Nanyang Storm 1864

When the Chu and American armies clashed, the Chu royal expeditionary force displayed exceptional skill, completely overwhelming the American forces in command and combat experience, resulting in a one-sided victory.

The fierce battle lasted for a week

The main armored force of the Chu state, advancing northward, won a series of victories, fighting its way from the No. 13 supply depot to the No. 7 supply depot, completely defeating a total of more than 150,000 American troops along the way, killing a total of 31,900 enemy soldiers, capturing nearly 100,000, and leaving more than 20,000 American troops who escaped and could not be found.

After burning down Supply Station No. 7, the main armored force of the Chu state, which had been advancing northward, began to retreat and ceased its northward attack.

Because both the US military outposts at No. 6 and No. 5 were emptied, and the US troops at No. 4 were also retreating, fleeing all the way back to Denver headquarters, not daring to stay on the empty desert highway.

This heavy blow completely thwarted the full-scale attack that the US military was scheduled to launch in October.

Another Chu expeditionary force, advancing eastward with armored mobile units, also achieved significant results after a week of fighting before decisively withdrawing without any hesitation.

This attack on the American forces advancing westward from Normandy also resulted in a record of killing or wounding over 1.43 American soldiers and capturing over 3.7.

The fierce offensive of the Chu army directly frightened the American troops into retreating to around Station No. 5. Only then did they begin to construct trenches and bunkers for defense, taking advantage of the more favorable terrain.

With nearly half of the American troops advancing westward lost, the so-called offensive was naturally out of the question.

The loss of so many key US troops will not have a significant impact on US military preparedness, because a steady stream of US troops is being transported by train from all directions to quickly fill the gaps.

The problem was that the US military lost a large number of heavy-duty four-wheeled wagons, more than 2.1 trucks were destroyed or captured, and a large amount of weapons, equipment and stockpiled supplies were lost. Almost all the ammunition and supplies that had been painstakingly stockpiled in the early stages were lost.

When the Chu army retreated, they destroyed almost all the facilities they could. They took all the thousands of large iron pots with them, and they blew up and destroyed all the stoves and buildings. They took all the tents and other supplies that they could carry, and burned everything that they could not carry.

The U.S. military lost more than 2300 water tankers and oil tankers alone, and there was no way to replace them in time.

It takes at least two or three months to transport the goods from the production site to the factory.

The devastating defeat on the desert front made the US military the target of ridicule from European media. The Chu media described it as the "sick man of North America," a sentiment that was quickly echoed by European media.

This highly insulting term completely broke down the Americans' defenses.

This led to a complete defeat for President Hoover's Elephant Party in the midterm elections, with angry voters voting with their feet, resulting in a landslide victory for the Donald Party, which gained a majority of seats in both the House and Senate.

This left President Hoover a lame-duck president for the remainder of his term, severely constrained.

Having suffered a major loss, the US military became much more cautious in its continued southward and westward advances.

From September to November

As the U.S. military moved south, it began constructing trench defenses and relatively complete bunkers and fortresses in the desert at approximately every four to five outposts, and filled these defenses with heavy troops.

While undertaking large-scale reconstruction, they also desperately transported supplies, ammunition, and other materials to the front lines, making slow progress like ants carrying grains of sand. Clearly, they had learned from the lessons of the severe beating they had suffered.

Until the end of December
The U.S. military advanced again to the area around Rio Rancho and amassed 100,000 troops on the front lines, which later grew to 160,000 to 170,000 before finally stabilizing its advance.

The Great Chu Empire's expeditionary force showed no remorse for the two defensive lines destroyed by the American forces, and quietly withdrew, leaving that desolate place to the Americans.

By mid-January 1932

The U.S. military has amassed over 400,000 troops at the Rio Rancho front, and its two land transport routes, one to the south and one to the west, are capable of supplying 20,000 to 30,000 troops and a large amount of weapons and ammunition to the front lines every day.

At this point, the conditions for launching a full-scale offensive were met.

January 17th, around 3 AM.

The 6245 artillery pieces deployed by the US military on the front line roared in unison, raining down shells on the Chu defensive positions, turning the front line of dozens of square kilometers into a sea of ​​fire.

The exploding fireballs illuminated the dark sky, marking the official start of the third phase of operations on the desert defense line.

The US military's relentless and frenzied artillery bombardment destroyed a large number of barbed wire fences, bunkers, and surface positions, turning the Chu army's positions into a sea of ​​fire. The intensity of the bombardment was extremely high.

