"No-one expected that the Chinese were more advanced than they appeared. All that was known...
The Red Dragon (Draka/Rise Of The Reds/Crossovers SI)
- Thread starter Gideon020
- Start date
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 78
- Recent readers
- 0
- Threadmarks
- 5
-
Statistics (5 threadmarks, 14k words)
User Total Gideon020 5
Prologue: A Meeting At The Lucky Dragon
Gideon020
Really in the mood for ribs.
"No-one expected that the Chinese were more advanced than they appeared. All that was known about China was a backwards nation, a place of farmers, silk and legends of dead empires that a bunch of ferals venerated as nearly gods. We ignored their alliance with Stalin and joked that he and Mao were in bed together. And then we met the Chinaman on the battlefield and all the jokes stopped."
-Scrap of a Drakan Citizen-Soldier's journal recovered from the Vietnam theatre by OSS agents.
"Give me a million soldiers and I shall conquer China. Give me a million Red Guard, and I shall conquer the world."
-Quote attributed to Mao Zedong, first Premier of the People's Republic Of China before his assassination by Drakan agents.
"And this is why we should never work with those damn Commies!"
-J. Edgar Hoover, Chief of the FBI, upon being briefed on the joint Chinese-Soviet conquest of Japan which resulted in the complete destruction of Tokyo by nuclear artillery.
-Shanghai, 1930-
The building chosen for the meeting between the five conspirators was a restaurant formed by the fourth that catered to expatriates and curious locals who wanted to try 'Western' food, although the name was quite loose since the fourth conspirator preferred more Asian tastes in his cooking. But as it stood, the Lucky Dragon restaurant did a roaring business and allowed the other four a stable place for their meetings.
And so, three men and one woman arrived at the Lucky Dragon and the doorman immediately ushered them towards a staircase barricaded by a velvet rope, drawing glances and side-long stares from the patrons who more often then not were not just there for the food. The Lucky Dragon was deep in the part of the city where expatriates lived and with the Japanese-held Manchuria only a short distance away the expat zone was a hot bed of spies from every part of the world.
Reports would be going back about the mysterious VIPs but those in the halls of power in Berlin, Moscow, Washington, Tokyo and Archona were more interested in other concerns than some visitors to the reclusive owner of the Lucky Dragon.
As the door to the office that overlooked the main restaurant floor opened, the four visitors entered swiftly before the door closed and the fourth turned from the window, "Well? How did it go?"
The woman smiled demurely, "Mao has seen the advantages to our offer, particularly in their realisation of a Chinese Communist state. Moreover, the temptation of controlling Moscow, the birthplace of communism, has only made him further agreeable to certain conditions, my own return to a uniform among them."
The fourth conspirator nodded, "And he had no problems with my control of the industries needed for the war effort?"
The woman shook her head, "None. The device worked perfectly. He will put a Westerner, a Capitalist, in charge and believe it was his entirely his own idea, as is putting a woman in charge of this new military force. After all, the Red Guard is meant to take in those who do not shape up for the true People's Liberation Army so a woman being in charge will not reflect badly on the PLA."
The other three men snorted or chuckled in amusement as one man lit a cigar, "So what about the implants? I am not about to become some bleeding heart in regards to spending lives, but even the smallest advantage against those Janissaries the Draka will try to drown us under will be necessary."
"Don't forget resources." Another man spoke up, "We are up against a nation that according to the one who sent us here, are somehow capable of fighting at a level decades ahead of the original time-line. We will need extensive material resources in order to supply the guns, ammo and tanks for the Red Guard."
The fourth man nodded, "Don't worry about the resources. Our patron was quite correct in the capabilities of the second device, we will have the materials and resources ready for delivery to the factories. China will grow larger and the Dragon will burn away this threat to her safety. But first, we need Russia." He looked back out over the restaurant floor, "The additional land, resources and manpower will only be a further advantage, and besides it isn't like Stalin is doing anything with that Hermit Kingdom of his."
The others laughed at the memory of Stalin declaring that the Soviet Union would close it's borders and begin the 'Hermit Kingdom' plan only eight years ago, it was still ridiculous compared to the memory of the tyrant they knew from history who had forced his country to modernize while conducting brutal purges. Perhaps that was why Mao Zedong had agreed so readily to a take over of the Soviet Union; Stalin, in his eyes, was clearly too weak to see the grand vision that Marx had laid out and Lenin had started.
"They won't be expecting it I imagine." The second man remarked, "And with access to Europe we can strike the Draka from two overland directions. Not only that, with Russia secured we can strike Manchuria from multiple directions."
"We still might." The first man, who had remained silent, spoke up, "But I would be more comfortable with those implants being operational and ready for production, it will be a great advantage if we can essentially bring back the dead and prevent loss of valuable, experienced, men and women."
"The implant only creates a digital copy of a person's consciousness and transmits it for uploading into a cloned body." The fourth man replied, "Arguments and philosophical statements regarding the soul are best left to faith rather than understanding. In any case, the testing finished a month ago and they are ready to be implanted into the volunteers and the rejects from the PLA."
"And the other technologies? I know that this old man," The woman jerked a thumb towards the first man, "Wants to have his precious fireworks back."
"The nuclear weapons program went ahead smoothly and the Japanese are still unaware about the Breeder Reactor complex as well as the completed weaponry being manufactured thanks to the second device." The fourth man answered easily, "As long as the manufacturing complex remains hidden, we will be more than capable of burying the Japanese and bringing Stalin to heel."
"One can only hope that our future Comrade-Chairman will be lenient with Stalin, he has his uses," The first man mused while the woman snorted.
"Only until our grip on the Russian people is secure. Then he can be retired, and who knows? Perhaps said retirement will involve a nice dachau rather than a shallow grave."
A door opened and a waitress with a bottle entered the room, prompting a frown from the fourth man, "Who sent you up here?"
The woman paused as all attention turned to her, "I..."
Immediately, the fourth man raised a large revolver and fired, the bullet punching through the woman's chest and he stepped over to the body, looking it over, "Japanese intelligence."
The woman raised an eyebrow, "You sound sure of yourself."
The fourth man shrugged, "I pay the Triads to keep an eye on the Japanese movements in the city. Her picture came up, I just needed her to stand still long enough to be certain." He sighed, "Looks like a raid is going to occur. I'll have the car brought around for you all." Walking over to a cabinet, the fourth man opened it and pulled out a large assault rifle, "Guards are probably dead, no-one is allowed up here unless I say so, which means we're going to have to get to the car the hard way."
He walked back to his desk, opened a drawer and pulled out a thick manila envelope before dialling a number on the phone, "Wu, get the car brought up to the rear. Yes, we're leaving Shanghai, so tell Chen he's in charge once the Japanese are gone."
After hanging up, the fourth man turned to the other three men and the woman.
-Scrap of a Drakan Citizen-Soldier's journal recovered from the Vietnam theatre by OSS agents.
"Give me a million soldiers and I shall conquer China. Give me a million Red Guard, and I shall conquer the world."
-Quote attributed to Mao Zedong, first Premier of the People's Republic Of China before his assassination by Drakan agents.
"And this is why we should never work with those damn Commies!"
-J. Edgar Hoover, Chief of the FBI, upon being briefed on the joint Chinese-Soviet conquest of Japan which resulted in the complete destruction of Tokyo by nuclear artillery.
-Shanghai, 1930-
The building chosen for the meeting between the five conspirators was a restaurant formed by the fourth that catered to expatriates and curious locals who wanted to try 'Western' food, although the name was quite loose since the fourth conspirator preferred more Asian tastes in his cooking. But as it stood, the Lucky Dragon restaurant did a roaring business and allowed the other four a stable place for their meetings.
And so, three men and one woman arrived at the Lucky Dragon and the doorman immediately ushered them towards a staircase barricaded by a velvet rope, drawing glances and side-long stares from the patrons who more often then not were not just there for the food. The Lucky Dragon was deep in the part of the city where expatriates lived and with the Japanese-held Manchuria only a short distance away the expat zone was a hot bed of spies from every part of the world.
Reports would be going back about the mysterious VIPs but those in the halls of power in Berlin, Moscow, Washington, Tokyo and Archona were more interested in other concerns than some visitors to the reclusive owner of the Lucky Dragon.
As the door to the office that overlooked the main restaurant floor opened, the four visitors entered swiftly before the door closed and the fourth turned from the window, "Well? How did it go?"
The woman smiled demurely, "Mao has seen the advantages to our offer, particularly in their realisation of a Chinese Communist state. Moreover, the temptation of controlling Moscow, the birthplace of communism, has only made him further agreeable to certain conditions, my own return to a uniform among them."
The fourth conspirator nodded, "And he had no problems with my control of the industries needed for the war effort?"
The woman shook her head, "None. The device worked perfectly. He will put a Westerner, a Capitalist, in charge and believe it was his entirely his own idea, as is putting a woman in charge of this new military force. After all, the Red Guard is meant to take in those who do not shape up for the true People's Liberation Army so a woman being in charge will not reflect badly on the PLA."
The other three men snorted or chuckled in amusement as one man lit a cigar, "So what about the implants? I am not about to become some bleeding heart in regards to spending lives, but even the smallest advantage against those Janissaries the Draka will try to drown us under will be necessary."
"Don't forget resources." Another man spoke up, "We are up against a nation that according to the one who sent us here, are somehow capable of fighting at a level decades ahead of the original time-line. We will need extensive material resources in order to supply the guns, ammo and tanks for the Red Guard."
The fourth man nodded, "Don't worry about the resources. Our patron was quite correct in the capabilities of the second device, we will have the materials and resources ready for delivery to the factories. China will grow larger and the Dragon will burn away this threat to her safety. But first, we need Russia." He looked back out over the restaurant floor, "The additional land, resources and manpower will only be a further advantage, and besides it isn't like Stalin is doing anything with that Hermit Kingdom of his."
The others laughed at the memory of Stalin declaring that the Soviet Union would close it's borders and begin the 'Hermit Kingdom' plan only eight years ago, it was still ridiculous compared to the memory of the tyrant they knew from history who had forced his country to modernize while conducting brutal purges. Perhaps that was why Mao Zedong had agreed so readily to a take over of the Soviet Union; Stalin, in his eyes, was clearly too weak to see the grand vision that Marx had laid out and Lenin had started.
"They won't be expecting it I imagine." The second man remarked, "And with access to Europe we can strike the Draka from two overland directions. Not only that, with Russia secured we can strike Manchuria from multiple directions."
"We still might." The first man, who had remained silent, spoke up, "But I would be more comfortable with those implants being operational and ready for production, it will be a great advantage if we can essentially bring back the dead and prevent loss of valuable, experienced, men and women."
"The implant only creates a digital copy of a person's consciousness and transmits it for uploading into a cloned body." The fourth man replied, "Arguments and philosophical statements regarding the soul are best left to faith rather than understanding. In any case, the testing finished a month ago and they are ready to be implanted into the volunteers and the rejects from the PLA."
"And the other technologies? I know that this old man," The woman jerked a thumb towards the first man, "Wants to have his precious fireworks back."
"The nuclear weapons program went ahead smoothly and the Japanese are still unaware about the Breeder Reactor complex as well as the completed weaponry being manufactured thanks to the second device." The fourth man answered easily, "As long as the manufacturing complex remains hidden, we will be more than capable of burying the Japanese and bringing Stalin to heel."
"One can only hope that our future Comrade-Chairman will be lenient with Stalin, he has his uses," The first man mused while the woman snorted.
"Only until our grip on the Russian people is secure. Then he can be retired, and who knows? Perhaps said retirement will involve a nice dachau rather than a shallow grave."
A door opened and a waitress with a bottle entered the room, prompting a frown from the fourth man, "Who sent you up here?"
The woman paused as all attention turned to her, "I..."
Immediately, the fourth man raised a large revolver and fired, the bullet punching through the woman's chest and he stepped over to the body, looking it over, "Japanese intelligence."
The woman raised an eyebrow, "You sound sure of yourself."
The fourth man shrugged, "I pay the Triads to keep an eye on the Japanese movements in the city. Her picture came up, I just needed her to stand still long enough to be certain." He sighed, "Looks like a raid is going to occur. I'll have the car brought around for you all." Walking over to a cabinet, the fourth man opened it and pulled out a large assault rifle, "Guards are probably dead, no-one is allowed up here unless I say so, which means we're going to have to get to the car the hard way."
He walked back to his desk, opened a drawer and pulled out a thick manila envelope before dialling a number on the phone, "Wu, get the car brought up to the rear. Yes, we're leaving Shanghai, so tell Chen he's in charge once the Japanese are gone."
After hanging up, the fourth man turned to the other three men and the woman.
"Well, then, shall we?"
My muse is a flighty, fickle bitch.
Last edited:
Chapter 1: The Tunguska Test.
Gideon020
Really in the mood for ribs.
"As far as we can tell, the source of the Chinese nuclear weapons program is this complex here, known as the Black Bear Strategic Research Directorate. It is located deep in the Chinese countryside and is protected by the best troops available to the nascent People's Liberation Army along with Soviet infantry."
"So, Stalin wants to get his hands on the Bomb?"
"We don't know. As far as we know, all military and political negotiations with the Soviets are through Marshal Zhukov, with minimal references to Stalin."
-Conversation between President Roosevelt and the head of the OSS.
"Soldiers! Before you is Russia! Now I know about the scuttlebutt that is being circulated, that the Chinaman is somehow the equal of the Citizen-Legions just because they mow down a bunch of Janissaries. Well, they are wrong! We are the Draka, and it is our destiny to bring the world under the Yoke, to show them their place is in servitude to us! So when those yellow chinks come, show them what it means to fight the Domination!"
"Centurion! Inbound Chinese armour and infantry! At least four Legions worth!"
"Then let's put these chinks under the Yoke! Up and at 'em boys and girls! Bulala!"
-Final known recorded speech by Centurian Walter Zucker before the annihilation of his Mechanized Century by Chinese Red Guard Shock Brigade 112 which had been assigned prototype tactical nuclear weaponry.
"I don't care how you do it! Get me the Bomb!"
-Archon Palme upon being informed of possible cost in Serf and even Citizen lives in acquiring the first Drakan nuclear weapon. At the time, the Chinese were the only known military force with access to the Nuclear Bomb at the tactical, strategic and theater level and were known to be liberal thanks to an equal skill in cleaning up radiation and fallout.
-Deep in the Chinese countryside, Strategic Research Directorate 'Black Bear', April 1932-
"Lady and Gentlemen, welcome to Black Bear." Once again, five conspirators met to decide and guide the fate of China in a world that was steadily marching to the brink of war as the one who was speaking, a Westerner, smiled at his Chinese co-conspirators, "It's been a while hasn't it? Two years in fact, since Shanghai."
His expression became momentarily bitter, "At least Chen's taking good care of the Lucky Dragon, because I'm going to enjoy taking it back once we kick the Japanese out of China." He looked out the window of his office, at the hive of activity that was taking place as research continued on specific projects that were key to the future success of the Communist Chinese forces under Mao, before turning back to the other four who were all dressed in military uniforms, "So, what's the reason for the visit? Last reports from the labs here and at Red Cliff were already sent to you and progress continues on target in regards to those projects and programs."
The woman slapped a newspaper on the man's desk and he drew close to read the headline, wincing, "Shit. So Hitler won did he? Not entirely unexpected." He flipped through the newspaper, "Oh, FDR announced the New Deal as well. Good for them. But I'm still-"
"Comrade-Chairman Mao wants us to begin sending the Red Guard into Japanese-held Manchuria." The woman replied, "He feels that with these new international events, striking now will allow us the time to conquer Manchuria and gain the People's Republic true international legitimacy." The man looked up from the newspaper as she continued, "I have my reservations; my own 1st Shock Army is not fully equipped for extended campaigns, and General Fai," She glared at the other man who ignored her stare with the serene dignity of a monk, "Continues to steal useful candidates to lead his already bloated Third Shock Army."
"China's strength is in the men and women of China," Fai responded sagely, "I am merely putting those who would serve best as NCO's and Officers to good use, where they would be wasted in your gaggle of specialist and experimental technologies."
As the argument threatened to build, one of the other two men seated in front of the desk spoke up, "My nuclear weapons program and supply is progressing more slowly than I expected, is there a reason for the delays Gideon?"
The fourth man, Gideon, frowned, "Our esteemed Comrade-Chairman, despite my efforts to convince his representatives of the vital nature of keeping our nuclear weapons in your hands, General Tao, has decided that production is to be increased so that the PLA may make use of nuclear weapons as well. We are in the process of upgrading the facilities at Red Cliff and here at Black Bear to account for the increased demand, but due to the wishes of Mao, 75% of current production has be regrettably ear-marked for delivery to the PLA."
General Tao snorted, "The PLA, it hasn't been in existence for more than a year and already they're strutting like roosters in their uniforms and automatic rifles. It will be the Red Guard who will build a stronger China, just as it did back home." He glared at the last man who had snickered, "And what is so funny Comrade Kwai?"
"Oh nothing, just remembering when we all strutted like that when we first joined the PLA, ready to spread Communism to the world." He snorted in amusement again, "Oh poor Comrades Leang and Tao, to have so many troubles. At least General Fai and I have had no demands placed on us by the good Comrade-Chairman in his infinite and supreme wisdom."
