Revenge of the Dragon (Or Nationalist China and Their Finest Hour)

[Yearzero]

It might take a few days for the next update, since I was having so much fun I ended up playing through to September in-game and in the process took well over 100 screenshots but I'll get something up tonight or tomorrow morning relating to Plan Zheng He for Chinese naval expansion

 

[Yearzero]

The Republic of China Navy Rapid Armament & Research Expansion Programme (Plan Zheng He) (January-September 1943)


The Zheng He Plan, named after the famed Hui admiral and explorer of the 15th Century in the Western Calendar, is the result of endless toiling and sacrifice on the part of the Chinese people; workers, engineers, sailors, admirals, spies and many other unsung heroes over several years to avenge the wrong's of the past and make sure they do not happen again, to do that China must have the greatest fleet the world has ever known, as was the case in previous eras when China was the ruling power of Asia.


The first phase starts with 10 new cruisers to be dubbed the Tianjin-class, in 2 serial batches of 5 each, while considerably outdated compared what other nations are capable of building by this point (Even Italy has developed slightly more advanced designs if our sketchy intel reports from there can be considered reliable) they still represent a major upgrade to the Chinese heavy cruiser forces, and in the current climate of the Sino-Allied War they could prove more powerful than almost anything the Royal Navy still has left at this point, and can hold their own against most American cruisers shy of the Baltimore/Des Moines class, their 4300KM range will allow for longer-range convoy raiding aswell, the class is expected to be completed before the beginning of December, when the British receive intel on this (And they will, seeing as how they're already in a campaign to reduce China's unity, in spite of recent liberalization of our Press Laws) they start dreading having to deal with the Chinese 'Pocket Battleships'

Dalian under construction.


The last of our Type-V light cruisers finish slightly ahead of schedule, allowing use to lay down 12 Type-VI by the end of January, and with heavier guns than the Atlanta-class and even Cleveland-class cruisers and as powerful as the obsolete heavy cruiser Nan Shin with 4500KM range, it should be noted that 2 of the Ying-Swei class have managed to survive to this point, Chao Ho and Tung Chi, after escorting the Sun Yat-sen battleships throughout most of this current war, they have been deemed too old for anything but convoy escort duty now, which should be feasible with the recent researching of Small Warship ASW at long last.

As for the Type-VI, these are expected to be completed before September is out, with a newer design to start mass-production, making it even more senseless for the time being to bother naming the ship's other than by their number, including more than one ship sharing the same number as a previous generation make, to confuse Allied intelligence so our admirals reason, but Chiang Kai-shek only cares about turning China into a naval superpower so he lets the admirals do as they wish as far as naming goes.


The first semi-modern Chinese aircraft carrier with a yet-to-be determined naming scheme has it's keel laid down on March 23 in Shanghai, this will replace the proud-but-aging Liaoning which will be assigned to the Indian Ocean for training and escort purposes with the relative lack of Allied naval power in the region meaning less vulnerability, in addition, when war with the Axis powers does come they'll be even less capable of sinking it assuming we give it a sufficient screen of cruisers with more powerful AA guns and more advanced carrier air aircraft.

1 additional Shaanxi-class battleship is ordered aswell, but apart from having the most powerful guns of anything afloat with 9 18" rifles, their armor and engines are only as good as anything that was developed or laid down just before the collapse of international naval arms treaties in 1936 due to design compromises when development of the Sun Yat-sen's successor was underway due to research being need in the land war with Japan, newer AA gun's will be developed so our battleships and battlecruisers can better resist air attack.

The next series will consist of 4 ships with 4900KM range and just as advanced if not moreso than the British Illustrious, American Yorktown and Japanese Shokaku carriers, construction of these ships are expected to take just under a year and will be part of a second carrier fleet to be deployed against the United States. A serial run of 10 landing craft over the next 18 months are to be added to our transport & invasion fleets in order to carry more men and materiel for future land campaigns far from home.

Launching of the hull of the 5th Chinese aircraft carrier (1st in the new build program)


The Type-VII, the most advanced light cruiser in the world, developed ahead of its own time, will consist the bulk of China's fleet escorts in the future, with 5500KM range and speed rivaling that of any destroyer built before 1940 and even more powerful 12 7" guns, 4 production runs of 10, with the possibility of even more being ordered in seperate parallel runs if attrition rates on our screens in the coming Sino-American War demand it.

The workhorse of the future Chinese Navy is starting off beautifully.

Training of 10 new carrier air wings starts in September after newer aircraft were developed throughout the previous year, we initially had biplanes like the British still had on some of their carriers when the war started but as 1943 progress we start deploying more modern designs with fighters based off the Hawk 75 and even the Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk in the works.

But investment into naval technology didn't severely cripple China's progress in other key areas of research as one might expect, in fact apart from slightly-antiquated aircraft designs (And even this gap is much narrower now than it was a year ago), Chinese military technology is more or less as good as or even better than her rivals except in armored warfare which has not been research due to the time it would take to produce viable tanks to be employed against the United States, Soviet Union or Nazi Germany, time China can currently ill afford.

China finally has the research and (and eventually the fleet) to be considered a first fiddle power.

 

[Magnus Imperator Rex]

Awesome!

Will you fight the USA with your Navy in the future?

 

[Yearzero]

Awesome!

Will you fight the USA with your Navy in the future?

Thank you and a war with the US is being planned as we speak, more of that will be revealed in the coming updates

 

[Yearzero]

Chapter 15: Plight of the Lion Part 2: The Fall of India & Oceania

January 2nd - July 29th, 1943.


The new year began with expulsion of the Australian's from Saipan, thus ending the rather limited propaganda value it has ever held for the Allies, with this their morale is likely to sink even further, especially for the weary Australians, with tens of thousands of men lost trying to take Saipan and Palau in several previous attempts which also led to the near-total devastation of the Royal Australian Navy by the beginning of 1943. The advance of the National Revolutionary Army in India has evicted the French submarines based in Pondicherry, at least 3 submarine flotillas were confirmed destroyed, withthe rest retreating to Madagascar. At the end of the month the 2nd Transport Fleet sailed to the port of Karachi unopposed and landed the 2nd Corps consisting of 38,000 Men in 4 Divisions to accelerate the conquest of the British Raj.

The Allies have very little to oppose us with on land at this point.


