Thank you so much, it's always nice to get a new reader. ^^
I expect to have the next update ready in some days, time to see what has China done regarding her army after all these years.
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I expect to have the next update ready in some days, time to see what has China done regarding her army after all these years.
Well, I'm looking forward to whatever the Philippines is doing around this time, so maybe you can add that in there?Thank you so much, it's always nice to get a new reader. ^^
I expect to have the next update ready in some days, time to see what has China done regarding her army after all these years.
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Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Right when it seems General Park has finally brought peace to the Korean people once again, the Chinese make their own power play to bring the peninsula back into the fold. It looks like we're about to see a second Korean War in this universe after all...
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Philippines isn't a country I've read too much on, but I'll try to assemble an update regarding their position in this timeline. From the quick reading I've done it seems we are getting into some important years that could very much define the historic course of the country, I will try to get an update on them soon enough.
Indeed, Korea is in a tough ride at the moment, the events of the Korean Summer have widely disrupted the calm and stability president Cho had been able to create. This has also translated in the Communist forces believing there's an opportunity to be exploited, we will soon see what China has been up to ever since the Taiwan Strait Crisis and we'll see a bit more of the complex position Korea has landed on.
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EDIT: I don't know what happened but I just noticed this update weirdly lacks the pictures: "Chapter VII: Foreign and Domestic developments. (Part III)". Which is sad since I have already deleted the pictures related to that update, in my spare time I will look out for pictures to replace the lost ones in that section. If anyone notices another part of the AAR that oddly lacks pictures too, please tell me. Thanks!
EDIT #2: I've added new pictures to the update called: "Foreign and Domestic developments. (Part III)".
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EDIT: I don't know what happened but I just noticed this update weirdly lacks the pictures: "Chapter VII: Foreign and Domestic developments. (Part III)". Which is sad since I have already deleted the pictures related to that update, in my spare time I will look out for pictures to replace the lost ones in that section. If anyone notices another part of the AAR that oddly lacks pictures too, please tell me. Thanks!
EDIT #2: I've added new pictures to the update called: "Foreign and Domestic developments. (Part III)".
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Interlude: The Pearl of the Orient, the Land of the Morning Calm and the Land of the Rising Sun.
The Pearl of the Orient, the Land of the Morning Calm and the Land of the Rising Sun. - Zheng Mei.
Picture taken from a KPOP fansite depicting the Korean girlgroup, Mamamoo.
Picture taken from a KPOP fansite depicting the Korean girlgroup, Mamamoo.
The Rainbows in Asia Music Festival has been one of the main examples of the cooperation and cordial relations that have been established between Korea, the Philippines, Japan and the Republic of China. Numerous performers and famous groups from these countries participated in this concert at the Philippine capital of Manila; some of the most prominent ones were Japan's AKB48, Korea's Mamamoo, China's Popu Lady and Philippines' solo singer Sarah Geronimo. Despite the general outbreak of hostilities in Asia against the Soviet Union the organizers of the event refused to cancel it, when the war began it had been considered to be such a dangerous situation but after the Soviet Pacific Fleet was neutralized along the main airbases at the Soviet Far East everyone felt reassured about the safety of it. The cultural cooperation between these Asian countries can also be seen in the culinary world, the adoption of the Philippine sauce called Latik into the dessert cuisine in Japan and Korea has been something surprising to many. This coconut-based sauce has proved to be quite popular along the unique and exotic pastries sold at Japan, while the fermented condiment called Bagoóng has been positively received at Korea, another country that is also known for the use of fermented products in their cuisine such as kimchi.
Though it is important to know that the current state of relations wasn't always like this, by the mid-50's the relations between Japan and the Philippines were just starting to be repaired after the violent trauma inflicted by Japan during the events of the Second World War. In 1956 an agreement regarding reparations had been finalized between both countries, Japan would provide material and technical support to the Philippines in order for the country to develop itself and overcome the damage that had been inflicted in the past, along stabilizing the country after the events of the Hukbahalap rebellion. The reestablishment of relations between the two nations proved to be quite helpful for the Philippines since the United States, despite keeping an eye on the region, had been mostly focused on Korea and Taiwan, after tensions started boiling between Indochina and Thailand the Americans also switched their focus towards the regime at Bangkok, slowly ignoring the Philippines. While it was still an early stage for the renovated Japanese-Philippine relations this had been an important step nonetheless, trade between both countries would continue to rise in the following years.
The Philippine president, Ramón Magsaysay, had been quite efficient at ending the unrest that had plagued the nation after the Hukbahalap rebellion, some authors theorize he applied some of the tactics that Korean president Cho Bong-am used to deal with the aftermath of Syngman Rhee's assassination. Despite some shared similarities, I believe that theory isn't accurate at all since it attempts to equate the conditions in both countries without fully understanding the reasons behind. The relations between the Philippines and Korea were quite close, having participated in the Korean War the Korean government was quite grateful towards Manila as it was to other nations involved in the conflict. Despite this, economic cooperation was practically non-existent by this point of history, Korea was still recovering and her own industrialization was just starting, there weren't many incentives to close economic cooperation yet. Politically there was some semblance of agreement between both nations, however, the Philippines was a staunch ally of the United States in the region and was quite opposed to Communism, while Korea was attempting to follow a more neutral path in the international stage, despite the opposition of numerous politicians in the country.
The death of Ramón Magsaysay on early 1957 and the rise of Carlos P. García to the presidency of the Philippines mostly meant a stronger support for Filipino nationalism while at the same time a stronger opposition to Communism, had the events of the Korean Summer not taken place at all we can surely know that Philippine-Korean relations would continue to be neglected despite the closeness between both countries. But the Korean Summer proved to be a helpful development, with Park Chung-hee at the helm of the nation the American alliance was reaffirmed once again, Park's own anti-communism and nationalism would show president García that cooperation with Korea was a possibility. Economically Korea was still way behind Japan, but by this point in history it was already pushing forward compared to the Philippines, García knew that cooperation with both Japan and Korea could provide useful in his quest to attain a better deal with the United States of America. Once the border clashes between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea escalated into full-blown hostilities, the United States started paying more attention to the Asian region once more, having been distracted by the events at Paris and Havana earlier that year.
Recognizing the international position they were in, the United States chose to take a different approach to the numerous issues that were sparking around the world. With the situation in France turning unpredictable and Washington being unwilling to stop monitoring the regime at Cuba, they chose to give more freedom to their Asian allies, merely providing more economic support to the regimes in Bangkok, Taipei, Manila, Seoul and Tokyo while pushing them to cooperate between each other. Japanese legacy was still tainting their own image in the region, but their growing economy allowed them to have some kind of "leadership". Despite the economic leadership that Japan could boast about, everyone in the region knew and recognized the position Korea had as well, it couldn't be recognized as a military power, but among these nations it was the most professional and experienced. Second to Korea was the Philippines and soon military cooperation between Park's Korea and García's Philippines began, these were the seeds for what would eventually come to be.
Though it is important to know that the current state of relations wasn't always like this, by the mid-50's the relations between Japan and the Philippines were just starting to be repaired after the violent trauma inflicted by Japan during the events of the Second World War. In 1956 an agreement regarding reparations had been finalized between both countries, Japan would provide material and technical support to the Philippines in order for the country to develop itself and overcome the damage that had been inflicted in the past, along stabilizing the country after the events of the Hukbahalap rebellion. The reestablishment of relations between the two nations proved to be quite helpful for the Philippines since the United States, despite keeping an eye on the region, had been mostly focused on Korea and Taiwan, after tensions started boiling between Indochina and Thailand the Americans also switched their focus towards the regime at Bangkok, slowly ignoring the Philippines. While it was still an early stage for the renovated Japanese-Philippine relations this had been an important step nonetheless, trade between both countries would continue to rise in the following years.
The Philippine president, Ramón Magsaysay, had been quite efficient at ending the unrest that had plagued the nation after the Hukbahalap rebellion, some authors theorize he applied some of the tactics that Korean president Cho Bong-am used to deal with the aftermath of Syngman Rhee's assassination. Despite some shared similarities, I believe that theory isn't accurate at all since it attempts to equate the conditions in both countries without fully understanding the reasons behind. The relations between the Philippines and Korea were quite close, having participated in the Korean War the Korean government was quite grateful towards Manila as it was to other nations involved in the conflict. Despite this, economic cooperation was practically non-existent by this point of history, Korea was still recovering and her own industrialization was just starting, there weren't many incentives to close economic cooperation yet. Politically there was some semblance of agreement between both nations, however, the Philippines was a staunch ally of the United States in the region and was quite opposed to Communism, while Korea was attempting to follow a more neutral path in the international stage, despite the opposition of numerous politicians in the country.
The death of Ramón Magsaysay on early 1957 and the rise of Carlos P. García to the presidency of the Philippines mostly meant a stronger support for Filipino nationalism while at the same time a stronger opposition to Communism, had the events of the Korean Summer not taken place at all we can surely know that Philippine-Korean relations would continue to be neglected despite the closeness between both countries. But the Korean Summer proved to be a helpful development, with Park Chung-hee at the helm of the nation the American alliance was reaffirmed once again, Park's own anti-communism and nationalism would show president García that cooperation with Korea was a possibility. Economically Korea was still way behind Japan, but by this point in history it was already pushing forward compared to the Philippines, García knew that cooperation with both Japan and Korea could provide useful in his quest to attain a better deal with the United States of America. Once the border clashes between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea escalated into full-blown hostilities, the United States started paying more attention to the Asian region once more, having been distracted by the events at Paris and Havana earlier that year.
Recognizing the international position they were in, the United States chose to take a different approach to the numerous issues that were sparking around the world. With the situation in France turning unpredictable and Washington being unwilling to stop monitoring the regime at Cuba, they chose to give more freedom to their Asian allies, merely providing more economic support to the regimes in Bangkok, Taipei, Manila, Seoul and Tokyo while pushing them to cooperate between each other. Japanese legacy was still tainting their own image in the region, but their growing economy allowed them to have some kind of "leadership". Despite the economic leadership that Japan could boast about, everyone in the region knew and recognized the position Korea had as well, it couldn't be recognized as a military power, but among these nations it was the most professional and experienced. Second to Korea was the Philippines and soon military cooperation between Park's Korea and García's Philippines began, these were the seeds for what would eventually come to be.
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Okay, this is a brief update meant to show a bit more about TTL's 2019 and to give some hints about the relation between the Asian countries, I gotta admit I lack knowledge about the Philippines so if someone knows more about the country and/or wants to suggest me some ideas or teach me some things, send me a PM!
Hope you like it. ^^
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Before writing the next updates I chose to play hands-off for 1958-1963 just to see which events I need to tweak, since NWO is quite a linear mod at times. I also used this to see possible events to add to spice up the game, so, I'm currently tweaking some of them before creating new events and chains.
I'm quite excited to attempt to create my black ops events, though I still need to check some modding stuff, such a headache.
Anyways, just wanted to show how badly my test game evolved haha this was something I didn't expect at all::
I'm quite excited to attempt to create my black ops events, though I still need to check some modding stuff, such a headache.
Anyways, just wanted to show how badly my test game evolved haha this was something I didn't expect at all::
By the way, Yugoslavia is independent and the blue zones of occupation in Soviet Union is actually France, not Finland.
Yeah... it was messy to say the least, war lasted almost a year, Soviet Union was obliterated to say the least, from 650 IC down to 120 I think...
But worry not, it's just my test game we are still by 1957.
EDIT; I have made a lot of progress in my event review, fixed some wrong localizations of names and descriptions along spicing up a certain chain I've always felt too linear in NWO2. Also proud to announce that I've started work on my events for Black Ops, currently dealing with the influx of assets and number checks to decide which operations can be carried out and if support must be asked for to a superpower.
I'm planning to organize two sections, high cost operations (sponsoring rebels in certain "areas", infiltrating the government, bribing generals, etc) and low cost operations (sabotaging a railway, blowing up a supply depot, and small things to add flavor). However I'm facing a challenge now, I'm wondering how will I code events for these kind of situations; example ahead...
Thailand sponsoring rebels at Laos BUT at the same time, Indochina spending their black ops points into defending Laos... Yeah, makes me wonder if my high/low system will be a good idea. Maybe I could go for offensive/defensive system, I'd like to know what you think about it.
Okay, my basic events to set up the assets and allow the AI to check how many they have are working as they should! Hope to get some good progress with this soon.
EDIT 2;; Already added the offensive/defensive system and I'm glad to say it seems to work properly. I managed to make the AI repeatedly invest into an operation if they have the assets, even if they run out of them they will wait and gather more before continuing on that specific path. Now I gotta make the events in case they "max out" an operation and after that I will make the respective events for the "victim" of the operations so they can try to defend themselves.
Though I'm still wondering how to do so without disrupting the attacker's own intentions and plans. Maybe if X country goes offensive Y country can only use defensive measures and vice versa at some point... Unsure...
Yeah... it was messy to say the least, war lasted almost a year, Soviet Union was obliterated to say the least, from 650 IC down to 120 I think...
But worry not, it's just my test game
we are still by 1957.EDIT; I have made a lot of progress in my event review, fixed some wrong localizations of names and descriptions along spicing up a certain chain I've always felt too linear in NWO2. Also proud to announce that I've started work on my events for Black Ops, currently dealing with the influx of assets and number checks to decide which operations can be carried out and if support must be asked for to a superpower.
I'm planning to organize two sections, high cost operations (sponsoring rebels in certain "areas", infiltrating the government, bribing generals, etc) and low cost operations (sabotaging a railway, blowing up a supply depot, and small things to add flavor). However I'm facing a challenge now, I'm wondering how will I code events for these kind of situations; example ahead...
Thailand sponsoring rebels at Laos BUT at the same time, Indochina spending their black ops points into defending Laos... Yeah, makes me wonder if my high/low system will be a good idea. Maybe I could go for offensive/defensive system, I'd like to know what you think about it.