"Actually..." Gideon started to speak up, a small smile appearing at the looks of sudden shock and dawning horror he was receiving from Fai and Kwai, "Comrade-Chairman Mao has delivered request in regards to future tank production and allocation of infantry. He has seen the high quality of General Fai's infantry divisions and has decided that Fai's best are to be promoted to full service in the PLA, with Fai's Second Shock Army to be used as a training cadre to improve those who wash out of initial PLA training. This is expected to deplete Fai's forces by about 20,000 men a year."
He turned to Kwai as Tao and Leang smiled smugly at Fai, "General Kwai, the PLA has seen the effectiveness of the Type-90D Warmaster Tank in field trials and has ear-marked 80% of all Warmaster production for the PLA Tank Corps. Unfortunately, this means that future Warmaster production may have to be done in the field through parts shipped to field War Factories."
Kwai flushed red at hearing Gideon's report, while the young man continued his report, checking a small stack of papers on a clip-board, "A test detonation has been scheduled to take place in Tunguska. With the Soviets being so cooperative thanks to the diplomatic efforts of the Comrade-Chairman and Stalin's strange willingness to agree to anything that won't disrupt his Hermit Kingdom, we should be able to begin testing of the warhead for the Dong Feng within two week."
General Leang frowned, "You aren't expecting trouble?"
Gideon shrugged, "Oh, I expect trouble, but no-one and certainly not the Draka have any knowledge of nuclear technology beyond Einstein's theories and certainly nothing workable. I expect the X-21 warhead to be considered some kind of supernatural phenomena, especially as the test detonation is scheduled for night."
"A night detonation?" Fai asked while Tao raised an eyebrow.
Gideon shrugged, "Why not? Fireworks look better at night when they are set off, no?" He glanced at a sheet, "However, my own security forces won't be enough to properly protect the test area. I need your help if the test is to go smoothly."
"I have a company of Warmasters I can spare since they'll be attacking Manchuria through the planned Northern Frontline." Kwai spoke up, "They are my best tankers, veterans of the border skirmishes and expeditionary raids on the Drakan borders in Central Asia and the Middle-East."
"I have a division of my best men along with a company of Minigunners," Fai remarked, "That should be enough infantry to protect the testing area."
Leang shrugged, "I have a battery of Grinder Artillery that should be sufficient. The new Self-Forging Fletchette Canister ammo has proven itself quite capable against both vehicles and infantry, and the new Grinder Mine design should be sufficient against whatever weak armour may be thrown at the testing site."
Tao was the last to speak as he considered his options, before nodding, "I can spare five Devastator Tanks from their deployment to the Southern Frontline Area. They represent at least ten-percent of my Devastator forces Gideon, so don't waste them."
Gideon smiled, "If I need to use them, then they won't be wasted." He looked over to the rest of the Generals, "Thank you for your forces, Comrade Generals, they will be put to good use protecting the test site from enemy action alongside my security forces. Now then, we should move on to a more important topic and that is the recent reports of the Hond-III that is now being put into service."
Pressing a button his desk that lowered a shutter as the room's lights darkened, Gideon pressed another button to lower a screen and a projector from the ceiling, the device stopping just high enough for Gideon to insert a set of slides, "Now, look at this." The first slide showed a tank with the turret set at the rear, with doors opening to allow several Citizen-Soldiers space to exit, "This is the Hond-II Medium Tank being employed in 1930, during border skirmishes with the Black Dragon Expeditionary Force that helped form our experienced Red Guard officer corp. As you can see, apart from the fact that it is a rear-set gun and crew area with a forward engine and space for a squad of Drakan Citizen Force infantry, the design is largely conventional."
The slide changed, "Now look at this." The image showed a larger tank with the same design aesthetic but the rough, blocky shape was smoothed into curves and deflecting angles, "This is the Hond-III, the newest Heavy Tank being put into service on the Afghanistan border. This picture was taken two months ago, and it shows just how fast the Draka have advanced. However, as you can see, they are employing angling and curves for the armour to better deflect shells, which is not something the Draka should have discovered until at least seven years from now."
The slide changed to another vehicle firing an smaller cannon, "This is the Hoplite-II, their new APC. That 25mm gun is a direct copy of the American M242 Bushmaster-II Autocannon down to the muzzle brake. The Draka should not have the capability to design a gun made in the 1970's even for a country as stupidly Mary-Sue as theirs. But it's this slide that really concerned me."
The projector switched in the last slide and Leang suddenly leaned forward, "Is that...?"
Gideon nodded, "That is an Area Denial System, mounted on a modified tank chassis. Comrade Generals, this is not canon, the Draka have never seen a need for directed-energy weapon technology nor should they be able to manufacture this, not even with their tech-base. Comrade Generals...someone is helping the Draka advance their technology at a much faster pace than canon."
Fai snorted, "Let them then. We have the Heavenly Road implants and the ability to clone people along with limitless source of resources and materials. We'll bury them under bodies, guns and nukes."
"That may be true Fai, but I know what our good Comrade Gideon is worried about." Leang mused, "He's concerned that we may have a mysterious opponent who can match us and possibly destroy us if we tip our hand too early."
"That is exactly it, and why I need the extra security." Gideon replied, "I have received reports from Chen at the Lucky Dragon; someone is trying to find us and our facilities. If the test is attacked, then we have an enemy who is going to be aware of us and wants us out of the race before we can even get started. I expect that the full force of the Draka may be aimed at the Soviet Union and China if we are not careful."
"Aimed at us early you mean." Tao stated, "The Draka will ignore us when we engage the Japanese. The PRC is a joke in the international community, a faction holding onto the words of Marx when even Stalin himself clearly cares nothing for Communism. They will only take us seriously when we fire the Dong Feng at Chengde and retake our land from the Japanese."
"More than that," Leang growled, "We take Japan as well. Without the Japanese, that should allow the Americans to enter the war and hopefully contribute to keeping the Draka out of Europe. From there, we strike at the Middle East and Central Asia along the Soviet border and through what would be Tajikistan into Afghanistan where we know the Draka are continuing long-running pacification operations against Muslim and Coptic Christian rebels that fled to Afghanistan in the early days of the Domination."
"That will be dependent on a speedy take-over of Manchuria, Leang," Gideon warned, "The industrial complexes being brought into operation now are good, but I'm hitting a wall due to the need for secrecy. If the Japanese stiffen their defense of Manchuria and their puppet emperor Puyin, the PRC risks losing future strategic initiative, particularly if the campaign lasts past 1936."
"Four years to bring Manchuria to heel, and we have better tanks, better rifles and better industry than Imperial Japan." Kwai retorted, "We throw the Japanese back into the sea, nuke coastal bases in preparation for taking the Home Islands as well as take Korea, and we will open up the entirety of the Pacific to further expansion."
"Yes, that should be enough of a shock to put the Draka on the back foot and play it cautious while Mao makes his speeches," Fai gloated, "And then we give Stalin a good wake-up slap, take his country and show the Draka just what the Dragon can do."
Gideon nodded, "I bow to your expertise and experience Generals, but I will continue to play the devil's advocate regardless." He flipped to a new slide, showing several locations on a map of Manchuria and the regions surrounding, "Mao's generals are no fools, the PLA is ready to begin the invasion once the Red Guard break the initial Imperial Japanese Army fortifications and defensive lines. Using Heavenly Road implants and rapid-cloning facilities disguised as rear-area hospital facilities, we can replenish our casualties rapidly and with minimal loss but we will have to maintain absolute secrecy."
"That shouldn't be too hard," Fai replied, "Most of my boys and girls are peasants, they wouldn't know a damn thing about digital uploading or ego-transferal and wouldn't know a cloning tank from a fancy bath. Even the intellectuals joining to avoid getting executed by other Maoists wouldn't believe this science-fiction stuff." He lit a cigar, "What about armour? Kwai and Leang's tanks are going to be getting the brunt of the advance, particularly towards Chengde."
"Forward War Factory facilities and logistical delivery networks of parts and materials for in-field fabrication are ready to be deployed," Gideon reported after glancing at another sheet, "This is also true of the field nuclear power plants and munitions production processes. Without an actual Internet to siphon funding from, Internet Centers have been converted in radar facilities to guard against Japanese air attacks alongside Radar Vans."
"What a surprise it will be." Tao murmured, "To think that this China, even more backwards than the history we know thanks to the Taiping, will take it's rightful place as a world power once more."
"We were damn lucky that Mao was still born despite the success of the Taiping Civil War," Gideon retorted, "Otherwise we would have had to go to Plan B and create our own Comrade-Chairman." He checked several more sheets, "Now then, I believe we've covered the important topics except for...ah, here we are. The modified Propaganda Airship design that Leang submitted for jamming radar systems."
Leang shrugged, "We know that the Draka will make their own, and if you're right about them being supported by someone then their radar will be much more advanced. If we use the Propaganda Airship design that my former subordinate Mau put forward for usage by the MSS, with additional capacity for electronic warfare, it will possess greater utility than merely as a flying set of speakers."
"I'm inclined to agree." Fai spoke up, "I'm using political officers and propaganda speakers as it is, having something like that in the air will cut down on the number of towers that will need to go up in captured territory and at the front lines."
Gideon shrugged, "I'll make the arrangements. With that done, I have to get ready for a trip to Siberia. Please get your volunteered forces on the way as well, I have a feeling we're going to need them."
-One week later, The Yenisei River Eastern Tributary, Siberia-
General Feliks Yanovich Bykov was a nervous man; the Chinese Communists were apparently about to test some super-secret weapon here in Podkamennaya Tunguska, all with Comrade Stalin's blessing. But that was no surprise ever since the chink leader, some nut called Mao, met with Stalin in Moscow, suddenly the Chinese had free reign to do what they pleased in the Rodina and now here they were testing some secret weapon in a place that Feliks only knew about because of some article from 1908 about a mysterious explosion that had occurred here.
Why some yellow bastard wanted to test the weapon in some tributary off the Yenisei mystified Feliks Yanovich, especially as the damn chinks had built a rail line heading right into the tributary and had set up a base. Why not do this somewhere nearer to China?
"Damn yellow cunts," Feliks spat as he waited in the snow for this supposed Chinese big-wig to show up, "Probably got his pecker frozen somewhere and had to go back to get it replaced with a tiger penis or something." He wondered if he could get away with heading inside the train station to warm up, but then the whistle from the Chinaman manning a look-out post told him that the big-wig was here, so he'd best suffer a little while longer.
The Chinese train was a flat, square armored monster of a vehicle, so wide that it used all four sets of tracks that the Chinese had been building to get here since the work had started in 1926. And it wasn't a steamer, not if that thick black plume of smoke and the acrid, oily smell was anything to go by. As Feliks waited, a door on the massive passenger car opened to allow a man to step off with several Chinese officers and a large group of soldiers armed with those fancy semi-automatic rifles of theirs.
Rubbing his hands to get some warmth back into them, General Feliks Yanovich approached the group and saluted, "General Feliks Yanovich Bykov, Central Siberian District Commander. I am pleased to welcome you to OKB-14 Tunguska."
The Chinese looked at each other, before they moved aside to allow the only white man in the group to approach, causing Feliks to momentarily stare in shock as the man spoke to him, "Greetings Comrade General. My name is Gideon, head of Strategic Research Directorate for the People's Republic of China. Is there something wrong?"
In what Feliks Yanovich would later record in his memoirs as the greatest diplomatic blunder of his life, he blurted out, "You're not yellow!"
The man, Gideon quirked an eyebrow at him, before glancing back at the men and women in uniform who stared blandly back at their superior, before remarking in clear amusement, "Well, you aren't colour-blind tovarich General, so that's one relief." Placing an arm around Feliks' shoulder, the man began leading him towards the exit to the train station, "Now then, perhaps while we walk, we can discuss things that aren't related to your ability to perceive color and race..."
It would be the longest, most embarrassing conversation Feliks Yanovich ever had in his career.
-One week after Gideon's arrival, the night of the X-21 warhead test, Podkamennaya Tunguska, April 1932-
"Report from Radar Van 31-D; unknown contacts on overland approach towards the testing area." The young woman who had delivered the report was once a poor peasant's daughter, but when the People's Liberation Army came to her village looking for recruits, she had volunteered only to be pointed to the Red Guard.
She had heard stories about the Red Guard being a dumping ground for those the PLA viewed as unfit, but clearly the stories were exaggerations since she had learned to read and write as well as proving to have a talent for radios and intelligence work. For her part, she was glad to wear the tan uniform of the Red Guard as the man standing in the center of the room looking out at the distant gantry lazily took the report and read it.
For his part, Gideon was partially glad to be vindicated for his paranoia as he turned to a man at a radio, "Signal all forces to prepare for hostile contact at the perimeter. All tanks are to start their engines and move to pre-planned defensive positions as laid out on page four of the briefing booklet."
All along the defensive perimeter, Red Guard soldiers dressed in white winter-combat uniform and thick coats were woken up inside their heated bunkers by an alarm tone and an announcement in Chinese to prepare for incoming hostile contact, a message that the bleary-eyed Russian troops took a few minutes to realise meant that something was up since they didn't speak the Standard 'Mandarin' Chinese mandated by Red Guard training.
As they passed the weapon racks, each man and woman picked up their Type-40 Battle Rifles; each semi-automatic rifle, firing a heavy 7.62mm bullet, was a copy of the SVT-40 that the Soviets would have manufactured in another timeline, but the five conspirators placed to steer China's future to one free of the Draka had decided that a rifle that would at least put them on par with the semi-automatic Tolgrens used by the Janissaries, with the additional modification of a 20-round detachable box magazine.
As they grabbed rifles, the Red Guard troops grabbed their ammunition, already pre-packed and laid out in large satchels before they went to sleep, while the Russians grabbed their Mosin-Nagant rifles and bags stuffed full of stripper-clips before heading to join the Red Guard who were taking up firing positions along the kilometers of pre-dug trenches while at certain points, men and women carrying large, belt-fed rifles with multiple barrels took up firing positions while other soldiers set up mortars in large pits and began aiming their weapons at pre-sighted positions.
And hidden inside the forests surrounding the research facility and the gantry set up several kilometers away, men and women quietly reported the incoming unknowns from inside the armoured hulls of large trucks with spinning dishes, soldiers armed with rocket launchers peeking through carefully camouflaged vision slits behind the camo-netting set up to conceal the vehicles.
Inside the command area, as technical staff calmly went through the motions to begin the test detonation, Gideon gave an order to the mortars.
"Fire flares."
As soon as the orders were received, the mortars thumped and spat shells high into the air, where they ignited before releasing their parachutes, filling the air with harsh blue-white light from the agitated, ignited chemical mixture that revealed the identity of the unknowns to the observers watching through binoculars.
White-uniformed soldiers had momentarily frozen the moment the flares went active before going to ground, but the brief glimpse was enough for one observer to see an insignia of a dragon.
"Comrade-Director! Draka!" As soon as Gideon heard the report he sighed.
"Must have been a leak somewhere down the line. Probably PLA." He mused, "Red Guard are drilled at all times to keep their mouths shut, so it has to be PLA. Oh well." He turned to the radio operator, "Defensive forces are to hold fire until they cross the Blue Line. I repeat-"
"-do not fire until the enemy force has crossed the Blue Line, by order of the Director!" Shao Peng grimaced as the orders came through radio in his command bunker while he sent runners to give the word to the troops; the Draka were well camouflaged but this was clearly some kind of covert strike force, and possibly arrogant about their chances of taking on the Red Guard.
Well, Captain Shao Peng was not about to let some Draka have their way with his corpse as he waited for the runners to return and turned to his radio operator, "Request an artillery barrage so we can force those damn Draka to charge our lines. If we can force them over the Blue Line faster, we can kill them faster."
The radio operator nodded and sent the request before turning back and shaking her head, "Request denied, Captain. The Radar Vans have detected larger forces massing at the forest edge, possible Janissary attack inbound that the Draka will leap-frog off. The Director is ordering Grinder Mine deployment but has advised me to tell you that Gattling Tanks are being moved forward."
Shao Peng nodded with a smile, "That will do nicely."
Behind the defensive line, a battery of twelve Grinder Artillery vehicles loaded canister shells loaded with the deadly anti-infantry and vehicle Grinder Mines for the defensive barrage, the fire control officer waiting for the go-ahead as the Mortar crews fired another round of flares.
Then the order came, "Fire mines!"
Immediately the battery opened up, their thunder lighting up the the sky behind the Chinese defensive line as 155mm canisters loaded with their deadly fletchette mine payload arced across the sky before bursting open in mid-air to rain the armed mines across the snowy fields.
One mine landed right in front of a Drakan Citizen-Soldier, who only had time to shout, "Cover-" before the mine detonated as tore her to ragged pieces that went flying, eliciting a loud cheer from the Chinese lines.
Nearby, a Lochos snarled as he spat an order to his radio operator, "Send the fucking Janissaries forward. Now!" After several seconds of hurriedly whispered orders, the treeline came alive as steam-powered vehicles appeared from the treeline followed by ragged lines of troops, who although dressed for winter weather, were clearly not as well equipped as their Citizen counterparts.
