on the might of the Japanese. I hope the IC in Chungking is enough.
A classic betrayal there.
It sounds like you have long term plans to take on the might of the Japanese. I hope the IC in Chungking is enough.
It isn't, but I have plans for that, too!
Minxian and Meishan are also decently stocked, but all of western China is basically seed money to try and start up a real economy.