Okay, my basic events to set up the assets and allow the AI to check how many they have are working as they should! Hope to get some good progress with this soon.
EDIT 2;; Already added the offensive/defensive system and I'm glad to say it seems to work properly. I managed to make the AI repeatedly invest into an operation if they have the assets, even if they run out of them they will wait and gather more before continuing on that specific path. Now I gotta make the events in case they "max out" an operation and after that I will make the respective events for the "victim" of the operations so they can try to defend themselves.
Though I'm still wondering how to do so without disrupting the attacker's own intentions and plans. Maybe if X country goes offensive Y country can only use defensive measures and vice versa at some point... Unsure...
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Chapter X: The Red Emperor across the Yalu. (Part I)
Chapter X: The Red Emperor across the Yalu. (Part I)
"Both the Sui Dynasty and the Chinese Communists share the same failed leader in different robes, Mao is just the Red Emperor Yang." - Chung Il-kwon.
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"Both the Sui Dynasty and the Chinese Communists share the same failed leader in different robes, Mao is just the Red Emperor Yang." - Chung Il-kwon.
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Madrid, Spanish State. ~ September 7th, 1957.
The meeting had been an interesting development, after all, Julius had thought that the French were setting up a trap against Otto Skorzeny, he believed the French were still angry about the events during the Second World War and that they were eager to get revenge against any German involved with the Nazi regime. But instead he received a pleasant surprise, the French were willing to ignore those distant events and establish close cooperation with Skorzeny and some of the other shady figures he had befriended along the time, Anve Pavelić was there, though the ageing man had survived an attempt against him back on Buenos Aires he still looked rather close to death. The French had also invited some Portuguese officers and there was an American with a clearly Southern accent present, he couldn't stop wondering if that man was part of the CIA, it was suspicious to say the least; nonetheless, Skorzeny was glad to find possible supporters for the plan he had been devising.
"Paladin Group will have just one objective and that one is the defeat of Communism in Europe and wherever it may arise, we will not care if it emerges in the most remote colony under Portuguese or French control, we won't care if it's an entire government that suddenly turns red, just as we saw at Korea for some weeks," that had caused a smile on the American's face, he surely had more information about the Korean blunder than anyone else could have, at least that was Julius' assumption. "We have all seen that the Stalinists at Moscow won't stop until the rest of the world is red and under their heel, Vietnam gobbled the rest of Indochina, China is staring across the Taiwan Strait and the Yalu River, waiting for an opportunity to reestablish their influence both in Korea and Taiwan and the Soviets are getting more engaged here in Europe; Charles de Gaulle's murder is all the evidence we need to look for"
"Despite the current circumstances, France still has some contacts on Southeast Asia, we've intercepted some documents revealing that the CIA is planning to support the current prime minister of Thailand, Plaek Phibun, another relic of the Second World War. It is evident that even Washington knows the threat we are currently facing is quite real, we have to do something before Moscow and Beijing get the upper hand against the free world," Otto had told him that it was a matter of time before America realized there wasn't any chance to live in coexistence with the Soviet regime, each passing day the claws of Communism tightened their grip over countries as Egypt, Indochina, the occupied nations of Eastern Europe and even countries as far as Cuba. "We are also fully aware of the current ties between former Nazis and Egypt, monsieur Skorzeny, that must stop now, as we all have seen Egypt's true colours. Instead, through us, thereby in an indirect way, we must cooperate with Israel and the Arab monarchies, only after the Communist-leaning regime has been toppled you'll be able to resume operations"
That had been a direct order by the Frenchman, both Skorzeny and Julius were not pleased to learn that, albeit it was something understandable, Israel and the Arab monarchies were the only states openly siding with the West or at least not leaning to the Soviet side. The French seemed to be superb on intelligence gathering, they had obtained a file on a KGB operative under the name of Yuliya Lyashenko, she was active in Egypt. It wasn't quite relevant, but it could certainly explain some whispers and rumors that had been heard regarding various Arab officers with Nasserist sympathies, of course they could be really convinced by his ideas, but that didn't mean the KGB wasn't involved at all. This first meeting had been more about getting to set up the organization and coordinate the efforts, but it had also been productive, after all, thanks to documents provided by the American the Paladin Group now also knew possible targets to contact within the Italian Peninsula: not yet, but soon the Soviets would also get a bloodied nose.
The meeting had been an interesting development, after all, Julius had thought that the French were setting up a trap against Otto Skorzeny, he believed the French were still angry about the events during the Second World War and that they were eager to get revenge against any German involved with the Nazi regime. But instead he received a pleasant surprise, the French were willing to ignore those distant events and establish close cooperation with Skorzeny and some of the other shady figures he had befriended along the time, Anve Pavelić was there, though the ageing man had survived an attempt against him back on Buenos Aires he still looked rather close to death. The French had also invited some Portuguese officers and there was an American with a clearly Southern accent present, he couldn't stop wondering if that man was part of the CIA, it was suspicious to say the least; nonetheless, Skorzeny was glad to find possible supporters for the plan he had been devising.
"Paladin Group will have just one objective and that one is the defeat of Communism in Europe and wherever it may arise, we will not care if it emerges in the most remote colony under Portuguese or French control, we won't care if it's an entire government that suddenly turns red, just as we saw at Korea for some weeks," that had caused a smile on the American's face, he surely had more information about the Korean blunder than anyone else could have, at least that was Julius' assumption. "We have all seen that the Stalinists at Moscow won't stop until the rest of the world is red and under their heel, Vietnam gobbled the rest of Indochina, China is staring across the Taiwan Strait and the Yalu River, waiting for an opportunity to reestablish their influence both in Korea and Taiwan and the Soviets are getting more engaged here in Europe; Charles de Gaulle's murder is all the evidence we need to look for"
"Despite the current circumstances, France still has some contacts on Southeast Asia, we've intercepted some documents revealing that the CIA is planning to support the current prime minister of Thailand, Plaek Phibun, another relic of the Second World War. It is evident that even Washington knows the threat we are currently facing is quite real, we have to do something before Moscow and Beijing get the upper hand against the free world," Otto had told him that it was a matter of time before America realized there wasn't any chance to live in coexistence with the Soviet regime, each passing day the claws of Communism tightened their grip over countries as Egypt, Indochina, the occupied nations of Eastern Europe and even countries as far as Cuba. "We are also fully aware of the current ties between former Nazis and Egypt, monsieur Skorzeny, that must stop now, as we all have seen Egypt's true colours. Instead, through us, thereby in an indirect way, we must cooperate with Israel and the Arab monarchies, only after the Communist-leaning regime has been toppled you'll be able to resume operations"
That had been a direct order by the Frenchman, both Skorzeny and Julius were not pleased to learn that, albeit it was something understandable, Israel and the Arab monarchies were the only states openly siding with the West or at least not leaning to the Soviet side. The French seemed to be superb on intelligence gathering, they had obtained a file on a KGB operative under the name of Yuliya Lyashenko, she was active in Egypt. It wasn't quite relevant, but it could certainly explain some whispers and rumors that had been heard regarding various Arab officers with Nasserist sympathies, of course they could be really convinced by his ideas, but that didn't mean the KGB wasn't involved at all. This first meeting had been more about getting to set up the organization and coordinate the efforts, but it had also been productive, after all, thanks to documents provided by the American the Paladin Group now also knew possible targets to contact within the Italian Peninsula: not yet, but soon the Soviets would also get a bloodied nose.
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Modern History: Korea. - Wade Barnett.
Chinese soldiers stationed at the Chinese-Korean border, the Yalu River was the only thing stopping each side from easily crossing into the other's territory.
Modern History: Korea. - Wade Barnett.
Chinese soldiers stationed at the Chinese-Korean border, the Yalu River was the only thing stopping each side from easily crossing into the other's territory.
The People's Republic of China had avoided the fighting at the Korean Peninsula during the war that raged both halves of Korea, this had been a blessing as it easily allowed Mao to focus on other things that many members of the Chinese Communist Party found more important. However, this also meant that the only true fighting experience the People's Liberation Army had was against the Imperial Japanese Army and the corrupt armies of the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-Shek, Peng Dehuai as the leader of the armed forces had tried to convince Mao about reforming the army and departing from the ideologically reliable guerrilla force to a more professionalized one similar to the forces of the Soviet Union. Without the experience that could have been provided by the Korean War, Mao insisted that the reform was something useless, that the true path for the People's Liberation Army was sticking to the ideological dedication it had always professed. Eventually, even Mao would come to agree with Peng Dehuai's points, though he was still unsure about committing entirely to that process, so he accepted to form specialized units that would follow Peng's new ways, small in comparison to the rest of the People's Liberation Army.
The formation of the professional units came in due time for the First Taiwan Strait Crisis, president Eisenhower's slow reaction and inaction along the lack of preparation among the forces of the Republic of China allowed the People's Liberation Army to get a shocking victory both at Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands, deeply worrying Chiang Kai-Shek and Eisenhower about the real capabilities of Beijing's forces. The success achieved by Peng Dehuai's reforms was noticeable, even Mao (as prideful as he was) was convinced about the possibilities that could be achieved with a professionalized army, but at the same time he was rather reluctant to recognize his mistake, so he didn't outrightly approve Peng's reform plan; instead, Mao proposed to implement the new doctrines, tactics and plans for a limited amount of the existing divisions, while guaranteeing to train future units in that way as well. It was a compromise that pleased no one, Peng Dehuai felt it fell short of the desired outcome while Mao perceived it as one sign of opposition against him. However, the compromise remained in place even if opposition boiled behind the stage, though some generals were also on Peng's side, they thought the People's Liberation Army had to keep up with time.
Once the Korean Summer began, Chinese officials considered a full intervention against the diverse factions that had emerged from the collapse of authority due to president Cho's unexpected assassination. But the Chinese had their hands full already, they were dealing with an influenza outbreak that threatened to spread through the rest of the country, but there had been two other reasons to step carefully through the Korean situation:
1) President Eisenhower had been firm about the position of the United States in the Korean Peninsula, even the Soviet Troika had advised caution to Beijing, saying that in case of hostilities Soviet involvement couldn't be expected.
2) Mao and other members of the CCP thought that acting president Pak would be capable of stabilizing the situation at Korea, as someone that had formed part of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea government they felt relieved to know a Communist was in charge at Seoul. Neither them nor the Koreans had expected the sudden escalation of tension and hostilities within the peninsula; the Summer Declaration, the Constitutional Ultimatum and Park's sudden coup were total surprises for everyone looking at Korea at that moment.
But this caution didn't mean that China wasn't willing to get an upper hand at Korea, ever since Mao had decided to not join the Korean War he had regretted it and Soviet officials along some members of the CCP had been eager to remind him of this unwise decision. (Which ironically wasn't his to begin with) So the natural course of action once Korea fell in disarray was to sponsor the remnants of the Korean People's Army, there were former soldiers of North Korea in China and the amnesty given by president Cho had allowed many of them to return, even if they hadn't abandoned their violent ways and beliefs. But this attempt had also failed to materialize, many of them had just been interested in returning to Korea and escape their informal "arrest" by Chinese forces, while others simply joined an existing group in an attempt to avoid getting unwanted attention: just a small minority of them actually moved against the Josen Restoration Army and the Constitutionalists. So Mao had one choice left, America would surely join the conflict if it seemed that China was being opportunistic, but he thought America would refuse to act if a simple border clash escalated into a wider war; though it would not be just a simple nor a wider war.
The formation of the professional units came in due time for the First Taiwan Strait Crisis, president Eisenhower's slow reaction and inaction along the lack of preparation among the forces of the Republic of China allowed the People's Liberation Army to get a shocking victory both at Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands, deeply worrying Chiang Kai-Shek and Eisenhower about the real capabilities of Beijing's forces. The success achieved by Peng Dehuai's reforms was noticeable, even Mao (as prideful as he was) was convinced about the possibilities that could be achieved with a professionalized army, but at the same time he was rather reluctant to recognize his mistake, so he didn't outrightly approve Peng's reform plan; instead, Mao proposed to implement the new doctrines, tactics and plans for a limited amount of the existing divisions, while guaranteeing to train future units in that way as well. It was a compromise that pleased no one, Peng Dehuai felt it fell short of the desired outcome while Mao perceived it as one sign of opposition against him. However, the compromise remained in place even if opposition boiled behind the stage, though some generals were also on Peng's side, they thought the People's Liberation Army had to keep up with time.
Once the Korean Summer began, Chinese officials considered a full intervention against the diverse factions that had emerged from the collapse of authority due to president Cho's unexpected assassination. But the Chinese had their hands full already, they were dealing with an influenza outbreak that threatened to spread through the rest of the country, but there had been two other reasons to step carefully through the Korean situation:
1) President Eisenhower had been firm about the position of the United States in the Korean Peninsula, even the Soviet Troika had advised caution to Beijing, saying that in case of hostilities Soviet involvement couldn't be expected.
2) Mao and other members of the CCP thought that acting president Pak would be capable of stabilizing the situation at Korea, as someone that had formed part of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea government they felt relieved to know a Communist was in charge at Seoul. Neither them nor the Koreans had expected the sudden escalation of tension and hostilities within the peninsula; the Summer Declaration, the Constitutional Ultimatum and Park's sudden coup were total surprises for everyone looking at Korea at that moment.
But this caution didn't mean that China wasn't willing to get an upper hand at Korea, ever since Mao had decided to not join the Korean War he had regretted it and Soviet officials along some members of the CCP had been eager to remind him of this unwise decision. (Which ironically wasn't his to begin with) So the natural course of action once Korea fell in disarray was to sponsor the remnants of the Korean People's Army, there were former soldiers of North Korea in China and the amnesty given by president Cho had allowed many of them to return, even if they hadn't abandoned their violent ways and beliefs. But this attempt had also failed to materialize, many of them had just been interested in returning to Korea and escape their informal "arrest" by Chinese forces, while others simply joined an existing group in an attempt to avoid getting unwanted attention: just a small minority of them actually moved against the Josen Restoration Army and the Constitutionalists. So Mao had one choice left, America would surely join the conflict if it seemed that China was being opportunistic, but he thought America would refuse to act if a simple border clash escalated into a wider war; though it would not be just a simple nor a wider war.
