Good to hear from you again @Macke11. I still have my eye on your AAR so will look forward to a resumption when you feel ready. Until then, just relax and smell the roses 
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excellent AAR..which version of blackice? the fortress and AA icons on the map look really cool.
Thank you for commenting! I don't remember the version, but it's probably 8.5, since that was the latest version when I started the AAR.
I don't remember the version, but it's probably 8.5, since that was the latest version when I started the AAR.
Part 21 - The Fall of Chongqing (And my return!)
(It feels good to be back!
I won't promise a regular flow of content,
but hopefully it can coincide that way...)
Part 21 – The Fall of Chongqing
January 1940
Chinese cavalry forces passed through Chongqing on the 2nd of January and Saionij, commander of the 37th division, which had just arrived in Wanxian, waited for the 3rd Sensha Ryodan. However, he changed his mind as the Chinese cavalry left the city. On the 5th of January the vanguard of his division started the final march to Chongqing, which fell five days later. It is worth noting the incredible endurance of both the Chinese government and the population. Beiping, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing, had all fallen, together with Shanxi and the People's Republic, which had been allies of the Republic. To add pressure, Nanjing was almost on the frontline, though in a calm sector. But the invaded refused to throw in the towel: a new capital city was to be chosen. After long discussions in the Cabinet of the Republic, they finally agreed upon Changde, a city only a few days march away from Chongqing. This allowed for a quick relocation of the government’s seat, but presented a tasty target for the IJA forces in their continued offensive actions.
(The new main seat of the Chinese Republic, situated only 143 kilometres from the closest Japanese division.)
The supporting flank attacks gave fruit in the middle of the second week of January, when Tanabe and Yagawa pushed back the northern side of the bulge with only half the Chinese casualties. As one of Watana’s armoured divisions penetrated the hostile defences in Hanzhong, at the army’s northern end, a bulge swiftly grew more obvious. To the disappointment of the Imperial High Command, though perhaps more to Watana himself, the intelligence service reported a scarce positioning of troops in the region and indicated that the bulk of Chinese units had already evaded the trap. The 2nd Kita-Shina Homengun would at first try to fulfil the offensive and let the 4th Armoured Division keep going west to enlarge the encirclement, whilst four infantry divisions and one armoured division unleashed their power on the few threatened Chinese forces. But as Watana came to realise how much of the Japanese manpower was held back at the bulge and how hard it would be to maintain the pincer movement in the mountains, he accepted the failure and gave up his attempt to catch his enemies in a pocket. Some hours before midday the 22nd of January the general sent Sawada Kuroudo an order by telephone, telling him to work with Tanabe Moritake’s 50th Division and cut off the Chinese supply lines before it was too late.
(A map of the Taibai Shan Bulge, at the point when the 7th Armoured Division and the 50th Infantry Division attacked to cut off the Chinese stragglers.)
The 7th Armoured Division had been prepared to perform the manoeuvre and started moving with minimal delay, facing minor resistance as expected. The battle could already be considered won the 24th of January. The 36th Infantry Division did a push on their southern flank, where they encountered Russian light tanks in the forests of Guang’an, which thankfully wasn’t the optimal terrain for such vehicles. Whilst these three divisions squashed the remaining resistance in the bulge, four divisions were dispatched to prevent the breakthrough to the north from dying off entirely, when the tanks there encountered river crossings in the mountain passes they travelled.
The 7th Armoured Division cut the last connections between the encirclement and the rest of China the 28th of January and the intelligence service reported a mere two surrounded hostile units, a total of 16 000 men. An odd 36 000 men strong mix of tanks, light infantry and cavalry began a systematic annihilation of the unfortunate souls that had to dig in and fight in Taibai Shan.
As things progressed in the north, the south was not eventless. It can however be stated that the south was less eventful than the north during the period in question. The 5th Armoured Division in cooperation with Shimoda Tatsuma’s 48th Infantry Division hammered the defenders to push them further toward the new capital city of the republic. The 52nd Division marched on Enshi to pressure the Chinese western flank to aid the other two divisions in their advance, soon helped by the 5th Light Division which entered the fight in an eastward angle.
(Morale had risen with the capture of Chongqing, but the 2nd Kita-Shina Homengun soon felt the harsh realities of the war again. Although they were scarce, the Chinese defences of Changde proved difficult to break, even with the involvement of well-known commanders like Saito A. and Shimoda Tatsuma.)
In the initial couple of days of January 1940 the 2nd Infantry Division and the 1st Armoured Division attacked in a south-westward direction, from their position just north of the bulge that would be focus of Watana’s attention that month. The together 32 000 men strong 20th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division threw themselves at the northernmost defences the Ma Clique had to offer, fighting against no more than tiny infantry forces that tried to hold the IJA forces away from their headquarters, which now had been caught at the frontline. They achieved their victory and the cavalry marched on whilst the infantry reorganised after the chaotic engagements. Iwamura N., commander of the 1st Cavalry Division aimed to charge into the warlord’s capital city sometime before the end of the month, preferably even earlier considering that it was currently only the 5th day of the month. The unlucky major general would soon come to face a setback in his plans, when he heard about major general Hyakutake’s report to their superiors; He anticipated that his 19th Infantry Division would take control of the city already by the 10th of January. This was about the same time as Iwamura concluded that he would need another month before he could be there.
