Chiang Kai-Shek goes to Germany: An Axis China Timeline

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Thanks for all the comments and feedback I've received so far. I'm humbled and appreciate your support

1937 Nov - Dec: The Empire Strikes Back

Japan had been slowly biding her time. She knew that time was against her with Chiang having found a way to tear away slowly at the Yan Xishan line. Chinese industrialization and rearnament was gathering critical pace and very soon Chinese industrial production would surpass that of Japan. Japan had to act now if she was to retain her rightful place in Asia.

Planning was proceeding apace - there were several things that Japan needed to do to undermine and destroy China. The first thing was to cut China's access to German industrial and military assistance. This would involve blockading Chinese ports. The second was to tie up the vast Chinese reserves of men in defending China's huge coast. This meant destroying the Chinese Navy and with it, China's capacity to somewhat limit Japanese naval action - enabling Japan to conduct "hit and run" attacks on Chinese coasts. With the two factors achieved, Japan believed she could humiliate China enough to force her to the bargaining table.

Grand Admiral Yamamoto would orchestrate the attack on the naval base at Amoy or the "Guangzhou Naval Yards" as it was
The plan, which involved the destruction of the Chinese fleet while she was at port was called "Operation Z." Operation Z called for a night attack on the port of Amoy while the Chinese fleet was not in a state of readiness. The attack would cripple the Chinese surface fleet in one blow using both land-based aircraft in Taiwan and carrier-borne aircraft. The first wave would begin by dropping flares to highlight the ships, the second wave would follow up by dropping torpedoes and the last wave would be that of planes dropping bombs to destroy the Naval yard itself.

Charlize's Theron's portrayal of the Japanese Agent won acclaim despite protests by Chinese nationalists...
The plan required detailed intelligence in order to identify the targets and the defence. This was provided by Mr.F , to this day the identity of Mr. F remains a mystery - proposed explanations include Mr. F being Major Fabroccino, an Italian naval attache with a serious gambling problem. More recently, American historian Ron Howard has come up with a controversial thesis. "Mr. F," in fact stood for "Mentally Retarded Female." Dramatized in his hit TV series about the Second Great War "Arrested Development" this "agent" was in fact a crazed British widow who believed that she was talking to the British Naval authorities when passing on information to the Japanese. Every day "Mr.F" would wander down to the dockyard, pace aimlessly and then report the information back to a pair of Japanese spies, one was poorly disguised in a John Bull outfit and the other was cross-dressing poorly as "Brittania."

The city of Amoy and it's port (off-map)

Japan would get the opportunity to do this in December 1 1937. All major surface combatants of the Chinese Navy had assembled in Amoy for a Naval Exercise. Japanese pilots had plenty of practice attacking a dummy Naval port that was the exact replica of Amoy - such was the quality of intelligence provided by "MR. F" The air was still, the darkness enveloping and the night quiet on the night of December 1 1937. A night which would live in infamy in Chinese history...

Next update: December 1 1937 - A Night That would Live in Infamy

 

[CCA]

Merry Christmas to my fans and friends Hope you have a wonderful one and thank you for all your kind comments and feedback
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Scores of Japanese bombers like this would lay waste to Chinese naval capability


The Night That Would live in Infamy

"
Yi Ding was happy.

Tonight was the night of her graduation from the Amoy Naval Academy. She was a pioneer, one of the first women to successfully complete submarine training.

She blushed with pride as she scanned the crowd in front of her. She sat at the front row in the stage with her other comrades spread around. Her parents and her brother were seated at the front, their eyes beaming with pride. At the lectern in the stage stood none other than "Madame Chiang Kai-Shek" - the spouse of the most powerful man in China.

As cameras began flashing at the front of the stage, Madame Chiang spoke: "Tonight, I'm proud to honour the pioneers of China - this National Revolutionary Movement of ours has been created to change China and make it a more progressive place. The people standing before you today are living proof of the change that has taken place and more change to come..."

As Madame Chiang spoke there was an increasingly loud buzzing in the air, getting closer and closer to the Amoy Academy. Suddenly there were flashes of light and bits of the night sky lit up.

To the horror and astonishment of many of the audience in the air was a horde of Japanese planes..."

- A Woman's War: Women in the Navy

"The attack was a complete and total surprise which fulfilled Japanese expectations widely and then some. Unbeknownst to the Japanese High Command, much of the top brass of the Chinese Naval Forces was present in Amoy for fleet exercises and were in attendance for the graduation of China's first femae submariners. The attack not only successfully sunk 90% of China's surface fleet, it also successfully 'decapitated' Chinese Naval leadership. In the short term, this allowed Japanese dominance of China and allowed Japan to enforce a total blockade of all trade (except that of America's) in the long term, the loss of so many trained cadres meant that the Chinese Naval programme could not proceed at the pace that it was originally expected..."
- The Second Great War, Yi Zhang

"
HDB: This is Hainan Defence Battery #5 requesting permission to fire on incoming wave of suspected Japanese invasion Over.

Hainan Command HQ: Permission denied. Continue observation.

HDB: With all due respect if we don't fire -

Hainan Command HQ: Permission denied. Continue observation...

Hainan Command HQ: This is Hainan Command HQ to General HQ. Requesting permission to engage.

General HQ: Negative. Strict orders not to engage in provocation.

Hainan Command HQ: Confirmed reports of hostile fire. Hainan Defence Batteries 1, 2, 6 and 10 have reported shelling.

General HQ: Permission granted to engage in test firing. Do not engage deliberately.
"
- Hainan: Island of Heroes TV Show


"...With Madame Chiang in serious peril, Chiang was paralyzed with grief. As Supreme Commander in Chief, Chiang had the authority to order the general mobilization of the Chinese military and place all units on high alert... Chiang's paralysis and indicision - with many frantic requests from High Command and urgent pleas from his close friends turned away as Chiang wallowed in grief - may have led to the needless deaths of millions of Chinese and doomed the world to a general conflagration. If it were not for the creative interpretation of "Test Firing" orders by the local initiative of many NRA units then the initial Japanese invasion my have achieved it's goal of "Strangling China in the Night."
- Chiang: The Man and the Myth, Bao Chengdu

"
TO: THE GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTRY
FROM: GERMAN NANKING EMBASSY
Dated: 02/12/37

JAPANESE ATTACK CONFIRMED. STOP. AMOY NAVAL BASE DESTROYED. STOP. ALL CAPITAL SHIPS SUNK. STOP. MADAME CHIANG CRITICALLY WOUNDED. STOP. INVASION ALL OVER THE COAST. STOP. HAINAN EXPECTED TO FALL. STOP. BEIPING COULD FALL. STOP.

"

Tommorow's Update: A Speech to Remember

 

[CCA]

A Speech to Remember

"
Last night, December 1, 1937 A night which will live in infamy - the Republic of China was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval, army and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

Our great nation was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward a peaceful resolution of the bandit situation in the Chinese Province of Manchuria.

Indeed, one hour before Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Amoy, one hour before Japanese battle ships had commenced shelling Nanking, one hour before Japanese forces began landing in Hainan the Japanese Ambassador to China was having dinner with me regarding the possible cessation of support for the Northern Bandits. While his demanour and words suggested that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations regarding the North China bandit situation, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the scale and audacity of attack makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days, weeks, months or perhaps even years ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive China by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on Amoy has caused severe damage to Chinese naval and military forces. Very many lives have been lost - both military and civilion. In addition Japanese ships have been shelling coastal cities such as Nanking and Shanghai. Japanese air forces have launched bombing attacks on many cities. They have targetted critical infrastructure including the Huankayou damn in an effort to cause the Yellow River to flood and cause power shortages. Casualties, on the first night of the attack will number in the tens, perhaps hunders of thousands.

Last night, the Japanese Government also launched an attack on Hainan. Last night Japanese forces landed off Beiping. Last night Japanese forces attacked Shanghai. Last night Japanese forces attacked the Amoy. Last night the Japanese attacked Nanking and Guangzhou. Last night, Japan broke the sacred covenant of peace and made war against us without warning or mercy.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise invasion. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the China have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and existence of our nation, our families and our prosperity.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Navy and Air Force I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. As President of this Yuan, I have introduced Wartime Resolution #1 to the floor to place this country on a war-footing.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the Chinese people in their righteous might will win through to absolute and total victory.

We are dealing with an enemy with no regards to the value of life and an enemy with no intention to abide by the rules of civilized society and war.

We are dealing with an enemy with fierce cunning and the determination to subject us to the yoke of Japanese Imperialism. There will be no surrender or cooperation until the last Japanese and their Manchurian bandits have been thrown off all of China.

Whereever you are, North or South, East or West, young or old, rich or poor, you all have the responsibility of protecting our home and repelling the enemy, you must all have the will to achieve the ultimate sacrifice

Do not be disquieted in this time of great adversity. Be firm with dignity and be self-reliant with the vigour and courage of righteous fury to go on to the final victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Yuan and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again. I call on the Yuan to approve of Wartime Resolution #1 to prepare our nation fully for the long and bitter struggle that awaits us.

There will be many deaths. Perhaps millions.

There will be many casualties.

There will be many fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and family who will never be seen from again - their graves mute testimony of the criminal assault we've had to endure.

There will be those who come back, maimed beyond repair - in both mind and body - such is the horrific nature of war.

The struggle will be long and hard. But ultimately, we have justice on our side.

We will triumph.
"

- Abbreviated version of Chiang Kai-shek's speech to the Yuan introducing Wartime Resolution #1 to the floor. The resolution was carried by full acclamation.


Next Update: Days of Infamy

 

[CCA]

Days of Infamy


The front by December 30

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"From a purely miliary perspective, the attacks on Dec 1 were completly successful, achieving, if not surpassing operational objectives. Hainan was seized after bitter fighting by December 8. The only ray of sunshine in this bleak picture would be successfully holding Beiping, although Field Marshall Bai Chonxi would later write in his memoirs 'in hindsight, holding Beiping was probably a mistake.' Although the National Revolutionary Assault Army Group "A" managed to beat back the Japanese attacks on Beiping, the severing of the Beiping - Tsinan rail line meant that supplies, especially fuel was limited. This meant that Army Group A could not succesfully thwart the encirclement attempts of the Kwantung Army. By December 18, Army Group A was encircled around Beiping. They were to face a harsh and bitter winter with limited supplies, low food and the difficult task of having to feed millions of civilians who had become trapped by the quick action of the Japanese Army...

From a diplomatic perspective, the attacks were a disaster. In seeking to 'strike a decisive blow' by 'terror bombing' key cities and infrastructure, Japan had caused a major humanitarian crisis through their bombing of Chinese civilians and also the massive flooding of the Yellow River. Japan was immediately condemned by several nations. However the League of Nations - owing to British and French pressure did not formally condemn Japan, althoug most League members did. Germany declared war on Japan the day after Hainan fell on December 9 with Hitler announcing that "Germany will stand by China through the final victory..." and condemned the League of Nations as being a "fig-leaf on Anglo-French Imperialism" for their failure to condemn Japan.

Crucially, there was a massive outpouring of sympathy from the United States of America with a resolution condemning Japan for their 'barbaric actions' - Madame Chiang had struck an unlikely friendship with the First Lady Elanore Roosevelt and her near-death at the hands of Japanese bombers was felt personally by the Roosevelt family. In December 7 the United States announced that they would not be complying with the "unlawful blockade" of China and explicitly pointed out that an attack on US Merchant ships en-route to or in Chinese Territorial Waters or in Chinese ports would be seen as an "attack on the United States" and would lead to "serious consequences."

Although publically standing by Japan, Britain and France were disturbed by what Japan had done and was doing. Although they did provide the bases and staging ground for the invasion and were informed of the sneak attack, they had no idea that Japan would attack civilians with such ferocious gusto. Nonetheless, they could do nothing but try and urge restraint from behind the scenes. By not doing anything however, Britain and France was losing prestige, particularly among neutral nations. By the end of the year, the League of Nations had effectively become discredited in the eyes of many for what was seen as hypocrisy, particularly as the League of Nations had forcefully condemned the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and the Chinese invasion of North China/Manchuria.

... Domestically, the war was massively popular in Japan. They had finally struck a massive blow against China and reversed "years of humiliation and concession" at the hands of the Chinese. The encirclement of the Assault Army "A" in the Beiping pocket was celebrated around the streets of Japan...

For China, this would be the beginning of a long and gruelling war. They would reach the limits of endurance to survive the coming winter. Nonetheless, they were united around their "Generalissimo" and united to defeat Japan. "

- The Second Great War in China: Days of Infamy



Next Update: Limits of Endurance

 

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The Limits of Endurance

The "Monster-Guns" were converted to firing food supply and ammunition cannisters in desperation to supply the pocket.

Private Dinghy Yu looked in apprehension at the sight of the food cannister being loaded to the Monster Gun.

"Somehow, I don't think this is going to work," said Yu in his halting German.

"It might, it might not, worth a shot - it's not like we have anything else to do in Winter" replied back the German engineer who was still attached to the unit.

....



The "Peking Pocket" as it has been dubbed by historians was not a confortable place to be in. Although the heavy blizzards and heavy snow made it impracticable for the Japanese to attack and indeed certain historians claim that it was what ultimately saved the pocket from certain destruction during winter, it was not conductive to an Army low on supplies, low on food and low on fuel and had to share what little it had with millions of civilians...

What little supplies that trickled into the pocket was bought in through three different ways - by air, by sea and by cannon.

The Chinese Air Force used it's Airships to transport supplies to the pocket. It also used it's fighter planes and basically anything that could fly and they could spare to deliver necessary items to the pocket in the brief periods of good weather - the obsolete Taube plane or the Feng Ru I was even bought out of refinement and had sacks of rice or sacks of canned goods strapped to it's wings. However, the Japanese had better planes which could outgun, outrun and outclimb even the most advanced Feng Ru IX fighter, although the Chinese had weight of numbers and closer proximity to airfields on their side. Ultimately however, the volume of supplies that could be sent through the air was not enough and alternatives needed to be found.

An alternative was found in the "Monster-Guns." Clever Chinese engineers quickly fashioned cannisters which could be fired out of the guns, these cannisters could contain anything from sacks of rice, cans of beans to drums of water and even precious fuel. The Monster-Guns were surprisingly accurate and several areas in the Peking pocket were quickly designated as "Firing ranges" where the Cannisters could be efficiently fired into and collected. However, the volume of supplies using this method was not much, but it did help however.

The third way was by Sea. Humanitarian organizations were desperate to prevent famine conditions and freezing from occuring in the pocket and they sent in aid by sea. America was determined to block the blockade and sent in convoys of food escorted by destroyers. The previously sleepy fishing village of Qikou roared into life as convoys of ships anchored off the little town and rowboats took supplies in and out. The bottleneck of the Qikou harbor slowed the deliveries in the most - nontheless, most of the supplies in the Peking pocket came from Qikou... It would not be long before this sleepy small town attracted the attention of the Japanese Military...

 

[CCA]

Gross Domestic Product in 1937

Axis Powers:
China - 141
Germany - 351
Italy* - 149
Total: 641

Triple Entete:
France* - 186
Japan - 169
Manchuoko - 45
United Kingdom* - 284
Total: 684

Neutral:
Soviet Union - 359
United States of America - 800

* - not formally involved in war at this point...

There are a few things to enter into consideration at this point too:
Japan can freely trade with her allies France and United Kingdom as they have control of the seas. Chinese trade with Italy and Germany have to be rerouted all the way to Afghanistan and Iran through to Turkey to the Balkans and finally into Germany/Italy...

GDP does not necessarily equal military production, but it's a useful indicator of relative economic strenght. Japan/Germany/China are authoritarian regimes that have moblized for war and are much quicker in converting from GDP to Military Production.

China trades freely with both the United States and the Soviet Union, both nations want China's rare metals such as tungsten as well as Chinese silver dollars. Both are willing to furnish industrial and military equipment as well as 'technical assistance' in exchange.

 

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The Limits of Endurance II

What remained of the battered Army Group A in orderly retreat towards Peking. Heavy equipment such as artillery and tanks were left behind as there could be no fuel spared to tow them

Although there were trickles of supplies heading towards the Peking pocket, the situation was still desperate for Army Group A. The problem was not so much the Japanese or Manchurian troops, who had dug in and were making no attacks besides harrassment shelling - but the savage weather. The Peking winter which arrived early in December and continued throughout January would be one of the coldest in memory. The unpredictability of the weather was also a problem, as was the heavy snowfall. Some positions were simply burried underneath tonnes of snow and froze to death.

Compounding Field Marshall Bao Chonxi's problem was the long supply lines of the pocket and disrupted communications due to the snow-storm. In order to decrease his supply lines and prevent any more positions from being snowed under Field Marshall Bao ordered a general retreat towards Peking. From Peking a much shorter line could be defended and this also simplified the logistical problem of trying to feed so many troops spread out over a large area with poor communications and freezing weather.

Peking had the advantage of having shelter, troops could shelter in houses and huddle besides civilians who were trapped in the city with them. In any other weather condition, the effect of cramming so many bodies so close together would have been intolerable, in the bitter winter it was a comfort.

"...Things weren't easy in the pocket. We had to share our house with 4 soldiers and it was so cold that it was hard to get the stove going to cook food sometimes, not that there was enough of that to go around...Lots of animals were killed just so we could stay alive... dogs, cats even rats in the sewer were fair game... we ended up getting so desperate that the army resorted to shooting it's mules and horses just to get enough meat. Things were tough, but we were all in this together. I heard that even Field Marshall Bao Chonxi was billeted with a simple family and ate the same meals as they did and slept in the same bed..."
- Wenwei Xei in "We remember: Civilians in the Second Great War"

Qikou today

The Japanese High Command, although not ordering their troops to move forward in the attrocious weather, decided to find ways to cut the supply chain. They had discovered the fishing village in Qikou and devised a way to cut the supply chain. They would simply land troops there and take it...

Fortunately, Chiang had anticipated such a move and devised a solution - Qikou would be 'leased' as a "naval base" to the Americans for 10 years. Although it was somewhat humiliating in having to give up Chinese soil, it was done willingly and with the reason of protecting supplies to the pocket.

The Japanese leadership were stunned by the audacity of the move. Although they could not and were not willing to risk an all out confrontation with America - they believed they could make the Americans aware of the risks that being involved in this situation would involve. A sort of 'warning shot' was needed by Japan. They couldn't 'accidentally' sink a ship that was too high of a value however, sinking of a Battleship would be too much and couldn't be claimed as 'accidental' - besides there were no battleships in the area. A destroy could be useful to sink - but there were few and it was difficult to claim to have sunk one 'accidentally.' A gunboat? That was the perfect size.

The USS Panay gunboat

It was a cold morning on January 28 when the USS Panay steamed in view of the Qikou fishing village with it's colours prominently displayed. Suddenly, 6 planes flashed out of the sky and raked the gunboat mercilessly with machine-gun fire. Bombs were launched and the stricken ship sunk with nearly all hands on deck. The ships she was escorting looked in horror at the whole scene...

The Japanese response to the attack was schizophrenic. At first Japan denied responsibility and claimed that the planes were NRA ones - indeed they had been painted with the colours of the Nationalist Air Force, but crucially the attacking planes were not ones that the Chinese Air Force made or had had time to capture yet.

When this line of questioning was exposed, Japan finaly relented. It claimed that the attack was a result of 'rogue pilots' and paid indemnities and publically apologized.

The result of the attack was a loss in support of the Japan lobby in the US and a rise of support for the China lobby. President Roosevelt was able to use the attacks as a justification for increasing military spending and ramping up military production. Internationally, Japan lost even more face and her allies in Britain and France despaired of their inability to control their ally. As January drawed to a close it was clear that the American public and the international community had begun reaching their limits of endurance for what seemed to be the rogueness of Japanese attacks... Something had to give.

 

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Hearts and Minds

As January drew to a close and Japan reeled with diplomatic backlash, the Japanese belatedly realized that with the world's spotlight turned to her - she couldn't continue behaving the way she did - at least not publically. As winter was drawing to a close - The High Command was also making preparations to finally destroy the Peking pocket once and for all. But the sheer number of refugees and civilians were expected to do two things: 1. Slow down the progress of the Japanese arms and 2. Cause negative press - many civilians would be killed and maimed through bombing and shelling and when the Japanese Army finally took the city, the Japanese feared a massacre as frustrated Japanese soldiers took their rage out on defenceless men and women. Neither of the two things were in either Japan's short or long-term interest. Contrary to what later history would portray - it was never in Japan's intention to actually occupy or 'conquer' China, Japan rightly realized that it would virtually be impossible to hold down 500 million people by force. A massacre of Chinese civilians would harden Chinese public opinion against them and prevent any peace deals from being made.

The Japanese also did not want to slow down what would be a very important offensive, especially since the National Revolutionary Army was beginning to mobilize it's forces to try and cut off the Japanese troops. A solution would be to allow the refugees and the civilians to leave the pocket and the city. Although small numbers of refugees and civilians were leaving through Qikou, this was only a small trickle compared to the vast numbers of civilians still in Peking (1-5 million are the figures floated in conventional histories)

However, when the Japanese government attempted to negotiate for the evacuation of the civilians in the pocket, the Chinese government outright refused to talk to them. The Chinese also ignored offers through intermediaries such as the Soviets and the Americans. They were not interested in talking to Japan.

Japan eventually found a solution. They announced that they would 'temporarily allow civilian rail traffic from Peking' to pass by their occupied territories. The Japanese had not destroyed the rail lines of the small portion of China they occupied - utilizing it instead to transport their own supplies - now the Japanese would use the railways as a token of goodwill. There were conditions of course - the Japanese would inspect the trains to ensure that there were only civilians on board - however to prevent further 'incidents' - Japan would leave the adminintration of the evacuation to a neutral third party - perhaps the Americans or the Soviets might like to handle it. Realistically speaking, only the Americans had the people to actually do it and even then they were operating on a shoestring.

Over the objections of the Chinese High Command and even Chiang Kai-shek, Field Marshall Bai Chongxi did one of the bravest acts of his career - he defied authority in an authoritarian regime. Bai organized the evacuation effort with the Red Cross and other American relief agencies. Conditions were desperate in the pocket with malnutrition and starvation beginning to settle in at this point and he felt he had little choice, besides the city could be fought to the death without consideration for the safety and well-being of the civilians. "Let my people go" he said to Chiang, and when Chiang refused he boarded them on trains anyway. By the end of February, Peking was mostly populated by sodliers - but a fifth had refused to go so there was still a substantial civilian component. With winter ending and spring dawning it was nearly time for one of the most bitter battles of the War - the battle for Peking.

 

[CCA]

The Broken Shield : The Chinese Navy in the Early Second Great War

"...In the wake of the devastating attacks on December 1, the Chinese navy was forced into a defensive mode - relying on her extensive submarine fleet in an attempt to interdict the Japanese submarine fleet. With her entire surface fleet all but sunk the Chinese submarine forces were all that was left of once growing force.

The Chinese submarine forces had three main objectives in the early part of the war. The first was to interdict Japanese merchant shipping and prevent them from building up supplies and troops in Hainan which would allow the Japanese to launch an invasion of Southern China - a two-front war was not to anyone's advantage.

The second objective was to interdict Japanese supplies and reinforcements to the troops that had landed South of the Peking pocket. Although there was still a supply corridor through Inner Mongolia that could not be interdicted, it was less efficient than by sea and they could easily transport heavy equipment or supplies by camel and mule-back.

The third objective was known as the "Pirrana Doctrine" which involved keeping the most modern and fastest elements of the Chinese submarine fleet in reserve. This doctrine stated that in the event of another naval invasion, the submarine fleet would interdict ASAP and try to sink as many as possible, regardless of losses. What remained of the surface fleet would try and join her in what would be dubbed heroicially as a "self-sacrifice mission" to protect the Chinese coast.

To accomplish this objective, the Chinese navy had few resources at their disposal.

The first was the "coastal submarine" or what the Chinese would call "the tin tadpole"


This model was derived from the German Type I U-boat and would be the "workhorse" of the Chinese submarine fleet. At the commencement of hostilies, the Chinese navy had 800 of these (including the trainer/minelayer variant) Its chief advantage was that it could be manufactured very easily and very quickly by an unskilled labour force and with unsophisticated machine tools. This was the main reason why the tadpole was the most numerous naval vessel the Chinese had at their disposal (ignoring the V-ships) - the Chinese made very few changes, mostly some rationalizations to make it easier to produce and manfucature. The engine was also upgraded to a faster one that could go 10 knots. The machine gun at the bow was scrapped and the ship was just armed with 2 torpedo tubes with a total of 4 torpedoes. The tadpole class submarine was not built for endurance, but it could do the job close to the coast. The tadpole class was mostly used for interdictions around the Peking pocket. The tadpole class suffered from many problems, most of which were carry overs from the German Type UB I Imperial German Navy submarine that the tadpole was based on. The first significant one was a structural one which all tadpole class submarines would have - the single propeller shaft/engine combination meant that if either failed, the ship would be stranded. The second one was the tendency for the ship to break trim when the torpedoes were fired, crew had to resort to placing ballast and in some cases running to the stern to prevent the ship from literally tipping over. The third one was in the problem of manufacturing, some tadpole submarines were so poorly made that the ship would literally fall apart after it had fired a torpedo. Despite it's many problems the tadpole class would sink the most Entete shipping out of any other item in the National Revolutionary Military's arsenal during the Second Great War. By war's end over 8000 tadpole class submarines would have been built (including trainers, replacements for sunk submarines, upgrades and other variants - including one that was intended to be dropped and picked up from an Airship...)

The Chinese preferred using the contact mine varient which was placed along likely coastal shipping routes unanchored.

There was another variant of the tadpole class which was essentialy just the tadpole class submarine without any torpedoe tubes. This variant was used as a 'trainer.' Trainee submarine crews generally started with this variant and used them to mine convoy routes, once they had successfully completed enough of these misions - they would graduate to the tadpole class - or if they were exceptionally great to the shark class submarine. Generally speaking, the most used mine of the Chinese Navy was a contact one, unanchored which would be scattered along usual routes. Because the mines were not anchored some foreign civilian ships and even some Chinese ships were lost. But they were generally effective in frustrating Japanese control of the Chinese coast.

The "Shark" class was derived from German schematics and virtually identical to the Type VII U-boat class

If the tadpole was the workhorse of the Chinese Navy then the "Shark" was the showhorse. Only the most rigorous and sophisticated manufacturing techniques were permitted to be used in the making of these submarines. Built with the help of German naval advisors and engineers the Shark was the creme-de-la creme of the submarine fleet. The Chinese navy had 150 of these at the start of the conflict and 50 were always held in strategic reserve to implement the "Pirhana Doctrine." This class of submarine was used from mundane tasks such as trade convoy interdiction to daredevil sneak attacks on Japanese harbours and some were used to transport strategic documents and communications with China's German allies concerning weapons developments.

The sinking of the "Kongo" was a David vs Golliath moment in the early days of the Sino-Japanese conflict and would be a real good propaganda boost for the morale of the Chinese people...

Despite the heavy losses that the Japanese navy inflicted upon the Chinese Navy, the submarine fleet began to deal real damage to that of the Japanese merchant shipping. There were even some notable lucky events that caught the attention of the Japanese and made them take the submarine fleet seriously. One such incident was the sinking of the Kongo by the humble Qikou a tadpole class submarine. The Japanese and Chinese were rapidly finding out that sometimes, a broken shield could be more dangerous than an intact one...

Next Update: The Split Arrow: The Chinese Air Force During the Early Second Great War

 

[CCA]

The Split Arrow: The National Revolutionary Air Force in The Early Second Great War

...The early days of the Second Great War saw the NRAF outclassed, outfought and outthought. The NRAF's planes were technically inferior to that of the Japanese air forces, their tactical doctrine - focussed mostly on ground support was obsolete in an era of indepdendent air forces and strategically in a bad positions...

Cutting edge when introduced, the Feng Ru V was showing it's age by 1938 despite upgrades

One of the primary problems of the NRAF was in their obsolete air craft, although the NRAF boasted one of the largest air forces in the world with nearly 5000 models of aircraft in different makes the main fighter the Feng Ru V was beginning to show it's age. The FR V had originally been based on the Junkers D.I aircraft and despite many upgrades on it's engines it was beginning to show it's age. The main problem was that the chassis was far too small to fit a bigger engine and that it had reached it's potential for further development. This was a problem as 4/5ths of the NRAF was that of FR Vs. There needed to be a new fighter design that could fulfill the multi-role nature of the FR V.

FR VI refuelling

The FR VI, like it's predecessor the FR V and the FR IV would also be derived from a German design - that of the Bf 109. Early prototype production began as early as late 1937 with an initial 10 being completed by the time of the Amoy attack. The obvious inferiority of the FR V in combat against the new Japanese figher planes - especially against the "Zero" which could outclimb, outspeed and outmanoeuvre the FR V meant that the Japanese gained effective air superiority over China. Indeed, in the early days of the Japanese invasion the kill ration for an average Japanese pilot was 5:1. The FR VI would be a much bigger plane that could fit a bigger engine - however, it was not due to enter mass production until 1939 where it would begin replacing the FR V, Chiang personally approved fast-tracking the mass production process to early 1938 instead.

Japanese bombing of Chinese cities prompted a major revision of Chinese

The tactical weakness of the NRAF was the result of it's role as a support air force. Indeed - there were no independent air squadrons with the doctrine suggesting that there would be one air squadron to one National Revolutionary Army division. The major flaw of this doctrine was it's inflexibility - it could not vary it's strenght whereas the enemy could. There were two main factors in the revision of this doctrine - the first was the Peking Pocket, rather than risk destruction at the pocket, many squadron leaders flew out of the pocket. This left the squadrons as 'indepdendent' ones and were used to good effect in protecting the air supply convoys of the pocket. The second was the bombing campaigns that the Japanese waged against Chinese cities. The garrison divisions protecting cities such as Shanghai usually contained only 30 planes which were greatly inadequate for protecting large cities - this prompted an ad-hoc approach where the area commands shifted planes to the divisions that needed them. But the two factors meant that there was little sense in continuing an obsolte doctrine.

As a response to the changing situation and obvious flaws in the current doctrine a revolution occured in NRAF organization. The NRAF was reorganized into a completely independent air force - as opposed to merely a theoretical one. The attachment of air squadrons to divisions was discontinued and there was - finally a centralized air force command. Although Air General Feng Ru had allowed Chiang to micromanage the air force - in return for lots of resources invested in it, Chiang was now too busy with the general war effort to micromanage everything. The air force was organized into a unified command structure with three major "commands" or missions the first command was the air support one - which would oversee the pursuit of air superiority in the battlefield and support ground troops. The squadrons dedicated to the "Air support" role were attached to Army HQ - not the divisional HQ as was the previous practise. The second command was that of "air defence" this was the attempt to pursue air superiority in China and defend Chinese cities - an early warning system was devised and implemented quickly. The final command was of "sea defence" which was the Chinese air force working with the Chinese navy to pin-point and sink Japanese vessels - as the NRAF lacked the means to pursue this at this point, most of the resources were directed to the crucial task of "air defence." With a reorganized command structure, a new tactical doctrine and a formiddable new fighter entering production the National Revolutionary Air Force was finally beginning to get ready to fight the Japanese on even terms. But first there needed to be the cathartic impact of a "Revengre Raid" for all that the Japanese had done so far.

 

[CCA]

The "Do nothing" raids

The Japanese attack had caught China off-guard and she was demoralized and reeling with her armies being forced to cede ground, her navy sunk to the bottom of the Amoy harbour, her air force grounded by her own obsolescence and her cities burned and crumbled under the relentless assaults of Japanese bombs.

There was only one thing that dominated the national mood and dominated the mind of China's leader Chiang Kai-shek: Revenge.

It was only natural that China would look for a way to strike back. He would find this in China's Zeppelin force.

Chinese Airship Zheng He emerges from her hangar

China had invested considerable resources - in time, money and skilled manpower in the construction and maintenance of these behemoths. Some have criticized Chiang and his Air Marshall Feng Ru for wasting "enormous resources" in the development of these airships. When the war broke out in 1937, China had 20 of these "Behemoth" class airships.

What were the use for these airships? Recently classified documents suggest that the main intention for these airships was to continue trade with Germany in the event of total blockade of China. However, the continued trade between China and the United States meant that there was a conduit for German-Chinese trade and it was decided not to risk the airships in long voyages over the Soviet Union and other nations.

It was decided to use these airships for a military application: to bomb Japan as an act of revenge. The first test would be the voyage of the airship Zhang He the Zhang He took off on January 1 1938 from a secret airfield in Tibet - it was decided to launch it from Tibet to minimize Japanese interception. Zhang He flew at 40000 feet - above the maximum ceiling of most Japanese fighters and carried 5 tons of bombs for the initial "Do Nothing" raid.

In order to scout out the territory and ensure accuracy, a plane was attached to the Zhang He(which was fitted with a fighter harness) the plan was for the Zhang He to navigate to Tokyo, lower himself to 20000 feet and send out the scout plane to do recoinnasance. With this conducted the Zhang He was authorized to drop the bombs.

The mission went off without a hitch - the first known attack of the "Behemoths" which would continue to torment Japan with continuing frequency as the war went on.

 

[CCA]

Yu Shen was sweating, partly in excitement and partly in exertion. He was excited and elated about his thesis - it had been a long and exhausting trip to China. It has also been a difficult one, meeting in dark corners of already dim-lit bars. Sleeping on bare floors and having to endure pain and discomfort living the life of a covert intelligence gatherer. But it was worth it, his thesis would be the entry into the comfy world of tenured academia (Yu Shen was only 21 and somewhat naive to the ways of academia.) He was sweating in extertion because he was climbing some really steep steps, but you know at least he got the flat for cheap. Turning his somewhat rusty key in he entered his studio room which he shared with his girlfriend Hanne.

After getting a drink of water and checking up on his favourite site the METAHISTORY Discussion Boards he settled down and began to re-work the drafts he had done.

SACO Re-Examined:
Sino-American Intelligence Cooperation
During The Second Great War
​

The Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO), headed by Cdr. Milton Miles of the US Navy and Bureau Chief Dai Li, the head of the "Census Bureau" which was in essence the primary Chinese Secret Police and intelligence gathering-operation. This article examines the history of SACO as a wartime institution during the war and some aspects of its politicized legacy throughout the Post-War Era.

"It is very difficult to describe historically what SACO really was after more than half a century of deliberate distortion and cover-up. SACO still exists to many, especially in the unfree and half-free worlds as an urban myth, a historical artifice constructed to cause a split in Sino-German relations. Despite this, the tales and actions of the brave men and women who worked in this obscure unit have been popularized through the pulp presses and in the movie theatres of the free world. The heroic adventures of the SACO unit have been distilled particularly well in the hit movie series featuring half-British, half-American heroine Joane Bond... Perhaps the popularity and integration of the SACO unit into Western pop culture has in fact been counter-productive in the acceptance of SACO as a real organization in many scholars of the Third Reich and the Third Republic..."

"...Faced with the suppression of so much crucial information and the gagging of many of it's key operatives, accomplishing this article was quite a difficult task. Nonetheless, I have been able to compile credible information from key people within SACO on the condition of total anonymity and to gleam out crucial information about it's existence, it's goals and what SACO actually did - divorced from the fictionalized version of this unit..."


"...SACO's official directive was to pursue a policy of limited intelligence integration between America and China and to help procure armaments and other crucial war materiel so that China could fight Japan more effectively. Toward that end, America would covertly act as the middleman for Chinese and German trade - creating dummy American corporations to carry out trade. American ships would carry Chinese tungsten and other rare metals to Hamburg and they would come back laden with German high-grade steel and Luftwaffe planes. Officially, all America wanted was a cut of the profits - a surcharge on each transaction - all in all, in true American fashion all America wanted to do was to secure a tidy sum in return for guaranteeing the life-blood of trade..."

"...However, SACO's story was more complicated than what this conventional, but still clandestine arrangement suggests. Unofficially, what the Americans wanted was a blind eye - and even occasional assistance of their endavours. The Americans ensured that SACO would become a conduit for one of the world's largest spy ring in both scale and in the audacity of it's operations. It would penetrate the German intelligence network and German High Command so thoroughly and so efficiently that FDR could get access to the confidential Fuhrer Reports just a day after Hitler had read them."

"Who were the brave men - and women who led the SACO unit? The titular head of the Chinese end of SACO - Bureau Chief Dai Li needs no further mention with the reams of biographies, articles and other biographies of this fascinating character. His role and the role of his Chinese compatriots was to cover up the existence of this unit, he did this rather easily by enforcing a ruthless policy of killing any Chinese person who found out about the unit without due authorization. He was seemingly brutally effective at this with not even his boss, Chiang Kai-shek knowing of the full extend of SACO's clandestine activities. On the American end, Cdr. Niles was in charge of managing a far-reaching intelligence network..."

"One of the most famous spy rings is also the one that still to a large extend eludes attempts to find out basic facts and information. The Hogan-Klink spy ring was one of the most deeply embedded in Germany - it was through this spy ring which the most confidential top level information available to only Hitler and his inner circles were passed through. This author has had access to several anonymous sources who have described "Hogan" as being a German-American who bears more than a passing resemblance to Colonel Robert Hogan, the American Army Air Force Liaison officer based in Berlin. Hogan's contact in the Fuhrer's inner circles was one "Colonel Klink" - this author has been unable to ascertain who the real identity of this individual was, perhaps a wise thing given the authoritarian conditions that still prevail in the Reich today. But there are rumours swirling around that this individual was a top aide in the Luftwaffe and possibly an aide to Reichsmarshall Goering - some sources argue that he was a German Jew who was disgruntled with the forced exile of many Jews to China..."

"...It was previously thought that this was the full extent of the activities of the SACO unit. However, this author has been able to uncover new leads that reveal previously secret information about the activities of the Chinese end of the SACO unit..."

Yu heard the door opening but ignored it, so engrossed in the work.

"The activities of the Chinese SACO unit (henceforth refered to as CSACO for convenience) included such mundane things such as funding the Chinese-American friendship society to slightly dodgy things such as laundering money through some Chinese-Americans to make donations to several campaigns in 1940, most notably that of the Roosevelt Re-election campaign... Perhaps most controversial is the evidence of nuclear espionage in the American Atom Bomb project..."

Yu didn't notice the shadow besides him until it was far too late.



The shadow engulfed him in it's soft and warm embrace:

"Honey! You're back!" cried Hanne Ling as she kissed Yu.

Yu broke into a huge smile after Hanne released him.

"Hmm... Yes. I've missed you so much... You know what we need to catch up on..."

"Oh, what's that?" Hanne said mock-beatifically fluttering her eyes for effect.

Yu lunged for a kiss. But Hanne broke it.

"Brush your teeth first lover boy."

Yu had never been so excited to brush his teeth. Hanne had always loved it when they kissed with his breath fresh from mint or toothpaste, Yu suspected that she had some sort of strange fetish, but it wasn't really that weird so he didn't really care all that much.

When he came out of the bathroom he found Hanne sitting at the laptop with a sad look on her face.

"Is everything OK?"

"Yeah I'm fine... Have you shown anyone else your draft?"

"Nah, you're the first to see it!" Yu said breaking into a grin of pride and happiness.

"That's fortunate then."

Darkness took Yu.

 

[CCA]

The Battle of Beiping

The Battle of Beiping was a major battle of The Second Great War in which the Japanese Army and its allies fought the Chinese Republic for control of the city of Beiping (now Beijing) in northeastern China. The battle took place between 7 December 1937 and 7 December 1938 and was among the largest on the China Front, and was marked by its brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties. It was amongst the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare with the higher estimates of combined casualties amounting to nearly two million deaths. The outcome was disastrous for China, and created a stalemate in the Northern Front, leading to trench-warfare stasis for several years.

Chinese militia units being rushed to defend Beiping - seen in the characteristic "white" uniform of the militia

The Japanese assault to capture the city began on the dawn of 7 December 1937, nearly a week after the attack on Amoy. This initial assault was rather haphazard, made by tired and disorganized IJA units - on the other hand the city was being defended by disorganized militias. However, entrenched positions and urban combat heavily favoured the NRA militias and this allowed the NRA to triumph in the first round of the long battle.

"...Following this was a long siege which started with the cutting off of Beiping from supplies. The NRA desperately attempted to bring supplies into the Beiping pocket and made efforts to evacuate civilians..."

"...Nonetheless, it was clear by early February that the Qimou port and the other supply methods - while able to supply the Beiping pocket with enough food supplies, could not supply anywhere near enough ammunition - if it was a choice between ammunition or food, Field Marshall Bai Chongxi chose the latter to stop his men and the millions of civilians left in the pocket starving..."

"...With the snow thawing, it was only a matter of time before the Japanese and Manchurian armies would attack again. The Military Council, led by Chiang decided to relieve the pocket immediately, and if possible to hold the city and establish a new line anchored around Beiping."

"...The April Fool Offensive began on April 1 1938. Although the "Spring Storm" offensive was scheduled to begin in June, the IJA successfully cut off the Qimou-Beiping link - bringing an element of urgency to the whole operation and necessitating that the date be bought forward..."

"...The offensive began with a roar of Monster-guns firing ahead to demoralize and confuse the IJA and Manchurian troops. Artillery, mortars and machine guns added to the dim of that clear morning. What remained of China's once proud Tank divisions spearheaded the offensive. Unfortunately, the Japanese had complete air superiority at this point with much of the Chinese Air Force being pulled back to protect the Chinese cities from bombardments. For once the IJA and IJN were able co-operate successfully as IJA planes spotted successfully for IJN Battleships and Heavy Cruisers..."

Destroyed NRA tanks being dragged back for salvage.

"...Although the National Revolutionary Army had made some gains, it was clear merely a week later that this would not be enough. Japanese Naval support and complete air superiority played havoc with the NRA's attempts to move forward... The result was bloody, what remained of the "Elite divisions" had been squandered and lay bloody and broken over the plains of North China... The Tank Armies were also no more, torn apart over open skies by the shells of sea behemoths..."

"...However, Field Marshall Bai Chongxi did not lose hope. He set about fortifying Beiping and preparing for a long and bloody battle..."

Elite Manchurian "Imperial Guards" commanded by Crown Prince Zhang Xueliang was a key part to the reduction of Beiping.

"...The Japanese attack on Beiping began on October 1 1938 with assaults of Manchurian troops. Manchurian elite "Imperial Guards" under the command of Crown Prince Zhang Xueliang fanatically attacked - every day and every night... After being softened up, the Japanese moved in, clearing each city block street by street."

"...By December 7, 1938 - it was clear that resistance was futile. Field Marshall Bai Chongxi lowered the Kuomintang flag from the ruins of the Imperial palace and hoisted a white flag. Japan had won the first major engagement of the Second Great War. What followed was a brutal massacre of the remaining civilians and the surrendered NRA soldiers (although admitedly, the line was blurry in the final days...) In peacetime conditions this would have led to an international outcry - however, events in Europe were rapidly beginning to take up international attention..."

 

[CCA]

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?

 

[CCA]

1940

It returns! Was going to just write 1940-1943 - but a bit of mission creep happened with 1940 and it was bigger than expected.

1940

In Europe:
The French Front
The French Front continued in a state of indecisive stalemantes. Men, materiel and morale went into the meatgrinder of the Western Front with little or not result. German forces would eventually push out the combined Franco-British-Dutch-Belgian troops out of the low countries by the end of the year with heavy casualties on both sides.

The Scandinavian Front
As the French front stalemated, the Admiralty began to look for a way to break the back of Germany through a combination of terror bombing and blockade. Sweedish iron ore was a crucial component of the German war machine and in order to cut off this crucial supply the Navy began to lay mines. Despite strong protests of the Danish and Norwegian governments, the mine laying commenced.

Danish troops like pictured above provided valiant, if futile resistance.
Unknown to the Entente powers, Germany had contingency plans in case this occurred - planning to import Iron ore from the Soviet Union and the USA (through neutral Italy.) However, the Entente provided a useful casus beli to justify 'intervention' in the Scandinavian countries. On March 9 1940, German forces commenced "Operation Weserübung." The Danish campaign commenced swiftly with Denmark capitulating after less than a day. The Norwegian campaign would be a lot tougher.

Chiang Wei-Kuo, one of Chiang's sons was an officer in the elite Gebirgsjager mountain troops.

On March 11 1940, Norway faced the awkward situation of being the only country in the Second Great War to be simultaneously invaded by both the Axis and the Entente Powers. Prime Minister Churchill, who took power after Chamberlain's resignation in the aftermath of Germany's swift occupation of Denmark took decisive action through a 'pre-emptive intervention to assist the Norwegian Government' in what was referred to as Plan R 4. Unfortunately for Churchill, Norwegian Prime Minister Nygaardsvold was intent on maintaining neutrality and ordered Norwegian forces to fire on any troops attempting to land - thus the initial landings at Narvik was resisted by Norwegian forces...

While Norway was facing an 'intervention' in the North by Entente forces, Axis forces was simultaneously invading the South. The initial German invasion of Norway was botched with several troop carriers being sunk by a combination of mines, coastal artillery fire and bad luck. Faced with both the Entente and Axis invasions, the Nygaardsvold government fled to Helsinki along with the Royal family. Three months of brutal fighting in Norway commenced with the remaining Norwegian army splitting in three - a faction was loyal to the Mowinckel government set up in Narvik by Allied Forces, another faction remained loyal to the Helsinki Government and fought both Allied and Axis forces and the last (and smallest) faction declared loyalty to the Quisling Government in Oslo. It would not be until June that Entente forces were finally pushed out of the country.

Italy Enters the War
Buoyed by Axis success in the Scandinavian Front and with Italy no longer being needed to stay Neutral in order to facilitate shipments of international Iron ore, Italy now formally honoured the Axis Pact and declared war on the Entente (The British Commonwealth, France and Japan) on the 10th of July. Italian forces commenced limited offensives in British held Egypt and Somaliland and put on defensive facings on French-held colonies. Italian forces successfully occupied British Somaliland, but faced tough resistance in the Egyptian front. Italy faced the issue in the Mediterranean of having to wrestle with the powerful French and British navies and supplying her colonies proved difficult.


In Asia:

The Indo-China Front:
French forces are successfully kept at bay by difficult terrain and fanatical resistance by the National Revolutionary Army. The narrow front is easier to defend and Chinese troops enjoy local superiority in numbers. A pro-independence insurgency funded by Nanking and Berlin are not helpful for French supply lines either.

The Burmese Front:
The Burmese front poses even more significant logistics problems than the Indo-China front. The terrain in Yunnan is very mountainous, rough and are defended by locals who know the terrain and are fighting with grim determination for a cause they believe in. The British order of battle is a mixture of a core of British forces, colonial troops from India and Commonwealth troops from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The Tibet Front:
If the Burmese front was difficult, the Tibetan front was even worse logistically for both parties. The lack of infrastructure, rough terrain and huge distances meant that the "Tibet Front" was mostly a collection of commando raids and company-level actions organized by both sides. The Tibet front was notable for the use of Airships by the Chinese forces to resupply and land commando detachments behind enemy lines.

The North-China/Manchuria Front:
The North China front developed into a stalemate. It was trench warfare with tanks and aircraft. Everytime Japan managed to force a breakthrough with superior firepower, China would put the fire out by smothering it in bodies. Conversely, everytime the NRA forced a breakthrough through infilitration tactics and sheer manpower, Japan would smother it under concentrated naval support. As the year ended, Japanese and Chinese troops would glare at each other across pretty much the same lines they glared at each other from at the start of the year. Sure, the ground was bloodier - but it was the same ground.


The air-war:

Wellington Bombers launched frequent sorties to bomb Chinese cities.

The National Revolutionary Air Force was re-organized to be an independent force and reorientated from a primarily Army-support air force to an air-defence one. The FR VI - licensed copies of the BF - 109 continued mass production. And the NRAF had a lot to defend against, British Wellington bombers flying from Hong-Kong, Malaysia and Burma as well as French bombers who came day and night to bomb Chonqing, Guangzhou and China's southern industrial base. Japanese bombers flew frequent sorties from Manchuria and from carriers to bomb China's coastal cities off her eastern seabord - Shanghai, Nanking and others.

The NRAF was fighting a losing war against three modern air forces, while it struggled to re-equip to the FR VI and Chinese cities burned. Horror images of burnt Chinese men, women and children were frequent staples of Axis propaganda that was produced for American audiences. But as more and more FR VIs came online - particularly the cannon-equipped variant that took on bombers with more ease than the machine-gun equipped ones.

The Propaganda War:
The British Declaration of War against China offended many of her Indian subjects - particularly the leaders of the Indian National Congress. For one, the war had very heavy colonialist undertones, for another offence was taken that India was included in the declaration of war without consultation with her leaders and finally, Indian troops were being used to fight a war against a 'friendly' country. For many Indian National Congress members, the Kuomintang was a friendly party and many INC leaders had been hosted by the Kuomintang.

Indian National Congress member and independence leader
The situation in India was tense, and matters were not helped when a faction of the INC - led by Subhas Chandra Bose fled to Nanking in October 1940 and set up a Provisional Government of India. Bose also set about organizing an Indian National Army from Indian exiles and prisoners of war. Nanking further stoked the fires of anti-colonialist sentiment by sending arms to Indochinese, Indonesian, Malay, Burmese and other Asian independent movements.


