Nanyang Storm 1864

More than two months later

End of August 1917
At this time, the Ukrainian plains had entered the frost-prone period. The continuous rain and rising temperatures turned the vast black soil plains into mud, and the battlefield situation calmed down.

The forest awakens from its winter slumber, unfurling tender green branches; the fields are a vibrant green, with crops and wild grasses growing wildly, dotted with scattered wildflowers.

This season represents the growth of life.

Field airfield on the outskirts of Kyiv

The "Attacker" biplane fighter, belonging to the European Expeditionary Force Air Group of the Great Chu Empire, was taking off and landing frequently, creating a tense atmosphere at the field airfield.

Fierce fighting is taking place on the front lines 230 kilometers ahead. These "attacker" biplanes are also participating in the battle, carrying out forward fire strikes, driving away enemy aircraft, and conducting reconnaissance missions.

The "Attacker" biplane fighter-reconnaissance aircraft is a relatively mature model. With its high-powered kerosene engine, it can carry a heavy machine gun and carry 12 small 20-pound bombs to carry out bombing missions. Its overall performance is much better than that of German aircraft.

Every time the field airfield was launched, dozens of biplanes would take off and rush towards the front line.

A convoy of more than ten black BMWs produced by the Great Chu Empire, escorted by several guard trucks filled with heavily armed soldiers, drove into the field airfield one after another.

The convoy stopped at the entrance of the command building. Many high-ranking officers, including generals with gold stars on their shoulders, got out of the vehicles and escorted General Chu-Zheng Hui, the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, toward the officers who came to greet them.

"The entire commander of the Second Air Wing of the Expeditionary Force reports to His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief and requests your instructions."

"At ease. I've only come to see what the soldiers at the front need."

"Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, the entire Second Air Wing is in high spirits and full of confidence. We are confident and capable of demonstrating the might of the Royal Army Air Forces on the battlefield and writing our oath of loyalty in the blue sky."

"Very good, the morale of the air force warriors deserves praise. Let's go take a look."

Commander-in-Chief General Chu-Zheng Hui raised his hand in return to salute and took the lead in walking forward, inquiring about the air combat situation at the front as he went. The others followed closely behind.

On the Eastern Front
The Royal Army Air Force of the Great Chu Empire played an outstanding role, suppressing German aircraft and dominating the skies of the entire Eastern Front, inflicting considerable casualties on the German army.

The Attacker-type biplane fighter-reconnaissance aircraft boasts excellent performance, featuring superb low-altitude capabilities powered by powerful aero engines, a robust airframe, and a large payload capacity.

Compared to German monoplane fighters, it is slightly inferior in speed, but far surpasses them in all other aspects, such as range and payload.

Every time the air force took off, on the return journey they would unleash a barrage of machine gun fire on the German positions, launching aerial attacks on the German soldiers in the trenches with remarkable effectiveness.

Each time its wings swept across, they stirred up a storm of blood and carnage in the German trenches, earning them the fearsome nickname from German soldiers: "the shadow of death flying in the sky."

With the added combat power of the air force, the defensive lines of the Great Chu Empire's army became even more difficult to breach.

Whenever the front lines were critical, a large number of roaring biplane fighters would inflict heavy casualties on the attacking German and Austro-Hungarian troops, forcing them to abandon the victory that seemed within their grasp and retreat in disarray.

Over the past two months
No large-scale battles broke out, but small-scale battles took place every day, with the two sides exchanging hundreds of skirmishes.

The Central African Republic's black auxiliary troops sent to the front lines suffered heavy casualties, with seven divisions decimated. They were replenished with black recruits to maintain their strength, bringing the total casualties to 47,900.

Especially as the end of May approaches
The Austro-Hungarian and German armies intensified their nighttime offensives, making the fighting even fiercer, and the casualties among the black auxiliary troops rose sharply.

As a result, several mutinies occurred, but they were all severely suppressed by the supervisory team, with more than 860 deserters executed before the situation was brought under control.

The German attacking forces broke through the front lines several times at night, but during the day, under the intense firepower of the air force, the Reich's defensive forces regrouped and recaptured them.

On the eastern front, the battlefield was engulfed in flames, and fighting continued every day and every moment.

Without air cover from the air force, it would have been very difficult to hold the front line. The Germans were a formidable fighting force, truly tough and resilient.

