Red Sun Rising Great War Year Three (PAe87) – Eastern India, Southeast Asia, China Gains made by the Chinese Empire in late PAe86 prove to be unsustainable in the early months of PAe87, forcing Chinese forces to pull back. Between January and April, British and Indian forces in Assam and British allies in Burma ravage the Chinese in the north. Chinese losses are estimated to be as high as two hundred thousand. The tremendous losses are attributed to the spectacular failure of the Chinese strategy to keep these troops reinforced and supplied by air across the rugged mountains. Using waves of lightly built airships to carry troops and supplies, the Chinese expect casualties, but what ensues is a slaughter. British and Indian hybrid and airships shoot down the lightly built Chinese airships at a frightening rate. The Chinese ships quickly become referred to as “matchboxes”. In some cases, there are so many ships in these aerial waves that British and Indian ships are “shot out”, expending their entire magazines of munitions shooting down the airships with there still being ships in the sky. Poor training of Chinese crews is thought to be the reason that even heavier gunships are shot from the sky with minimal losses to British and Indian ships. By mid March, the supply waves cease. Official tallies estimate that as many as five hundred Chinese ships are shot down in less than three months. In the south, from Siam into the Malaysian peninsula fighting is intense and losses are high on all sides. The battered Siamese army fights to retake ground lost to the Chinese with the aid of indigenous tribal militias and their British and Hanseatic allies. The south becomes a bloody quagmire as indigenous forces throw themselves at the Chinese with unchecked fury. Losses among these indigenous militias are staggering. In April, after months of negotiations involving the Hispanic League, the Japanese Empire enters the war, invading Formosa and Hainan and landing troops in the Korean peninsula. By June, Chinese naval forces are hard pressed from Vietnam to the southern China border as the surprising advanced Japanese Navy along with Hispanic League naval forces from the Philippines attack all along the Chinese coast of Southeast Asia. Suddenly fighting a war on two fronts, Chinese forces in Malaysia and Siam consolidate, giving Siamese, Hanseatic and British allied forces time to regroup. Beginning in May, British hybrid Raiders cross the Himalayas and attack forward Chinese Aeronavy bases, beginning a series of continuous strikes that last through the summer. The heavily armed Forger variants withdraw quickly after attacks, but slowly enough to draw Chinese ships into waiting ambushes in the mountains. In July, long range “Iron Hand” missions push far into China, targeting Chinese aesterships and their support facilities. With forces drawn into the west by the Iron Hand raids and south by the incursions across the border, a daring raid is launched from a base in Japan into the heart of China. On August the 9th a twelve ship Forger and Raider task force codenamed “Temple Dog” strikes the military shipyard aeroport at Shenyang. At 20:50 (8:50pm), Raider “Shaka” breaks through the Shenyang defense perimeter and lands one hundred and twenty Aester Marines at the top of the aeroport tower. The marines then fight their way into the heavily guarded skyhook cable access way. At 21:35, ninety seven surviving marines are recovered. At 21:40, the charges set on the cables detonate, severing the skyhook. According to intelligence gathered before the raid, six high value æsterships were docked in the æster yards above the aeroport. After action reports confirmed all six ships; one heavy cruiser, three destroyers and two ecorts, were destroyed when the skyhook and beehive platforms were torn apart as they were drawn upward. At approximately the same time the charges went off, other ships of the task force reported that badly damaged Raider Shaka “caught fire in flight and plummeted into the city where it exploded”. All aboard were killed including the marines who had executed the raid. Raider Gilgamesh was also shot down but was able to successfully crash land less than two thousand yards outside the city walls. Forger Odysseus, who had already escaped the withering fire of Shenyangs defense guns, reversed course and plunged back in to Gilgamesh’s aid. Minutes later, Forger Roland and Raider Spartacus joined Odysseus, and for the next forty minutes a battle raged as Roland and Odysseus rescued the survivors from the Gilgamesh. Raider Spartacus lived up to her name, maneuvering rapidly and slugging it out with Shenyang’s guns and Chinese hybrids while the rescue operation went on. Due to the actions of Odysseus, Roland and Spartacus, over two hundred of Gilgamesh’s crew were rescued. At 22:31 the Shenyang aeroport tower collapsed, destroying a quarter mile wide swath of the military city including the rail yard. By striking Shenyang, the British proved they could strike as far as Peking in force. Facing reverses from Assam to Malaysia and with staging bases now on Hainan and Formosa from which landings on the Chinese mainland could be launched, China’s position was quickly degrading. With their capital threatened and Japanese forces massing on the Korean peninsula, the Chinese begin a general withdrawal relinquishing over half of the Kingdom of Siam by the end of PAe87. But they enacted a scorched earth policy, destroying infrastructure, blowing up bridges, burning crops and wiping out villages as they fell back. By the end of the year, Chinese losses in the south are estimated at three hundred thousand which brings their losses throughout the region to over half a million. But the greatest losses are to the indigenous tribal militias in the south. As many as six hundred thousand are thought to have lost their lives in PAe87 battling the Chinese.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 00:15:18 +0000
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