War in Asia (Japan 1936 AAR with CORE 0.61)

[Zanza]

July 16th-19th, 1937

July 16th-19th, 12th year of Showa
Operation Akuma (Demon) - Part I​

At dawn of July 16th the first Japanese troops landed along the Chinese coast at Shenyang and further south. They advanced rapidly and met almost no resistance only a few policemen, odd farmers with a guns, but no regular Kuomintang troops. From his headquarters in Dongtai, Field Marshal Higashikuni ordered his Generals to secure the north bank of the Yangtze river as soon as possible and proceed along the river inlands. The 34th Hoheishidan commanded by Lieutenant General Ushijima seized Taizhou, while 24th Hoheishidan occupied Nantong without any resistance. The few Kuomintang forces in the area withdrew southwards to Shanghai in a hurry. General Nakai’s 1st and 12th Hoheishidan raced inlands to conquer Huainan when it was still undefended. Seeing the opportunity to push towards the south banks of the Huang Ho, Higashikuni ordered three divisions northward to conquer the Shandong peninsula with Tsingtao and Jinan.

Situation in North-Eastern China on July 16th, 1937​

The stunned Chinese weren’t able to mount more than a negligible defence north of the Yangtze, so they concentrated on the southern bank. Chiang Kai-shek himself commanded the Kuomintang forces in Nanjing and Shanghai. Bridges and military equipment were destroyed by Chinese troops withdrawing over the Yangtze River. The Japanese forces advanced rapidly in all directions making the beachhead into a full-fledged invasion within a few days. When Honda’s 13th Hoheishidan captured Xuzhou, Huaibei and Suzhou only two days after the initial landing, the Chinese military was unable to mount even minimal resistance. Tsingtao fell undefended to troops of the 2nd Hoheishidan a day later.
Meanwhile the 14th Gundan had proceeded along the north bank of the Yangtze River towards Zhenzhou and further northwards towards Huainan. The two cities were taken after minor fights with only small detachments of Kuomintang forces. Operation Akuma was a stunning success so far.

Situation in North-Eastern China on July 19th, 1937​

 

[unmerged(20242)]

nice aar, just catched up with it...

 

[unmerged(14683)]

Great update, really like gfx work... Keep it up!

 

[Lone Wolf]

Thanks for the update Zanza

 

[Languish]

Alot of attention has gone into this... i particularly like the screenshots... keep it up

 

[unmerged(18027)]

Very nice job Zanza! I've been playing my own Japanese game - the war in China really is a blast with CORE. Hard to encircle those pesky Chinese militia with all the mountains and jungles . Looking forward to see how the well oiled Imperial war machine takes care of business!

 

[Zanza]

July 20th-25th, 1937

July 20th-25th, 12th year of Showa
Operation Akuma (Demon) - Part II​

One regiment of the second 'Sendai' motorized division commanded by Major General Ishiwara proceeded northwards and secured the harbours of Rizhao, Jiaonan and Tsingtao along the southern coast of the Shandong peninsula. The other two regiments drove northwards around Mount Taishan towards Zibo and engaged a division of Kuomintang troops. After two days of fierce fighting the technologically inferior Chinese forces surrendered. They suffered losses of about 2500 men compared to less than 200 on the Japanese side. Confucius’ birth place Qufu and the province capital Jinan were secured by Lieutenant General Anami’s 15th Hoheishidan in the early hours of July 23rd.

Devastating flood along the lower Huang He River​

When the 14th Gundan approached Kaifeng and Zhengzhou along the Huang Ho the Japanese had to learn that the Kuomintang fully understood the concepts of total war and scorched earth. They dynamited the Huayuankow dike of the Huang He near Zhengzhou. In the floods at least 50000 Japanese soldiers and at least several hundred thousand Chinese drowned. Millions of square kilometres of rich farmland, crops and top soil were flooded. The infrastructure in the whole region was more or less destroyed and useless for several weeks. Eleven cities and more than 4000 villages were devastated and millions were left homeless. The Kuomintang traded space for time, but the enormous toll among the civilian inhabitants of the densely populated Huang Ho valley estranged the population all over China from the government in Nanjing and led to mass defections to the communists, strikes and even collaboration with the Japanese aggressors. It was a military success for the Chinese as it stopped the Japanese advance, but a desaster for their propaganda, both domestic and international.