The 1940 US Election
The defining issue of the US Election was the "Roosevelt Doctrine" - an assertion that the US would continue to trade with 'whomever, wherever and whatever' and that it would ignore any blockades. The war had made the US very rich. It sold raw materials, war goods and credit to both the Entente and the Axis - laying it on a path to recovery. It wasn't a surprise that Roosevelt won with a landslide.

 

[CCA]

The National Revolutionary Air Force Mid-War

"...The opening salvo of the China Reunifcation War and the subsequent eruption of what was a regional conflict into the Second Great War had shown the limits of what a purely ground support focused air force could do. Following the entry of Great Britain and France on the Japanese side (The Entente) and the entry of Italy and Germany into the Chinese side (The Axis) - the conflict took on a global dimension which means that the nascent National Revolutionary Air Force had to adapt - or get left behind..."

"The main challenge that the National Revolutionary Air Force faced was to protect Chinese industry, Chinese forces and Chinese cities from the now daily air raids being conducted. Air Marshall Feng Ru had to do this while updating the equipment, doctrines and techniques of the NRAF from one focussed on ground support to one focused on air defense and interdiction.

The equipment of the NRAF was most desperately in need of updating. The FR V was too slow to chase bombers and perhaps more relevant - unable to even climb to the altitudes most of the British bombers operated in. Trials had already begun in 1937 of the German plane Messerschmidt B.F 109 aircraft. Feng Ru and Chiang accelerated this process and the FR VI (as the licensed copy of the BF 109 was known in China) started entering mass production in early 1939 with front-line units being equipped with the new fighter from mid-1939 (contrary to some other sources that say that the FR VI entered service in 1938 - this was impossible as teething problems with the German DB 601 engine meant that it did not become available until 1939) The FR V would be modified and continued to be produced as a ground attack aircraft, but the FR VI would be the NRAF's frontline fighter from here on until the end of the war. The FR VI-a1 was the early model fighter which was equipped with 4 7.92mm machine-guns (two in the wing, two in the nose.) After some field experience with British bombers and Japanese zeros, the armament was upgraded to 3 x 20mm MG/FF cannon (two in the wings, 1 in the nose) and 2 x 7.92mm machine guns in the cowl in the updated FR VI-a2 which began to appear in numbers in late 1939. The FRVI-a2 would remain the NRAF fighter of choice until late 1942 when the FRVI-bs would make their appearance in large numbers (although the FRVI-a2 would get small upgrades for performance, the changes were never listed as a variant)

The strategic doctrine of the NRAF was modified to reflect the new priority of air defence. Although technically already independent of the National Revolutionary Army, the Air Force was organizationally embedded in the NRA, with it's squadrons being attached to Army Corps. Feng Ru decided to copy elements of the Luftwaffe's structure by re-organizing the NRAF into geographical districts called "Air Armies." These Air Armies would be headed by Air-Generals and have further subdivisions called Air Corps which would be headed by an Air-Colonel. These Air Corps would have responsibility for specific geographic areas within the area. The Air Corps would then be divided into Air Brigades, commanded by a Major with each airfield typically hosting one Air Brigade. Finally, these Air Brigades would consist of 5-10 squadrons which 5-10 planes each, typically commanded by a Lieutenant or Captain. This Air Squadron formed the basis of an air combat unit.

The final innovation that needed to be done was the air technique. The air acadamy curriculum was re-written to De-emphasize ground attack and focus on dog-fighting and air interdiction. This was intended to counter the phenomenon of NRAF pilots myopically ignoring air combat to focus on ground attack. While this was appreciated by the army who developed a saying "The Feng Rus will always get through," this caused high casualty rates on pilots. The lack of emphasis on air combat also meant that there were relatively few Chinese aces pre-1939.


The Air War:

Manchurian schoolgirls wave goodbye to a Nakajima Ki-43 "Hayabusa" fighter using cherry blossoms provided by Japan in a propaganda photo.

China vs Japan

The NRAF was used to fighting Japan. The new FR VI-a1s and a2s were more than a match for Japanese Zeros and Hayabusa's it fought from the 1939-1941 period. While less manouverable than Zeros and Hayabusas, it was more heavily armed, could climb and cruise faster and retained energy better. Although initially, Japan claimed many victories due to the inexperienced Chinese pilots who attempted to turn-fight, once Chinese pilots adapted to Japanese tactics, they found scoring victories much easier and managed a roughly even fight. NRAF fighters could hack Japanese bombers out the sky relatively easily too without fighter escort.

 

[CCA]

I just realized that for some reason, the latter half didn't post.

The NRAF and Ground Support
One should not mistake the reorganization of the NRAF into an air defence focussed air force into abandonment of Ground Support. The FRV was seen to be a suitable close air support plane and used in the same capacity pre-reform, as a decent dive bomber and ground attack plane. The surplus NRAF FRVs also meant that China never really developed medium or heavy bombers. There was no production capacity to spare and anyway, Airships were intended to fulfill that function.

The NRAF and Strategic Bombing
Postwar analysts would deride NRAF's obsession with Airships as a 'costly white elephant,' at a time when many Air forces had abandoned the formal use of Airships, China continued to invest and build more of them to use as bombers against Japan. The main advantage of Airships was that they could attain altitude that made it difficult for Japanese to engage in, more often than not, they could get away, release bombs and get away. However, on analysis - the NRAFs Airship bombing campaign was not strategically significant. There is no evidence that they damaged Japanese production in any meaningful way - there were too few of them. The failure to realize this and the continuation of investment in them was probably one of China's big mistakes in the Second Great War. It is true however that building airships did not really come at the expense of other type of production, the materials that Chinese airships used - reinforced wood, silk, helium - was not really used for any other aircraft. The propaganda value to them was also immense - while Chinese men, women and children were huddling and squatting in makeshift dugouts, they though they could take cold comfort in the fact that the Japanese were also doing the same thing.

The NRAF and anti-ship interdiction
Faced with the destruction of much of China's surface navy, the NRAF was also tasked with the unpleasant and difficult task of trying to prevent an invasion by sea and stop Franco-British-Japanese navies from mercilessly shelling Chinese coastal cities. This was not a task that the NRAF could do easily. It was already stretched to capacity trying to protect Chinese cities and Chinese armies from air attack and the impossible naval superiority of Entente forces meant that FRVs running bombing sorties had to go through a wall of flak and anti-aircraft fire. Air Marshall Feng Ru's assessment of the strategic situation was frank: "...The National Revolutionary Air Force will be unable to meaningfully interdict, repel or guard against any amphibious invasion..." The NRAF could probably make any amphibious invasion costly and expensive, but if the NRAF went all-out against an attempted invasion it would be "destroyed as a fighting force..."

The MS. 406 was the main fighter encounted by FR Vs and VIs. Against the Vs, they dominated, but they struggled against the faster and more heavily armed VI variants.

China vs France
France treated the China front predominantly with disinterest. She was disinterested because her mortal foe and existential threat to her existence - Germany was only a stone's throw away compared to the more remote China. And France had only reluctantly declared war on China anyway, so she didn't have much in the fight. Although French forces made initial attacks in 1939, the front quickly settled into a stalemate after indecisive fighting. In fact, by the end of 1940 - there were more Japanese troops in Indochina than French, a fact greeted with alarm by some.

The air war was an extended reflection of this, with the Chinese front getting the dregs of French equipment. Old MS.406 fighters which were hacked out o the sky with ease in Germany were a staple here and they cut through old FR Vs with ease. However, when the upgraded FR VIs made their way to the frontlines, they would hack through MS.406s like hot knife through butter.





Britain vs China:

Boston Defiants were one of the motley range of aircraft that Britain bought to bear against China in the opening stages of the Second Great War.


At the onset of the Second Great War, the China front was not seen by Britain as a 'priority' area. Colonialist attitudes lingered and it was seen very much as a 'colonial' conflict. So second-rate aircraft were stationed in the China front - aircraft such as the Gladiator, Boston Defiant, Fairey Battle, decent enough aircraft for their times - but 'obsolete' in Europe. It was a sign of how overstreched and obsolete the NRAF had become that these aircraft were able to compete at a competitive level - at least at the beginning.

As 1940 wore-on and more and more squadrons converted to the FR VI-a2, it became more necessary to prioritize modern aircraft to the China front. Hurricanes and Spitfires became common foes of the FR VI-a2s. The FR VI was an even match for the Hurricane, it was slightly faster, had guns and could climb faster - but the Hurricane could turn better, had a tougher airframe and more ammo. The Spitfire, on the other hand had the slight edge on the FR VI, being able to turn better, go faster and climb faster with the tradeoff being a light airframe (which the FR VIs cannons could demolish with ease)

The lack of opposition from the NRAF and conversely, the stiff German resistance to the RAF's strategic bombing campaign led to a discussion about bringing RAF's campaign from Germany to China. The conditions were right for it: close airfields, close proximity of Chinese industry and more importantly a growing sense of desperation and determination to end the stalemate by knocking out what Churchill saw as the Axis' 'weak link.' By the end of 1940, Churchill commissioned two studies: (1) If it was possible to destroy Chinese industry using Britain's Air Power. (2) A feasibility study on the use of an amphibious invasion to outflank Chinese forces...

 

[CCA]

1941: The European Front

The European Front

"...The fundamental lack of Italian action in the North African front was primarily due to politics. The commander of Italian forces in Libya was the popular and competent Governor of Libya - Italo Balbo. Balbo's popularity meant that Mussolini saw him as a potential rival. As a result, Mussolini stripped the Libyan front of much needed materiel, men and supplies and ordered Balbo to maintain a defensive posture. Jealous of the success of Italy's German allies in Scandinavia, Mussolini would seek Italian conquests in the Balkans..."

(1) The Italian Naval Base at Taranto pictured. Not shown is the early warning systems established in the wake of the sinking of the Chinese Navy at port which led to Italian victory at Taranto.