The shelling continued from 3 a.m. until about 7 a.m. After more than four hours of frantic bombardment, the first batch of Chu warplanes, taking off at dawn, arrived over the battlefield to guide the heavy artillery groups behind them.

Starting at 7:15

The Chu state's counterattack artillery roared, unleashing precise and deadly shells at the American artillery positions, quickly destroying a large number of American artillery pieces.

One after another, the US artillery positions fell silent, but this was not the end of it.

Around 7:40
A large number of Chu Royal Air Force aircraft appeared in the sky, with fighter jets escorting hundreds of bombers as they flew in and launched a carpet bombing attack on the exposed American artillery, sending the American artillery groups to their doom.

The combined land and air strikes lasted from around 7 a.m. until noon, destroying a total of 83 US artillery positions and more than 3,000 artillery pieces of various calibers, inflicting heavy damage on the US artillery.

The U.S. Army Air Forces launched fighter jets from more than a dozen field airfields, totaling more than 780 aircraft, and engaged in a fierce battle with more than a thousand aircraft of the Chu Royal Air Force, resulting in an unprecedented large-scale war.

The roaring air force fighter jets fought fiercely in the air, and American warplanes were constantly shot down, exploding in mid-air into a beautiful spark, bringing a poignant touch to this bloody battlefield.

The air battle continued until after 3 p.m., when the U.S. Army Air Forces, having suffered heavy losses of more than half of their forces, were forced to withdraw from the battlefield, relinquishing air superiority.

The Royal Air Force of the Great Chu Empire also paid the price of losing 116 aircraft, firmly establishing air superiority, and then launched a full-scale bombing of the US forward field airfields.

Bombers descended from the sky and dropped a dense barrage of bombs, turning the US military field airfields' oil depots, fighter jets, and logistical supply facilities into an inferno. More than a hundred fighter jets at over a dozen US field airfields were reduced to ashes, resulting in considerable losses.

In ground warfare
Starting around 9 a.m., a full-scale aerial battle broke out. The large-scale mutual artillery bombardment had not yet ended when the US military launched an attack despite the difficulties.

Soldiers from the U.S. Third Army, Fifth Army, and Sixth Army, who were leading the offensive, jumped out of their trenches and charged toward the Chu army's positions with their guns raised.

At this time, on the Chu army's position
The soldiers were all hiding in the anti-artillery bunkers behind the trenches. The Chu army's anti-artillery bunkers were permanent fortifications that were both deep and sturdy. They were supported by iron rails and thick wooden planks, reaching a depth of five meters, and could withstand the frontal bombardment of 155 mm shells without collapsing.

If it's a 203mm heavy artillery piece, then there's nothing that can be done.

Fortunately, the US military did not have many such large-caliber heavy artillery pieces, totaling only a little over a hundred, and most of them were lost in the artillery battle between the two sides, so they did not pose much of a threat to the officers and soldiers of the Chu royal army at the front line.

Rio Rancho is located in an arid desert region with a deep water table. Even with five-meter-deep artillery shelters and forward command posts, the ground remains dry.

Therefore, the seemingly fierce artillery fire of the US military did not cause much damage to the front-line defending troops, with losses ranging from a few hundred people, mostly injured or killed by the shockwaves from large-caliber heavy artillery.

After the American artillery bombardment ended, the officers on the Chu army positions did not rush to order troops to move into position, but instead waited patiently.

The Chu soldiers hiding in the garrison caves were mostly located more than a hundred meters behind the trenches, connected to the front by a dense network of branch trenches.

It's not too late to take action when the US military launches a large-scale attack.

The Chu artillery, known for its counter-attack tactics, naturally had to be wary of the American forces imitating them and doing the same thing to them; that would be a real problem.

Along the front-line trenches, the Chu army also built many artillery-proof bunkers for quick cover in case of artillery fire. However, these bunkers were only 2.6 meters deep, making their defensive capabilities much weaker.

As the densely packed American armored trucks and soldiers pressed forward, the remaining fortress bunkers and gun emplacements, bombarded by artillery fire, opened fire, turning the American armored trucks into fireballs, and a ground battle was about to begin.

When the American troops advanced to a distance of about 500 meters, they all stopped and lay down.

At this moment, the remaining American artillery fire suddenly retreated, slamming a fierce barrage of bullets onto the front-line trench positions.

Sure enough, the US artillery also launched a counterattack.

The dozen or so newly exposed artillery positions of the US military attracted the attention of Chu bombers, who launched another aerial bombardment. In the midst of intense explosions and fireballs, these US artillery positions were completely destroyed.

