Chapter 15: Early Success - July 2, 1945 to October 2, 1945
Mao's declaration of war unleashed the PLA against the Entente Powers. While the Entente had long expected such a move, the situations in Europe, Iran, and Manchuria did not allow the Entente to properly fortify their borders with the PRC. Every available division in the Entente armies was focused on halting the Red Army's advance, and nothing could be spared to guard the borders of a neutral nation. The numerical inferiority of the Entente armies when compared to the PLA and Red Army would ultimately lead to the downfall of the imperialists.
Immediately after Mao's declaration of war, the elements of Army Group South assigned with liberating the concessions began their assaults. The French concession of Zhanjiang would be liberated after 2 days worth of combat. The island city of Hong Kong in the Pearl River Delta would only resist for 3 days. The battles stunned the PLA's leadership. All prior experience as well as intel reports predicted that the concessions would be able to hold out for at least a week. The fact that they fell within days, despite the defenders being well dug-in and prepared, was a shock to all. The battles emboldened the PLA and greatly disturbed the Entente, as they definitively showed that the PLA was not only equal to its western counterparts, but superior to them.
The concessions were liberated after 3 days of fighting.
Author's note: Wow, these ended really quickly. The shortest battles against the RoC lasted at least a week.
While the concessions were being forcibly returned to China, Army Group North advanced unopposed into Manchuria. The Mongolian puppet state Mengjiang quickly collapsed and Chahar province was liberated on July 8. Like the other fronts, the Entente had left the Manchurian border unprotected due to necessity, and the PLA advanced unopposed for the next month.
Japan's Mongolian puppet surrendered on July 8, after 6 days of hostilities
Meanwhile, due to a clerical error that delayed sending the orders, the PLAN was rebasing from Shanghai to the port city of Xiamen, where the corps slated to invade Taiwan was waiting. During the relocation a flotilla of Japanese destroyers was found and engaged. The destroyers damaged several of the empty transport ships and took some damage themselves, but escaped during the night. They were not pursued, and the transports reached Xiamen safely. The PLAN's old warships were then based out of Fuzhou, which was protected by 3 wings of PLAAF light fighter aircraft.
The PLAN's first naval engagement
After going several days without any Japanese air raids on the fleet, the light fighters based in Fuzhou performed scouting operations over the island. The goal was to determine whether an amphibious operation was feasible at time. Japanese naval patrols, troop positions, fortifications, and aircraft were observed over a period of several days before the decision was made to not conduct the invasion. While naval patrols were light, Japanese aircover not present, and only a token garrison in place, the damaged destroyers were in port along with one of Japan's
Kongo-class Battlecruisers, a light cruiser, and 6 more destroyers. The PLAN did not possess the capability of sinking the battlecruiser, which was fully capable of sinking the entire PLAN on its own. The PLA decided that, for the time being, the planned invasion of Taiwan would be postponed until conditions improved.
The Kongo-class Battlecruiser's presence in Taiwan meant any invasion was doomed to failure.
By August 5, Army Group North had finally encountered organized resistance in Manchuria. 30 Jun had encountered 17 Hoheishidan defending the city of Mukden. After 3 days of fighting, the city was liberated. Retaking Mukden was a major morale victory for the PLA, because Mukden was the site of the Mukden Incident, which resulted in Manchuria's separation from China and the formation of Manchukuo. Three days after the battle's end, another major battle was concluded. The Battle of Tsagaanuur in Mongolia was a major Japanese defeat, resulting in a complete halt of the Japanese advance into Mongolia. 2,500 PLA soldiers were KIA out of the 39,984 that participated, and 3,439 IJA soldiers were KIA out of the 59,790 that participated in the battle.
On August 8, Mukden was liberated after spending 14 years under Japanese control
Meanwhile, the Red Army's offensive in Europe had stalled after its crushing victory against Japanese-occupied Germany. The details are still unknown to this day, but after a successful push to the Dutch border a large portion of the IJA was trapped in Germany. Most estimates of Japanese losses point between 60 and 80 brigades were captured, leaving at most 20 brigades remaining in Europe.
The French were also active in the shadowy world of spies and saboteurs. Having slipped into China special agents, the Entente actively used covert operations to strike whenever an opportunity came up. On August 23, the research project aimed at designing better torpedoes was sabotaged, with much of the paperwork missing and equipment destroyed. The culprit was eventually found to be a KMT-sympathizer working for France.
French covert operations successfully sabotaged China's torpedo research program on August 23, 1945
Shortly after Mao's declaration of war, Stalin began to warm Moscow's frosty relations with Yan'an. Prior to July 2, Stalin did not want China to join the Communist International, because doing so would mean having to share any spoils of war with the Chinese. However, Mao's entrance into the war as a 3rd party and rapid advances into Manchuria threatened to give Mao more diplomatic capital any any post-war negotiations between China and the USSR. To preempt any near-future conflicts between the communist rivals, the USSR delivered an invitation to join the Comintern. While initially skeptical, Mao accepted the offer on August 24, 1945. Cooperating with the USSR would have several benefits, such as shared intelligence, research collaboration, and a guarantee that the USSR would return any Manchurian land it occupied. In addition, China could acquire raw materials needed for its industry at for no cost and would not have to fortify its borders with the Soviet Union.
China joined the Comintern on August 24, 1945.
Author's note: Sometimes the AI doesn't want to accept faction invites or the game engine doesn't auto-place a nation in a faction, so this is one of our 3 generic events to bring third parties at war with a faction into another faction that shares the same enemies. Putting Yugoslavia in the Allies when Italy declares war on it when Italy is also at war with the allies is one example of what the events are intended to do.
The war in India was until September 7 a dull affair. Crossing the Himalayan mountains was a slow process, and the poor infrastructure resulted in a poor supply situation. The first real event of the theater was the capture of Kathmandu and surrender of Nepal on September 7. The first battle of the Indian front began on September 17, as the 5th and 17th Indian Infantry Divisions engaged Bubing Di 54 Shi in Kathmandu. Fighting lasted several hours and ended in an Indian defeat.
The Battle of Kathmandu was India's first attempt to push the PLA back over the Himalayas
September 21 saw the first wave of imperialist reinforcements reach India. Egyptian troops were the first to arrive, and conducted a lengthy, costly, but ultimately successful counter-offensive in Leh. 1,326 out of 10,000 PLA soldiers were KIA, while 2,638 out of 33,477 Egyptian soldiers were KIA when the battle ended on October 1, 1945. Already the long supply chain was beginning to take its toll on PLA operations in the theater. However, the Indian front was mostly a diversion to force the Entente to shift troops from Iran east, weakening their defenses there. The main thrust into India would come from Burma by the troops originally slated to liberate Indochina, which remained neutral throughout the war.
The PLA's first major defeat was at the hands of Egyptian soldiers
The status of the European and Iranian fronts on October 2, 1945
The status of the Indian and Manchurian fronts on October 2, 1945