Several hours had passed since the initial border clash and the Korean Army was already on the move,
unwilling to allow their territory to be ravaged by another conflict. There were still rebels and opposition
active, though the numbers were easier to handle for the ROK security forces, mobilization was quickly enacted without a doubt.
In an interesting development, the initial Korean assault didn't meet resistance from the People's Liberation Army, even after the delay taken to build pontoon bridges and sturdier ones for the tanks to cross the Yalu. The border clashes had ocurred close to the Soviet border, with Chinese forces close to the city of Yanji belonging to the Jilin provice, the Chinese had retreated after the fight in an attempt to lure the Koreans across the Yalu. Some of the theories proposed by some historians detail that Mao hoped the Korean advance through that specific zone would allow him to have a legitimate reason to suppress the Koreans at the Yanbian prefecture, while others consider it was Mao's attempt to pull the Soviet Union into the conflict, since the border was close and "incidents" could also take place. None of this happened, Park Chung-hee ordered the units near that front to stay in Korean territory and not to chase enemy units no matter what, he also refrained from asking American direct support since he thought that it could easily escalate into a wider conflict, he trusted the Korean Armed Forces to limit the bloodshed.
Even if it wasn't something to brag about nor a popular opinion, Park Chung-hee found Japan to be such an interesting country, his education and life experiences were in some way related to the influence Japan had on the Korean Peninsula and he found certain inspiration in their historic path. He had also been heavily impressed by Douglas MacArthur's brave move during the Korean War, the Southern victory was generally attributed to the contributions made by the Incheon landings in cutting the KPA's supply lines and forcing their retreat. The nascent Korean Navy was still rather small and the amount of divisions from the army was minuscule compared to the Chinese, yet, taking inspiration from MacArthur's book, he ordered a daring and dangerous operation. Two mechanized and one motorized infantry divisions would launch an amphibious operation directed at Tianjin in an attempt to advance towards Beijing and create chaos within China's leadership, despite the opposition raised by the generals and the members of the Hanahoe (the two remaining) Park Chung-hee declared he would be the one to lead the Beijing Offensive. Meanwhile, motorized forces under Lee Hung-koo had already taken Dandong and Fushun; important places of Liaoning province.
Even if it wasn't something to brag about nor a popular opinion, Park Chung-hee found Japan to be such an interesting country, his education and life experiences were in some way related to the influence Japan had on the Korean Peninsula and he found certain inspiration in their historic path. He had also been heavily impressed by Douglas MacArthur's brave move during the Korean War, the Southern victory was generally attributed to the contributions made by the Incheon landings in cutting the KPA's supply lines and forcing their retreat. The nascent Korean Navy was still rather small and the amount of divisions from the army was minuscule compared to the Chinese, yet, taking inspiration from MacArthur's book, he ordered a daring and dangerous operation. Two mechanized and one motorized infantry divisions would launch an amphibious operation directed at Tianjin in an attempt to advance towards Beijing and create chaos within China's leadership, despite the opposition raised by the generals and the members of the Hanahoe (the two remaining) Park Chung-hee declared he would be the one to lead the Beijing Offensive. Meanwhile, motorized forces under Lee Hung-koo had already taken Dandong and Fushun; important places of Liaoning province.
Wrongly assuming that the Koreans would be too tired after the chaos they went through, Mao chose to deploy a minimal amount
of units to the border with the Republic of Korea, expecting an overwhelming success against the "fatigued Korean forces", instead
he found a strong, mobilized, organized and prepared army to defend their own homeland.
The six motorized divisions under Lee Hung-koo faced one division led by Wang Shusheng at Anshan, his intent was advancing mercilessly to avoid giving a break to the Chinese. Another intention he had with this offensive was pushing them away from the renowned port of Lüshun (Port Arthur). With over 50,000 thousand men in their favor, the Koreans managed to push away the Chinese with minimal casualties inflicted on both sides. It's important to mention that the airforce also played an important role in the conflict, constant bombing runs helped to pave the way for the Korean offensives across the Yalu River. And by September 14th, the Army Group under Generalissimo Park had landed and secured the important districts within Tianjin, obliterating the militias that arrived to resist the sudden attack. Almost every plane available was redirected to Tianjin, Park had arrived with enough supplies to fight for a month, though he knew it would be quicker than that. Meanwhile, the People's Liberation Army Navy attempted a distraction operation employing transport ships, admiral Sohn's fleet sank one of the transports and this sent a panic wave through the weak Chinese navy which still lacked equipment to fight against the American-sponsored Korean fleet.
Mao's reputation was faltering since the units that had been defeated by the Koreans were the ideological-driven ones, those infantrymen had revolutionary fervor but they lacked artillery, trucks, anti-tank and anti-air equipment, etc. The failure was also caused by the minimal deployment of forces, Peng Dehuai ordered more forces to be sent towards the Yalu Front, even ignoring for a time the Korean landing that had the generalissimo at the lead. The reasoning was simple, they thought there was no way the three divisions would be able to push towards Beijing, even with air support, the Chinese regarded the landing as a mere distraction. When the Korean Army pushed towards Shenyang they found stronger resistance despite still outnumbering their enemies, some of the professionalized units were starting to arrive to the front but they weren't fulfilling the Korean expectations, instead of moving towards their occupied territory they organized at Yanbian to launch an attack against Chongjin; the important industrial center and an important military position for Korea. Counting on the natural barriers (mountains, the Yalu River) and their fortifications, the two Korean divisions prepared to hold up against the four Chinese divisions moving against them.
Despite the repeated attempts made by China to pull the Soviet Union into the war, the Troika was unwilling to intervene unless a full American intervention was organized, even they were glad to see China embroiled in a conflict caused by their own recklessness. At the same time, the Americans had been worried about the performance the Korean Army would have in the conflict, president Eisenhower had considered intervening on Korea's behalf but president Park's refusal to ask for support and MacArthur's private letter convinced him to avoid joining the war. This effectively rendered the war into a 1v1 fight between both countries, however, president Eisenhower would not stay idle, he gave the Koreans planes to be manned by themselves (keeping his word of not intervening into the conflict), he briefly considered sending the same support to Chiang Kai-Shek, though his opinion changed after considering that China would feel threatened. Both the Soviets and the Americans had a silent agreement, they would limit themselves to watch the conflict develop by itself and the only intervention to be made would be diplomatic or political. It wasn't the best course of action, but the situation was such a delicate one.
Peng Dehuai's professional units were leading the attack against Chongjin with heavy support from the People's Liberation Army Air Force, however, even with the numerous planes bombing the defenders, the Chinese were still unable to even crack one of the two divisions. However, where resistance had escalated thanks to the arrival of Peng's units was Shenyang, despite having numerical superiority the Koreans were now struggling against the defenders and with the airforce entirely deployed to Tianjin for the Beijing Offensive they lacked the firepower needed to dislodge the People's Liberation Army. After numerous bombing runs against the garrisons at Beijing, on September 16th Generalissimo Park launched his offensive against the capital. Almost thirty-seven thousand Korean soldiers advanced against the Chinese capital, facing a foe whose numbers were slightly below fifty-five thousand men, four times their artillery guns and a small superiority in tanks deployed. Park Chung-hee had been clear since the war started, not only would they advance to prevent destruction in Korea, but they would sabotage factories, disrupt electric lines, destroy records and complicate the administration for the Chinese; all of this while avoiding to turn into the hated IJA.
The ROK Air Force was in dire need of repairs, it was still operational but the amount of Chinese planes meant the Koreans and their
planes almost never got a rest. With Peng's units redirecting to the frontlines Generalissimo Park's position was also threatened, at any moment the
Chinese could close the gap and crush the pocket at Tianjin. Finally, a Korean division moved towards Chongjin to assist in the defense against the Chinese,
meanwhile four Korean divisions started an offensive towards Hunjiang in an attempt to distract the People's Liberation Army from their offensive at Chongjin.
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"Beijing Offensive" Army Group HQ, Tianjin, People's Republic of China. ~ September 16th, 1957.
The streets were relatively peaceful, there had been Chinese resistance to the sudden appearence of Korean soldiers, though Generalissimo Park had ordered to open the food warehouses along handing over some of the food rations his army had prepared. One of his deputies had questioned the logic behind that move, all in all, the supplies were meant to last for an entire month and if the worst happened, they would really need them. However, no one could win an argument against the Hero of Seoul, against the Generalissimo, against the president; despite his young age. These actions along the light-handed policing by the Koreans had made life seem quite normal to the average Chinese, maybe even a little bit better since their meals had improved (lightly) without doing any more efforts. Only his closest associates were still present, one of the members of the Hanahoe was there, willing to follow his leader into the heart of the Red Emperor's lands. This operation was not just meant to disrupt the Chinese, it had more intentions behind it.
"No one will believe this..." said the weakened, starved and thirsty prisoner that Park's army had carried over for such a vast distance. "The rage of the people awaits you...", he seemed determined to finish his "speech". But it would not work at all, after all, that was the fate of a traitor and a traitor he certainly was.
"Generalissimo, here we have them, our forces at Anshan captured some members of the Korean People's Army," that was Chung Il-kwon, one of the two leading members of the Hanahoe and one of the most loyal to Park Chung-hee. "Lieutenant, let them in!"
Suddenly a group of injured soldiers came inside, their uniforms still had the insignia of the KPA and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; staring at them was like travelling seven years into the past. General Park had known that the Chinese and Soviets had allowed some sort of "government-in-exile" for the DPRK, but he had exaggerated it, in reality none of the two countries had taken real steps to support this "government-in-exile", all in all it was just a group of politicians, military leaders, bureaucrats, etc, under the protection of some remnants of the KPA. That had been it, there had never been an Operation Snowfall in the planning, both the Soviets and Chinese recognized that a full attempt to restore the Democratic People's Republic of Korea would be met by American bullets and bombs. And it wasn't that Park only learnt about it later, he always knew it was a hoax, after all, it was Park's hoax to gain favour with the United States.
"Excellent, you'll all cooperate, help us achieve what we've come to do and then we can possibly negotiate a deal," Park said calmly while his men guided the rebels to the room they needed them in. "As for you, president Pak," he said so scornfully, "Try to give us your best face, yes?"
For the next minutes the only sound within the building would be the sounds of cameras flashing, but after the pictures were taken shots would be heard.
The streets were relatively peaceful, there had been Chinese resistance to the sudden appearence of Korean soldiers, though Generalissimo Park had ordered to open the food warehouses along handing over some of the food rations his army had prepared. One of his deputies had questioned the logic behind that move, all in all, the supplies were meant to last for an entire month and if the worst happened, they would really need them. However, no one could win an argument against the Hero of Seoul, against the Generalissimo, against the president; despite his young age. These actions along the light-handed policing by the Koreans had made life seem quite normal to the average Chinese, maybe even a little bit better since their meals had improved (lightly) without doing any more efforts. Only his closest associates were still present, one of the members of the Hanahoe was there, willing to follow his leader into the heart of the Red Emperor's lands. This operation was not just meant to disrupt the Chinese, it had more intentions behind it.
"No one will believe this..." said the weakened, starved and thirsty prisoner that Park's army had carried over for such a vast distance. "The rage of the people awaits you...", he seemed determined to finish his "speech". But it would not work at all, after all, that was the fate of a traitor and a traitor he certainly was.
"Generalissimo, here we have them, our forces at Anshan captured some members of the Korean People's Army," that was Chung Il-kwon, one of the two leading members of the Hanahoe and one of the most loyal to Park Chung-hee. "Lieutenant, let them in!"
Suddenly a group of injured soldiers came inside, their uniforms still had the insignia of the KPA and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; staring at them was like travelling seven years into the past. General Park had known that the Chinese and Soviets had allowed some sort of "government-in-exile" for the DPRK, but he had exaggerated it, in reality none of the two countries had taken real steps to support this "government-in-exile", all in all it was just a group of politicians, military leaders, bureaucrats, etc, under the protection of some remnants of the KPA. That had been it, there had never been an Operation Snowfall in the planning, both the Soviets and Chinese recognized that a full attempt to restore the Democratic People's Republic of Korea would be met by American bullets and bombs. And it wasn't that Park only learnt about it later, he always knew it was a hoax, after all, it was Park's hoax to gain favour with the United States.
"Excellent, you'll all cooperate, help us achieve what we've come to do and then we can possibly negotiate a deal," Park said calmly while his men guided the rebels to the room they needed them in. "As for you, president Pak," he said so scornfully, "Try to give us your best face, yes?"
For the next minutes the only sound within the building would be the sounds of cameras flashing, but after the pictures were taken shots would be heard.
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Okay, here we have it ^^ the next update to this intriguing Korean history.
I hope you all enjoy reading it and feel free to speculate about how will the Battle of Beijing go, along Park's intentions in China!
I still have enough pictures to cover the rest of the chapter, the reason behind the update delay is: (apart of me being such a slow writer, haha) my modding of the game, I'm trying to improve the Cold War experience both for you readAARs and for me as the player in the game. I was going to write an update with Im Sun-ja to show us a bit of how is the Far East War going, though I got the inspiration to reveal one of Park's most sinister traits, all in all, he may be positively portrayed here, but he is still the ambitious man that ruled in our timeline.
And believe me, we are slowly approaching to the juiciest parts of the AAR.
Take care!
EDIT; Starting with this chapter I will use fiction/made-up quotes at the top, due to... 1) Lazy enough to search fitting quotes as time diverts 2) I feel made up ones will allow me more flexibility to showcase some of the "future" or things like that.
I hope you all enjoy reading it and feel free to speculate about how will the Battle of Beijing go, along Park's intentions in China!
