Nanyang Storm 1864

October 3, 1931

Accompanied by the long whistle of the steam train, the first steam train, fully loaded with goods, arrived at the suburban railway station more than ten kilometers away from Rio Rancho. This was a joyous moment as the entire strategic railway line was completed.

The train, with two locomotives pulling one in front and one behind, carried a total of 38 carriages, fully loaded with large quantities of grain, military supplies, troop rotation personnel, and medium tanks and armored vehicles urgently needed at the front.

The completion of this railway line means that the Chu expeditionary force has gained an undeniable advantage in the war against the Americans.

With this railway, the total number of Chu troops on the front lines in the desert can be increased at any time. It could be the current 14 or more, or even 40 or more, and can be flexibly deployed according to the situation.

When the fighting was at its most intense, the army was able to send more than 7 to 8 soldiers to the front lines every day, including the ammunition, weapons and rations needed for the battle, and to evacuate a large number of wounded soldiers to medical facilities.

This alone makes it far superior to the two existing land-based supply lines for the U.S. military, one heading south and the other west.

From July to October, although no large-scale battles broke out, the air battles for air superiority continued fiercely.

Comparison
The newly established Royal Air Force of Chu maintained a firm advantage, achieving an outstanding score of 3.6:1 in air combat, shooting down 871 American warplanes while losing 249 of its own, firmly holding the upper hand.

For this reason, the nearest U.S. Army field air base in Rio Rancho is more than 270 kilometers away, and it takes at least 40 minutes to fly to the front line.

The Chu Royal Air Force frequently launched attacks, bombing and strafing American forward field airfields, demonstrating a strong air superiority in aerial combat.

Based on its air superiority, the defending Arizona Army is planning a large-scale offensive to inflict heavy losses on the U.S. forces.

November 13st

The U.S. Army, with a total of over 35 troops, split into two routes. One route, consisting of approximately 22 troops, marched south from Denver, advancing in a massive force towards the front lines.

Starting from Norman, a major city in Oklahoma and a key railway hub in the southern United States, approximately 13 American troops disembarked here, rested briefly, and then marched westward in large numbers.

The long column stretched for tens of kilometers, accompanied by thousands of trucks and tens of thousands of four-wheeled heavy-duty wagons, dragging cannons and weapons and ammunition, and marched menacingly toward the Rio Rancho front.

Two weeks later
The American vanguard heading south from Denver has reached a position more than 100 kilometers from the front line. Of the 16 supply depots, 13 has been reached, which is only three or four days away from the front line.

The other American force advancing westward had arrived five days earlier, also reaching a position more than 100 kilometers from the front line. Of the total 20 supply depots, they had already passed 16, and were only about a week away from the front line.

As can be seen
The U.S. military anticipated that the two armies would arrive simultaneously and launch a full-scale attack after converging, thus initiating the offensive campaign.

At this time, the US military deployment consisted of approximately 26,000 troops at supply depots along the line, with about 2,000 to 3,000 at forward supply depots and about 300 to 400 at rear supply depots, presenting a "heavy forward, light rear" deployment.
Opposite the royal expeditionary force of the Great Chu Empire, there were approximately 5.5 American troops who had arrived early, forming two lines of trench defenses and confronting the Chu army.

In contrast, the Chu army had numerous fortified bunkers and hidden strongholds, and its permanent trenches and fortifications were very solid. Large and small artillery emplacements and troop shelters were dug in the Hongyan Mountain area around the battle line, forming a strong fortress defense system.

The US military's trenches were much simpler, not because they didn't want to build more complex ones, but because the conditions didn't allow it.

The side occupied by the US military is all desert, Gobi and bare red rocky mountains. The timber, barbed wire and reinforced concrete needed to build permanent fortifications all had to be sent from the rear. The desert roads, which are often seven or eight hundred kilometers long, are not easy to traverse.

The conditions on the side of the Chu Kingdom's royal expeditionary force were much better. Behind Gallup lay the Grand Canyon, with towering peaks and valleys filled with dense, towering trees.

In addition, the Chu royal expeditionary force made preparations early, starting almost in early March, to build a solid defense system, which has been going on for more than seven months now.

The US military's mission lasts at most a little over a month; the two are clearly not comparable.

In the early hours of November 29th

Suddenly, a barrage of cannon fire erupted from the Chu royal expeditionary force's position. Countless shells rained down on the American positions, and the intense explosions and fireballs merged into one, turning half the sky red.

The American trench lines, artillery positions, barracks, logistics depots, and other important targets identified in advance were all within the range of artillery fire and suffered merciless destruction.

The intense shelling lasted for three hours, with tens of thousands of tons of shells raining down, inflicting heavy damage on the US forces on the front lines.