Hyakutake triumphantly entered the city Lanzhou and paraded into the city centre to symbol his victory. The city was of vital importance to the warlord and its fall likely hampered his ability to wage war, both because of the loss of an important city and a dramatic drop in nationwide support for the war effort.
(The Ma Clique's took a severe hit to its national fighting spirit at the loss of Lanzhou)
As the third week of January came, the 2nd Infantry Division and the 1st Armoured Division received reinforcements in form of the 10th and 28th Infantry Divisions and the 4th Light Division. This event served to tip the balance of power more toward Japan’s favour, but they had still bogged down along the Taohe River. It would take as long as until 31st of January before 86 000 Japanese soldiers could proclaim victory over the 12 000 remaining defenders.
The 20th Division carried on with its attempts to break the opposition in the north. The local Chinese forces had looked very weak on paper, but had held out long enough for retreating troops to fill the lines, after fleeing to avoid encirclement in the northern wastelands. The new troops did however not sustain combat for any longer period and order broke in the defenders’ ranks in the afternoon the 15th of January. In a touch of opportunistic brilliance Iwamura and his mounted forces did an about-turn and hurried north, seeing as they wouldn’t win the race for Lanzhou. Even though some forces already had escaped the sandy wastelands in the north some were still left. The major general wanted to exploit the slow withdrawal of these units to cut them off. His plan was to fix the troops in place whilst the 20th Division moved to break their supply connection through Zhangye, but the Chinese stragglers proved unwilling to put up resistance against Iwamura’s massive almost 20 000 men strong division, something that in all honesty was to be expected.
Hyakutake’s unit resumed its offensive westward the last day of January as a part of Abe’s planned February Offensive. The 1st Cavalry Division, which had secured the passable parts of the wasteland, swept southward as it could no longer move west from its position in the north. Kashiwaga Itsuma dispatched his entire 20th Infantry Division to support Iwamura’s manoeuvre from the east.
(Iwamura's initiation of the February Offensive, with both the 19th and 20th Infantry Divisions joining it.)
Nagata’s Front:
As the bulk of the Special Operation Command joined forces in the ferocious Battle for Huainan, Chinese forces began to storm across the Huaihe River, into Fengtai, to divide the local commanders’ attention on two front sections. The 2nd Armoured Division, which Watana had temporarily transferred to Nagata for the current operation, and the 8th Light Division thus lost a lot of their efficiency, as they were forced to also take up defensive positions. After earlier being reluctant to involve the troops of the bulge in the offensive, Nagata ultimately gave in to the advice of his staff when he found the progress too slow, not unthinkably because of the diverting attack. The 9th Infantry Division launched an attack, from its position at the foot of the bulge, on 9th of January. A sign of hesitation was however still visible in the general’s actions. Two of the three “threatened” IJA divisions were still inactive whilst they waited for a Chinese attempt to strike at them.
Likely as a result of Nagata’s unnecessary caution the battle dragged on until 24th of January, at which point the defenders had suffered 70% casualties and were unable to sustain further combat. The ill-suited 14th and 16th military police regiments had dropped below half strength, causing Nagata to review their performances and come to the conclusion that perhaps they had only been a needless sacrifice in the battle. The defence of Fengtai ended with far more favourable results and the commander of the Special Operation Command personally congratulated Hokkaido N. and Matsuda T. to their brilliant victory. The two major generals had given the rest of the IJA a show of great coordination through their close cooperation in the operational work. Hokkaido had deployed his tanks at key positions, primarily bridges and shallow crossing points along the Huaihe River, whilst Matsuda’s light infantry, which accounted for most of the 124 casualties, scouted and reported Chinese troop movements to give Hokkaido reliable information when he shuffled forces to areas of impending danger. A slaughter of 5 200 enemies had followed.
Matsuda was then free to move and reoccupy Huainan, but he would not arrive there before the end of the month.
(The centre of Nagata's area of responsibility, when the threat recently posed by Chinese troops had been eliminated.)
From their positions behind sandbags and barricades or roofs and windowsills the infantrymen unloaded their magazines on the masses of attackers. Occasional barrages of explosive shells spread death and chaos in the no-man’s-land that had taken form around the city during the last four days of clashes. Suddenly the attackers turned and fled the field of battle, leaving behind them the 3 000 men that had paid with their lives for nothing. The IJA had just repulsed the assault on Guangzhou in a confrontation that undeniably shared many similarities with those of the First World War. The defenders were left with all their troops but 4, whilst the Chinese missed more than 15% of the initially deployed men.
(The Battle for Guangzhou was a one-sided slaughter.)
