Utsunimiya's War
(HoI3 TFH - Interactive Japan AAR)
Chapter Fifty-Five: The Eleventh Week - 9.9.1937 To 15.9.1937
The Land War
The Imperial Japanese Army started out the eleventh week, on the 9th of September, engaged in one battle in the Province of Huantai. Unfortunately all Theater HQs on mainland Asia were now complaining about a lack of troops. Including 'China' Operations.
But as the industry was tied up building Naval units there was not going to be any reinforcements for the ground troops. Not when the infantry reserves was now tied up in Operation 'Pitch-Fork' (See Navy War).
Shortly after the noon meal the Battle of Huantai came to a halt. There was no official announcement. No lists of the dead and wounded. It just ended when the Nationalists, having reached the end of their capability to keep their divisions together, melted away. The Japanese Bombers had overwhelmed them in the end. The fighting spirit had left them and the men had ran away. The Japanese soldiers found only unburied dead and abandoned equipment (See Air War).
While the Army were able to take Huantai by the 12th of September they couldn't report it as a victory.
On the 13th, after some rest and reorganization, the Imperial Army was back on the move. It launched a attack on the Nationalist infantry in Yucheng with a infantry division.
At the same time it attacked the two Nationalist units in Pingyin with the 7. Mountain Division.
It was as if the Imperial Army was trying to push eastwards as fast as they could to link up with Qingdao. It was noticed by Utsunimiya that the Province of Linqing was empty of enemy defenders. But the Army was smart enough not to try to take it - it would left a hole in their own lines.
The Nationalists reacted with a attack on Puyang. Twenty-five thousand infantry and cavalry against eight thousand Japanese defenders. The Japanese officers had superior training AND the enemy WAS trying to attack over a river. But the odds were in the Nationalist's favor. And the Japanese unit was ALREADY in battle.
Ironically, the mountain division was the one who faltered, and the Battle of Pingyin was a defeat! 27 men and horses were lost while the Nationalists only lost 8 men.
On the morning of the 14th violence exploded along the front. In the west a cavalry division and a infantry division were sent into the Province of Dengkou to clear out the Communist militia stationed there.
A cavalry division and a mountain division was sent into Suide to attack the Communists stationed there. Three enemy militia and two HQ units.
In the east the Army sent in two cavalry divisions and a infantry division into Lunru to take out the Nationalist infantry division defending the province.
Was this a burst of renewed energy on the part of the Army? Or a sign of desperation?
Late on the 15th the Army sent in a mountain division into the Province of Pingyin to try to take the province, again, from the Nationalist Police unit protecting it.
By the end of the eleventh week the map didn't look much different. In the end it all still seemed to hinge on the defeat of the People's Republic of China. The Army announced a defeat at the cost of 27 soldiers while the Nationalist lost 8 men. But the Army promised that once the Communists fell than the Nationalists would fall. But the people of Japan were starting to feel doubts.
On the morning of the 9th one of the Army's Air Groups started another bombing run on Huantai. The Nationalist Infantry Brigades were, from what the pilots said, on their last legs. They were on the verge of breaking.
The next bombing run had both Air Groups combined. Causing even more damage and confusion to the enemy below.
A total of three bombing runs were carried out. Another 486 Nationalists were killed. And then the enemy unit fled and the Army Air Groups withdraw to refuel, reorganize, and await new orders.
It wasn't until around noon on the 13th that the Air Groups once again saw some action. One was ordered to bomb the Nationalist infantry in the Province of Yucheng. It attacked the enemy positions for a total of eight times and killed 601 Nationalist soldiers.
The other started to blast the Province of Pingyin to dislodge the Nationalist Police unit. The Police unit was only bombed once and only lost 41 soldiers.
The Air Group that had bombed Pingyin moved on to the Province of Zhengzhou to blast the Nationalist infantry unit there. No doubt trying to soften it. The Province was bombed six times and the result was the deaths of 637 Nationalist soldiers.
