China-a-go-go!

[Prufrock451]

I'm going to try something out here.

Nationalist China can be a power, if properly handled.

Let's see if I can handle it properly while writing a full-scale AAR in real-time. Feel free to check in every half-hour or so.

That means no trailer this time around. I'll likely come back later and chuck in screenies.

We begin!

January 1, 1936

Chiang Kai-Shek paced in front of the map, stubbing out yet another Turkish cigarette. He scowled in disgust.

"This is completely unacceptable. I can't make any headway with the forces scattered like this." He stabbed at the map with his empty cigarette holder. "Look at these forces! Half of our army is practically useless!"

Chen Li-Fu, Chiang's Minister of Intelligence, leaned forward. "Sun-Tzu said, 'If your opponent is irritable, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.'"

Chiang's scowl darkened. "Mao is not an irritable man, Chen. He is patient and cunning. Damn him, if he only was a fool that we could provoke."

Chen grinned. "But he does not think so highly of you, Generalissimo." He measured his next words carefully- Chiang had murdered men for less. "If we pretend to make a show of weakening ourselves, then Mao will not see the deeper plot."

Chiang was intrigued, but he was also lost. Chen smirked inwardly- Mao was right to esteem the Generalissimo so little.

"Generalissimo Chiang. Here is my plan. We should immediately disband the militias. They are of no use on any field of battle. Announce an 'armed neutrality', and leave gaps in our line. Use the reduced budget to start a program of industrialization, to absorb the returning militias and disarm Mao's propaganda in the rural districts. It will appear that we are weakening ourselves. Mao will see it as a ruse- but he will believe that we are too disorganized to reverse our course. We can rearm in quiet, and mass our troops for one massive strike that will destroy the Communists once and for all."

Chiang grunted. He looked at the map thoughtfully. "I have many doubts about your plan. There are people in the cabinet who would oppose this to the death."

Chen nodded. "I have considered them, Generalissimo. Only two men need be removed. Chen Kuo-Fu skims too much money off military supply contracts to agree. I'm already having him trailed. He can be arrested within the hour. The same can be said of our honorable Armaments Minister Yen. I have dependable men waiting, Generalissimo. I only need your word."

Chiang slowly lit a fresh cigarette. "Chen, this plan is madness. You gamble the future of our government on a roll of the dice." Slowly, he grinned. "But I have never been a cautious man."

 

[Prufrock451]

The news spread like wildfire. With a stroke of his pen, Chiang had disbanded two-thirds of China's military strength. The Communists would surely attack; the military would surely stage a coup.

Everyone waited for the disaster to strike; but it never did.

The Communists sat smugly in their mountain fastnesses, waiting for Chiang's government to collapse as the Kuomintang factions battled over the Decree of January. It did not. Chen Kuo-fu, under house arrest, was made the new Armaments Minister and restored to his offices. Confronted with a full list of his past offenses and offered a full pardon, he returned humbly to work and proved himself surprisingly able. Dissent dropped sharply as Chen's reconciliation became known. The military chiefs remained disgruntled, but Chiang (or his increasingly powerful deputy Chen) dealt ably with them. Several low-ranking generals were promoted, and the terrifying Huang Mu-Sung assumed Chen Kuo-Fu's former post as Security Minister. Huang dealt immediately with those elements of the military whose loyalty was suspect. Rumors spread across China and the globe that Huang had imprisoned and executed a number of dissidents- but no one dared to ask too many questions. Huang was a sociopath- but he was unquestionably efficient.

Chiang ordered a series of economic reforms that would increase China's industrial output by twenty percent, targeted at the poor rural districts. As the countryside subsided into acceptance, the cities were forced to go along quietly. Chiang's "New Order" blossomed, and the Kuomintang gathered its strength.

 

[Mettermrck]

Sweet, the return of Prufock. I will be watching....in realtime (sleep and work notwithstanding).

 

[Prufrock451]

April 28, 1936

Chiang burst into sudden laughter. Yang snarled over his pistol.

"What's so damn funny?"

Chiang grinned. "Marshal Yang, you're a good man. But you're a bit slow."

Yang tightened his grip on the pistol. "You're the one who's slow, 'Generalissimo.' You've destroyed the army, you've installed a tyrant as Minister of Security, you've admitted defeat by settling the army in a ring around the Communist guerrillas. Meanwhile, the Japanese grow ever stronger in Manchuria. My father fought valiantly for the Kuomintang- and now you smile while the Japanese destroy everything he built in Manchuria."