Later in the same day the abandoned province Fengkai, west along the Xi River, fell to advancing cavalry from the Guangxi Clique, a warlord state in some of the southernmost territories of China. To prevent the Japanese 5th and 30th Infantry Divisions from taking back the area the Republic and the local warlord chose to join forces in an attack from both north and south against those two divisions. The IJA major generals however stood firm in their attack and the attempted cooperation between the two Chinese factions soon fell apart, causing them to cancel the attacks.
Nagaoka Masayoshi was in a struggle against time with his 11th Infantry Division down in the south. After being cut off by Republican cavalry in the middle of December they had made their way to the coastline, but the lack of a port left the division without a supply line even by sea. The men used more and more of the remaining stockpile, inevitably approaching a state of starvation. Nagaoka communicated with Yamauchi D., the commander of the 100th Infantry Division in Beihai, and planned a consolidation of their forces, where both would attack enemies in the region between them to allow the 11th Division to join up in the supplied port in Beihai. The operation would have been ambitious with jungle specialised troops, even more so with the current means available. The result became a few short skirmishes before both officers realised the impossible in their offensive and abandoned it.
(Nagaoka's and Yamauchi's advance was directed at the weakest link in the Chinese defence, yet the jungle hampered the fighting condition of the Japanese soldiers too much.)
The long expected Chinese reinforcements to the Guangzhou slowly but surely arrived and passed the land that had been left behind when the Imperial forces turned in a hasty retreat to shorten the frontline. Now they stood with their back to the British colony Hong Kong, hoping to avoid any diplomatic disputes, a somewhat likely event considering the suspicion that already existed in these countries’ relation to each other.
In the second week of January came a temporary rescue for Nagaoka with the deployment of the 1st Transport Air Group under command of Ichimaru. It was created for two purposes, mainly to drop paratroopers in due time, when they had finished their training, but also air supply missions in situations when food, equipment and ammunition could not be sent by land or sea. Thanks to this new air unit Nagaoka could stop worry about his logistics.
(With the deployment of the 1st Transport Air Group the options for supply lines increased greatly, even though the force was primarily meant for paradrops.)
At the Shanghai Front everything continued like before during January 1940. The situation remained the same; not enough priority in supplies and reinforcements, and the present forces were not sufficient to achieve something noteworthy.
(A map of the frontline in the Shanghai sector in the beginning of 1940.)
I won't promise a regular flow of content,
but hopefully it can coincide that way...
)Part 21 – The Fall of Chongqing
January 1940
Watana's Front:
Chinese cavalry forces passed through Chongqing on the 2nd of January and Saionij, commander of the 37th division, which had just arrived in Wanxian, waited for the 3rd Sensha Ryodan. However, he changed his mind as the Chinese cavalry left the city. On the 5th of January the vanguard of his division started the final march to Chongqing, which fell five days later. It is worth noting the incredible endurance of both the Chinese government and the population. Beiping, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing, had all fallen, together with Shanxi and the People's Republic, which had been allies of the Republic. To add pressure, Nanjing was almost on the frontline, though in a calm sector. But the invaded refused to throw in the towel: a new capital city was to be chosen. After long discussions in the Cabinet of the Republic, they finally agreed upon Changde, a city only a few days march away from Chongqing. This allowed for a quick relocation of the government’s seat, but presented a tasty target for the IJA forces in their continued offensive actions.
(The new main seat of the Chinese Republic, situated only 143 kilometres from the closest Japanese division.)
The supporting flank attacks gave fruit in the middle of the second week of January, when Tanabe and Yagawa pushed back the northern side of the bulge with only half the Chinese casualties. As one of Watana’s armoured divisions penetrated the hostile defences in Hanzhong, at the army’s northern end, a bulge swiftly grew more obvious. To the disappointment of the Imperial High Command, though perhaps more to Watana himself, the intelligence service reported a scarce positioning of troops in the region and indicated that the bulk of Chinese units had already evaded the trap. The 2nd Kita-Shina Homengun would at first try to fulfil the offensive and let the 4th Armoured Division keep going west to enlarge the encirclement, whilst four infantry divisions and one armoured division unleashed their power on the few threatened Chinese forces. But as Watana came to realise how much of the Japanese manpower was held back at the bulge and how hard it would be to maintain the pincer movement in the mountains, he accepted the failure and gave up his attempt to catch his enemies in a pocket. Some hours before midday the 22nd of January the general sent Sawada Kuroudo an order by telephone, telling him to work with Tanabe Moritake’s 50th Division and cut off the Chinese supply lines before it was too late.
(A map of the Taibai Shan Bulge, at the point when the 7th Armoured Division and the 50th Infantry Division attacked to cut off the Chinese stragglers.)
The 7th Armoured Division had been prepared to perform the manoeuvre and started moving with minimal delay, facing minor resistance as expected. The battle could already be considered won the 24th of January. The 36th Infantry Division did a push on their southern flank, where they encountered Russian light tanks in the forests of Guang’an, which thankfully wasn’t the optimal terrain for such vehicles. Whilst these three divisions squashed the remaining resistance in the bulge, four divisions were dispatched to prevent the breakthrough to the north from dying off entirely, when the tanks there encountered river crossings in the mountain passes they travelled.