I still have enough pictures to cover the rest of the chapter, the reason behind the update delay is: (apart of me being such a slow writer, haha) my modding of the game, I'm trying to improve the Cold War experience both for you readAARs and for me as the player in the game. I was going to write an update with Im Sun-ja to show us a bit of how is the Far East War going, though I got the inspiration to reveal one of Park's most sinister traits, all in all, he may be positively portrayed here, but he is still the ambitious man that ruled in our timeline.
And believe me, we are slowly approaching to the juiciest parts of the AAR.
Take care!
EDIT; Starting with this chapter I will use fiction/made-up quotes at the top, due to... 1) Lazy enough to search fitting quotes as time diverts 2) I feel made up ones will allow me more flexibility to showcase some of the "future" or things like that.
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The Paladin Group... Yikes! Any time someone like Skorzeny gets involved, you can guarantee that the situation is going to get messy fast.
The Chinese seem to have badly overplayed their hand here, and Mao's reliance on "revolutionary fervor" to make up for genuine material deficiencies sure isn't helping. All of these reverses must be badly damaging Beijing's legitimacy and credibility both at home and abroad.
The Chinese seem to have badly overplayed their hand here, and Mao's reliance on "revolutionary fervor" to make up for genuine material deficiencies sure isn't helping. All of these reverses must be badly damaging Beijing's legitimacy and credibility both at home and abroad.
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Who knows, the RoC might well be based in Beijing, with the PRC in Nanjing (a reverse to what happened before 1949)
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It's always nice to see some comments ^^ , glad you enjoyed the update.
Indeed! I gotta admit I was surprised to find out Skorzeny founded the Paladin Group only until the 70s, but with him in the picture and getting official support from an European government... Things can potentially go south with them.
That's an accurate analysis about Mao's position at the moment, from what I've seen so far the People's Liberation Army is massive (at least compared to the ROK Army) but the key difference is their lack of equipment, the frontline divisions I pushed back from Liaodong Peninsula where mere infantry divisions without any support brigades and some of them were outdated as well. This will evidently hurt Mao's position within the CCP and as we know, he isn't too fond of criticism against him. The Border War is certainly damaaging Beijing's position as you have stated, the relation with the Soviet Union (that has been deteriorating under the Troika) is tense as the Soviets considered them too reckless, meanwhile Greater Vietn- *cough* I mean, Indochina, has proved to be a successful regime so far. Domestically, I'd say it would be a mixed bag; the sudden apparition of Korean soldiers at Tianjin and other Chinese cities will certainly fuel opposition to Mao and also some degree of patriotism.
Reversing the RoC/Nanjing situation would be quite fun, I gotta admit that. Though we'll have to wait to see how the Border War develops!
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Chapter X: The Red Emperor across the Yalu. (Part II)
Chapter X: The Red Emperor across the Yalu. (Part II)
"Just as the Sui and Tang Dynasties tried to maintain a divided Korea, we now stand bravely as Goguryeo did against them." - Chung Il-kwon.
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"Just as the Sui and Tang Dynasties tried to maintain a divided Korea, we now stand bravely as Goguryeo did against them." - Chung Il-kwon.
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Tennei Airfield (previously Burevestnik Airport), Etorofu-to, Japanese Occupied Kuril Islands. ~ July 9th, 2019.
The outbreak of hostilities against the Soviet Union had allowed Im Sun-ja to stay on active duty, despite her father's actions and opposition to the idea; he had even attempted to ge ther discharged from service after the Zhenbao Bombing Raid, she understood his reasons to do so, but she wanted him to understand her position, her duty to their country. The medical staff had been surprised at the "minor" injuries she acquired at that hellish experience, she would be granted a temporary leave while she fully recovered, however, once the war started she insisted on returning to service and after pressuring her father her wish was granted. Im Sun-ja had been assigned with the combat group that landed at Zarubino, their goal had been securing the A-189 highway both to prevent the Soviet retreat from Noktundo and to stop them from sending reinforcements. The original plan placed them further ahead, at Slavyanka (Khasanky District's administrative center) but the closeness to Vladivostok meant it would be a tougher nut to crack and a riskier endeavour to follow: especially with the Sverdlovsk, an Ulyanovsk-class aircraft carrier, still operational.
The Ulyanovsk-class carriers were considered the behemoths of the Soviet Navy, they had been the first true aircraft carriers to be developed by the Soviet Union; they outmatched their predecessors (the Kuznetsov-class) in every possible way with both their dimensions and their capacity. In comparison to the Kuznetsov-class these carriers were capable of hosting as much as sixty-eight aircraft; a combination of fighters, helicopters and AEW&C planes; translating into an overwhelming firepower, capabilities and possiblities in combat. However, by 2019 the Soviet Union was only operating four of these expensive and monstruous behemoths with two of them considered for decommission due to the expenses associated with their upkeep. The Sverdlovsk was the only Ulyanovsk-class carrier assigned to the Far East, the ship had been sent eastwards in response to the commissioning of the Izumo-class destroyers and the Gojoseon-class supercarriers by Japan and Korea respectively; Japan's Izumo, Kaga and Tsushima along Korea's Goguryeo, Silla and Baejke handed them a numerical advantage in aircraft and pushed the Soviets into deploying as well the Tblisi, Baku and Leningrad (Kuznetsov-class carriers) along the Kiev, Minsk and Zhukov (Kiev-class carriers).
Even with the impressive number of carriers deployed to the Far East by the Soviet Union the balance was still in favor of Korea and her informal alliance with Japan, they simply had far more aircraft within their navies and that was without taking into consideration the land-based planes and helicopters. But that wasn't the only reason behind the Soviet failure at the Far East, corruption within the navy took an expensive toll after a quarter of the Sverdlovsk's aircraft wing was grounded due to a lack of spare parts, accompanied by the postponement of the electronic and sensor refit and to make matters even worse, a fire broke out months before the start of hostilities. Ironically, the one to put an end to the tragic and haunted story of the Sverdlovsk was the commander of one of the Soviet submarines tasked with incercepting the Tsushima on its way to join the Korean Carrier Group. The submarine in question was later identified as the Kursk, (Oscar II-class in NATO reporting names), due to electronic failures and countermeasures employed by the Japanese and Koreans communications had failed and one of the Sverdlovsk's ASW helicopters engaged against the Kursk, prompting the commander to unleash a torpedoes against the closest "foe" they could find.
The sinking of the Sverdlovsk collapsed the morale of the Soviet Navy, seen as the toughest ship available it was a dissapointing end for the largest and most powerful asset the Soviet Far East Navy had. With it neutralized by their own forces, the Korean-Japanese fleets started a general blockade against the remaining Soviet ships. While all of this had happened on the sea, Sun-ja and her combat group had already secured Zarubino and even Slavyanka, placing the Korean troops in range of Vladivostok and the numerous military facilities in the city. However, before Im Sun-ja and her unit were given the green light to advance until the union of the A-189 and the A-370 highways orders came from Seoul and they were transferred to support the Japanese landing at the Kuril Islands as the bulk of their marine units were focused against Sakhalin. For Sun-ja it was a pause from the Primorsky Front and even from the entire conflict, the defences placed by the Russians on Iturup were quickly overwhelmed by the joint Korean-Japanese force; she couldn't have known it, no one could, but something else was brewing up.
The outbreak of hostilities against the Soviet Union had allowed Im Sun-ja to stay on active duty, despite her father's actions and opposition to the idea; he had even attempted to ge ther discharged from service after the Zhenbao Bombing Raid, she understood his reasons to do so, but she wanted him to understand her position, her duty to their country. The medical staff had been surprised at the "minor" injuries she acquired at that hellish experience, she would be granted a temporary leave while she fully recovered, however, once the war started she insisted on returning to service and after pressuring her father her wish was granted. Im Sun-ja had been assigned with the combat group that landed at Zarubino, their goal had been securing the A-189 highway both to prevent the Soviet retreat from Noktundo and to stop them from sending reinforcements. The original plan placed them further ahead, at Slavyanka (Khasanky District's administrative center) but the closeness to Vladivostok meant it would be a tougher nut to crack and a riskier endeavour to follow: especially with the Sverdlovsk, an Ulyanovsk-class aircraft carrier, still operational.
The Ulyanovsk-class carriers were considered the behemoths of the Soviet Navy, they had been the first true aircraft carriers to be developed by the Soviet Union; they outmatched their predecessors (the Kuznetsov-class) in every possible way with both their dimensions and their capacity. In comparison to the Kuznetsov-class these carriers were capable of hosting as much as sixty-eight aircraft; a combination of fighters, helicopters and AEW&C planes; translating into an overwhelming firepower, capabilities and possiblities in combat. However, by 2019 the Soviet Union was only operating four of these expensive and monstruous behemoths with two of them considered for decommission due to the expenses associated with their upkeep. The Sverdlovsk was the only Ulyanovsk-class carrier assigned to the Far East, the ship had been sent eastwards in response to the commissioning of the Izumo-class destroyers and the Gojoseon-class supercarriers by Japan and Korea respectively; Japan's Izumo, Kaga and Tsushima along Korea's Goguryeo, Silla and Baejke handed them a numerical advantage in aircraft and pushed the Soviets into deploying as well the Tblisi, Baku and Leningrad (Kuznetsov-class carriers) along the Kiev, Minsk and Zhukov (Kiev-class carriers).
Even with the impressive number of carriers deployed to the Far East by the Soviet Union the balance was still in favor of Korea and her informal alliance with Japan, they simply had far more aircraft within their navies and that was without taking into consideration the land-based planes and helicopters. But that wasn't the only reason behind the Soviet failure at the Far East, corruption within the navy took an expensive toll after a quarter of the Sverdlovsk's aircraft wing was grounded due to a lack of spare parts, accompanied by the postponement of the electronic and sensor refit and to make matters even worse, a fire broke out months before the start of hostilities. Ironically, the one to put an end to the tragic and haunted story of the Sverdlovsk was the commander of one of the Soviet submarines tasked with incercepting the Tsushima on its way to join the Korean Carrier Group. The submarine in question was later identified as the Kursk, (Oscar II-class in NATO reporting names), due to electronic failures and countermeasures employed by the Japanese and Koreans communications had failed and one of the Sverdlovsk's ASW helicopters engaged against the Kursk, prompting the commander to unleash a torpedoes against the closest "foe" they could find.
The sinking of the Sverdlovsk collapsed the morale of the Soviet Navy, seen as the toughest ship available it was a dissapointing end for the largest and most powerful asset the Soviet Far East Navy had. With it neutralized by their own forces, the Korean-Japanese fleets started a general blockade against the remaining Soviet ships. While all of this had happened on the sea, Sun-ja and her combat group had already secured Zarubino and even Slavyanka, placing the Korean troops in range of Vladivostok and the numerous military facilities in the city. However, before Im Sun-ja and her unit were given the green light to advance until the union of the A-189 and the A-370 highways orders came from Seoul and they were transferred to support the Japanese landing at the Kuril Islands as the bulk of their marine units were focused against Sakhalin. For Sun-ja it was a pause from the Primorsky Front and even from the entire conflict, the defences placed by the Russians on Iturup were quickly overwhelmed by the joint Korean-Japanese force; she couldn't have known it, no one could, but something else was brewing up.
Im Sun-ja's Personal Journal said:
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Modern History: Korea. - Wade Barnett.
Once the Korean forces clashed with the defenders of Beijing, Mao issued a call to the populace to rise up against the invaders, ironically, at the same time he gave counterproductive orders to the army, he instructed every available soldiers to rush towards the Yalu Front to push back the Korean attack, while Peng Dehuai obeyed Mao's orders he chose to be selective and sent a tank brigade to support the infantry and nascent militias at Beijing; hoping a professional brigade would stop the Korean advance.
Modern History: Korea. - Wade Barnett.
Once the Korean forces clashed with the defenders of Beijing, Mao issued a call to the populace to rise up against the invaders, ironically, at the same time he gave counterproductive orders to the army, he instructed every available soldiers to rush towards the Yalu Front to push back the Korean attack, while Peng Dehuai obeyed Mao's orders he chose to be selective and sent a tank brigade to support the infantry and nascent militias at Beijing; hoping a professional brigade would stop the Korean advance.
The Chinese forces at Beijing (and its surroundings) were caught off guard when the Koreans started their offensive, they had thought the Koreans would limit themselves to bomb them to support their distraction operation against the People's Liberatin Army, therefore, when the offensive actually started no one was ready for it. When the battle began on September 16th, the top ranking general available was Li Zhen, a female officer that had been loyal to Mao, the Communist Party and the Revolution ever since the beginning more than twenty years ago. Due to her bravery and loyalty she had been named major general back in 1955 and granted the command of a ceremonial division at Beijing just to maintain the appearance of growing gender equality in China (and hiding the fact that over a hundred thousand female fights had been decommissioned). Mao was dismayed to learn that Li Zhen was the one commanding the troops, though he also hoped she would win and humilliate Park Chung-hee, however, Peng Dehuai had other plans, he recalled Zhang Yunyi to leave retirement briefly to lead the battle and use the tank brigade he sent towards Beijing to decisively crush the Koreans once and for all.
Just one day later almost six thousand soldiers and a bit over a hundred tanks arrived to Beijing under the orders of the Great General Zhang Yunyi, however, despite having arrived to Beijing they took a heavy battering on their way to Dongcheng District's outskirts. The Korean Air Force bombed the tanks and supply lines ever since they entered into Beijing, slowing them down and in certain way destroying their supply lines as well, even though they could always replenish themselves from another route. The heavy bombing endured by the troops even days before the offensive started had proven to be a success, the defender's organization and morale were plummeting to the bottom, not even the tank superiority enjoyed by the People's Liberation Army was enough to stop the ROK Army. By September 18th news from Chongjin reached Generalissimo Park, the Chinese offensive across the Tumen River had been a failure, despite doubling the Koreans in numbers the PLA suffered almost twenty-seven hundred casualties, while the Koreans limited themselves to two thousand. Meanwhile, at Beijing, Mao had refused to retreat from the capital, he was decided to stay at the city and stop the Koreans one way or another, even if it meant endangering his country.