The 14th Corps, with 5 divisions with 3 infantry, 1 anti-tank and 1 engineer brigades, totaling 55,000 men are marching towards Xinjiang to reinforce our border with the Soviets and Mongolians, what we believe to be due to a combination of atrocious infrastructure and dangerous winter storms, we start suffering severe logistical constraints which end up tearing through our massive supply stocks, the march is eventually postponed until a large set of modern roads and railways can be constructed from Nanjing to Xinjiang province, however the Americans seem to have no problems building their war infrastructure with the completion of their so-called Pentagon, despite the fact that they're still neutral. 20 Anti-tank brigades are ordered to be trained and equipped, some of these will be dispersed among our Indian Army in the event we find ourselves fighting the Axis in the Middle East or in case they're redeployed to fight the United States, as all our major forces in Northern China already have anti-tank brigades equipped.

China's lack of modern armored and mechanized forces will have to be compensated for with ample anti-tank guns in our frontline divisions.

Advance Chinese divisions start their assault on the capital of the hermit kingdom of Bhutan, guarded by a single Infantry division and the Bhutanese high command, despite desperate fighting in the rugged peaks of their homeland, the inevitable Chinese advance could not even be stalled, and on Feburary 4th, the government takes flight and vows to continue fighting with it's British allies despite the fall of their kingdom, on the 23th of the same month Nepal is forced to capitulate, it's king also escaping our grasp, but this mattered little as the western and eastern fronts in British India were getting close to linking up and cutting India in two.

Chinese advances are restrained only by occasional logistics problems in this theatre of war.


Sensing the opportunity to end it's nearly-4-year war with the British before turning on their Russian 'friends' the Germans launch their long-postponed Operation Sea Lion and seize the city of Portsmouth as a base to further their advance into the British Isles, the British Home Army quickly launches a counterattack with armored, motorized and mountain divisions but the Germans managed to hold on for more supplies and reinforcements, the Luftwaffe wastes no time in rebasing to the airbase in Portsmouth and start fighting the RAF on it's own terms.

This would explain why we were unopposed in India and Southeast Asia on the land, but Hitler finally gets bold...


In order to take them out as a non-factor in this war, 5 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers and 4 carriers of the ROCN are devoted to starve, blockade and hunt down the French Fleet in French Polynesia and commit as heavy damage to it as possible to prevent them being sent to join the Royal Navy as replacement's for it's lost battleship and cruiser strength, carrier aircraft attack the starved and morale-stricken ships, inflicting damage on over a dozen ships before our pilots are ordered to rest for the interception of the French Fleet in conjunction with 2 of our battle fleets, when marines start marching on the port of Luganville and later Noumea, the French sail right into the guns on our battleships parked outside blockading the port, the French barely escape without loss due to effective destroyer smokescreens, but the Chinese Navy, using it's superior naval intelligence and the Marine Nationale's critical fuel shortages forcing their ships to sail at a snail's pace outside of battle, it was only a matter of time before the French started losing ships, and with Chinese guns and aircraft blocking all routes of escape, they suffered heavily, by the time the Chinese disengaged, the French lost a total of 4 battleships, the battlecruiser Dunkerque, 5 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 5 destroyer flotillas and at least 1 submarine flotilla, the British also lost 2 heavy cruisers and 2 destroyer flotillas trying to defend their partners in colonialism.

The Spirit of France takes another blow.


The Invasion of Oceania proper is launched shortly afterwards, with landings being conducted in Australia between Mackay and Brisbane in the north and at Sydney in the south, 6 days later Wellington, New Zealand is attacked from the sea, they actually provide our Infantry considerable resistance so air support from our carrier fleet offshore is requisitioned and the tide begins to turn.

Apart from completely unexpected resistance by New Zealand, everything proceeds as was foreseen.


With the German's breaking out of Portsmouth and marching on London itself, the Soviet Union has decided to break the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and declared war on Germany on April 4th, the rest of the Axis Powers immediately honor their alliance with Germany, the Germans deciding that their Destiny lies in the conquest of the east and the Soviets declaring it was the German's who actually attacked first from their official mouthpiece 'Pravda' aswell as the disbanding of the Third International in a sign of soldiarity with it's new western 'allies' while the Finns declare the Continuation War to reclaim what was lost in the Winter War. Intense fighting takes place on this massive new front and the Soviets redeploy what few forces they had on our borders to fight in the west along with the bulk of the Mongol Red Army, but we're still in no position to hold whatever quick gains we can possibly make so war isn't declared yet and shipments of Soviet raw materials still continue to cross our borders.

Europe is going to burn.


The combat efficiency of our carrier pilots continues to grow, sustaining less losses than they were before in aircraft and personnel due to better training. China also starts work on it's first Nuclear Reactor, our scientists believe we can use small amounts of Uranium or Plutonium to create a bomb far more powerful than any weapon that has ever existed, a weapon that yields the same power that drives the sun and is so powerful that it could very well end the world, it is likely that other powers are also working on this new potential superweapon, especially the Germans and Americans.

The Race for the Bomb begins.


Having previously discovered 3 British Battleships and their screen hiding out in Fiji, Marines make landings on the eastern beaches and force the British fleet to engage our blockade consisting of the Shaanxi-class battleships and their escorting cruisers, the British decide to concentrate their fire on the Jiangxi, resulting in her taking severe damage from the British battlewagons and being finished off by torpedoes from the heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins, becoming the first Chinese battleship sunk in the war, while giving the Royal Navy a morale and propaganda boost, at this stage is only a very minor setback for the Chinese war effort and for this prize the British lose 3 more destroyer flotillas and heavy damage to their remaining ships, the Chinese fleet gives chase and manages to avenge itself with the destruction of the Hawkins and the newest British Pride, the HMS Prince of Wales for the loss of 1 light cruiser, at this point the Royal Navy no longer holds any sort of numerical advantage over the Chinese Navy and has it's hands full between the Home Islands being under German siege and it's continuous losses to the Chinese fleets. With the development of newer anti-sub weapons it is hoped that the last Australian subs which continue to raid convoys around Singapore will eventually be accounted for. In spite of the seizure of Fiji it is quickly abandoned since we don't have the forces to properly garrison it and the British take it back after we withdraw.

The British Empire strikes back, but amounts to nil in the grand scheme of things.


In order to force surrender on the Australian's, further landings were made at Darwin, Perth and Adelaide, resistance is non-existent at Perth and Adelaide with the only token garrison guarding Darwin being wiped out, this is still not enough however, so our forces are sent to attack Lae and Port Moresby when the eastern coast has been secured, and on the 17th of July Australia's government is moved to Rabaul since our forces completely bypassed it, they escape with their bomber wings which are running on limited fuel and apart from potentially raiding our convoy's running around the area they pose little real threat at this point, as does the limited territory in the northwest of Australia still free from Chinese occupation, New Zealand surrenders 10 days later, her government joining so many others in exile even though it's questionable the Allied cause can be saved at this point.

