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The Northern Expedition - Phase One
Thanks to everyone for their comments and feedback. I originally had a much longer update written up, but it was too detailed and didn't flow very well at all. I'll have the long version (complete with the OOB for the various army groups and very detailed accounts of operations) up in the 2nd version of this TL. For now I hope this satisfies 
I'm trying to finish the draft of this TL as quickly as possible so I can start polishing for V2. Thanks for sticking with me so far
@ Nivek
The fate of Tibet will pretty much the same ITL as OTL. The KMT is pretty leftist and will likely remain so, forcibly implementing land reform on 'backward feudal' provinces...
Chiang doesn't really know a lot of military celebrities in his stay in China. He's only personally met Hindenburg and the King of Bavaria along with a few minor figures. He doesn't meet the Red Baron or Goering or Guderian or Manstein *cough Blair cough.* Although Guderian does have an 'advisory position as a Brigader General in a "Heavy Reconnaisance Brigade" during the Northern Expedition
The Northern Expedition - Phase One
Drafting the moblization orders and his speech.
Ming Sun was awed. He was in front of a large crowd as the President of China, Premier of the Executive Yuan and Prime Minister read out one of the world's largest mobilization orders in what would be one of the world's biggest military campaign outside of a world war. "To complete the Revolution, we must overthrow the warlords and wipe out reactionary power so that we may fully implement the three principles brining peace and justice to all." Sun went on in that fashion for another half an hour talking and expounding on his three principles. Ming Sun suddenly was bored and his mind wandered onto other topics. Would the newly recruited Kuomintang Militias fare as well as the regular army? They had been "A necessary evil" in what they were now calling the "Northern Liberation Expedition" which was expected to face nearly ten million warlord and 'bandit soldiers.'
After what seemed like an eternity, Sun finally yielded the floor to the Commanding Officer of Army Group North and overall commander of the Northern Liberation Expediction, Field Marshal Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang stood, in command with his silence and with his ramrod- straight back. Eying the soldiers for a few seconds he merely said "Our destiny awaits." and flashed an enigmatic smile. Cheers erupted. Ming Sun shouted till he was hoarse.
The Second Northern Expedition or the Northern Liberation Expedition is one of the most studied field campaigns of military history - and perhaps for good reason. The defeat of various warlord armies totalling 10,000,000 by a well-led, highly-motivated army numbering about 1,000,000 is an oft-cited example of the maxim "quality trumps over quantity."
Phase One of the Northern Expedition was launched on January 26 1926, the New Year's Day on the Chinese Calendar. Three army groups would set off from the Kuomintang's south base to unite the country. They could not have come at a better time.
Yan Xishan's central government was distracted by border skirmishes with the Manchurian Army and by clashes with the Japanese on the Shangdong Peninsula. The Dogmeat and Christian Generals were having one of their spats, although it hadn't erupted into open warfare, this feud would prevent the two of them from talking, a major impediment to effective coordination.
Army Group West, led by Li Zongren would secure the West from "Imperial design" a veiled reference to Zhang Zuolin's overwhelming ambition and the tendency of petty warlords to ally themselves to him.
Army Group Center, led by Bai Chonxi would secure the center of China and prevent Yan from reinforcing the all-important Eastern front.
A rare photo of the Heavy Reconnaisance Brigade in action
Army Group North, personally commanded by Field Marhsal Chiang Kai-Shek would have the most important task, they would sweep along the coastal provinces and secure Nanjing and Shanghai. Army Group North was the most lavishly equiped expedition with 8 out of the 10 "Assault Divisions" spearheading the attack. It possessed cutting edge equipment and was a breeding ground for many innovative tactics and weaponry with the antics of the "Heavy Recoinassance Brigade" being especially noteworthy for their foreshadowing of Blitzrieg tactics nearly 2 decades before their use in Poland.
They smashed the opposition. The National Revolutionary Army of the Northern Expedition vintage was a oiled machine of death facing what would be charitably described as "rabble." Illiterate masses of starved, beaten and often chained and tied together warlord "soldiers" with jamming, malfunctioning, obsolete and ancient weapons were hurled at soldiers with armored cars, artillery, airplanes and poison gas with predictable results. On the first week of the Northern Expedition there were over a million desertions from the Warlords to the Kuomintang.
The National Revolutionary Army had prepared well for this eventuality, each division had a "Special Operations" battalion which specialized in propaganda and in "intelligence operations" A shadowy figure called Dai Li headed this web of propagandists, spies, informants and other practioners of the dark arts of espionage. This would be a forerunner of the dreaded "Intelligence and Census Burea" which he would later command. The Special Operations battalions would demoralize with a combination of misdirection, well-timed rumours and sabotage. They were so efficient that in the Battle of Nanchang they caused the Dogmeat General's personal army to rout en masse, the stampeding soldiers managed to overrun his outpost, causing much fury.
The military situation of the warlords were not helped by a teeming rural insurrection fueled by Kuomintang activists. It was joked that in China, only two things were common for every village. It was that one man in the village would be working for the Special Operations Bureau and another would be working for the Kuomintang. Supply lines were frequently cut, communications cut and all around havoc was caused by his rural uprising.
By May 4, the anniversary of the May Fourth Movement - the National Revolutionary Army had swept Central China clean of the warlords and stood outside the gates of Nanjing. It was in Nanjing where the future of the movement was to be decided...
