로마는 하루아침에 이루어진 것이 아니다 ~ A Republic of Korea AAR.

[RV-Ye]

Chapter V: The Red Cyclone. (Part II)
"War is not only a matter of equipment, artillery, group troops or air force; it is largely a matter of spirit, or morale." - Chiang Kai-shek, former president of the Republic of China.
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Zhenbao Island, Republic of China. [Soviet-Chinese border, Ussuri River] ~ June 15th, 2019.

Even if the island was officially part of the Republic of China, it was guarded by ROK Army troops. The outpost received an influx of soldiers after the first border incident against a group of Soviet soldiers, the Soviet Union was still reluctant about recognizing Zhenbao Island as part of the Republic of China; therefore, small firefights took place since the defeat of the People's Republic of China.

However, the last one was in 2008, eleven years before.

The United States along Japan were quick in their condemnations against the Soviet Union, however, Korea chose to answer in a different way. More troops were sent towards the border with the Soviet Union and several units were deployed to Zhenbao Island; Soo-young's unit was one of those sent towards the island to fight off the Soviets.

The international community declared their support towards Korea and the Republic of China, however, they also insisted on peaceful measures to solve the incident at the border. One of the few countries supporting the Soviet Union was the Worker's Republic of China, claiming that the South Chinese-Korean occupation of mainland China was illegal and accusing them as imperialists.

There were fears about the situation escalating towards a state of war between the Republic of China and the Republic of Korea against the Soviet Union and possibly the Worker's Republic of China, Japanese naval actions near the Kuril Islands along the deployment of an American carrier group didn't help to solve the situation.

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Blood-stained Indochina. - Min Ji-hyo.

Soldiers from Laos participating in the defense of the capital.
​

While the bulk of the Vietnamese forces was fighting at Laos, fewer units but with heavy support from the Soviet Union were moving against Cambodia. It was a swift operation, however, the resistance in both countries was quite strong. Their morale was crumbling and their armies weren't as efficient as the Soviet-trained and supplied Vietnamese soldiers, but they were decided to avoid the collapse of their countries.

In Laos, the whole operation was going better, their army was caught by surprise and a coordinated attack launched by Pathet Lao militias wore down the defending forces. Eventually, when the Vietnamese army arrived the situation was already in favor of Vietnam, however, that was mainly at the border, as they got closer to Vientiane the Laotian Army started to fight in such a ferocious way. Militias suddenly joined the army in the defence of their capital using everything at their disposal; farming tools, kitchen knives, spears, everything available to them suddenly turned into a weapon to fight the invaders.

Neither the Soviets nor the Vietnamese were aware of China's actions, Mao was really worried about having a united Indochina leaning towards Moscow, eventually, they started to supply weapons to several groups within Laos in order to slow down the invasion. Their main objective was wearing down the Vietnamese Army through guerrillas, that way Vietnam would remain focused on them instead of making further plans against Thailand or even China.

The battle of Lumphat was the first attempt of the Vietnamese-Soviet forces to breach Cambodia's borders, estimated numbers are: 30,000 Vietnamese soldiers with Soviet tank support against 24,000 soldiers from Cambodia. The fight lasted almost two weeks, eventually thanks to their tank support, Vietnam prevailed in the battlefield.
​

Almost all the Vietnamese Army was focused on fighting against Laos, the generals were worried about sending most of the troops towards Cambodia and risking (even if it was impossible) Hanoi and the north of the country if Laotian resistance managed to beat the army. In order to compensate their lack of troops at the southern border, they asked the Soviet forces deployed at the country to join the fight against Cambodia. Eventually, the Soviet Troika gave a green light to the Soviet Intervention Force, it wasn't a big force in numbers but they were well-equipped and they provided the Vietnamese Army a stronger firepower, making them capable of beating the Cambodian Army with fewer casualties than those sustained in the fight against Laos.

Eventually, the obsession about taking Vientiane caused a setback for the Vietnamese forces as on July 5th, the town of Dong Hoi fell on Laotian hands. Those troops were the ones fleeing from the catastrophic defeat at the capital, eventually, taking Dong Hoi allowed them to capture some supplies from the Vietnamese Army and they were able to cut the country in two. The Vietnamese forces fighting against Cambodia were left without supply, several historians speculate that had they kept Dong Hoi Vietnam would have been forced to finish up their invasion of both countries.