Chiang lit a cigarette. "Marshal, do calm down. You know, I'd hoped to open negotiations with the Communists, but this will do even better. Convince them further that I'm a ridiculous buffoon." He leaned forward. "Yang, you are about to tell me that you will shoot me unless I announce peace with the Communists and unite against the Japanese menace."

Yang's eyes narrowed. "Chen Li-Fu."

Chiang nodded. "Yes, my able Minister of Intelligence has been watching you for weeks. He knows of your meetings with the Communists. However, it turns out that both of us will get our way this evening." Chiang drew out a sheet of paper and reached across Yang's desk for a quill. "Very well. I will conclude peace with Mao." He grinned. "However, the five new divisions I've ordered conscripted will be assembling soon in Yanan. While the Communists gloat and wait for you or some other plotter to take my head, we will mass our forces to the west and launch our armies against the Communists, who will be expecting us from the east."

Chiang grinned wider at Yang's face. "You see it? The Communists, expecting a massive assault from the east, will probe for us and find no one. They will think- thanks to misinformation planted by Chen- that the army has revolted. They will move across the Yellow River, hoping to march unopposed to a Peking wracked by civil war. Meanwhile, a quarter-million men will wash over the mountain fortresses and the war will be over. Then, and only then, we will incorporate the Communists into our own forces. And China will be united against the Japanese invader."

Yang stared into Chiang's face. "You mean this. And you think you can pull this off."

Chiang nodded, blowing an idle smoke ring. "Yang, my boy, you've just made it possible. The people will love us for declaring peace. The Communists will think us fools. If I was a real genius, I would have asked you for this... incident."

Yang grinned. "Alright, Generalissimo. I'll play this game out." His face darkened. "But don't disappoint me."

Chiang rose and offered his hand. "My dear Marshal Yang, if I do fail, you will be the least of my problems."

 

[Prufrock451]

Hey, Mettermrck! Thanks for taking a gander.

The Second Civil War began on June 5, 1936.

Chiang Kai-Shek led 90,000 men against the Communist garrison in Xianyang. The main assault force of 120,000, aimed at Yanan, was led by the German expatriate Marshal von Falkenhausen, and a northern feint of 50,000 men was placed under General Wei Li-Hwang.

Von Falkenhausen moved his men cautiously into position, striking with overwhelming force on July 10. General Wei's assault struck on the same day. Attacked from two sides, Mao's force (mostly peasant conscripts) fought bravely but in vain. By the time Mao ordered a retreat to Xianyang on July 24, he had lost 40,000 men- and von Falkenhausen only 5,000.

On July 27, as Mao's men streamed on their long march south, Chiang's force cut them off, pounding the small garrison in Xianyang. The Communists retreated to a small chain of mountains, and the Nationalist Army surrounded them quickly. A failed attempt to break out allowed Chiang to overrun an entire division, and within days the Red Army offered its surrender. Mao, caught between Chiang and von Falkenhausen, bowed to the inevitable and surrendered, pleading only for his men. Mao was shot on August 4, 1936. Minister of Security Huang had his body burned and scattered in a secret location, and then had the men detailed for the job executed along with most of the Communist leadership. Mao, who had been lifted up by the soil of China, disappeared back into it.

The next day, as another five divisions were deployed, the entire army was ordered to the Manchurian border. Chiang's government was stronger than ever, his enemies scattered and crushed. Now there remained one burning goal- the recovery of China's lost lands.

Japan's government took note of the new state of affairs, and dark whispers began to spread in the corridors of power. Chiang Kai-Shek had thrown down a gauntlet at Japan's power and, more important, its honor.

The outcome was, perhaps, inevitable.

 

[Semi-Lobster]

Holy Crap Prufrock's new AAR! This is friggin' great! I expect many thrilling naval battles from Nationalist China

 

[Prufrock451]

Chiang's next gamble occurred on September 5, 1936.

The swift and victorious resolution of the Civil War had sent Chiang's reputation skyrocketing worldwide. Once seen as a corrupt idiot, he was now regarded as a military genius and a statesman of unparalleled deviousness. The obvious ruthlessness of his regime was frankly admired in many corners, but no one was sure which great ideology Chiang would throw in with. To be frank, he himself did not know. His foreign policy was subordinated to the new Chinese revanchism, and broader plans were discouraged by Huang's myopic paranoia.

Huang is widely regarded as the evil genius behind the Macao Incident. Two divisions of Communist conscripts, forced into service with the Nationalist Army after the execution of Mao, were force-marched to the border of Macao. Then, Chiang summoned the Portuguese Ambassador. He informed the Ambassador that Communist refugees were preparing to invade Macao, and demanded that the Portuguese cede the port immediately. In return, Chiang offered protection to the European community there.

