That's awesome.
Oh now that's clever
Thanks guys! And yes FleetMac I thought of 'The Thing" too.
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The Union Forever: A TL
- Thread starter Mac Gregor
- Start date
Thanks guys! And yes FleetMac I thought of 'The Thing" too.
Nice! Kind of TTL's version of the Doolittle Raid, for a comparison that comes easily to mind
Indeed, there are some similarities in terms of the effect on morale.
Asia-Pacific War: Mar - Jun 1977
The Pacific and Southeast Asia
March-June, 1977
March-June, 1977
Imperial Vietnamese troops in action against Technate forces north of Hanoi
March, 1977
The Technate Advances
Within a week of joining the war against the Calcutta Compact, nearly 3,500,000 Technate troops advanced south into Vietnam, Laos, and Burma. In the face of such numbers, the corporatist powers had little choice but to wage a fighting retreat. The Imperial Vietnamese Army did attempt to make a stand at the important northern city of Hanoi. After four days of intense fighting the Chinese managed to capture the city center but suffered over 196,000 casualties in the process. The Technate fielded an impressive number of cataphracts, most of which were closely patterned off the Italian Leoni model, sporting a 105mm gun. During the battle for Hanoi these proved invaluable in clearing the narrow streets but often fell victim to Vietnamese recoilless rifles.
It was the fall of Hanoi that ended any indecision in the Japanese government on whether to commit large amounts of ground troops to Indochina. Prime Minister Hayashi began mobilizing the empire’s reserves and ordered a massive deployment of over 2,000,000 men to support the Vietnamese. By the end of June, the frontline had stabilized south of the Red River leaving the Chinese in control of the northern part of the country.
While the Empire of Vietnam was the Techante’s primary focus, Laos and occupied Burma were also invaded. In Laos, Technate forces faced little resistance in the sparsely populated north but were slowed by the rugged terrain. In Burma, the Chinese did their best to send troops overland from Yunnan-Fu but the single road made transportation difficult. Several divisions of airborne and airmobile soldiers fared better and were able to link up with elements of Burmese General Khin Hlaing’s guerrilla army. Ultimately, it was reinforcements from Kampuchea that stopped the Chinese, but not until the overland link from Laos to Burma had been severed.
Stalemate in Papua and Malaya
As Chinese forces poured into Burma and Indochina, the Japanese offensive in Papua was brought to a halt as troops and supplies were needed elsewhere. General Noboru Fujimoto, who had replaced General Watanabe on Papua, had his troops dig in after a March operation connected the northern and eastern beachheads. Sir Peter Carter, recently promoted to full general, used the spring and early summer to build up his forces hoping to start offensive actions in July.
In late March, the Japanese made an ill-advised and rushed attempt to capture Singapore. Without time to properly prepare for the operation, the Japanese threw themselves against the Commonwealth’s defensives 80 miles north of the city. Commonwealth forces fought tenaciously to hold the line at times even levelling their antiaircraft guns into the charging masses of Japanese infantry. While the army struggled to breakthrough, the Imperial Japanese Navy made their long awaited attack on the city. On April 9, a Japanese taskforce of four aircraft carriers (Honshu, Takasago Koku, Chosen, and Tokushima), three battleships, six cruisers, thirteen destroyers, eight submarines, and numerous troopships carrying around 65,000 men attempted to land on Jahor less than 20 miles northeast of the city. Japanese aircraft stationed in occupied Borneo provided support as well. Opposing them was the Commonwealth’s Southern Fleet steaming through the Strait of Malacca consisting of three carriers (HMSAS Springbok, HMS Ark Royal, and HMS Indomitable), two battleships, four cruisers, ten destroyers, and seven submarines. Aided by land based bombers and anti-ship missiles Admiral Sir Roderick Chatfield managed to turn the Battle of Jahor into the Commonwealth’s first clear cut victory of the war. Japanese losses included the Honshu, Chosen, and several troopships forcing them to withdraw. The Commonwealth lost the HMS Ark Royal, the battleship HMS Neptune, and a sizable number of aircraft. Upon hearing of the defeat, Prime Minister Hayashi was furious. Although he wished to continue the drive towards Singapore, Chinese advances into Indochina forced him to redirect his nation’s resources. By July, both sides on the Malayan Peninsula were content to settle down into static warfare, as developments elsewhere urgently required there attention.