General Shō-ichi Utsunimiya wished that the Imperial Japanese Army had more bombers. The Air Forces of both branches needed to be expanded.
Operation 'Pitch-Fork' was launched the second the Advisers approved of it. The Task Groups were told to stop their patrols and pick up the three infantry divisions still available.
The 3rd Task Group was sent to the Port of Nagasaki to pick up the 52. Hohei Shidan. The 2nd Task Group was sent to the Port of Nagoya to pick up the 53. Hohei Shidan. The 1st Task Group was sent to Port of Gaoxiong (Taiwan) to pick up the 16. Hohei Shidan.
The 2nd Navy was told to start patrolling the waves again. Still, this left a gap in the patrols of convoy raiders.
The 3rd Task Group was the first to make it to port to pick up its assigned infantry division. On the morning of the 9th it was ordered to move to the North Taiwan Strait. It would be landing its payload in Fuzhou.
Shortly before midnight on the 9th the 1st Task Group made it to Taiwan and loaded up its infantry unit. It was ordered to enter the South Taiwan Strait. It's target would be Xiamen.
Even while this happening the 3rd Task Group, under cover of night, was unloading the 52. into landing craft. Fuzhou was totally undefended and open to invasion.
By midnight the 1st Task Group was in place and started to unload its soldiers into landing craft. Once again Xiamen was undefended and open to invasion.
It was the afternoon of the 10th by the time the 2nd Task Group entered the Port of Nagoya and started to load up the infantry, with all their equipment and supplies. Once ready it was ordered to Hangzhou Bay. Its target would be the Port of Ningbo.
This entire time the Nationalist militia in the Province of Ningbo had been attacked by the Navy’s 1. Hikoutai Tactical Bomber Group. The bombers had carried out only four attacks and killed 291 militia before they stopped.
They stopped because the Nationalist militia started heading south on the 10th. Maybe the Republic’s military had finally noticed something was happening on their southern coast? Whatever the reason it now left the third, and finally, objective of Operation ‘Pitch-Fork’ undefended.
Everything seemed to be looking good. The Navy felt nothing could go wrong at this point. Until the Nationalists launched an all out attack on the Port of Qingdao.
The Province of Qingdao had always had a somewhat rocky history. In 1891 the Qing Empire decided to turn Qingdoa into a coastal defense base against naval attack. The Germans noticed and invaded the port in 1897. The Qing Empire was forced to give the area to Germany in 1898. The Germans outfitted the area with a sewer system and safe drinking water supply and electric power. Schools were funded and even German brewing methods brought in.
During the Great War the Japanese, allied to the British, occupied the region for a short time before it was released back to China. And now they were back.
Of course, now they were being attacked by two Nationalist infantry divisions and two militia divisions. The Japanese had superior leadership, were dug in, and well supplied. As the Chinese attacked the port the Japanese soldiers ambushed them in the streets. They could easily use the urban environment to their advantage as the enemy funneled through certain key intersections of the city.
And by 11 AM on the 11th of September the Navy’s Tactical Bombers had been redirected to bombing the Province of Longkou. In other words dropping bombs on the two enemy Infantry Divisions to the northwest of Qingdao. Ten attacks where carried out by the Tactical Bombers and, it was reported, 912 Nationalist soldiers were killed.
As this was happening the 52. took the Port of Fuzhou without firing a shot.
Then at midnight, on the 12th, the 16. took the Port of Xiamen without a fist lifted in anger.
By 3 AM both the 3rd Task Group and the 1st Task Group were ordered to Haizhou Wan where their carrier based planes could launch bombing runs on the enemy attackers.
Around 4 AM the 2nd Task Group started to unload its load of troops in landing craft just offshore from the Port of Ningbo. Which was now totally unguarded.
At this point General Shō-ichi Utsunimiya reminded the IGH to give the troops in Qingdao a priority for upgrades and reinforcements. It would need every edge it could get in the fight.
A few hours before midnight, on the 12th, the 3rd Task Group weighed anchor in Haizhou Wan and sent its planes to attack the Province of Jiaozhou with its Nationalist militia. They started dropping bombs on the enemy a couple hours before midnight. The CAGs launched ground attacks thirteen times and killed 266 Nationalist militia.
It didn’t help the Nationalists when the warships of the Task Group also started supporting the ground troops with their ‘Big Guns’.
The 1st Task Group joined in the action by the morning of the 13th. It’s planes were directed to focus their attacks on the Province of Laiyang and the other enemy militia. The militia in the province were attacked twelve times and 319 of the enemy were killed.
On the early hours of the 14th the Port of Ningbo was taken by the 53. and the 2nd Task Group was sent north to join the others in bombing the enemy.
While all THAT was happening the Navy decided to send their Naval Bombers, in the 5. Nihon Koukuujieitai, to the newly captured airbase in Fuzhou.
By the time the sun was rising the Naval bombers were landing in Fuzhou and found themselves very disappointed. The airbase had a dirt airfield and the hangers could only shelter HALF the aircraft. And there wasn’t enough fuel or supplies for both Wings. They would need to based someplace else. They were ordered to the Shanghai airbases.
Around noon on the 14th the provinces surrounding Qingdao looked like Hell as the Japanese aircraft dropped bombs around the clock on the Nationalists.
By the late afternoon the 2rd Task Group finally arrived and launched its aircraft at Longkou to help the Navy’s Tactical Bombers. They launched six attacks total before the end of the time period and killed 304 Nationalist infantry.
By the end of the week it was ironic to realize that the Navy had carried out more bombing runs than the Army Air Force had during the same time period. And would likely gain a LOT of experience for having done so.
The Navy announced the success of Operation ‘Pitch-Fork’ and the ‘Heroic’ defense of the Port of Qingdao. Sadly for them the public wasn’t really buying it. Part of this was due to the Army’s own news releases were starting to make them somewhat cynical. But mainly it had to do with the Chief of the Navy angrily denouncing the Operation as worthless and saying that the Navy’s plan, ’Common Sense’, would have been much better. He also stated that the Advisers were all ’Pro-Army Communist Spies’.
As the war slowly ground to a halt there were other events during the eleventh week. The Germans, once again, asked the Japanese to join them in a alliance. And once again the Japanese said no.
The capital's newspapers were starting to make fun of the European nation. There were political cartoons showing it as a 'stalker' or a single man with crushed flowers and cheap chocolate asking passing nations in the street for a date.
And when it, somehow, became known that Germany's people felt that Communist China was the greatest threat to their region the jokes became insults. The Germans were seen as Europe's clowns and soon even street performers were making fun of the German's leader and his cronies.
Almost undetected in the newspapers was a report on a Trade Deal made with Siam for the export of supplies to their nation. No doubt a strategy to bring the two nations closer together. Why? Nobody knew.
By the end of the eleventh week the Head of Intelligence announced that the Nationalist Chinese had captured two agents, the Communist Chinese had captured one agent, the US had captured one agent, and Canada had captured one agent.
The Head of Intelligence also tried to defend the Navy's Operation 'Pitch-Fork' against public critics by releasing some information to the press. The information, while somewhat vague, supported the fact that the Nationalist Chinese were much closer to surrendering as over 42 percent of their major ports, industrial centers, and important cities were now occupied by Japanese troops.
It failed to impress the public who were staring at the maps in the newspapers that showed them a front that was barely moving. Recruitment posters, for both the Army and the Navy, were being vandalized. Military men in uniform were no longer being cheered by crowds or given free drinks at bars and restaurants. It seemed the populace was starting to give the military the cold shoulder.
There was not enough good news coming in from the front. Only more bodies of loved ones.
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Author's Notes:
OOC: Behind the scenes images: