With my forces in place, the Gusev Offensive commences in Week 50, 1907 with the assault on Hue. To hopefully draw off British troops from French Indochina, I sign MAs with both France and China (since they are both at war with Britain already). I dont expect either China or France to accomplish much but maybe this can draw off units that would otherwise be racing into French Indochina to garrison the cities or counter-attack my invading armies.
Gusev Offensive Week 50, 1907 to Week 10, 1909
The Fall of Hue
Russian troops, units of General Romodanovskys 7th Army cavalry (the 10th Cavalry and 17th Siberian Cossacks divisions), reached the summit of hills overlooking the city on December 4th, 1907. Vietnamese workers in the outlaying villages looked up the slopes, villagers peered from their windows, and all whispered, Cossacks!, as if the very name suggested the very coming of darkness itself. The cavalry of the Russian
7th Army, acting as a vanguard, took possession of the hills to the northwest of the city to reconnoiter the British positions in and around the city, to watch for approaching enemy reinforcements from the west and south, and to screen the advance of the Russian 6th and 7th Armies from the north.
Behind the Russian cavalry, Russian infantry, rank by rank, filled the roads that converged on Hue from the north for miles. Behind the long stretched out lines of infantry came the Russian artillery that would soon be deployed on the heights overlooking Hue. Far to the east, the advancing Russian soldiers could hear the distant boom of Russian naval guns that had incessantly pounded the forsaken city for months nonstop. As Romodanovsky s troops converged on the city from the northwest, he discovered that the city was lightly defended by only six infantry divisions and one cavalry division. He ordered his men to quickly occupy forward positions in preparation for a general assault on Hue itself while Russian cavalry scouted to the west for arriving British support. Stunned, General Romodanovsky discovered that there seemed to be no enemy support in sight of Hue - the city was isolated and nearly cut off. Earlier reports had filtered in of heavy fighting against the French and Chinese around the city of Hanoi - this stroke of luck meant that the attack on Hue would be unsupported by any form of British relief.
On December 6th (Week 50, 1907), the attack on the western-most sections of the city began with an artillery bombardment of over 200 guns. Having suffered months of naval bombardment, Hue little resembled a city now than a burnt-out shell of its former self. Few buildings within the city still stood and those that did were marked by shell blasts and fire damage. Yet, even amongst the rubble, the defending troops had erected such positions as they could, if only piles of rubble itself. For over five hours, the Russian guns pounded the enemy, huddled in whatever hole they could find. From their positions on the summit, the Russian guns easily targeted the enemy positions without mercy; shell bursts shattered what little remained in the city to ash and dust and the dead piled up hour after hour (all defenders were red-lined by the shelling).
At approximately 10.49 am, Russian infantry and cavalry advanced down the summit towards the city into a hail of enemy fire. Despite having their ranks thinned by the heavy Russian bombardment, the British defenders put up a merderous fire and the advancing Russian troops suffered heavy losses in the initial advance - company after company came on and were mowed down by the enemy fire. Yet, all along the line, the Russian troops stormed across the enemy positions, wavered, then charged again with saber and bayonet. Again and again, the Russian returned to the assault, spending lives without question. On and on the Russian came, line after line and shoulder to shoulder, only to be shot down until the bodies piled high in front of the British lines.
By 2.30 pm, however, the relentless Russian waves proved too much for the weakened defenders. The advancing divisions of the 6th Army finally overran the British positions in the south despite heavy losses (28th Cavalry took 2/4 hp, the elite 11th Cavalry took 2/6 hp, the 27th Infantry was red-lined and the 16th ESR was also red-lined). The 7th Army to the north fared much better and it too had overwhelmed all enemy positions by 4 pm that afternoon (the 9th Cavalry took ¾ hp, the 6th Cavalry took no losses, and the 48th cavalry took ¾ hp). By 5 pm, the firing tapered off into silence and the victorious Russian troops stormed the now defenseless city in triumph.
[NOTE]: Though both the 6th and 7th Armies have several Chlorine Gas Shells each, I was glad to see that the combined 26 batteries of artillery red-lined all of hues defenders. Though nearly all attacking divisions lost hp, I did not lose a single division in the attack. In addition, I captured 3 British and four former French RMs once the city fell!