Therefore

Only then did he receive special favor from Commander-in-Chief General Chu-Zheng Hui, who took time out of his busy schedule to personally visit the frontline air force pilots and encourage them.

The Second Air Wing still had over two hundred biplane fighters, but only a few dozen remained at the field airfields; the rest had taken to the air for combat.

The officers and soldiers responsible for loading ammunition, fuel, and maintenance were extremely busy. Many pilots got off the plane, quickly drank some water, ate something, and rested for a while.

Once the aircraft was fully fueled and loaded with ammunition, it hurriedly boarded its fighter jet and headed towards the runway, awaiting formation takeoff.

The role of this air wing is no less important than that of the officers and soldiers of three divisions.

General Chu-Zheng Hui has sent an urgent request to the empire's homeland, hoping to transfer no fewer than 1000 biplane fighters to the Chu army on the European front before the end of the year to support the major counter-offensive to be launched at the end of the year.

After more than 50 troops of the Great Chu entered the eastern battlefield, the situation on the eastern front was basically stabilized. The collapse of the Russian army's retreat and desertion was stopped, which was the most significant effect.

In an effort to boost morale, Tsarist Russia planned to launch the "Kerensky Offensive" in early June.
The new Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government, Kerensky, decided to continue fighting World War I within the Allied camp, making a choice for Russia with a large-scale offensive.

The entry of the Great Chu Empire's army into the eastern battlefield made Kerensky feel a deep sense of crisis.

In order to demonstrate the value of Tsarist Russia to its European allies, it was necessary to launch a resolute counterattack to show the British and French allies the irreplaceable and enormous role of Tsarist Russia.

At that time, the number of Russian soldiers deserting on the Eastern Front had exceeded one million.

Kerensky didn't care about that. He declared to his soldiers, "I can't provide you with a big meal, but I can give you a glorious death," to boost the morale of the Tsarist soldiers.

Kerensky also planned to involve the Great Chu army in the counterattack campaign to create an even greater momentum.

General Chu-Zheng Hui refused, citing insufficient troops, and received a minor setback.

As for the Allied Command...

The Russians readily agreed to launch the "Krensky Offensive" and actively transported large quantities of supplies to replenish the Russian army.

For the Allied High Command, the Russian army's launch of a new counter-offensive was beneficial in weakening the German and Austro-Hungarian armies, and it would be a win regardless of victory or defeat.

The Allied High Command wholeheartedly supported any operational plan that could weaken Germany's war potential.

General Chu-Zheng Hui could not join them on their adventures, as the second batch of reinforcements, originally scheduled to depart for Europe, had not yet embarked on their long voyage due to the frequent summer typhoons in the Pacific Ocean, and was delayed beyond the expected timeframe.

The first troops will arrive at least by mid-August, and the second batch of 650,000 reinforcements will not arrive until around the end of October or the beginning of November.

With at least three weeks of acclimatization training, the launch of the counter-offensive will be postponed until the end of November.

At present, there is a severe shortage of troops.

On the eastern front of the Great Chu Empire's defense, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had 29 divisions, Bulgaria had 8 divisions, and Germany had 13 divisions, totaling 50 divisions with a total strength of approximately 66 men.

This is more than the total military strength of the Great Chu Empire, which is why maintaining the front line is difficult.

To dream of a counterattack when outnumbered is like talking in one's sleep after drinking too much.

The Russian army certainly has enough troops. Even if the total number of deserters and those who retreat without permission on the front line reaches a million, the Russian Southwestern Army Group can still field a force of 46 infantry divisions and 8 cavalry divisions to participate in the counter-offensive.

On the front of the Russian Southwestern Army Group, which was planning a counterattack, there were approximately 27 German divisions and one cavalry brigade.

In terms of troop size, the Russian army is twice the size of the German army, giving it a clear numerical advantage, and a counter-offensive seems feasible.

Arriving on the European battlefield

After General Chu-Zheng Hui thoroughly understood the combat capabilities of the German and Russian armies, he realized that this was a futile and pointless operation.

Sending hungry Russian troops to storm heavily fortified German positions, even if they outnumbered the enemy by a factor of two, would be futile and pointless.

The German army had long been a legend on the Eastern Front, often able to defeat the Russian army one against three, four, or even five at a time.