By September 20th, both Mao and Peng Dehuai, along the entire CCP would end up shocked after seeing the results of the Beijing Offensive, despite having the numerical advantage and eventually a material advantage regarding artillery and tanks, Park's offensive broke the People's Liberation Army and pushed them from Dongcheng District, opening the road towards Xicheng District and with it the seat of power. Park Chung-hee stayed with two divisions at Tianjing to secure the retreat, while Hanahoe member Chung Il-kwon advanced into Xicheng's outskirts in order to fulfill the secondary objectives of the operation, razing and sabotaging as many factories and administratives buildings as possible, having been slowly radicalized and with ethnic nationalism starting to be more prominent in the government, general Chung considered shelling the Forbidden City as a display of Korean superiority but refrained from doing so after receiving Park's rejection of the plan. What he did raze were the airfields within Dongcheng and on Xicheng's outsirts, he was lucky enough to capture over three thousand pilots and aircrew members on ground, he spared nothing in the destruction of the close to fifteen hundred aircraft he caught in the Beijing Offensive.
Just one day later almost six thousand soldiers and a bit over a hundred tanks arrived to Beijing under the orders of the Great General Zhang Yunyi, however, despite having arrived to Beijing they took a heavy battering on their way to Dongcheng District's outskirts. The Korean Air Force bombed the tanks and supply lines ever since they entered into Beijing, slowing them down and in certain way destroying their supply lines as well, even though they could always replenish themselves from another route. The heavy bombing endured by the troops even days before the offensive started had proven to be a success, the defender's organization and morale were plummeting to the bottom, not even the tank superiority enjoyed by the People's Liberation Army was enough to stop the ROK Army. By September 18th news from Chongjin reached Generalissimo Park, the Chinese offensive across the Tumen River had been a failure, despite doubling the Koreans in numbers the PLA suffered almost twenty-seven hundred casualties, while the Koreans limited themselves to two thousand. Meanwhile, at Beijing, Mao had refused to retreat from the capital, he was decided to stay at the city and stop the Koreans one way or another, even if it meant endangering his country.
By September 20th, both Mao and Peng Dehuai, along the entire CCP would end up shocked after seeing the results of the Beijing Offensive, despite having the numerical advantage and eventually a material advantage regarding artillery and tanks, Park's offensive broke the People's Liberation Army and pushed them from Dongcheng District, opening the road towards Xicheng District and with it the seat of power. Park Chung-hee stayed with two divisions at Tianjing to secure the retreat, while Hanahoe member Chung Il-kwon advanced into Xicheng's outskirts in order to fulfill the secondary objectives of the operation, razing and sabotaging as many factories and administratives buildings as possible, having been slowly radicalized and with ethnic nationalism starting to be more prominent in the government, general Chung considered shelling the Forbidden City as a display of Korean superiority but refrained from doing so after receiving Park's rejection of the plan. What he did raze were the airfields within Dongcheng and on Xicheng's outsirts, he was lucky enough to capture over three thousand pilots and aircrew members on ground, he spared nothing in the destruction of the close to fifteen hundred aircraft he caught in the Beijing Offensive.
Both Li Zhen and Zhang Yanyi failed to stop the Korean ferocious advance against Beijing, in just four days the inferior Korean Army had been able to push the Chinese troops and threaten the seat of government. However, even with the casualties inflicted by the bombing runs, the Koreans still paid a hefty price tag to take Dongcheng District losing close to eight thousand men while the Chinese lost almost six thousand. The battle of Beijing sent shockwaves not just through China, but also into the wider world.
Before Chung Il-kwon had enough time to reconsider his idea of shelling the Forbidden City a renewed Chinese offensive took place, troops close to Beijing joined the fight while the previous defenders continued their long retreat in order to reorganize themselves. The troops trying to dislodge general Chung from Dongcheng were once again revolutionary-focused infantrymen but this time they had the upper hand, the Korean motorized division was already heavily exhausted after the sabotage and razing operations and the brutality of the Beijing Offensive. Interestingly enough, it was at this point that the Soviet Troika also got worried about China's position, they disagreed heavily with them but they weren't enthusiastic about the prospect of the Communists being toppled at Beijing; they informed the Americans that Korea had to withdraw from Beijing or they would intervene. Almost at the same time a tank division and a professionalized infantry division with artillery began an attack against Tianjin in order to close up the Beijing pocket and capture the Korean Generalissimo after the mess he had caused. But it was already too late, general Chung would retreat, not due to Chinese attacks or the Soviet pressure, their operation had concluded and they had to leave now.
Just two days after the Korean Army had won the Battle of Beijing they finished their retreat out of the capital and back into Tianjin to support Park against the Chinese offensive, suffering almost five hundred casualties compared to the three hundred inflicted to the PLA, after repelling the assault the three divisions would get back on the ships and prepare to leave as soon as possible under the cover of the frigates and destroyers nearby. Meanwhile, on September 21st, the offensive that had been started against Hunjiang City (Jilin province) to relieve the soldiers at Chongjin proved to be successful despite being just that; a distraction operation. The costs of the offensive were relatively low considering the tactical effects on the battlefield, it had allowed the Koreans at Chongjin to hold off the Chinese and prevent them from crossing into the peninsula; three thousand casualties for the Chinese and almost two thousand for the Koreans. The mobilization enforced by Park Chung-hee kept a healthy pool of replacements for the army, but the new soldiers would be green in comparison to the experienced troops, he needed to end with the conflict as soon as possible before the Chinese brought their own counter to quality, quantitiy: such a massive quantity.
By September 23rd, Park's three divisions had already embarked and left the Bohai Sea, though instead of returning to the Korean Peninsula or towards the Liaodong Peninsula he instructed admiral Sohn to carry them southwards, he was sure that even if the Chinese Navy decided to leave the ports the superior Korean firepower would be enough to dissuade them from interrupting his offensive. Back to the Liaodong Peninsula Front, the battle for Shenyang had raged for almost eleven days, having started with a huge numerical superiority in favor of the Koreans (fifty thousand against close to twelve thousand) it had now escalated to eighty-three thousand Korean soldiers and almost seventy-five thousand Chinese troops; the remarkable thing about it was that most of those Chinese troops belonged to the professionalized corps developed by Peng Dehuai, heavily bleeding the Koreans in the process. At the same time that reinforcements arrived for the Shenyang defenders, new Chinese divisions arrived to stop the Korean advance on Hunjiang City, it was a slow process, but the Chinese quantity trait was starting to affect the battlefield and especially due to those better trained and equipped troops.
Just two days after the Korean Army had won the Battle of Beijing they finished their retreat out of the capital and back into Tianjin to support Park against the Chinese offensive, suffering almost five hundred casualties compared to the three hundred inflicted to the PLA, after repelling the assault the three divisions would get back on the ships and prepare to leave as soon as possible under the cover of the frigates and destroyers nearby. Meanwhile, on September 21st, the offensive that had been started against Hunjiang City (Jilin province) to relieve the soldiers at Chongjin proved to be successful despite being just that; a distraction operation. The costs of the offensive were relatively low considering the tactical effects on the battlefield, it had allowed the Koreans at Chongjin to hold off the Chinese and prevent them from crossing into the peninsula; three thousand casualties for the Chinese and almost two thousand for the Koreans. The mobilization enforced by Park Chung-hee kept a healthy pool of replacements for the army, but the new soldiers would be green in comparison to the experienced troops, he needed to end with the conflict as soon as possible before the Chinese brought their own counter to quality, quantitiy: such a massive quantity.
By September 23rd, Park's three divisions had already embarked and left the Bohai Sea, though instead of returning to the Korean Peninsula or towards the Liaodong Peninsula he instructed admiral Sohn to carry them southwards, he was sure that even if the Chinese Navy decided to leave the ports the superior Korean firepower would be enough to dissuade them from interrupting his offensive. Back to the Liaodong Peninsula Front, the battle for Shenyang had raged for almost eleven days, having started with a huge numerical superiority in favor of the Koreans (fifty thousand against close to twelve thousand) it had now escalated to eighty-three thousand Korean soldiers and almost seventy-five thousand Chinese troops; the remarkable thing about it was that most of those Chinese troops belonged to the professionalized corps developed by Peng Dehuai, heavily bleeding the Koreans in the process. At the same time that reinforcements arrived for the Shenyang defenders, new Chinese divisions arrived to stop the Korean advance on Hunjiang City, it was a slow process, but the Chinese quantity trait was starting to affect the battlefield and especially due to those better trained and equipped troops.
By September 25th the situation on the front was clearly deteriorating in favor of the People's Liberation Army, their overwhelming numbers, the arrival of decent-enough divisions and the exhaustion the army was starting to feel, the constant and relentless atacks by or against the Chinese meant that divisions couldn't be reinforced properly, thus translating into an army that was starting to get tired and bled by the Chinese, the only remaining advantage was full control of the skies after the People's Liberation Army Air Force had been caught on ground.
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Oval Office, White House, Washington D.C. ~ September 26th, 1957.
"Mr. President, the CIA has enough reasons to believe that the Korean assault against Beijing was enough to cause a division within the top leadership, from what we've been able to gather there were already cracks on the wall way before the Koreans arrived to the city," both Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower as vice president and president had been studying the Chinese regime and monitoring it ever since they humilliated America with the Taiwan Strait Crisis, that had been a massive blunder from Eisenhower's part and no one had seen it coming. "We have reasons to believe Peng Dehuai will be purged after the failure to protect the capital, despite him being the only reason the Koreans haven't been able to advance even further into China."
"Mr. President, the CIA has enough reasons to believe that the Korean assault against Beijing was enough to cause a division within the top leadership, from what we've been able to gather there were already cracks on the wall way before the Koreans arrived to the city," both Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower as vice president and president had been studying the Chinese regime and monitoring it ever since they humilliated America with the Taiwan Strait Crisis, that had been a massive blunder from Eisenhower's part and no one had seen it coming. "We have reasons to believe Peng Dehuai will be purged after the failure to protect the capital, despite him being the only reason the Koreans haven't been able to advance even further into China."
Many had considered Stalin someone difficult to deal with, especially after the Berlin Airlift back in Truman's presidency, though no one could have ever imagined the complications both the Soviet Troika and Mao would cause for the United States, especially in Asia of all places. The sudden "soft" alignment of Egypt towards Moscow had also worried deeply president Eisenhower, but he wasn't willing to escalate the situation into a war or even worse, allow France and the United Kingdom to continue playing at the Middle East. It had all been such a mess lately, Korea had almost gone back to the Communists according to the evidence handled by the Korean regime to the American ambassador, it seemed that the deposed president Pak had been secretly aligned with Beijing, Park Chung-hee had "found" him with former members of the Korean People's Army at Beijing; of course he was no idiot, but that Park fellow was efficient and certainly aligned with America.
Leaving aside Korea, he had other worries as well, Indochina had been sponsoring the Communist Party of Thailand and domestic unrest had almost led to a coup against the prime minister, Plaek Pibulsongkhram, he was a relic of World War Two just as him but he was someone he could work with, at least he was a known devil, not a new one; besides, supporting a coup could probably lead into more unstability within the country, America would need to act soon, both Dulles and Nixon recommended initiating Operation Wasp, that could probably work. France was another concern he had, the Second French Consulate hadn't made controversial moves in Europe apart of breaking relations with the Soviet Union, though fortunately backroom talks had allowed the tensions to dissipate (at least from Moscow's end), but France was still clamping down hard against independence movements in Africa and that would mean trouble eventually.
And the last concern he had, Cuba.
Batista had been toppled by what seemed to be a moderate-leftist movement but the negotiations between them and Fidel Castro had been messy to say the least, they had agreed on governing as a unity government but everyone was wondering about the feasibility of it lasting. Fortunately the regime seemed to be stable enough and amicable to the American government, he could at least feel some kind of relief thanks to that fact. Nonetheless, Nixon suggested crafting plans in case the Cuban government decided to drift apart from the current course, sure, it would be the next administration's call if everything went well in these remaining years, but it was always better to have contingency plans ready to be enacted. Many situations at once, but the only one president Eisenhower wasn't considering at all was one that would change an entire region in just a matter of months.
At least it seemed that Korea's Armed Forces continued improving, they could be the American Bulwark against Communism in Asia...why not?
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Okay, here's the next update for this Border War, the situation is slowly turning against us due to China's superior numbers, though, we can at least trust our border defences and the Yalu and Tumen rivers,
I tried to go for something different with the first segment of the update, I hope you enjoy it and like to see once again Im Sun-ja, I'm not well-versed on combat (I'm even worse at naval combat) but if you'd like to suggest a correction or an addition to the description of the developments in the Far East War/Second Russo-Japanese War, please tell me!
I hope you enjoy it,
Take care!
Take care!
- 2
Interlude: The Supreme Council for National Reconciliation.
The Supreme Council for National Reconciliation. - Hatanaka Mina.
After president Cho died, the Korean Peninsula went through one of the most chaotic periods in her modern history, the events usually known as the Korean Summer proved how tense the situation and the peace at the peninsula was in reality. President Cho Bong-am had made a huge progress regarding the solving of national tensions between the northern population and the southern one, many of these tensions had their roots at the unpopular presidency of Syngman Rhee which ended after his radicalization of the National Security Act enraged most of the people and caused his assassination. Despite the economic progress achieved by president Cho and the modernization of the country's infrastructure and education system, the reality was that politically speaking the North was still underrepresented in national politics, it was as if the northern part of the peninsula was just noticed when it was about economics or security, politicians from the former Democratic People's Republic of Korea were just sidelined and viewed suspiciously; that was the context behind president Cho's questionable decision to bring Pak Hon-yong onboard. Picking a former government member of the Communist regime proved to be a tough choice for the president and his party.