Shanghai after heavy fighting, Japanese military on the Bund in Shanghai​

Meanwhile in Shanghai thousands of Japanese citizens living there within a Japanese controlled zone were threatened by Kuomintang forces. This lead to an invasion of special naval landing forces, namely the 'Maizaru' Rikusentai. A militia of Japanese citizens helped fighting back the Kuomintang forces, but a stalemate ensued. Due to severe Japanese losses in defending the Japanese part of Shanghai, Field Marshal Higashikuni ordered the troops of the 24th 'Tochigi' and 35th 'Fukui' divisons which had seized Nantong earlier to cross the Yangtze delta and help the Marines to secure Shanghai. Heavy fighting in and around Shanghai lasted for more then a week and cost about seven thousand Japanese, most of them civilians, and about two thousand Chinese servicemen their lives. The number of Chinese civilian victims is unknown but is estimated over ten thousand.

 

[Semi-Lobster]

Your AAR is amazing Zanza! I love the detail! Keep up the good work! I can tell from how well your doing in China, that I can expect Japanese troops marching down the mall in Washington D.C.!

 

[Alikchi]

This is Good Stuff.

 

[Wittmann]

Sorry Zanza, what program are you used for make this screens?.
he's are very good.

 

[unmerged(16040)]

This AAR is brilliant! Keep up the good work Zanza

 

[Zanza]

July 21st, 1937

July 21st, 12th year of Showa
Somewhere over Southern Manchuria​

They had scrambled from their airstrip in Southern Manchuria only three minutes ago, when Miyake Shingo saw the first Chinese fighters. This time the alert had come in time, but he would try to persuade Colonel Fuchida to always maintain a Shotai on patrol in the air. The Chinese had tried before to destroy Japanese aircrafts at the ground.
The Chinese fighters were about four kilometres ahead and had just left a small cloud. The visual range wasn’t good today as low hanging clouds obscured the view in almost all directions. Lieutenant Miyake pushed the throttle lever to maximum speed and began to climb. He wasn’t sure if the Chinese had already spotted him and his five companions. He would try to attack them from above. He felt his pulse take a leap, but he was enthusiastic about what would become his first real dogfight.

Gloster Gladiator and Curtiss Hawk III in Nationalist Chinese Markings​

He was now about three hundred metres above the Chinese and only two kilometres away. He was sure, that the Chinese now had spotted them as they began to climb as well. Attacking from above was a standard tactic developed during the Great War by German and British aces. He counted six Gloster Gladiators, elegant biplanes with non-retractable gear, and two Curtiss Hawk III fighter-bombers, a biplane as well. The vintage Curtiss Hawks wouldn’t be a threat to his Ki-43 Hayabusa and he also doubted that the Gladiator, which had a great manoeuvrability according to intelligence reports, would be a match for his aircraft.
Miyake closed in on the leading enemy fighter and when he was a mere kilometre away rolled and dived towards him. At a range of four hundred metres he began to shoot but missed as the Chinese fighter evaded with an impressive manoeuvre. Miyake turned around sharply and got the Chinese fighter in sight again. Only seconds later he got the Gladiator in front of his two 12.7mm machine guns and with a burst hit the Chinese fighter, which spiralled down ablaze. When he was ready to attack another fighter, he suddenly saw tracers passing very close to his port wing. Miyake sharply broke to starboard, avoiding the burst. After a series of sharp turns he was unable to lose his pursuer, but was relieved by his wingman, who shot down the Chinese fighter.
About a kilometre away Miyake saw the two Curtiss Hawks and raced towards them with his top speed of over 300 mph. He was at least 20 percent faster then his opponents and approached them quickly. When they saw him they dived towards the ground to increase their speed, but to no avail. He closed in on them and shot down one of them, while his wingman successfully attacked the other plane. When he turned around he saw that his Chotai hadn’t lost any of the modern monoplanes, while the Chinese squadron with their old biplanes were annihilated. He turned towards their airstrip and reduced his velocity to cruising speed.

 

[Zanza]

Thanks for the praise, guys!

Originally posted by Wittmann
Sorry Zanza, what program are you used for make this screens?.

I am using Photoshop 6 for manipulation of screenshots and photos alike. It's available at ebay in Germany for less then 50 euro. The newest version is Photoshop CS which is priced around 1000 euro. The update costs 250 euro...

Okay, you may guess which of the both photos above is manipulated and what is changed...