2 more Allies taken out of commission.


Apart from a isolated pocket of resistance in Burma, which has been left unoccupied to prevent the same kind of supply seizures that have occured from units moving to Xinjiang province due to the terrible state of China's infrastructure which in spite of her rapid military modernization, remain medieval in comparison to the Western countries aswell as Japan, British India has fallen under complete Chinese control. Supply convoys to Rangoon and India have allowed us to maintain our advance with ease, if they were supplied from Nanjing through Burma, our supply chain would completely collapse and our war machine would stall out. In addition to the Xinjiang Road, a Burma road will eventually be constructed to better supply our forces through India.

The Greater Republic of China rules Asia now... aside from the Phillipines, Eastern Siberia, Vladisvostok, Kamchatka, Central Asia, Tannu Tuva and Outer Mongolia, but these things take time.


Meanwhile in Europe, the German advance in Britain had almost came close to conquering London, but a defiant Allied counterattack have forced the Germans to break off their siege and redirect their efforts towards northern England and Scotland, the War in the East is nothing short of a bloody stalemate apart from the fall of Finland to the Soviets and limited German and Hungarian advances in the center of the front. The nature of war there seem's to resemble a mechanized version of the trench warfare in the previous Great War.

The War in Europe rages on into it's 4th year, with no end in sight.


Next: End of the Royal Navy

 

[NapoleonComple]

I'm afraid that if you don't attack the Soviets now they will roll over the Germans and your Chinese army, however large it may have grown, will stand no chance against Soviet industry.

 

[sebas379]

What glorious naval action the Chinese have shown here. Destroying the Marine National and severely hurting the Royal Navy should go a long way to securing your coasts, and knocking out Oceania should prevent the enemy from really threathening your supplylines. That Seelöwe though, damn fine work Germany! Do my eyes deceive my in the last screenshot or are the British actually simultaniously launching Operation Torch in Morocco? I'll give them points for the effort.

 

[Yearzero]

I'm afraid that if you don't attack the Soviets now they will roll over the Germans and your Chinese army, however large it may have grown, will stand no chance against Soviet industry.

The threat of Soviet industry and the forces they will have built up by now cannot be denied, especially as intelligence reports that they have the largest industrial base of all the warring powers thanks to Stalin's ruthless 5-Year Plans to turn Soviet Russia from a agricultural backwater into a industrial superpower, and the Chinese Army is still significantly smaller than the Red Army still thanks in no small part to resources devoted to the Zheng He Plan. But the Soviets have been receiving much greater losses than the Germans and Axis and if things continue the way they are they will run out of manpower before Germany, with Germany expected to start taking the initiative for at least a few months before they themselves run dry and the Soviets declare a Great Patriotic War, the Chinese declaration of war will definitely have to come before that critical point. As a emergency-ditch effort, production will likely start on people's army divisions based on modernized militia with rocket artillery and anti-tank support brigades to fill in the gaps our lines in Siberia and Outer Mongolia before the Soviets can draw any significant forces away from the West, also have to expand our officer corps which has been diluted somewhat over the previous year.

I've played farther than this update, up to the beginning of the war with the United States, I will get a update on the state on China's northern border forces here later on today, the war with the Bear will come no later than the summer of 1944, it should also be noted that China will have to try very hard to bleed itself out even if it finds itself fighting in Siberia, the Middle East and North America at the same time, monthly manpower gain is around 120 from China and Japan with lenient collaborationist governments set up throughout the conquered territories.

What glorious naval action the Chinese have shown here. Destroying the Marine National and severely hurting the Royal Navy should go a long way to securing your coasts, and knocking out Oceania should prevent the enemy from really threathening your supplylines. That Seelöwe though, damn fine work Germany! Do my eyes deceive my in the last screenshot or are the British actually simultaniously launching Operation Torch in Morocco? I'll give them points for the effort.

The Marine Nationale still exists, but in name only with only the carrier Bearn and a few cruisers, destroyers and submarines to it's name, is it believed to have fled to their bases in the Caribbean Sea, far out of China's reach but far enough away to not be considered a threat anymore. Apart from Australian subs raiding off Singapore and the British off India, China is winning the convoy war with several extra convoys coming out of our shipyards throughout 1943 leaving China with nearly 250 spare convoys with over 1000 more in production, it remains to be seen how effective American subs will be against us however.

The Germans did perform great under the lack of significant naval interference, but British determination has prevented them from putting the final nail in the coffin of the their Empire just yet, here was the situation at the height of the Battle of London:

As for Operation Torch, the British have been there since at least late 1941/early 42 IIRC Doing little more than pinning down significant German & Italian units in North Africa, I believe it was the absence of these units which made Germany reluctant to attack Russia until it was too late...

 

[Yearzero]

Chapter 16: Plight of the Lion Part 3: The Royal Navy's Darkest Hour

July 29th - November 29th, 1943.

On August 4th, 3 Chinese fleets, the 1st Carrier Fleet with 4 carriers, the Shaanxi Battlegroup consisting of the battleship, the heavy cruiser Huludao and 4 light cruisers, aswell as the new 2nd Cruiser Squadron with 5 new Tianjin-class heavy cruisers and 9 light cruisers are assigned to cover the landings of Fu Zuoyi's now-infamous 1st Assault Corps at Tarawa and Makin Atolls to force the remains of the British Pacific Fleet into a unfavorable engagement with Chinese surface and carrier air groups, after the fall of Tarawa the blockading force under Wang Shouting intercepts a light cruiser and destroyer flotilla trying to join up with the BPF at Makin. On the evening of August 10th, Chinese aviators flying in the darkness of night manage to make contact with the HMS Courageous and her destroyer screen, which inflicts further damage on the fleet and leaves the British sailors without any sleep, the Courageous manages to escape under the cover of a rain squall forcing the pilots to turn back. The 1st Carrier Fleet was needed to intercept the remaining British carriers when they would be evicted from Makin Atoll. The initial battle sees many British ships bloodied but still floating, but they could not be allowed to escape. In the ensuing chase the we make contact with the Brits in the Battles of Rotuma Passage and Vityaz Trench, sinking 4 destroyer flotillas and 2 light cruisers.

The British screens start taking losses that cannot be replaced due to the German siege and occupation of many of their shipyards.


