alternatehistory.com
1944 - Jan-June - Asian Front:
1944 - Jan-June - Asian Front:
The Central Asian Front:
Ma Bufeng continues his advance across Soviet held Central Asia at a lightning pace. Rather than pivoting north towards Kazahkstan as Marshal Kulik expected (and where he concentrated the bulk of his forces), he struck south with speed, liberating Samarkand by end of January, then Bukhara, then Turkmenabat and then Ashgabat by the end of February. Marshal Bufeng crossed the border into Soviet-occupied Persia on March 21 - being met with guerilla troops led by crown prince Pahvlavi in a highly symbolic meeting on Persian new year’s day.
German-Chinese troops storming the Royal Palace.
The Afghani-Pakistan Front:
Afghanistan although neutral, was sympathetic -even aligned to the Axis camp, particularly finding in China an inspirational model on how to develop a country independent of the imperialist powers. The ruler Mohammed Zahir Shah had developed a relatively close relationship with Chiang, which facilitated the construction of the “Blood and Iron line.” However, when Persia was invaded by the Soviets and the Entente, Afghanistan was isolated and Stalin demanded the presence of Soviet advisors and transit rights. As the war looked increasingly uncertain for the Axis powers in 1941, Zahir had - understandably put his country first and agreed.
But now the tides of war had turned again, and Soviet presence had been increasingly resented. It started out with advisors and transit rights but had expanded into legalizing the communist party and then the presence of communists in his cabinet and then later policy. Zahir found this situation intolerable and managed to secretly communicate with the BIS about taking action.
With the advance of Ma Bufeng’s troops across Central Asia, Afghanistan was now shielded from the Soviet Union and now was the time for action. However, Soviet troops and guards were posted all over Kabul and the Royal Palace as an insurance policy. The Royal family were hostages in their own palace, like the Afghani people were hostages in their own nation.
Fortunately the Axis had experts in rescue operations - men with a particular set of skills. Men like Otto Skorzeny. Having taken a year to recover from his injuries, he’d come back with a new nickname “Steelfinger” after the new prosthetics that were required to replace some of his shattered and missing pieces of his body after the Chiang rescue operation.
He put together a team which included surviving operatives from the last mission. Working together with Dai Li and royalist members of the Afghan army, he planned Operation Panzerfaust.
The execution, involving 50 operatives, successfully wrested control of the Afghan palace and the rescue of the royal family - unfortunately the Crown Prince Mohammad Akbar Khan was (allegedly) killed by NKVD operatives during the escape.
The outraged Zahir went further than the Axis had asked for and actually entered the war to fight against the Soviets. While Chiang had just wanted the expulsion of Soviet troops and restoration of military access, Afghanistan had opened a new front - invading nominally British Pakistan, but in reality under the rule of the Soviet-installed and backed People’s Republic of India. Despite the poor weaponry of the Afghani troops, they were able to advance in the thinly held frontline and had liberated the Pashtun areas of Pakistan by the end of June.
Meanwhile, the opening of a new conduit to persia immensely helped Ma Bufeng in the Persian front. By the end of June, Persian guerillas and Bufeng’s troops held a front that streched from Sari to the North, Yazd to the Center and Bandar Abbas to the South and were in control of much of the countryside.
The Indian Front:
Largely for logistical, as well as narrative reasons, the Indian front bogged down into a stalemate. With India going through a massive famine due to the disruption in the supply systems and the arrival of foreign troops, much of the attention of the powers were focussed on consolidating their territories and feeding their troops and the people. In the Northwest, Soviet troops were working with the moderate left and Islamic socialists not drawn to Bose’s banner to proclaim the People’s Republic of India. In Bengal and the Northeast, Bose consolidated his power base. In the South, Mir Osman Ali Khan had mobilized the princes of the South to oppose the “creeping bolshevization of India” and was declared as the Governor General of the newly created Federation of India by the Council of Princes.
Although each side believed that victory was only around the corner, little did they suspect that the split of the Indian subcontinent that they inadvertently presided over would remain a permanent feature of the subcontinent with it’s legacy persisting even today.
The Viet Minh's involvement in the Indochinese offensive meant that half of Vietnam was liberated before June.