For their part, Red Guard soldiers tapped the shoulders of men and women hefting long tubes with hand-grips who took aim at the approaching steam-powered vehicles as they approached the line of blue flags strung up in the snow. They held their fire as one passed over a Grinder mine and in a loud K-WUMP the mine detonated, sending thousands of super-heated fletchettes and flash-forged shards into the underside of the vehicle, splitting the steam-powered tank in two and bursting the boiler to send super-heated steam everywhere.
Janissary troops scattered, some unlucky enough to be hit by super-heated steam and water to fall screaming while clutching their faces. Meanwhile, the other lines pressed on, unwilling to retreat for fear of what their masters would do to them, and soon they hit the minefield laid down by the Grinder Cannons as more rushed into the fray from the woods.
Inside the command bunker, Gideon whistled as he watched through a set of binoculars, before climbing down from the observation area to oversee the continued count-down for the warhead's detonation.
While Gideon focused on more important things, the Draka had finally breached the minefield laid down and had crossed the Blue Line. And as they drew nearer to the trenches, that was when the Red Guard raised their rifles and opened fire as heavy 7.62mm bullets smashed into bodies and knocked men and women down with each shot.
As the rifles cracked, the minigunners and tank hunters took aim at their own targets. Second later, rockets streaked out under the harsh light of the flares to strike at incoming steam-tanks before the minigunners opened fire with their 5.8mm rotary-barrel rifles, the heavily-reinforced stocks doing their intended task at keeping the recoil at bay as streams of bullets cut through legs and several unlucky Draka Citizens whose heads were just too high.
That was the last straw for the Drakans and as the Janissaries continued to charge forward, they leaped up to their feet and began to advance.
Just in time for the Mortars and Grinder Cannons to open fire as soon as the Citizen-Soldiers were spotted getting up. The first hint that something had happened was when canister shells burst in the air above the heads of Janissary and Citizen alike, seconds before airbursting fragmentation shells detonated in the thickest crowds of charging troops.
Even so, the Drakan Citizens managed to break through, leaping into the trenches to make their ire personally known, just in time for each to receive bayonets to the neck, chest and back from waiting Red Guard soldiers who had deliberately held back to wait for the Citizens to arrive in the trenches while others were greeted by shotguns that tore off faces and cut through light body armour with fletchette shells.
And even for those who survived, simple attrition brought them down as for every soldier they killed in close quarters, ten more Red Guard held in reserve simply dogpiled the Draka and stabbed them to death with their bayonets.
But the line of Janissary troops was steadily approaching the trenches and slowly, casualties were mounting until the rumbling of a tank engine was heard.
Inside her Gattling tank, a woman frowned at the crowd of soldiers steadily making their way closer while her platoon took up positions and aimed their Gattling Guns. Looking out at the chaos that was slowly approaching the Red Guard in the trenches, she flicked a switch and listened to the electric whine of motors pre-spinning the barrels of her tank's main gun.
The resulting roar of 20mm miniguns drowned out all other gunfire as the Janissary line simply evaporated under a hail of explosive shells, bodies struck by the bullets reduced to gory piles of quivering meat as the bullets shattered bone, crushed and tore apart flesh and stained the ground red with gore and blood.
By the time the guns stopped firing, there was nothing left of the 3000-strong attack that had been launched against OKB-14 Tunguska.
"So, Stalin wants to get his hands on the Bomb?"
"We don't know. As far as we know, all military and political negotiations with the Soviets are through Marshal Zhukov, with minimal references to Stalin."
-Conversation between President Roosevelt and the head of the OSS.
"Soldiers! Before you is Russia! Now I know about the scuttlebutt that is being circulated, that the Chinaman is somehow the equal of the Citizen-Legions just because they mow down a bunch of Janissaries. Well, they are wrong! We are the Draka, and it is our destiny to bring the world under the Yoke, to show them their place is in servitude to us! So when those yellow chinks come, show them what it means to fight the Domination!"
"Centurion! Inbound Chinese armour and infantry! At least four Legions worth!"
"Then let's put these chinks under the Yoke! Up and at 'em boys and girls! Bulala!"
-Final known recorded speech by Centurian Walter Zucker before the annihilation of his Mechanized Century by Chinese Red Guard Shock Brigade 112 which had been assigned prototype tactical nuclear weaponry.
"I don't care how you do it! Get me the Bomb!"
-Archon Palme upon being informed of possible cost in Serf and even Citizen lives in acquiring the first Drakan nuclear weapon. At the time, the Chinese were the only known military force with access to the Nuclear Bomb at the tactical, strategic and theater level and were known to be liberal thanks to an equal skill in cleaning up radiation and fallout.
-Deep in the Chinese countryside, Strategic Research Directorate 'Black Bear', April 1932-
"Lady and Gentlemen, welcome to Black Bear." Once again, five conspirators met to decide and guide the fate of China in a world that was steadily marching to the brink of war as the one who was speaking, a Westerner, smiled at his Chinese co-conspirators, "It's been a while hasn't it? Two years in fact, since Shanghai."
His expression became momentarily bitter, "At least Chen's taking good care of the Lucky Dragon, because I'm going to enjoy taking it back once we kick the Japanese out of China." He looked out the window of his office, at the hive of activity that was taking place as research continued on specific projects that were key to the future success of the Communist Chinese forces under Mao, before turning back to the other four who were all dressed in military uniforms, "So, what's the reason for the visit? Last reports from the labs here and at Red Cliff were already sent to you and progress continues on target in regards to those projects and programs."
The woman slapped a newspaper on the man's desk and he drew close to read the headline, wincing, "Shit. So Hitler won did he? Not entirely unexpected." He flipped through the newspaper, "Oh, FDR announced the New Deal as well. Good for them. But I'm still-"
"Comrade-Chairman Mao wants us to begin sending the Red Guard into Japanese-held Manchuria." The woman replied, "He feels that with these new international events, striking now will allow us the time to conquer Manchuria and gain the People's Republic true international legitimacy." The man looked up from the newspaper as she continued, "I have my reservations; my own 1st Shock Army is not fully equipped for extended campaigns, and General Fai," She glared at the other man who ignored her stare with the serene dignity of a monk, "Continues to steal useful candidates to lead his already bloated Third Shock Army."
"China's strength is in the men and women of China," Fai responded sagely, "I am merely putting those who would serve best as NCO's and Officers to good use, where they would be wasted in your gaggle of specialist and experimental technologies."
As the argument threatened to build, one of the other two men seated in front of the desk spoke up, "My nuclear weapons program and supply is progressing more slowly than I expected, is there a reason for the delays Gideon?"
The fourth man, Gideon, frowned, "Our esteemed Comrade-Chairman, despite my efforts to convince his representatives of the vital nature of keeping our nuclear weapons in your hands, General Tao, has decided that production is to be increased so that the PLA may make use of nuclear weapons as well. We are in the process of upgrading the facilities at Red Cliff and here at Black Bear to account for the increased demand, but due to the wishes of Mao, 75% of current production has be regrettably ear-marked for delivery to the PLA."
General Tao snorted, "The PLA, it hasn't been in existence for more than a year and already they're strutting like roosters in their uniforms and automatic rifles. It will be the Red Guard who will build a stronger China, just as it did back home." He glared at the last man who had snickered, "And what is so funny Comrade Kwai?"
"Oh nothing, just remembering when we all strutted like that when we first joined the PLA, ready to spread Communism to the world." He snorted in amusement again, "Oh poor Comrades Leang and Tao, to have so many troubles. At least General Fai and I have had no demands placed on us by the good Comrade-Chairman in his infinite and supreme wisdom."
"Actually..." Gideon started to speak up, a small smile appearing at the looks of sudden shock and dawning horror he was receiving from Fai and Kwai, "Comrade-Chairman Mao has delivered request in regards to future tank production and allocation of infantry. He has seen the high quality of General Fai's infantry divisions and has decided that Fai's best are to be promoted to full service in the PLA, with Fai's Second Shock Army to be used as a training cadre to improve those who wash out of initial PLA training. This is expected to deplete Fai's forces by about 20,000 men a year."
He turned to Kwai as Tao and Leang smiled smugly at Fai, "General Kwai, the PLA has seen the effectiveness of the Type-90D Warmaster Tank in field trials and has ear-marked 80% of all Warmaster production for the PLA Tank Corps. Unfortunately, this means that future Warmaster production may have to be done in the field through parts shipped to field War Factories."
Kwai flushed red at hearing Gideon's report, while the young man continued his report, checking a small stack of papers on a clip-board, "A test detonation has been scheduled to take place in Tunguska. With the Soviets being so cooperative thanks to the diplomatic efforts of the Comrade-Chairman and Stalin's strange willingness to agree to anything that won't disrupt his Hermit Kingdom, we should be able to begin testing of the warhead for the Dong Feng within two week."
General Leang frowned, "You aren't expecting trouble?"
Gideon shrugged, "Oh, I expect trouble, but no-one and certainly not the Draka have any knowledge of nuclear technology beyond Einstein's theories and certainly nothing workable. I expect the X-21 warhead to be considered some kind of supernatural phenomena, especially as the test detonation is scheduled for night."
"A night detonation?" Fai asked while Tao raised an eyebrow.
Gideon shrugged, "Why not? Fireworks look better at night when they are set off, no?" He glanced at a sheet, "However, my own security forces won't be enough to properly protect the test area. I need your help if the test is to go smoothly."
"I have a company of Warmasters I can spare since they'll be attacking Manchuria through the planned Northern Frontline." Kwai spoke up, "They are my best tankers, veterans of the border skirmishes and expeditionary raids on the Drakan borders in Central Asia and the Middle-East."
"I have a division of my best men along with a company of Minigunners," Fai remarked, "That should be enough infantry to protect the testing area."
Leang shrugged, "I have a battery of Grinder Artillery that should be sufficient. The new Self-Forging Fletchette Canister ammo has proven itself quite capable against both vehicles and infantry, and the new Grinder Mine design should be sufficient against whatever weak armour may be thrown at the testing site."
Tao was the last to speak as he considered his options, before nodding, "I can spare five Devastator Tanks from their deployment to the Southern Frontline Area. They represent at least ten-percent of my Devastator forces Gideon, so don't waste them."
Gideon smiled, "If I need to use them, then they won't be wasted." He looked over to the rest of the Generals, "Thank you for your forces, Comrade Generals, they will be put to good use protecting the test site from enemy action alongside my security forces. Now then, we should move on to a more important topic and that is the recent reports of the Hond-III that is now being put into service."
Pressing a button his desk that lowered a shutter as the room's lights darkened, Gideon pressed another button to lower a screen and a projector from the ceiling, the device stopping just high enough for Gideon to insert a set of slides, "Now, look at this." The first slide showed a tank with the turret set at the rear, with doors opening to allow several Citizen-Soldiers space to exit, "This is the Hond-II Medium Tank being employed in 1930, during border skirmishes with the Black Dragon Expeditionary Force that helped form our experienced Red Guard officer corp. As you can see, apart from the fact that it is a rear-set gun and crew area with a forward engine and space for a squad of Drakan Citizen Force infantry, the design is largely conventional."
The slide changed, "Now look at this." The image showed a larger tank with the same design aesthetic but the rough, blocky shape was smoothed into curves and deflecting angles, "This is the Hond-III, the newest Heavy Tank being put into service on the Afghanistan border. This picture was taken two months ago, and it shows just how fast the Draka have advanced. However, as you can see, they are employing angling and curves for the armour to better deflect shells, which is not something the Draka should have discovered until at least seven years from now."
The slide changed to another vehicle firing an smaller cannon, "This is the Hoplite-II, their new APC. That 25mm gun is a direct copy of the American M242 Bushmaster-II Autocannon down to the muzzle brake. The Draka should not have the capability to design a gun made in the 1970's even for a country as stupidly Mary-Sue as theirs. But it's this slide that really concerned me."
The projector switched in the last slide and Leang suddenly leaned forward, "Is that...?"
Gideon nodded, "That is an Area Denial System, mounted on a modified tank chassis. Comrade Generals, this is not canon, the Draka have never seen a need for directed-energy weapon technology nor should they be able to manufacture this, not even with their tech-base. Comrade Generals...someone is helping the Draka advance their technology at a much faster pace than canon."
Fai snorted, "Let them then. We have the Heavenly Road implants and the ability to clone people along with limitless source of resources and materials. We'll bury them under bodies, guns and nukes."
"That may be true Fai, but I know what our good Comrade Gideon is worried about." Leang mused, "He's concerned that we may have a mysterious opponent who can match us and possibly destroy us if we tip our hand too early."
"That is exactly it, and why I need the extra security." Gideon replied, "I have received reports from Chen at the Lucky Dragon; someone is trying to find us and our facilities. If the test is attacked, then we have an enemy who is going to be aware of us and wants us out of the race before we can even get started. I expect that the full force of the Draka may be aimed at the Soviet Union and China if we are not careful."
"Aimed at us early you mean." Tao stated, "The Draka will ignore us when we engage the Japanese. The PRC is a joke in the international community, a faction holding onto the words of Marx when even Stalin himself clearly cares nothing for Communism. They will only take us seriously when we fire the Dong Feng at Chengde and retake our land from the Japanese."
"More than that," Leang growled, "We take Japan as well. Without the Japanese, that should allow the Americans to enter the war and hopefully contribute to keeping the Draka out of Europe. From there, we strike at the Middle East and Central Asia along the Soviet border and through what would be Tajikistan into Afghanistan where we know the Draka are continuing long-running pacification operations against Muslim and Coptic Christian rebels that fled to Afghanistan in the early days of the Domination."
"That will be dependent on a speedy take-over of Manchuria, Leang," Gideon warned, "The industrial complexes being brought into operation now are good, but I'm hitting a wall due to the need for secrecy. If the Japanese stiffen their defense of Manchuria and their puppet emperor Puyin, the PRC risks losing future strategic initiative, particularly if the campaign lasts past 1936."
"Four years to bring Manchuria to heel, and we have better tanks, better rifles and better industry than Imperial Japan." Kwai retorted, "We throw the Japanese back into the sea, nuke coastal bases in preparation for taking the Home Islands as well as take Korea, and we will open up the entirety of the Pacific to further expansion."
"Yes, that should be enough of a shock to put the Draka on the back foot and play it cautious while Mao makes his speeches," Fai gloated, "And then we give Stalin a good wake-up slap, take his country and show the Draka just what the Dragon can do."
Gideon nodded, "I bow to your expertise and experience Generals, but I will continue to play the devil's advocate regardless." He flipped to a new slide, showing several locations on a map of Manchuria and the regions surrounding, "Mao's generals are no fools, the PLA is ready to begin the invasion once the Red Guard break the initial Imperial Japanese Army fortifications and defensive lines. Using Heavenly Road implants and rapid-cloning facilities disguised as rear-area hospital facilities, we can replenish our casualties rapidly and with minimal loss but we will have to maintain absolute secrecy."
"That shouldn't be too hard," Fai replied, "Most of my boys and girls are peasants, they wouldn't know a damn thing about digital uploading or ego-transferal and wouldn't know a cloning tank from a fancy bath. Even the intellectuals joining to avoid getting executed by other Maoists wouldn't believe this science-fiction stuff." He lit a cigar, "What about armour? Kwai and Leang's tanks are going to be getting the brunt of the advance, particularly towards Chengde."
"Forward War Factory facilities and logistical delivery networks of parts and materials for in-field fabrication are ready to be deployed," Gideon reported after glancing at another sheet, "This is also true of the field nuclear power plants and munitions production processes. Without an actual Internet to siphon funding from, Internet Centers have been converted in radar facilities to guard against Japanese air attacks alongside Radar Vans."
"What a surprise it will be." Tao murmured, "To think that this China, even more backwards than the history we know thanks to the Taiping, will take it's rightful place as a world power once more."
"We were damn lucky that Mao was still born despite the success of the Taiping Civil War," Gideon retorted, "Otherwise we would have had to go to Plan B and create our own Comrade-Chairman." He checked several more sheets, "Now then, I believe we've covered the important topics except for...ah, here we are. The modified Propaganda Airship design that Leang submitted for jamming radar systems."
Leang shrugged, "We know that the Draka will make their own, and if you're right about them being supported by someone then their radar will be much more advanced. If we use the Propaganda Airship design that my former subordinate Mau put forward for usage by the MSS, with additional capacity for electronic warfare, it will possess greater utility than merely as a flying set of speakers."
"I'm inclined to agree." Fai spoke up, "I'm using political officers and propaganda speakers as it is, having something like that in the air will cut down on the number of towers that will need to go up in captured territory and at the front lines."
Gideon shrugged, "I'll make the arrangements. With that done, I have to get ready for a trip to Siberia. Please get your volunteered forces on the way as well, I have a feeling we're going to need them."
-One week later, The Yenisei River Eastern Tributary, Siberia-
General Feliks Yanovich Bykov was a nervous man; the Chinese Communists were apparently about to test some super-secret weapon here in Podkamennaya Tunguska, all with Comrade Stalin's blessing. But that was no surprise ever since the chink leader, some nut called Mao, met with Stalin in Moscow, suddenly the Chinese had free reign to do what they pleased in the Rodina and now here they were testing some secret weapon in a place that Feliks only knew about because of some article from 1908 about a mysterious explosion that had occurred here.