In anticipation of the fall of Hue, steam transports waiting just offshore entered the harbor to unload 17 reserve divisions, both to reinforce losses in my armies and to act as garrisons for captured cities while the offensive is underway. I immediately load the RMs onto the transports and begin the journey back to Pusan.
Thankfully, I left most of the infrastructure of French Indochina intact (especially the rails and roads), so when Hue falls, I am able to swiftly march my armies west to Vientiane. By the end of Week 50, both armies reach the outskirts of the city. The MAs with China and France seem to be working, as I spot no British units outside of the cities in French Indochina. The Chinese invade near Hanoi from the north, and the French from Haiphong while my Russian armies storm Hue. Not much seems to come out of this - the Chinese and French are stopped cold but at the cost of several British units. At the very least, my MAs are preventing the British of doing anything about my offensive.
The Fall of Vientiane
Fresh from the fall of Hue, the Russian 6th and 7th Armies quickly marched on Vientiane while the battles continued to rage around Hanoi with no discernable outcome. As in the case of hue, Vientiane was thinly defended by only three infantry and two cavalry divisions against the combined might of both Russian armies.
On the morning of January 4, 1908 (Week 4, 1908), the Russian artillery began shelling the city at 6.08 am and continued throughout the morning. As the artillery went silent at around noon, there developed a problem. Contradictory reports on the effects of the bombardment began filtering back to the Russian commanders. Some patrols reported massive damage to enemy positions, while others found them scarcely touched. The general consensus was that the British had dug deep into the ground - the bombardment may well have smashed trenches but appeared to have failed to cause considerable damage or casualties. (I had fired both armys artillery batteries, then received a phone call from a friend that lasted well over two hours. By the time I returned to the game, I seriously could not remember what casualties the bombardment had inflicted! Afterwards, I discovered that all defending units had been red-lined by the artillery.)
Nonetheless, the order for the attack was given at 12.34 pm and the first assaults on the city were carried out by the 6th Army to the south. Four divisions on the Russian extreme southern flank began advancing on the British line. Withering rifle fire met the Russian advance at 1500 meters - the British later reported that they saw men falling by the hundreds in the first 20 minutes, but the Russian pressed on at a jog-trot. According to one Indian officer in the 21st Indian Division,
The Russians came on as if walking on the parade ground for inspection. We felt they were quite mad. Our orders were given calmly and every man took careful aim to avoid wasting ammunition. Though the 221st Indian division had suffered massive losses in the preliminary bombardment (was red-lined), they bravely defended the British flank to the last man. The Russian troops were cruelly shot up on the way in and despite three separate charges, the attack failed completely with massive casualties (the Russian
5th, 6th and 46th Cavalry were wiped out).
Seemingly too inflexible to change the battle plan, the Russian commanders ordered another advance on the 21st Indian division with a fresh division brought up from the rear. The second attack by the Russian 34th Cavalry division swept across the British position and the 21st Indian division had seen enough. Within a few scant minutes, the entire division was overrun and the position captured. As the Russian divisional commander of the 37th Cavalry viewed the carnage on the field, now littered with thousands of Russian corpses, he politely asked a captured British officer how many men the Indian division had and what laid behind the front line here. When told that the division had only around 3,000 men just before the cavalry attack and that there was only divisional HQ directly behind the line, the divisional commander exclaimed, Good God.
The reckless assaults by the 6th Army resumed at 2 pm when the 29th Infantry division was ordered to push across the river and occupy positions held by the 7th Colonial Cavalry division. Having suffered similar losses in the initial bombardment (had been red-lined), the 7th Colonial Cavalry did not offer the same resistance - within a half an hour of beginning their advance, the 29th Infantry had secured several crossing points and were pouring over the river in force. The 7th Colonial Cavalry cave up without a fight and the far bank of the river was captured with no losses to the Russian infantry.