The 7th Armoured Division cut the last connections between the encirclement and the rest of China the 28th of January and the intelligence service reported a mere two surrounded hostile units, a total of 16 000 men. An odd 36 000 men strong mix of tanks, light infantry and cavalry began a systematic annihilation of the unfortunate souls that had to dig in and fight in Taibai Shan.
As things progressed in the north, the south was not eventless. It can however be stated that the south was less eventful than the north during the period in question. The 5th Armoured Division in cooperation with Shimoda Tatsuma’s 48th Infantry Division hammered the defenders to push them further toward the new capital city of the republic. The 52nd Division marched on Enshi to pressure the Chinese western flank to aid the other two divisions in their advance, soon helped by the 5th Light Division which entered the fight in an eastward angle.
(Morale had risen with the capture of Chongqing, but the 2nd Kita-Shina Homengun soon felt the harsh realities of the war again. Although they were scarce, the Chinese defences of Changde proved difficult to break, even with the involvement of well-known commanders like Saito A. and Shimoda Tatsuma.)
Abe’s Front:
In the initial couple of days of January 1940 the 2nd Infantry Division and the 1st Armoured Division attacked in a south-westward direction, from their position just north of the bulge that would be focus of Watana’s attention that month. The together 32 000 men strong 20th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division threw themselves at the northernmost defences the Ma Clique had to offer, fighting against no more than tiny infantry forces that tried to hold the IJA forces away from their headquarters, which now had been caught at the frontline. They achieved their victory and the cavalry marched on whilst the infantry reorganised after the chaotic engagements. Iwamura N., commander of the 1st Cavalry Division aimed to charge into the warlord’s capital city sometime before the end of the month, preferably even earlier considering that it was currently only the 5th day of the month. The unlucky major general would soon come to face a setback in his plans, when he heard about major general Hyakutake’s report to their superiors; He anticipated that his 19th Infantry Division would take control of the city already by the 10th of January. This was about the same time as Iwamura concluded that he would need another month before he could be there.
Hyakutake triumphantly entered the city Lanzhou and paraded into the city centre to symbol his victory. The city was of vital importance to the warlord and its fall likely hampered his ability to wage war, both because of the loss of an important city and a dramatic drop in nationwide support for the war effort.
(The Ma Clique's took a severe hit to its national fighting spirit at the loss of Lanzhou)
As the third week of January came, the 2nd Infantry Division and the 1st Armoured Division received reinforcements in form of the 10th and 28th Infantry Divisions and the 4th Light Division. This event served to tip the balance of power more toward Japan’s favour, but they had still bogged down along the Taohe River. It would take as long as until 31st of January before 86 000 Japanese soldiers could proclaim victory over the 12 000 remaining defenders.
The 20th Division carried on with its attempts to break the opposition in the north. The local Chinese forces had looked very weak on paper, but had held out long enough for retreating troops to fill the lines, after fleeing to avoid encirclement in the northern wastelands. The new troops did however not sustain combat for any longer period and order broke in the defenders’ ranks in the afternoon the 15th of January. In a touch of opportunistic brilliance Iwamura and his mounted forces did an about-turn and hurried north, seeing as they wouldn’t win the race for Lanzhou. Even though some forces already had escaped the sandy wastelands in the north some were still left. The major general wanted to exploit the slow withdrawal of these units to cut them off. His plan was to fix the troops in place whilst the 20th Division moved to break their supply connection through Zhangye, but the Chinese stragglers proved unwilling to put up resistance against Iwamura’s massive almost 20 000 men strong division, something that in all honesty was to be expected.
Hyakutake’s unit resumed its offensive westward the last day of January as a part of Abe’s planned February Offensive. The 1st Cavalry Division, which had secured the passable parts of the wasteland, swept southward as it could no longer move west from its position in the north. Kashiwaga Itsuma dispatched his entire 20th Infantry Division to support Iwamura’s manoeuvre from the east.
(Iwamura's initiation of the February Offensive, with both the 19th and 20th Infantry Divisions joining it.)
Nagata’s Front:
As the bulk of the Special Operation Command joined forces in the ferocious Battle for Huainan, Chinese forces began to storm across the Huaihe River, into Fengtai, to divide the local commanders’ attention on two front sections. The 2nd Armoured Division, which Watana had temporarily transferred to Nagata for the current operation, and the 8th Light Division thus lost a lot of their efficiency, as they were forced to also take up defensive positions. After earlier being reluctant to involve the troops of the bulge in the offensive, Nagata ultimately gave in to the advice of his staff when he found the progress too slow, not unthinkably because of the diverting attack. The 9th Infantry Division launched an attack, from its position at the foot of the bulge, on 9th of January. A sign of hesitation was however still visible in the general’s actions. Two of the three “threatened” IJA divisions were still inactive whilst they waited for a Chinese attempt to strike at them.