To the ambassador's credit, he immediately sent a message to Lisbon denouncing the crisis as a fraud. It was moot by that point- Nationalist troops had already entered the city. The Communists were paraded as prisoners, and then marched back out of the city and into the hills.

The Portuguese, unable to think of war across the globe, meekly submitted to Chiang's coup. The Communist divisions are listed as "disbanded" in the official records of the Kuomintang government... but only the most charitable of historians accept this as fact.

 

[Prufrock451]

SL: We shall see!

January 2, 1937

Chiang smiled smugly at the paper in front of him. The addition of the Communist provinces and Macao, the industrialization effort, the eradication of dissent... the last year had been kind to him, and to China in general. The economy was producing nearly twice what it had produced a year previously. Much of the growth was due to the fortuitous discovery of penicillin by a Shanghai researcher in May of 1936, and the subsequent eruption of a Chinese pharmaceutical industry.

Chen Li-Fu shared the smile. Since Chiang's "Great Leap Forward", his power had grown until he was practically China's Prime Minister.

"Only two items left on the agenda, Generalissimo."

Chiang looked over his boots, blowing a smoke ring towards the ceiling. "One! Get rid of Security Minister Huang, and put someone popular in place to take credit, now that's Huang's done the dirty work."

"I would suggest Tai Li, Generalissimo."

Chiang nodded. "He's a good man. He'll do well. Order Huang's execution. TWO! Prepare for war with Japan!"

Chen pulled out a thick folder. "We have doubled the size of the army, and we now have 400,000 men under arms. I doubt that this will be sufficient, and we still have only a token force guarding the southern half of the nation. I will order another forty or so divisions." Chen held up a report stamped with the seal of the Commander of the Army. "Our general staff is continuing its modernization. We are training our divisions to utilize the new motorized HQs, and we're preparing new doctrinal revisions on the use of reconnaissance batallions. We should have everything in place by the end of May. We're also working on deploying field hospitals, which will allow our forces to defend more effectively."

Chiang frowned contemplatively, watching another smoke ring dissolve against the ceiling. "Will the Japanese give us enough time?"

Chen shrugged. "Too soon to tell. The current government won't move against us, but our growing power only encourages the Japanese hard-liners in their coup plotting. The only question is whether war will come on our timetable... or theirs."

Chiang took a long pull on his cigarette and stared at the map of Japan on his office wall. "Very well. In for a penny, in for a pound, as the English say. We're committed to see this through. This will be... an interesting year."

 

[Prufrock451]

The coup came as expected. On July 29, 1937, a right-wing government assumed control over Japan. The expected declaration of war followed a mere three days later, while the Japanese army was still mobilizing.

On paper, the two antagonists were evenly matched, with roughly 600,000 men on each side. However, the actual balance of power favored the Japanese, who were better-armed, better-organized, and who fielded motorized divisions against China's horse-drawn artillery.

As Japanese troops began their grim march on the Manchurian border, Chiang Kai-Shek and his Chinese Republic steeled themselves for the greatest test yet of Chiang's New Order.

 

[Sir Humphrey]

So goos so far!

 

[Prufrock451]

The war began with a Chinese victory, when a small landing party was repulsed by Field Marshal Chen Shi-Tan's Army of Shanghai. However, the Japanese followed with a wave of landings along the unprotected coast, north and south of Shanghai. FM Chen retreated to Nanjing, to guard the capital against the Japanese invaders, whose atrocities were already becoming notorious.

The Japanese exploited their advantage to the hilt over the next few months, landing troops at will along the Chinese coast, and mauling the Chinese Navy, sinking half its ships in one three-hour battle. By the end of October, the Japanese held the Chinese coast from Qingdao to Shanghai, and had landed in the south. They were, however, unable to dent Chiang's Manchuria Line, nearly fifty divisions deployed along the border.

As the Japanese shifted troops in an attempt to draw Chiang's troops south, the Generalissimo made what many in his government thought a critical error. He moved his troops north against the Japanese lines, leaving a vacuum in his wake. Japanese cavalry in Qingdao immediately moved, threatening Peking. In the nick of time, fresh divisions were mustered, and the threat to the Northern Capital was averted.

Chiang mustered up another thirteen divisions before the year's end, bottling up the over-extended Japanese. In December, two major pockets were eliminated, costing the Japanese almost 80,000 men. Another 40,000 under Field Marshal Hata were surrounded on the North China plain, west of Qingdao. After a fierce struggle, they were annihilated in the midst of a January snowstorm.