Around 7 a.m.
The fierce barrage of Chu artillery fire began to extend forward, and tens of thousands of Chu troops, led by more than 300 tanks, launched a full-scale attack on the American positions.

ten minutes later

The Chu tank units that had advanced to the front lines of the American forces all stopped. At this point, the tanks at the front were only a thousand meters away from the American trenches. They turned their turrets to search for American heavy firepower points and attacked them one by one.

At this moment, the artillery fire that was about to carry out a full-scale bombardment suddenly withdrew, which was the "counterattack tactic" that the State of Chu was proud of.

The American soldiers who survived the first round of artillery fire were subjected to another round of intense artillery fire, further exacerbating their losses.

The "counter-attack tactic" artillery bombardment came to an abrupt halt after 15 minutes, and the tanks led the infantry in an immediate charge, reaching a position only two or three hundred meters away from the American front-line trenches in just two or three minutes.

The tanks leading the attack stopped here, rotating their turrets to engage sporadic American counter-fire, with a focus on taking down the American heavy machine gun positions.

At this point, the exposed heavy machine gun firepower of the US forces was almost completely wiped out by the close-range tank attacks, with each shot hitting its mark.

The Chu infantry, attacking from the rear, suppressed the American troops with a dense barrage of bullets while bravely charging forward. At a distance of twenty or thirty meters, they threw grenades in unison and lay down!
Then, a series of explosions rang out in the American trenches, turning the trenches, littered with corpses, into a bloodbath, a veritable hellish grinder of flesh.

Soon, the attacking expeditionary force captured the American front-line trenches and began clearing out the remaining enemy forces.

At this moment

A dark mass of fighter jets also flew overhead, launching a frenzied strafing and bombing campaign against the US second-line positions. Round after round, hundreds of fighter jets and bombers participated in the fierce battle.

More than 300 fighter jets formed more than a dozen groups, extending more than 200 kilometers forward to intercept the approaching US warplanes, resulting in numerous fierce air battles.

Faced with the long-planned attack of the Chu expeditionary force, the hastily responding American forces were clearly at a disadvantage.

The two sides fought fiercely until noon.
The Chu army had broken through two lines of defense of the US forces. Like a swift and powerful torrent, they split into several routes and rushed straight into the rear supply depots and barracks of the US forces. With the support of artillery and fighter jets, they quickly defeated the main force of the US army.

As a result, the main force of the Chu army, which had launched a major offensive, was already sweeping away the enemy like a whirlwind.

Of the 5.5 American troops stationed at the front, more than half were killed or wounded, and over 2.32 were captured. The remaining thousands of American troops fled across the mountains and plains, with many soldiers escaping into the depths of the Gobi Desert.

The Chu army had no time to pay attention to them. Instead, they advanced rapidly along the road laid out by the American troops. The main force of the Chu army heading north was led by more than 220 tanks, followed by more than 1,000 armored trucks. Behind them were more than 4000 ordinary trucks, carrying a total of more than 60,000 troops and a large amount of ammunition, forming a mobile assault force.

Around 3 p.m., they quickly headed north, destroying several US military outposts along the way, with their target being the advance US forces heading south from Denver.

At this time, the advance troops of the US military, which had hastily set off at dawn, were approaching Station 14. However, after receiving news in the afternoon that the main force of the Chu army was heading north, the US military panicked from top to bottom.

At this time, the advance force of more than 30,000 US troops was only a dozen kilometers away from Station 14. After walking more than 30 kilometers in half a day, they were exhausted and their horses were out of breath, and they were in the open Gobi Desert.

Keep moving forward, there is a very high chance that we will run into the Chu tank and armored forces heading north. As a light infantry force equipped with only a hundred or so armored trucks, it is impossible for us to fight against the heavily armed Chu expeditionary force.

Let's retreat. We're now more than 30 kilometers away from Outpost No. 13. Excluding the time for marching and rest stops, it will take at least 10 hours to get back.

Moreover, walking 60 or 70 kilometers a day in this hot desert climate would completely exhaust the American soldiers.

It's worth mentioning the harsh desert climate of New Mexico. Just standing still and enduring temperatures of 30 or 40 degrees Celsius is an extremely severe test.

Not to mention that they still had to walk dozens of kilometers, which was simply beyond their physical limits.

As a result, this American force neither advanced nor retreated, but simply stayed put and did nothing.

Around 5 o'clock, the vanguard of the Chu tank force, which had been advancing all the way, arrived. The American troops surrendered immediately without putting up any resistance.

It wasn't that they didn't want to resist, but that they didn't want to die in vain.