While the slaughter raged to the south, the 7th Army too began its advance at 7 am on the city with an initial attack of three cavalry divisions as well. Despite the heavy losses incurred by the 6th Army, it seemed to the Russian commanders that they were on the verge of a major breakthrough. But here too, though the bombardment had caused considerable casualties to the British defenders, there wer still sections of resistance. The shelling missed a tiny pocket of Indian infantry of the 18th Indian Infantry division, numbering only some 3,000 men (unit was red-lined by the shelling). Though outnumbering the enemy by more than fifteen to one, the Russian cavalry did not stand a chance. As the Russian attacked the river banks, they were mowed down. The Russian 7th and 5th Siberian Cossacks Cavalry divisions were destroyed without even reaching the far banks of the river. The only thing that prevented a complete disaster of the advance was the bravery of the Russian 29th Cavalry Division - though having suffered severe losses (2/4 hp) in the advance, the 29th Cavalry managed to ford the river at several placed and come to grips with the Indian infantry. Within a half an hour after pushing across the river in force, the 18th Indian division finally surrendered.
By 3 pm in the afternoon, the Russian had firmly captured the southern sections of the city and had managed to secure a position across the river in the center. However, the mounting losses soon brought about a discussion of halting the attack until the next morning when Chlorine Gas could be brought up from the rear ( I seriously contemplated this!). In the end, however, the decision to continue the ground attack was decided upon. On the far northern flank of the Russian line, the
17th Siberian Cossacks and 40th Infantry divisions were ordered to advance on the last pockets of enemy resistance. By now, the enemys will to resist further was quickly disappearing. The 40th Infantry quickly overran the 11th Colonial Cavalry division to the extreme north while the 17th Siberian Cossacks made a stabbing charge directly across the river, overrunning the 24th Colonial Infantry division. As the last resistance crumbled, the Russian commanders let out a sigh of relief and the reserved were soon brought up to occupy the city in force.
(After the battle, I kept thinking one think over and over,
I should have used gas, I should have used gas
)
Thankfully, the decision of capturing Hue first was to prove a boon, as I was able to replace the losses suffered in the fall of Vientiane right away that turn. In addition, I had another fleet streaming for Hue transporting even more reinforcements
The fall of the city also gives me control of even more RMs, a total of 2 French and 1 British RMs.
Reserve troops from Hue moved up to occupy Vientiane and the Russian 6th and 7th Armies were now ordered to quickly march south towards Phenom Pehn for the next phase of the Gusev Offensive.
The Horror of Phenom Pehn
On the morning of January 26th, 1908, (Week 4, 1908), the British Command in French Indochina knew that the city of Phenom Pehn was the next target for the Russian advance. Two infantry divisions from Rangoon were rushed via rail to the city, adding their strength to the six infantry divisions already in the city. Unlike the troops that had held Vientiane, these British divisions was a blending of men lightly blooded or, in the case of two divisions, recently formed from various home guard battalions into divisional size.
Meanwhile, in the minds of the Russian commanders there crept memories of the murderous losses of the last campaign against the British years earlier as well as the recent losses in front of Vientiane and now caution became the byword for the coming assault, Though the heavy losses suffered in front of Vientiane were quickly replaced by arriving Russian reinforcements, the decision was now made to try to take Phenom Pehn with the least amount of Russian lives. Unfortunately, this would come at the cost of much suffering by the British and her allies.
At 4.50 am on the 26th, the early morning silence was broken by the sounds of numerous shells falling onto the forward British positions within the city. On and on went the bombardment for hours as trenches and breastworks were turned ragged and disappeared, to be replaced by entire acres of cratered earth. Hour after hour came the shelling, as the British troops awaited for what they assumed would be the inevitable Russian advance. Yet, by 10 am, the shelling was continuing and there was no sign of a Russian advance,
Around 11.20 am, a forward British listening post reported spotting a heavy mist creeping forward from the Russian line about a quarter mile to the right. There it came rolling on a gentle wind as one British officer later described as a
mysterious and uncanny wall of greenish horror.. The cloud moved over the parapet and sunk deep into the British positions, where it caught the men as they were standing to in preparation for the Russian assault that never came. Within moments they were coughing, gasping, strangling, nearly blind, their faces contorted and their bodies writhed in agony.
With no protection from the gas, the British resistance soon evaporated and those who did not succumb to the gas fled in panic. More and more gas was poured into the British lines, causing even more losses until, by 3 pm, probing Russian patrols entering the forward British positions found them empty except for twisted and contorted corpses. In all, 120,00 British and allied troops died in the artillery and gas attack. Phenom Pehn fell without a single loss to the Russian armies.