Why some yellow bastard wanted to test the weapon in some tributary off the Yenisei mystified Feliks Yanovich, especially as the damn chinks had built a rail line heading right into the tributary and had set up a base. Why not do this somewhere nearer to China?
"Damn yellow cunts," Feliks spat as he waited in the snow for this supposed Chinese big-wig to show up, "Probably got his pecker frozen somewhere and had to go back to get it replaced with a tiger penis or something." He wondered if he could get away with heading inside the train station to warm up, but then the whistle from the Chinaman manning a look-out post told him that the big-wig was here, so he'd best suffer a little while longer.
The Chinese train was a flat, square armored monster of a vehicle, so wide that it used all four sets of tracks that the Chinese had been building to get here since the work had started in 1926. And it wasn't a steamer, not if that thick black plume of smoke and the acrid, oily smell was anything to go by. As Feliks waited, a door on the massive passenger car opened to allow a man to step off with several Chinese officers and a large group of soldiers armed with those fancy semi-automatic rifles of theirs.
Rubbing his hands to get some warmth back into them, General Feliks Yanovich approached the group and saluted, "General Feliks Yanovich Bykov, Central Siberian District Commander. I am pleased to welcome you to OKB-14 Tunguska."
The Chinese looked at each other, before they moved aside to allow the only white man in the group to approach, causing Feliks to momentarily stare in shock as the man spoke to him, "Greetings Comrade General. My name is Gideon, head of Strategic Research Directorate for the People's Republic of China. Is there something wrong?"
In what Feliks Yanovich would later record in his memoirs as the greatest diplomatic blunder of his life, he blurted out, "You're not yellow!"
The man, Gideon quirked an eyebrow at him, before glancing back at the men and women in uniform who stared blandly back at their superior, before remarking in clear amusement, "Well, you aren't colour-blind tovarich General, so that's one relief." Placing an arm around Feliks' shoulder, the man began leading him towards the exit to the train station, "Now then, perhaps while we walk, we can discuss things that aren't related to your ability to perceive color and race..."
It would be the longest, most embarrassing conversation Feliks Yanovich ever had in his career.
-One week after Gideon's arrival, the night of the X-21 warhead test, Podkamennaya Tunguska, April 1932-
"Report from Radar Van 31-D; unknown contacts on overland approach towards the testing area." The young woman who had delivered the report was once a poor peasant's daughter, but when the People's Liberation Army came to her village looking for recruits, she had volunteered only to be pointed to the Red Guard.
She had heard stories about the Red Guard being a dumping ground for those the PLA viewed as unfit, but clearly the stories were exaggerations since she had learned to read and write as well as proving to have a talent for radios and intelligence work. For her part, she was glad to wear the tan uniform of the Red Guard as the man standing in the center of the room looking out at the distant gantry lazily took the report and read it.
For his part, Gideon was partially glad to be vindicated for his paranoia as he turned to a man at a radio, "Signal all forces to prepare for hostile contact at the perimeter. All tanks are to start their engines and move to pre-planned defensive positions as laid out on page four of the briefing booklet."
All along the defensive perimeter, Red Guard soldiers dressed in white winter-combat uniform and thick coats were woken up inside their heated bunkers by an alarm tone and an announcement in Chinese to prepare for incoming hostile contact, a message that the bleary-eyed Russian troops took a few minutes to realise meant that something was up since they didn't speak the Standard 'Mandarin' Chinese mandated by Red Guard training.
As they passed the weapon racks, each man and woman picked up their Type-40 Battle Rifles; each semi-automatic rifle, firing a heavy 7.62mm bullet, was a copy of the SVT-40 that the Soviets would have manufactured in another timeline, but the five conspirators placed to steer China's future to one free of the Draka had decided that a rifle that would at least put them on par with the semi-automatic Tolgrens used by the Janissaries, with the additional modification of a 20-round detachable box magazine.
As they grabbed rifles, the Red Guard troops grabbed their ammunition, already pre-packed and laid out in large satchels before they went to sleep, while the Russians grabbed their Mosin-Nagant rifles and bags stuffed full of stripper-clips before heading to join the Red Guard who were taking up firing positions along the kilometers of pre-dug trenches while at certain points, men and women carrying large, belt-fed rifles with multiple barrels took up firing positions while other soldiers set up mortars in large pits and began aiming their weapons at pre-sighted positions.
And hidden inside the forests surrounding the research facility and the gantry set up several kilometers away, men and women quietly reported the incoming unknowns from inside the armoured hulls of large trucks with spinning dishes, soldiers armed with rocket launchers peeking through carefully camouflaged vision slits behind the camo-netting set up to conceal the vehicles.
Inside the command area, as technical staff calmly went through the motions to begin the test detonation, Gideon gave an order to the mortars.
"Fire flares."
As soon as the orders were received, the mortars thumped and spat shells high into the air, where they ignited before releasing their parachutes, filling the air with harsh blue-white light from the agitated, ignited chemical mixture that revealed the identity of the unknowns to the observers watching through binoculars.
White-uniformed soldiers had momentarily frozen the moment the flares went active before going to ground, but the brief glimpse was enough for one observer to see an insignia of a dragon.
"Comrade-Director! Draka!" As soon as Gideon heard the report he sighed.
"Must have been a leak somewhere down the line. Probably PLA." He mused, "Red Guard are drilled at all times to keep their mouths shut, so it has to be PLA. Oh well." He turned to the radio operator, "Defensive forces are to hold fire until they cross the Blue Line. I repeat-"
"-do not fire until the enemy force has crossed the Blue Line, by order of the Director!" Shao Peng grimaced as the orders came through radio in his command bunker while he sent runners to give the word to the troops; the Draka were well camouflaged but this was clearly some kind of covert strike force, and possibly arrogant about their chances of taking on the Red Guard.
Well, Captain Shao Peng was not about to let some Draka have their way with his corpse as he waited for the runners to return and turned to his radio operator, "Request an artillery barrage so we can force those damn Draka to charge our lines. If we can force them over the Blue Line faster, we can kill them faster."
The radio operator nodded and sent the request before turning back and shaking her head, "Request denied, Captain. The Radar Vans have detected larger forces massing at the forest edge, possible Janissary attack inbound that the Draka will leap-frog off. The Director is ordering Grinder Mine deployment but has advised me to tell you that Gattling Tanks are being moved forward."
Shao Peng nodded with a smile, "That will do nicely."
Behind the defensive line, a battery of twelve Grinder Artillery vehicles loaded canister shells loaded with the deadly anti-infantry and vehicle Grinder Mines for the defensive barrage, the fire control officer waiting for the go-ahead as the Mortar crews fired another round of flares.
Then the order came, "Fire mines!"
Immediately the battery opened up, their thunder lighting up the the sky behind the Chinese defensive line as 155mm canisters loaded with their deadly fletchette mine payload arced across the sky before bursting open in mid-air to rain the armed mines across the snowy fields.
One mine landed right in front of a Drakan Citizen-Soldier, who only had time to shout, "Cover-" before the mine detonated as tore her to ragged pieces that went flying, eliciting a loud cheer from the Chinese lines.
Nearby, a Lochos snarled as he spat an order to his radio operator, "Send the fucking Janissaries forward. Now!" After several seconds of hurriedly whispered orders, the treeline came alive as steam-powered vehicles appeared from the treeline followed by ragged lines of troops, who although dressed for winter weather, were clearly not as well equipped as their Citizen counterparts.
For their part, Red Guard soldiers tapped the shoulders of men and women hefting long tubes with hand-grips who took aim at the approaching steam-powered vehicles as they approached the line of blue flags strung up in the snow. They held their fire as one passed over a Grinder mine and in a loud K-WUMP the mine detonated, sending thousands of super-heated fletchettes and flash-forged shards into the underside of the vehicle, splitting the steam-powered tank in two and bursting the boiler to send super-heated steam everywhere.
Janissary troops scattered, some unlucky enough to be hit by super-heated steam and water to fall screaming while clutching their faces. Meanwhile, the other lines pressed on, unwilling to retreat for fear of what their masters would do to them, and soon they hit the minefield laid down by the Grinder Cannons as more rushed into the fray from the woods.
Inside the command bunker, Gideon whistled as he watched through a set of binoculars, before climbing down from the observation area to oversee the continued count-down for the warhead's detonation.
While Gideon focused on more important things, the Draka had finally breached the minefield laid down and had crossed the Blue Line. And as they drew nearer to the trenches, that was when the Red Guard raised their rifles and opened fire as heavy 7.62mm bullets smashed into bodies and knocked men and women down with each shot.
As the rifles cracked, the minigunners and tank hunters took aim at their own targets. Second later, rockets streaked out under the harsh light of the flares to strike at incoming steam-tanks before the minigunners opened fire with their 5.8mm rotary-barrel rifles, the heavily-reinforced stocks doing their intended task at keeping the recoil at bay as streams of bullets cut through legs and several unlucky Draka Citizens whose heads were just too high.
That was the last straw for the Drakans and as the Janissaries continued to charge forward, they leaped up to their feet and began to advance.
Just in time for the Mortars and Grinder Cannons to open fire as soon as the Citizen-Soldiers were spotted getting up. The first hint that something had happened was when canister shells burst in the air above the heads of Janissary and Citizen alike, seconds before airbursting fragmentation shells detonated in the thickest crowds of charging troops.
Even so, the Drakan Citizens managed to break through, leaping into the trenches to make their ire personally known, just in time for each to receive bayonets to the neck, chest and back from waiting Red Guard soldiers who had deliberately held back to wait for the Citizens to arrive in the trenches while others were greeted by shotguns that tore off faces and cut through light body armour with fletchette shells.
And even for those who survived, simple attrition brought them down as for every soldier they killed in close quarters, ten more Red Guard held in reserve simply dogpiled the Draka and stabbed them to death with their bayonets.
But the line of Janissary troops was steadily approaching the trenches and slowly, casualties were mounting until the rumbling of a tank engine was heard.
Inside her Gattling tank, a woman frowned at the crowd of soldiers steadily making their way closer while her platoon took up positions and aimed their Gattling Guns. Looking out at the chaos that was slowly approaching the Red Guard in the trenches, she flicked a switch and listened to the electric whine of motors pre-spinning the barrels of her tank's main gun.
The resulting roar of 20mm miniguns drowned out all other gunfire as the Janissary line simply evaporated under a hail of explosive shells, bodies struck by the bullets reduced to gory piles of quivering meat as the bullets shattered bone, crushed and tore apart flesh and stained the ground red with gore and blood.
By the time the guns stopped firing, there was nothing left of the 3000-strong attack that had been launched against OKB-14 Tunguska.
Seconds later, the X-21 Tactical Nuclear Warhead detonated successfully.
Last edited:
- Location
- earth
Five bucks says the drakka got some help.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
No shit.
Chapter 2: Operation Spring Dragon
Gideon020
Really in the mood for ribs.
"What can you tell me about Dong Feng?"
"Dong Feng? Dong Feng is a man who can burn down a city. We call him Big Brother."
"Such a smart mouth for a feral. We know Dong Feng is a weapon."
"Then you know that I will die, and so will you."
-Recording between a captured Red Guard soldier and Security Directorate interrogators at a Drakan forward base in Afghanistan before it was hit by a Dong Feng nuclear missile. The recording was the only piece of evidence recovered.
"All right chaps, we have some special guests. Apparently the Chinese, those mysterious chaps from the Far East, have sent a volunteer squadron of aircraft to help beat back Jerry. So do try to make them feel welcome when they...what the devil is that noise?"
"Sir! Five unknown aircraft just landed, it looks like the Chinese have arrived!"
"Well then chaps, let's go see what all the fuss is about."
-RAF 45 Fighter Squadron before the arrival of Red Guard Fighter Squadron 9 in the new J-22 'Interceptor' jet fighter.
-Three weeks before the invasion of Manchuria. Siberian/Manchuria Border, China. May, 1932-
General Leang watched the border through her binoculars as Imperial Japanese Army soldiers lazed about at the border post, unaware that mere kilometers away the forces of the Red Guard and the People's Liberation Army were massing for the greatest military operation in Chinese history.
Operation Spring Dragon, the invasion of Manchuria, only three weeks away and Machuria was so close! Leang inhaled and carefully breathed out to steady herself as she remembered what had been reported to her and the other generals.
Drakan forces penetrating the border and attacking OKB-14? Not much of a surprise and while there were suspects in the PLA, General Leang had a feeling that Drakan spies in the Soviet Union were responsible, especially considering that the Soviet border had as many holes a sieve. She glanced at the distant PLA forces, considering Gideon's suspicions of PLA soldiers or officers bragging while on leave were not totally unfounded, it was likely that word of the X-21 had made it's way to Tarleton and an Airborne Legion force had been deployed to capture OKB-14 to find out just what 'Comrade Stalin' was testing for the Chinese.
Still, the X-21 had detonated successfully, with fallout and radiation levels within projections, and that meant that General Tao at the Southern Frontline would be happy to be able to fire the first shot of Spring Dragon at the fortified city of Chengde. Leang, however, knew that with the Central and Southern Frontlines taking up the majority of the IJA's attention, it would give her forces time to charge down and take Harbin, threatening the puppet capital of Shenyang.
"Comrade-General, the scout planes are returning." Leang nodded while suppressing a sigh. To think that they would have to resort to using prop-engine aircraft instead of jets for recon work, without ground penetrating radar either! Not for the first time the woman longed to have a proper airforce supporting her efforts, even proper helicopters would be a blessing!
"All right, let's see if the cameras actually managed to get something important this time."
Walking away from the observation point, Leang headed for the command tent she had set up with the rest of her forces so she didn't have to interact with the over-confident roosters that were calling themselves PLA 'Generals' thanks to money and connections, or even the Comrade-Chairman's own whims.
Already inside were several Red Guard officers looking over newly-developed photographs taken of the Japanese defensive lines as well as the defenses around Leang's primary target for the Northern Frontline, the city of Harbin that was the northern-most of the Japanese administrative and military centers for North-East China, Manchuria.
"What do we have?" Leang inquired, getting straight to business, which prompted one of the officers to nod.
"The scouting flights managed to show that the IJA has noticed the PLA build-up as expected; they're moving tanks down to oppose the expected PLA push along the Southern Frontline area of operations. Chengde has gone into high alert, and forces are moving up from Korea according to the reports from the southern covert flights."
Leang nodded, "All according to plan then. Begin moving up the jump-off line and prepare for the signal. I want to get the tanks moving the moment the signal is given."
Watching as orders were shouted into radios and under the muffling cover of snow the sound of Ravage Tank engines starting up to begin moving towards the final staging areas in preparation for Mao's speech that would be the start of Operation Spring Dragon. Behind the Ravage Tanks came the hard-won infantry supported by Leang's personally-designed Gattling Tanks and Dragon Tanks, while batteries of Grinder Cannon artillery waited in concealment, ready to rain deadly fletchettes down on the IJA border defenses.
And further back, concealed by camouflage netting amidst a number of tents, Leang's pride and joy, the Hammer Cannon, waited for the fire order to unleash its massive super-heavy howitzer.
As Leang drew her forces forward to prepare for the blitzkrieg assault that would sweep past the IJA lines, the PLA forces remained where they were, intent on letting the Red Guard take all the casualties while the PLA swept forward to secure the glory. It was a sentiment shared amongst many in the PLA; the Red Guard was seen as a force of rejected conscripts and women, people who in the eyes of the newly formed PLA were only fit to cannon-fodder in comparison to the PLA and their harsh, disciplined training.
The four Generals however, knew just how deadly soldiers filled with zealotry and patriotism could be on the field of battle and they knew that the PLA would not be able to compete with the Red Guard at it's full power.
And so, while the PLA partied with Russian officers who played Communism as a means to secure their former noble holdings, 600,000 men and women armed with Type-65 Assault Rifles based on the AKM moved into pre-planned trench networks to wait out the three long weeks before the attack, all listening to music from Europe and America via the BBC.
-Two weeks before the invasion of Manchuria, Mongolian/Machuria Border. May 1932-
General Kwai and General Fai looked out at the lonely desert fort in the distance from the top of a hill, their binoculars focusing on Japanese soldiers boredly looking out at the open deserts and steppes of Mongolia while hidden from the hills, men and machines waited under red flags that had been embroidered with yellow stars and dragons, the new symbols of the Red Guard as Kwai shook his head, "They're getting sloppy."
"Getting there? They already are." Fai snorted as he lowered his binoculars and turned away, "They only stay in their forts and only come out to beat or rape the inhabitants of the local villages while stealing their food. They won't be expecting vengeance to come to them, not while they're busy getting fat off the suffering of peasants."
Kwai nodded before checking his watch, "How are your soldiers doing?"
Fai smiled, "Ready for a fight. I do regret taking troops from Leang, but I need good officers to keep them in line, particularly the Volunteer Groups."
Kwai winced, "They haven't even finished basic training, are you sure you want to toss raw recruits into this fight?"