When bad news came from the front, the main force of the US military, which was advancing south in an orderly manner, received orders to immediately deploy on the spot.

In particular, the American vanguard troops that arrived at Station 13, totaling less than 3 men, began constructing trenches and preparing to deploy for defense.

Meanwhile, the U.S. troops stationed at outposts 12 and 11 received orders to advance and reinforce them.

The more than 2 American troops at Station 12 were ordered to march rapidly to Station 13 by noon the next day and participate in the on-site defense.

The U.S. troops at Station 11 were also ordered to march quickly and arrive at Station 13 before noon on the third day.

Thus

The U.S. troops gathered around Station 13 totaled more than 8, possessing considerable strength, and were very likely to succeed in the sniping.

With each passing day, the American forces would become increasingly formidable, forming a reliable desert defense line that would halt the northward advance of the Chu army.

The plan was wonderful, but reality was very cruel.

Just as the US troops at Station 13 were beginning to build their defenses, Chu fighter jets and bombers flew in from the sky in a dark mass, launching wave after wave of air attacks against the US forces.

Every half hour to 40 minutes, more than a hundred fighter jets would arrive from the sky and straf and bomb the American troops stationed at the forward outpost, forcing these American officers and soldiers to flee in all directions, with many even fleeing deep into the Gobi Desert.

Building a defensive line is out of the question; it's simply impossible to do.

For most of the day

The American troops at Station 13 were all hiding in various places. Around 1 p.m., the massive Chu armored assault force arrived from the north, and these American troops surrendered without exception.

The resistance was extremely weak; in fact, resistance was futile.

The Chu state's northward armored assault force did not stop, but continued its massive advance, arriving at the outskirts of Supply Station No. 12 at around 4 p.m., and then launched an attack on the more than 20,000 American troops stationed at Supply Station No. 12.

Along the desolate highway, the Chu tank force advanced into the desert, unleashing a barrage of machine gun and artillery fire against the American troops in the wasteland.

The armored trucks that followed advanced along the road, their front-mounted heavy machine guns weaving a web of fire that reaped countless lives, slaughtering the American troops in the open field until they surrendered.

The brief but bloody battle lasted for a little over an hour, and ended before 6 o'clock. All that was left was time to clean up the battlefield.

By this point, more than 80,000 U.S. troops heading south from Denver had been killed, wounded, or captured, reducing the total force of 220,000 to more than one-third.

The disaster for the US military was not over yet. The US troops marching south on foot faced a powerful attack from the mobile armored forces of the Chu royal army that were marching north, and they had almost no chance to fight back.

They wanted to turn around and run back, but how fast could two legs run?

Facts have proven
The Chu Kingdom's Royal Army's mobile armored strike force, moving like a whirlwind sweeping away fallen leaves, attacked the American infantry with overwhelming force, aided by the swarms of fighter jets and bombers in the air.

They fought while advancing north, capturing two supply depots in a single day.

Even if American soldiers had wheels of fire on their legs, they still couldn't escape.

In the westward direction of the US military advance, the American troops who set out from Norman had been marching across the desert for more than twenty days, and they were all haggard and their faces were tanned.

The Chu royal army stationed on the desert defense line dispatched a force of about 45000 men, led by more than 80 tanks and more than 300 armored trucks, who advanced eastward in trucks and horse-drawn carriages, and had already defeated more than 10,000 American troops at the forefront.

Its movement was slightly slower than that of the other main expeditionary force, but it still posed a serious threat to the westward-advancing American forces.

The Chu Royal Air Force, which controlled the skies, coordinated with ground troops to bombard the organized American defenses. On this exposed Gobi Desert, that was tantamount to suicide.

Once the American troops were scattered, they were as easy as a knife cutting through butter when facing the well-organized Chu army.

At this point, the US high command was completely dumbfounded. They watched helplessly as the US military fell into an extremely dangerous situation, but they were powerless to save it.

The U.S. Army's existing air power has suffered severe losses and is simply unable to provide any support for its troops.

The most deadly thing is
The U.S. military has not yet equipped itself with a decent tank. How can it withstand the powerful impact of the enemy's tank and armored forces in this decisive battle in the open field?

The US military leadership was dumbfounded. They had seen the Chu army firmly holding the wilderness defense line for more than half a year, without any sign of launching an attack or expanding the occupied territory, and they had formed a fixed mindset.

It was initially thought that the Chu people were waiting behind the defensive line for the American troops to attack, which was a defensive strategy to inflict heavy casualties on the American forces.

But unexpectedly

The Chu army launched a surprise attack, advancing along the supply depots and roads built by the American forces, catching them completely off guard and throwing them into disarray.

This is simply... simply outrageous! (End of Chapter)