After a relentless chase and several air raids, on the 16th the old converted battlecruiser HMS Courageous along with the modern and heavily armored HMS Illustrious and their escorts are caught by Chinese carriers in Loyalty Basin, their air groups having long been wiped out and not being replaced in good order suffer heavily under the rein on uncontested Chinese dive bombing, strafing and torpedo attacks. Over the next day our tired but hardy aviators carry out several hundred sorties against the battered British force under Admiral Parry, managing to completely wipe it out, the armored deck of the Illustrious proved effective at stopping our bombs but eventually our torpedo bombers found their mark making her the last vessel to go down after the Courageous rest of their screening destroyers were sunk.

HMS Illustrious and her escorts fighting to survive relentless Chinese air raids in what is arguably the greatest victory of the war thus far, the loss of 2 carriers will cripple any British plans for a counterattack either in Europe or the Pacific.


In response to reports of the bulk of the remaining British destroyers and cruisers in the Pacific taking shelter at Fongafale, an invasion is ordered on August 18th with the 2nd Cruiser Squadron being stationed just outside the port ready to strike at the escaping British screens, in the Battle of Ellice Ridge our 5 new heavy cruisers definitively prove their worth by sinking more British destroyer and cruiser tonnage than their own total tonnage, with the only Chinese loss being the 28th CL. The next day 2 more battles result in the destruction of the ancient carrier Argus and 3 more destroyer flotillas.

The end of Britain as a sea power has been guaranteed.


In total throughout the first 3 weeks of August the British have lost at least:

2 carriers.
1 light carrier.
1 heavy cruiser.
5 light cruisers.
18 destroyer flotillas.

The combination of the losses in carriers and destroyer escorts are blows from which the British will unlikely be able to recover from, with the Second Battle of Britain ensuring that their greatest priority is evicting the Wehrmacht from the British Isles with what very limited resources they still have left, the losses of the Opium Wars have at long last been avenged and the only threat to the Chinese Navy at this point is the vast power United States Navy, with the British threat reduced our timetable for attacking America is on schedule.


While the British destroyer forces have been devastated beyond repair, 12 of our newest light cruisers come online at the end of the month and are sent to join the fleet at Truk, 4 of them are left in reserve initially while 8 will join 2nd Cruiser Squadron and replace their older light cruisers, 40 Type-VII light cruisers in 4 runs of 10 each are ordered afterwards. September proves to be a quiet month with a general lull in operations apart from unknown foreign agents stealing our heavy cruiser AA gun blueprints and a uprising by Japanese nationalists in Korea.

Foreigners are still trying to keep China down.


On October 2nd the Shah of Persia throws in his lot with the Germans, opening a new front from which Axis forces in the Middle East can drive their way into the Soviet Union, which also has the effect of putting the Axis on China's new western border, the forces still stationed in India are put on notice but no action is taken.

The Persians initially make considerably gains into the Caucasus mountain's and the barren steppe of Central Asia before the Red Army starts to arrive to the new front en masse.


To help protect our conquests in Oceania from uprisings and potential American invasions Militia garrisons with anti-tank and military police support are being trained and the first 4 will be ready shortly after war scheduled to break out with the United States

These should hold up to all but the most determined invasions and even then should buy enough time to hold them off until our Navy arrives in force.


In the absence of meaningful Allied opposition, our fleets stationed in Colombo are sent to raid convoy's off the coast of Africa, apart from the occasional spotting of the HMS Hermes, Ark Royal or Nelson the Chinese nothing to worry about in this theatre of war. The 1st Battle Fleet sinks another light cruiser in the area.

The convoy war takes a turn.


Having decided to redeploy the battleships Yunnan and Guangdong to the Pacific, they were detached from their escorts and in a serious tactical blunder sailed into a British formation consisting of what is believed to be the last British battleship afloat, HMS Nelson and 5 escorting destroyer flotillas, overwhelmed by the superior enemy numbers and in spite of their escorts being sent to aid them, the battleship Guangdong goes up in a big ball of fire and explodes after being torpedoed 10 times by destroyers and being finished off by a full broadside from HMS Nelson, a British destroyer flotilla was destroyed by the pursuing cruisers.

The loss of 1 battleship was a minor setback, the loss of 2 leaves us at a critical disadvantage against the American battlefleet.


The 3 battlecruisers raiding off of British Africa were diverted to intercept the HMS Nelson shortly afterwards engaging her off the coast of Italian Somaliland, losing a escorting cruiser and the Fei Hung taking minor damage but the British losing several more destroyers, with another flotilla being sunk the next day before convoy raiding resumes.

British morale is boosted but they still cannot replace their losses.


The loss of the Guangdong have made us acutely aware of the battleship gap that already exists between China and the United States, with the old Hai Shen battlecruisers being judged completely inadequate to fight in the Pacific, China is outnumbered by approximately 3-to-1 in battleships and around 2-to-1 in heavy cruisers and it is expected that the Americans will resume production of battleships in the event of hostilities breaking out either to add to their already massive fleet or to replace potential losses. Therefore it is planned to lay down at least 4 to 8 more powerful battleships throughout 1944 if resources allow it, the construction of new light cruisers,carrier air groups and the Xinjiang road having already postponed work on China's Nuclear Reactor.

Despite the carrier becoming the dominant unit on the sea, battleships are still very much useful if only because of the fact that America has 3 times as many or because their shore bombardment is a very welcome sight for the Chinese Army.


Order of Battle vs the United States

The Central Pacific Theatre was commissioned in early November to oversee future operations against the United States, Field Marshal Feng Yuxiang is assigned to command it for his skills in rationing the supply consumption of our forces in the central Pacific which will be essential as we have moved a large bulk of our land-based air forces to the Central Pacific Islands along with nearly a quarter million men to invade Guam, Wake, Midway on the outbreak of war and the Philippines after the seizure of these 3 key outposts, after these assaults our next angle of attack will be decided after the expected American counterattacks have petered out against our defenses.

Air Forces:
5 Interceptor wings in 2 groups.
4 Multirole fighter wings in 1 group.
6 Naval bomber wings in 2 groups.

The air forces will be redeployed as needed to counter any American forces trying to take back their island bases or seize our own, the naval bombers will be a key part of our overall war plan.

Armies:
2nd Invasion Army: 2 corps with 7 Infantry and 2 Marine divisions totaling 80,000 men, they will be sent to capture Wake Island and Midway and possibly Hawaii.
4th Invasion Army: 3 corps with 12 Infantry, 1 Militia and 2 Marine divisions with 160,000 soldiers between them, after securing Saipan these forces will be sent to invade the Philippines, depending on how the war with the United States goes afterwards, the 4th Invasion Army could be diverted to Northern China or Sakhalin and deployed against the Soviet Union since they're equipped with several anti-tank brigades.