The Hanahoe had been formalized after Rhee's death, the members of the leading triumvirate were virulently opposed to president Cho and were cautious about his policies, they feared that he would try to move Korea towards Communism and seek a realignment with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. But president Cho was beyond that, he had been able to recognize the dire situation of the country and that there were numerous issues to be solved, he tried to avoid the most radical measures that could've been taken in order to keep the support of the conservative forces in the political spectrum, by doing this he managed to achieve something that no one else could've imagined: the Progressive Party (which was too left leaning for the majority of conservatives) became a political bemoth in the peninsula, diminishing the influence of Chang Myon's Democratic Party and evidently having a huge advantage over the nascent Democratic Republican Party of Generalissimo Park Chung-hee. Though there was a major flaw in the Progressive Party's formula, it heavily relied on Cho Bong-am, he was not only the glue for the different personalities in it, he was the moderating influence as well.
In hindsight and briefly touching the subject of Japanese politics, it's evident that former PM Inejiro Asanuma learnt one or two things from the Korean president Cho, some historians even consider that without president Cho's influence we would've never seen the success of the Japanese Socialist Party (Nihon Shakai To) though that's something to debate at another moment. For now, it's safe to say that president Cho was really an influential individual not just for the political stage of the Korean Peninsula but beyond it as well. But the flaw is still there to analyze, the Progressive Party really depended so much of president Cho's charisma and once the economy started to overheat by the end of his presidency, it was clear that the rightist politicians and figures would jump away from the sinking ship; and it just got worse after Pak Hon-yong got into the presidency of the Republic of Korea. The brief tenure of Korea's third president left a bitter taste for many voters at the peninsula, the violence and bloodshed of the Korean Summer also helped to discredit even further the once popular Progressive Party in a couple of months. After the Constitutionalist Army moved against Gwangju and president Pak disappeared, the Progressives collapsed into utter chaos.
Historians usually forget the existance of the First Sino-Korean War and they just mention it as a simple border clash while others tend to include it into the bloodshed originated by the Korean Summer, they consider it as the closing act of the Korean tragedy of 1957. However, leaving aside the impressive feats of the Korean Armed Forces like the battle of Beijing, the Nanjing raid and the fierce battle of Shenyang there's another important aspect to study; how the war contributed to forge the new political system and allowed Generalissimo Park to secure his position and that of the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation. While he and general Chung Il-kwon were fighting at China, Choe Deok-sin (the other leader of the Hanahoe) started the political reorganization that general Park wanted the country to go through. In this project there were numerous steps to be followed, Park had considered that aligning the Democratic Party would be easy enough and that Chang Myon would prove to be irrelevant in this process, his worries came from the Progressive Party which was collapsing on it's own weight: he feared the idea of a real Communist arising over there and one more efficient than Pak had been, so he immediately ordered actions against them.
The Hanahoe had been formalized after Rhee's death, the members of the leading triumvirate were virulently opposed to president Cho and were cautious about his policies, they feared that he would try to move Korea towards Communism and seek a realignment with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. But president Cho was beyond that, he had been able to recognize the dire situation of the country and that there were numerous issues to be solved, he tried to avoid the most radical measures that could've been taken in order to keep the support of the conservative forces in the political spectrum, by doing this he managed to achieve something that no one else could've imagined: the Progressive Party (which was too left leaning for the majority of conservatives) became a political bemoth in the peninsula, diminishing the influence of Chang Myon's Democratic Party and evidently having a huge advantage over the nascent Democratic Republican Party of Generalissimo Park Chung-hee. Though there was a major flaw in the Progressive Party's formula, it heavily relied on Cho Bong-am, he was not only the glue for the different personalities in it, he was the moderating influence as well.
In hindsight and briefly touching the subject of Japanese politics, it's evident that former PM Inejiro Asanuma learnt one or two things from the Korean president Cho, some historians even consider that without president Cho's influence we would've never seen the success of the Japanese Socialist Party (Nihon Shakai To) though that's something to debate at another moment. For now, it's safe to say that president Cho was really an influential individual not just for the political stage of the Korean Peninsula but beyond it as well. But the flaw is still there to analyze, the Progressive Party really depended so much of president Cho's charisma and once the economy started to overheat by the end of his presidency, it was clear that the rightist politicians and figures would jump away from the sinking ship; and it just got worse after Pak Hon-yong got into the presidency of the Republic of Korea. The brief tenure of Korea's third president left a bitter taste for many voters at the peninsula, the violence and bloodshed of the Korean Summer also helped to discredit even further the once popular Progressive Party in a couple of months. After the Constitutionalist Army moved against Gwangju and president Pak disappeared, the Progressives collapsed into utter chaos.
Historians usually forget the existance of the First Sino-Korean War and they just mention it as a simple border clash while others tend to include it into the bloodshed originated by the Korean Summer, they consider it as the closing act of the Korean tragedy of 1957. However, leaving aside the impressive feats of the Korean Armed Forces like the battle of Beijing, the Nanjing raid and the fierce battle of Shenyang there's another important aspect to study; how the war contributed to forge the new political system and allowed Generalissimo Park to secure his position and that of the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation. While he and general Chung Il-kwon were fighting at China, Choe Deok-sin (the other leader of the Hanahoe) started the political reorganization that general Park wanted the country to go through. In this project there were numerous steps to be followed, Park had considered that aligning the Democratic Party would be easy enough and that Chang Myon would prove to be irrelevant in this process, his worries came from the Progressive Party which was collapsing on it's own weight: he feared the idea of a real Communist arising over there and one more efficient than Pak had been, so he immediately ordered actions against them.
Consolidating their grip on power.
First of all, the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation became something similar to a National Unity Government, it was not mandatory but it heavily encouraged the other political parties to merge together into this big coalition sponsored by general Park and his allies. In order to maintain the population and politician's approval he also abolished his own party, the Democratic Republican Party, a simple gesture that captured the attention of every voter and political figure at the country. In this sense, I would say the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation drew inspiration from Japan's WW2 organization; the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, also known as the Taisei Yokusankai. President Park's main goal was peacefully removing any possible source of opposition to the new regime while also trying to buy the loyalty of new members through political patronage and the supposed "cooperation" within the Council; with the Chinese threat active the Democratic Party had no other choice than joining the organization over fears of being accused of treason for not standing as one with the government. But the situation for the Progressive Party would prove to be way different than the Democratic Party or other minor ones.
Just a handful of days after the armies under Generalissimo Park and general Chung embarked as they left Beijing and Tianjin news came to Seoul along some interesting pictures and unexpected prisoners. Pictures had revealed that former president Pak Hon-yong had been found at a safehouse at Beijing's outskirts with a security detachment of former members of the Korean People's Army along soldiers from the People's Liberation Army, documents had also been found detailing how the current war had been planned by president Pak and his Communist allies in case of him being removed from power and information presumably linking president Cho's murderer with the People's Liberation Army: the outrage the scandal had caused was insurmountable, in a matter of days the Progressive Party stopped being one of the largest political forces in Korea as the people's anger was felt through the party offices at Seoul. Even those Korean leftists living at the northern part of the country suddenly turned against the party that had embraced them, fearing the simple possibility of cooperation between Pak Hon-yong and the Chinese; after all, president Cho had participated in their enfranchisement and helped them to open their way into national politics.
The Progressive Party was a chaos at the time of the revelations and without the public knowing, Generalissimo Park had asked for help to the military intelligence branches of the Hanahoe, there were some moderate figures within the party but the political disaster made the battle for the leadership an authentic free-for-all fight. Park was already sure about something, the leadership of a moderate would allow them not just to join the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation, but it would also give them a chance to uncover the truth about the recent scandal; it wasn't a viable option in the long run. So, arranging enigmatic "accidents" and blaming one or another figure of the opposition Choe Deok-sin managed to carry out the president's orders, so days before the conclusion of the First Sino-Korean War the Progressive Party announced their new leader: Kim Tu-bong, the first chairman of the Worker's Party of North Korea and the former head of state of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In such a strange fashion Kim Tu-bong managed to get the leadership of his fractured, weakened and maybe even hated party; once more the leftists were the exception in the Korean political stage and with them, possibly the North Koreans as well.
President Cho had granted amnesty to numerous individuals, but in reality there was such a strong stigma attached to those politicians or military figures that had been associated to the hated Communist regime of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, in some way, that political discrimination had helped Kim Suk-won to gather the forces behind his failed Joseon Restoration Army. President Park was unwilling to commit the same mistakes, the most radical and least loyal of those individuals would be arrested and sent to secure installations at the southern end of the peninsula or even Jeju Island, but he was also willing to search for figures capable of redeeming themselves, after all, with their knowledge they could be useful to infiltrate the People's Republic of China or destroy Communist rings within Korea. So, all in all, the Supreme Council would come to be a bitter-sweet experience for the North Koreans, many would continue to be ignored in politics but they would finally start to get a chance at redemption by cooperating with the Generalissimo: a new state of affairs had arrived to the peninsula and it seemed to be here to stay.
Just a handful of days after the armies under Generalissimo Park and general Chung embarked as they left Beijing and Tianjin news came to Seoul along some interesting pictures and unexpected prisoners. Pictures had revealed that former president Pak Hon-yong had been found at a safehouse at Beijing's outskirts with a security detachment of former members of the Korean People's Army along soldiers from the People's Liberation Army, documents had also been found detailing how the current war had been planned by president Pak and his Communist allies in case of him being removed from power and information presumably linking president Cho's murderer with the People's Liberation Army: the outrage the scandal had caused was insurmountable, in a matter of days the Progressive Party stopped being one of the largest political forces in Korea as the people's anger was felt through the party offices at Seoul. Even those Korean leftists living at the northern part of the country suddenly turned against the party that had embraced them, fearing the simple possibility of cooperation between Pak Hon-yong and the Chinese; after all, president Cho had participated in their enfranchisement and helped them to open their way into national politics.
The Progressive Party was a chaos at the time of the revelations and without the public knowing, Generalissimo Park had asked for help to the military intelligence branches of the Hanahoe, there were some moderate figures within the party but the political disaster made the battle for the leadership an authentic free-for-all fight. Park was already sure about something, the leadership of a moderate would allow them not just to join the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation, but it would also give them a chance to uncover the truth about the recent scandal; it wasn't a viable option in the long run. So, arranging enigmatic "accidents" and blaming one or another figure of the opposition Choe Deok-sin managed to carry out the president's orders, so days before the conclusion of the First Sino-Korean War the Progressive Party announced their new leader: Kim Tu-bong, the first chairman of the Worker's Party of North Korea and the former head of state of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In such a strange fashion Kim Tu-bong managed to get the leadership of his fractured, weakened and maybe even hated party; once more the leftists were the exception in the Korean political stage and with them, possibly the North Koreans as well.
President Cho had granted amnesty to numerous individuals, but in reality there was such a strong stigma attached to those politicians or military figures that had been associated to the hated Communist regime of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, in some way, that political discrimination had helped Kim Suk-won to gather the forces behind his failed Joseon Restoration Army. President Park was unwilling to commit the same mistakes, the most radical and least loyal of those individuals would be arrested and sent to secure installations at the southern end of the peninsula or even Jeju Island, but he was also willing to search for figures capable of redeeming themselves, after all, with their knowledge they could be useful to infiltrate the People's Republic of China or destroy Communist rings within Korea. So, all in all, the Supreme Council would come to be a bitter-sweet experience for the North Koreans, many would continue to be ignored in politics but they would finally start to get a chance at redemption by cooperating with the Generalissimo: a new state of affairs had arrived to the peninsula and it seemed to be here to stay.
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Apologies for taking so long to update, I got back to classes and I was silly enough to choose to take Italian classes as well so, I'm having issues managing my time.
These days I've been reading about Japan and I gotta say I have some juicy ideas for the future, but meanwhile I chose to reveal a bit more about the nature of General Park's regime so far. I also wanted to build up about the narration from the current chapter's Part I, about what happened to president Pak Hon-yong.
I hope you enjoy this update, I had so much fun writing it.
Take care!
EDIT (Also added to the thread's first post)::
Mild interactivity approved by Mr.C on September 14th, 2021.
These days I've been reading about Japan and I gotta say I have some juicy ideas for the future, but meanwhile I chose to reveal a bit more about the nature of General Park's regime so far. I also wanted to build up about the narration from the current chapter's Part I, about what happened to president Pak Hon-yong.
I hope you enjoy this update, I had so much fun writing it.
Take care!
EDIT (Also added to the thread's first post)::
Mild interactivity approved by Mr.C on September 14th, 2021.
Last edited:
- 1
Chapter X: The Red Emperor across the Yalu. (Part III)
Chapter X: The Red Emperor across the Yalu. (Part III)
"The brave Korean soldier doesn't fight to prevent or stop the Communist expansion, the courageous Korean soldier fights against the horrors of the Communist abomination, against the foreign encroachment of his country, against any possible renewal of the humilliations endured by the Korean Nation: the Korean soldier, sailor, pilot, every Korean fights to defend the country and shall die defending it from the invaders." - Chung Il-kwon.
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"The brave Korean soldier doesn't fight to prevent or stop the Communist expansion, the courageous Korean soldier fights against the horrors of the Communist abomination, against the foreign encroachment of his country, against any possible renewal of the humilliations endured by the Korean Nation: the Korean soldier, sailor, pilot, every Korean fights to defend the country and shall die defending it from the invaders." - Chung Il-kwon.
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Yijiangshan Islands, People's Republic of China. ~ September 26th, 1957.
So far the performance of the People's Liberation Army had been quite mediocre, Chairman Mao had expected a swift victory across the border due to the exhaustion felt by the Korean forces after the events of the Korean Summer, it had been a total surprise that the Koreans instead of defending their se of the Yalu chose to seize the initiative by launching an offensive through the entire front. Peng Dehuai had previously suggested to assign more divisions before starting the war, but Mao had considered that to be extreme caution bordering defeatist inclinations, there was no possible way for the Korean Armed Forces to stop the advance of the PLA: though that advance had never come. With the unexpected amphibious landing that eventually managed to enter Beijing the situation became unstable enough within the People's Republic of China and guaranteed that purges would take place due to the evident failures of the People's Liberation Army.