"First however, Italy needed to get rid of a running sore on her foot. Malta had been under siege since Italian entry into the Second Great War and was now exposed due to British defeat at the Battle of Taranto the year before. The Battle of Taranto was an attempt at attacking the Regia Marina in December 1940 while she was at port in the naval base at Taranto. However, Italian planners had learned from the destruction of the Chinese Navy at the onset of the Second Great War and had set up early warning systems. The result was a bloodbath for the British Royal Navy, with the brand new HMS Illustrious, and half of her escorts being sunk due to a sortie of the Regia Marina and air cover provided by the Regia Aeronautica for a loss of only two aircraft on the Italian side and a damaged destroyer..."

(2) The Giulio Cesare firing guns at Malta. This was part of a merciless two month bombardment campaign by air and sea which prevented reinforcements and paralyzed the garrison.

"...Italian victory at Taranto had not only given the Fascist regime a much needed victory, it also changed the balance of power in the Mediterrenean. Accordingly, plans which had been made pre-war were bought into action. In order to demonstrate Italian independence and put Mussolini's theory of the "Parallel War" into action, German aid which was offered was refused completely. Italy would take Malta by herself without help from what Mussolini saw as overbearing German 'Allies.' Preparations were made, an extensive campaign of naval and air bombardment began in January 1941 and 40,000 Italian troops landed in February 26. The demoralized, exhausted and outnumbered British garrison surrendered a day later. The stunning Italian triumph meant that Italy was one step closer of realizing her dream of the Mediterranean as an "Italian lake..."

"....Italy had two rough options in the aftermath of Malta. Option 1 was the "African Plan" which was to build up forces in Libya under the command of Balbo and then invade Egypt, cutting off British access to the Suez Canal. Option II was to expand across the Balkans and set up a sphere of influence in that direction. Although later military historians would argue that Option I was the correct 'strategic decision,' the reality of Fascist politics meant that Mussolini did not dare empower Balbo. If a triumphant Balbo drove the British across Egypt and seized the canal, then the Fascist Grand Council might have considered Balbo as a suitable replacement. Faced with this political dilemma, Mussolini opted for Option II."

(3) Yugoslavian leader Prince Paul with Adolf Hitler after the accession of Yugoslavia into the "Pact of Steel."

"...However, there were also important strategic considerations in pursuing a "Balkan Strategy." Combined Italo-German diplomacy had forced the accession of Yugoslavia into the Pact of Steel on March 27 1941. This meant that the only thing standing in the way of Axis dominance in the Mediterranean was Greece. Greece would face attacks on three fronts, the Bulgarian front, the Yugoslavian front and the Albanian front. While German troops would not take part in any of the attacks, there was an upsurge of German "Volunteers" and "Advisers" in both the Bulgarian and Yugoslavian armies. (Indeed, these 'volunteers' would help crush an attempted pro-Entete coup attempted on 1 April 1941...)"

(4) Greek forces digging trenches in anticipation of the conflict.

"...Meanwhile, while the Axis Powers prepared to attack, they were busy at work preparing a diplomatic fait accompli. Italy, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria with German diplomatic support presented a proposal which would've effectively dismembered Greece, surrendering border territories to Italy, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, acceding to the Tripartite Pact and placing a pro-Axis government in control of the country. When these terms were refused, the Axis powers declared war and Greece formally became part of the Entente on the 22 June 1941. France and Britain, the two primary powers of the Entete had prepared for such an eventuality and actually had a expeditionary force ready to go. The Franco-British Expeditionary Force (FBEF) was 200,000 strong and composed of French colonial troops, ANZAC troops, British troops and even some Indian troops. They were supplemented by an air corps consisting of French and British planes, but these planes were mostly obsolete ones that had been taken off service from 'important' fronts.

"...Outnumbered, outgunned and quite often outflanked, the Entente defenders put up a valiant, but losing struggle. The sheer weight of Axis materiel and manpower combined with Italian air superiority and the tenuous allied supply lines meant that Greece would fall by December (although Crete would not fall until February 1942.) The FBEF, along with 100,000 Greek troops were successfully evacuated to Egypt. Greece was an exhausting battle for the Axis however, and in many ways a Phyrric victory. Nonetheless, as Greece was dismembered three ways and a puppet pro-Axis government was established in Athens - it did not feel like a victory..."


The Western Front:
The Western Front continued to remain as a stalemate, as German troops were redelpoyed to serve as "Volunteers" in the armies of her Balkan allies and the Franco-British troops were redeployed to the Greek front. It was a cliche, but the Western front had stabilized and stagnated strategically. It seemed as if both the Axis and Entente had decided that the war would be won or lost somewhere else and thus things were all quiet on the western front.


Sources:
(1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tarantoharb1921.jpg
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malta_(World_War_II)#Italian_invasion_plans
(3) http://www.princepaulroyalexile.com/synopsis.html
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Italian_War

Next update: Will probably be about the various Home Fronts.

 

[CCA]

The Home Fronts:

Part 1: The Entente
Table 1: Entente Military Production in 1941


Aircraft
Armor
Artillery
United Kingdom
(Total Commonwealth)
23,000
5,500
50,000
France *

15,000
3,500
25,000
Japan
13,000
2,000
20,000

Manchuria
2,000
1,000
10,000
* (Could not find reliable sources to have fudged it at half of UK's total.)




The Home Front situation of the Entente reached critical point by the end of 1941. Defeats in Greece, Malta and North China had eroded the morale of the civilian and political classes. Nonetheless, the key Entente powers held on: powered on by the fear of a harsh post-war settlement from the seemingly victorious Axis.

United Kingdom:
The UK was sagging from the weight of fighting a three front war and fighting a war on her home front from Fascist and Communist agitation. The UK Labour Party had reluctantly thrown herself into the coalition government following the German declaration of war, but had previously opposed the "Colonial Adventure" in China. This reluctant coalition oversaw a massive increase in the United Kingdom's borrowing from America in order to finance an increasingly expensive war.

India and her colonies was another major issue on the home front. The entry of UK Labour had softened up what had previously been a hardline stance. More devolution and post-war independence was guaranteed to India in order to win her support for what had become an exhausting conflict. Indian manpower was needed to sustain the losses suffered by the Empire. Although some of the manpower could be plugged by Commonwealth Canada, Australia and New Zealand, India's massive manpower reserves were thought to be limitless. This strategy was useful, but was limited by the continued bubbling away of discontent of more fervent Nationalists who were receiving arms, materiel and propaganda from across the Indo-Chinese border.

Another way to deal with them was by increasing the use of women in factories and workplaces. The Commonwealth economy was increasingly being geared towards war production and this required the total mobilization of all resources.

The combined GDP of the Commonwealth was approximately worth $700 billion (in 1990 terms. ) (1) This did not necessarily translate into Industrial production as a lot of India, Africa and other of Britain's colonial possessions were not industrialized. Nonetheless, the British Commonwealth was the most industrially productive of the Entente Powers, producing about 23,000 aircraft of various types, 5,500 armoured fighting vehicles (5,000 of which were tanks) and 50,000 various pieces of artillery (excluding mortar calliber pieces and below.)

France:
France fought on. Despite the lack of support for the war among the Communists and sections of the Hard Left, France proceeded with a crash-course program of mobilization. The was was not necessarily a popular one to start with, but as it had been transformed into a defensive one, it gained some measure of popular legitemacy with all but the most Moscow-Line communists getting onboard.

Unlike the British, France was not blessed with a colonial Empire as well resourced, as advanced and as Industrialized as the British one. France had no equivalent to Canada, Australia or New Zealand and so Metropolitan France contributed to a great deal of her production capacity with the colonies playing a role of supplying manpower both to fight for and to toil away in French factories and farms as well as crucial raw materials to keep her economy going.

However, despite this, French factories were able to keep pace and be the second most productive part of the Entente powers. French tanks and aircraft were highly advanced and very competitive on the field. Under the unlikely leadership of a reluctant Reynauld, France continued on the war, afraid of what would happen if she didn't.


Japan:
It is with some irony that the most totalitarian and 'mobilized' society out of the Entente had the least amount of production. But that would be an unfair verdict. Japan's rapid industrialization and modernization was the envy of much of the non-white world and sought to follow her example. Nonetheless, much of Japan's industrial capacity was essentially limited by the fact that Japan industrialization was quite recent.

The "Imperial Aid Association," encouraged by Prime Minister Tojo had monopolized political power within the Empire and faciliated a total mobilization of society. Despite this mobilization, Japan was still hampered by a low industrial base. There was only so much that "total Mobilization" could do when there were only a limited amount of factories.

Raw materials was not a problem for the Empire. Korean iron and Manchurian coal were complemented with Dutch rubber when Japan "secured" Dutch Indonesia in early 1941. There wasn't much that the Dutch Government-in-Exile in London could do but send formal protests. Japan was too important to the war effort. While much of Franco-British production was concentrated on the Italo-German fronts, Japanese troops bore the brunt of combat against China.

Nonetheless, while Japanese industrial capacity was not on par with her European allies, it was still capable of producing advanced design. The Japanese Zero fighter was universally acknowledged as being one of the best designs of the war, being able to go long-rangers and manoeuvre beautifully. It was also a relatively easy and uncomplicated aircraft to fly. Japanese tank design was not so advance, but then again - set against the Chinese made modified CV 38s, they were more than adequate to deal with the opposition.

Despite the long strides that Japan made and the advanced nature of Japanese aircraft design, France and Britain still looked at Japan with a colonialist mindset. When Japanese troops were slowly beaten back across North China over the course of 1941, there was some thinking that "White Troops" could solve the Chinese Question. Japan used this to her advantage in arguing for a "Southern Strategy" whereby Franco-British troops would invade Southern China as the 'tip' of the spear and Japanese troops would follow. Increasingly, in the wake of the strategic stalemate that developed, this was becoming more and more of a serious option...




Sources

(1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_production_during_World_War_II#Major_weapons_groups

http://ww2-weapons.com/History/Production/

(Part 2: The Axis Powers is next)

 

[CCA]

Part 2: The Axis Powers

Table 1: Axis Arms Production in 1941

View attachment 239962


Despite comprehensive victories against the Entente powers on virtually every front in 1941, post-war analysis has revealed that the Axis Powers were outproduced in 1941. Despite the relative outpacing of production, Axis powers, particularly Italy, punched above their weight.