America's army has undergone significant expansion since the 3-Year Draft was introduced a few years ago, but how much of their new forces they can bring to bear will depend on the success of their invasions & counter-invasions.

Fleets:
1st Battle Fleet: 3 Sun Yat-sen-class battleships, the ancient heavy cruiser Nan Shin and 9 light cruisers.
2nd Battle Fleet 1 Yunnan and 1 Shaanxi-class battleship, 1 Type-II heavy cruiser and 10 light cruisers.
2nd Cruiser Fleet: 5 Tianjin-class heavy cruisers and 8 light cruisers.
1st Carrier Fleet: 1 Liaoning and 3 Guangxi-class carriers and 10 light cruisers.
1st and 2nd Transport fleets (The 2nd hasn't been rebased yet) with 5 transports each and the 2nd Invasion Fleet with 10 landing craft.

The 1st Carrier Fleet will sail to just outside Pearl Harbor (Near the limit of Liaoning's range anyhow) and destroy as much of the bases infrastructure as possible before the Pacific Fleet can be rebased there, with the heavy cruisers of the 2nd Cruiser Fleet patrolling to the northeast of Hawaii for any American reinforcements while the 1st & 2nd Battle Fleets will cover the landings of Midway, Saipan and the Philippines respectively.

These are powerful forces on paper, but they're still going to wake the giant up...


On November 26th the combined Chinese fleets start sailing towards their respective objectives with the ambassador in Washington ordered to deliver the declaration of war on the 29th of November, slightly ahead of the planned schedule.

The unequal treaties of the 19th and early 20th centuries along with the discrimination against our brothers and sisters who have emigrated to America can no longer be ignored.

Next: The Dragon and the Bald Eagle

 

[sebas379]

And so the great Pacific showdown begins. I hope you have enough AA in your fleets because by this time CAG are absolutely deadly.

 

[Yearzero]

Chapter 17: The Dragon and the Bald Eagle

November 29th 1943 - March 28th, 1944.

Just after hostilities are declared against the United States of America, aviators from 4 Chinese carriers stationed some 200 kilometers west of Oahu take off to bomb Pearl Harbor before the Americans can rebase their Pacific Fleet from the West Coast to hinder their ability to support any immediate counterattacks against any of our bases or their bases that we capture. Our pilots report no capital ships present but several submarine and destroyer flotillas, these are bombed in addition to drydocks, fuel storage, ammunition depots and any other potential targets of interest. President Gerald K. Smith proclaims a 'Day of Infamy' due to our sudden and deliberate attack and the American public, aswell as even the previously non-interventionist America First Committee and other extreme right-wingers in power like Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh, dropped all pretenses of neutrality overnight. Even so, America doesn't totally mobilize all it's resources since many still refuse to acknowledge China's newfound power and deem it unnecessary to use all of their potential manpower and industrial power against "those Chinese upstarts" and believe they can put them in their place with a few decisive battles which would destroy China's navy and force her to come to terms like she did in the 19th Century. Naval bombers stationed in Oahu follow our flyers back to the carriers and damage several light cruisers and scoring minor hits on the Guangxi and Shandong, they are pulled back after a few days to stay on the safe side to preserve our strength for when it is needed.

War comes to America.


Taken completely offguard in spite of any intelligence they likely would have had of our intentions, the islands of Midway, Guam and Wake are seized in less than a week after the outbreak of war, with relatively little bloodshed and thousands of prisoners. American heavy cruisers make radar contact with our carriers off the French Frigate Shoals but fail to close the gap and are caught completely open to strafing, dive bombing and torpedo attacks, after taking heavy damage but no losses otherwise they are forced to break for what remained of Pearl. The 2nd cruiser fleet catches 6 of their American equal numbers being rebased to Pearl and sinks 4 of them with minor damage to their own ships.

First American casualties of the war.


Shortly afterwards the border defenses with Soviet Russia and Mongolia are reviewed, with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek commanding the Xing'an Army Group with 242,000 men under it's command, which would not be sufficient to stop a Soviet offensive into Northeast China but in the wake of the Soviet attack on Germany could still be sufficient to seize a lot of territory before the inevitable Soviet mass-redeployment and counterattack, with the continuous construction of infrastructure to Xinjiang the 14th Corp can finally be deployed to bolster it's defenses.

Preparations to fight the Bear will be continued.


The invasion of the Philippines is launched on the 13th of December with beachheads being established on Luzon, our sole transport air wing will be diverted to Taiwan to supply the northern beachhead in case the port of Aparri isn't seized in time and until the southern forces can link up with them, the 6th Corps will land to the south of Manila near Legaspi and force the American-Filipino alliance to overstretch themselves. Seizing the initiative we attack Johnston Atoll and Phoenix Island, in their attempts to intercept our landings and to screen transports carrying reinforcements to these islands, the Americans are down 2 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, 2 destroyer flotillas, 2 transports and 2 submarine flotillas

Two islands. Ten ships


The assault on the Philippines gains momentum, the Filipinos put up heavy resistance at Clark Field long enough for the American air forces to evacuate but their position is compromised when Manila HQ is forced to withdraw to avoid being compromised by our advancing troops which have encircled them and cut off their supply lines and without hope of intervention from their American overlord's, on January 15th their government surrenders and order all their forces to lay down their arms and turn over any American soldiers that were fighting alongside them as POWs and the Commonwealth has been dissolved, firmly establishing our hegemony in the Western Pacific. The invasion forces are ordered to be redeployed to Manila and await further instructions.

1 less Imperialist stranglehold, it is undetermined whether or not to release the Philippines as a satellite state at this point.


Naval Intelligence has reported a massive Yankee task force with a striking component of 6 standard-type battleships, 4 veteran fleet carriers and 1 escort carrier along with light cruiser and destroyer screens escorting a invasion flotilla are bound for Midway island to retake it, our multi-role fighters sortie out to engage the carrier aircraft that have begun attacking our ground forces at Midway, aided by the very radar and fortifications that were built by them before we took control, scores of American planes are shot down by our smaller number of fighter aircraft leading the Americans to later regard this battle as the 'Great Midway Turkey Shoot' except that the Americans were the turkeys themselves. The 2nd cruiser fleet is ordered to reinforce the Sun Yat-sen battlegroup and sortie out to meet the invaders, a clash of steel unlike anything before takes place just off the shores of Midway, American carrier aircraft take even more losses from our multi-role fighters, intercepting our naval bombers attacking their ships in support of our fleet and from our cruiser anti-air screens, the battle initially starts well, with several ships including a few of their aircraft carriers coming under heavy shelling and bombing, however despite early successes the Chinese Navy starts to take a battering as dawn turns into day and before the night is out a majority of Chinese ships are disabled and with varying degrees of damage, the battleship Pao Nim manages to disengage from the surface battle only to get sunk by TBF Avengers flying from USS Enterprise which has managed to escape the fate of the USS Lexington and Ranger which both fell under the guns and torpedoes of the 43th CL. Reports later come in from Singapore that the old light cruisers Chao Ho and Tung Chi have intercepted and destroyed an Australian submarine flotilla.

