Hearts of Iron: The Empire of Japan
Febuary 21st, 1937 Japanese Manchurian Command
Seoul, Korea
General Togo had been informed of the declaration of war within minutes of it being made in Tokyo. From what he had learned the officials in the Manchukuo capitol had not seen it coming at all. Reports from Harbin near Pu Yi's residence told of a single shot being fired during the night. Several high ranking officials in the Manchukuo government had fled the country, bribing Soviet border guards and trying to flee across the Pacific to some unknown escape. Others would have commited suicide the General knew, the ones too weak to try and survive this crisis. Many of the government official of Manchukuo he knew would simply try and fade away to escape the approaching Imperial soldiers, lest they have to face the hara kiri.
By now the final plans for Operation Vengeful Emperor had been drawn up.
The plan was simple. In the first phase, the anvil would be placed over Manchukuo by General Okamura's II Korps in Western Manchuria, as they invade the border provinces of Jixi and Jiamusi the hammer consisting of Lt. General Ayabe's III Korps and Field Marshall Hata's I Korps would swing into Manchukuo with overwhelming superiority aided by the Japanese Air Force. The first blow would come from the Field Marshal’s elite motorized core.
These four motorized divisions as well as the engineer, artillery and anti-aircraft brigades accompanying them would strike deep into Manchukuo, first taking the capitol of Changchun then dashing onto Harbin. Meanwhile to cut off the retreating Manchukuo soldiers from retreating into the mountains for Tonghau province, elements of the II Korps would occupy the area and finish the southern flank off for good.
The Northern flank was however a different matter. The biggest difference was that the Japanese held a lower advantage number wise. In the south the Japanese held a 25 to 5 advantage against the Manchukuo forces, in the northern front it was 5 Japanese divisions versus 5 of the Manchukuo's. However the plan was the same here. Lt. General Ayabe's III Korps would advance upon the Nenjiang, then onto the forests around Hegang. A few days later they would try and cross the Amiu River to complete the final hammer strike. This was the basic plan of Operation Vengeful Emperor. Now all that was left was to put in motion.
General Togo now motioned to his aide, giving the signal to send out the advancement orders. In the early dawn of February 21st, 1937 Japanese war cries could be heard across the plains of Manchuria.
The Battle of Changchun
The first elements of the I Korps, led by Field Marshall Hata himself and consisting of the elite motorized guard was the first to come in contact with any sort of large scale, organized defense by government militia. Arrayed around the city were three of the Manchukuo divisions. The 2nd Mixed Division, a division only in name consisted of little more than 20,000 lightly armed and poorly led men in numerous small militia bands. The 6th Mixed Division was however to be a challenge consisting of just shy of 5,000 lightly armed but now highly motivated troops it controlled the city of Changchun and its approaches. Attached to this force was further 3,000 strong cavalry division, though it was small it consisted of most of Pu Yi's battle hardened troops and presented a small tactical challenge to the attacking force. Field Marshall Hata however had an advantage in troops strength with a little over 45,000 highly mobile troops up against the 28,00 defenders who were set-up in hastily erected static defenses.
Contact was made early on the morning of Febuary 25th as lead recon elements of the 1st Hailer Motorized Division met small pockets of militia resistance twelve miles from the city of Changchun. Type 93 armored cars in the unit bypassed these pockets and they were soon enveloped within the rear of the Japanese formations. At the same time tactical bombers from the Japanese Air Force began the bombing of the city center of Changchun where the suspected headquarters and main defensive positions of the 6th Mixed Division and 2nd Qi-Bing were thought to be set up.
By the night of the 25th several forward elements of the motorized divisions were in sight of the city outskirts and many of the stronger militia defenses had been simply bypassed while the Japanese advanced. The Air Force meanwhile had bombarded the city the whole day and the effects where beginning to show as lines of communications had broken down less than fourteen hours into the battle. Seeing the battle was not going well large amounts of the militia bands tried to fade away into the oncoming night and escape from the battle, many hundreds did not make it but a large amount did fleeing towards the mountains of the Tonghua province.
General Hsing Shi-lien now desperately seeking a way out of this situation orders the retreat of all remaining military forces from the key city of Changchun early in the morning of the 26th. Escaping just moments before a Japanese G3M bomber demolishes his former command post his luck runs short as his own forces mistake his vehicle as a Japanese one and he is killed by one of only two anti-tank guns his divisions have. The lead forces of Field Marshall Hata's forces enter the city just minutes later before the Manchukuo forces can fully evacuate, cutting off over 1,000 of the remaining men left from the 6th Mixed Division. The pocket collapses just forty five minutes later as a combined army and Air Force assault on the area kills the defenders off quickly. With that the city of Changchun is taken. The day and a half battle was done as quickly as it begun.
With Changchun now taken by the Japanese forces under Field Marshall Hata the resolve of the Manchukuon defenders dissolved, a minor assualt by two divisions of mixed forces a day after the capture of Changchun resulted in heavy casualties within two hours of fighting for the attacking force. A day later on the 27th of February the remaining forces under the command of the Field Marshall entered the new Manchukuo capitol of Harbin. This time the victorious Air Force was not needed. A last ditch defense of the capitol was attempted by the defenders but to no avail. Less than 2,500 stout defenders tried in a desperate attempt to stave off defeat of the last foolish politicians trying to hold power in the Harbin area. It took less than a day to remove the defenders from the capitol and Field Marshall had already taken the field. With his motorized divisions now lacking room to manouver he was forced to halt his progress in Harbin itself. His objectives had been completed in less than a week and his Army Group had secured the two most valuable cities in the nation, all this before the regular infantry divisions had been able to make contact with resolute Manchukuo defenders in other parts of the country.
Meanwhile with the other commanders the pace of foot was leaving much to be desired in regards to taking objectives quickly. It would not be until the 30th that any foot based soldiers would reach and engage their objects, first in making their goals was Lt. General Ayabe, commanding the northern front of the assualt. Leading his 5 divisions, overall he attacked a small detachment of still loyal Manchukuo defenders in the Nenjiang province. With no support and numerical superiority against them they gave up quickly retreating from the advancing forces within six hours of the start of the battle.
Just three hours later the province of Tonghua was also taken by Lt. General Hyakatake. His forces met no resistance as all semblance of communication between forces had long since vanished after the loss of Harbin and Changchun days ago. More forces from General Okamura's II Korps took the border province of Jixi an hour later and continued onto their final objective at Jiamusi. With all hope of victory, or even postponement of the end gone the last remaining shards of resistance in the country broke and remaining officials fled across the Soviet border oftentimes being caught by the now far ranging Japanese patrols. On the 1st of March, 1937 the small country of Manchukuo was officially annexed and the Japanese-Manchukuo war was over.
However one question still remained, what had become of the last Machu Emperor - Pu Yi - while a gunshot had been heard at his residence within hours of the war being announced it was only later that the rumor of his suicide was debunked. The body of his defense secretary however was found, a 0.45 caliber bullet having entered his temple days before. Japanese military commanders kept the news of his escape secret, fearing that his survival would be able to rouse fleeing government troops in some way, or if he escaped, would be able to set up a government in exile, to be a pawn used by Russia to exact its own demands against Manchuria. These fears were confirmed the day after the annexation of Manchukuo as border officials near Vladivostock captured the Emperor as he entered the country. All along the Soviet border new defensive works started to form around the new Japanese defenders.