Fai shifted his head slightly, "Every soldier here is a raw recruit Kwai, excluding those we inserted into Afghanistan to fight as mercenaries so we could have proper officers and skilled NCO's. No, this will be the final test for many of our troops and it will be up to them to have the strength to succeed." He turned away from the Japanese fort and began heading back down the hill, "And just think Kwai, Tao and Leang will have cities in between them and their goals. We only have open countryside and a few villages before we hit Changchun."
Kwai nodded, "Here's hoping the logistics train can keep up with the advance. Leang is advocating a Blitzkrieg offensive but there's no telling just how the Japanese will react once Tao sends Dong Feng to Chengde."
"If all goes according to estimates," Kwai mused, "Then they shouldn't be able to mount an effective counter-offensive just long enough for our forces to penetrate deep into Machuria and begin besieging Changchun."
"That's only if Leang and Tao pull off their offensive pushes," Fai warned, "They have more cities and towns between their targets than we do, any one of them could potentially slow down their advance." He reached the bottom and began walking to a waiting vehicle, "Anyway, I need to get back to my post. Good luck Comrade."
Kwai nodded, "You too."
As his fellow General left, Kwai turned to an approaching aide, "What is it?"
"Latest reports from the scouts." The young man replied, "Japanese armour is moving south, and intercepted messages show that the Japanese have noticed the PLA build-up at Beijing."
"Gather my senior commanders, I want a full readiness check before the day of the attack."
-One week before the invasion of Manchuria. The Port City of Yantai. May 1932-
"So this is the stuff?" Gideon muttered as he inspected the contents of the crate, looking at the semi-automatic rifles inside. Opposite him, the man nodded.
"Tolgren self-loading rifles firing the Kurenwohr 7.5mm bullet. This is the stuff that the Janissary Legion use, so it's not the latest gear for the Snakes." The man explained but blinked as Gideon waved his explanation off.
"It's fine. I just need the rifles and ammo that the Janissaries use. I don't give a shit about the Citizen Force guns." As he picked up a box magazine of rifle rounds from the crate, Gideon continued speaking, "And the nerve gas?"
The man patted another crate, "Fresh from an Afghan supply depot. Say what you want about the Draka, they want their little luxuries as well. This crate has WA-38 Nerve Gas inside; several artillery shells, auto-mortar magazines, and a box of grenades." He frowned, "What are you planning anyway? WA-38 doesn't have any treatment for exposure."
"I don't intend to treat it. I intend to protect against it." Gideon replied as he snapped his fingers and the aide next to him tossed down a briefcase that the smuggler picked up and opened to reveal the case as being full of gold and diamonds, "That should be sufficient to keep your mouth shut, yes?"
The smuggler smiled, "Sure does. See ya later." As the man left, Gideon waited until he was out of earshot before lifting up a radio handset.
"You have confirmation?"
"Yes, Comrade-Director. We've identified his link to the Security Directorate of the Domination."
"Shoot."
There was a pause and the sound of a snap over the radio, before the report came back.
"Terminated."
"Return to the train." Gideon ordered before pointing at the crates, "Get this loaded into the trucks, now! I want to be gone before we get made by the Japanese!"
-Invasion Day. Beijing. May 1932-
"General Tao! The Dong Feng warheads have arrived!" General Tao nodded at the report as he looked out towards the distant city of Chengde and then shifted his gaze towards the heavily entrenched IJA forces along the border between Japanese Manchuria and the rest of China. Despite the interference of the PLA, Tao finally had full supplies of nuclear shells for his artillery and Devastator Heavy Tanks, and if his Battlemasters needed to use conventional engines due to problems with the compact nuclear reactors he wanted, then it was something he would have to adapt to.
Besides, Gideon had come through with his promise for the modified Depleted Uranium shells for his tanks which meant his forces would simply smash aside any Japanese armour in their way. But the real jewel of this plan, the one thing that made Tao Tsi Tsung a happy man, were the warheads being offloaded into trucks to be taken to an inconspicuous building that had been constructed during the PLA buildup on the border between the Japanese and the rest of China.
The Dong Feng-21 Tactical Nuclear Missile, Tao was looking forward to opening a war with that weapon once more as he walked over to this command tent where a radio was tuned to the BBC. Everything was ready, all that was needed was for the good Comrade-Chairman to do that one bit of showmanship he insisted was vital to 'unifying the Chinese people' before the invasion.
Finally, the music came to an end, "And now, from the Far East, an important event is about to take place. Broadcasted live from Hong Kong and across the world, the leader of the People's Republic Of China, Chairman Mao Zedong, is here to deliver an important speech to the people of China."
Everyone stood up straighter as they waited, before the voice of Mao Zedong began to be broadcasted to the world.
"Comrades, I speak to you now to deliver you a message of unity and strength. For many years, the Japanese Empire have trod on our honor and our dignity, they have spit on our glorious history as the Middle Kingdom, a bastion of power and unity for untold generations. We all know someone, a comrade, a loved one, who was there when they forced themselves on Nanking like devils, have heard the stories of their oppression, have listened to their lies about bringing the Chinese into their so-called Empire Of The Rising Sun."
In the United States, inside the White House, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt listened intently to the words being said as his Joint Chiefs quietly sent off orders to observers in China.
"I speak to you now to reveal those words for the lies that they are. That the Japanese, and their Emperor, look down on us as if we were mere dogs! They trample on us, all to make us think that we somehow deserve their abuse, that we should be nothing more than mere slaves to their debauched, bourgeoisie whims! Comrades! I speak to you now to say that we do not have to put up with this abuse!"
In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald frowned as he listened to the speech, "Will this have any impact on our trade with the region?"
"Neglible sir. The PRC has promised favorable trade concessions." Replied one of the other men present in the office, "Although there have been rumors out of Hong Kong and Shanghai about some kind of top-secret weapon that was tested several weeks ago. Apparently whatever it was got the Draka so interested they sent a full company of Airborne Citizen-Force soldiers with two regiment-strong Janissary groups in support."
"And then they vanished never to be seen again around the Tunguska region," a man in a suit finished, "From what little I've gotten in Alexandria, losing an entire Century of Citizens and two Merarchies of Janissaries to a man has rather upset Archon Palme and Arch-Strategos Shrakenberg."
"There will be no more of this! I call upon the people of China to rise up! To cast off the shackles put upon them by the Japanese! To show them just what the true strength of China is when its people band together and act as one! Comrades! Freedom waits for us to grasp it only if you are willing to fight for it!"
In the city of Archona, the speech was being met with derisive snorts and laughter from the strategic staff of the War Directorate of the Domination Of Draka, the only one not meeting the speech with jeers and laughter being Arch-Strategos Karl Von Shrakenberg as he listened intently, trying to find any hidden meanings in the words.
"It's a joke, isn't it Karl?" A General by the name of Eisen gloated, "Some feral demagogue talking about casting off the chains of slavery, I'd like to see him make speeches after being put under the Yoke, then we'll see what the Chinaman is made of, eh?"
"Maybe, but this comes after an entire Century vanishes into thin air Robert. Over a hundred Citizens, gone, and now the PRC is going on a war-footing? They must have a secret weapon for breaking the back of the Japanese, otherwise it'll be Nanking all over again and this time the Nips aren't going to stop."
"Hah!" Another officer laughed, "The Chinks? Having a secret weapon? It's obviously just support from Mao's bedmate Stalin The Hermit! Freya's tits, the Chinaman's nothing more than Plantation fodder already, there's no way they could take even a military as pathetic as the Japanese!"
Von Shrakenberg remained silent as he continued to listen, 'That is what everyone else thinks as well. Even Palme's new pet genius thinks the Chinese can't stand up to the Japanese and certainly not the Domination. But if that's true, then what happened in Russia? What sort of trick are those yellow bastards hiding up their sleeves?'
"Today! Today I declare that this is the day that begins the start of a new era! China will return to glory and the Japanese will know that the sun does not shine on them alone! Today, in the name of the People's Republic and in the name of all Chinese, I declare a state of war against the Japanese! Today, let the Red Dragon's flames cast our enemies into the sea once more!"
And that was the signal as Tao shouted to another officer, "Fire!"
Immediately the order was sent to the single missile sitting in the launch position, plumes of smoke billowing out from the armoured building as the massive rocket, larger than any seen to date, roared into the sky on a trail of smoke and fire.
"Let today be the first shot that shall be heard around the world!"
The missile reached the top of it's ballistic arc, fins turning it back down as mystified Japanese soldiers watched the mysterious object fall towards the city of Chengde and the massive defensive garrison that had been swollen with troops from the Northern and Central Administrative Districts to face off against the PLA tanks arranged against them, unknowing of the massive batteries of guns that had been painstakingly positioned and pre-sighted over the course of weeks.
"Let today being the searing light of a new dawn!"
The Dong Feng detonated bare meters off the ground in the center of Chengde, the flash instantly burning shadows into the buildings and ground seconds before the fireball ignited even the stones and turned them to glass and ash, the thermal pulse setting people, animals, buildings and vehicles alight for hundreds of meters as the shockwave smashed down buildings and sent debris flying for kilometers as the updraft of super-heated air and ash pulled upwards, billowing outwards to droop into a distinctive mushroom shape.
"Long live the People and long live the People's Republic Of China!"
"Fire the Siege Cannons!" Tao shouted and soon the rumbling of artillery echoed across the lines as tactical nuclear shells detonated on top of fortified positions while Tao turned to another aide, "Have the infantry advance in five minutes after the barrage is finished! Make sure they're wearing the suits and have injected the medication, it's going to be warm out there."
Walking out of the command tent, watching the string of mushroom clouds form, General Tao Tsi Tsung smiled.
"Dong Feng? Dong Feng is a man who can burn down a city. We call him Big Brother."
"Such a smart mouth for a feral. We know Dong Feng is a weapon."
"Then you know that I will die, and so will you."
-Recording between a captured Red Guard soldier and Security Directorate interrogators at a Drakan forward base in Afghanistan before it was hit by a Dong Feng nuclear missile. The recording was the only piece of evidence recovered.
"All right chaps, we have some special guests. Apparently the Chinese, those mysterious chaps from the Far East, have sent a volunteer squadron of aircraft to help beat back Jerry. So do try to make them feel welcome when they...what the devil is that noise?"
"Sir! Five unknown aircraft just landed, it looks like the Chinese have arrived!"
"Well then chaps, let's go see what all the fuss is about."
-RAF 45 Fighter Squadron before the arrival of Red Guard Fighter Squadron 9 in the new J-22 'Interceptor' jet fighter.
-Three weeks before the invasion of Manchuria. Siberian/Manchuria Border, China. May, 1932-
General Leang watched the border through her binoculars as Imperial Japanese Army soldiers lazed about at the border post, unaware that mere kilometers away the forces of the Red Guard and the People's Liberation Army were massing for the greatest military operation in Chinese history.
Operation Spring Dragon, the invasion of Manchuria, only three weeks away and Machuria was so close! Leang inhaled and carefully breathed out to steady herself as she remembered what had been reported to her and the other generals.
Drakan forces penetrating the border and attacking OKB-14? Not much of a surprise and while there were suspects in the PLA, General Leang had a feeling that Drakan spies in the Soviet Union were responsible, especially considering that the Soviet border had as many holes a sieve. She glanced at the distant PLA forces, considering Gideon's suspicions of PLA soldiers or officers bragging while on leave were not totally unfounded, it was likely that word of the X-21 had made it's way to Tarleton and an Airborne Legion force had been deployed to capture OKB-14 to find out just what 'Comrade Stalin' was testing for the Chinese.
Still, the X-21 had detonated successfully, with fallout and radiation levels within projections, and that meant that General Tao at the Southern Frontline would be happy to be able to fire the first shot of Spring Dragon at the fortified city of Chengde. Leang, however, knew that with the Central and Southern Frontlines taking up the majority of the IJA's attention, it would give her forces time to charge down and take Harbin, threatening the puppet capital of Shenyang.
"Comrade-General, the scout planes are returning." Leang nodded while suppressing a sigh. To think that they would have to resort to using prop-engine aircraft instead of jets for recon work, without ground penetrating radar either! Not for the first time the woman longed to have a proper airforce supporting her efforts, even proper helicopters would be a blessing!
"All right, let's see if the cameras actually managed to get something important this time."
Walking away from the observation point, Leang headed for the command tent she had set up with the rest of her forces so she didn't have to interact with the over-confident roosters that were calling themselves PLA 'Generals' thanks to money and connections, or even the Comrade-Chairman's own whims.
Already inside were several Red Guard officers looking over newly-developed photographs taken of the Japanese defensive lines as well as the defenses around Leang's primary target for the Northern Frontline, the city of Harbin that was the northern-most of the Japanese administrative and military centers for North-East China, Manchuria.
"What do we have?" Leang inquired, getting straight to business, which prompted one of the officers to nod.
"The scouting flights managed to show that the IJA has noticed the PLA build-up as expected; they're moving tanks down to oppose the expected PLA push along the Southern Frontline area of operations. Chengde has gone into high alert, and forces are moving up from Korea according to the reports from the southern covert flights."
Leang nodded, "All according to plan then. Begin moving up the jump-off line and prepare for the signal. I want to get the tanks moving the moment the signal is given."
Watching as orders were shouted into radios and under the muffling cover of snow the sound of Ravage Tank engines starting up to begin moving towards the final staging areas in preparation for Mao's speech that would be the start of Operation Spring Dragon. Behind the Ravage Tanks came the hard-won infantry supported by Leang's personally-designed Gattling Tanks and Dragon Tanks, while batteries of Grinder Cannon artillery waited in concealment, ready to rain deadly fletchettes down on the IJA border defenses.
And further back, concealed by camouflage netting amidst a number of tents, Leang's pride and joy, the Hammer Cannon, waited for the fire order to unleash its massive super-heavy howitzer.
As Leang drew her forces forward to prepare for the blitzkrieg assault that would sweep past the IJA lines, the PLA forces remained where they were, intent on letting the Red Guard take all the casualties while the PLA swept forward to secure the glory. It was a sentiment shared amongst many in the PLA; the Red Guard was seen as a force of rejected conscripts and women, people who in the eyes of the newly formed PLA were only fit to cannon-fodder in comparison to the PLA and their harsh, disciplined training.
The four Generals however, knew just how deadly soldiers filled with zealotry and patriotism could be on the field of battle and they knew that the PLA would not be able to compete with the Red Guard at it's full power.
And so, while the PLA partied with Russian officers who played Communism as a means to secure their former noble holdings, 600,000 men and women armed with Type-65 Assault Rifles based on the AKM moved into pre-planned trench networks to wait out the three long weeks before the attack, all listening to music from Europe and America via the BBC.
-Two weeks before the invasion of Manchuria, Mongolian/Machuria Border. May 1932-
General Kwai and General Fai looked out at the lonely desert fort in the distance from the top of a hill, their binoculars focusing on Japanese soldiers boredly looking out at the open deserts and steppes of Mongolia while hidden from the hills, men and machines waited under red flags that had been embroidered with yellow stars and dragons, the new symbols of the Red Guard as Kwai shook his head, "They're getting sloppy."
"Getting there? They already are." Fai snorted as he lowered his binoculars and turned away, "They only stay in their forts and only come out to beat or rape the inhabitants of the local villages while stealing their food. They won't be expecting vengeance to come to them, not while they're busy getting fat off the suffering of peasants."
Kwai nodded before checking his watch, "How are your soldiers doing?"
Fai smiled, "Ready for a fight. I do regret taking troops from Leang, but I need good officers to keep them in line, particularly the Volunteer Groups."
Kwai winced, "They haven't even finished basic training, are you sure you want to toss raw recruits into this fight?"
Fai shifted his head slightly, "Every soldier here is a raw recruit Kwai, excluding those we inserted into Afghanistan to fight as mercenaries so we could have proper officers and skilled NCO's. No, this will be the final test for many of our troops and it will be up to them to have the strength to succeed." He turned away from the Japanese fort and began heading back down the hill, "And just think Kwai, Tao and Leang will have cities in between them and their goals. We only have open countryside and a few villages before we hit Changchun."
Kwai nodded, "Here's hoping the logistics train can keep up with the advance. Leang is advocating a Blitzkrieg offensive but there's no telling just how the Japanese will react once Tao sends Dong Feng to Chengde."
"If all goes according to estimates," Kwai mused, "Then they shouldn't be able to mount an effective counter-offensive just long enough for our forces to penetrate deep into Machuria and begin besieging Changchun."
"That's only if Leang and Tao pull off their offensive pushes," Fai warned, "They have more cities and towns between their targets than we do, any one of them could potentially slow down their advance." He reached the bottom and began walking to a waiting vehicle, "Anyway, I need to get back to my post. Good luck Comrade."
Kwai nodded, "You too."
As his fellow General left, Kwai turned to an approaching aide, "What is it?"
"Latest reports from the scouts." The young man replied, "Japanese armour is moving south, and intercepted messages show that the Japanese have noticed the PLA build-up at Beijing."
"Gather my senior commanders, I want a full readiness check before the day of the attack."