USS Ranger under bombardment.


The American flyers are heavily drained by constant sorties into a endless barrage of Chinese defenses but still continue to harass the now-crippled Chinese fleet with our fighters and naval bombers in Midway sustaining heavy losses of their own in turn. The 1st carrier fleet sails from the southeast and launches its fresh and rested aircraft to join the battle, further damaging several American ships and forcing them to call off the Midway operation, the greatest naval battle thus far in the war has resulted in a clear victory for the Republic of China navy which has lost 2 light cruisers and the old heavy cruiser Nan Shin and battleship Pao Nim but in the process have sunk an estimated 200,000+ tons of American naval tonnage, 5 battleships, 2 fleet carriers, 5 light cruisers, 2 destroyer divisions and 2 transports.

China has come out on top, but 2 fleets are heavily damaged, hundreds of aircraft lost and the Americans still have many more ships to call on to throw at us or impede us. Victory is still a long way off.


The Americans divert their efforts towards the completely unprotected New Zealand, rapidly establishing control over Auckland and far out of reach for any of our out fleets to intercept in time, the 1st carrier fleet is ordered to station itself off New Zealand and send it's aircraft to attack the American-controlled base. With only a pair of binary infantry divisions they can still be stopped and driven into the sea if we get a corps over their before they receive reinforcements.

They can't take us head on so they attack us where we can't stop them in time.


The newest Chinese aircraft carrier is commissioned at the end of February. It is named after the Forbidden City of the old Imperial dynasty and joins the fleet at Truk along with it's air wing equipped with even more powerful torpedoes than those possessed by everyone else, with development of radar-guided bomb's expected to becompleted in June and give our twin-engine aircraft even greater striking power against ground and naval targets.

China shall have the world's best anti-ship weaponry.


Intelligence reports that the remnants of the Marine Nationale have actually been stationed in Tahiti, in spite of the tempting target for our fleet, no invasion operation is order and none shall be for the next several months. They will be destroyed in due time, but by the 2nd carrier division expected to be operational by the end of July.

The French Navy has went downhill since Darlan took over.


Next: The Dragon and the Bear

 

[Yearzero]

@ Readers: What do you think of this AAR's style? Apart from incomplete sentences and grammar errors I'm actually thinking of doing a second AAR but with a lot more land and air action (Not sure which nation yet, any suggestions welcome) what kind of style would you like to see? Suggestions and advice welcome

 

[GaleBread]

Well, I liked it. This AAR's a pretty entertaining read, so you're definitely doing something right. Maybe try for a Greece campaign next or something?

As far as the update goes, I liked how even in this timeline the Grey Ghost still manages to evade mortal damages. How are your fleets looking at this time, by the way? It sounded like your navy took a heavy beating even though you won Midway, you sure you could repair/replace your fleets to keep control of the Pacific before the US redeploys their Atlantic fleets/build more ships to replace their losses?

 

[sebas379]

Great update, what a pounidng the Americans took. I guess its time to make some repairs and take the last Allied bases in Asia and the Pacific to keep them off your convoy lines once and for all.

 

[Yearzero]

Well, I liked it. This AAR's a pretty entertaining read, so you're definitely doing something right. Maybe try for a Greece campaign next or something?

As far as the update goes, I liked how even in this timeline the Grey Ghost still manages to evade mortal damages. How are your fleets looking at this time, by the way? It sounded like your navy took a heavy beating even though you won Midway, you sure you could repair/replace your fleets to keep control of the Pacific before the US redeploys their Atlantic fleets/build more ships to replace their losses?

I'm glad you like it, this is my first HoI3 AAR so i'm happy to have entertained And hope to continue doing so. Any constructive feedback is welcomed.

The Big E just might prove to be the bane of the Chinese Navy aswell. 2 fleets were taken out of action due to damage, but I still had a fresh pair of up-gunned battleships doing jack squat in Manila (But based out of Truk) along with my carrier group based in Kwajalein, my CAGs took relatively little attrition since they joined so late in the battle and the carriers were already repaired from their previous battle damage. I rotated my torn-up naval bombers with fresh ones and deployed an interceptor wing to back up those multi-roles, but as it turns out the Americans were relatively quiet for the rest of the update apart from the invasion of New Zealand and their submarines raiding my convoys in Polynesia, giving my fleets much needed time to to get repairs and ready to go out into combat again. Several upon several more ships are nearing completion and will be ready for commissioning very soon, but after this first batch of light cruisers are done I may stop building them (Along with Infrastructure) for a while so I can build either the Nuclear Reactor or even a few more Infantry or Marine divisions, even though our officer ratio is a bit lacking.

They're shuffling a lot of transports and landing craft + escorts from the Pacific to the Atlantic and vice versa so i'm expecting something big again fairly soon with all these troops being ferried.

Worst case scenario, I can scrape a few cruisers out of the Indian Ocean fleets if needbe since they're mostly doing convoy raiding anyhow, the British seem keener to reserve what little they have left now, on a side note, the HMS Hermes ended up getting away, but not unscathed.

As for Greece, that would definitely be a interesting change of pace, I wonder how I would stand up to the inevitable Axis advance unless I joined them? Here are a few other ideas in my head.

1. Comintern Spain, Hungary or even Yugoslavia, survive the German assault and turn Europe into a paradise of socialism and bastardized Cyrillic.
2. A not-so-neutral Sweden (Unite Scandinavia and try to carve out territory from whoever I can after the war starts)
3. An early war (Early 1937 or just after Anschluss) as Germany, early war won't let me build a crazy navy and Germany will have lots of land & air action.
4. As the Soviet Union, actively expand the Comintern via coups/support party/puppeting and ultimately have more members than the Axis or Allies put together. (I do dread reorging the Soviet OOB though)


Still open to suggestions, probably won't start it until this weekend or the following week and will probably be a bit lazy in updating it until this one is done.