Taking Dong Hoi could have been the golden chance to bring down the Vietnamese invasion of Laos and Cambodia, however, after attacking their rear the Laotian troops were prey of the panic and they withdrew.
​

Unfortunately for Laos, after an attack on their rear, the Laotian units panicked and left Dong Hoi. The morale of the whole country was crushed under the Vietnamese boots, the government gave up and the army dissolved. Some soldiers chose to fight on as guerrillas but most of them chose to surrender, leaving behind their weapons and trying to adapt to the new situation of their nation.

After finishing up with Laos, it was evident that Cambodia would fall, the first battle of Lumphat finished on July 9th with estimated casualties at: 1,000 for Vietnam and their Soviet allies while Cambodia suffered 3,000 casualties, most of them went MIA after a messy withdrawal. Taking Lumphat was critical for the planned assault against Phnom Penh as it would provide the opportunity to flank the capital. The whole world was surprised after the quick invasion and defeat of Laos, but the resistance at Cambodia was escalating, several soldiers from Laos fled towards the south in order to join Cambodia in her struggle against the Vietnamese aggressor.

Meanwhile, the United States was worried about the situation but the speed of the invasion left the country without a proper answer to the Vietnamese expansion. The only option left was supporting Thailand against a future aggression by the Socialist Republic of Indochina, supplying their army, sending advisors and fortifying their borders; Thailand was a clear line to the communists, crossing it would mean war.

On July 10th, Laos was annexed into the Socialist Republic of Indochina sending a clear message through the whole world: Communism wasn't going to surrender, Communism would expand itself through Asia. Once again the reds were marching through Asia, they failed at Korea but they achieved another victory.
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Zhenbao Island, Republic of China. [Soviet-Chinese border, Ussuri River] ~ June 15th, 2019.

The situation was tense, the Soviet helicopter had just left the area after the Korean forces deployed SAM equipment at the outpost. However, the Soviet APC's kept coming, numerous Ural Typhoon vehicles were getting closer, passing through the minefields as if they were just rice paddies. The Koreans weren't sure about how many Soviet troops were involved in this skirmish, but there were only 300 Koreans and the Soviet Union seemed willing to escalate the conflict by sending more and more soldiers.

Sun-ja had been deployed at several places and she managed to get sent towards Zhenbao Island against her father wishes. She participated at the UN operation at Dalmatia, something that caused her enough trouble in the Army, eventually she was able to leave that behind...partially, to say the least. Right now she was focused on aiming the Shin-Gung MANPAD at the helicopter trying to leave the area. The Soviets were sending an overwhelming force to dislodge their positions, at the beginning they had been successful as anti-air equipment wasn't enough at the outpost, but soon supplies started to arrive and the ROK soldiers were able to stop the advance.

"Sun-ja, there are some Hyungung missiles over there, get one and shoot those APC's, they'll break the perimeter if we don't act now!" - Soo-young shouted to her, she came from Sinuiju and the only combat experience she had was fighting against communists in the Worker's Republic of China border with Manchuria. It wasn't bad at all, after all, Sun-ja's experience was limited to fighting Serbian and Italian paramilitaries at Dalmatia.

Before Sun-ja could run towards the building where the Hyungung missiles were kept, she suddenly heard the air raid siren. And before she could do anything else the ground started shaking in such a violent way, the only thing she could hear in all that noise was:

"Tu-160's flying above us! Retreat, I repeat, retreat!"

Im Sun-ja hours after the infamous Zhenbao Bombing Raid.
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Hi there!
I owe you all a HUGE apology for taking so long to update this, university/japanese/my messy life/me getting distracted always makes it a bit hard to update. But I really like this AAR I've created and I want to thank you readAARs for your support and patience.

Jumping to clarify something, the picture of my fictional character Im Sun-ja is actually the actress Kim Ji-won in her character (Yoon Myung-joo) for a K-drama called "Descendants of the Sun".

Anyways, here's the update. ^^
I hope you all enjoy it.

 

[Specialist290]

Glad to have you back again

Matters appear to be getting pretty dire along the Sino-Soviet border. If the Soviets are committing that level of manpower and resources to a border skirmish, I'd say they're gearing up for some form of direct intervention, though it remains to be seen whether they'd have the steel to escalate matters into a general war.

The swift fall of Indochina might be alarming to the Americans and their local allies, but by comparison to our own track record in Vietnam this might end up being a blessing in disguise. In the event the Indochinese do try something, the Americans will be able to claim the moral high ground, and might even be able to use Indochinese aggression as a wedge to widen the rift between China and the Soviet Union.