-One week before the invasion of Manchuria. The Port City of Yantai. May 1932-
"So this is the stuff?" Gideon muttered as he inspected the contents of the crate, looking at the semi-automatic rifles inside. Opposite him, the man nodded.
"Tolgren self-loading rifles firing the Kurenwohr 7.5mm bullet. This is the stuff that the Janissary Legion use, so it's not the latest gear for the Snakes." The man explained but blinked as Gideon waved his explanation off.
"It's fine. I just need the rifles and ammo that the Janissaries use. I don't give a shit about the Citizen Force guns." As he picked up a box magazine of rifle rounds from the crate, Gideon continued speaking, "And the nerve gas?"
The man patted another crate, "Fresh from an Afghan supply depot. Say what you want about the Draka, they want their little luxuries as well. This crate has WA-38 Nerve Gas inside; several artillery shells, auto-mortar magazines, and a box of grenades." He frowned, "What are you planning anyway? WA-38 doesn't have any treatment for exposure."
"I don't intend to treat it. I intend to protect against it." Gideon replied as he snapped his fingers and the aide next to him tossed down a briefcase that the smuggler picked up and opened to reveal the case as being full of gold and diamonds, "That should be sufficient to keep your mouth shut, yes?"
The smuggler smiled, "Sure does. See ya later." As the man left, Gideon waited until he was out of earshot before lifting up a radio handset.
"You have confirmation?"
"Yes, Comrade-Director. We've identified his link to the Security Directorate of the Domination."
"Shoot."
There was a pause and the sound of a snap over the radio, before the report came back.
"Terminated."
"Return to the train." Gideon ordered before pointing at the crates, "Get this loaded into the trucks, now! I want to be gone before we get made by the Japanese!"
-Invasion Day. Beijing. May 1932-
"General Tao! The Dong Feng warheads have arrived!" General Tao nodded at the report as he looked out towards the distant city of Chengde and then shifted his gaze towards the heavily entrenched IJA forces along the border between Japanese Manchuria and the rest of China. Despite the interference of the PLA, Tao finally had full supplies of nuclear shells for his artillery and Devastator Heavy Tanks, and if his Battlemasters needed to use conventional engines due to problems with the compact nuclear reactors he wanted, then it was something he would have to adapt to.
Besides, Gideon had come through with his promise for the modified Depleted Uranium shells for his tanks which meant his forces would simply smash aside any Japanese armour in their way. But the real jewel of this plan, the one thing that made Tao Tsi Tsung a happy man, were the warheads being offloaded into trucks to be taken to an inconspicuous building that had been constructed during the PLA buildup on the border between the Japanese and the rest of China.
The Dong Feng-21 Tactical Nuclear Missile, Tao was looking forward to opening a war with that weapon once more as he walked over to this command tent where a radio was tuned to the BBC. Everything was ready, all that was needed was for the good Comrade-Chairman to do that one bit of showmanship he insisted was vital to 'unifying the Chinese people' before the invasion.
Finally, the music came to an end, "And now, from the Far East, an important event is about to take place. Broadcasted live from Hong Kong and across the world, the leader of the People's Republic Of China, Chairman Mao Zedong, is here to deliver an important speech to the people of China."
Everyone stood up straighter as they waited, before the voice of Mao Zedong began to be broadcasted to the world.
"Comrades, I speak to you now to deliver you a message of unity and strength. For many years, the Japanese Empire have trod on our honor and our dignity, they have spit on our glorious history as the Middle Kingdom, a bastion of power and unity for untold generations. We all know someone, a comrade, a loved one, who was there when they forced themselves on Nanking like devils, have heard the stories of their oppression, have listened to their lies about bringing the Chinese into their so-called Empire Of The Rising Sun."
In the United States, inside the White House, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt listened intently to the words being said as his Joint Chiefs quietly sent off orders to observers in China.
"I speak to you now to reveal those words for the lies that they are. That the Japanese, and their Emperor, look down on us as if we were mere dogs! They trample on us, all to make us think that we somehow deserve their abuse, that we should be nothing more than mere slaves to their debauched, bourgeoisie whims! Comrades! I speak to you now to say that we do not have to put up with this abuse!"
In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald frowned as he listened to the speech, "Will this have any impact on our trade with the region?"
"Neglible sir. The PRC has promised favorable trade concessions." Replied one of the other men present in the office, "Although there have been rumors out of Hong Kong and Shanghai about some kind of top-secret weapon that was tested several weeks ago. Apparently whatever it was got the Draka so interested they sent a full company of Airborne Citizen-Force soldiers with two regiment-strong Janissary groups in support."
"And then they vanished never to be seen again around the Tunguska region," a man in a suit finished, "From what little I've gotten in Alexandria, losing an entire Century of Citizens and two Merarchies of Janissaries to a man has rather upset Archon Palme and Arch-Strategos Shrakenberg."
"There will be no more of this! I call upon the people of China to rise up! To cast off the shackles put upon them by the Japanese! To show them just what the true strength of China is when its people band together and act as one! Comrades! Freedom waits for us to grasp it only if you are willing to fight for it!"
In the city of Archona, the speech was being met with derisive snorts and laughter from the strategic staff of the War Directorate of the Domination Of Draka, the only one not meeting the speech with jeers and laughter being Arch-Strategos Karl Von Shrakenberg as he listened intently, trying to find any hidden meanings in the words.
"It's a joke, isn't it Karl?" A General by the name of Eisen gloated, "Some feral demagogue talking about casting off the chains of slavery, I'd like to see him make speeches after being put under the Yoke, then we'll see what the Chinaman is made of, eh?"
"Maybe, but this comes after an entire Century vanishes into thin air Robert. Over a hundred Citizens, gone, and now the PRC is going on a war-footing? They must have a secret weapon for breaking the back of the Japanese, otherwise it'll be Nanking all over again and this time the Nips aren't going to stop."
"Hah!" Another officer laughed, "The Chinks? Having a secret weapon? It's obviously just support from Mao's bedmate Stalin The Hermit! Freya's tits, the Chinaman's nothing more than Plantation fodder already, there's no way they could take even a military as pathetic as the Japanese!"
Von Shrakenberg remained silent as he continued to listen, 'That is what everyone else thinks as well. Even Palme's new pet genius thinks the Chinese can't stand up to the Japanese and certainly not the Domination. But if that's true, then what happened in Russia? What sort of trick are those yellow bastards hiding up their sleeves?'
"Today! Today I declare that this is the day that begins the start of a new era! China will return to glory and the Japanese will know that the sun does not shine on them alone! Today, in the name of the People's Republic and in the name of all Chinese, I declare a state of war against the Japanese! Today, let the Red Dragon's flames cast our enemies into the sea once more!"
And that was the signal as Tao shouted to another officer, "Fire!"
Immediately the order was sent to the single missile sitting in the launch position, plumes of smoke billowing out from the armoured building as the massive rocket, larger than any seen to date, roared into the sky on a trail of smoke and fire.
"Let today be the first shot that shall be heard around the world!"
The missile reached the top of it's ballistic arc, fins turning it back down as mystified Japanese soldiers watched the mysterious object fall towards the city of Chengde and the massive defensive garrison that had been swollen with troops from the Northern and Central Administrative Districts to face off against the PLA tanks arranged against them, unknowing of the massive batteries of guns that had been painstakingly positioned and pre-sighted over the course of weeks.
"Let today being the searing light of a new dawn!"
The Dong Feng detonated bare meters off the ground in the center of Chengde, the flash instantly burning shadows into the buildings and ground seconds before the fireball ignited even the stones and turned them to glass and ash, the thermal pulse setting people, animals, buildings and vehicles alight for hundreds of meters as the shockwave smashed down buildings and sent debris flying for kilometers as the updraft of super-heated air and ash pulled upwards, billowing outwards to droop into a distinctive mushroom shape.
"Long live the People and long live the People's Republic Of China!"
"Fire the Siege Cannons!" Tao shouted and soon the rumbling of artillery echoed across the lines as tactical nuclear shells detonated on top of fortified positions while Tao turned to another aide, "Have the infantry advance in five minutes after the barrage is finished! Make sure they're wearing the suits and have injected the medication, it's going to be warm out there."
Walking out of the command tent, watching the string of mushroom clouds form, General Tao Tsi Tsung smiled.
"Before me, the light of heaven burns away the darkness."
Attributed to General Tao of the Red Guard on the opening of Operation Spring Dragon and the nuclear destruction of Chengde.
Attributed to General Tao of the Red Guard on the opening of Operation Spring Dragon and the nuclear destruction of Chengde.
ryuan
From Zero to Hero!
Neat. So there is at least one guy improving the Drakka. But what for? I mean, they are already Mary Sue extraordinaries, and I don't think the whole 'angles and curves' to deflect shells is actually a thing in armor design so there is a bit of physics altering in their own Mary Sueism.
Either way good chapter, I eagerly wait for more, even if the Japanese will likely burn after this. But a stated before, they had it coming.
Either way good chapter, I eagerly wait for more, even if the Japanese will likely burn after this. But a stated before, they had it coming.
Gideon020
Really in the mood for ribs.
Angled armour increases the total amount of metal a shell has to penetrate without increasing the actual thickness while rounded armour was originally done to increase the chances of deflecting a round.
Both of these are a thing in armour design for modern tanks.
ryuan
From Zero to Hero!
Hm.. wasn't aware of that. So the Drakka doesn't bend physics in their Mary Sue ism yet. Good to know.
I'm tempted to read the Drakka series at some point to figure out how far horrible they were and to make my own stories quests based on it, but the horror stories about the series make me shudder to even pick up those books.
I'm tempted to read the Drakka series at some point to figure out how far horrible they were and to make my own stories quests based on it, but the horror stories about the series make me shudder to even pick up those books.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Tell me about it, I feel dirty just reading Snakepit, and that's just fanficton.
There's no almost about it. Once they get proper Goauld tech, the Draka will be much worse than the parasites.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Chapter 3: A Flash Of Lightning, A Blast Of Thunder
Gideon020
Really in the mood for ribs.
While the Wehrmacht under Adolf Hitler made their own contributions to the concept of fast-moving assaults over a wide frontline, the Chinese were the first to use and master the concept under what they called the 'Doctrine Of The Thunder Tiger' which was first penned in 1932 by General Leang of the PRC Red Guard during the invasion of Japanese Machuria.
To date, all national militaries, even those of the Draka, make use of the same underlying concepts whether the German 'Blitzkrieg' to the Drakan 'Mamba Order', all are based on Chinese concepts written at the start of the liberation of Machuria.
-Encyclopedia Britannica entry on 'Rapid Warfare'.
"Ichi was the first to die, he was in the guard tower when that shell came over the horizon and blew the tower apart. Then the artillery fell and even as we tried to fight back, the Chinese were already on top of us. They had charged through their own artillery to engage us in hand to hand combat before they swept us aside and forced us to retreat."
-Excerpt from a Japanese soldier's diary.
"China was once a land that was more enlightened and knew scientific principles that Europe was only beginning to grasp or discarded through superstition. I do not see it as surprising that they unlocked the secret of the atom before using it for war; rather that I saw it as a sad inevitability in those dark times."
-Albert Einstein speaking about the first usage of nuclear weapons in a US TV talk-show interview in 1951.
-Near the fortified town of Yichun, Heilongjang Province, Manchuria. May 1932, Operation Spring Dragon +3 Days-
Toyama Takumi still couldn't believe it. The Chinese had somehow blinded the intelligence forces of Nippon and built an army to invade the Empire! Radio communications had gone dark with the Soviet border posts after two days of trying to get in contact and find out what was going on, only to get garbled messages about hordes of Chinese soldiers firing rifles that were as fast as those used by Drakan Janissaries, tanks that fired shells that hit before their tanks could even attempt to sight them, it was insanity all along the border.
And it wasn't much better elsewhere; Chinese forces apparently smashed the border forts along the Mongolian border, the front-line near Beijing was choked with dust that made people sick, very sick, in a matter of hours. The Chinese had perfectly planned this, Takumi realised, they had deliberately attracted their forces south before firing that infernal weapon at Chengde; and now that city was a glowing crater, and Takumi was now short many friends.
"I'll pay you back," Takumi whispered harshly as he scrubbed away tears, "I'll pay you all back. Just you wa-"
BOOM!
A guard tower near the town suddenly exploded before there was a distant-sounding thump of a cannon going off. Takumi looked around, trying to spot where the shot had come from, only for more shells to slam into the fortified town, before the whistling of artillery heralded further chaos as shells exploded in the air, sending large arrows hissing through the air.
Takumi saw a soldier get pinned to the earth, his body nothing more than a black pin-cushion of arrows as long as his forearm, and somehow he had survived thanks to the shallow trench he had been standing in waiting for the Chinese attack. Standing to get a better look at the battlefield, he saw the Chinese tanks at last.
The hulking machines sat low to the ground, their turrets round and compact, making the entire vehicle look like some kind of iron beetle as one fired its cannon and leveled a building where soldiers had been firing on the incoming Chinese troops while other tanks with strange multi-barreled weapons opened fire with deafening, buzzing roars like tearing cloth, anything they aimed at simply torn apart under a hail of flashing tracers.
Takumi saw his chance and grabbed a brace of grenades from a fallen comrade before charging at a Chinese tank that was blasting open the Yichun Garrison's small complement of tanks with single shots, ripping off turrets or simply splitting open the vehicles from the force of the detonating shells. Clambering on top of one, he yanked open the hatch and pulled the pin of a grenade, "Banzai!"
Tossing the grenade in, Takumi smiled as the explosion was followed by a plume of smoke and flame before the tank rolled to a stop and he began running to the next one, his heart racing as he pulled another grenade free-
Toyama Takumi didn't see the tank that was rolling into view with two large barrels dripping liquid flame that burned blue-white. When the Twin Dragon Tank fired it's heavy flamethrowers at the Japanese soldier charging to one of its comrades, Toyama Takumi's vision was simply filled with fire and then darkness.
Rumbling over the charred corpse, the Twin Dragon Tank operator didn't even register the soldier as anything more than another kill before turning her flamethrowers on a building full of soldiers, watching as the soldiers clambered out of the sudden inferno covered in blue-white flames as Red Guards now entering the town found and shot them dead, before running onward to secure their objectives.
The attack had taken barely minutes before the Red Guard had overrun the town of Yichun, turning it into a burning charnel house as the Red Guard pressed deeper into northern Manchuria.
As the town burned, General Leang shifted a model on a map of the operations area and nodded, "We're on schedule. Order all forces to converge on Suihua." She smiled at seeing the slowly closing net heading towards Harbin.
To date, all national militaries, even those of the Draka, make use of the same underlying concepts whether the German 'Blitzkrieg' to the Drakan 'Mamba Order', all are based on Chinese concepts written at the start of the liberation of Machuria.
-Encyclopedia Britannica entry on 'Rapid Warfare'.
"Ichi was the first to die, he was in the guard tower when that shell came over the horizon and blew the tower apart. Then the artillery fell and even as we tried to fight back, the Chinese were already on top of us. They had charged through their own artillery to engage us in hand to hand combat before they swept us aside and forced us to retreat."
-Excerpt from a Japanese soldier's diary.
"China was once a land that was more enlightened and knew scientific principles that Europe was only beginning to grasp or discarded through superstition. I do not see it as surprising that they unlocked the secret of the atom before using it for war; rather that I saw it as a sad inevitability in those dark times."
-Albert Einstein speaking about the first usage of nuclear weapons in a US TV talk-show interview in 1951.
-Near the fortified town of Yichun, Heilongjang Province, Manchuria. May 1932, Operation Spring Dragon +3 Days-
Toyama Takumi still couldn't believe it. The Chinese had somehow blinded the intelligence forces of Nippon and built an army to invade the Empire! Radio communications had gone dark with the Soviet border posts after two days of trying to get in contact and find out what was going on, only to get garbled messages about hordes of Chinese soldiers firing rifles that were as fast as those used by Drakan Janissaries, tanks that fired shells that hit before their tanks could even attempt to sight them, it was insanity all along the border.
And it wasn't much better elsewhere; Chinese forces apparently smashed the border forts along the Mongolian border, the front-line near Beijing was choked with dust that made people sick, very sick, in a matter of hours. The Chinese had perfectly planned this, Takumi realised, they had deliberately attracted their forces south before firing that infernal weapon at Chengde; and now that city was a glowing crater, and Takumi was now short many friends.
"I'll pay you back," Takumi whispered harshly as he scrubbed away tears, "I'll pay you all back. Just you wa-"
BOOM!
A guard tower near the town suddenly exploded before there was a distant-sounding thump of a cannon going off. Takumi looked around, trying to spot where the shot had come from, only for more shells to slam into the fortified town, before the whistling of artillery heralded further chaos as shells exploded in the air, sending large arrows hissing through the air.
Takumi saw a soldier get pinned to the earth, his body nothing more than a black pin-cushion of arrows as long as his forearm, and somehow he had survived thanks to the shallow trench he had been standing in waiting for the Chinese attack. Standing to get a better look at the battlefield, he saw the Chinese tanks at last.