Germany:

Albert Speer's ascension to high office filled the void left by the death of Fritz Todt on the "Iron Line."

The Domestic Situation

The Domestic-Political Situation in Germany was stable. The German population, under constant propaganda bombardment by Dr. Goebbels, under constant surveillance by the Gestapo and under total mobilization from March 1941 was too cowed to produce anything resembling resistance. Although German success was relatively few in 1941, there were no great losses either and the Balkan Front was portrayed as largely a German success, rather than an Italian one.

The big change in the power games of the Nazi Elite was the ascension of a previously obscure Albert Speer to the top. The departure of Fritz Todt to Turkey and subsequent accident meant that a big void had been opened up. Speer's appointment to the Ministry of Armaments meant that he was now one of the party bigwigs alongside Goebbels, Himmler, Borman and Goering forming with them a lose 'pentarchy' - underneath, of course Hitler.

Arms Production

The key feature in 1941 was a decision to ramp up German mobilization and conduct a total mobilization of German society. This decision was made largely due to fears of an impeding two-front war and the need to knock France out of the war, as quickly as possible. TOTALER KRIEG became the order of the day as women and foreign labourers were used to serve in the factories so that more German men could serve in the divisions. However, the results of the Totaler Krieg would be fully reflected in production statistics until 1942 when many of the key reforms had taken effect.

Ironically, much of TOTALER KRIEG was financed and supplied by American dollars and American raw materials. Soviet-German tension had rapidly increased with small scale skirmishes across the Polish -Soviet border throughout the year. Soviet raw materials, which Germany was reliant on, was no longer an option and so a combination of ersatz goods and American imports was used to fill the void.

The Jewish Question

As the tempo of war increased, so did anti-semitism across the German Reich. A large part of it was orchestrated by Dr. Goebbel's propaganda machine, intent as it was on focusing the hatred of the German masses onto an external, existential threat in order to justify the greater mobilization of German society.

However, the organized deportations before had been conducted largely through the Soviet Union, with trainloads of Jews being routed to through the Soviet Union and then to China. From the start of 1941, this was no longer an option. A few radicals and racial fanatics suggested a program of extermination, but this was not viewed as a viable option. Germany had committed to supporting her Chinese ally by 'exporting' the Jewish population and so a different solution was sought.

The solution came in the form of a railway that ran between Turkey-Persia-Afghanistan and then to Kashgar. Although overtures had previously been made to construct a railway between Turkey to Persia in order to provide an unbroken link between the two Axis powers, this was not undertaken. However, as the Axis increasingly dominated the Balkans and the Mediterranean, Turkey was eventually won over by the stick (fear of Italo-German 'intervention') and the carrot (the construction of critical infrastructure.) It is important to note that although the final stages of the 'link' between Persia and Turkey was not completed until 1941, German engineers had already been active from 1939 onwards in 'assisting' Turkey in a "Railway modernization project." Afghanistan and Persia was already leaning towards the Axis, so it was not difficult to convince her to allow Sino-German engineers access to assist in the construction of a railway link. Similarly, Afghanistan and Persia were already the beneficiaries of a similar project from China in the interwar years so 1941 was the year of linking these projects together.

It is a testament to the lunacy of German racism during World War 2 that such a massive infrastructure and engineering project was conceived, planned and then successfully executed within three years. From an outside perspective, a civilized and modern country spending so much time, money and resources in order to expel what had been it's most educated, successful and loyal minority, was an act of complete lunacy. Nonetheless, it was carried out by Organization Todt with co-operation from the Chinese Bureau of Statistics and completed by the end of the 1941. Countless of lives, Reichmarks and resources had been spent in constructing this railway. Although Hitler's propaganda machine had coined the impressive sounding "Iron Line," for those who lived around the lines where so much blood had been spilt to construct it, it was known as the "Blood Line."

Unsurprisingly, the opening of the "Iron Line" was met with alarm by the Entente powers. Hurried plans for a military intervention in Persia was drawn up by both France and the UK with a surprising power coming to the table...

China:

The Domestic-Political Situation:
China's slow slide towards authoritarianism continued apace in 1941, despite Chiang relinquishing a lot of control over to the "Triad" of Dai Li (the Minister in charge of the Bureau of Statistics, Information and Statistics), Wang Jingwei (the Prime Minister and Vice President) and T.V Soong (The Premier and Finance Minister) in order to take personal command of the Northern Expedition Army. However, it was not a deliberate slide towards authoritarianism, it was one borne out of the desire for every man in the Triad to assume as much power as they could.

A comprehensive system of air raid warnings under Wang's "National Office of Civil Protection" emerged. (2)

As Entente air raids towards South China escalated, there was an increasing need to create a unified, centralized and effective air warning raid system. The provincial ones were an ad-hoc collection of patchworks and systems were re-organized by Wang Jingwei into a "National Office of Civil Protection." Wang used his faction's numbers in the Legislative Yuan to push through this legislation. The National Office of Civil Protection was intended to be purely one that organized air raid warden systems, but the actual legislation that was passed and the powers that it gave the office meant that Wang was able to effectively create a shadow army under his personal command. Officially, "Civil Protection Units" were theoretically supposed to come under the command of a National Revolutionary Army, but they increasingly began to assume more and more independence and division-level Civil Protection formations began to appear by the end of the year.

However, this situation was not unprecedented. Dai Li's secret police and national security apparatus numbered a million strong by 1941. This is not counting the numerous informants, gang members and other people not on the 'official' payroll. As the war proceeded apace, so did the intrusion, numbers and powers of the Bureau of Statistics and Information.

The end result of this fragmentation was that effectively, China had reverted to an organized sort of warlordism that the Kuomintang had worked so hard to avoid and stamp out. This time however, the warlords were centrally commanded and condoned at the highest levels.

The proliferation of state sanctioned separate armies was a boon for Minister of Finance and Premier T.V Soong. The Secretary for War Production and Arnaments He Yingquinn was directly under the Finance Ministry and so T.V Soong used this in order to extract concessions and promises in return for arming Wang's and Dai Li's troops.

Arms Production

Chinese Arms production was remarkably high for a country that had so recently industrialized. This was possible only under the condition of total mobilization that the country had been since 1937 and the fact that much of Chinese production suffered from severe quality control problems and were severely outclassed in the field.

The Tianjin Model 40 Tank was remarkably similar to the Belgian T-13 Tank Destroyer. Despite no official liaison between Belgium and China, they both came to field a very similar type of tank. The main difference is that the Tianjin Model 40 was fully enclosed with a limited traverse turret, was equipped with a 57mm (3) and a hull-mounted machine gun.

A frequently used example is the Chinese Tianjin Model Year 39 tank. This was a license-built modification of an Italian modification of the Carden Lloyd tankettes, the CV-33s. The Tianjin Model 40 had 15mm of armor on the front, carried a high-velocity 57mm cannon and a hull machinegun operated by the driver with a total crew of 3. It was mostly designed to be produced as quickly as possible. Any factory that could produce tractors was supposed to be able to produce it. This was the main battle tank for China throughout the war, but it was inferior to modern tanks. It was suitable for infantry support and, throughout the war, as a tank destroyer, but when it faced modern British, French and Soviet tank designs, was completely outclassed in all other respects. It was slow, could only carry limited amounts of ammunition internally (10 shells!) , was penetrable by literally every anti-tank weapon fielded by the Entente throughout the war (and by .50 caliber machine gun from the top) and prone to catching fire . Yet, it remained in service throughout the war as it was easy to mass produce, easy to repair on the field and relatively mechanically reliable.

This was how Chinese Industry was able to sustain a high rate of production. It stuck with one model and persisted throughout the war. It was the same for the license-built ME. 109's that was built by the Chinese aircraft industry and for the 75mm field gun used by China throughout the war.

Nonetheless, China suffered from terrible production quality throughout the war. As many of 50% of the Tianjin Model 40s had to be repaired once they reached the army before they could even start. The Chinese Aircraft industry had the least amount of production flaws and errors (as even a bolt out of place in an aircraft can be fatal and field repairs are difficult to pull off in the sky) but even it had 20% of planes that were discovered to have flaws and had to be sent back.

This was the natural consequence of Chinese industry which was , in it's infancy, being asked to produce enough materiel to fight a three (and later four) front war. Chinese industry was able to pepper over most of the cracks with it's sheer weight of manpower, but this was at the cost of compromised quality and degraded battlefield performance.

Italy

Mussolini's cult of personality intensified quite significantly following a string of victories in 1941. (4)

Italy was a power that had delusions of grandeur, but without the resources, manpower or materiel to accomplish it. Out of the big three in the Axis, Italian production lagged behind that of Germany and China.

There was no simple explanation for why Italian industry under-performed. It was a toxic combination of corruption, inefficiency, cronyism and lack of crucial resources. Mussolini's reluctance to conduct total war also aided to the malaise in Italian war production.

Mussolini was keen to maintain his popularity which had reached an all time high by 1941, following Italian triumph in the Balkans and Mediterranean. He also thought that the Entente powers were on the verge of collapse by 1941 and so, unlike China or Germany, Italy never mobilized in a totalitarian way - ironic for the country which was the birthplace of the totalitarian Fascist ideology.

It was a testament to the courage, skill and ferocity of Italian soldiers that they were able to perform in spite of shortages. Unfortunately for Italy, 1941 would not be the end of the conflict. Mussolini's decision not to mobilize for the war would have far-reaching consequences later on in the conflict. But for now, Italy could bask in the glow of a Balkan under Italian suzerainty, at least for those who did not have a father, brother, friend or relative killed, maimed or missing after the Greek adventure.

Sources:

http://ww2-weapons.com/History/Production/

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Speer

(2) http://chinese-export-silver.com/me...covering-true-identity-genius-宏興-發現一個天才的真正身份/

(3) http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/belgium/Belgian_T13.php

(4) http://imgur.com/gallery/Hp8Bdga

Next update: The Neutral Giants.