BigBlueBox
Banned
It might have worked if this was a purely KMT-CCP war without any western manpower or material support. But Mao has been in the Burmese jungles for too long to understand the repercussions of the new geopolitical order.
The North Star is Red: a Wallace Presidency, KMT Victory, Alternate Cold War TL
- Thread starter TastySpam
- Start date
Honestly, he's probably trying to sign up to go fight in the war, but the Army is probably refusing to actually send him, because he's more useful to them as a public relations advocate, basically.
Even then it would have been impossible. The Communists just don't have the resources at their disposal to beat the KMT at this point. Furthermore, unlike OTL 1948, there are no base areas south of the Haihe River, the Communists have no way of taking pressure off of Manchuria or undermining resistance to Mao's new offensive.
Chapter 79 - The Battle of Marco Polo Bridge and the "Long Night"
The Battle of Marco Polo Bridge and the "Long Night"
Disorganized ROC troops quickly collapsed as the bulk of the People's Liberation Army overran their positions, liberating Rehe with far fewer losses than it had taken the ROC to take the city. Recriminations took place in Nanking, with Chiang Kai-Shek partisans attacking Li Zongren for his originally peaceful stance towards the Communists. American marines and ROC reinforcements were quickly deployed to Tangshan and Tianjin in order to guard the cities, causing the People's Liberation Army to wheel around. Penetrating the Great Wall relatively easily, the North Chinese armies wheeled around to attack Beijing directly. The crack troops of the PLA had been far better prepared for urban warfare than the reserve troops of the KMT, surrounding and crushing the local ROC garrison at Zhangjiakou before march into Beijing from the Northwest. KMT reserve troops were largely armed with American Springfield rifles, while PLA regulars often had a mixture of Soviet SKS rifles and PPSH machine guns, giving them a huge advantage in offensive military warfare. American ships largely carried ROC and US regulars, but being forced to march up from Tianjin, they were too slow to relieve much of Beijing. American airpower however was quick enough to join the fight and the ROC quickly became in the strange position of being much stronger on open ground than in the urban city, a rare outcome for defenders.
The largest tank battle in the war was to take in the largest open space in Beijing - right at Tiananmen Square, as ROC forces in Beijing tried to make a stand. Operating reserve Sherman tanks, they fought a battle against North Chinese T-34 tanks. Although they were greatly assisted by American airpower, the superior Soviet tanks eventually won the day, causing much of the Chinese garrison to collapse. On April 30, 1957, the last remnants of the ROC garrisons fled into the Forbidden City and across the Marco Polo Bridge, which quickly grew clogged with refugees fleeing the bloody urban warfare. The North Chinese focused on the Forbidden City, fighting across the various historical halls, as both sides violently used every advantage they could, breaking holes in the wall to shoot at each other. The Forbidden City eventually fell, giving North China a huge propaganda victory once the entire city of Beijing saw the Communist flag flying from the top of the damaged, but still intact palace.
The final ROC stand was to take place on the Marco Polo Bridge. Even as the North Chinese Army had seized Beijing in a blitz, the garrison was determined to keep them from breaking out. With Sino-American regulars rapidly moving from the Southeast, the Marco Polo Bridge remained the last avenue that the PLA could use to out-flank them and continue their march South. ROC troops at the Marco Polo Bridge back ferocious North Chinese artillery, infantry, and tank assaults. Lacking anti-tank weapons, ROC troops formed many "dare-to-die" squads, where troops volunteered to attack North Chinese tanks as suicide bombers in order to slow them (usually by jumping under their tracks). After 29 hours of constant warfare, sleep-deprived ROC troops cheered as the first Sino-American reinforcements arrived, forcing the PLA battalion to break off their attack. Once fearing a total collapse of the Republic, South Chinese officers grew increasingly confident that they could hold on, even though they took horrifying losses in stopping the North Chinese offensive. The world, although comparing the Battle of Mukden to Stalingrad, quickly became comparing the Battle of Beijing to Kursk. Upon hearing that Beijing had been occupied, but that the Sino-American armies had been reinforced, Mao began to contemplate accepting Li's offer, sending out messages that the North Chinese were ready to talk. However, these messages never reached the man who would most influence the way the war truly ended.