The hulking machines sat low to the ground, their turrets round and compact, making the entire vehicle look like some kind of iron beetle as one fired its cannon and leveled a building where soldiers had been firing on the incoming Chinese troops while other tanks with strange multi-barreled weapons opened fire with deafening, buzzing roars like tearing cloth, anything they aimed at simply torn apart under a hail of flashing tracers.
Takumi saw his chance and grabbed a brace of grenades from a fallen comrade before charging at a Chinese tank that was blasting open the Yichun Garrison's small complement of tanks with single shots, ripping off turrets or simply splitting open the vehicles from the force of the detonating shells. Clambering on top of one, he yanked open the hatch and pulled the pin of a grenade, "Banzai!"
Tossing the grenade in, Takumi smiled as the explosion was followed by a plume of smoke and flame before the tank rolled to a stop and he began running to the next one, his heart racing as he pulled another grenade free-
Toyama Takumi didn't see the tank that was rolling into view with two large barrels dripping liquid flame that burned blue-white. When the Twin Dragon Tank fired it's heavy flamethrowers at the Japanese soldier charging to one of its comrades, Toyama Takumi's vision was simply filled with fire and then darkness.
Rumbling over the charred corpse, the Twin Dragon Tank operator didn't even register the soldier as anything more than another kill before turning her flamethrowers on a building full of soldiers, watching as the soldiers clambered out of the sudden inferno covered in blue-white flames as Red Guards now entering the town found and shot them dead, before running onward to secure their objectives.
The attack had taken barely minutes before the Red Guard had overrun the town of Yichun, turning it into a burning charnel house as the Red Guard pressed deeper into northern Manchuria.
As the town burned, General Leang shifted a model on a map of the operations area and nodded, "We're on schedule. Order all forces to converge on Suihua." She smiled at seeing the slowly closing net heading towards Harbin.
"Let all hear the roar of the tiger, as loud as thunder and more terrible than any storm."
-Attributed to General Leiong Leang of the PRC Red Guard upon initiating the 'Doctrine Of The Thunder Tiger'. The rapid warfare doctrine was responsible for the utter destruction of numerous IJA units before the infamous Siege Of Harbin.
-Attributed to General Leiong Leang of the PRC Red Guard upon initiating the 'Doctrine Of The Thunder Tiger'. The rapid warfare doctrine was responsible for the utter destruction of numerous IJA units before the infamous Siege Of Harbin.
edmantgoog
init high just high
When I first saw the tittle I thought that it was a mortal combat cross. Tgdt said I sm enjoying tge story
- Location
- Philippines
So the China vs Draka idea that failed to gain traction you threw about on the GLA in Young Justice in Spacebattles got much more love here?
Huh.
Make China great again!
Huh.
Make China great again!
Yeah I'll stay to see the Drak-Sue's broken.
Chapter 4: Red Blood In The Yellow Sea
Gideon020
Really in the mood for ribs.
The first recorded appearance of the Jet Engine was a display engine built by the Domination of Draka at the 1934 Chicago World's Fair presented by its inventor the so-called 'Technology Baron' Professor Lance Williams as being the cutting edge of aeronautical engineering that would revolutionize the world of aviation.
Tellingly, the People's Republic Of China, fresh from their victory over Imperial Japan and firmly cementing their alliance with the Soviet Union before their merger into the super-state known as the United Sino-Soviet Republic, had a very subdued reaction compared to the other political delegations.
-Excerpt from 'The Pioneers Of The New Age.'
The loss of the carrier Ryujo and the heavy cruiser Kinugasa in the Battle Of The Yellow Sea off the coast of China, within view of the Southern Frontline and the city of Beijing that had held out against the IJA occupation, had a telling boost to morale amongst the soldiers of the PLA and the Red Guard as the two ships sank and the Imperial Japanese Navy withdrew out of range of the uncannily accurate artillery fire that had zeroed in so quickly on them.
Rumours continue to persist to this day that the People's Republic deployed jet fighters to the battle two years before the first Jet Engine was displayed in Chicago and nearly a decade before both the Allies, Axis and Draka began deploying them in force.
-From 'Great Mysteries Of The Second Eurasian War'.
"They came from above, screaming on pillars of flame! I saw them first and shouted the alarm call but it was too late! Ryujo and Kinugasa! They were already ablaze!"
-Suihecho Fujino Shuraku's testimony on the destruction of the Heavy Cruiser Kinugasa and the Aircraft Carrier Ryujo during the Battle Of The Yellow Sea. It remains the only known evidence in support of Chinese Jet Fighters existing before their first recorded historical deployment in 1940 in support of the British and Shuraku the only survivor of the destruction of the Ryujo. Suihecho Fujino committed suicide by self-immolation after escaping medical care, screaming that he could still see his 'Phantoms' and their pillars of flame.
-The City of Baoding, Red Guard Central Supply Headquarters, May 1932, Operation Spring Dragon +15 Days-
Gideon watched his staff shift models around the map constantly as new reports came in to update or replace current intelligence; and as he watched new markers be placed down and shifted forwards, he smiled with the satisfaction of a job going well.
Operation Spring Dragon was well and truly underway; the two weeks of constant fighting had allowed Leang to begin sieging Harbin, while the Changchun Offensive Line had met a stiffened Japanese defensive line of fortifications. To the South, the Red Flag was flying over the radioactive ruins of Chengde and the push towards Shenyang was steady and bloody.
Which was why Gideon was here: The Cortical Stacks and their uploads had to be quickly placed into new bodies for each and every soldier that died, and maintaining a steady rate of clone bodies required personal supervision since the only projects of importance at Black Bear were the nuclear tank engines and continued work on the Jets for the eventual Red Guard Air Corps.
Which was why he had a squadron of 'MiG' Bombers, the XJ-30's rather than the XJ-17's, deployed to the frontline airbase at Datong. The XJ-17's were better served supporting the push towards Shenyang, and the XJ-30's were needed to test the new Napalm and EMP bombs he had developed. With luck, these weapons would allow for some decisive effects for Tao's forces even if the nuke-happy General wanted to see the XJ-30's deploy tac-nukes rather than napalm.
"Sorry Tao," Gideon muttered, "But I have my own priorities to work towards, not yours." He looked down at the files related to the new 12.7mm Minigun design that would be used for the Minigun Teams, "And right now, what we need is more decisive anti-infantry killing power." He flipped the pages, reading through the report sent by courier from Black Bear while the current war was being fought and won.
Gideon, on the other hand, was already aiming his sights towards the next war. The war that would decide everything really. Already, plans were underway for the heavy bombers that would be delivering payloads of napalm and EMP weaponry that would be used to disrupt radio communications for the Draka along with ECM Flare Bombs to disrupt any radar technology that their likely hidden supporter was developing for them.
The Nazis would be a minor inconvenience, but Gideon had plans for a high-altitude Neutron Bomb drop on the Wolf's Lair that would do the trick. He shrugged, "A man can dream, right?" He muttered as he finished reading the report and began jotting down the rough start to his reply, "Okay, so we'll need to-"
The building shook, staggering Gideon as he heard alarms and sirens beginning to blare, as he approached one of the operators at the bank of radios, "Report!"
"Enemy ships in the bay!" The man replied, "We're being bombarded by Japanese Navy ships!"
Gideon muttered something vile in Mandarin as he considered his options, "Can we get counter-battery fire on those ships?"
"We're trying but the only positions are right in the firing line of those guns and there's a carrier deploying aircraft now!"
Gideon winced, "Do we have numbers?"
"Seven destroyers, a Heavy Cruiser and an Aircraft Carrier!" Gideon raised an eyebrow, that was barely worth calling a task force, was the Imperial Navy sandbagging because this was the Imperial Army's problem? A clinical part of Gideon's mind noted that yes, they likely were due to the infamous rivalry between the Army and Navy.
"Focus counter-battery fire on those Destroyers." Gideon ordered calmly, "Send a message to Datong and tell them to get those bombers loaded with Napalm to attack the Heavy Cruiser and that Aircraft Carrier." He turned to the woman next to the man, "I want eyes in the air. Make sure we do not have a battleship incoming to support this group."
The woman nodded and began sending orders as the man turned back to Gideon, "Datong Frontline Airbase acknowledges the orders, the Bombers will be in the air in thirty minutes."
The building shook, more violently, and Gideon heard the muffled boom of an explosion, "Tell them they have ten."
-Datong Frontline Airbase, Outskirts of Datong-
Her name was Leng Hong, and she was excited. The order to deploy had finally come and it was in support of the all-important logistical efforts of the war. The young woman, still a teenager in many respects, bounced nervously on the balls of her feet even as she forced the rest of her body into the constricting pilot suit for the experimental XJ-30 Tactical Jet Bomber.
A Jet! Not the prop planes the PLA was using, but one of the technological marvels that was designed deep in the bowels of the mysterious 'Black Bear' research directorate, an aircraft that could fly higher and faster than any aircraft flying today, not even the Japanese would have anything like the XJ-30!
"Excited, are you?" She heard the fatherly voice of her squadron lead behind her and span, still managing to properly secure herself inside the pilot suit, "Keep a hold of that excitement," The bearded man, Lee she remembered, gently advised her, "Let it sharpen your senses but do not lose focus. We have a challenge ahead of us."
"Yes!" Hong chirped, "They're pitting us against the Imperial Navy! I'll bet we'll be flying through clouds of flak and gunfire and they won't touch us!" She smiled giddily, wondering what the look on the faces of those enemy sailors would be when she unleashed her payload on their so-called 'invincible' ships.
"Maybe. But don't go racing off for an easy kill." Lee admonished, "Stay on my wing and we'll get though this alive, then we can brag about being the first people in China to fly faster than any bird." Hong nodded as Lee checked his watch, "Let's go."
They met the flight crew chief on the way to their planes, "Your planes have been loaded with Napalm Bombs. Counter-battery fire is engaging the Destroyers in the bay so your primary target is the Heavy Cruiser and Aircraft Carrier!"
"Understood." Lee nodded to Hong who in turn nodded with a serious expression as they ran for their planes.
Leng Hong never ceased to be amazed by the aircraft sitting on the paved runway as she slipped her helmet on and approached the boarding ladder; according to the people at Black Bear who had come to train her in the aircraft it used the very pinnacle of Chinese engineering in several fields that had been invented just for the purpose of making this plane. The array of instruments and screens had seemed intimidating but Leng Hong's lifelong dream was to fly, and she wouldn't let anything stand in her way.
Securing her helmet with the chin strap and connecting her oxygen mask, Hong whispered a prayer even as she began the pre-flight start-up checks, turning dials and flipping switches as the plane slowly came to life around her and she nodded. Tugging the canopy handle she watched the tempered glass and metal frame lower itself into place with a faint hissing before it locked into place with a loud click, immediately muffling everything outside her own private world as she turn the canopy handle all the way to securely lock the canopy down.
Strapping herself in securely, Hong started the engines of the experimental Jet Bomber and listened to the turbines beginning to whine as they slowly span up to full power. Running down the checklist and nodding at not forgetting anything, Hong pressed her radio button, "Smoke Dragon One-Two, Ready for takeoff."
"Clear for takeoff Smoke Dragon One-Two. One-One is waiting for you on the runway." Hong nodded and gave the ground crew the thumbs up as she disengaged the brake lock and waited for them to pull away the wheel blocks before easing the aircraft out of the hanger and towards the runway where her wingman was waiting.
As she formed up on his wing, Hong noticed Lee giving her a thumbs-up which she returned to confirm she was ready before shifting herself to get comfortable for takeoff as the lights at the side of the runway flashed Red...then Yellow...Yellow...Green!
Both planes immediately accelerated, their experimental Turbojet Engines glowing red-yellow as they roared down the runway, before the nose lifted up and the planes were airborne, a few of the ground crew watching even applauding the event with cheers as the two aircraft lifted their undercarriage and locked them into place.
-Inferno Cannon Battery 12, Qinhuangdao-
The Inferno Cannons were thundering constantly as they attempted to hit their distant targets; the Imperial Navy ships were staying on the move but so far Battery 12 was seemingly blessed as their shots managed to hit their targets more often than the other batteries and slowly, too slowly for some, they were taking their toll on the Destroyers shielding the Heavy Cruiser and Aircraft Carrier further out to sea.
"Confirmed hit on target! She's burning!" A ragged cheer met the announcement as Battery 12's crews worked tirelessly to keep the shells coming to feed the guns. Already, piles of spent shell casings were starting to multiply as the guns kept firing. A runner came down the line and stopped in front of one of the artillery vehicles, "Shift fire right, new fire coordinates are incoming!"
"Coordinates?" The Gun Commander shouted back with a barked laugh, "We're firing blind against moving targets here boy, there are no firing coordinates!"
Undeterred, the runner moved on to the next gun even as the crews of Battery 12 shifted the fire of their cannons to the right as they continued to send shells over the horizon.
-The Yellow Sea-
Chaos was the word of the day for the ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy. As soon as the bombardment of the enemy supply center had begun the small taskforce had immediately been targeted by shore-based artillery batteries. Already, three of the seven destroyers deployed were on fire after being hit with shells carrying horrifyingly powerful incendiary warheads, one of them nothing more than a floating funeral pyre unable to fire due to the flames engulfing it while the crew desperately abandoned ships to be picked up by one of the surviving vessels.
With a deafening roar and a fireball that sent her turrets flying, the Destroyer Chifuyu tore itself in two as the incendiaries reached the magazine while the Ayumi's bow was a pyre, her crew desperately trying to beat back the flames consuming her wooden foredeck as the ship began to withdraw from the area, her captain unwilling to suffer the same fate as the Chifuyu or the Junko which was no longer firing, flames engulfing every part of destroyer as it sat dead in the water like a grotesque funeral pyre.
The Captain of the Kinugasa, Itoh Jo, grimaced as the Ayumi continued to flee, ignoring orders to return to the battle as flames engulfed her forward guns. 'There will be a court-martial for that. If they aren't executed for cowardice outright,' Itoh thought to himself as the Kinugasa fired her main guns towards the distant city where the Chinese had their main supply depot.
"Captain, we're being ordered by the Ryujo to form up with her and support her as she receives her bombers for resupply." Itoh nodded and with a flick of his hand motioned for the ship to move closer to the Aircraft Carrier in the distance. The Ryujo was a critical component of this attack; if her bombers could do enough damage to the supply depot then the advance towards Shenyang would stall long enough for the Army to reorganise for a counter attack through bypassing the Chinese advance and strike at the rear.
That would hopefully buy enough time for reinforcements to come from the Home Islands which would be followed up by bombarding Beijing and landing forces to end this uprising once and for all.
A distant explosion caused Itoh to turn his head and witness the Ayumi beginning to sink, her forward guns and much of her bow missing as the crew abandoned ship.
Itoh snorted quietly, 'Divine justice at the very least.'
-Skies above the Yellow Sea-
The bombers had made good time and now were looking down at the ships being engaged by shore-based artillery batteries as Lee and Hong searched for their targets through the smoke and chaos of moving ships. Lee was the first to speak up, "Got them. 11 O'Clock!"
Hong checked and spotted the larger vessels, "I see them! How do you want to do this?"
"We come in from above when the last of the planes have landed. They'll probably be refueling for another attack run, which means they'll be vulnerable. Hong, take the carrier while I engage the cruiser!" Lee ordered and Hong flicked the Master Arm switch for her bombs.
"Ready!"
"Go!" Lee shouted as he turned his plane into a steep attack dive as Hong followed after, deviating to set her sights squarely on the Carrier, the sun at her back as her jet screamed it's desire for destruction. As she dove, Hong was reminded of the time she saw a hawk hunting a rabbit, how it came in like a knife before snatching up the rabbit and then turning into the air seemingly without losing any speed.
Which was why Hong held her dive just long enough that as Lee released his bombs and cursed as two of them landed in the water while two struck the rear of the ship, Hong was still diving lower, "Hong! Pull up!"
And so Hong pulled up, seemingly at the last second, her bombs released as she was pulling up from her dive that sent Japanese sailors scrambling for cover. Screaming away from the Carrier, Hong glanced at the rear-view mirror to see the crew on the deck look at her plane in confusion and awe.
And then everything vanished in walls of all-consuming flame as the Napalm bombs struck the deck and set the carrier Ryujo ablaze. The carnage was total; anyone on the deck was instantly immolated while the planes were immediately consumed by the flames, fuel detonating to send flaming propellors spinning through the air to slice burning crewmen in two while fuel lines caught flame and burst, spraying burning fuel all over the deck while one flopped violently and got jammed in a hatch, spraying it's deadly cargo into the interior of the ship.
Another caught itself in the elevator, spraying the hanger spaces with burning fuel that quickly spread to the other planes. And the bombs that were waiting to be loaded.
The Ryujo rocked violently to the side, the force of the exploding ordnance smashing it into the Kinugasa; and where the smaller ship might have been able to survive the Napalm, the heavier Aircraft Carrier's impact tore open a gaping rent amidships, causing water to rush in.
It was at that moment that the bombers came back, Lee and Hong squeezing the triggers for the other weapon installed in their aircraft.
The 30mm Revolver Cannon in both aircraft roared, the heavy and near-supersonic bullets punching through crew and armour as the two planes strafed the Kinugasa, stitching lines of sparks and flames across the foredecks of the ship before tracing up the bridge superstructure and into the bridge itself.
