Part 108: Hearts of Iron II: Chapter 6 - China in Flames: Jul 1937 - Jan 1938

July 1937 - January 1938: China in Flames

Somewhat to Waldemar's surprise, the advisory council suggests backing Yuan China, certain that the Yuan will win their war with Japan and that they will prove useful allies against Russia. Already annoyed at Japan for starting a war without his permission, Waldemar agrees, issuing a strong condemnation of the Japanese aggression.


The Japanese quickly seize bridgeheads in Hanoi and Tianjin, exploiting the weakly defended shores of both Chinas, whose troops are almost all deployed against each other.



The industries seized by the state during the mobilization efforts are put to use, beginning to produce the materials needed to form three Mountaineer divisions, specialist troops that the general staff have requested to help secure control of the alps in the event of war with Rome.


Expansion of the German air force also begins with the production of two new Stuka divisions.


Australasia and the Philippines agree to form an alliance to ward off any future Japanese aggression.


The Sultanate of Tarrbitz in the Caribbean is experiencing an economic boom caused by the rising prices of copper and iron in the New World as Mazula and America arm for conflict with each other. Tarrbitz opts to invest its increased revenues in increasing the size of its military.


Diplomatic envoys are sent to establish better relations with the Yuan and offer them economic support for their conflict, as per the suggestion of the advisory council.


The battleship Tirpitz is sent on a 'manuever' to survey the Chinese coast and find out what it can about Japanese troop movements. The findings are anything but encouraging. The Japanese have practically overrun Vietnam, holding both Hanoi and Saigon.



Japanese troops are advancing from their bridgehead on Hong Kong and have taken Guangzhou.


Shangai is also in Japanese hands, and Japanese troops are advancing on Nanjing.


Beijing is also held by the Japanese, who are securing their hold over Northern China.


In short, the Japanese control nearly all major industrial centers along the coast, and the Yuan army is still tied up fighting the nationalists. The situation is looking grim for Germany's new prospective allies.


As a precautionary measure, part of the home fleet is redeployed to the East Indies, and the Indian Ocean fleet is rebased on Makassar to help protect Ostasien.


Research continues into new tanks, infantry equipment and air doctrines.


In October, the Sultan of Tarrbitz makes a bold proclamation referring to himself as the rightful inheritor of the entire Caribbean, a move clearly meant to provoke the two weaker states in the region, the Republic of Mansur and the Faburi Confederation.


The latter two respond by banding together in an anti-Tarrbitz alliance. Tension is growing in the region, and it is likely that the only thing preventing all-out war from breaking out is the possibility of Mazulan intervention.



An explosion from a powerful bomb rips apart a German Stuka Factory in November. Though no solid evidence exists, it is suspected that the deed was carried out by German communists on orders from France.


Some of the new panzers and the 1st Gebirgsjäger army stand ready in the same month.



On christmas day, as the citizens of Toulouse are celebrating, a series of bombings in the city destroys two police stations and a government office building. The immediate suspects of the deed are the Occitain Liberation Front, a french-sponsored communist organization. It appears France is stepping up the covert war with its neighbors.


On December 28th, the Suez Pact expires. An agreement between Rome, Germany and Iberia, the Suez Pact guaranteeed Egypt's independence and gave it control of Suez in exchange for free passage of ships through the canal. Negotiations are scheudled to renew it in January, but the tense situation and the nationalist streamings in Egypt's new regime make the outcome of the negotiations uncertain. With Gibraltar firmly under League control, neither Germany nor Rome is willing to let Suez fall under the sway of one of the other alliance blocs, and unless a new neutrality agreement can be signed, armed conflict over Suez is a distinct possibility.


The situation in China at the beginning of 1938: The Japanese continue to advance their objectives, now in full control of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, though the Yuan have succeeded in driving them back from Nanjing.


Almost one-third of the Yuan industries are under Japanese control, and so far the Yuan militia is proving a lot less effective against German-issued equipment and Japanese training than they did against the Nationalist Chinese infantry.


The Nationalists are all but defeated, controlling only tiny enclaves along what is now the Japanese-Yuan southern front.


The situation is looking bleak for Yuan, and the Japanese military is proving to be vastly stronger than anything the advisory council estimated. A military that, while relations remain civil at the moment, is now going to be a whole lot more inclined to target German Ostasien.