In Washington D.C., a livid President had already tossed out his generals. They had been fairly consistently wrong about everything so far in the war. They hadn't predicted the disaster in Korea. They did nothing wrong about Finland. They had advised against the "wildly successful" German coup. They didn't see Mao's gambit coming. Even if the Maoist offensive was temporarily delayed, the noose was tightening around American troops in Mukden. The air supply operation was going horribly, with American planes being shot constantly out of the sky. The Sino-American armies hadn't collapsed yet, but they were too low on supplies to launch a real offensive. McCarthy read stories everyday of wounded American soldiers dying in horrifying conditions as the pocket grew more and more grave. This was unacceptable to him. Even more offensively, some of the generals counseled peace, as it became clear that the Americans could not both defeat Communism in North China and save their trapped army. McCarthy believed he could take a third option. Truly, it was a great idea, and as McCarthy had forced most of the generals to leave the White House (he was not letting them back in), no one was going to stop him now.
On May 1, under the direct order of the President, a squadron of American fighters flew directly out of Tianjin. Although McCarthy had desired that the United States test out its new Mark 17 model, the SAC had recommended that large bombers were a walking target for the North Chinese/Soviet SA-2s, especially in an operation that required a great deal of precision. As a former tail gunner, he accepted the argument, since he knew how dangerous such planes could be. Instead, the smaller Mark 12 was chosen, because it was very lightweight and could be put on fighter planes that could evade the SA-2. Not to mention the Mark 17 could put American troops in grave danger, while the stated plan for the operation was to give American troops a path out.
American guards keeping watch at night were resigned to another sleepless night of hunger, when most of the guards had clearly been blinded by something they had not expected. North of the Sino-American pocket, a explosion consumed almost the entire city north of the American position, including the North Chinese headquarters, blinding most of the guards. Much to the horror of the American soldiers, they were then roused from bed, told that the President had authorized the use of tactical nuclear weapons to break the Mukden Pocket, and then ordered to charge directly into the maelstrom of fire and rubble in front of them. Although they were overwhelmingly superior in numbers, the offensive would be bloody, as tired and undersupplied American soldiers, bereft of armored support (they were out of fuel), plunged into what would be called the Battle of the Long Night - as the morning quite literally never came that day as nuclear fallout had blocked out the sun for half a week. It would ultimately be one of the most pointless battles of the war, as thousands of Americans died from suffocation, flames, ambushes by surviving North Chinese troops, traps, and of course, radiation poisoning, all for nothing as the acting President agreed anyways to a cease-fire on May 5th.
Not really the USSR carpet bombed a city full of refuges. Whilst the US nuked a army.
Well, an army in a city filled with civilians/refugees. Though there is still an obvious difference between attacking a military target with little regard for civilian casualties and just attacking a civilian target with no military relevance.
Wonder if this means McCarthy dies; if so, John F. Kennedy will be more reasonable as president, methinks...
BigBlueBox
Banned
Yeah, depending on your moral stance, needlessly maiming and endangering your own troops and allies while also killing civilians with a nuclear strike aimed at a military target while a ceasefire was planned anyways is worse than carpet bombing enemy cities with the goal of ending a war faster.
No, but McCarthy, Chiang, and Li fuck it up so badly the Communists are almost able to break out of North China.
BigBlueBox
Banned
Mao accomplished his goal of setting up a friendly leftist government to unite Korea while the USA and RoC failed to conquer North China and bloodied and embarrassed themselves in their attempt to do so. So yes, it is a communist victory - communist victory doesn't have to mean Mao marching all the way south to Guanzong Province.
From the way the words "acting president" were used, I'm guessing that the people planning the ceasefire and the man who ordered the nuke strike were different
BigBlueBox
Banned
Good catch. But the 25th Amendment hasn’t been passed yet, so does that mean McCarthy’s impeachment was rammed through Congress in the middle of the Battle of the Long Night? Or was McCarthy relieved of his office with more dubious and less constitutional methods?
I believe the "acting president" is not McCarthy, but the Chinese VP that took over the government as Chiang is in Manchuria
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I just caught up with this TL again, and my god, it's incredible. The wars and ideas you come up with are both realistic and logical, as well as written exceptionally. Can't wait to see what happens! (although with an armistice in China and Europe winding down, the pseudo-WW3 might soon end [still the new German government will probably stir some trouble])
Chapter 80 - The Revolt of the Admirals
The Revolt of the Admirals
The Joint Chiefs of Staff were beyond stunned. Technically, what the President did wasn't illegal, but they had directly gone over their heads to launch a nuclear attack. An actual nuclear attack. The diplomatic corps was in a frenzy precisely because of who was incredibly angry: surprisingly, the South Chinese had been outraged, viewing the attack as a permanent blemish on what they thought was rightful ROC territory. The Communists were also enraged, realizing that May Day was picked as the date of the bombing just to tweak the Communists.
