Frontline moves to the north of Italy
Target Europe: Move North and the Corridor in the East
October 1943 – December 1943
After Rome was taken and with the high amount of casualties already taken in the Middle East, North Africa and southern Italy, Italy and its allies had trouble defending from the massive Chinese force. Drivin by victory over victory, China was unstoppable and the Golden Dragons, as the Chinese Army called themselves now, had a feeling of beeing invincible. Steadily the front moved towards Milan where Mussolini had set up his new headquarters. Help from Germany still was not even on its way and Italy knew it was fighting a loosing battle in it’s home country. In the Balkans their precense was immense and Greece, with the help of the UK, tried to free the Balkans from the fascists.
While the battle had moved from Asia to the west, Chinese scientists were working on a new source of energy and perhaps a new weapon which they could combine with the relatively new rockets: Nuclear fission. On October 4th the worlds first nuclear power plant was build close to Nanjing. Allthough still a testing facility on a minor scale, a few house blocks were powered by the facility.
New nuclear facility near Nanjing
Athens was freed quite quickly, but with many Axis forces still moving around the Greek lands, the advance was stopped. China was asked to support their allies and soon send a corps to help their friends. China could not afford sending too much troops to Greece, otherwise their own advance could be in danger. Chiang called in more troops that were still occupying and defending Japan and Taiwan
China send support in Greece
On the 20th of October the assault on Milan began and low morale among the Italians caused them to flee the city the day after. This was the final battle in Italy and on the 23rd, Italy surrendered to China. Not all Italian troops ceased fighting, mainly in the Balkans the Italian presence remained, allthough smaller in size.
Germany was still moving east in the southern Russian front. But with China’s eminent threat, the Fuhrer had to call back a lot of divisions for the defense of the homeland. Chiang was annoyed with being so dependent on sea convoys for supplying the forces fighting in Europe. He wanted a land connection by building a decent road and railroad from Nanjing, through the high mountains of Tibet, to the Middle East so the convoys did not have to go to Asia. There was only one obstacle, China and the Middle East were not connected. Therefore he ordered an invasion in Afganistan.
The German – Soviet war front
Afganistan, the next victim and the corridor between east and west
Call it common sense or just being cautious, China was not about to rush into Germany like a mad man. Moving too fast, as China did in Manchuria, could cause troops being out of supplies again and against a well trained and equipped Army as Germany was, it could mean a defeat. The advance east of Switzerland would be a slow one, however west of Switzerland, into France, was supposed to be quick. For the first time in years, foreign troops set foot on German soil.
Invasion of France
China sets foot in Germany