Likely as a result of Nagata’s unnecessary caution the battle dragged on until 24th of January, at which point the defenders had suffered 70% casualties and were unable to sustain further combat. The ill-suited 14th and 16th military police regiments had dropped below half strength, causing Nagata to review their performances and come to the conclusion that perhaps they had only been a needless sacrifice in the battle. The defence of Fengtai ended with far more favourable results and the commander of the Special Operation Command personally congratulated Hokkaido N. and Matsuda T. to their brilliant victory. The two major generals had given the rest of the IJA a show of great coordination through their close cooperation in the operational work. Hokkaido had deployed his tanks at key positions, primarily bridges and shallow crossing points along the Huaihe River, whilst Matsuda’s light infantry, which accounted for most of the 124 casualties, scouted and reported Chinese troop movements to give Hokkaido reliable information when he shuffled forces to areas of impending danger. A slaughter of 5 200 enemies had followed.
Matsuda was then free to move and reoccupy Huainan, but he would not arrive there before the end of the month.
(The centre of Nagata's area of responsibility, when the threat recently posed by Chinese troops had been eliminated.)
The Special Operation Command:
From their positions behind sandbags and barricades or roofs and windowsills the infantrymen unloaded their magazines on the masses of attackers. Occasional barrages of explosive shells spread death and chaos in the no-man’s-land that had taken form around the city during the last four days of clashes. Suddenly the attackers turned and fled the field of battle, leaving behind them the 3 000 men that had paid with their lives for nothing. The IJA had just repulsed the assault on Guangzhou in a confrontation that undeniably shared many similarities with those of the First World War. The defenders were left with all their troops but 4, whilst the Chinese missed more than 15% of the initially deployed men.
(The Battle for Guangzhou was a one-sided slaughter.)
Later in the same day the abandoned province Fengkai, west along the Xi River, fell to advancing cavalry from the Guangxi Clique, a warlord state in some of the southernmost territories of China. To prevent the Japanese 5th and 30th Infantry Divisions from taking back the area the Republic and the local warlord chose to join forces in an attack from both north and south against those two divisions. The IJA major generals however stood firm in their attack and the attempted cooperation between the two Chinese factions soon fell apart, causing them to cancel the attacks.
Nagaoka Masayoshi was in a struggle against time with his 11th Infantry Division down in the south. After being cut off by Republican cavalry in the middle of December they had made their way to the coastline, but the lack of a port left the division without a supply line even by sea. The men used more and more of the remaining stockpile, inevitably approaching a state of starvation. Nagaoka communicated with Yamauchi D., the commander of the 100th Infantry Division in Beihai, and planned a consolidation of their forces, where both would attack enemies in the region between them to allow the 11th Division to join up in the supplied port in Beihai. The operation would have been ambitious with jungle specialised troops, even more so with the current means available. The result became a few short skirmishes before both officers realised the impossible in their offensive and abandoned it.
(Nagaoka's and Yamauchi's advance was directed at the weakest link in the Chinese defence, yet the jungle hampered the fighting condition of the Japanese soldiers too much.)
The long expected Chinese reinforcements to the Guangzhou slowly but surely arrived and passed the land that had been left behind when the Imperial forces turned in a hasty retreat to shorten the frontline. Now they stood with their back to the British colony Hong Kong, hoping to avoid any diplomatic disputes, a somewhat likely event considering the suspicion that already existed in these countries’ relation to each other.
In the second week of January came a temporary rescue for Nagaoka with the deployment of the 1st Transport Air Group under command of Ichimaru. It was created for two purposes, mainly to drop paratroopers in due time, when they had finished their training, but also air supply missions in situations when food, equipment and ammunition could not be sent by land or sea. Thanks to this new air unit Nagaoka could stop worry about his logistics.
(With the deployment of the 1st Transport Air Group the options for supply lines increased greatly, even though the force was primarily meant for paradrops.)
The Shanghai Front:
At the Shanghai Front everything continued like before during January 1940. The situation remained the same; not enough priority in supplies and reinforcements, and the present forces were not sufficient to achieve something noteworthy.
(A map of the frontline in the Shanghai sector in the beginning of 1940.)
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Good to see another update! It is still a huge slog, but perhaps the Shanghai sector and Nagata's forces can link up and do some good together.
Yes, welcome back!
A big update for a big war! It's good to see you have a tenacious adversary worthy of your efforts.
A big update for a big war! It's good to see you have a tenacious adversary worthy of your efforts.
Jippie! An update! Thank you. But it seems, that you need one more division in Beihei to save the lonely 11th.
Thanks for your quick replies guys, it definitely helps to know that you're willing to read!
I agree entirely that this AAR is best alive!
And thank you once again for your morale support, it helps the High Command (Me) at least. (And on a joking note, maybe a game of Go would actually train up the Japanese officers... Though, it's a Chinese invention, so no.)
And I'm glad to have made this update!
