Quick overview of some of the new v0.60 mod features via a short Japanese campaign (Part 4)
While our army's strength in Taiwan just got bigger by the mountaineer division we got a shipment of a hefty sum of money from South Manchurian Railroad which comes in a regular manner but the amount of which somewhat fluctuates from shipment to shipment. This means nevertheless that we can devout less resources into civil expenses which will come in handy to compensate for a very low supply stock. We know army has been making some rather harsh complains regarding our supply stock when the smell of war is ever close but our hopefully swift attack and war economy will overcome initial difficulties.
Some of the money was used for influencing Venezuela who has a rich stockpile of oil and shall be brought to our cause in the future.
Our first technology research gets finished - we can look forward to better coordination of our air assests.
We have a lot of heavy cruisers and want to get improved equipment for them - government signs a deal and demands that improvements come in reasonable time.
Our gambling with the Mongols has bore first fruits.
Things started to develop with immense intensity. The plan for attack has been set - we will see how flexible our generals are when things will get hot but nevertheless we have high expectancies. What worries us though is that our forces will get pushed off the established beachheads if the lack of war turns against us. Intel reports about enemy numbers are a bit confusing. We might encounter heavy resistance from the get go but we hope that is not the case since enemy concentrations seem to be more inland, behind the first front lines.
Due to our limited number of transports available we won't be able to throw everything at the enemy and that is where we are the most vulnerable - if the pressure from possible inland enemy concentrations all grind on our established beachheads...
19th July 1936: War started in Spain, now is the time for attack!!! All important international eyes will be focused in the war in Europe so our war act could be less noticed. The gamble thus begins!
Taiwan, 21th July 1936, Attack on Guanxi Clique Commences!
On this day our men shall prove that they are worthy to be the sons of Nippon. If all goes according to our plans our naval infantry will be the first to set foot on the Chinese land in the province of Bao'an and their heroic deeds will be talked about for a long time to come. When they clear and secure beachheads our second wave of infantry will make a big push and will hopefully be able to hold on their own until additional forces come. Their superiority over Chinese troops will be tested on the fields. Poor infrastructure and rough terrain will hopefully help us in our hopes that counter-attacks from enemy inland concentrations will be slowed down just long enough.
First move is made by our Carrier Task Force which lunched a massive attack on Guangzhou airport in order to disorganise and weaken the only air asset Guanxi has. The result was satisfactory and skies above our assaulting troops will be clear of enemy planes in the most critical moments. Pilots noted though that we need to improve considerably the ratio of used ammunition and actual hits made to the enemy planes and airfields.
Simultaneously our 1. Surface Action Group opened all batteries and started bombarding heavily all the areas that were designated for the amphibious attack. One hour later our naval infantry force started an amphibious attack, made initial success but then got pinned down by the enemy defenders for the time being - regardless how hard the enemy got pounded by our naval forces they didn't succumb. Beach pockets were established but our men were spent and could not make the so much needed final push.
High command sent 2 additional infantry divisions which had a rather easy job delivering the final blow.
Our superiority prevailed, Bao'an is taken, provincial enemy defenders are in retreat but now comes the time when we are at the utmost vulnerability - we need to hold on until transport fleets bring in additional soldiers which will be utilized for the push into the mountainous region on our right flank. Our front needs to be broader then just one province so that we can support our attacks inland from different directions. Although the province of Shantou has the toughest terrain very suitable for defenders to utilize in their defences we hope that a combination of frontal amphibious assault from the sea (together with naval bombardment) with our mountaineer units, a flanking supporting attack from Bao'an and our medium bombers who are in reach from Taiwan, will crush enemy's will to hold it's position in the area.
22nd July 1936: Action is carried along according to our plans.
We had rather high casualties but enemy broke down and retreated from this mountainous region - our cavalry forces are landed in the area in hopes of a quick mopping up operation but their advance along narrow and treacherous mountainous valleys is slow and horses spent. Retreating Chinese army blocked the main avenues of approach into the inland areas by destroying bridges and blocking narrow passes with artificially created landslides. Their haste made their attempts mostly futile but slowed down our advance nevertheless. The real problem though proved to be tough local population with their openly hostile inclination towards us an their swift hit and run attacks on our cavalry regiments.
In the end it was mountaineers who managed to completely secure the perimeter by crossing high mountain passes and avoiding routes that cavalry units took beforehand! We can now use this high ground to our advantage by attacking the province of Guanzhou from 2 different directions but it will take a serious amount of time before all units (old and new ones sent from Taiwan) arrive in the area.
With majority of fighting taking place on a hilly terrain our officers are getting very efficient in this terrain type warmongering.
2nd August 1936: Grand opening of Summer Olympic Games!
While the war is raging on and success after success is being achieved by our army for our Emperor we do all the necessary arrangements for the upcoming Olypic Games. We are confident that we will get better results this time.
We are utmost thrilled about the results - whole country is singing heroic songs about our athletes!
On top of all the excitement we finished researching improved carrier tech.
We start researching Pre-Planned Coordination air doctrine which will boost capacity of our air assets.
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