Otherwise, where did the millions of Russian soldiers suffer on the battlefield?
With a numerical advantage of twice that of its troops, Tsarist Russia thought it could break through the German's fortified positions? That's absurd. Anyway...

The Great Chu Empire's army wouldn't be so reckless. When the Russian army launched a counterattack, at most it would provide limited support and launch a feint attack to create better conditions for the Russian army's assault.

That's incredible, they only threw out three or four black auxiliary divisions of the Central African Regiment.

There was no other way; the allies had committed over fifty divisions to a major campaign, so the Great Chu Empire's army had to take action as well, otherwise it wouldn't make sense.

What pleased General Chu-Zheng Hui was
The main force of the Imperial Expeditionary Force of Chinese descent suffered almost no losses, and the casualties over the past two months have been less than 10,000, with fewer than 3,000 officers and soldiers actually killed in action. In contrast, the casualties of the Black auxiliary troops were more than ten times that number.

In such a large-scale war, such casualty figures are almost negligible.

Under the bloody cleansing of war, the officers and soldiers of the European Expeditionary Force are undergoing a transformation, becoming stronger, more experienced, more resilient, and more skilled in combat—a welcome change.

By the way, just last month on April 6th, the United States officially announced its entry into the Allied military alliance and the dispatch of US troops to Europe for combat, which was half a year later than the State of Chu.

With the successive entry of Chu and Mei into the war, the northern China also joined the Allied military alliance, supporting the Allied war effort by sending Chinese laborers to Europe.

This gave Europe a glimmer of hope for the end of the war, especially boosting the confidence of the Allied military bloc.

In addition to its military actions, the Great Chu Empire also took over Crimea and Tunisia, and carried out large-scale conscription in these two regions, recruiting local young men to participate in the war.

Seventeen divisions have now been formed, totaling approximately 220,000 people, and have been given the designation of the Royal Army Volunteer Corps of the Great Chu Empire, ready to be used as cannon fodder on the front lines.

Seeing that the Central African Corps of the European Expeditionary Force had suffered heavy casualties, and that at the current rate of attrition, the 20 black auxiliary troops would be almost entirely wiped out in three or four months at most.

These forcibly recruited local white youths, forming a volunteer force, will be gradually deployed to the front-line trenches and will be at the forefront of the large-scale counter-offensive planned for the end of the year, undertaking the most dangerous offensive missions.

In Crimea and Tunisia, Chu officials who have complete control over the areas are further mobilizing people, from 13-year-old boys to 50-year-old white adult men, all of whom are within the scope of war mobilization.

Later plans included mobilizing over 36 more troops to join the Great Chu Empire's European Expeditionary Force and participate in the current fierce battles to weaken the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires.

At least in the Royal Army of the Great Chu Empire, people wouldn't go hungry, and there was plenty of weapons and ammunition.

Starting from mid-May

These volunteer soldiers, after a period of training, were successively deployed to the front lines. By the time Tsarist Russia launched the Kerensky Offensive in early July, six divisions had already entered the trenches on the front lines.

As for the Battle of Kerensky, it can only be described as starting strong but ending weakly.

At the outset of the campaign, the Russian army planned a three-pronged attack from the Southwestern Front, but only the 11th Army launched the offensive, while the other two remained inactive.

Under the personal supervision of Tsarist Prime Minister Kerensky, it took another three to five days before the other two Tsarist army groups responded and launched a full-scale attack on the German forces opposite them.

After a week of fierce fighting, the three Russian armies under the Southwestern Front made different progress.

Actually

The German army was fully aware of the Russian army's actions, and the entire front-line trenches were empty, rendering the hundreds of thousands of shells fired by the Tsarist Russian army ineffective and yielding very little result.

After the battle began, the German army resisted and retreated, while simultaneously drawing five German divisions from the western front and secretly arriving at the eastern front to prepare for a deadly counterattack.

The battle lasted for three weeks. When the Russian offensive ran dry, the Germans bared their fangs and launched a counterattack with swift speed and powerful firepower, instantly destroying the main Russian force.

The Russian army on the main battlefield collapsed at the first contact. Even though the Tsarist commanders tried their best to mobilize troops, they could not fill the gap and slow down the German army's rapid advance.

At this point, the attacking German army advanced as if into an empty field. In just a few days, they broke through more than 170 kilometers, killing, wounding, and capturing more than 200,000 Russian soldiers, achieving an undeniable great victory.

