Part XVII: The Second
Great War, 2003-2004
“We Have Taken Minsk!”
Minsk, January 9-
The War Ministry has announced that Allied Forces have finally taken the
Imperial Russian city of Minsk. This is the first real movement of the war
since November, when the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius was liberated by British
and Polish forces. The War Ministry states that it is the goal of the armed
forces to push the Imperial Russians out of the Baltic States before the onset
of summer, and begin to threaten the Imperial capital of Petrograd. Germany plans
on pushing for Moscow by the end of the year, in hopes that the war can be
ended before the end of 2003.
This
appears to be the only front that has seen any action so far this year. In the
East, winter is still in full swing and American and Vladivostokian commanders
do not believe they will be able to push west against the Russian Empire until
March.
-“We Have Taken Minsk!”, The
Times (London), January 10, 2003.
Korea in Revolt
Tokyo, February 26-
Japanese officials have confirmed that communist rebels in Korea have risen up
in the southern city of Seoul, proclaiming the so-called “People’s Republic of
Korea.” The Dominion of Korea, which has essentially been independent of Japan
since reforms passed in the late 1970s, has called upon Japan for assistance.
This will likely draw Japanese troops away from the war in Russia. The Korean
government in Pyongyang, which has so far been officially neutral in the
conflict to the north, has officially closed the border with China, causing
many observers to conclude that the Koreans that China may be nominally behind
the uprising in southern Korea.
-“Korea in Revolt,” The
Washington Post, February 27, 2003
The
Korean Civil War, which is generally considered a minor theater of the wider
Second Great War, is considered a major reason why the wider war lasted nearly
into 2006, instead of ending in 2004 like many at the time thought it would.
When the revolt began in Seoul on February 26th, the American, East
Russian, and Japanese forces had been preparing for a surge towards the city of
Chita, which they planned on staring in mid-March. The Korean conflict derailed
these plans. Japan pulled most of their resources in Russia to the south,
requiring the Americans to send additional troops to sure up the Aldan Line.
The Japanese Air Force began bombing rebel positions in Seoul on March 3rd.
This action was decried by China, and on March 10th the Chinese
government recognized the legitimacy of the People’s Republic of Korea, and
declared war on the Dominion of Korea on the same day.
Chinese
forces crossed the Korean border on March 17th, and bombed Pyongyang
the following day for hours. The Japanese Navy battled their Chinese
counterpart for the first time on March 29th, as the bulk of the
Japanese Navy entered in force to the Yellow Sea. The Battle for the Yellow Sea
lasted nearly a month, ending in a Japanese victory on April 25th.
By mid-May, the Japanese Navy had established a successful blockade of Bo Hai
Bay, regularly bombarding the city of Dalian. In addition, the Japanese
launched a successful raid of Shanghai on May 19th, destroying much
of the harbor. By June, the Japanese had also blockaded the Yangtze River,
crippling commerce in Northern China.
While
the naval war was going well, on the Korean Peninsula, however, China had the
upper hand. On April 18th, Pyongyang fell to Chinese forces, sending
the Dominion of Korea into a panic. Although the government of the People’s
Republic of Korea had been forced out of Seoul by the Japanese by the end of
March, the rebel army was now pushing to get back into the city.
-Kim, Dr. Jong Il. The
Korean Civil War. Pyongyang: Peninsular Press: 2019.
With
the fighting in Korea, the Spring Offensive of 2003 was delayed by several
months. American and East Russian forces finally began to push forward towards
Chita on May 20th, instead of the originally planned date of March
10th. The Imperial Army put up a strong defense of the city, and the
Allied forces would be fighting for the city for most of the summer. Farther
north, the American and Republican forces crossed the Aldan River in a drive
for the city of Yakutsk. Defenses were much weaker here, and the city was under
Allied bombardment by mid-July. On August 1st, Vladivostokian forces
liberated the city.
Fighting
was still fierce in Chita, however, but with Yakutsk in Allied hands, more
troops were available for the fight. The city first fell on September 9th,
but would briefly be retaken on September 18th. Ultimately, the city
would be retaken on September 28th. By the time winter set in, the
Western Front had stabilized about 20 miles west of Chita, to the
disappointment of American war-planners, who had hoped to be on the shores of
Lake Baikal by winter.
-Newton, Dr. Kyle. Drive
to the West: The Western Front of the 2nd Great War. Los
Angeles: UCLA Press, 2021.