Commonwealth Southern Fleet moving east through the Strait of Malacca
April, 1977
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Looks like the Commonwealth finally managed to hook up a "W" cleanly. And the Chinese finally got themselves into a modern war pretty well, considering their last round of violencing was a civil conflict. As for the Brits/Commonwealth, I've noticed that their best go-rounds have included reliance on aviation (land and sea-based) and anti-ship missiles to offset Japanese advantages in numbers and proximity to the theater. By-the-by, what's Portugal been up to lately? After all, they're a Commonwealth ally with interests in the East Indies. And can we look forward to more, er, "interesting" events in the Americas thanks to Venezuela?
Keep up the good work!
EDIT: For the record (and in case it wasn't obvious before), I'm rooting for the Commonwealth here, so good for them this go-'round.
Keep up the good work!
EDIT: For the record (and in case it wasn't obvious before), I'm rooting for the Commonwealth here, so good for them this go-'round
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Looks like the Commonwealth finally managed to hook up a "W" cleanly. And the Chinese finally got themselves into a modern war pretty well, considering their last round of violencing was a civil conflict. As for the Brits/Commonwealth, I've noticed that their best go-rounds have included reliance on aviation (land and sea-based) and anti-ship missiles to offset Japanese advantages in numbers and proximity to the theater. By-the-by, what's Portugal been up to lately? After all, they're a Commonwealth ally with interests in the East Indies. And can we look forward to more, er, "interesting" events in the Americas thanks to Venezuela?
Keep up the good work!
EDIT: For the record (and in case it wasn't obvious before), I'm rooting for the Commonwealth here, so good for them this go-'round
Thanks! Portugal is busy. They have troops fighting in India and have a sizable garrison on Timor. The Royal Portuguese Navy is active in the Indian and Pacific Oceans fighting alongside the Commonwealth.
So at this point it looks like the Commonwealth and Technate are going to win, it's just a question of when. What do they want to do with Japan? Do they want to disarm Japan? I assume that China, and probably Korea, would want Japan disarmed and weak. However I would imagine that the Commonwealth would want to leave Japan strong enough to serve as a counterbalance to the Technate in East Asia.
I'm curious, does China want to spread technocracy? I just recently finished reading a book about the Nazis and the Bolsheviks. It talked about how the Bolsheviks wanted to spread Communism, while Hitler didn't want to spread the idea of national socialism outside of Germany. Hitler's reasoning for it was he didn't want other nations to "benefit" from the idea of national socialism. So I'm curious about the nature of Chinese technocracy. Do they see the spread of technocracy as a moral imperative, or would they rather keep the idea to themselves, and be the sole beneficiaries of the idea?
If Chinese Technocracy is more Trotskyesque I imagine they would use their influence to spread it into South-East Asia and Korea, along with potentially Japan, depending on what happens to it at the end of the war.
I'm curious, does China want to spread technocracy? I just recently finished reading a book about the Nazis and the Bolsheviks. It talked about how the Bolsheviks wanted to spread Communism, while Hitler didn't want to spread the idea of national socialism outside of Germany. Hitler's reasoning for it was he didn't want other nations to "benefit" from the idea of national socialism. So I'm curious about the nature of Chinese technocracy. Do they see the spread of technocracy as a moral imperative, or would they rather keep the idea to themselves, and be the sole beneficiaries of the idea?
If Chinese Technocracy is more Trotskyesque I imagine they would use their influence to spread it into South-East Asia and Korea, along with potentially Japan, depending on what happens to it at the end of the war.
I don't believe that Commonwealth and China are able to occupy Japan. And probably Commonwealth want keep strong Japan as counter-balance for China. But Japan probably lose Korea, Taiwan, Hainan and Malay Peninsula and all areas what it has occupied during this war.
But what will happen for India when war ends?
But what will happen for India when war ends?
RamscoopRaider
Donor
I don't think Japan will lose Korea or Taiwan unless either the Commonwealth breaks out the nukes en masse or Russia/the US joins in. Amphibious assaults on that scale against an IJN almost certainly requires more than China and the Commonwealth have. For that matter after this long Taiwan should be pretty close to assimilated and a plebiscite would likely turn out pro Japanese unless their occupation policy was radically different ITTL
That said Hainan, the Malay Peninsula and their conquests are gone for sure
Absolutely, the largest number of Commonwealth troops from Africa are coming from South Africa and the dominions of East Africa, Nigeria, and Madagascar. Britain's African colonies are fielding smaller contingents but the UK is mostly just wanting them to keep quiet. Only South Africa is using conscription.
Great points guys. I love to get speculation like this. It helps me write future updates. To answer some of y'all's questions...
Yes, China is interested in spreading Technocracy and hopes to set up Technocratic regimes in neighboring countries after the war.
As of June, 1977 China is still adamant about driving Japan from Malaya, Hainan, Formosa, and Korea. China and the Commonwealth have not agreed on what to do about post war Japan.