In this country , it is good to kill an admiral from time to time
- Thread starter Antony444
- Start date
Yeah. It would be easier to find some older chapter and new readers would have easy to read since they can push an arrow button get next arrow instead scrolling thrugh several messages.
If Australasia is included in the lot (which is probably not the smartest thing to do for them...), it could be a good occasion for the French to finish the conquest of Antipodea, once the republic's soldiers are off fighting on foreign soil. One less long terrestrial border to patrol as a the long term gain in exchange for more not-that-much-useful land to pacify and assimilate as a short term penalty. That is, of course, supposing that 1) the Chinese are not the first to invade the republic's home territory and 2) the mess of war declarations around the world doesn't somehow lead the French to suddenly have bigger fish to fry.
Regarding threadmarks, while they sound nice, they could also have the disadvantage of skipping a few posts containing additionnal information on the TL.
Antony, I don't want to sound pushy, but could China please get a happy "ending" in this conflict?
I'm just asking because from the way the conflict is going (China hasn't even landed soldiers on Taiwan), it seems like California is going to somehow manage to repel the Chinese and keep Taiwan under their control despite China having basically all the advantages.
I'm just asking because from the way the conflict is going (China hasn't even landed soldiers on Taiwan), it seems like California is going to somehow manage to repel the Chinese and keep Taiwan under their control despite China having basically all the advantages.
All the members of the Alliance of the Pacific Powers are going to have to decide if they want to side with the UPNG-California block, or stand neutral while China is fighting them...and now that I think about it, it applies to all powers in the region.
I will consider it.
More seriously, I try to plan ahead, so I have a lot of logical analysis of the strenghts and weaknesses of each belligerent before a conflict erupts, so the outcome is...maybe not decided, but I have a strong idea of where I'm going.
Yep. And frankly, given that Russia had not a dominating Pacific Fleet and the fact that they occupied a lot of Chinese territory recently, the only superpower capable of really preventing an invasion without a shot being fired would have been France. Or all other scenarios would have resulted in the Chinese saying 'we will build a bigger fleet!'
Amphibious Alliance (The battle of Taiwan April 1923)
The Alliance of Pacific Powers was a defensive alliance formed to deter Imperial China from conquering more lands than it already had. This was not a secret; all nations which could read a map understood it, and the articles available to diplomats and spies left little chance to doubt. To be sure, it could theoretically apply to France, but given the firepower imbalance between the colonial empire of Paris – without counting the rest of the Entente – and the APP, even the Granadans and Californians tended to agree it would likely be the last monumental mistake their nation would ever make.
No, the target of the UPNG and the other nations had always been China.
Something that had seemed easier than France, until the navy of Empress Ren revealed it had functional aircraft carriers, and that unlike the Granadan Admirals, the Chinese pilots had trained a lot to sink capital ships when the signal to begin the war would be given.
To be sure, every leader part of the Alliance of Pacific Powers had understood the first Chinese onslaught would likely be of considerable strength, but the first aerial raids were a magnitude worse than the most pessimistic estimates.
This was why, on April 2, when California declared a state of hostilities existed between it and Guangzhou, only the UPNG, the Aristocratic Republic of Merica, and the Republic of Peru immediately followed.
The hesitations of the other nations were perfectly understandable. The Sultanate of Brunei, for example, was not that far from the closest Chinese fleet, and with the terrible destruction power being wielded by the aircraft carriers, the defensive power of the Brunei armed forces would be very much in doubt if a significant number of the soldiers were sent away from Borneo.
For Vietnam, the danger was more extreme, not less, for out of all the members of the APP, the massively indebted ‘economic colony’ was the only one which had the dubious privilege of a land frontier with the Heavenly Empire. Assuredly there weren’t yet massive armies marching southwards, but there were at least one hundred thousand men playing garrison duties. Vietnam could resist this wave, but not without full mobilisation...something which would make the levels of debt skyrocket and the budget spending extremely problematical.
The Republic of Australasia’s greatest cities were crowded by protestors the moment the war’s beginning was made public. Signing the treaty and joining the alliance had resulted in significant economic difficulties, and the brief period where the public had been willing to cheer their government for ‘a just and independent military industry’ had ended months ago.
As for the Carolinas, now that Florida was not a threat anymore, both politicians and the citizens in the street tended to consider more and more the Alliance of Pacific Powers as a relic of the Great War, for all the fact the new treaty had been signed in 1919. But while the historical falsehoods proclaimed in the legion were countless, no specialist of Carolinian affairs could doubt that the reluctance of Columbia to go to war was very real. Maybe if the powder keg had been in Central or South America...but it wasn’t. Moreover, the Republic of the Carolinas had territories in the Pacific – the reason they had been included in this alliance in the first place – and those required costly investments. Increasing the military spending on top of that was not going to be popular at home.