The counterattack, which lasted for more than ten minutes, came to an abrupt end, and the US infantry launched a new attack.

At this moment

As soon as the Chu commander blew the urgent whistle, Chu soldiers who had been hiding in the artillery bunkers filed out. Their numbers were not large, and they were scattered in the front trenches.

This was the meticulously constructed defensive line of the Chu Kingdom. The hemispherical heavy machine gun emplacement, made of reinforced concrete, had only one firing port in the front hemisphere, normally blocked with straw. In battle, this port was opened to unleash a devastating barrage of heavy machine gun fire. The rear of the hemisphere was completely open, capable of accommodating a three-man heavy machine gun crew for sustained combat.

Each heavy machine gun team was also equipped with two ammunition handlers who transported ammunition between trenches, loaded the heavy machine gun ammunition belts, and assisted the heavy machine gun team in carrying out their attacks.
This hemispherical concrete heavy machine gun position, covered by soil on top, was completely invisible from the enemy's perspective; only a slightly raised, long earthen defensive line could be seen.

Only by standing in the trenches could one clearly see that every twenty or thirty meters there was a hemispherical reinforced concrete heavy machine gun position, lined up densely all the way down.

Not every heavy machine gun position had a heavy machine gun squad; instead, they were spaced out, allowing the heavy machine guns to be mobile and capable of striking targets.

There are more heavy machine gun positions in the core area, and fewer on the desert defense lines on both sides.

The Chu army's positions were primarily defended with heavy machine guns, rather than by desperately piling up soldiers. This resulted in more concentrated and deadly frontal firepower.

On the front of the American attack south of Denver, the Chu army deployed more than 1300 heavy machine gun teams, bringing the entire 46-kilometer-long defensive line into the crossfire range of the heavy machine guns, which was only about 16,000 to 17,000 troops.

The remaining reserve troops remained in the well-prepared defensive fortifications in the rear.

The first wave of ground attacks by the US forces, totaling more than 37 troops, saw the leading two to three hundred US armored trucks blown up one by one by the Chu army's Makmi 3.7mm rapid-fire cannons at a distance of several hundred meters, turning them into burning scrap metal.

When the American troops reached within 300 meters, the heavy machine guns defending the Chu army began to roar, reaping the lives of American soldiers with one deadly streak after another.

Every steel barrage, a fiery sickle, that landed on the American attacking ranks unleashed a storm of blood and carnage.

When hundreds of heavy machine guns roared together, the efficiency of the killing was extremely impressive.

The attacking American troops were routed and retreated in disarray after losing thousands of men, thus ending the first offensive prematurely.

Soon, the US military launched a second, third, and fourth attack, wave after wave of troops rushing to their deaths, but they still could not break into within fifty meters of the trench.

At this distance, American infantry could throw grenades, causing heavy casualties to the defending Chu army.

Unfortunately, the US military never managed to get that close.

The battle lasted until about 2 p.m.

Due to the excessive casualties suffered by the attacking American troops, they had to suspend this meaningless suicide mission and return to silently lick their wounds and rack their brains for a way to defeat the enemy.

The U.S. military, under the white flag, began collecting the bodies on the battlefield. The day's all-out attack had resulted in heavy losses, which were truly heartbreaking for the U.S. military.

After careful review
The first day of the all-out offensive resulted in over 4.66 casualties, the loss of 3857 artillery pieces, over 460 aircraft, and 593 armored vehicles. A large amount of supplies and equipment were also lost in the Chu army's bombing raids.

Even with over 40 US troops piled up in front of the desert defense line, the losses in one day were so great that it seemed that even 40 troops couldn't hold out for more than a few days.

Originally, it was estimated that the two logistics transport lines could replenish a maximum of 3 troops per day, but it seems that this is not enough!
At this moment, along the supply lines of the US military heading south and west, there are also as many as four or five hundred thousand US troops continuously reinforcing the country, ensuring that two to three thousand US troops arrive every day, putting great pressure on the Chu defense line.

But right after the first day of fighting, the top brass of the US military was collectively plunged into anxiety.

There's no other reason than the losses were too great.

Of the 6245 artillery pieces of various calibers that were painstakingly assembled, 3857 were lost on the first day, more than half of the total number of artillery pieces. How can this battle be fought like this?

The U.S. military devised a method: artillery groups would concentrate their fire at night and conceal themselves before dawn to avoid revealing the location of their artillery positions.