The Indochinese Front:
The sleepy Indochinese front was shaken awake by the newly promoted Marshal Xue Yue’s appointment to command the Indochinese Front. Inspired by Sun Lijen’s success in Burma he worked closely with the Viet Minh to launch an offensive on March 13. Although the chair of the pan-Vietnamese organization had formerly followed the Moscow Line, Ho Chi Minh now proclaimed himself as a member of the 4th Internationale and now followed the “Mexico Line.” Although undoubtedly China was a power with ‘fascisistic tendencies’ - she was to be regarded as an ally and a revolutionary power that would bring the first stage of the world revolution by smashing colonialism in Asia.
Although the Chinese authorities welcomed the sudden cooperation of Ho’s Viet Minh - they had studiously avoided being courted during the last Chinese offensive, probably on orders of Moscow. But now that it looked like the post-war reality would have China as a regional hegemony, Ho left Moscow’s phone on the hook and finally picked up Nanking’s.
Ho’s involvement was the fuel that was needed to spark Indochina ablaze. French colonial troops found themselves beset at multiple sides and being attacked from pathways in the jungle they didn’t even know existed. By the end of June, the Viet Minh had advanced as far south as Hoi An and held a line stretching from there to Pak Se. Only the arrival of Japanese troops prevented the total collapse of the Indochinese Front.
The Manchurian Front:
The Manchurian Front continued to be grinding bloody stalemate. Even the Japanese destruction of the Huayankou damn and the subsequent massive flooding across the yellow river and the serious disruption of the supply lines did much to stop Marshall Yumming’s dogged resistance. Although Timonshenko had managed to push Chinese troops all the way to Beijing and engage in brutal street to street combat - that only further intensified the meat grinder nature of the front.
Chinese Civil Protection troops wading through the flooding created by the Huan
The Mongolian Front:
General Tukachevsky’s efforts and reorganization had finally produced results. His innovation (some say borrowed from the Entente) of the “Long Range Desert Groups” where mixed companies of cavalry and tanks would go over the porous Sino-Mongolian border and penetrate all the way South to wreak havoc before going back north. This was so successful that some Entente troops took part to pursue their own strategic objectives. One such Japanese raiding group managed to get all the way to the Huayuankou Dam and destroy it - causing massive flooding which would kill up to a million Chinese and displace ten million more.
Vowing revenge, Chiang vowed to unleash a ‘weapon of unimaginable power’ One that Sino-German scientists had been collaborating on for nearly a decade. It would change the landscape of Tokyo forever.
The Central Asian Front:
Ma Bufeng continues his advance across Soviet held Central Asia at a lightning pace. Rather than pivoting north towards Kazahkstan as Marshal Kulik expected (and where he concentrated the bulk of his forces), he struck south with speed, liberating Samarkand by end of January, then Bukhara, then Turkmenabat and then Ashgabat by the end of February. Marshal Bufeng crossed the border into Soviet-occupied Persia on March 21 - being met with guerilla troops led by crown prince Pahvlavi in a highly symbolic meeting on Persian new year’s day.
German-Chinese troops storming the Royal Palace.
The Afghani-Pakistan Front:
Afghanistan although neutral, was sympathetic -even aligned to the Axis camp, particularly finding in China an inspirational model on how to develop a country independent of the imperialist powers. The ruler Mohammed Zahir Shah had developed a relatively close relationship with Chiang, which facilitated the construction of the “Blood and Iron line.” However, when Persia was invaded by the Soviets and the Entente, Afghanistan was isolated and Stalin demanded the presence of Soviet advisors and transit rights. As the war looked increasingly uncertain for the Axis powers in 1941, Zahir had - understandably put his country first and agreed.
But now the tides of war had turned again, and Soviet presence had been increasingly resented. It started out with advisors and transit rights but had expanded into legalizing the communist party and then the presence of communists in his cabinet and then later policy. Zahir found this situation intolerable and managed to secretly communicate with the BIS about taking action.
With the advance of Ma Bufeng’s troops across Central Asia, Afghanistan was now shielded from the Soviet Union and now was the time for action. However, Soviet troops and guards were posted all over Kabul and the Royal Palace as an insurance policy. The Royal family were hostages in their own palace, like the Afghani people were hostages in their own nation.
Fortunately the Axis had experts in rescue operations - men with a particular set of skills. Men like Otto Skorzeny. Having taken a year to recover from his injuries, he’d come back with a new nickname “Steelfinger” after the new prosthetics that were required to replace some of his shattered and missing pieces of his body after the Chiang rescue operation.
He put together a team which included surviving operatives from the last mission. Working together with Dai Li and royalist members of the Afghan army, he planned Operation Panzerfaust.