By the time the sun rose on Taiwan on the third day of April, the Granadan envoys successfully changed the mind of the Sultan of Brunei after many hours of effort and plenty of assurances to reassure not only his defensive capabilities, but also his remarkable greed. It would take a few more hours, but the same ‘diplomatic victory’ was achieved with the Republic of the Carolinas, though this time the financial penalties and the lost markets the nations breaking their word was a far greater incentive than the general corruption of the Sultan and his court.
No level of threat, compliments, veiled accusations, calls to honour, or silky overtures, unfortunately, was sufficient to convince the Vietnamese officials from uttering a declaration of war. The UPNG and California increased their pressure, but nobody in Vietnam was ready to make a step in that direction, for all the grumbling of the Americans and their unflattering comparisons with ugly monkeys and stubborn donkeys. And as pacific strikes were replaced by angry mobs, the Australasian ministers’ greatest concern wasn’t joining the war anymore, it was ensuring they would still be in power come the next election.
Meanwhile, the defenders of Keelung were fighting for their lives. For all the efforts of Air General Mayo to stop them, the Chinese strike fighters and bombers returned to Keelung just after dawn, and proceeded to methodically destroy everything they could ascertain to be part of the Californian military forces.
The Californian aviation tried once again its best, but more and more of its very finite number of pilots died, and when the Chinese departed, the fires had engulfed hundreds of soldiers and vital positions. Worse, those impressive columns of smoke were now used as markers by the battleships to fire tens of kilometres away, far beyond anything they would have been able to in a contest of fleets.
This was the moment the amphibious assault was launched against Keelung. The first Chinese assault was stopped cold in the outer harbour, as half a dozen artillery pieces and a lot of machine guns, mortars, and riflemen had been told to hide and wait for that exact moment. It was a bloody defeat, but unfortunately to achieve this success, the Californians had revealed their positions...and the battleships and the other ‘big guns’ of the Imperial Chinese Navy took their revenge in the minutes after.
Keelung would not be captured intact, but the Chinese marine infantry and elite troops had only been looking for a good beachhead, after all. And while the first echelon had failed, the second echelon managed to land.
The bombers and the aviation cover of the Chinese forces returned, and the invasion’s advance, so far measured in hundreds of metres, began to secure considerable gains. The Californians at this critical moment were deprived of much of their coordination, for Marshal Valdes’ advanced headquarters disappeared in a bright explosion, proving once more the wisdom of not storing ammunition stocks near an outpost where your military leadership gathered.
The military hierarchy was not decapitated, but the time for Marshal Valdes’ fate to be ascertained, for his replacement to be brought up to speed to the situation, to realise how bad the situation was on the frontlines, and to acknowledge the multitude of disasters striking all at once...there was no hope anymore to save Keelung.
In fact, by the evening, it was too late to save a large part of the 6th Line Division of the Californian Army. The soldiers would find refuge in one of the industrial zones next to the harbour and pursue a fierce resistance against all odds, but sixty hours later, they would be forced to surrender.
By then, the rest of Keelung would have been captured, and hundreds of armoured vehicles, artillery guns, and of course tens of thousands of men would have landed and been deployed.
The land campaign of the Chinese Empire to conquer Taiwan had begun.
The Alliance of Pacific Powers was a defensive alliance formed to deter Imperial China from conquering more lands than it already had. This was not a secret; all nations which could read a map understood it, and the articles available to diplomats and spies left little chance to doubt. To be sure, it could theoretically apply to France, but given the firepower imbalance between the colonial empire of Paris – without counting the rest of the Entente – and the APP, even the Granadans and Californians tended to agree it would likely be the last monumental mistake their nation would ever make.
No, the target of the UPNG and the other nations had always been China.
Something that had seemed easier than France, until the navy of Empress Ren revealed it had functional aircraft carriers, and that unlike the Granadan Admirals, the Chinese pilots had trained a lot to sink capital ships when the signal to begin the war would be given.
To be sure, every leader part of the Alliance of Pacific Powers had understood the first Chinese onslaught would likely be of considerable strength, but the first aerial raids were a magnitude worse than the most pessimistic estimates.
This was why, on April 2, when California declared a state of hostilities existed between it and Guangzhou, only the UPNG, the Aristocratic Republic of Merica, and the Republic of Peru immediately followed.
The hesitations of the other nations were perfectly understandable. The Sultanate of Brunei, for example, was not that far from the closest Chinese fleet, and with the terrible destruction power being wielded by the aircraft carriers, the defensive power of the Brunei armed forces would be very much in doubt if a significant number of the soldiers were sent away from Borneo.