Next Update: The Northern Expedition: A Deal With The Devil
I'm trying to finish the draft of this TL as quickly as possible so I can start polishing for V2. Thanks for sticking with me so far @ Nivek
The fate of Tibet will pretty much the same ITL as OTL. The KMT is pretty leftist and will likely remain so, forcibly implementing land reform on 'backward feudal' provinces...
Chiang doesn't really know a lot of military celebrities in his stay in China. He's only personally met Hindenburg and the King of Bavaria along with a few minor figures. He doesn't meet the Red Baron or Goering or Guderian or Manstein *cough Blair cough.* Although Guderian does have an 'advisory position as a Brigader General in a "Heavy Reconnaisance Brigade" during the Northern Expedition
The Northern Expedition - Phase One
Drafting the moblization orders and his speech.
Ming Sun was awed. He was in front of a large crowd as the President of China, Premier of the Executive Yuan and Prime Minister read out one of the world's largest mobilization orders in what would be one of the world's biggest military campaign outside of a world war. "To complete the Revolution, we must overthrow the warlords and wipe out reactionary power so that we may fully implement the three principles brining peace and justice to all." Sun went on in that fashion for another half an hour talking and expounding on his three principles. Ming Sun suddenly was bored and his mind wandered onto other topics. Would the newly recruited Kuomintang Militias fare as well as the regular army? They had been "A necessary evil" in what they were now calling the "Northern Liberation Expedition" which was expected to face nearly ten million warlord and 'bandit soldiers.'
After what seemed like an eternity, Sun finally yielded the floor to the Commanding Officer of Army Group North and overall commander of the Northern Liberation Expediction, Field Marshal Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang stood, in command with his silence and with his ramrod- straight back. Eying the soldiers for a few seconds he merely said "Our destiny awaits." and flashed an enigmatic smile. Cheers erupted. Ming Sun shouted till he was hoarse.
The Second Northern Expedition or the Northern Liberation Expedition is one of the most studied field campaigns of military history - and perhaps for good reason. The defeat of various warlord armies totalling 10,000,000 by a well-led, highly-motivated army numbering about 1,000,000 is an oft-cited example of the maxim "quality trumps over quantity."
Phase One of the Northern Expedition was launched on January 26 1926, the New Year's Day on the Chinese Calendar. Three army groups would set off from the Kuomintang's south base to unite the country. They could not have come at a better time.
Yan Xishan's central government was distracted by border skirmishes with the Manchurian Army and by clashes with the Japanese on the Shangdong Peninsula. The Dogmeat and Christian Generals were having one of their spats, although it hadn't erupted into open warfare, this feud would prevent the two of them from talking, a major impediment to effective coordination.
Army Group West, led by Li Zongren would secure the West from "Imperial design" a veiled reference to Zhang Zuolin's overwhelming ambition and the tendency of petty warlords to ally themselves to him.
Army Group Center, led by Bai Chonxi would secure the center of China and prevent Yan from reinforcing the all-important Eastern front.
A rare photo of the Heavy Reconnaisance Brigade in action
Army Group North, personally commanded by Field Marhsal Chiang Kai-Shek would have the most important task, they would sweep along the coastal provinces and secure Nanjing and Shanghai. Army Group North was the most lavishly equiped expedition with 8 out of the 10 "Assault Divisions" spearheading the attack. It possessed cutting edge equipment and was a breeding ground for many innovative tactics and weaponry with the antics of the "Heavy Recoinassance Brigade" being especially noteworthy for their foreshadowing of Blitzrieg tactics nearly 2 decades before their use in Poland.
They smashed the opposition. The National Revolutionary Army of the Northern Expedition vintage was a oiled machine of death facing what would be charitably described as "rabble." Illiterate masses of starved, beaten and often chained and tied together warlord "soldiers" with jamming, malfunctioning, obsolete and ancient weapons were hurled at soldiers with armored cars, artillery, airplanes and poison gas with predictable results. On the first week of the Northern Expedition there were over a million desertions from the Warlords to the Kuomintang.
The National Revolutionary Army had prepared well for this eventuality, each division had a "Special Operations" battalion which specialized in propaganda and in "intelligence operations" A shadowy figure called Dai Li headed this web of propagandists, spies, informants and other practioners of the dark arts of espionage. This would be a forerunner of the dreaded "Intelligence and Census Burea" which he would later command. The Special Operations battalions would demoralize with a combination of misdirection, well-timed rumours and sabotage. They were so efficient that in the Battle of Nanchang they caused the Dogmeat General's personal army to rout en masse, the stampeding soldiers managed to overrun his outpost, causing much fury.
The military situation of the warlords were not helped by a teeming rural insurrection fueled by Kuomintang activists. It was joked that in China, only two things were common for every village. It was that one man in the village would be working for the Special Operations Bureau and another would be working for the Kuomintang. Supply lines were frequently cut, communications cut and all around havoc was caused by his rural uprising.
By May 4, the anniversary of the May Fourth Movement - the National Revolutionary Army had swept Central China clean of the warlords and stood outside the gates of Nanjing. It was in Nanjing where the future of the movement was to be decided...
Next Update: The Northern Expedition: A Deal With The Devil
- CCA
- Word Count: 1.1k