 

[stnylan]

The actress certainly conveys a very haunted look in that picture - quite appropriate for the fictional setting of your universe.

 

[RV-Ye]

First of all, I have some news for you.
I am considering trying to start a mod using MDS mod as a base for it.

It's a project I'm planning to call "Crimson in the Kremlin", it has something to do with an alternate history I begun writing in my native language. It has a POD in 1985 but the mod would probably start by 2000.

I am still thinking about it as I would also like to edit MDS in order to continue this AAR when I eventually get tired of dealing with the previous century. (Do not worry, I will write this at least until we reach 1970-1980)

But well, these are just ideas I'm having.

Spoiler: Plot Spoiler

By this point you all know that China will pick up a fight against Korea, well, I got bored so a made some events to simulate that war and I must say it is a huge challenge. But it is so fun to fight, at the moment those events were quite simple and I've got to review the balance in it (as I accidentally got the whole NATO in the war) the funny part is all NATO focused on Southern China while I got a hellish fight at the Yalu. And of course, I will also make events for the Soviet Union to get involved. Anyways, just wanted to tell you guys (and don't worry, we are still a looong time behind the PRC-ROK war)

Glad to have you back again

Matters appear to be getting pretty dire along the Sino-Soviet border. If the Soviets are committing that level of manpower and resources to a border skirmish, I'd say they're gearing up for some form of direct intervention, though it remains to be seen whether they'd have the steel to escalate matters into a general war.

Thanks it's nice to be back, haha

You are right about it, the Soviet Union is applying a strong pressure against the ROC-ROK (lol, I'm loving this) and it seems they are willing to escalate it. And the wild card is the Worker's Republic of China as they are also decided on recovering the mainland and punishing Korea for her actions.

We'll see a bit more of the neighborhood's situation by 2019.
That way I can also have some fun ideas to work with in case I've got a boring in-game year to cover.

The swift fall of Indochina might be alarming to the Americans and their local allies, but by comparison to our own track record in Vietnam this might end up being a blessing in disguise. In the event the Indochinese do try something, the Americans will be able to claim the moral high ground, and might even be able to use Indochinese aggression as a wedge to widen the rift between China and the Soviet Union.

You are right, America at the moment has the moral high ground as Vietnam is seen as the aggressor, causing panic through the region as communists seem bent on invading the whole continent.

Regarding China, you are right about it too.
China is quite worried about the developments at Indochina, a strong and unified neighbor leaning towards Moscow isn't comfortable to them. We are starting to see tiny cracks in this commie-marriage.

The actress certainly conveys a very haunted look in that picture - quite appropriate for the fictional setting of your universe.

It took me a long time to find a suitable picture, I really liked her character in that drama. And as it is focused around army-stuff, I thought it would provide some good pictures at least.

I must recognize that my character Im Sun-ja is based on that drama's Yoon Myung-joo, even a small part of her story. (The drama has a Korean force deployed on a humanitarian mission at the Balkans)
Guilty on that.

 

[AtlanticFriend]

WWIII as a result of Asian power politics, that's an intriguing fuse...

 

[RV-Ye]

Interlude: Zhenbao Bombing Raid.

Im Sun-ja, hours after the Zhenbao Bombing Raid, reporting her last moments before fainting.
​

The whole outpost was destroyed by the swarm of Tu-160 bombers. Our AA's managed to damage part of the fleet, however, most of those bombers seemed to be intact, they were still flying towards the perimeter and our radars made us aware of that. Most of them were still flying towards our positions, but everything was so fast, so quick.

At one moment I was running towards a Hyungung missile launcher so I could destroy some of the APC's closing in but then, at the next one, everything I could remember was hell on Earth. The destruction had been fierce, both sides sustained huge losses, even the Soviets as they had several soldiers advancing towards our position and many of them got caught in the raid too.

I don't know how much time I was unconscious, but I can perfectly remember everything once I woke up. The temperature was so hot, I felt like an ice cube slowly melting. There was fire everywhere along huge smoke columns rising up to the sky. Suddenly, when I tried to stand up, I looked at my hands, there was blood on them and I started remembering my first battle at Dalmatia. Those [censored] Serbians at Dalmatia, they had been [censored] out of Dubrovnik for years and they were decided to continue on their "mission".

They fought relentlessly, but we had the upper hand.

I felt a huge pain once I stood up, my right leg was hurting, I thought everything was finished. I even thought that I was the only survivor of that brutal raid, but no, I wasn't. Just some seconds after I finally stood up I heard a vehicle approaching, I figured out the direction it was coming from and I eventually knew it was a Soviet APC. It was getting closer, slowly, but I could listen to it, the engine...