For Vietnam, the danger was more extreme, not less, for out of all the members of the APP, the massively indebted ‘economic colony’ was the only one which had the dubious privilege of a land frontier with the Heavenly Empire. Assuredly there weren’t yet massive armies marching southwards, but there were at least one hundred thousand men playing garrison duties. Vietnam could resist this wave, but not without full mobilisation...something which would make the levels of debt skyrocket and the budget spending extremely problematical.
The Republic of Australasia’s greatest cities were crowded by protestors the moment the war’s beginning was made public. Signing the treaty and joining the alliance had resulted in significant economic difficulties, and the brief period where the public had been willing to cheer their government for ‘a just and independent military industry’ had ended months ago.
As for the Carolinas, now that Florida was not a threat anymore, both politicians and the citizens in the street tended to consider more and more the Alliance of Pacific Powers as a relic of the Great War, for all the fact the new treaty had been signed in 1919. But while the historical falsehoods proclaimed in the legion were countless, no specialist of Carolinian affairs could doubt that the reluctance of Columbia to go to war was very real. Maybe if the powder keg had been in Central or South America...but it wasn’t. Moreover, the Republic of the Carolinas had territories in the Pacific – the reason they had been included in this alliance in the first place – and those required costly investments. Increasing the military spending on top of that was not going to be popular at home.
By the time the sun rose on Taiwan on the third day of April, the Granadan envoys successfully changed the mind of the Sultan of Brunei after many hours of effort and plenty of assurances to reassure not only his defensive capabilities, but also his remarkable greed. It would take a few more hours, but the same ‘diplomatic victory’ was achieved with the Republic of the Carolinas, though this time the financial penalties and the lost markets the nations breaking their word was a far greater incentive than the general corruption of the Sultan and his court.
No level of threat, compliments, veiled accusations, calls to honour, or silky overtures, unfortunately, was sufficient to convince the Vietnamese officials from uttering a declaration of war. The UPNG and California increased their pressure, but nobody in Vietnam was ready to make a step in that direction, for all the grumbling of the Americans and their unflattering comparisons with ugly monkeys and stubborn donkeys. And as pacific strikes were replaced by angry mobs, the Australasian ministers’ greatest concern wasn’t joining the war anymore, it was ensuring they would still be in power come the next election.
Meanwhile, the defenders of Keelung were fighting for their lives. For all the efforts of Air General Mayo to stop them, the Chinese strike fighters and bombers returned to Keelung just after dawn, and proceeded to methodically destroy everything they could ascertain to be part of the Californian military forces.
The Californian aviation tried once again its best, but more and more of its very finite number of pilots died, and when the Chinese departed, the fires had engulfed hundreds of soldiers and vital positions. Worse, those impressive columns of smoke were now used as markers by the battleships to fire tens of kilometres away, far beyond anything they would have been able to in a contest of fleets.
This was the moment the amphibious assault was launched against Keelung. The first Chinese assault was stopped cold in the outer harbour, as half a dozen artillery pieces and a lot of machine guns, mortars, and riflemen had been told to hide and wait for that exact moment. It was a bloody defeat, but unfortunately to achieve this success, the Californians had revealed their positions...and the battleships and the other ‘big guns’ of the Imperial Chinese Navy took their revenge in the minutes after.
Keelung would not be captured intact, but the Chinese marine infantry and elite troops had only been looking for a good beachhead, after all. And while the first echelon had failed, the second echelon managed to land.
The bombers and the aviation cover of the Chinese forces returned, and the invasion’s advance, so far measured in hundreds of metres, began to secure considerable gains. The Californians at this critical moment were deprived of much of their coordination, for Marshal Valdes’ advanced headquarters disappeared in a bright explosion, proving once more the wisdom of not storing ammunition stocks near an outpost where your military leadership gathered.
The military hierarchy was not decapitated, but the time for Marshal Valdes’ fate to be ascertained, for his replacement to be brought up to speed to the situation, to realise how bad the situation was on the frontlines, and to acknowledge the multitude of disasters striking all at once...there was no hope anymore to save Keelung.
In fact, by the evening, it was too late to save a large part of the 6th Line Division of the Californian Army. The soldiers would find refuge in one of the industrial zones next to the harbour and pursue a fierce resistance against all odds, but sixty hours later, they would be forced to surrender.
By then, the rest of Keelung would have been captured, and hundreds of armoured vehicles, artillery guns, and of course tens of thousands of men would have landed and been deployed.
The land campaign of the Chinese Empire to conquer Taiwan had begun.
