alternatehistory.com
1937-39
It is back
Just going to do a quick "timeline" style one and then go back and flesh out in detail. I've been super busy as I've been elected student President of my University, but writing de-stresses me from the student politics. I'll cover three years on this update and probably do another three years more in the next update.
1937 Sino-Japanese War begins
The Sino-Japanese War begins in earnest as the IJA and IJN executive a joint strike on various key strategic points in China. Some historians (particularly Chinese) like to identify this as the start date of the "Second Great War."
The Chinese fleet is effectively destroyed at harbour and China's best army is trapped in Beiping about to face a harsh winter and a protracted siege. In the skies, the air forces of both the IJA and IJN have achieved local superiority. In the seas, the Japanese fleet has enforced a near total blockade of China with the once-thriving Sino-German trade being re-routed through American channels. Even in such a desperate situation, the Chinese people have rallied to Chiang as China faces an existential struggle for survival.
The only glimmers of hope in the horizon lies with the German Declaration of War against Japan and trade with the Soviet Union and the USA. These three factors convince the Chinese leadership that they will be able to fight this brutal war - to stalemate and possibly to victory. But it would not be an easy fight.
1938 From bad to worse
The Sino-Japanese War continues to grind on. The main focus of attention is in the so-called "Peking Pocket" with over two million casualties over the course of a year-long battle. China's best and brightest are killed, maimed and starved out over a year-long siege but Japanese aerial, naval and local superiority eventually force out a surrender.
While the bulk of attention is devoted to the "Peking Pocket," the Japanese also successfully take the island of Hainan in the dying days of 1938. While dealing a blow to Chinese morale, the atrocities committed also further embolden Chinese resistance.
Japan's former allies in the First Great War are beginning to make noises of wanting to intervene to help divide the spoils of China. From their perspective, China is ripe for the taking and expeditionary forces are prepared and war plans drafted. Distracted, the Entente pays no attention to the German "arbitration" of Czechoslovakia which results in the dismemberment of this country with bits of it going to Poland, Germany and Hungary and the creation of an 'independent' Slovakia. Some frustrated Entente members are frustrated with what they see as the "appeasement" by Chamberlain who appears to have focussed efforts into the Far East.
1939 The War Expands
Humiliated by the "German Arbitration" of Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain in an effort to recover credibility uses the murder of a British diplomat in Shanghai and China's unilateral ending of reparations from the "Beiping Humiliation Treaty" to declare war on China on March 17. The French follow suit. China is isolated almost completely by these actions and faced by hostile fronts. Early offensives by the British on the Burma-Yunnan front and by the French on the Indochina-Kwangtun front are repulsed by hostile terrain and the tenancious defence from a country fighting for it's survival. Nonetheless, French and British warships hurl shells on Chinese cities while Franco-British bombers make sorties from Indochina and Hong Kong. China bleeds.
By April, the strategic situation for China is almost untenable and a desperate Chiang pleads for assistance from Germany and Italy. Hitler gives his personal assurance that the German Army will move soon. Italy is silent. Unbeknownst to both Chiang and the Entente, Germany has signed a secret Treaty of Friendship with Poland, securing Germany's eastern front. German troops redeployed in secrecy, poised to invade the Low Countries.
German tank unit invading the low countries.
On May 1, Germany makes it's formal declaration of war against France and Britain. As Hitler speaks in the Reichstag, German planes take off and decapitate the Belgian-Dutch airforces and German tanks and men flood across the border into the low countries. To the astonishment of many, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands capitulate by the end of the month as the "Lightning Pace" of the German advance with a seemingly modern air force and army being able to encircle and neutralize many Entente units. The surprise route through the 'unpassable' Adrennes forest and the strategic encirclement of Franco-British units sent to assist Belgium
Nonetheless, the army that Germany attacks with is a 'paper tiger' in a sense. Hitler has bought forward the timetable of attack from 1940 to 1939 with many German units insufficiently motorized and the mobilization only partly complete. It is a desperate gamble that seems to succeed. Almost.
French forces on the counterattack.
The Franco-British forces call Hitler's bluff at the Arras Offensive, launched on 4 June. Although a seemingly a hodge-podge of tank, motorized and other forces were assembled from various divisions, this was enough to puncture the already blunt and stretched 'tip' of the German spearheads. French tanks like the Char B1 prove completely impenetrable to german firepower and the Germans are driven back, which results in the relief of Franco-British troops trapped near the Belgian coast.
The "Western Front" which has now been opened by Germany is home to many offensives-counter offensives in a brutal mix of trench warfare and fluid 'lightning war.' Nonetheless, the front is effectively in a state of Stalemate as neither party gets a decisive hand in the fighting. Strategically however, Germany has successfully relieved her Axis partner who was in danger of collapse.
Chinese artillery firing at Japanese landing near Nanking.
Chinese morale is further boosted by victories against Japanese troops who have attempted an amphibious landing near Nanking combined with a general offensive near Tientsin. The repulse of these attacks and the bloody casualties inflicted on the Japanese combines to boost Chinese morale. Soviet-Japanese skirmishes on the Mongolian border also contribute greatly to an improved morale as the promise of Soviet intervention appears to be an increasing reality.
The year ends with the war on the balance. What would 1940 bring for the Entete and the Axis?