Something caught my attention, it was a missile launcher, one of those I was searching before the raid began. I started limping towards it, it was my only hope as my service gun got lost after the explosions went off. I was advancing slowly, but I was so afraid, loading one of those in the state I was could've been difficult. I wasn't sure of it, my mind started playing a huge number of scenarios.

Each one of them was worse than the previous one.

But then, when I was two meters away from it, I heard gunshots. Those gunshots seemed to be far, far away, I was sure it was at another place but suddenly I felt something burning through my flesh. I had issues while trying to breathe and blood started emanating from my chest.
After it, well, I stumbled and I fell onto the ground, feeling pain through my whole body.

I swear I can't remember anything after falling to the ground, not anything real, to be honest.
While I was on the ground I remember seeing a strange and huge cloud in the distance, I was sure it wasn't close but it really looked like a mushroom cloud. That was the moment I knew I had to be dreaming or something like that, it made no sense at all.

There was something else I also saw, six Soviet soldiers were dead relatively close to me. Their APC was destroyed, consumed by the fire, there was only one thing I heard: "You did it Sun-ja."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After listening to [censored rank] Im Sun-ja's report, I totally advice her honorable discharge, she is a heroine, I also suggest a condecoration for her brave actions during the deployment at Dalmatia and the battle around Zhenbao island.
- Signed by, (Wonsu) Im Tae-Woo.

Spoiler: Attached Note.

If my petition regarding my daughter's security isn't met in an inconspicuous way, the Hanahoe will lose one of their most important members, don't risk it.

-----------------------------------------------​

I felt like writing something so I tried to experiment with my narrative style, it's still hard to translate my ideas but I hope you enjoy this small update.
I'm currently working on Part III of the current chapter while also organizing the next one (in my mind).

So, without anything else to say, enjoy it!
^^

 

[Ericafaq]

Interlude: Zhenbao Bombing Raid.

View attachment 459576
Im Sun-ja, hours after the Zhenbao Bombing Raid, reporting her last moments before fainting.
​

The whole outpost was destroyed by the swarm of Tu-160 bombers. Our AA's managed to damage part of the fleet, however, most of those bombers seemed to be intact, they were still flying towards the perimeter and our radars made us aware of that. Most of them were still flying towards our positions, but everything was so fast, so quick.

At one moment I was running towards a Hyungung missile launcher so I could destroy some of the APC's closing in but then, at the next one, everything I could remember was hell on Earth. The destruction had been fierce, both sides sustained huge losses, even the Soviets as they had several soldiers advancing towards our position and many of them got caught in the raid too.

I don't know how much time I was unconscious, but I can perfectly remember everything once I woke up. The temperature was so hot, I felt like an ice cube slowly melting. There was fire everywhere along huge smoke columns rising up to the sky. Suddenly, when I tried to stand up, I looked at my hands, there was blood on them and I started remembering my first battle at Dalmatia. Those [censored] Serbians at Dalmatia, they had been [censored] out of Dubrovnik for years and they were decided to continue on their "mission".

They fought relentlessly, but we had the upper hand.

I felt a huge pain once I stood up, my right leg was hurting, I thought everything was finished. I even thought that I was the only survivor of that brutal raid, but no, I wasn't. Just some seconds after I finally stood up I heard a vehicle approaching, I figured out the direction it was coming from and I eventually knew it was a Soviet APC. It was getting closer, slowly, but I could listen to it, the engine...

Something caught my attention, it was a missile launcher, one of those I was searching before the raid began. I started limping towards it, it was my only hope as my service gun got lost after the explosions went off. I was advancing slowly, but I was so afraid, loading one of those in the state I was could've been difficult. I wasn't sure of it, my mind started playing a huge number of scenarios.

Each one of them was worse than the previous one.

But then, when I was two meters away from it, I heard gunshots. Those gunshots seemed to be far, far away, I was sure it was at another place but suddenly I felt something burning through my flesh. I had issues while trying to breathe and blood started emanating from my chest.
After it, well, I stumbled and I fell onto the ground, feeling pain through my whole body.

I swear I can't remember anything after falling to the ground, not anything real, to be honest.
While I was on the ground I remember seeing a strange and huge cloud in the distance, I was sure it wasn't close but it really looked like a mushroom cloud. That was the moment I knew I had to be dreaming or something like that, it made no sense at all.