Just curious, if Taiwan falls, does the war end?
Also, it's pretty pathetic that the APP was made just to hold onto an island that they had robbed from China in the first place.
Looking forward to the next chapter next month!
Also, it's pretty pathetic that the APP was made just to hold onto an island that they had robbed from China in the first place.
Looking forward to the next chapter next month!
Probably. California by then would have no ability to retake Taiwan. They simply lack the men and material necessary to do what China did, overwhelm an entrenched enemy. China should also be open to a peace, as it would be one wherein they just won.
The Conquest and the Blockade (The Battle of Taiwan April 1923)
The fall of Keelung so early in the war was a major disaster for the Alliance of Pacific Powers, and especially California.
The 6th Line Division of the Californian Army was so battered down by the bloody harbour and urban fighting that the surviving formations were immediately declared non-operational, and General Luis, Marshal Valdes’ replacement, found himself in the position of a ship captain discovering two new holes in his boat every time he managed to plug one.
The Californian Army had fortified the island well. It had more than two hundred thousand soldiers who were considered battle-ready before the Chinese unveiled their new carriers, strike fighters, and bombers.
None of it was sufficient given the size of the enemy air support and the importance of the beachhead the Chinese had managed to seize. And Air General Mayo, playing the role of the modern Cassandra, warned him it was going to get worse. At the rate the Chinese elite troops were enlarging their beachhead and consolidating their first gains, it was only a question of time before they had to abandon Taipei City.
This would give Guangzhou’s Generals their first major airport, and allow the enemy to significantly downscale their carrier operations. The enormous battle-fleet dominating the Taiwan Straits would also be free to go after other objectives.
Luis acknowledged those points – not an easy feat given that he had been one of Mayo’s fiercest opponents pre-war – but his options were terribly limited.
With the destruction of the 6th Division, more and more of his remaining power was stretched to the breaking point, and this was despite the geography giving a massive advantage to the defenders; the roads to the south-east of the island were blocked by strong fortifications, and the centre of the island was impassable for most vehicles, modern or not.
Unfortunately, the Chinese knew this, and this was why they pushed westwards. It wasn’t just because Taipei City was so close. The reality was that the western slice was plains, heavily urbanised, with lots of bridges and superb infrastructure the Californian government had invested in those last decades.
As the Estrela strike fighters fell from the skies one by one, the Chinese aerial supremacy ceased to become a rumour and became more and more the demoralising truth to the exhausted defenders.
Taipei City fell on April 10. Given the choice between having the 74th and 109th Brigades encircled inside the capital, something which would deprive him of thousands of veteran fighters and priceless heavy equipment, General Luis ordered the retreat.
With it and the captures of Chinshan, Shihmen, and Sanchih, the Chinese had conquered enough lands they could land the near-infinite number of divisions mobilised to ‘rectify’ the historical wrongs the UPNG and California had constantly inflicted upon them.
This time, Luis didn’t even need Mayo’s predictions to give his most pessimistic report so far to his political superiors on the other side of the Pacific.
It had the merit of being blunt and clear: if nothing was done, the plains of western Taiwan would be lost by the end of May at the latest. The Chinese could bring too many men, and while the Californian courageous soldiers would blow the bridges and try as best as they could to delay the offensive prongs, they were fighting under an enemy sky, and thus every move they made was seen and countered before it could hit a critical point of the enemy defence system.
And naturally, the possibility of a second amphibious landing couldn’t be dismissed outright. As long as the Vietnamese debated and refused to honour the obligations they should have fulfilled on day two of the invasion, the Empress of China had no other distraction for her millions of subjects. The fierce resistance of Kaohsiung had prevented this kind of disaster from happening for now, but who was to say it would be true for the rest of the spring and the summer?
The Chinese infantry was storming fortified position after position towards Taoyuan. The Californian defenders had already committed over one hundred thousand men on that front, and it was obvious it wasn’t going to be enough, even after total mobilisation of the island’s population.
The Californians needed at least a couple of UPNG armies, and they needed them very badly.
But those forces were not on Taiwan itself.
And with this, the political headaches could truly begin.
The closest force available for reinforcement was the 3rd Army of the UPNG, deployed in the Philippines, as part of the combined force supposed to challenge China in the south-east Asian theatre. It was relatively modern, relatively well-equipped, and its deployment to Taiwan had seemed all but assured...as long as it had looked like the Chinese sailors had not the capacity to execute the kind of aerial raids that had just sunk two Californian naval squadrons.
On April 12, a lot of the institutional arrogance of the Granadan political and military hierarchy had disappeared, and the shock caused by the nasty surprises of the last days had not had the time to dissipate.