In the past few months, the US military has also dug a large number of trenches and artillery positions. After the artillery fire, they hide in their positions, covering them with tarpaulins with desert accents and scattering some soil and stones to conceal them. As a result, the Chu reconnaissance planes flying overhead can hardly see them.

However, if the artillery positions are exposed, they will be bombarded from the air and shelled by the enemy, and they will hardly be able to hold out for long.

Once the position is exposed, it means the entire artillery position will be wiped out.

The attacking US forces should be more dispersed to greatly reduce casualties.

As for the armored trucks that guide the attack, well, let's forget about them. Don't rush in and get yourself killed.

Armored trucks are different from heavily armored tanks. A single 37mm shell can completely destroy an armored truck, which would be like handing it over to the enemy.

From the second day onwards

The US military then followed the new tactics and engaged in a war of attack and defense with the defending Chu army, with gunfire and artillery sounds constantly throughout the day.

After holding out for five days, the US offensive had to come to an end.

The total number of officers and soldiers killed or wounded exceeded 16, and more than 1300 artillery pieces were lost, yet they barely reached the edge of the Chu army's defensive line. They also failed to inflict heavy casualties on the defending Chu army, and their ammunition reserves were almost exhausted.

Chu Army
They suffered over 4160 casualties and fewer than 8000 wounded, holding the front line with a significant advantage and appearing to be in a very comfortable position.

The ceasefire lasted for more than ten days.
On January 28, when the U.S. military had replenished its forces to more than 560,000, it launched another full-scale offensive.

To support the offensive, the U.S. military mobilized almost all of its fighter jets from across the country, totaling over a thousand, and once again engaged in a fierce air battle with the Chu army.

The fierce battle lasted for three days

The U.S. Army Air Forces, at the heavy cost of losing 689 aircraft, had to withdraw from the air battle, leaving the airspace to the Royal Air Force of Chu.

During these three days, the US military seized the opportunity to launch a frenzied attack, resulting in repeated heavy losses.

The U.S. military suffered more than 22.85 casualties in three days. During this period, it twice broke into the front-line trenches, but was quickly driven back, resulting in extremely heavy casualties.

This was because the Chu army had set up explosive cords and buried many explosive charges in the trenches, creating a deadly death trap, just waiting for the Americans to step into it.

When the densely packed American troops jumped into the trenches, the continuous explosions created a bloody and gruesome scene that was almost unbearable to watch. It was like a hellish meat grinder, and the scene was too tragic.

Under the subsequent counterattack of the Chu army, the hard-won front trenches were quickly lost again, and the battle once again descended into a protracted stalemate.

Under repeated barrages of heavy machine gun fire, the attacking American soldiers suffered heavy losses, leading to severe war-weariness and forcing the brutal, relentless offensive to cease.

They persisted for a few more days, but the offensive had to be hastily ended.

Even with subsequent reinforcements, the total number of US troops stationed on the front lines remained at around 450,000 to 460,000, but the offensive had to be halted.

This large-scale offensive consumed hundreds of newly equipped fighter jets of the Army Air Forces, and the U.S. Army Air Forces are now completely crippled.

With a total of only 392 aircraft, this is the only remaining air force of the U.S. Army Air Forces.

Based on the current output of American factories during the war, which can produce more than 280 fighter jets per month, it would take at least four months of production to resume the offensive.

at the same time
The Great Chu Empire sends more than 500 warplanes to North America every month, bringing its total number of warplanes to more than 4200, and the replenishment rate is even faster.

Of these, the new-type Fierce bombers account for more than one-third, with a total of over 1260 aircraft, giving them the capability for large-scale forward bombing.

The vital Fierce Bomber class, with the Empire able to supply over 150 per month, effectively compensated for the losses.

The war between Chu and Mei was more of a contest of national strength.

Compared to the well-prepared Great Chu Empire, the United States, in terms of industry, military, and resources, has increasingly exposed its shortcomings as the war enters its second year.

Repeated defeats in major battles led to a prevailing pessimistic sentiment among the American upper class, resulting in increased taxes and conscription to exploit the nation's resources for the war effort.

This sparked widespread resistance among the American public, particularly in the Southern states where anti-war sentiment was running high, further exacerbating the rampant activities of local separatist forces, thus creating a vicious cycle.

In Texas, rednecks who strongly advocate for secession and independence have won widespread public support, even openly resisting military recruitment, resisting new taxes, and openly opposing the federal government.

This has further complicated the situation within the United States, with many Southern states also showing signs of unrest and clearly harboring ulterior motives. (End of Chapter)