As 1937 turned to 1938, then, the Chinese had forced the Japanese onto the defensive in Manchuria, and begun the slow process of strangling the Japanese beachhead in Qingdao. The war, which had started as a cakewalk, was now a grueling battle of attrition.

 

[Mettermrck]

This is good stuff, Prufock. I'm glad to see it's a tough war against Japan, even with your foresight in conquering the Communists and taking Macao.

 

[Prufrock451]

MM: Yeah! 1.06b's pretty tough.

Chiang executed the greatest campaign of the war so far in February of 1938. Even his detractors had to admit that the skill of the campaign belied his image as a stupid man in over his head.

On February 11, Chinese troops marching along a line 3,000 kilometers long struck nearly simultaneously at the Japanese-held provinces extending in a semi-circle from the Yellow River to the Qingdao peninsula. Japanese resistance collapsed almost instantly. Within two weeks, the Chinese Army had captured 80,000 Japanese infantrymen and disabled 13 air divisions, a blow from which the Japanese Air Force would not recover. Even as the Japanese learned of this setback, Chiang personally commanded an assault against the province of Linxi, isolating Japanese forces in northern Manchuria from their bases in the south. The Chinese Army was growing inexorably. While the Japanese found it difficult to make their losses good, the Chinese steadily trained and equipped fresh divisions. By April of 1938, the Chinese outnumbered the Japanese 900,000 to 400,000.

It was time to finish in earnest what Chiang had begun- the reconquest of Manchuria.

 

[unmerged(20333)]

Love it, love it. Keep up the good work.

 

[Prufrock451]

Chiang initiated the spring campaign of 1938 by pushing north to cut off the Japanese in Hailar. He succeeded incredibly well- the Japanese had left their fortifications to assault a province Chiang had left underdefended. His bait worked, and the Japanese were cut to pieces. By September of 1938, the Japanese presence (along with eight divisions) had been annihilated, and Japan retained only Korea and the Dalin peninsula. However, 150,000 Japanese troops were garrisoned throughout the puppet state of Manchukuo. Chiang deliberated carefully before making his next move...

 

[Prufrock451]

Squizz- thanks!

...but Chiang's machinations were interrupted by the eruption of a new Japanese assault. 100,000 men were landed north of Shanghai, threatening the capital of Nanjing, while 40,000 more Japanese troops invaded Macao.

The southern assault was repulsed easily, but the Japanese were harder to dislodge in the north. The Army of Shanghai sallied forth to meet them, but by the time Field Marshal Shen arrived, the Japanese had set up fortified positions on the north bank of the Yellow River. Shen was driven back, having lost 80,000 of his 100,000 men. Only the swift arrival of the 100,000 men of the Qingdao Army saved Nanjing from a horrible fate, and the Japanese managed to beat them back as well. It was not until a third assault was launched from Nanjing itself that the Japanese were repulsed.

In Manchuria, attempts to cross the Sungari into the Liaotung Peninsula were soundly repulsed, and another 130,000 men slaughtered for little result.

As the winter of 1938 drew to a close, both Asian giants were exhausted. As the world watched the struggle- and worried over the new struggle looming in Europe- Chiang brooded upon his choices.

 

[Prufrock451]

On January 2, Chiang made his most fateful decision yet, declaring war on the Japanese puppet state of Manchuria. This caused some unrest, but Chiang was prepared to handle it. Launching a diversionary attack on Dalian, Chinese forces struck simultaneously along the entire border of Manchukuo. The forces of the puppet Emperor crumbled within hours, and Chiang annexed the nation virtually unopposed. By the end of March, the last Japanese had been expelled from Darien, and 900,000 Chinese troops were massed on the Yalu. Another 240,000 troops were garrisoned along the Chinese coast, to protect against any Japanese incursions. None came, as the Mikado struggled to shore up his defenses in Korea. It was little help. After cracking the defenses of Mukden, the Chinese steamrollered the exhausted Japanese troops. Chiang called a rest in mid-May, having conquered Pyongyang. Von Falkenhausen and Chiang himself led a bold charge across the Korean peninsula, hoping to cut off the garrisons from the richer southern lowlands.

"By the end of the year, we shall have expelled Japan from the Asian mainland," declared Chiang from his Korean headquarters, "and by the end of next year, we shall have expelled Japan from Japan."

 

[Prufrock451]

I guess this is more a during-action-report than an after-action-report, but there you go.

Will James punch out the rest tomorrow night? Stay tuned to find out!

 

[unmerged(20333)]

Staying tuned...

 

[elbasto]

great!
screenies?