Great update, what a pounidng the Americans took. I guess its time to make some repairs and take the last Allied bases in Asia and the Pacific to keep them off your convoy lines once and for all.

Thanks! They took a heavy beating but they have far more where that came from needless to say, there are a few Dutch and Australian bases still unaccounted for, with a handful of primitive submarines struggling to outsink my convoy production & reserves. US submarines will be a completely different problem however, even if I take Pearl Harbor their Gato-class subs will still be able to reach far beyond my defensive perimeter and prove problematic unless I continually build more and more convoys

Would it do any good to build convoy escorts or do they get sunk too easily/waste of IC?

 

[SahkrAlJinni]

Really impressive! Please don't drop this AAR, it's amazing.

Do you plan on eventually taking on the Axis, the Soviets, or both?

 

[Yearzero]

Really impressive! Please don't drop this AAR, it's amazing.

Do you plan on eventually taking on the Axis, the Soviets, or both?

Thanks! I plan on seeing it through to the end

As for the Soviets, the plan is to attack them shortly before they run out of manpower, it is expected that the lack of reinforcements along with massive redeployment to the new front will cause a lot of initial chaos for the Red Army and supply chain, allowing us to seize a lot of land before the Red Army comes to our doorstep (And occupied territory) in numbers, after that a lot of it will depend on whether Germany can seize it's 'lebensraum' or bleed out trying, if the latter happens I may have to attack through either the Caucasus mountains or Ukraine or pit more resources into the bomb.

I'm currently undecided as to when I will attack the Axis since getting involved with them alongside the Soviets would be tricky since I would be fighting a 3-way death battle in Persia and the Middle East without sufficient soldiers from what I still have left in India, I'm got gonna leave the Nazi's alone indefinitely, but I may have to save the best for last

 

[NapoleonComple]

I'm thoroughly enjoying this. I'm still not quite clear why you went after the US first, but you're certainly making inroads!

 

[Yearzero]

I'm thoroughly enjoying this. I'm still not quite clear why you went after the US first, but you're certainly making inroads!

I felt that it would be worse to attack the United States any later than I did, due to them producing their new carriers which would be ready before my own carriers could join the fleet, I wanted to deal as much damage to them as possible before they got even stronger than they already were compared to myself, and it has been rather successful so far But their United States-class carriers (Murica Eff Yeah much?) are coming online (At least 6 in total, probably more) so that more than makes up for what they have lost at Midway (5 standard-type battleships and 2 old carriers) Better garrison my newly-taken islands properly because I expect another invasion very soon

As for the Soviet Union, I can certainly see why it would have been wise to attack them shortly after they DoWed Germany (And there is a very real chance that could prove problematic later on) I'm moving more a few more corps which where used in India & the Philippines to Manchuria and Sakhalin and then I shall be ready to attack the Red Bear, carve out vast eastern territories (Want to leave a buffer state between me and Germany since I already have to worry about Axis Persia) and reclaim Outer Mongolia and Tannu Tuva under Chinese sovereignty once again! This shall begin in the next chapter so stay tuned

Undecided about plans for a future Anti-Fascist campaign, probably should take Oman and Yemen first though.

 

[Yearzero]

Chapter 18: The Dragon, the Bear and the Turning Point at Midway


March 31st - May 31st, 1944.


Our agents stationed in Honolulu have reported the mobilization of an army far too big to be merely a garrison force for the Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbor, the commander of this force which includes 1 ranger and motorized division is known as 'Old Blood and Guts' among his men. A few days later China adds over a dozen new cruisers to her Navy, now known as the Grand Fleet of the Republic, with the newest Shaanxi-class battleship being commissioned a week later. 2 heavy and 3 light cruisers are sent to join the old cruisers raiding the coast of colonial Africa, having much longer range than the old cruisers stationed there, the rest are dispersed among the Pacific Fleet.

Both sides continue to build up their forces.


Finally, on April 12th the silence is broken when the Americans conduct landings on Johnston Island to take it back as their own, the now 5-ship strong Chinese carrier fleet is sent to break the American assault. In the ensuing action both sides take considerable damage but despite being outnumbered the American carriers did somewhat more damage to their Chinese counterparts before they eventually break off and sail into the island's harbor to avoid further damage, even though the islands defenders continue to lose ground against the relentless Yankee assault.

The battle takes it's toll on all those involved.


In an attempt to force an American withdrawal, the old Sun Yat-sen battleships are called up to attack the invasion fleet, in the cover of night the Sun Yat Sen draws to within a couple of kilometers of the damaged carriers USS Hornet and USS Wasp, Shen Honglie immediately orders all guns to fire at the weary ships, turning them into burning hulks which illuminate the sea around them before they slip beneath the waves. In spite of this and the loss of several screens and troop transports Johnston Island is eventually lost and our fleet evicted but not before adding 2 more transports to the total American losses. Even though our forces involved took a beating including the capture of the remaing soldiers defending the island, the United States Navy was worse off than before she retook the island.

A minor setback for China and a pyrrhic/propaganda victory for America, pictured above is the USS Wasp in her final death throes.


Our intelligence reports that the Red Army was about to run out of manpower reserves thanks in no small part to superior German weaponry, experience and the general superiority of the Luftwaffe though they were also bleeding and in the long run would not be able to sustain a war of attrition against the Bear, it was considered by many in upper Chinese Military circles barring the Navy to be a mistake to not have attacked the Soviet Union shortly after they attacked Germany. Now it could be considered a foolish choice since in the long run China would likely find itself fighting alone against multiple enemies and the Soviets would not be brought to terms unless the banner of the Kuomintang itself flies above the Kremlin or a weapon so powerful it can destroy them all in a instant is deployed to break them into submission. The time to reclaim Outer Mongolia and Tannu Tuva, avenge the Unequal Treaties and rip away their far eastern territories was at hand.

The Turn of Russia.


An old war plan, drawn up when China was still divided into feuding warlord states, soviets and cliques which would called for a United Front against the barbaric Soviet menace is discovered in a old filing cabinet, needless to say at this point, that plan was extremely obsolescent by this time thanks to the reunification of China and her control of East Asia. A new Far Eastern theatre is created with the Generalissimo himself along with some of China's best military leaders taking charge of what would initially be a over-glorified land-grab but followed later on by a struggle which would eventually eclipse the Soviet-Axis war in both scale and intensity...