The angriest members of the US military were the admirals, led by Admiral Arthur Radford, former commander of the United States Pacific Fleet and Chairman of the Chief of Staffs. Radford had always been opposed to the idea of increasing America's nuclear deterrence while shrinking the rest of the military. Not only was he a strong proponent of American naval power, he was more importantly ferociously opposed to the use of nuclear weapons, viewing them as evil. He had always feared that President McCarthy was unstable and increased the risk of a nuclear conflagration.
Radford had previously given his subordinate on the JCOS, Admiral Daniel V. Gallery a largely open hand to build contingency plans against the President in case he became too erratic. However, Radford himself was less excited on such an approach, feeling that the situation was unsalvagable. With the nuclear attack on North China, the situation became untenable. Alongside other admirals such as Admiral Louis Denfeld, Arleigh Burke, and John Cromellin, the admirals had become united. Many military leaders genuinely feared that the Soviet Union would respond with a nuclear attack on America itself.
They of course, had their man they wanted in charge. A military man who they knew would 1) take the job if offered and 2) loathed McCarthy. They would sell the plan to the other services by claiming that they would put in charge the most popular and well-known military man in America: Douglas MacArthur. This gambit helped push most of MacArthur's former subordinates into joining the cause, including most notably his intelligence man, Charles Willoughby, who had apparently been plotting against McCarthy as well. The two groups quickly combined their efforts.
Buy-in from the Army was somewhat less than-expected, as seen by the refusal of Omar Bradley, Matthew Ridgway, Mark Clark, Lucius Clay, and Dwight Eisenhower to join the plot. However, the plotters still had significant Army buy-in, as represented by General Maxwell Taylor, the former commander of the famous 101st Airborne. In addition, buy-in from the Air Force was slightly more than expected, even though Strategic Air Command had launched the attack. However, Curtis LeMay, the towering figure of SAC, was presumably in some North Chinese POW camp, having been captured in the North Chinese invasion of South Korea, meaning that many troubled Air Force officers felt emboldened to switch sides, especially those who had served under MacArthur in the Pacific.
In addition, luckily for the Admirals, the United States Marine Corps had been folded into the US Navy in 1952, as President Russell searched for extra ways to fund his universal health insurance scheme. As a result, the US Marines were also almost entirely on board. Also incredibly helpful was that most of the founders of the US Special Forces, such as Russell Volckmann and Wendell Fertig, deeply respected MacArthur as the origin of the US Special Forces drew from the liberation of the Philippines in World War II. As a result, they were also largely on board. Interestingly, MacArthur himself was not informed of the plan, as they were afraid what would happen if he said no. However, it seen as unlikely for him to say "no" if the plan was already executed.
On May 2nd, 1957 at roughly 2:30 PM, Washington DC erupted in chaos as the plot materialized. US Marine amphibious tanks, more lightweight than traditional tanks, rolled across the Arlington Memorial Bridge to stunned commuters leaving work early. Paratroopers and Green Berets quickly peppered the city, seizing control of key roads and most importantly, descending on the White House itself. A photograph smuggled out of the city, showing troops parachuting on the White House itself quickly became one of the most iconic photos in American history. Cutting telephone lines, the troops quickly swept the White House, bursting into the Oval Office and detaining an outraged President McCarthy who apparently actually shot two troops dead before he was tackled.
Having seized most of the broadcasting stations in Washington D.C., a panel of generals spoke on television, a technology newly available to most Americans, the Admirals made their case to the nation. Their choice of a spokesman was one of the major leaders in the American Veterans Committee, a major opponent of nuclear proliferation, and generally photogenic speaker all around, the 46-year old actor, Ronald Reagan. Reagan calmly made the case for the coup to America, arguing that the world stood on the precipice of total nuclear annihilation due to a system that concentrated all decision-making process, including that of nuclear war, in the sole hands of one executive, which he derided as the "Imperial Presidency." Reagan argued that the coup was not an unconstitutional act, but rather one designed to restore checks and balances and the original constitutional structure of the three branches of governments. Of course, major military decisions would not be concentrated in the hands of one man: the President, but rather dispersed upon to the top generals of the nation. As for the current political situation, Reagan presented written opinions, prepared by dozens of sympathetic legal scholars, claiming that the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 was actually unconstitutional and simply that there was no good precedent for what ought to be done in this situation, especially as Vice President Kennedy had tendered his resignation to the Admirals. As such, Reagan declared that the "runner-up" to the 1956 elections, Douglas MacArthur, would be appointed Acting President until a provisional presidential election could be held in November, 1958. To further underscore his point, Reagan displayed the trump card of the coup forces, which was surprisingly delivered to them hours before the coup - a personal guarantee from Soviet Premier Laventry Beria, promising that an American administration that entered negotiations to establish "an end to armed hostilities and peaceful trading relations" with the Soviet Union would not be subject to a Soviet nuclear retaliation.