There was something else I also saw, six Soviet soldiers were dead relatively close to me. Their APC was destroyed, consumed by the fire, there was only one thing I heard: "You did it Sun-ja."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After listening to [censored rank] Im Sun-ja's report, I totally advice her honorable discharge, she is a heroine, I also suggest a condecoration for her brave actions during the deployment at Dalmatia and the battle around Zhenbao island.
- Signed by, (Wonsu) Im Tae-Woo.

Spoiler: Attached Note.

If my petition regarding my daughter's security isn't met in an inconspicuous way, the Hanahoe will lose one of their most important members, don't risk it.

-----------------------------------------------​

I felt like writing something so I tried to experiment with my narrative style, it's still hard to translate my ideas but I hope you enjoy this small update.
I'm currently working on Part III of the current chapter while also organizing the next one (in my mind).

So, without anything else to say, enjoy it!
^^

Glad to see you, and thanks a lot for your masterpiece updates, will glad to see your new works

 

[RV-Ye]

Glad to see you, and thanks a lot for your masterpiece updates, will glad to see your new works

Thanks
I'm still working on my idea for my own mod, however, I feel it will be a huge challenge.

I'm looking ahead for your next release of PwV your events for China are amazing. So, you can probably expect my next AAR taking place with Zhili Clique.

 

[stnylan]

Quite the heroic action.

 

[RV-Ye]

Chapter V: The Red Cyclone. (Part III)
"Since he is of no use anymore, there is no gain if he lives and no loss if he dies." - Pol Pot, former leader of the Democratic Kampuchea.
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Democratic Republican Party HQ, Seoul, Republic of Korea. ~ July 18th, 1954.

"We've been watching closely the events in the country, we heard about the birth of an organization at Sinuiju, the Hanahoe," the American agent said, he had orders from CIA's director, Allen Dulles.

The swift invasion of Laos caused panic through Southeast Asia, but it also worried several Korean politicians about the situation in the whole continent. It was evident, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China weren't going to stop until all of Asia was red and under their boot. President Cho's foreign policy focus on neutrality was slowly getting sidelined in the political arena, everyone knew that America was the only country able to guarantee Korea's independence from Beijing and Moscow.

"Yes, that's the name of it. The leading triumvirate totally endorses me and I'm totally sure they are searching more support through the military, but I'm not sure about the loyalty of all of them. We should keep an eye on them, trust me," Park Chung-hee added, he was suspicious about the Hanahoe. He knew they wanted him as president, but he doubted about the motives behind some of their members.

"Of course, we are also keeping them on our watch list. After all, someone in a high place is quite interested in seeing you as president of Korea. I guess that would be the best outcome possible for this country, I mean, president Cho has been good but he isn't willing to protect Korean independence from the communist powers," Park didn't say a word, but he was sure that the American was a staunch anti-communist.

At least he felt better, the Hanahoe was receiving support from the CIA, just as some organizations in Europe and even in Japan. But the CIA was decided to keep them close, at least he would have enough time to uncover the truth behind general Suk-won; the most suspicious member of the triumvirate.

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Blood-stained Indochina. - Min Ji-hyo.

Vietnamese and Cambodian militias going through the Tonle San river to prepare an ambush during the Second Battle of Lumphat.
​

After Vietnam won against Laos, it was evident that Cambodia would fall too. However, the Vietnamese Army needed time to mobilize towards the new Cambodian border. Through the way they eventually fought several groups trying to resist the Vietnamese invasion of their country, at the same time, the forces at southern Vietnam and the ones at Lumphat were trying to keep order as the short occupation of Dong Hoi messed up the supply lines.

The delay caused by the Laotian soldiers that took Dong Hoi angered Ho Chi Minh and several members of the government, the answer was Directive 78. After being enacted the worst betrayal of the war took place, Vietnamese units were ordered to purge the Pathet Lao, their former allies in the invasion of Laos. However, part of their leadership was able to flee from Laos and many units mobilizing towards Cambodia defected; creating a mess that Cambodia would exploit in order to retake Lumphat.

The Cambodian offensive against Lumphat started in July 21st, they had numerical advantage, five divisions with an estimated total number of 67,000 soldiers while Vietnam only had three divisions, 33,000 soldiers trying to defend the only progress Vietnam had made in Cambodia. It would prove to be decisive for the war.