Mao's influence was strong enough within the CCP and military circles so despite the failure of the "ideological" army units the real brunt of the criticism was felt by Peng Dehuai and his modernized units that had ironically fared way better than their Maoist counterparts. No one dared to oppose Mao when he declared Peng Dehuai to be a "rightist", he was arrested and executed alongside numerous officers aligned with him, despite secretly agreeing with Peng, Lin Biao managed to get the Ministry for National Defense by pretending to agree entirely with Mao. However, there was a brief window of time between Peng's execution and Lin Biao's rise, in this meantime Mao withdrew the PLA's forces at Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands to direct them towards the Yalu Front, in their place he assigned some of the militia units still left at Southern China. The new defenders lacked adequate training, heavy equipment and supplies since everything was thrown against the Koreans.
Ji-tae was running through the beach after having left the landing craft, despite the lack of heavy artillery or air support the disorganized militias defending the island seemed to have numerous mortars in their hands, though they paled in comparison to the organized fire of the numerous Korean destroyers participating in the bombardment operation. Despite their alleged neutrality the Americans had chosen to support Korean operations aimed at Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands, mostly by providing logistical support and cover to the destroyers. Out of the three divisions under Generalissimo Park two were currently participating in the fight to revert the results of the Taiwan Strait Crisis, while the third was fulfilling a secret mission that had seen Korean soldiers land on Shanghai, some even advancing upwards by navigating the Huangpu River. Fortunately for everyone, the best of the People's Liberation Army had already left by Mao's orders in order to repel the invasion of Manchuria.
Ji-tae's unit had slowly advanced, despite having some tank support and light artillery in their favor it seemed almost impossible to dislodge the Communists from their positions. With the scale of the naval bombardment everyone participating in the operation was impressed by the resistance shown by the militias, what they lacked in equipment and training they had in determination and fanaticism. But the Chinese Communist militias weren't the only ones showing their zealotry, after the Koreans secured the beach numerous Chinese Nationalist soldiers disembarked and paved the way towards the last positions held by the Red Zealots, the Nationalists participating in the battle proved to be extremely ruthless: by the end of the battle more Nationalists had died than Koreans, something ironic since the Koreans had been the ones to secure the beach and carry the landings, though at least the Nationalists (and Koreans) had survivors of their own...
So far the performance of the People's Liberation Army had been quite mediocre, Chairman Mao had expected a swift victory across the border due to the exhaustion felt by the Korean forces after the events of the Korean Summer, it had been a total surprise that the Koreans instead of defending their se of the Yalu chose to seize the initiative by launching an offensive through the entire front. Peng Dehuai had previously suggested to assign more divisions before starting the war, but Mao had considered that to be extreme caution bordering defeatist inclinations, there was no possible way for the Korean Armed Forces to stop the advance of the PLA: though that advance had never come. With the unexpected amphibious landing that eventually managed to enter Beijing the situation became unstable enough within the People's Republic of China and guaranteed that purges would take place due to the evident failures of the People's Liberation Army.
Mao's influence was strong enough within the CCP and military circles so despite the failure of the "ideological" army units the real brunt of the criticism was felt by Peng Dehuai and his modernized units that had ironically fared way better than their Maoist counterparts. No one dared to oppose Mao when he declared Peng Dehuai to be a "rightist", he was arrested and executed alongside numerous officers aligned with him, despite secretly agreeing with Peng, Lin Biao managed to get the Ministry for National Defense by pretending to agree entirely with Mao. However, there was a brief window of time between Peng's execution and Lin Biao's rise, in this meantime Mao withdrew the PLA's forces at Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands to direct them towards the Yalu Front, in their place he assigned some of the militia units still left at Southern China. The new defenders lacked adequate training, heavy equipment and supplies since everything was thrown against the Koreans.
Ji-tae was running through the beach after having left the landing craft, despite the lack of heavy artillery or air support the disorganized militias defending the island seemed to have numerous mortars in their hands, though they paled in comparison to the organized fire of the numerous Korean destroyers participating in the bombardment operation. Despite their alleged neutrality the Americans had chosen to support Korean operations aimed at Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands, mostly by providing logistical support and cover to the destroyers. Out of the three divisions under Generalissimo Park two were currently participating in the fight to revert the results of the Taiwan Strait Crisis, while the third was fulfilling a secret mission that had seen Korean soldiers land on Shanghai, some even advancing upwards by navigating the Huangpu River. Fortunately for everyone, the best of the People's Liberation Army had already left by Mao's orders in order to repel the invasion of Manchuria.
Ji-tae's unit had slowly advanced, despite having some tank support and light artillery in their favor it seemed almost impossible to dislodge the Communists from their positions. With the scale of the naval bombardment everyone participating in the operation was impressed by the resistance shown by the militias, what they lacked in equipment and training they had in determination and fanaticism. But the Chinese Communist militias weren't the only ones showing their zealotry, after the Koreans secured the beach numerous Chinese Nationalist soldiers disembarked and paved the way towards the last positions held by the Red Zealots, the Nationalists participating in the battle proved to be extremely ruthless: by the end of the battle more Nationalists had died than Koreans, something ironic since the Koreans had been the ones to secure the beach and carry the landings, though at least the Nationalists (and Koreans) had survivors of their own...
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Modern History: Korea. - Wade Barnett.
The Battle of Shenyang is considered the turning point in the First Sino-Korean War, the arrival of more modernized units of the People's Liberation Army was enough to put a final stop to the exhausted forces of Korea, supplies were enough to continue operations but the army and airforce were already spent to keep on the offensive.
Modern History: Korea. - Wade Barnett.
The Battle of Shenyang is considered the turning point in the First Sino-Korean War, the arrival of more modernized units of the People's Liberation Army was enough to put a final stop to the exhausted forces of Korea, supplies were enough to continue operations but the army and airforce were already spent to keep on the offensive.
On September 26th the Korean Armed Forces achieved what can be truly considered as their final victories against the People's Republic of China, having fought for close to two weeks the defenders of Shenyang finally retreated from the damaged city. It would prove to be the bloodiest battle of the war, ushering memories of the Korean War or even the Second Sino-Japanese War, casualties had been quite numerous and despite the numerical advantage the Koreans had the results proved the poor situation the Korean Army was in. Equipment and supplies had always been abundant, but with the huge redeployment of Chinese forces towards the front it was now almost impossible to replenish the strength of the exhausted divisions, there were soldiers at parts of the front that barely got lucky enough to sleep one or two hours. To make it worse, the units arriving were not anymore those militias or poorly trained conscripts that the Koreans had managed to easily beat before.
Some historians consider that Lin Biao was responsible for the sudden change of the conflict's nature, but it was mostly a matter of time, despite Mao's criticism of the "Pengist Reforms" he accepted Lin Biao's course of action of depending on the modernized units created under Peng Dehuai's proposal, while Peng had already mobilized the best units towards the area before being purged by Mao. Had Mao chosen to wait and not interfere, it's obvious that Peng Dehuai would've achieved the same results that Lin Biao got against the Korean Army. With the Korean forces unable to reorganize and reinforce themselves more and more Chinese troops were freed to assist the defenders of Hunjiang, the only available army had been ordered to stay in defensive positions, unwilling to risk an incident with the Soviet border. Despite having lost their airforce the People's Liberation Army kept advancing on day and night, ignoring the casualties suffered by bombing runs.
The war's development caused fears at Washington about the future of the conflict, the initial Korean success had allowed president Eisenhower to silently ignore the situation, he thought both parties would quickly return to peace after the quick offensive launched by the Koreans, but now it seemed that China wouldn't stop until they had reached Busan. American forces at Korea and Japan were put on alert, the troops at the peninsula were ordered to stay close to the Han River unless further orders stated otherwise. President Eisenhower was unwilling to start a war with China, but he was also unwilling to allow Chinese troops to threaten the main bulwark against Communism in East Asia. Air, land and naval forces started to get prepared for the possibility of a Chinese breakthrough against the Korean border, despite what Washington and Seoul thought, the Soviet Union was also opposed to the idea of starting a war over Korea and soon negotiations would begin among superpowers.
The Battle of Shenyang was a pyrrhic victory for Korea, but the second victory achieved on that day was the removal of the Communist garrisons at Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands, this meant a complete reversal of the Taiwan Strait Crisis outcome. This not only meant a strengthening of the Nationalist position, but it also helped to prove the American disposition to protect their allies. Another success that is not usually mentioned is the temporary occupation of Shanghai that allowed the Koreans to establish an informal intelligence network at the city, Korean commandos would even move towards Nanjing, though most of the operations carried out were sabotage ones, important factories were blown up by the few Korean SpecOps teams deployed. This would be their last real victory in the conflict, one day later a strong Chinese offensive was started against the Koreans defending Shenyang, unwilling to risk encirclement the Korean forces withdrew on September 28th.
Some historians consider that Lin Biao was responsible for the sudden change of the conflict's nature, but it was mostly a matter of time, despite Mao's criticism of the "Pengist Reforms" he accepted Lin Biao's course of action of depending on the modernized units created under Peng Dehuai's proposal, while Peng had already mobilized the best units towards the area before being purged by Mao. Had Mao chosen to wait and not interfere, it's obvious that Peng Dehuai would've achieved the same results that Lin Biao got against the Korean Army. With the Korean forces unable to reorganize and reinforce themselves more and more Chinese troops were freed to assist the defenders of Hunjiang, the only available army had been ordered to stay in defensive positions, unwilling to risk an incident with the Soviet border. Despite having lost their airforce the People's Liberation Army kept advancing on day and night, ignoring the casualties suffered by bombing runs.
The war's development caused fears at Washington about the future of the conflict, the initial Korean success had allowed president Eisenhower to silently ignore the situation, he thought both parties would quickly return to peace after the quick offensive launched by the Koreans, but now it seemed that China wouldn't stop until they had reached Busan. American forces at Korea and Japan were put on alert, the troops at the peninsula were ordered to stay close to the Han River unless further orders stated otherwise. President Eisenhower was unwilling to start a war with China, but he was also unwilling to allow Chinese troops to threaten the main bulwark against Communism in East Asia. Air, land and naval forces started to get prepared for the possibility of a Chinese breakthrough against the Korean border, despite what Washington and Seoul thought, the Soviet Union was also opposed to the idea of starting a war over Korea and soon negotiations would begin among superpowers.
The Battle of Shenyang was a pyrrhic victory for Korea, but the second victory achieved on that day was the removal of the Communist garrisons at Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands, this meant a complete reversal of the Taiwan Strait Crisis outcome. This not only meant a strengthening of the Nationalist position, but it also helped to prove the American disposition to protect their allies. Another success that is not usually mentioned is the temporary occupation of Shanghai that allowed the Koreans to establish an informal intelligence network at the city, Korean commandos would even move towards Nanjing, though most of the operations carried out were sabotage ones, important factories were blown up by the few Korean SpecOps teams deployed. This would be their last real victory in the conflict, one day later a strong Chinese offensive was started against the Koreans defending Shenyang, unwilling to risk encirclement the Korean forces withdrew on September 28th.
Having defeated the Koreans at Shenyang, the People's Liberation Army sent even more units and support to Hunjiang, unwilling to see another Chinese city fall in Korean hands. Despite the disorganized state of many Chinese divisions fresh reinforcements kept arriving, a luxury the Koreans couldn't afford. Had they held Shenyang they would've been able to take Hunjiang, though just briefly since their forces were already exhausted.
The People's Liberation Army (by September 29th) had almost twenty-thousand soldiers more than the Korean forces trying to dislodge them from their positions at Hunjiang City. The Koreans had an advantage regarding tank numbers but the Chinese had allocated even more anti-tank guns, artillery and anti-air artillery, this allowed the defenders to counter the tank advantage the Koreans had in their favour along neutralizing the bombing runs that had depleted numerous formations on their way to the front. Having left Shenyang, two Korean tank divisions supported the offensive against Hunjiang, allowing the Koreans to achieve almost numerical parity with their Chinese rivals. However, pilots had been able to observe the movement of an estimated amount of four-five divisions from the People's Liberation Army; among them an entire armored division that could threaten the front's stability.
By October 1st, the Koreans chose to stop the offensive, having endured eight and a half thousand casualties while the Chinese lost almost eight thousand, the pyrrhic victory achieved at Shenyang failed to materialize at Hunjiang and it proved the real conditions the Korean Army was fighting on. Supply lines weren't overextended since the retreats had shortened them heavily, but the constant fights in tiny sectors or wide sectors of the front meant numerous complications for the reorganization and replenishment of the spent forces. The exhaustion even allowed the Chinese to launch a two-day skirmish against a lonely tank division defending an isolated part of the Korean side of the Yalu, though after suffering five hundred casualties the Chinese chose to stop in order to avoid the same mistake the Koreans did at Hunjiang. By October 3rd, the three divisions under president Park embarked once more, with Korea as their destination now that the border seemed to be in danger.
After the brutally pyrrhic victory achieved at Shenyang and the defeat at Hunjiang, the Koreans chose to retreat entirely from China towards the defensive positions established at the Korean side of the Yalu River, forts, bunkers, anti-air emplacements, artillery positions and the advantage of now being at the defensive. This not only benefitted the army, the pilots finally got to sleep a bit more as well as time to repair their aircraft at adequate installations. To the outside observer it seemed that the Korean Army was on the brink of collapse when they retreated from China by October 5th, but in reality the PLA was in dire conditions as well, they lacked the supplies to carry on with the offensive across the Yalu and their divisions had been even more depleted than the Korean ones, despite having more divisions to send into the meatgrinder. Therefore, the Chinese were reluctant to attempt to cross the Yalu considering the heavy defences awaiting for them at the other side.