The Alliance of Pacific Powers was a coalition of extremely different nations, be it culturally, economically, and militarily. In many circumstances, it could be a major advantage. In conditions like those, it was anything but. Brunei was willing to commit its 2nd Expeditionary Army, but only if the Chinese Fleet was removed from play; in the Sultan’s own words, it was out of the question to send tens of thousands of troops to an island which could become a rat’s cage without warning.
The politicians hesitated and debated. And as they did, the Californians lost Taoyuan by April 15. The Chinese armed forces renewed their offensive, this time towards Hsinchu.
Luis and Mayo didn’t bother hiding the sheer precariousness of their situation; the best news on the daily communiqué was that the construction of the redoubts in the central mountain range of the island was proceeding according to schedule.
There wasn’t anything good about the war otherwise. The retreat towards the mountainous areas was only accomplished by the Californian citizens and the wealthiest classes of the society; the rest of the population seemed to be content to tolerate the invaders. It helped that for all their distaste of the foreigners, the Chinese troops were kept under tight discipline and did relatively little looting.
Californian troops still maintained decent sources of intelligence in every territory they were forced to abandon, temporarily in their eyes, but there was no denying there wouldn’t a ‘million-strong insurrection’ behind the Chinese lines, as some APP’s propaganda radio stations widely broadcasted day after day.
Back in the Americas, the Californian and UPNG governments were as a consequence faced with an unpleasant dilemma. Doing nothing would result in Taiwan being lost, but it would give time for the other possessions of the APP across the Pacific to strengthen their defences and increase their war production.
Or they could send everything they had in the theatre and provoke China into a decisive naval battle, with the risk that if they lost, they may have very well opened the gates of the Pacific to the Celestial Empire, from the Philippines to the Galapagos.
In the end, the ‘concerned citizens’ were the deciding factor. Politicians in a Republic needed to think constantly their future re-election prospects, and at a time where the crowd was baying for Chinese blood and Asian triumphs, doing nothing would not be exactly conductive for a long-term career in the highest spheres of power...
The fall of Keelung so early in the war was a major disaster for the Alliance of Pacific Powers, and especially California.
The 6th Line Division of the Californian Army was so battered down by the bloody harbour and urban fighting that the surviving formations were immediately declared non-operational, and General Luis, Marshal Valdes’ replacement, found himself in the position of a ship captain discovering two new holes in his boat every time he managed to plug one.
The Californian Army had fortified the island well. It had more than two hundred thousand soldiers who were considered battle-ready before the Chinese unveiled their new carriers, strike fighters, and bombers.
None of it was sufficient given the size of the enemy air support and the importance of the beachhead the Chinese had managed to seize. And Air General Mayo, playing the role of the modern Cassandra, warned him it was going to get worse. At the rate the Chinese elite troops were enlarging their beachhead and consolidating their first gains, it was only a question of time before they had to abandon Taipei City.
This would give Guangzhou’s Generals their first major airport, and allow the enemy to significantly downscale their carrier operations. The enormous battle-fleet dominating the Taiwan Straits would also be free to go after other objectives.
Luis acknowledged those points – not an easy feat given that he had been one of Mayo’s fiercest opponents pre-war – but his options were terribly limited.
With the destruction of the 6th Division, more and more of his remaining power was stretched to the breaking point, and this was despite the geography giving a massive advantage to the defenders; the roads to the south-east of the island were blocked by strong fortifications, and the centre of the island was impassable for most vehicles, modern or not.
Unfortunately, the Chinese knew this, and this was why they pushed westwards. It wasn’t just because Taipei City was so close. The reality was that the western slice was plains, heavily urbanised, with lots of bridges and superb infrastructure the Californian government had invested in those last decades.
As the Estrela strike fighters fell from the skies one by one, the Chinese aerial supremacy ceased to become a rumour and became more and more the demoralising truth to the exhausted defenders.
Taipei City fell on April 10. Given the choice between having the 74th and 109th Brigades encircled inside the capital, something which would deprive him of thousands of veteran fighters and priceless heavy equipment, General Luis ordered the retreat.
With it and the captures of Chinshan, Shihmen, and Sanchih, the Chinese had conquered enough lands they could land the near-infinite number of divisions mobilised to ‘rectify’ the historical wrongs the UPNG and California had constantly inflicted upon them.
This time, Luis didn’t even need Mayo’s predictions to give his most pessimistic report so far to his political superiors on the other side of the Pacific.
It had the merit of being blunt and clear: if nothing was done, the plains of western Taiwan would be lost by the end of May at the latest. The Chinese could bring too many men, and while the Californian courageous soldiers would blow the bridges and try as best as they could to delay the offensive prongs, they were fighting under an enemy sky, and thus every move they made was seen and countered before it could hit a critical point of the enemy defence system.