It's really tempting, but I believe it's just not possible with the current strength of those two forces. It is possible to move troops from other sections of the frontline, but that would make our overall progress lower while they re-deploy. Though I might also just think this way because of the knowledge that if I continue long enough, I will break through eventually...
As a reminder again, most of 1940 is already played, so advice isn't possible to use in action immediately. But by all means don't stop, it helps me to view situations from different angles and most likely learn things to next time a similar situation appears.
Thank you, I feel very welcome back when I'm met by four comments after a single day!
A tenacious adversary for sure, although I'd hesitate to say they're worthy of my efforts. The Chinese are probably worthy of more challenge.
*Glares at the Soviet Union and the UK* "You wouldn't want to help me provide China a challenge, would you?"
Thank you for the enthusiasm!
The 11th Division is fine now, thanks to supplies from the transport aircraft, but in the long run something absolutely needs to be done to save it. As you'll also get to see, the air supply mission doesn't run entirely smoothly...
I agree entirely that this AAR is best alive!
And thank you once again for your morale support, it helps the High Command (Me) at least.
(And on a joking note, maybe a game of Go would actually train up the Japanese officers... Though, it's a Chinese invention, so no.)And I'm glad to have made this update!
It's really tempting, but I believe it's just not possible with the current strength of those two forces. It is possible to move troops from other sections of the frontline, but that would make our overall progress lower while they re-deploy. Though I might also just think this way because of the knowledge that if I continue long enough, I will break through eventually...
As a reminder again, most of 1940 is already played, so advice isn't possible to use in action immediately. But by all means don't stop, it helps me to view situations from different angles and most likely learn things to next time a similar situation appears.
Yes, welcome back!
A big update for a big war! It's good to see you have a tenacious adversary worthy of your efforts.
Thank you, I feel very welcome back when I'm met by four comments after a single day!
A tenacious adversary for sure, although I'd hesitate to say they're worthy of my efforts. The Chinese are probably worthy of more challenge.
*Glares at the Soviet Union and the UK* "You wouldn't want to help me provide China a challenge, would you?"
Thank you for the enthusiasm!
The 11th Division is fine now, thanks to supplies from the transport aircraft, but in the long run something absolutely needs to be done to save it. As you'll also get to see, the air supply mission doesn't run entirely smoothly...
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I'm still here too and following along as RL permits. I think this effort important because not only is it a solid game-story but also a good view of a BI-Japan. Curious about something; could you show one battle and the "modifier's window"? Sorry if I've missed it before.
Cheers
Cheers
It's nice to have you here @markkur! I'm happy that you find my AAR good!
I can definitely give you some more gameplay-details in the next chapter, there's only a slight problem.
I have almost got another chapter ready, but it needs to be polished and the pictures still have to be fixed (and the suggestions by markkur need to be added), so it isn't completely done yet. This would seem like an insignificant thing, but in fact it delays the next update by as much as two weeks, since I won't have access to my computer in that time...
I assume you're used to my delays at this point, but at least this time it's because of restraints of time and not lack of spirit.
I can definitely give you some more gameplay-details in the next chapter, there's only a slight problem.
I have almost got another chapter ready, but it needs to be polished and the pictures still have to be fixed (and the suggestions by markkur need to be added), so it isn't completely done yet. This would seem like an insignificant thing, but in fact it delays the next update by as much as two weeks, since I won't have access to my computer in that time...
I assume you're used to my delays at this point, but at least this time it's because of restraints of time and not lack of spirit.
Macke,
Just thought I'd stop by and say hi. Wow - you're not kidding about the intricacies of BlackICE. I saw your province interface, showing all the buildings a province can have, etc. And the different unit types.
I'll start reading through from the beginning and see how it goes. Good job with China by 1940!
Rensslaer
Just thought I'd stop by and say hi. Wow - you're not kidding about the intricacies of BlackICE. I saw your province interface, showing all the buildings a province can have, etc. And the different unit types.
I'll start reading through from the beginning and see how it goes. Good job with China by 1940!
Rensslaer
I'm happy to have you onboard @Rensslaer! Just remember that the first chapters were written more than a year ago and are very different from my current writing.
You're right that BlackICE offers many new buildings and units. When I got an event that had an option to add police stations, I had to go and check their effect in a youtube video before I found out that they reduce local revolt risk (which was to be expected though).
That's a downside of the mod, but when you learn the details they add to the immersion, especially when you write an AAR. For this reason I might start making posts to explain mechanics/changes in BlackICE, to give you readers (and me) a better understanding of the mod. We'll see.
Just remember that the first chapters were written more than a year ago and are very different from my current writing.You're right that BlackICE offers many new buildings and units. When I got an event that had an option to add police stations, I had to go and check their effect in a youtube video before I found out that they reduce local revolt risk (which was to be expected though).
That's a downside of the mod, but when you learn the details they add to the immersion, especially when you write an AAR. For this reason I might start making posts to explain mechanics/changes in BlackICE, to give you readers (and me
) a better understanding of the mod. We'll see.