This battle completely broke the backbone of the Russian army, and from then on, it never launched offensive campaigns again.

To be honest, it's so embarrassing.

The Great Chu Empire's expeditionary force was also impacted. While the Russian army suffered a large-scale collapse, the German army organized some Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian divisions to repeatedly attack the central defense line, putting great pressure on the expeditionary force.

The fierce fighting lasted for a week. The Great Chu Empire's expeditionary force successively added five black auxiliary divisions and two volunteer divisions, repeatedly fighting with the attacking German army (which included a large number of Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian soldiers) for positions, with sparks flying everywhere.

Chu warplanes, taking off from Kiev, frantically reinforced the attacking German forces, launching wave after wave of strafing and bombardment, disrupting the enemy's offensive rhythm.

Ultimately, the Great Chu Expeditionary Force suffered over 5.2 casualties and deployed tank regiments in several counterattacks, finally managing to hold the front line.

Of the more than 52,000 casualties, the Central African Republic accounted for 70%, local volunteers accounted for 20%, and Chinese soldiers accounted for 10%.

The casualties were mainly due to the Chinese troops who were holding the second line of defense after the German army broke through the first line of defense and participated in the counterattack. These casualties were still within a controllable range.

After this battle
The 200,000-strong Central African Corps has already lost more than 60% of its strength and has had to be withdrawn for reorganization and replenishment.

Fortunately, 17 volunteer divisions had been deployed and refilled the front-line trenches, which increased the defensive strength rather than decreased it. The white soldiers were indeed much stronger than the black soldiers.

After feeding and replenishing the soldiers' ammunition, they were able to hold their own against the German forces on the other side.

Fortunately, the German commander realized that the Chu army's defenses were very difficult to break through, so he withdrew in time and ended the Kerensky Campaign at the end of July, entering a stalemate and reorganization phase.

The retreat of the Russian army resulted in a "Z"-shaped structure on the eastern front, threatening the flank of the eastern front of the Great Chu Empire's defense and inadvertently increasing the difficulty of defense.

The original 500-kilometer-long front line held by the Russian army was compressed into a distance of 140 to 170 kilometers, thus exposing the central flank of the Chu army.

With no other choice

The Chu army could only establish a new flank defense line of more than 140 kilometers in the central region and stockpile heavy troops to prevent the balance from being broken.

The Chu expeditionary force could no longer retreat; any further retreat would completely expose Romania's northeastern border, putting Romania in grave danger.

In response, Romania mobilized the entire country and cobbled together 12 divisions to fight alongside the Great Chu Empire's expeditionary force on the eastern front.

These Romanian divisions were quite capable in combat. When faced with the need to defend their homeland, they displayed high morale and fought to the death against the German offensive.

By mid-November

Reinforcements from the Reich mainland arrived at Romanian ports one after another. The opportunity to fight was fleeting, and the Germans, seeing that they were no longer able to achieve any new victories on the Eastern Front, wisely chose to give up.

The second batch of reinforcements from the Great Chu Empire was enormous, totaling over 65 men, including nearly 20 East African auxiliary troops.

The arrival of these new cannon fodder quickly replenished the decimated forces, making them whole again.

With sufficient troops at his disposal, Commander-in-Chief Chu-Zheng Hui of the Expeditionary Force began to plan a counterattack.

But the problem is
The Russians' disastrous defeat at the Battle of Kerensky left a deep pit, forcing them to retreat 140 kilometers along a front of more than 500 kilometers, completely exposing the flank of the Chu expeditionary force.

If a counterattack campaign is to be planned now, then the Russian army must act in tandem to try to recover lost territory.

The biggest problem now is that the Russian army has lost its courage and has neither the strength nor the will to launch a counterattack. The new Russian government has simply given up, since it can no longer do anything.

This put General Chu-Zheng Hui in an awkward position. If a counterattack campaign were to be planned, the deeper they penetrated westward into the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the further they would be from their Russian allies.

Without friendly support on the flanks, the more weaknesses are exposed.

If they were to advance northward, they would need to travel over 500 kilometers to reach the Baltic coast, which would essentially be helping the Russian army restore Kerensky's pre-battle defensive lines—a thankless and arduous task.

The key point is that the Tsarist Russian army didn't cooperate, which is just ridiculous.

(End of this chapter)