I am shocked when the city falls and the first Russian unit occupies the city - I capture an amazing 14 RMs, 6 British and 8 French! I had spent nearly all of 6th and
7th Armys stock of Chlorine Gas Shells in the attack on Phenom Pehn (nine Gas Shells in all were spent)- however, the arrival of the second transport fleet arrives in Hue, loaded with more reserve divisions and even more Gas Shells (actually 20 shells in all).
The Collapse of French Indochina
After the fall of Phenom Pehn, I decided to switch tactics. By Week 4, 1908, Hue, Vientiane and Phenom Pehn were in Russian hands; five cities remained in British control: Hanoi, Rangoon and two cities to the south in Siam - Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Hanoi was the single city not located along the coast - this meant that I could now use both my massive artillery of the 6th and 7th armies as well as the powerful Russian fleets in the region to pound the remaining cities into submission. The success of the gas attack on Phenom Pehn was what lead to the decision to change tactics. A third reinforcement fleet was on its way to Hue, loaded with troops and more Gas Shells, so the decision was made to capture the last remaining cities with massive artillery and naval bombardment, followed by heavy use of gas.
The collapse of the rest of British-held French Indochina identically matched the horror (and success) at Phenom Pehn, so I will not be repetitive in the telling of such similar tales. I simply had far too much artillery and naval forces that were able to reduce the city garrisons to red-lined status and then finish them off with gas. In reflection, it was too east and the British had no chance.
Once Phenom Pehn was secure, I now split up the Russian 6th and 7th Armies. While the 6th Army marched north to Hanoi, the 7th Army marched on Rangoon.
As anticipated, Hanoi fell quite easily in Week 7, 1908, even though it was defended by no less than 3 Colonial Infantry, 1 Colonial Cavalry, 1 Indian Infantry and 2 Home Guard divisions. Some of the defending units wer alrady damaged - I believe they had been wounded in the recent fighting around the city with the French and Chinese. Even with only 13 artillery batteries, I caused a great deal of initial damage before employing gas - I did have to use a total of 12 Chlorine Gas Shells on the city before all defenders were killed off to the last man. Naturally, the city was captured without a single Russian man lost. The bloodless (well bloodless as far as the Russians were concerned) capture of Hanoi gave me even more RMs, 2 French and 5 British.
The same situation continued to be played out throughout the rest of French Indochina. Rangoon fell in Week 10, 1908, following a massive artillery and naval bombardment and then the introduction of Chlorine Gas. 1 Indian Infantry, 2 Colonial Infantry and a Home Guard division fell to the onslaught, again without a single Russian casualty. For my efforts, I capture a French Colonial Worker and 8 more RMs (3 French and 5 British). In the attack, following the devastating artillery and naval bombardment, I only had to expend 4 Gas Shells to capture the city.
I have actually played all the way through Week 25, 1908, but need time to write it up and since this post is already considerably long, I will stop here. The next post (within a few days) will relate the complete collapse of French Indochina, as well as the attempts of the British to push through the Calcutta Gap. I also found myslef at war with the Turks once again and unleashed General Krasnov on them.
In the end, the heavy losses and bloodshed I was expecting in the offensive never came to be - I simply have too many Chlorine Gas Shells stockpiled...
I downloaded the AOI scenario and hope to check it out soon. I'm also looking forward to AOI 4.0.
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
I'll have to try it out myself.
It may just be that I'm personally inclined to keep cities my soldiers died fighting for - that and prestige is a factor - but I'll still ask the question. 
). On top of that, with Britain, I'd keep any cities you take as they not only make the Russian Empire much more glorious, but the AI is incompetent at protecting them from British hordes. Though if you wanted something more interesting, giving Southeast Asia to the Americans or Chinese would be neat. After there was no conflict between Britain and the recipient of course.
They certainly can't hold it, I figure, and so it should be under Russian "protection." Maybe if the French are lucky, you'll allow Indochina to be a condominium(where two states share control over an area)-esque colony. Of course, Russia will be responsible for the defense, development, and all profits of Indochina. 