That would be useful, as this is one of the ids (along with HPP) I am considering branching into later. Interesting to see what's different to vanilla.For this reason I might start making posts to explain mechanics/changes in BlackICE, to give you readers (and me
This link should do it. See if you can find a proper thread for your suggestion there, and if there is none you can create your own.
I see that you're new to the forum (if you have not just been reading without an account) and I'm not in any way annoyed that you asked in this thread. However, I don't think the AAR section is the right place for this kind of question, unless it has to do with the story, which in this case it had not, just so you know in the future.
I hope you find what you are looking for and greet you welcome to the forums!
I am already working on it (Be it only from memory, since I don't have access to my computer yet.). Let's see if I can make the learning curve less steep for you than it has been for me, and still is, I suppose.
thx man
No problem, I'm happy that I could help you!
To the readAARs I wish to point out that the ACAs Q1 and Q2 2017 are ongoing and in need of voters. Take your time and vote for fellow good AAR authors. Remember that one or a few votes are better than none at all, so don't feel hesitant if you only know of few AARs. Read more in the OP post in the voting thread. Happy voting!
I also want to use this as an opportunity to tell you what I think of the HoI3 AAR community. I'm amazed by how you keep this sub-forum a small but thriving place, at a point when it could just as well have been dead. In "AAR community" I include both writers and readers. Thank you all for making this a great place!
Part 22 - Chugging on to Changde and Chengdu
Part 22 – Chugging on to Changde and Chengdu
February 1940
February 1940
(A chapter focused on the 1st and 2nd Kita-Shina Homenguns)
To the End of Civilisation
Whilst the 36th Infantry Division was progressing in its encounter with armoured forces in Guang’an, Abe would choose to take up a challenge and try to reach Chengdu before his colleague did. It had since long been clear to Abe that he would play no more of the most important roles of the war. He had excelled in the defeat of Shanxi and the communists in quick succession, but with their falls the attention of the Japanese public had turned to the spearheads near Chongqing. When the city fell they continued to follow Watana’s advance closely, as he was without doubt the one to seize the next capital too. Abe was locked off in the north, tasked with the endless task to occupy the Ma Clique. Thus he wanted at least to participate in the conquest of the moderately important city Chengdu and get a final bit of glory out of the war.
Watana was fully aware that his colleague suggested a combined operation mainly to get himself a more important role, however the “rising star” found strategical benefits in the plan and pressured Tojo to accept a centred push toward Chengdu.
(The simple plan for Abe's and Watana's combined offensive toward Chengdu.)
The 5th of February the general of the 2nd K-SH sent a message to the headquarters of the 3rd and 4th Armoured Divisions, in which he told their respective commanders to aid major general Yagawa and fight the Soviet-produce tanks in Guang’an using their Japanese counterparts. At that point the formations of armoured forces were already withdrawing, rear guarded by another unit with Soviet equipment, this time a militia unit. This became the source to Watana’s bitter statement, “Stalin has, and will continue to, save the Chinese from collapse many times over.”
Abe was not satisfied with the current speed of his attack and reinforced the push to double its strength from 60 000 to 130 000, which meant that he had just committed half his numbers to the race. The nine divisions broke through the Chinese lines with ease whilst Watana seemed to be lagging behind Abe, until five hours later. Major general Nagake of the 6th Armoured Division called his commander with the happy news that all resistance in Taibai Shan had been ended. Both the tank division and the 7th Light Division were ordered south to help in the march on Chengdu. Watana attacked with other forces to arrive and cross the Jialing River before the Chinese entrenched positions on the other bank. His five committed divisions defeated the opposition the 7th of February.
(Watana's assault at 7th February, in the middle of his race to surpass his enemies across the river.)
When Watana’s forces the 15th of February ultimately penetrated the positions in Guang’an they diverged into two separate spearheads, one made up by only the 36th Division moving south and one consisting of the 3rd and 4th Armoured Divisions advancing west. The 4th Cavalry Division got forgotten behind in the traffic jam that occurred. Harsh fighting erupted in Nanchong, where Japanese and Chinese tanks crashed into each other in what was the first real armour battle of the war. Even more remarkable though, is the fact that the vehicles fought in terrain that was a nightmare for them; the Chinese jungle. It similarly stood clear how Watana’s hope to cross the Jialing River without resistance on the other bank had been quelled. This happened as soon as the first groups from the motorised infantry regiments tried to get themselves across. The Type 92 tanks fielded by the IJA were superior their Chinese counterparts, a version of the Soviet T-26, and had a better main armament as well as thicker armour. Neither tank could penetrate the other’s armour on any longer distances, although this was generally not a problem in the close-quarters combat in the Nanchong jungle.
(The Battle of Nanchong. The picture speaks of itself on why the Chinese troops held their positions so well against their much stronger opponents.)
The 36th Infantry Division had encountered overwhelming numbers in the south, about the equivalent to a corps from the Imperial army, and more troops were approaching the region to stabilise the frontline. Yagawa was ordered to keep his men on the offensive mostly to prevent these reinforcements from arriving in Nanchong or Chengdu, so Kanin granted Watana his request for Gunma A. and his CAS units to bomb the tanks in Nanchong and pave the way for a quicker breakthrough.