By July 29th the offensive was starting to have success, after being stalled for several days. The Vietnamese infantry's morale started to go down as supply was still an issue, however, the Cambodian-Vietnamese militias started to sabotage the Cambodian supply lines, damaging the motorized infantry's morale as well.
​

Directive 78 proved to be a huge mess for Vietnamese forces, however, it's impressive how it didn't affect the Cambodian militias supporting the Vietnamese invasion of their country. They knew the reason behind that order and they were glad about it being enacted, after all, Vietnam was going to win the war and Cambodia would surely have a better position in it than Laos.

But it would all depend on the second battle of Lumphat, if Cambodia won everything would be bad for them. Continued raids against supply depots started to decreease the Cambodian morale while at the same time the Vietnamese managed to overcome the issues caused by the fall of Dong Hoi. Supply lines were running again, the Vietnamese forces were marching towards their positions along the Cambodian border and one division managed to arrive to Lumphat; strengthening the defence.

By August 1st, a motorized infantry division accompanied by an artillery brigade arrived to Lumphat, slowly turning the tide of the battle; those estimated 16,000 soldiers are considered the reason for the Vietnamese ability to resist the crushing superiority of Cambodia at the battlefield.
​

Cambodia had numerical superiority but the Vietnamese soldiers had heavy support from the Soviet Intervention Force, tanks and mobile artillery. It eventually damaged the Cambodian morale and they suddenly started to lose ground in their attack against Lumphat. However, the Cambodian government was determined to take back Lumphat, they (correctly) assumed that a victory in Lumphat would be a blow to the Vietnamese morale and maybe even their war effort.

They also thought that winning at Lumphat would show to the world that Cambodia was willing to fight, just as Korea did back in 1950 at Busan against the red hordes coming down to crush them. If they won, the international community would need to act, but they weren't the only ones thinking about it. Vietnam was aware of it, losing at Lumphat would open the door to a foreign intervention, therefore an order was issued.

Several generals weren't completely sure about it, some were worried about the state of the army or the defenses around the objective, but Hanoi was clear: the Battle of Phnom Penh shall begin.

By August 4th the preparations were finished, the Vietnamese Army along their Soviet allies launched the attack against Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. 51,000 Vietnamese and Soviet soldiers organized in four divisions began their attack against the 43,000 defenders at the capital. Some of those being the ones engaged at Lumphat as well.
​

The sudden attack against the capital city prompted the Cambodian government to stop the advance against Lumphat. The second battle of Lumphat was won by Vietnam, ending with 4,500 casualties for Cambodia and 3,400 for Vietnam and their allies. Soon the forces fighting at Lumphat were trying to return to the capital as fast as possible in order to defend it, however, a huge mistake suddenly took place. The messy retreat in order to defend the capital and the sudden end of the battle at Lumphat allowed Vietnam to fully support the attack against Phnom Penh with an estimated number of 40,000 soldiers present at Lumphat.

Cambodia's Busan failed to materialize, the defeat at Lumphat allowed Vietnam to flank Phnom Penh as the original plan intended. Vietnamese artillery started shelling the defensive positions around the city, the Cambodian militias managed to infiltrate the city and they started creating chaos in it. It was a complete mess and the Cambodian Army's morale suddenly collapsed. Several units still retreating from Lumphat surrendered without giving fight while others at the capital did the same; trying to avoid death.

Everyone expected a huge resistance against the invader, just as Laos did during the battle of Vientiane. However, Cambodia's hope was fully dependant on Lumphat's success, when that battle was lost, it became evident to all that Cambodia's independence was finished. The battle for the capital ended by August 13th, with almost 7,500 casualties on the Cambodian side while Vietnam suffered 3,400. The Cambodian Army gave up and some soldiers fled westwards, most of them came back to their homes but there were some that joined the guerrilla organization that China was training; composed of Laotian and Cambodian soldiers angry at the Vietnamese aggression.

By August 20th most of the resistance in Cambodia had died out and the annexation was formally announced, the Socialist Republic of Indochina was born, a worrying development for the nations of Asia including the People's Republic of China.
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White House, Washington D.C, United States of America. ~ August 27th, 1954.

President Eisenhower's popularity received a strong blow after the fall of Cambodia, everyone in the political arena was wondering why the United States stood idle while Vietnam annexed Laos and Cambodia. Criticism became strong as many politicians exploited the fall of Indochina, mid-terms were getting closer and it was obvious that the Republican Party would suffer that year.

People speculated if there was going to be an answer or not, as days passed, it was evident that the government wouldn't take action against "Greater Vietnam" as some politicians called it. However, some of the president advisors were planning the steps America would take in the region. It was evident that the communists needed to be stopped and president Eisenhower was determined to recover his voters confidence.