Captain Itoh Jo didn't even get the chance to flee as the barrage of 30mm rounds tore him to pieces alongside the rest of the bridge crew before the bombers turned and screamed away back to base.
Only one person survived the sinking of the Ryujo while the crew of the Kinugasa managed to flee before their ship was dragged under by the larger vessel.
-Baoding, Central Supply Headquarters-
"Confirmation from shore observers, the Aircraft Carrier and Heavy Cruiser have been sunk!" The announcement immediately heralded cheers from everyone in the battered headquarters building as Gideon nodded to himself and began taking charge.
"I want a full damage assessment done on the supplies! Send emergency messages to all Generals about the attack! We have to slow their advance now before they overstrip our damaged logistics train! I want the supply bases further west to start shipping immediately!"
As the men and women in the headquarters building rushed to fulfill their orders, Gideon turned to one of the officers, "We have confirmation that the bombers sunk them?"
"Yes Comrade-Director." The woman replied, "They followed up with a cannon strafing of the Heavy Cruiser's bridge to ensure that it could not try to steer away from the Aircraft Carrier."
"Put them in for an Order of the Gold Dragon, 1st Class." Gideon ordered, "Those two are heroes and I want them rewarded as such. Understood?"
"Yes Comrade-Director."
Gideon sighed, "Now to get ready for the next fresh hell."
Tellingly, the People's Republic Of China, fresh from their victory over Imperial Japan and firmly cementing their alliance with the Soviet Union before their merger into the super-state known as the United Sino-Soviet Republic, had a very subdued reaction compared to the other political delegations.
-Excerpt from 'The Pioneers Of The New Age.'
The loss of the carrier Ryujo and the heavy cruiser Kinugasa in the Battle Of The Yellow Sea off the coast of China, within view of the Southern Frontline and the city of Beijing that had held out against the IJA occupation, had a telling boost to morale amongst the soldiers of the PLA and the Red Guard as the two ships sank and the Imperial Japanese Navy withdrew out of range of the uncannily accurate artillery fire that had zeroed in so quickly on them.
Rumours continue to persist to this day that the People's Republic deployed jet fighters to the battle two years before the first Jet Engine was displayed in Chicago and nearly a decade before both the Allies, Axis and Draka began deploying them in force.
-From 'Great Mysteries Of The Second Eurasian War'.
"They came from above, screaming on pillars of flame! I saw them first and shouted the alarm call but it was too late! Ryujo and Kinugasa! They were already ablaze!"
-Suihecho Fujino Shuraku's testimony on the destruction of the Heavy Cruiser Kinugasa and the Aircraft Carrier Ryujo during the Battle Of The Yellow Sea. It remains the only known evidence in support of Chinese Jet Fighters existing before their first recorded historical deployment in 1940 in support of the British and Shuraku the only survivor of the destruction of the Ryujo. Suihecho Fujino committed suicide by self-immolation after escaping medical care, screaming that he could still see his 'Phantoms' and their pillars of flame.
-The City of Baoding, Red Guard Central Supply Headquarters, May 1932, Operation Spring Dragon +15 Days-
Gideon watched his staff shift models around the map constantly as new reports came in to update or replace current intelligence; and as he watched new markers be placed down and shifted forwards, he smiled with the satisfaction of a job going well.
Operation Spring Dragon was well and truly underway; the two weeks of constant fighting had allowed Leang to begin sieging Harbin, while the Changchun Offensive Line had met a stiffened Japanese defensive line of fortifications. To the South, the Red Flag was flying over the radioactive ruins of Chengde and the push towards Shenyang was steady and bloody.
Which was why Gideon was here: The Cortical Stacks and their uploads had to be quickly placed into new bodies for each and every soldier that died, and maintaining a steady rate of clone bodies required personal supervision since the only projects of importance at Black Bear were the nuclear tank engines and continued work on the Jets for the eventual Red Guard Air Corps.
Which was why he had a squadron of 'MiG' Bombers, the XJ-30's rather than the XJ-17's, deployed to the frontline airbase at Datong. The XJ-17's were better served supporting the push towards Shenyang, and the XJ-30's were needed to test the new Napalm and EMP bombs he had developed. With luck, these weapons would allow for some decisive effects for Tao's forces even if the nuke-happy General wanted to see the XJ-30's deploy tac-nukes rather than napalm.
"Sorry Tao," Gideon muttered, "But I have my own priorities to work towards, not yours." He looked down at the files related to the new 12.7mm Minigun design that would be used for the Minigun Teams, "And right now, what we need is more decisive anti-infantry killing power." He flipped the pages, reading through the report sent by courier from Black Bear while the current war was being fought and won.
Gideon, on the other hand, was already aiming his sights towards the next war. The war that would decide everything really. Already, plans were underway for the heavy bombers that would be delivering payloads of napalm and EMP weaponry that would be used to disrupt radio communications for the Draka along with ECM Flare Bombs to disrupt any radar technology that their likely hidden supporter was developing for them.
The Nazis would be a minor inconvenience, but Gideon had plans for a high-altitude Neutron Bomb drop on the Wolf's Lair that would do the trick. He shrugged, "A man can dream, right?" He muttered as he finished reading the report and began jotting down the rough start to his reply, "Okay, so we'll need to-"
The building shook, staggering Gideon as he heard alarms and sirens beginning to blare, as he approached one of the operators at the bank of radios, "Report!"
"Enemy ships in the bay!" The man replied, "We're being bombarded by Japanese Navy ships!"
Gideon muttered something vile in Mandarin as he considered his options, "Can we get counter-battery fire on those ships?"
"We're trying but the only positions are right in the firing line of those guns and there's a carrier deploying aircraft now!"
Gideon winced, "Do we have numbers?"
"Seven destroyers, a Heavy Cruiser and an Aircraft Carrier!" Gideon raised an eyebrow, that was barely worth calling a task force, was the Imperial Navy sandbagging because this was the Imperial Army's problem? A clinical part of Gideon's mind noted that yes, they likely were due to the infamous rivalry between the Army and Navy.
"Focus counter-battery fire on those Destroyers." Gideon ordered calmly, "Send a message to Datong and tell them to get those bombers loaded with Napalm to attack the Heavy Cruiser and that Aircraft Carrier." He turned to the woman next to the man, "I want eyes in the air. Make sure we do not have a battleship incoming to support this group."
The woman nodded and began sending orders as the man turned back to Gideon, "Datong Frontline Airbase acknowledges the orders, the Bombers will be in the air in thirty minutes."
The building shook, more violently, and Gideon heard the muffled boom of an explosion, "Tell them they have ten."
-Datong Frontline Airbase, Outskirts of Datong-
Her name was Leng Hong, and she was excited. The order to deploy had finally come and it was in support of the all-important logistical efforts of the war. The young woman, still a teenager in many respects, bounced nervously on the balls of her feet even as she forced the rest of her body into the constricting pilot suit for the experimental XJ-30 Tactical Jet Bomber.
A Jet! Not the prop planes the PLA was using, but one of the technological marvels that was designed deep in the bowels of the mysterious 'Black Bear' research directorate, an aircraft that could fly higher and faster than any aircraft flying today, not even the Japanese would have anything like the XJ-30!
"Excited, are you?" She heard the fatherly voice of her squadron lead behind her and span, still managing to properly secure herself inside the pilot suit, "Keep a hold of that excitement," The bearded man, Lee she remembered, gently advised her, "Let it sharpen your senses but do not lose focus. We have a challenge ahead of us."
"Yes!" Hong chirped, "They're pitting us against the Imperial Navy! I'll bet we'll be flying through clouds of flak and gunfire and they won't touch us!" She smiled giddily, wondering what the look on the faces of those enemy sailors would be when she unleashed her payload on their so-called 'invincible' ships.
"Maybe. But don't go racing off for an easy kill." Lee admonished, "Stay on my wing and we'll get though this alive, then we can brag about being the first people in China to fly faster than any bird." Hong nodded as Lee checked his watch, "Let's go."
They met the flight crew chief on the way to their planes, "Your planes have been loaded with Napalm Bombs. Counter-battery fire is engaging the Destroyers in the bay so your primary target is the Heavy Cruiser and Aircraft Carrier!"
"Understood." Lee nodded to Hong who in turn nodded with a serious expression as they ran for their planes.
Leng Hong never ceased to be amazed by the aircraft sitting on the paved runway as she slipped her helmet on and approached the boarding ladder; according to the people at Black Bear who had come to train her in the aircraft it used the very pinnacle of Chinese engineering in several fields that had been invented just for the purpose of making this plane. The array of instruments and screens had seemed intimidating but Leng Hong's lifelong dream was to fly, and she wouldn't let anything stand in her way.
Securing her helmet with the chin strap and connecting her oxygen mask, Hong whispered a prayer even as she began the pre-flight start-up checks, turning dials and flipping switches as the plane slowly came to life around her and she nodded. Tugging the canopy handle she watched the tempered glass and metal frame lower itself into place with a faint hissing before it locked into place with a loud click, immediately muffling everything outside her own private world as she turn the canopy handle all the way to securely lock the canopy down.
Strapping herself in securely, Hong started the engines of the experimental Jet Bomber and listened to the turbines beginning to whine as they slowly span up to full power. Running down the checklist and nodding at not forgetting anything, Hong pressed her radio button, "Smoke Dragon One-Two, Ready for takeoff."
"Clear for takeoff Smoke Dragon One-Two. One-One is waiting for you on the runway." Hong nodded and gave the ground crew the thumbs up as she disengaged the brake lock and waited for them to pull away the wheel blocks before easing the aircraft out of the hanger and towards the runway where her wingman was waiting.
As she formed up on his wing, Hong noticed Lee giving her a thumbs-up which she returned to confirm she was ready before shifting herself to get comfortable for takeoff as the lights at the side of the runway flashed Red...then Yellow...Yellow...Green!
Both planes immediately accelerated, their experimental Turbojet Engines glowing red-yellow as they roared down the runway, before the nose lifted up and the planes were airborne, a few of the ground crew watching even applauding the event with cheers as the two aircraft lifted their undercarriage and locked them into place.
-Inferno Cannon Battery 12, Qinhuangdao-
The Inferno Cannons were thundering constantly as they attempted to hit their distant targets; the Imperial Navy ships were staying on the move but so far Battery 12 was seemingly blessed as their shots managed to hit their targets more often than the other batteries and slowly, too slowly for some, they were taking their toll on the Destroyers shielding the Heavy Cruiser and Aircraft Carrier further out to sea.
"Confirmed hit on target! She's burning!" A ragged cheer met the announcement as Battery 12's crews worked tirelessly to keep the shells coming to feed the guns. Already, piles of spent shell casings were starting to multiply as the guns kept firing. A runner came down the line and stopped in front of one of the artillery vehicles, "Shift fire right, new fire coordinates are incoming!"
"Coordinates?" The Gun Commander shouted back with a barked laugh, "We're firing blind against moving targets here boy, there are no firing coordinates!"
Undeterred, the runner moved on to the next gun even as the crews of Battery 12 shifted the fire of their cannons to the right as they continued to send shells over the horizon.
-The Yellow Sea-
Chaos was the word of the day for the ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy. As soon as the bombardment of the enemy supply center had begun the small taskforce had immediately been targeted by shore-based artillery batteries. Already, three of the seven destroyers deployed were on fire after being hit with shells carrying horrifyingly powerful incendiary warheads, one of them nothing more than a floating funeral pyre unable to fire due to the flames engulfing it while the crew desperately abandoned ships to be picked up by one of the surviving vessels.
With a deafening roar and a fireball that sent her turrets flying, the Destroyer Chifuyu tore itself in two as the incendiaries reached the magazine while the Ayumi's bow was a pyre, her crew desperately trying to beat back the flames consuming her wooden foredeck as the ship began to withdraw from the area, her captain unwilling to suffer the same fate as the Chifuyu or the Junko which was no longer firing, flames engulfing every part of destroyer as it sat dead in the water like a grotesque funeral pyre.
The Captain of the Kinugasa, Itoh Jo, grimaced as the Ayumi continued to flee, ignoring orders to return to the battle as flames engulfed her forward guns. 'There will be a court-martial for that. If they aren't executed for cowardice outright,' Itoh thought to himself as the Kinugasa fired her main guns towards the distant city where the Chinese had their main supply depot.
"Captain, we're being ordered by the Ryujo to form up with her and support her as she receives her bombers for resupply." Itoh nodded and with a flick of his hand motioned for the ship to move closer to the Aircraft Carrier in the distance. The Ryujo was a critical component of this attack; if her bombers could do enough damage to the supply depot then the advance towards Shenyang would stall long enough for the Army to reorganise for a counter attack through bypassing the Chinese advance and strike at the rear.
That would hopefully buy enough time for reinforcements to come from the Home Islands which would be followed up by bombarding Beijing and landing forces to end this uprising once and for all.
A distant explosion caused Itoh to turn his head and witness the Ayumi beginning to sink, her forward guns and much of her bow missing as the crew abandoned ship.
Itoh snorted quietly, 'Divine justice at the very least.'
-Skies above the Yellow Sea-
The bombers had made good time and now were looking down at the ships being engaged by shore-based artillery batteries as Lee and Hong searched for their targets through the smoke and chaos of moving ships. Lee was the first to speak up, "Got them. 11 O'Clock!"
Hong checked and spotted the larger vessels, "I see them! How do you want to do this?"
"We come in from above when the last of the planes have landed. They'll probably be refueling for another attack run, which means they'll be vulnerable. Hong, take the carrier while I engage the cruiser!" Lee ordered and Hong flicked the Master Arm switch for her bombs.
"Ready!"
"Go!" Lee shouted as he turned his plane into a steep attack dive as Hong followed after, deviating to set her sights squarely on the Carrier, the sun at her back as her jet screamed it's desire for destruction. As she dove, Hong was reminded of the time she saw a hawk hunting a rabbit, how it came in like a knife before snatching up the rabbit and then turning into the air seemingly without losing any speed.
Which was why Hong held her dive just long enough that as Lee released his bombs and cursed as two of them landed in the water while two struck the rear of the ship, Hong was still diving lower, "Hong! Pull up!"
And so Hong pulled up, seemingly at the last second, her bombs released as she was pulling up from her dive that sent Japanese sailors scrambling for cover. Screaming away from the Carrier, Hong glanced at the rear-view mirror to see the crew on the deck look at her plane in confusion and awe.
And then everything vanished in walls of all-consuming flame as the Napalm bombs struck the deck and set the carrier Ryujo ablaze. The carnage was total; anyone on the deck was instantly immolated while the planes were immediately consumed by the flames, fuel detonating to send flaming propellors spinning through the air to slice burning crewmen in two while fuel lines caught flame and burst, spraying burning fuel all over the deck while one flopped violently and got jammed in a hatch, spraying it's deadly cargo into the interior of the ship.
Another caught itself in the elevator, spraying the hanger spaces with burning fuel that quickly spread to the other planes. And the bombs that were waiting to be loaded.
The Ryujo rocked violently to the side, the force of the exploding ordnance smashing it into the Kinugasa; and where the smaller ship might have been able to survive the Napalm, the heavier Aircraft Carrier's impact tore open a gaping rent amidships, causing water to rush in.
It was at that moment that the bombers came back, Lee and Hong squeezing the triggers for the other weapon installed in their aircraft.
The 30mm Revolver Cannon in both aircraft roared, the heavy and near-supersonic bullets punching through crew and armour as the two planes strafed the Kinugasa, stitching lines of sparks and flames across the foredecks of the ship before tracing up the bridge superstructure and into the bridge itself.
Captain Itoh Jo didn't even get the chance to flee as the barrage of 30mm rounds tore him to pieces alongside the rest of the bridge crew before the bombers turned and screamed away back to base.
Only one person survived the sinking of the Ryujo while the crew of the Kinugasa managed to flee before their ship was dragged under by the larger vessel.
-Baoding, Central Supply Headquarters-
"Confirmation from shore observers, the Aircraft Carrier and Heavy Cruiser have been sunk!" The announcement immediately heralded cheers from everyone in the battered headquarters building as Gideon nodded to himself and began taking charge.
"I want a full damage assessment done on the supplies! Send emergency messages to all Generals about the attack! We have to slow their advance now before they overstrip our damaged logistics train! I want the supply bases further west to start shipping immediately!"
As the men and women in the headquarters building rushed to fulfill their orders, Gideon turned to one of the officers, "We have confirmation that the bombers sunk them?"
"Yes Comrade-Director." The woman replied, "They followed up with a cannon strafing of the Heavy Cruiser's bridge to ensure that it could not try to steer away from the Aircraft Carrier."
"Put them in for an Order of the Gold Dragon, 1st Class." Gideon ordered, "Those two are heroes and I want them rewarded as such. Understood?"
"Yes Comrade-Director."
Gideon sighed, "Now to get ready for the next fresh hell."
The Battle Of The Yellow Sea proved an important fact to the Chinese people; that Japan could be defeated at sea. After that, nothing would stop them.
-The History of The Second Eurasian War
-The History of The Second Eurasian War
Last edited: