Chapter 8: Eastern Expedition, Phase 3 and Analysis - November 14, 1941 to January 31, 1942
The success of the Eastern Expedition's main thrust had trapped 41 NRA divisions and HQs in the provinces of Hebei, Suiyuan, and Chahar. On December 2, 1941 the cleanup of the pocket began, with the first attack led by
Wang Jiaxiang, one of the
28 Bolsheviks, Chinese who studied in Russia at the
Moscow Sun Yat-sen University due to Sun Yat-sen's alliance with the CPC. Despite being the PRC's foreign minister, Wang was also a capable commander. As the PRC only had diplomatic relations with the Comintern, his role as foreign minister did not hamper his duties in the field.
Wang Jiaxiang begins clearing the northern pocket
By December 29 Wang's forces had surrounded a NRA militia division and by January 31, 1942 had finished clearing out the NRA soldiers from Hebei, Chahar, and Suiyan. At this point the campaign ended as a resounding success. The old capital Beiping (Beijing was renamed Beiping, meaning "northern peace" or "north pacified", in 1928 after Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition ended and Nanjing was selected as the capital) was secured, industrial areas acquired, the strategic situation changed from 2 fronts to 1, and the NRA lost 41 divisions. Now, the PLA could focus all of its resources into a single front and drive south to Nanjing.
The status of the Eastern Expedition on December 29, 1941
The status of the war in Europe on January 31, 1941
The operation was a resounding success. While considered highly ambitious even before it began and having suffered from early setbacks, the operation's final success was due to several factors. The first major factor was the Yellow River. The river provided natural protection against flanking attacks and prevented the thin line from being penetrated. The second main factor was the terrain. The bulk of the fighting took place in the Chinese Central Plains. All earlier combat had occurred in the western mountains and deserts, and the initial breakout occurred in terrain whose primary features were rivers or mountains. Such terrain heavily favored the defender and was the primary cause of the PLA's slow progress for the past 6 years.
The second major contribution to the campaign's success was the use of heavy artillery. While the NRA fielded a few large artillery pieces attached to its German-trained divisions, those troops were few in number and none were based in Hebei. As the campaign progressed, more and more heavy artillery regiments trained in Yan'an were deployed to the front, and by the end of Phase 2 there were 6 regiments operating at the front. The main use of heavy artillery during the campaign was to ensure that the NRA's entrenched soldiers couldn't fire upon the PLA troops advancing on their trenches. As a result, most of the fighting was reminiscent of scenes from WW1, as the PLA's heavy weapons would bombard the NRA positions while PLA shock troops advanced.
PLA artillerymen posing in front of their artillery piece during training
The third major contribution to the campaign's success was the PLA's massive investment in small arms technology. The weapon fielded by the PLA infantry was the
SVT-38, a semi-automatic rifle of Soviet design. Meanwhile, the NRA was using the
Hanyang 88 bolt-action rifle as their main infantry weapon, which was based on the old German Gewehr 1888 rifle. While still an effective weapon, the Hanyang 88 manufactured in the
Hanyang Arsenal located near Wuhan was vastly inferior to the SVT-38 built in Yan'an with Soviet assistance. Earlier, despite having a technological edge over its opponent, the PLA had to assault well-defended positions in the mountains and cross well-defended rivers. Out in the open plains of central China the NRA's terrain advantage was nullified, allowing their technological inferiority to be seen.
Finally, the quality of the PLA's courageous leaders was above and beyond any individual the corrupt NRA could find. Mountain division commanders
Chen Yi and
Nguyen Ai Quoc (better known as Ho Chi Minh) both proved to be exemplary commanders on the field, earning themselves the respect of even the Japanese and Europeans. Many other commanders distinguished themselves during the campaign, and the overall skill level of the PLA's leaders and officers was far above what the feeble NRA could field.
A look a the PLA's best generals
The campaign finally drew foreign attention to the People's Republic due to the liberation of Beijing. What was once considered a mere rebellion has now led to the creation of a local regional power. In reference, nations like Brazil, Turkey, and Romania were also considered regional powers. However, the internal political situation for the CPC was not doing well. The Chinese people were tiring from the long war, and as a result the CPC's popularity was either stable at around 25% or dropping depending on the war situation.
The Chinese Workers and Peasants Party was gaining popularity due to its similar political platform to the CPC but less radical sentiments and calls for a cease-fire. (
Author's note: War Exhaustion exists in the HOI3 engine but isn't used in vanilla or any mod but the HPP. War exhaustion increases by around 0.1 a month and has a negative effect on party popularity and raises neutrality, which is the cause of the low CPC popularity shown below.)
The cabinet of the PRC and a brief overview of the PRC's internal politics
Because of the CPC's declining popularity, Mao knew he had to win the war quickly or lose power to his Leninist opponents. To do so would require the capture of the KMT's capital of Nanjing. Mao estimated that after the loss of the northern provinces the KMT leadership could be forced to surrender if the PLA advanced to the Yangtze River. The Southern Campaign would at first begin with an attack into
Hubei province to the west, followed by attacks in
Shandong and southern
Henan. Afterward the PLA would slowly advance south, making sure to prepare between assaults and position itself to attack from multiple directions. The peninsula of Shandong was marked as a priority to cut off early and trap NRA soldiers in another pocket.
The global diplomatic situation.
Note that Greece is a member of the Allies and at war with Italy, but Italy is not at war with the rest of the faction.
A map showing the RoC's most important cities.
The plan for the Southern Campaign, showing where the first attacks will take place.
The campaign will end at the red line, the Yangtze River