Amazingly, the Admirals, realizing that their actions lacked much democratic legitimacy, made the mistake of not arresting the entire U.S. press corps. Instead, the press was allowed to ask questions to the Admirals directly, and one question would notably set American politics on fire. When asked by a reporter as to the state of President McCarthy, a sheepish admiral noted that he had apparently died in military custody, from appeared to be complications from alcoholism[1], but that they would be willing to participate in any autopsy by an independent party to confirm this. An independent autopsy did in fact confirm that, but the death of President McCarthy would prove to be fuel for dozens of conspiracy theories as to who "really" killed him (suggested answers included the Republicans, the Dixiecrats, JFK, the Admirals, Beria, Chiang Kai-Shek, the Jews, the Freemasons, the Communists, and of course Jewish Communist Freemasons". The US public was rather unconvinced by the official story, something that would explode when a development completely blindsided the Admirals.
Just an hour later, Vice-President John F. Kennedy, broadcasting to the nation from Boston, had a response. Unearthed archives have recently challenged the traditional public understanding of the Coup of the Admirals. Instead, the Admirals actually believed that Vice President Kennedy was part of the plot. Indeed, he had been freely willing to tender them his resignation, written a day before the coup (soon after the nuclear strike). This was because Kennedy had earlier suggested that MacArthur be made the Acting President, just so that the coup could better succeed. Unearthed archives indicate that Kennedy was planning on running against MacArthur in 1958 (and winning). In addition, the "Beria Note" actually came from Kennedy himself, who had unbeknownst to most people, established a secret line of communications with Premier Beria.[2] However, the unexpected death of McCarthy changed this calculus. Vice President Kennedy lambasted the shocked Admirals, claiming that they had murdered McCarthy in order to obtain Kennedy's resignation by coercion. Declaring himself the legitimate Acting President, he called on Americans to resist the new military government, causing public support of the coup to collapse. Kennedy was backed also by many elements of the military, especially in the Army and Air Force, who had rallied behind him.
The final killing blow to the coup came the next day, when the Admirals tried to hold an inauguration that went wrong in every way. Protesters swarmed DC. The troops were ordered not to use lethal force, but this still resulted in widespread brawls across DC. The coup was presented as fait accompli to General MacArthur, who quickly grew to have cold feet. After a 3 AM meeting with Vice President Kennedy, where Kennedy agreed to pursue peace negotiations with the Soviet Union and give the coup planners their day in civilian court (only for the supposed murder of McCarthy), MacArthur gave his first speech as "Acting President" to simply announce that he was not the Acting President, that the forces that had tried to coronate him should immediately stand down to prevent a Second Civil War, and that Vice-President Kennedy had agreed to seek peace with Beria. In his "Old Generals Never Die" speech, MacArthur famously retired from public life, ending the coup alongside his political career.
As a result, the military immediately began to stand down and return to their bases. It was at that point that a ferocious crowd, who insisted that they had "defeated a Communist coup" tried to set upon the soldiers to get "vengeance." Although many soldiers had been brutally lynched, attacking armed US soldiers, especially Marines and Green Berets, proved to be an extremely bad idea, and a mass firefight took place around the White House and on Capitol Hill, causing terrified Congressmen to hide in their offices from the shooting, burning, rioting, and looting. The Smithsonian was famously looted by rioters, who might have not been related to the political struggle, but just random guys from across the Anacostia River who saw an opportunity. DC went up in flames until the next day, as fighting only ended when Vice President Kennedy rolled into DC, calling for an end to the fighting. This almost failed when a disgruntled rioter actually took a shot at President Kennedy. However, the bullet only grazed his cheek. The fighting however, did completely stop when a bleeding Kennedy called for the fighting to end. On that same day, May 4th, 1957, President Kennedy was inaugurated (his cheek was bandaged), battered, but alive. The next day, on May 5th, 1957, President John F. Kennedy, President Zongren Li, and what was left of the North Chinese Politburo declared a cease-fire.
Kennedy, Li, and Beria quickly flew to Melbourne, the site of the final peace settlement that would end the war, perhaps one of the most drama-filled diplomatic events in history. Amusingly, they would use facilities from the 1956 Summer Olympics, which was notably boycotted by both the Western bloc and the Soviet bloc, leading to the most poorly attended Olympic games in history, where Australia had won the most medals, followed by Italy, South Japan, Iran, Ireland, and Mexico.
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[1] Actually OTL, both in date and cause.
[2] OTL, Kennedy had a secret backline to Khrushchev.