Russians Retake Minsk
Warsaw, July 3-
After weeks of fierce fighting, the Imperial Russian Army has retaken the city
of Minsk. In addition, the Russians have been able to make serious gains
towards the Polish border, nearly obliterating the Polish forces. The German
Army is the main reason that the Russians haven’t crossed back into Poland. In
Latvia, there has been little success. The Allied forces have yet to take the
Latvian capital, and in some places have lost ground
-“Russians Retake Minsk,” Frankfurter Zeitung, July 4, 2003.
One
of the best kept secrets of the late 1980s and early 1990s had been the
research and development of atomic super-bombs by the United States and
Germany. America began first, under orders from the Bush administration, which
wanted to develop the bombs in order to use them in the Iran War. Germany
secretly learned of this development and started research of their own. The
first detonation of an atomic weapon occurred on November 3, 1990 on a small
American-controlled atoll in the South Pacific. Germany would detonate their
own in August of 1991.
For
the Americans, however, this development would come too late for use in the
Iran War, since President Bush was forced to end American involvement in the
war in March of 1991. After that time, atomic-weapons research was slowed down
considerably for most of the decade. In the later years of the Clinton
administration, as conflict in Russia seemed more and more likely, the U.S.
government began secretly building more atomic super-bombs to have in case war
came. Germany began to do so as well once the Lehmann government came to power
in 2001.
When
war in Russia came in 2002, some in the American government (those generals and
few politicians with the highest of security clearances to know about the
existence of America’s secret weapon) immediately pushed for their use to
prevent a long, drawn out war, but President Doughty refused. He told the Joint
Chiefs of Staff that the atomic super-bombs were to be a last-resort weapon.
The Germans made the same decision.
- Franks, Dr. Hugo, The
Atomic War, Berlin: Humboldt University Press, 2019.
By
the end of 2003, over half of the Korean Peninsula was under Chinese control,
with the government of the rebel Korean forces having temporarily relocated to
Pyongyang, though they vowed to return to the “people’s city” of Seoul. The
government of the Korean Dominion had fled south to Busan, which was more
easily defended by the Japanese. Despite many losses at sea, the Japanese Navy
ruled the Yellow Sea, and Northern China chaffed under the blockade.
In
February of 2004, China began a strong push to the south, taking Seoul on
February 20th, which was loudly celebrated by the communists, who
returned to Seoul on the one year anniversary of the start of the revolution on
February 26th. By April, most of the Peninsula under Chinese
control, with the Japanese controlling only Busan and about 75 square miles
surrounding the city. On April 19th, the Dominion government began
to evacuate to Japan, and on May 9th, Busan fell to Chinese forces,
and the People’s Republic declared victory over the “capitalist lackies of the
Japanese.”
-Kim, Dr. Jong Il. The
Korean Civil War. Pyongyang: Peninsular Press: 2019.
Khabarovsk Retaken by Chinese
Vladivostok, June 2-
The American War Department has announced that the key railroad city of
Khabarovsk has fallen once again to Chinese forces. Now that China has forced
Japan out of Korea, the Chinese Army has once again turned it’s attention back
towards East Russia. In addition to retaking Khabarovsk, the Chinese Air Force
has drastically increased its bombing efforts on Vladivostok, leading to many
dramatic air battles between the Chinese and American air forces.
-“Khabarovsk Retaken by Chinese,” Frankfurter Zeitung, June 3, 2004.
During
the first half of the Second Great War, there was little good news coming from
the Eastern Front, especially in 2003 and 2004. Minsk, after initially falling
to allied hands in early 2003, was back in Russian hands by that summer. Although
Lithuania was liberated before the end of 2002, the allied commanders had
failed to liberate Latvia by the end of 2003, and in February 2004, the
Russians pushed the Allies back into Lithuania. On March 17th, the
Imperial Army launched a massive push to the west that would set the Allied war
effort back for months. On April 1, Vilnius fell back into Russian hands, and
On April 14th, the Russian army crossed the Polish/Belorussian
border into Poland. There was palpable panic in Warsaw that the Russians might
be able to take the city before the summer was over.
It
was at this point that France, Italy, and Turkey declared war on the Russian
Empire, and waves of fresh troops arrived on the Eastern Front, halting the
Imperial advance by the beginning of July. However, Allied Forces were unable
to push the Russians back very far, and by the time the winter set in, the
front line was still inside Poland.
-Rutherford, Dr. Thomas. Our
War in Russia. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2022.
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