And naturally, the possibility of a second amphibious landing couldn’t be dismissed outright. As long as the Vietnamese debated and refused to honour the obligations they should have fulfilled on day two of the invasion, the Empress of China had no other distraction for her millions of subjects. The fierce resistance of Kaohsiung had prevented this kind of disaster from happening for now, but who was to say it would be true for the rest of the spring and the summer?
The Chinese infantry was storming fortified position after position towards Taoyuan. The Californian defenders had already committed over one hundred thousand men on that front, and it was obvious it wasn’t going to be enough, even after total mobilisation of the island’s population.
The Californians needed at least a couple of UPNG armies, and they needed them very badly.
But those forces were not on Taiwan itself.
And with this, the political headaches could truly begin.
The closest force available for reinforcement was the 3rd Army of the UPNG, deployed in the Philippines, as part of the combined force supposed to challenge China in the south-east Asian theatre. It was relatively modern, relatively well-equipped, and its deployment to Taiwan had seemed all but assured...as long as it had looked like the Chinese sailors had not the capacity to execute the kind of aerial raids that had just sunk two Californian naval squadrons.
On April 12, a lot of the institutional arrogance of the Granadan political and military hierarchy had disappeared, and the shock caused by the nasty surprises of the last days had not had the time to dissipate.
The Alliance of Pacific Powers was a coalition of extremely different nations, be it culturally, economically, and militarily. In many circumstances, it could be a major advantage. In conditions like those, it was anything but. Brunei was willing to commit its 2nd Expeditionary Army, but only if the Chinese Fleet was removed from play; in the Sultan’s own words, it was out of the question to send tens of thousands of troops to an island which could become a rat’s cage without warning.
The politicians hesitated and debated. And as they did, the Californians lost Taoyuan by April 15. The Chinese armed forces renewed their offensive, this time towards Hsinchu.
Luis and Mayo didn’t bother hiding the sheer precariousness of their situation; the best news on the daily communiqué was that the construction of the redoubts in the central mountain range of the island was proceeding according to schedule.
There wasn’t anything good about the war otherwise. The retreat towards the mountainous areas was only accomplished by the Californian citizens and the wealthiest classes of the society; the rest of the population seemed to be content to tolerate the invaders. It helped that for all their distaste of the foreigners, the Chinese troops were kept under tight discipline and did relatively little looting.
Californian troops still maintained decent sources of intelligence in every territory they were forced to abandon, temporarily in their eyes, but there was no denying there wouldn’t a ‘million-strong insurrection’ behind the Chinese lines, as some APP’s propaganda radio stations widely broadcasted day after day.
Back in the Americas, the Californian and UPNG governments were as a consequence faced with an unpleasant dilemma. Doing nothing would result in Taiwan being lost, but it would give time for the other possessions of the APP across the Pacific to strengthen their defences and increase their war production.
Or they could send everything they had in the theatre and provoke China into a decisive naval battle, with the risk that if they lost, they may have very well opened the gates of the Pacific to the Celestial Empire, from the Philippines to the Galapagos.
In the end, the ‘concerned citizens’ were the deciding factor. Politicians in a Republic needed to think constantly their future re-election prospects, and at a time where the crowd was baying for Chinese blood and Asian triumphs, doing nothing would not be exactly conductive for a long-term career in the highest spheres of power...
Well, this chapter just show the APP isn't as united as some might have hoped for. Still, I think the worst part is that the "politicians" will now try to meddle in military affairs, things will go even worst than now. China have the opportunity to make some serious gains of it can exploit the panic these early successes have caused. This kind of apparent weakness from the APP attract sharks like blood in water which beg the question : what is the next blow? Civil unrest? Futher disintegration of the coalition? Another alliance will attack them? But I suppose the battle of Taïwan isn't finished just yet...
Beyond the Horizon (The Battle of Taiwan April 1923)
By April 17, the Granadan and the Californian governments decided, at long last, that a major naval battle had to be risked.
As for the reasons why, they were multiple and varied, and would likely fill an entire book on its own right. But they could be summed-up in a few points.
First, the government of California had invested a lot of money there. Though some of it was already undoubtedly destroyed by the Chinese invaders, if the island fell, all of it would be lost...and good luck being reimbursed by Empress Ren and her Chinese ministers.
Secondly, and not to underestimated either, if the war ended in such conditions, it would likely be the end of the Alliance of Pacific Powers. Already Vietnam had defied the will of the UPNG and the other most influential coalition members. The same was true of Australasia. Brunei was manifesting more and more worrying tendencies of independence. It was not out of the question that save the direct client states on the American continent, the UPNG and California would quickly lose their assets in Asia, no matter how secure.