"Mr. President, with this aid package towards Thailand and our plan to supply guerrillas in Laos and Cambodia we will be able to weaken Vietnam. However, in order to justifiy a greater role in Indochina we'll need something to take place, perhaps we can get someone at Bangkok willing to invade Indochina. After it, we will only need a small pretext to join in," the plan was risky, but Operation Wasp was born.

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Hi everyone, here's the new update. ^^
I hope you all enjoy it, I already have pictures for 1954-1956 period, so, it's only a matter of me having enough time to write.

Anyways, I hope you like it.
P.S: Let's see if someone finds out the small reference about Directive 78.

 

[stnylan]

The Domino effect seems to be in full swing.

 

[Doctor Stein]

Gonna be honest this was the first thing that came to mind when I saw that united Indochina.

I might cry a bit, give me a moment.

 

[RV-Ye]

First Taiwan Strait Crisis. - Zheng Mei.

Communist propaganda published during the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.
​

After Chinese Civil War was over, the Kuomintang fled from Mainland China towards Taiwan. During the withdrawal they also kept control of several islands located in the Strait of Taiwan. Many of them were closer to Mainland China, making them a zone of interest for both countries. At the beginning, the People's Republic of China had a small window of opportunity to take back Taiwan and the other islands, however, after the Korean War it was evident that communism would aggressively expand towards the rest of Asia.

It was at that moment that American president, Harry Truman announced his decision to deploy the 7th Fleet in order to neutralize the Strait of Taiwan. It meant that the Republic of China was protected by the United States, even if there wasn't a formal agreement or treaty about it. The presence of the 7th Fleet was a signal against the People's Republic of China, it showed that American forces were not willing to allow Taiwan's fall.

It is important to understand it, after the war in Korea everyone was wary about the communists. The war had been won, but everyone knew that China and the Soviet Union were more than ready to create more chaos in Asia. Therefore, protecting Taiwan was an important step towards the security of the Pacific, it was an important part of the containment system that was forming around the People's Republic of China.

When Vietnam blatantly annexed Cambodia and Laos, the fear was renewed. However, president Eisenhower didn't take any step to officially oppose the communist's actions through the continent, the 7th Fleet blockade was ended shortly after his inauguration as president back in 1953 and he didn't ordered their deployment after the fall of Indochina. Perhaps that was the signal that Mao was waiting, seeing no clear actions to oppose them, it was like the United States had gone back to isolationism.

The Republic of China began building defensive structures in Kinmen and Matsu islands, they also deployed soldiers to their protection, after all, Chiang Kai-Shek thought those islands would be the first defense against Red China in case of war.

The crisis starts and evolves.

​

On September 4th, the People's Liberation Army started an artillery bombardment against the defensive structures erected by the Republic of China on Kinmen and Matsu during the month of August. The premier of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai, made a declaration announcing that Taiwan had to be liberated from the imperialist forces occupying it. Soon after it, the PLA started advancing towards the area and the shelling against Matsu and Kinmen further intensified.

In the United States, there was no one sure about the way the country had to answer. Some politicians insisted that China had to learn a lesson, while the most radical officers advocated to employ nuclear weapons in order to stop the People's Republic of China from trying a full invasion against Taiwan. The heavy artillery bombardment lasted several days, it took six days for the official American response to take place. At that time, people felt the American answer wasn't enough, they thought the United States was doing nothing.

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But it's important to understand, there wasn't much to do about it. The situation was tense enough and war could have started at that point, we also need to understand that at least during those years, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China were still quite close towards each other. While the Soviet Troika refused to support China's actions against Taiwan, they were adamant about defending China against any American attack. That's why the United States was seen as doing nothing, however, now we can also argue that at least a defensive treaty could have taken place and it's right to criticize president Eisenhower for not taking such an obvious step towards the security of the Republic of China.

The shelling continued against the islands, Chiang Kai-Shek thought that the invasion would start after Kinmen and Matsu were weak enough. However, the People's Liberation Army had other plans about it, on November 9th a strong communist force landed on the Yijiangshan Islands with an overwhelming firepower and numerical superiority. The deployment of flamethrowers and heavy use of artillery and bombing aircraft proved to be deadly to the NRA's morale, by November 15th the Nationalist forces were retreating and the islands were fully on communist control.