 

[Zanza]

July 23rd - August 4th, 1937

July 23rd – August 4th, 12th year of Showa
Operation Dragon (Ryuu) ​

Invasion plan for Northern China as of July 23rd​

Operation Dragon was the codename for the land-based invasion in Northern China. Massive Japanese troops had been deployed to the Kwantung provinces north-east of Beijing. Three armies consisting of 37 divisions, the bulk of the Imperial Japanese Army, stood ready to invade China. Air support was assured by three bomber wings of G3M Chukou bombers and two Hikodans of brand new Ki-43 Hayabusa fighters. The operation aimed for the encirclement of Beijing and the troops in that province.

On July 23rd nineteen divisions of the Shina Haken Gun and three divisions of the Kanto Gun attacked the Kuomintang defences east of Beijing. Field Marshal Terauchi, the commander of the operation, planned to advance south-west with the utmost speed to overwhelm the weak forces on the eastern flank of the Beijing front. The outnumbered Chinese troops withdrew from the onslaught and only fought some rearguard action, suffering heavy losses counting over 7000 men nevertheless.
The cities, above all the province capital of Tianjin, weren’t defended by the Kuomintang and fell to the Japanese after minor resistance by citizen militias. Cangzhou and Dezhou were reached only hours later by the spearheads of the advancing army. The flooded delta of the Huang Ho River made a further advance southwards impossible.
Instead the main movement axis of the army shifted westwards in direction Shijazhuang, south of Beijing.

Fighting takes place in the Shijazhuang region south of Beijing​

In the meantime northwest of Beijing another substantial offensive performed by four divisions of the Naimou Gun, the Inner Mongolian Army, and eight divisions the Kanto Gun, the Kwantung Army, aimed at taking the Datong, Hunyuan and Yuxian west of Beijing. The light, partly mounted divisions of Inner Mongolian Army flanked the defending Chinese troops and when the bulk of the Kanto Gun crashed into the Chinese positions, they found themselves being attacked from two directions suddenly.
General Nishio Juzo’s plan had succeeded and soon the Chinese were routed, suffering losses of more than four thousand men however. Datong was taken early on July 26th. The light divisions of the first and second corps commanded by General Fujie raced south to cut of the Chinese reinforcements. Their light equipment helped them in the vast open steppes and they pressed forward with incredible speed. A light division of the Kuomintang which arrived too late to help the fleeing Chinese troops was repelled and driven back into the desert regions of the Gobi. The first Kiheishidan seized Taiyuan in the late hours of August 3rd without a battle.

Terauchi’s army group took Shijazhuang after ferocious fighting with two Chinese divisions guarding the region. Both sides suffered heavy losses. The flooded Huang He River demanded even more lives on the Japanese side, as even more soldiers drowned in another deliberate flood caused by the Kuomintang forces. The victims among the Japanese military personnel amounted about at least twenty thousand. The Nationalist Chinese forces in the region lost more than four thousand men in their lost cause. The region was under the firm grip of the Imperial Japanese army on August 3rd.
On August 4th the troops of the Inner Mongolia Army and General Dohihara’s eleventh Gundan met at Yangquan between Taiyuan and Shijazhuang and closed the pocket which encompassed twelve Chinese divisions numbering over 120000 men. The pocket included the city of Beijing in the north and the smaller towns Baoding and Renqui in the south. Operation Ryuu had been a success, as a great number of Chinese forces was encircled and Northern China was ripe for further conquests.

Situation in Northern China on August 4th, Beijing region is encircled​

 

[unmerged(20242)]

This is realy good, after reading this i feel like playing jap too bad im in vicky land (but that will probarbly pass like EU, HoI will never pass )

 

[unmerged(11703)]

Great update, really love this AAR!

 

[Semi-Lobster]

UPDATE!!!!! when ever you feel like it! Preferably soon!

 

[Zanza]

I'll update sometime this week. I had to play through Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic last week. After I'm finally a Sith Lord and ruler of the galaxy I will have time for this AAR again.

Hmm, it seems as if the new forum software doesn't accept non-break spaces...
And I can't even edit my own posts anymore.

 

[unmerged(1057)]

Update, update, update!!... One of my absolute favourites..

 

[klink]

Three cheers! Good stuff! I haven't really read much on this CORE thing. Does it make the game better? Keep up the good fight.