Just going to do a quick "timeline" style one and then go back and flesh out in detail. I've been super busy as I've been elected student President of my University, but writing de-stresses me from the student politics. I'll cover three years on this update and probably do another three years more in the next update.
1937 Sino-Japanese War begins
The Sino-Japanese War begins in earnest as the IJA and IJN executive a joint strike on various key strategic points in China. Some historians (particularly Chinese) like to identify this as the start date of the "Second Great War."
The Chinese fleet is effectively destroyed at harbour and China's best army is trapped in Beiping about to face a harsh winter and a protracted siege. In the skies, the air forces of both the IJA and IJN have achieved local superiority. In the seas, the Japanese fleet has enforced a near total blockade of China with the once-thriving Sino-German trade being re-routed through American channels. Even in such a desperate situation, the Chinese people have rallied to Chiang as China faces an existential struggle for survival.
The only glimmers of hope in the horizon lies with the German Declaration of War against Japan and trade with the Soviet Union and the USA. These three factors convince the Chinese leadership that they will be able to fight this brutal war - to stalemate and possibly to victory. But it would not be an easy fight.
1938 From bad to worse
The Sino-Japanese War continues to grind on. The main focus of attention is in the so-called "Peking Pocket" with over two million casualties over the course of a year-long battle. China's best and brightest are killed, maimed and starved out over a year-long siege but Japanese aerial, naval and local superiority eventually force out a surrender.
While the bulk of attention is devoted to the "Peking Pocket," the Japanese also successfully take the island of Hainan in the dying days of 1938. While dealing a blow to Chinese morale, the atrocities committed also further embolden Chinese resistance.
Japan's former allies in the First Great War are beginning to make noises of wanting to intervene to help divide the spoils of China. From their perspective, China is ripe for the taking and expeditionary forces are prepared and war plans drafted. Distracted, the Entente pays no attention to the German "arbitration" of Czechoslovakia which results in the dismemberment of this country with bits of it going to Poland, Germany and Hungary and the creation of an 'independent' Slovakia. Some frustrated Entente members are frustrated with what they see as the "appeasement" by Chamberlain who appears to have focussed efforts into the Far East.
1939 The War Expands
Humiliated by the "German Arbitration" of Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain in an effort to recover credibility uses the murder of a British diplomat in Shanghai and China's unilateral ending of reparations from the "Beiping Humiliation Treaty" to declare war on China on March 17. The French follow suit. China is isolated almost completely by these actions and faced by hostile fronts. Early offensives by the British on the Burma-Yunnan front and by the French on the Indochina-Kwangtun front are repulsed by hostile terrain and the tenancious defence from a country fighting for it's survival. Nonetheless, French and British warships hurl shells on Chinese cities while Franco-British bombers make sorties from Indochina and Hong Kong. China bleeds.
By April, the strategic situation for China is almost untenable and a desperate Chiang pleads for assistance from Germany and Italy. Hitler gives his personal assurance that the German Army will move soon. Italy is silent. Unbeknownst to both Chiang and the Entente, Germany has signed a secret Treaty of Friendship with Poland, securing Germany's eastern front. German troops redeployed in secrecy, poised to invade the Low Countries.
German tank unit invading the low countries.
On May 1, Germany makes it's formal declaration of war against France and Britain. As Hitler speaks in the Reichstag, German planes take off and decapitate the Belgian-Dutch airforces and German tanks and men flood across the border into the low countries. To the astonishment of many, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands capitulate by the end of the month as the "Lightning Pace" of the German advance with a seemingly modern air force and army being able to encircle and neutralize many Entente units. The surprise route through the 'unpassable' Adrennes forest and the strategic encirclement of Franco-British units sent to assist Belgium
Nonetheless, the army that Germany attacks with is a 'paper tiger' in a sense. Hitler has bought forward the timetable of attack from 1940 to 1939 with many German units insufficiently motorized and the mobilization only partly complete. It is a desperate gamble that seems to succeed. Almost.
French forces on the counterattack.
The Franco-British forces call Hitler's bluff at the Arras Offensive, launched on 4 June. Although a seemingly a hodge-podge of tank, motorized and other forces were assembled from various divisions, this was enough to puncture the already blunt and stretched 'tip' of the German spearheads. French tanks like the Char B1 prove completely impenetrable to german firepower and the Germans are driven back, which results in the relief of Franco-British troops trapped near the Belgian coast.
The "Western Front" which has now been opened by Germany is home to many offensives-counter offensives in a brutal mix of trench warfare and fluid 'lightning war.' Nonetheless, the front is effectively in a state of Stalemate as neither party gets a decisive hand in the fighting. Strategically however, Germany has successfully relieved her Axis partner who was in danger of collapse.
Chinese artillery firing at Japanese landing near Nanking.
Chinese morale is further boosted by victories against Japanese troops who have attempted an amphibious landing near Nanking combined with a general offensive near Tientsin. The repulse of these attacks and the bloody casualties inflicted on the Japanese combines to boost Chinese morale. Soviet-Japanese skirmishes on the Mongolian border also contribute greatly to an improved morale as the promise of Soviet intervention appears to be an increasing reality.
The year ends with the war on the balance. What would 1940 bring for the Entete and the Axis?
- CCA
- Word Count: 1.1k