19th of February Abe was back in the game again, as five of his nine divisions arrived in Guangyuan, right north of Chengdu and Nanchong. The 15th and 17th Infantry Divisions went to join the armoured forces in Nanchong, from where the Republican tank forces were already fleeing, whilst the 3rd and 26th turned to the city, somewhat supported by the 6th Light Division.
Whilst the month dragged to a close everything started to develop quickly. Abe’s 15th and 17th Divisions moved westward and reinforced their mates in Chengdu, where they expected the crumbling resistance to collapse within short, which it ultimately did 28th of February. With the fall of Chengdu came what the Imperial High Command called “The end of Civilisation” they had, as the nickname indicates, reached the end of territory with somewhat reasonable infrastructure and development. To the West were simply gigantic masses of mountain wastelands.
(West of Chengdu ran the Donghe River, practically marking the end of modernised and densely populated China.)
The March on Changde
In the meantime as the disappointed Abe fought the ambushes prepared by Chinese militia, one of Watana’s most respected subordinates Saito A., leader of the 2nd Sensha Ryodan, fell back from his southward offensive although the casualties were smaller than the enemy’s, knowing very well that losing 2 500 men was not sustainable for the IJA when they caused only 3 000 losses to their adversary. As a direct result the Chinese forces were able to launch their own attack on Wanxian, a futile attempt to cut off the 37th Division and retake Chongqing, as well as to gain time to withdraw troops that could help defend the new main seat of the Republic.
The 48th Infantry Division and the 5th Armoured Division kept their advance going in the eastern section of the 2nd Kita-Shina Homengun and finally routed the local defenders the 6th of February, taking a step closer both to Changde and the city Wuhan. A week later, simultaneously as the February Offensive in Xibei San Ma culminated in the Battle for Xining, where the warlord had gathered the greater part of his armed forces, the two divisions unleashed their power on two individual targets. The 48th Division performed an attack to cover Matsumura Satomi’s flank as his Type 92 tanks tried to interrupt Chinese headquarters in a region with Wuhan in north east and Changde in south west. A total of four corps headquarters and one army staff were taken by surprise by the Japanese attack that followed quickly after the first victory. It is likely that this had vast impact on the Chinese inability to coordinate a strong defence of their capital city, considering how the Chinese 1st Infantry Division stood alone left in Enshi and not even against the weakest and least concentrated offensive Japanese force that far could it hold its ground much longer.
(The stubborn resistance from the Chinese 1st Infantry Division frustrated Japanese officers, however the troops guarding the gates of Changde were ultimately too few.)
A long-lasting attack by the 51st Infantry Division from the SPC, carried out North West of the important city Wuhan, ended the 21st of February in an unexpected victory, and the circumstances in the local area changed substantially with IJA forces approaching Wuhan from North West, West and South West.
The 23rd day that month came cheering reports from major general Kurechi T.; the 52nd Infantry Division was following routed defenders in Enshi and hoped to stand in the outskirts of Changde at the very least before February came to an end. They managed it just in time.
(With a victory in Enshi the IJA was dangerously close to Changde, even more so taken into account the little to no available Chinese reserves. Wuhan is the city with an airbase, in the East.)
The Shanghai Front
After careful, patient waiting and extensive logistical and strategical planning the Shanghai Front finally launched its Operation Venerable on 7th February. The army group’s minimal resources restrained the operational execution to the 56th and 71st Infantry Divisions in the northern section. They would strike at the Zhenjiang airbase, threatening to drive a wedge between Nanjing and the coastline, hence cutting land connection for a sizeable amount of Chinese units. It was now up to the respected Li Zongren to lead the forces in the region and counter the Japanese advance. Superior firepower forced the defenders backward the next day, bringing the Imperial forces to a tiny few kilometres away from Nanjing.
The 70th Division took as long as until 26th February to join the offensive by a march into the undefended Cangzhou. A coupler of hours later, the offensive started on real. The 31st and 56th Infantry Divisions, supported by the 71st on the western flank, pushed North West and had routed their enemies as the evening settled 27th February. The long period of calm had obviously led the Chinese into a foolish sense of safety. Suddenly, as if brought with the wind, the Shanghai Front was overwhelming all resistance with its ongoing operation. Li Zongren could do nothing but stand hands folded as the situation developed out of his control.
(The defences were practically collapsing in the wake of the Japanese war machine.)
Atomic Research
The German AI's secret plan begins in practice. Most certainly a move you don't understand, but surely it must be a trick in some way....
I really should have checked my economy before accepting this... (In twelve days of February I lost 400$, bringing me down to 2 600$ in reserve...)
@markkur, if you can specify what pictures you wanted (so I don't post wrong pictures and look like a fool) I'll post them for you.
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Very comprehensive battle reporting at the operational level - a very realistic description (I also liked the race between the generals line). How much longer do you think the Chinese can last? Are they getting close to surrender?