The execution, involving 50 operatives, successfully wrested control of the Afghan palace and the rescue of the royal family - unfortunately the Crown Prince Mohammad Akbar Khan was (allegedly) killed by NKVD operatives during the escape.
The outraged Zahir went further than the Axis had asked for and actually entered the war to fight against the Soviets. While Chiang had just wanted the expulsion of Soviet troops and restoration of military access, Afghanistan had opened a new front - invading nominally British Pakistan, but in reality under the rule of the Soviet-installed and backed People’s Republic of India. Despite the poor weaponry of the Afghani troops, they were able to advance in the thinly held frontline and had liberated the Pashtun areas of Pakistan by the end of June.
Meanwhile, the opening of a new conduit to persia immensely helped Ma Bufeng in the Persian front. By the end of June, Persian guerillas and Bufeng’s troops held a front that streched from Sari to the North, Yazd to the Center and Bandar Abbas to the South and were in control of much of the countryside.
The Indian Front:
Largely for logistical, as well as narrative reasons, the Indian front bogged down into a stalemate. With India going through a massive famine due to the disruption in the supply systems and the arrival of foreign troops, much of the attention of the powers were focussed on consolidating their territories and feeding their troops and the people. In the Northwest, Soviet troops were working with the moderate left and Islamic socialists not drawn to Bose’s banner to proclaim the People’s Republic of India. In Bengal and the Northeast, Bose consolidated his power base. In the South, Mir Osman Ali Khan had mobilized the princes of the South to oppose the “creeping bolshevization of India” and was declared as the Governor General of the newly created Federation of India by the Council of Princes.
Although each side believed that victory was only around the corner, little did they suspect that the split of the Indian subcontinent that they inadvertently presided over would remain a permanent feature of the subcontinent with it’s legacy persisting even today.
The Viet Minh's involvement in the Indochinese offensive meant that half of Vietnam was liberated before June.
The Indochinese Front:
The sleepy Indochinese front was shaken awake by the newly promoted Marshal Xue Yue’s appointment to command the Indochinese Front. Inspired by Sun Lijen’s success in Burma he worked closely with the Viet Minh to launch an offensive on March 13. Although the chair of the pan-Vietnamese organization had formerly followed the Moscow Line, Ho Chi Minh now proclaimed himself as a member of the 4th Internationale and now followed the “Mexico Line.” Although undoubtedly China was a power with ‘fascisistic tendencies’ - she was to be regarded as an ally and a revolutionary power that would bring the first stage of the world revolution by smashing colonialism in Asia.
Although the Chinese authorities welcomed the sudden cooperation of Ho’s Viet Minh - they had studiously avoided being courted during the last Chinese offensive, probably on orders of Moscow. But now that it looked like the post-war reality would have China as a regional hegemony, Ho left Moscow’s phone on the hook and finally picked up Nanking’s.
Ho’s involvement was the fuel that was needed to spark Indochina ablaze. French colonial troops found themselves beset at multiple sides and being attacked from pathways in the jungle they didn’t even know existed. By the end of June, the Viet Minh had advanced as far south as Hoi An and held a line stretching from there to Pak Se. Only the arrival of Japanese troops prevented the total collapse of the Indochinese Front.
The Manchurian Front:
The Manchurian Front continued to be grinding bloody stalemate. Even the Japanese destruction of the Huayankou damn and the subsequent massive flooding across the yellow river and the serious disruption of the supply lines did much to stop Marshall Yumming’s dogged resistance. Although Timonshenko had managed to push Chinese troops all the way to Beijing and engage in brutal street to street combat - that only further intensified the meat grinder nature of the front.
Chinese Civil Protection troops wading through the flooding created by the Huan
The Mongolian Front:
General Tukachevsky’s efforts and reorganization had finally produced results. His innovation (some say borrowed from the Entente) of the “Long Range Desert Groups” where mixed companies of cavalry and tanks would go over the porous Sino-Mongolian border and penetrate all the way South to wreak havoc before going back north. This was so successful that some Entente troops took part to pursue their own strategic objectives. One such Japanese raiding group managed to get all the way to the Huayuankou Dam and destroy it - causing massive flooding which would kill up to a million Chinese and displace ten million more.
Vowing revenge, Chiang vowed to unleash a ‘weapon of unimaginable power’ One that Sino-German scientists had been collaborating on for nearly a decade. It would change the landscape of Tokyo forever.
- CCA
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