With the dissolution of said alliance, its former members would likely lose all their influence and diplomatic, economic, and military power on the world stage. Needless to say, all politicians of the UPNG, no matter how pacifist or belligerent, wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Third, and not least, there was a non-insignificant emotion of rage spreading across the different political classes of the APP. For all the difficulties experienced by the resurgence of China on the world stage, for all the truth many of the men and women in power were not warmongers and indifferent to the average soldiers’ plights, many had believed the Chinese to be inferior to them. Russia had been able to tear apart their Empire for decades before finally withdrawing. Plenty of disadvantageous treaties had been signed with states which had been Chinese vassals. They could be beaten by a European power, there was no shame in that, but to be smashed apart, to be proven technologically and military inferior to some yellow-skinned people in Guangzhou, Nanjing, and Shanghai? The thought was nearly intolerable.
The Admirals in charge of the Alliance’s warships were told to leave their naval bases and challenge the Chinese battle in a clash which would shake the South Chinese Sea.
Said Admirals didn’t jump in joy hearing their new marching orders.
While once upon a time it might have caused some enthusiasm, every sailor by now had heard of the humiliation the Chinese carrier fleet and its deadly aircraft had delivered upon the Californian heads.
There were some optimists to point out that for all the devastating power of the new strike fighters and the bombers, the Chinese aerial armada had accomplished it against a fleet at anchor. The Isabella and the other ships sunk at Keelung and Kaohsiung were immobile, their crews weren’t manned, and the officers had been so confident the Chinese wouldn’t be able to launch a sneak attack in this manner that a lot of preparations were shining by their inexistence. Evidently, it would be much harder to repeat the exploit against a fleet sailing under its own power and warned of the bombers’ murderous potential.
The pessimists, and they were far more numerous on the ships than the optimists, pointed out justly that it didn’t matter. The Chinese carriers granted the Admirals of Empress Ren a nearly-insurmountable advantage in terms of scouting ability and tactical deployment. As long as the naval armada of Guangzhou had flat-top warships and aircraft, it could observe and strike the APP’s hulls in all impunity. According to the reports, the fastest Californian and UNPG ships were slightly faster than their enemy counterparts...but here too, it didn’t matter, for most of the Alliance of Pacific Powers’ battle-line was older than the Chinese, and thus far slower.
In the end, it didn’t matter if one or two Battleships were able to sail at thirty-three knots if they had to wait the rest pushing boilers and engines hard to reach twenty-eight or less.
One could imagine a lot of tactics and strategies, but faced with these problems, several UPNG and Brunei naval officers declared behind the privacy of their headquarters’ walls that a naval charge towards Taiwan would accomplish nothing but the suicide of the APP’s greatest naval assets.
California and all its allies needed carriers to make the odds less insurmountable. And there was good news. Properly wielded and commanded, the destruction of the carrier Sima Yi proved beyond doubt that the Alliance of Pacific Powers could cripple the expensive new toys of their enemies.
Even better, the intelligence services had at last been purged of the incompetent and the traitors, and revealed how China had been able to build so fast those carriers: many of them were converted from merchant hulls. As the American-based shipyards were absolutely able to imitate this feat, the different navies allied to oppose Empress Ren would have brand-new carriers before the end of the year. In fact, the shipbuilders went so far as to promise some brand-new carriers six months from now.
Many flag officers rejoiced at the news. They shouldn’t have.
Their politician masters were in no mood to wait for six months, and not just because it would be their electoral death. At the pace the Chinese were able to reinforce their foothold and secure the coastal plain, Taiwan minus its mountainous fortresses would be lost within two months. In six, it might be an amphibious invasion of the Philippines they would struggle to defend against.
The Admirals stood their ground and at least were given the authorisation to fight on their own terms this decisive battle.
It was the official beginning of what the world would know as the Taiwan Express.
By April 17, the Granadan and the Californian governments decided, at long last, that a major naval battle had to be risked.
As for the reasons why, they were multiple and varied, and would likely fill an entire book on its own right. But they could be summed-up in a few points.
First, the government of California had invested a lot of money there. Though some of it was already undoubtedly destroyed by the Chinese invaders, if the island fell, all of it would be lost...and good luck being reimbursed by Empress Ren and her Chinese ministers.
Secondly, and not to underestimated either, if the war ended in such conditions, it would likely be the end of the Alliance of Pacific Powers. Already Vietnam had defied the will of the UPNG and the other most influential coalition members. The same was true of Australasia. Brunei was manifesting more and more worrying tendencies of independence. It was not out of the question that save the direct client states on the American continent, the UPNG and California would quickly lose their assets in Asia, no matter how secure.