The sudden success the People's Liberation Army achieved caused panic to the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-Shek proved to be wrong and now he wondered which was the next target the PLA had. Kinmen and Matsu were still strong enough to oppose any attack from the communists, but the same couldn't be said about Dachen Islands. It was at that point that Chiang Kai-Shek officially asked for American support and president Eisenhower's response was sending back the 7th Fleet in order to stop any invasion directed against Taiwan.

Picture taken during the Battle for Yijiangshan Islands, November 1954.
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The return of the 7th Fleet was enough for Chiang Kai-Shek, he decided that the communists wouldn't dare to advance against the Dachen Archipelago. Against the warning of many officials and the American's opposition to his plan, he chose to send most of Dachen defenders towards Kinmen and Matsu while using the retreating soldiers from Yijiangshan to defend the Dachen Archipelago. He firmly believed that Kinmen and Matsu were the real objectives of the PLA and that they were attacking Yijiangshan in order to distract him from the front.

That proved to be a blessing to the PLA, on November 24th the attack against the Dachen Islands began. The defenders lacking adequate supplies, as most were sent towards Kinmen and Matsu, along a weakened morale, were no match for the People's Liberation Army. Meanwhile, the 7th Fleet had orders to stop any communist aggression but they also had orders to avoid engaging in combat against the PLA. Those contradictory orders eventually allowed the PLA to succeed in their invasion of the Dachen Archipelago.

By December 1st, president Eisenhower formally announced that any aggression against the Republic of China would be considered an attack against the United States of America. There wasn't a formal treaty, nor an agreement of any kind, but it was a clear threat towards Beijing. The shelling against Kinmen and Matsu stopped after that declaration and the real winner of the crisis seemed to be the People's Republic of China after achieving victory in Yijiangshan and Dachen islands while also discrediting president Eisenhower inside his own country and in the global stage too.

While the crisis officially finished on December, the tension was felt until January when the PLA reduced the number of armies and equipment deployed near Matsu and Kinmen islands.

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Well, it seems I managed to get a good update from those three events I had in game.


Honestly I thought it was few material to make an update, but an interlude was enough after all.
Next update shall be ready soon or so I hope.

I hope you enjoy this short interlude detailing this world's Strait Crisis, it mostly played as OTL but there are some changes mainly in dates and the results for everyone involved.
So, until next update!

 

[Specialist290]

A somewhat lackluster response from the United States here. Though China didn't gain everything they really wanted (i.e. the rest of the islands, and maybe Taiwan itself) they've gotten enough out of this incident to declare a propaganda victory at home. Of course, the cut and thrust of superpower rivalry does complicate matters here, but the Americans are looking a bit weak and on the back foot in East Asia, which won't go over well domestically.

And the situation must look particularly dire in Seoul. If Taiwan falls, the Communists could use that as a springboard to subvert the Philippines, which would leave Korea and Japan nearly encircled by the Reds.

 

[stnylan]

I think Eisenhower probably achieved his aim. Whatever that was.

 

[RV-Ye]

A new AAR after this one?
​

Hi there readers of this AAR, I don't know if you all remember the game I was playing in MDS mod as the People's Republic of China, well, I get to 2018 and China is basically the only great power left in the world. Through December 2017-March 2018 the war against the Russian Federation took place and China eventually won, taking everything Russia managed to win in the Third World War along some territories in Siberia and Saint Petersburg.

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United States fell by 2015 if I'm not wrong and China established a puppet regime while occupying New York city along the whole state of Florida and Hawaii, China also established puppet regimes in Texas and California to further weaken the union. So, I started messing around with the files (I have a copy of the Mixed Mod as that one had a huge amount of flags for every country) and I chose to create this small "state". (The government type isn't right, but I was only checking if it was created properly)

Would someone be interested in an AAR like this?
A) I would only start it after finishing this one, as I'm really enjoying the ideas and events I've created for this one.
B) If I ever start this AAR it wouldn't be a huge campaign war to restore USA's hegemony, I would try to make it more like a mini-game; trying to slowly recover the United States through underground organizations and guerrilla tactics. So basically establishing a free America or getting Washington D.C would be the main focus.

Anyways, tell me what do you think about it.


And remember, this is only an idea, there's a chance I never start it. (As I've been struggling too much with MDS saves, certain bomber model makes it crash)

 

[Specialist290]

It certainly looks like an intriguing idea Do keep us posted.

 

[RandomDrongo]

Please, do it! It's a great idea and you should pursue it.

 

[stnylan]

Seems an entirely presentable topic for an AAR

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

Go for it