With Chinese reluctance to advance against the Korean fortifications, the American 7th Fleet once more at the Taiwan Strait, Nationalists at Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands, American forces in the peninsula moving northwards and mounting pressure from Moscow it became evident to Mao that his gamble had failed entirely. They had managed to expel the invader, but that was just merely returning to status quo after an embarrassing defeat. Both sides would claim victory, though the real winner was widely considered to be Korea, having staged a successful invasion of China. Moscow's neutrality would mark the official beginning of the Sino-Soviet Split that had informally started time before. Instead of recognizing his failures, Mao chose to say that there hadn't been enough steel for tanks and artillery to fully defeat the Koreans: revenge would be the main motivation behind the Great Leap Forward that was brewing up in his mind.
By October 1st, the Koreans chose to stop the offensive, having endured eight and a half thousand casualties while the Chinese lost almost eight thousand, the pyrrhic victory achieved at Shenyang failed to materialize at Hunjiang and it proved the real conditions the Korean Army was fighting on. Supply lines weren't overextended since the retreats had shortened them heavily, but the constant fights in tiny sectors or wide sectors of the front meant numerous complications for the reorganization and replenishment of the spent forces. The exhaustion even allowed the Chinese to launch a two-day skirmish against a lonely tank division defending an isolated part of the Korean side of the Yalu, though after suffering five hundred casualties the Chinese chose to stop in order to avoid the same mistake the Koreans did at Hunjiang. By October 3rd, the three divisions under president Park embarked once more, with Korea as their destination now that the border seemed to be in danger.
After the brutally pyrrhic victory achieved at Shenyang and the defeat at Hunjiang, the Koreans chose to retreat entirely from China towards the defensive positions established at the Korean side of the Yalu River, forts, bunkers, anti-air emplacements, artillery positions and the advantage of now being at the defensive. This not only benefitted the army, the pilots finally got to sleep a bit more as well as time to repair their aircraft at adequate installations. To the outside observer it seemed that the Korean Army was on the brink of collapse when they retreated from China by October 5th, but in reality the PLA was in dire conditions as well, they lacked the supplies to carry on with the offensive across the Yalu and their divisions had been even more depleted than the Korean ones, despite having more divisions to send into the meatgrinder. Therefore, the Chinese were reluctant to attempt to cross the Yalu considering the heavy defences awaiting for them at the other side.
With Chinese reluctance to advance against the Korean fortifications, the American 7th Fleet once more at the Taiwan Strait, Nationalists at Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands, American forces in the peninsula moving northwards and mounting pressure from Moscow it became evident to Mao that his gamble had failed entirely. They had managed to expel the invader, but that was just merely returning to status quo after an embarrassing defeat. Both sides would claim victory, though the real winner was widely considered to be Korea, having staged a successful invasion of China. Moscow's neutrality would mark the official beginning of the Sino-Soviet Split that had informally started time before. Instead of recognizing his failures, Mao chose to say that there hadn't been enough steel for tanks and artillery to fully defeat the Koreans: revenge would be the main motivation behind the Great Leap Forward that was brewing up in his mind.
On October 7th an armistice was reached between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea, no official treaty was signed due to China not recognizing the "illegal occupation" of Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands.
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With the conclusion of the First Sino-Korean War the legitimacy of General Park's regime had grown massively, scandals had contributed to weaken and collapse the position of the Progressive Party as the dominant force in the peninsula and numerous politicians and minor parties had agreed to merge into the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation; over all, everything was going right for the military junta that now ruled Korea. The Hanahoe now had official government backing, though it stayed as a secret well kept, civilian ministers weren't aware of the reality and extent of military influence within Korea and her institutions. With their newfound support, the Hanahoe had now expanded into different branches, the intelligence one was led by Kim Jong-pil; he had just proposed to president Park the idea of founding a special department, something similar to the American CIA.
"President Park, the files acquired during the Chinese War had allowed us to understand a bit more about the nature of the current regime at Beijing," that was Kim Jong-pil, he was just 31 years old but he seemed to be quite good at intel gathering and analyzing, Chung Il-kwon had said he had a promising future and that had earned him Park's interest. "It seems that the People's Republic isn't as stable or centralized as we thought, there seems to be distinct factions below Mao and as we have seen, Mao's leadership is highly questionable."
China and the Soviet Union to a lesser degree had sponsored the remnants of the Korean People's Army, they had allowed some sort of "government-in-exile" to exist and that would always be a threat to the stability of Korea and to himself, Park Chung-hee thought. Therefore, it was only natural for him to do the same to the Chinese, that had been the original intent behind the operations aimed at Beijing and Shanghai, even the liberation of the islands had been a tool to gain Chiang's trust. It all had worked so far, there was plenty of work to do before Korea could be stable, prosperous and strong, but he was certain about something: China would never allow Korea to achieve greatness, preparations should be started, maybe one day Chiang would get to realize his dream under Korean patronage. For now, creating chaos within the People's Republic of China would be more than enough.
"President Park, the files acquired during the Chinese War had allowed us to understand a bit more about the nature of the current regime at Beijing," that was Kim Jong-pil, he was just 31 years old but he seemed to be quite good at intel gathering and analyzing, Chung Il-kwon had said he had a promising future and that had earned him Park's interest. "It seems that the People's Republic isn't as stable or centralized as we thought, there seems to be distinct factions below Mao and as we have seen, Mao's leadership is highly questionable."
China and the Soviet Union to a lesser degree had sponsored the remnants of the Korean People's Army, they had allowed some sort of "government-in-exile" to exist and that would always be a threat to the stability of Korea and to himself, Park Chung-hee thought. Therefore, it was only natural for him to do the same to the Chinese, that had been the original intent behind the operations aimed at Beijing and Shanghai, even the liberation of the islands had been a tool to gain Chiang's trust. It all had worked so far, there was plenty of work to do before Korea could be stable, prosperous and strong, but he was certain about something: China would never allow Korea to achieve greatness, preparations should be started, maybe one day Chiang would get to realize his dream under Korean patronage. For now, creating chaos within the People's Republic of China would be more than enough.
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Between the end of the war and the end of 1957 there wasn't too much action, though I'll probably dedicate an Interlude to possibly detail the changes within Korea after the official establishment of the Third Republic along perhaps some diplomatic efforts and Generalissimo Park's Border Security Act.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter and a small hint: I got approved the mild interactivity within the AAR, I'm planning on later on getting some choices for you readers to vote.
Take care!
- 1
Hello readAARs, I got mild interactivity approved for the AAR since there are some situations I'd like to consult with you all before carrying on with other updates or dynamics I may think about. Next chapter will officially begin with 1958 and I have more or less gotten enough ideas about the developments we'll see, I expect it to be a two-four part chapter and possibly one or two interludes, I'm currently writing off events and checking the events already within the mod. (I've fixed many so far, found some were broken or had wrong triggers or actions, anyways, all going smoothly so far)
Back to the main topic, since we're starting 1958 there's one important event I want you voters to help me decide. Currently New World Order 2 has two events for Communist China regarding the tragic Great Leap Forward: First event with 95% chance to trigger gives a boost of 3% to industrial modifier, while the second event which tends to occur two years later causes 10% dissent, -12% to industrial modifier and -50 to relative manpower (something I don't really understand).
Personally I have tweaked those events, first one will provide 5% boost to industrial modifier while the second will cause 12% dissent and -15% to industrial modifier. What I want to ask, is your opinion about these events, it's widely known the tragic results of the Great Leap Forward and that's something I'd like to portray and reflect with PRC's IC.
So;
Communist China currently has: 105/86 IC. (Some factories haven't totally repaired yet, but they aren't too many)
A) Keep the original mod effects. (+3% and then 10%, -12% and -50)
B) Keep my edited values. (+5% and then 12%, -15% and -50)
C) Make the events even harsher to China.
Also vote in the following ones, they will only be considered if option C wins.
1) Provide organization nerfs to China after the Great Leap Forward.
2) Give China harsher nerfs in industrial modifier and dissent for the second event (results one).
3) Organization nerfs along economic ones.
Asking because I don't really want to just, over-screw China before I get my own chance to screw them over during a war.
Thanks for your participation.
Back to the main topic, since we're starting 1958 there's one important event I want you voters to help me decide. Currently New World Order 2 has two events for Communist China regarding the tragic Great Leap Forward: First event with 95% chance to trigger gives a boost of 3% to industrial modifier, while the second event which tends to occur two years later causes 10% dissent, -12% to industrial modifier and -50 to relative manpower (something I don't really understand).
Personally I have tweaked those events, first one will provide 5% boost to industrial modifier while the second will cause 12% dissent and -15% to industrial modifier. What I want to ask, is your opinion about these events, it's widely known the tragic results of the Great Leap Forward and that's something I'd like to portray and reflect with PRC's IC.
So;
Communist China currently has: 105/86 IC. (Some factories haven't totally repaired yet, but they aren't too many)
A) Keep the original mod effects. (+3% and then 10%, -12% and -50)
B) Keep my edited values. (+5% and then 12%, -15% and -50)
C) Make the events even harsher to China.
Also vote in the following ones, they will only be considered if option C wins.
1) Provide organization nerfs to China after the Great Leap Forward.
2) Give China harsher nerfs in industrial modifier and dissent for the second event (results one).
3) Organization nerfs along economic ones.
Asking because I don't really want to just, over-screw China before I get my own chance to screw them over during a war.
Thanks for your participation.
- 1
I'd say go ahead with your own values and provide org nerfs after the GLF.
So B and 1.
So B and 1.
- 1
I think this would be to try to simulate the famine that resulted from the great leap forwards, since manpower is the only thing that kinda allows to show that effect of the GLF. I'd still leave it up to you, your industrial value's seem nice, but I'd recommend including a manpower rebuff in some way in the same way that the vanilla effect does. So I would vote for C and 3
- 1
I know you have been writing this AAR for a few years, but I only now came across it. It is very interesting and I will follow it.
- 1
Omg, I'm glad you found it and I'm always happy to get a new reader onboard.I know you have been writing this AAR for a few years, but I only now came across it. It is very interesting and I will follow it.
I love your Presidents AAR,
, I think it's the only one I've found about the Cold War (well, if we ignore KR-Cold Wars haha) I hope you enjoy it. ^^
Hello readAARs, I'm here to show something I was working on today.
First of all, I made some changes to the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward, they will be shown below under an spoiler tag:
I added organization nerfs to the People's Liberation Army since I believe with such a massive failure and disruption of Chinese economy the conditions of the PLA would fall, I feel it isn't too punishing on the AI but it still isn't a tiny nerf, what do you think? I chose to not edit the relative_manpower command since I switched to China to test that and it seems quite balanced to be honest, if CHC is at war it usually gains 2.4 manpower each day, though after the Great Leap it is reduced to 1.2 which still is quite numerous to be honest.
Also, at peace and without any mobilization I think China has like 5000 manpower, not too sure on that. With each unit of manpower being almost a thousand peeps I guesstimated -2500 was a reasonable number, though all in all, it isn't punishing enough considering China will mobilize while being at war and that number will go up so badly.
And finally, I wanted to show something else, feel free to read it though it might appear in following updates...
First of all, I made some changes to the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward, they will be shown below under an spoiler tag:
command = { type = industrial_modifier which = total value = -15 } #original was -12
command = { type = dissent value = 12 } #original was 10
command = { type = relative_manpower value = -50 }
command = { type = max_organization which = infantry value = -10 }
command = { type = max_organization which = motorized value = -10 }
command = { type = max_organization which = mechanized value = -10 }
command = { type = max_organization which = armor value = -10 }
command = { type = max_organization which = hq value = -10 }
command = { type = morale which = infantry value = -5 }
command = { type = morale which = motorized value = -5 }
command = { type = morale which = mechanized value = -5 }
command = { type = morale which = armor value = -5 }
command = { type = morale which = hq value = -5 }
command = { type = manpowerpool value = -2500 }
command = { type = dissent value = 12 } #original was 10
command = { type = relative_manpower value = -50 }
command = { type = max_organization which = infantry value = -10 }
command = { type = max_organization which = motorized value = -10 }
command = { type = max_organization which = mechanized value = -10 }
command = { type = max_organization which = armor value = -10 }
command = { type = max_organization which = hq value = -10 }
command = { type = morale which = infantry value = -5 }
command = { type = morale which = motorized value = -5 }
command = { type = morale which = mechanized value = -5 }
command = { type = morale which = armor value = -5 }
command = { type = morale which = hq value = -5 }
command = { type = manpowerpool value = -2500 }
I added organization nerfs to the People's Liberation Army since I believe with such a massive failure and disruption of Chinese economy the conditions of the PLA would fall, I feel it isn't too punishing on the AI but it still isn't a tiny nerf, what do you think? I chose to not edit the relative_manpower command since I switched to China to test that and it seems quite balanced to be honest, if CHC is at war it usually gains 2.4 manpower each day, though after the Great Leap it is reduced to 1.2 which still is quite numerous to be honest.
Also, at peace and without any mobilization I think China has like 5000 manpower, not too sure on that. With each unit of manpower being almost a thousand peeps I guesstimated -2500 was a reasonable number, though all in all, it isn't punishing enough considering China will mobilize while being at war and that number will go up so badly.
And finally, I wanted to show something else, feel free to read it though it might appear in following updates...
I was toying with the idea of introducing flavor events to detail a bit more about the life of individuals at the Republic of Korea, similar to the thing TNO does. Though... at the same time I felt it was not needed, after all, I can always write that kind of "depictions" into the chapters. So I had another idea, maybe instead of just flavor events like this one, I could try to write in some brief chains like the TNO ones to add some flavor. That way standalone events will feature in the chapters and maybe some of those chains that could be portrayed in game could be submited to reader-votes.
What do you think? I'm unsure about adopting this system, especially since Darkest Hour events don't seem to allow using "ENTER" so, yeah... we can end with a text wall...
Anyways, I hope to get a new update soon enough.
Take care!