IV Gun has had little
trouble since the Battle of Zhengzhou. The
Chinese forces covering that portion of the front put everything they had into
defending Zhengzhou, and have been retreating steadily across the open spaces
between the Yellow and the Yangtze. By October
16th, IV Gun is on the outskirts of Wuhan, and the Chinese decide to
contest the city. The Battle of Wuhan is
comparatively light. It is one of the
few urban areas north of its adjacent river, meaning that we get to avoid
dealing with the river crossing and urban combat penalties at the same
time. We lose 161 men from the 18, 19
and 20 Shidan, and kill 371 Chinese.
This is the first, but not the last, battle against the Nationalists in
which the starting forces are fairly close in number; we had 20,000 in our
three divisions, and the Chinese had 15,995 in their three divisions. The remainder of IV Gun is also heavily
engaged taking the hills of Xishui, losing 164 of 22,000, while inflicting 321
casualties (of 15,000) against the Chinese.
With most of 1
Homen-Gun approaching the Yangtze, our attention turns to the Nationalist capital
at Nanjing. The city poses an interesting
strategic riddle. To the north and west
are plains, separated from the city by the mighty Yangtze. South and East of the city are extensive hills.
The Yangtze and the Grand Canal combine
to ensure river crossing penalties for attackers from nearly any direction, and
the fortresses to the west of Shanghai further complicate the situation. On the appealing side, the city itself is
connected to only three provinces: Yangzhou and Man’anshan to the north and west,
and Yixing to the south and east.
Because it is the capital, the Chinese are likely to defend it heavily,
and it makes an appealing trap.
By late October
II Gun has recovered sufficiently to resume combat operations. Our plan is use them to hold the Yangtze line
at Yangzhou and Man’anshan. I Gun will
be assigned the bulk of the marching and fighting; split into three groups,
they will occupy the remaining provinces north of the Yangtze along the coast. Our recon indicates the formidable province
of Wuxi is unoccupied; 1 & 2 Shidan will capture it quickly, then turn left
to seize Yixing. With Yixing occupied, 4
& 5 Shidan will cross the Yangtze hold it, while 1 & 2 Shidan to return
to Wuxi and begin dealing with Shanghai.
 |
| My plan for a perfectly consensual occupation of Nanjing |
The operation
goes roughly according to plan. The bulk
of the Chinese forces attempt to obstruct the most direct approach to the city,
but II Gun is able to push them back with little trouble. 1 & 2 Shidan are able to cross the
Yangtze and Grand Canal unopposed, and prepare to trigger the trap. Once Wuxi is occupied, however, the Chinese
become immediately aware of their dilemma and concentrate forces in
Yixing. On October 20th we
launch at Yixing. The battle rages for
two days, but we are successful and lose only 98 of our 16,000, while the
Chinese lose 325 of their 26,000. By the
24th the Chinese send more troops to Yixing in a break-out attempt;
in this fight we lose another 166, and inflict 222 additional casualties.
We occupy the
heights of Yixing on the 26th. The Chinese forces inside Nanjing launch
a break-out attempt coordinated with forces to the south. 3 Shidan moves into Yixing from Changzhou to
help. The Chinese are quickly spent in
the effort, losing 724 dead and inflicting an additional 187 casualties on us.
With Nanjing
completely encircled and the troops inside exhausted, II Gun launches its
attack across the river. The Chinese put
up only a token resistance, and promptly surrender. Despite the rapidity of our movements, the
Chinese were able to evacuate most of their troops, and only one division (with
a strength of 7930) was captured. At 3am
on the morning of October 28th, 3, 4 & 5 Shidan occupy the
city. As with the previous capitals,
Nanjing had only modest depots to capture, but it is sufficient to keep the war
effort well-fueled for a few more months.
We capture around 3500 tons of supplies, 6000 barrels of fuel, 50 units
of money, and over a thousand units of rare materials, as well as quantities of
metals and energy. The money and rare
materials are especially useful, as my industry has been running at reduced
efficiency because of the lack of rare materials for months now.
On the far end of
the front, 2 Homen-Gun spends October slogging through the dense forests
between the Yellow and Yangtze river basins.
They make fairly good time of it, but are greeted by ominous sights as
they approach the Yangtze. Across the
mighty river are seemingly endless mountains, broken only by the occasional patch
of jungle. Combined with very low
infrastructure, this area promises bloody combats, slow recovery, and glacially
slow movement. We halt along the line of
the river to plan our next move. VIII
Gun is stationed in Xuanhun, and
observes the Nationalists evacuate the neighboring provinces of Guangyuan and
Nanchong. Not one to turn down free
land, I send the Gun across the river, split between the two provinces. This movement may have been a simple
re-adjustment, however, as Nanchong is reoccupied. VIII Gun reserve, and 36 & 37 Shidan
unquestioningly launch into an attack.
Occupied by events in Janing, I don’t notice the attack for several days
before I break it off. The battle marks
my first official tactical loss of the game; I lose 426 killed, and inflict
only 246, and fail to take the province.
The Chinese leave the city of Chengdu
empty. I suspect they are attempting to
pull as much of their army east as possible, into a more solid core. We occupy Chengdu in early November; the
Chinese, now exposed to attack from three sides, evacuate Nanchong, and VIII
Gun makes another attempt to occupy it, this time successfully and
uneventfully.
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