With the dissolution of said alliance, its former members would likely lose all their influence and diplomatic, economic, and military power on the world stage. Needless to say, all politicians of the UPNG, no matter how pacifist or belligerent, wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Third, and not least, there was a non-insignificant emotion of rage spreading across the different political classes of the APP. For all the difficulties experienced by the resurgence of China on the world stage, for all the truth many of the men and women in power were not warmongers and indifferent to the average soldiers’ plights, many had believed the Chinese to be inferior to them. Russia had been able to tear apart their Empire for decades before finally withdrawing. Plenty of disadvantageous treaties had been signed with states which had been Chinese vassals. They could be beaten by a European power, there was no shame in that, but to be smashed apart, to be proven technologically and military inferior to some yellow-skinned people in Guangzhou, Nanjing, and Shanghai? The thought was nearly intolerable.
The Admirals in charge of the Alliance’s warships were told to leave their naval bases and challenge the Chinese battle in a clash which would shake the South Chinese Sea.
Said Admirals didn’t jump in joy hearing their new marching orders.
While once upon a time it might have caused some enthusiasm, every sailor by now had heard of the humiliation the Chinese carrier fleet and its deadly aircraft had delivered upon the Californian heads.
There were some optimists to point out that for all the devastating power of the new strike fighters and the bombers, the Chinese aerial armada had accomplished it against a fleet at anchor. The Isabella and the other ships sunk at Keelung and Kaohsiung were immobile, their crews weren’t manned, and the officers had been so confident the Chinese wouldn’t be able to launch a sneak attack in this manner that a lot of preparations were shining by their inexistence. Evidently, it would be much harder to repeat the exploit against a fleet sailing under its own power and warned of the bombers’ murderous potential.
The pessimists, and they were far more numerous on the ships than the optimists, pointed out justly that it didn’t matter. The Chinese carriers granted the Admirals of Empress Ren a nearly-insurmountable advantage in terms of scouting ability and tactical deployment. As long as the naval armada of Guangzhou had flat-top warships and aircraft, it could observe and strike the APP’s hulls in all impunity. According to the reports, the fastest Californian and UNPG ships were slightly faster than their enemy counterparts...but here too, it didn’t matter, for most of the Alliance of Pacific Powers’ battle-line was older than the Chinese, and thus far slower.
In the end, it didn’t matter if one or two Battleships were able to sail at thirty-three knots if they had to wait the rest pushing boilers and engines hard to reach twenty-eight or less.
One could imagine a lot of tactics and strategies, but faced with these problems, several UPNG and Brunei naval officers declared behind the privacy of their headquarters’ walls that a naval charge towards Taiwan would accomplish nothing but the suicide of the APP’s greatest naval assets.
California and all its allies needed carriers to make the odds less insurmountable. And there was good news. Properly wielded and commanded, the destruction of the carrier Sima Yi proved beyond doubt that the Alliance of Pacific Powers could cripple the expensive new toys of their enemies.
Even better, the intelligence services had at last been purged of the incompetent and the traitors, and revealed how China had been able to build so fast those carriers: many of them were converted from merchant hulls. As the American-based shipyards were absolutely able to imitate this feat, the different navies allied to oppose Empress Ren would have brand-new carriers before the end of the year. In fact, the shipbuilders went so far as to promise some brand-new carriers six months from now.
Many flag officers rejoiced at the news. They shouldn’t have.
Their politician masters were in no mood to wait for six months, and not just because it would be their electoral death. At the pace the Chinese were able to reinforce their foothold and secure the coastal plain, Taiwan minus its mountainous fortresses would be lost within two months. In six, it might be an amphibious invasion of the Philippines they would struggle to defend against.
The Admirals stood their ground and at least were given the authorisation to fight on their own terms this decisive battle.
It was the official beginning of what the world would know as the Taiwan Express.
I don't get the reason why it turned into an Express. It felt like a weird turn of phrase. Kind of like a turkey shoot, maybe?
But somehow I feel like whatever phrase coined it, the future battle will not go well for the Granadans.
Glad to see this TL back.
That sounds like intensive smuggling to keep the Californian defenders of the island in fighting condition while waiting for those new carriers.
I just did a Google. Apparently there's an op by the name of Tokyo Express where the IJN tried to resupply their beleaguered troops and got utterly demolished in the Pacific. Along with all the supplies and other important war materials.
That had interesting implications.
That's what I thought. It could be a reference or it could mean that the operation is successful, who knows whatever the case the next few updates are likely to be very exciting.