Chinese Far Eastern Forces: Over 450,000. Soviet Far Eastern Forces: 0


Taking advantage of the situation since the America First (Or more appropriately, the United States of Axis) regime refuses to aid the newly co-belligerent Soviets or even the British with lend-lease. On May 1st with a task force of 3 battleships, 1 fleet and 2 light carriers, 4 heavy cruisers with several light cruisers and destroyers under the command of Admiral Hartescort 9 transport/landing craft flotillas on a course that's clearly directed at Midway Island, the 2nd Cruiser Fleet was sent to intercept them but failed to follow them where they was going to be and got attacked by naval bombers based out of Hawaii, inflicting damage on several ships and leaving them further unable to force the Americans to break off of landings, not helping that they had inadequate firepower against the assorted armada to begin with, 4 of our cruisers are lost in exchange for 1 of theirs but many ships are also damaged, the effect our naval bombers on the battle proved rather indecisive but our fighters based on Midway proved valuable in savaging the American carrier air groups.

A painful reminder of the cruiser gap that is still believed to exist between China and America.


Another Chinese surface group under the command of Li Shijia is ordered to intercept the Yankee invasion force, they finally break through to the American armada and start gunning down the damaged American ships en masse, including 3 aircraft carriers lost to shell and torpedo fire. But before any further success can be achieved, reinforcements in the form of 2 fleet carriers and more invasion transports are ordered to join the battle at sea and Midway, respectively. Li Shijia is ordered to pull back and take port in Midway, had the Americans not brought more ships to the fray we just might have actually forced them to call off the invasion if the reports about their losses are confirmed to be true.

They don't know when to give up, which is really starting to work against them.


The mostly-repaired 1st Carrier Fleet is ordered to sortie and force the invasion fleet to disengage and if possible, destroy or cripple the fresh carriers and screens that have reinforced the Midway landing operations, the additional AAA fire from their fresh ships along does a number on our carrier aviators which in turn gave American bomber pilots to score several hits between 3 Chinese Carriers with moderate damage done between them, before their carrier wings were eventually wiped out by Chinese AAA fire in turn.

Even with newer weapons, aircraft and doctrines, Chinese pilots remain subpar to those of America...


The Americans, in spite of their persistance, have taken heavy damage to a large chunk of her remaining warships aswell as many troop transports, enough to where even the old battleships, reinforced with 2 new heavy cruisers, are deemed to have a reasonable prospect of success at inflicting even further damage to the armada, the 1st Battle Fleet intercepts the invasion flotillas from the south, forcing the Americans to sacrifice several ships, including the crippled USS Texas, before the rest can escape into the night and draw our ships away so that yet more Yankee transports can continue the landings while the battleships are drawn away. Even this fleet is forced to disengage, but the Bald Eagle is even more battered and bruised than ever, and China still has ships to throw at her, nevermind the 2nd Battle Fleet undergoing emergency repairs at Midway even as the United States Marine Corps are trying to take the dockyard, with little success since they're simply throwing too many men at us.

American Pride will be the downfall of America.


A Composite Fleet is assembled under Fleet Admiral Chen Shaokuan, with the newly comissioned battleship Zhejiang joined by 2 heavy cruisers and 9 light cruisers pulled from our other fleets stationed in Truk. An intercept course is set for Midway, the Americans, bloody, battered and tired, finally start breaking apart and even though they dispatch the already-damaged Nanchang and another light cruiser, they end up sustaining heavy losses in troop transports and destroyers, but the carriers Franklin and Bunker Hill are by far the heaviest loss of all. But the survivng transports and screens manage to disperse and later continue the operation, but their breaking point has to be at hand, intelligence hasn't reported any further reinforcements.

USS Franklin exploding after taking a salvo of 17" shells from Zhejiang.


Finally, the ships stationed in Midway are deemed repaired enough and are ordered to sail out and finally force the United States to call off the Midway operation, another Chinese light cruiser is torpedoed, but not before slews of destroyers, transports and another light cruiser force the Americans to call it quits, along with the over 25,000 men out of over 278,000 being killed and tens of thousands more wounded. Naval bombers are ordered to attack the remains of the retreating armada in revenge for making China lose the status of her Grand Fleet.

China took much damage for this victory, but a decisive victory it was.


After tallying up the approximate losses, it seems that a turning point in the Sino-American War has been reached, the United States Navy could still field both more battleships and carriers than the Chinese Navy at this point, it was apparent that the United States Navy could no longer field anywhere near as much firepower as she could before, and that for the time being she would be at a severe disadvantage until more ships could be pulled from the Atlantic or even the west coast to Pearl Harbor.

China:
3 heavy cruisers.
5 light cruisers.

US:
3 battleships.
3 fleet carriers.
2 light carriers.
4 heavy cruisers.
7 light cruisers.
At least 16 destroyer flotillas.
At least 14 transport/landing craft flotillas.


Sensing American weakness in the wake of the second Battle of Midway, the 1st Assault Corp previously stationed there is loaded up onto transports and ordered to retake Johnston Island, with the 1st Carrier Fleet providing air cover and close air support for the invading marines, Johnston Island falls within a few days with no American naval interference apart from a few submarines and destroyers based in the islands harbor. Christmas Island is targeted for invasion along with the rest of the Line Island chain, which would deprive America of bases in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii, unless one was to count faraway Attu Island which according to intelligence has not been reinforced with any American vessels or aircraft, nor have any submarines been reported to be operating out of there.

The initiative has shifted in China's favor for the moment.


The invasion of the Soviet Union continues with little to no opposition save for the Xinjiang front and a handful of garrisons in Outer Mongolia, which have been brushed aside by blooded Chinese divisions which have now taken most of eastern Mongolia aswell as Sakhalin and Vladivostok, it is only a matter of time before the Soviets come in force even if most of their Army is still occuplied with fighting the Axis from the Baltic to Central Asia.

The fall of the Moigolid puppet state draws near, the hard part will come sometime afterwards.


The total destruction of Anglo-Saxon naval power is a dream within reach at this point, the United States has suffered a heavy blow to it's power within the first 7 months it's war with China, even if they have more carriers still afloat than sunk, these losses certainly can't be ignored. Unlike the Americans however, it seems British carrier strength has been nearly completely wiped out, with German naval bombers carrying 'Fritz X' radio-guided bombs sinking the HMS Glorious and her half-sister Furious in harbor and damaging their wrecks beyond repair, only the Ark Royal and Hermes are expected to be in action still, though Chinese raiders off Africa haven't reported any sighting of them or their aircraft.

Interesting to note that only British carriers have been sunk by Chinese carriers, all of the Yankee flattops have fallen to shellfire or torpedoes from our battleships and cruisers.