Conquest of Communist China

     With Shanxi disposed of, we set our sights on the next natural target: Communist China.  2 Homen Gun, flush with victory, is launched across the Yellow river to avoid the painful contested river crossings.  VI Gun will launch the key effort, an attack from Hangcheng to the fortified city of Yan’an.  VII Gun will attack southward along the Yellow from Dongcheng, while VIII Gun attacks the western provinces of Yulin, Jingbian, and Wuqi.  The plan is designed to allow VII and VIII Gun to attack Yan’an from the north without crossing rivers, if VI Gun is unable to take it alone.

     We declare war at 9am on August 8^th.  It becomes immediately obvious we are dealing with a much more determined foe than Shanxi.  All communist forces are already mobilized and fully organized, and put up stiff resistance.  Communist divisions from Wuqi and Nationalist divisions from Tongchuan and Weinan counterattack VI Gun, while one division of infantry and two of militia under General Mao put up a fierce resistance in Yan’an.  VIII Gun also meets stiff resistance in Yulin.

     VII Gun makes the first headway, driving the communists from Shenmu.  The losses are very light; VII Gun, at full strength with 40,000 men, suffers only 44 casualties, while the communists lose 547 of their 8991.  Despite the low casualties, the battle runs for 3 days, and VII Gun did not occupy Shenmu in force until the early morning on the 14^th. 

     VIII Gun finally drives the Chinese from Yulin.  The battle finishes on the morning of the 15^th, making a full week of resistance.  We suffer our heaviest losses yet, with 446 dead from the original 35,000.  The Chinese lose 1471, out of 29,000.

     The Wuqi counterattack lasted from the 8^th to the 13^th; we suffered 86 casualties, and reduced attack effectiveness against Yan’an, while the Communists suffered 1153 dead, out of 14,992.  A  second counterattack lasts only several hours, and causes another 587 communist casualties.  After the Communist 9^th Infantry retreats from Yan’an, another desperate attack is launched, in which they suffer another 797 dead, and inflict 46 against us.  One of the remaining militia in Yan’an breaks and retreats, leaving only 9 Jun (militia) to absorb the brunt of the entire VI Gun.  The Chinese then launch their final counterattack with 1 Juntaun (mountain).  This collapses, like all the others, although with a mild 162 killed.  In the early hours of the 17^th, the last troops fall back from Yan’an.  Storming the city cost us 926 dead, out of 43,000, twice the previous high suffered by the VIII Gun in Yulin.  We inflict 1813, out of 31,000, a much lower ratio than experienced thus far in the war.  The loss of organization was also impressive, with the VI Gun reserve brigades being brought down to 6.2 organization, and all others in the 20s.  Troops occupy the city in the evening of the 20^th, and the Communists officially surrender a few hours later.

     As with Shanxi, the Communist China stockpiles were unimpressive.  We received around 30 units of money (monies?), about 3000 tons of supplies and a smattering of resources.  The total casualties from combat for the campaign were around 1700, two thirds of which were in VI Gun.