THE COMPLETE ARMY HANDBOOK FOR THE - 0 - MANCHURIA AND BURMA 1937 - 1945 FOR YOUR WORLD WAR II TABLETOP MINIATURE GAMES 0 - 1 - THE COMPLETE ARMY HANDBOOK FOR THE MANCHURIA AND BURMA 1937 - 1945 COMPATIBLE WITH FLAMES OF WAR THIS IS AN UNNOFICIAL PUBLICATION Battle Front ™ does not officially endorse this product and permission from your opponent must be sought before you utilise this force list in your Flames of War games. It is recommended that you do not use this list for tournament games Artwork, Design, Text, Layout & Writing © 2008 by Dean Wilson Figures and Vehicles by Esci, Revell, Imex and Italeri. Trees by Games Workshop, Gallia UK and Scenic’s. House by Hovels; rice field by glass; from the collection of Dean Wilson. Thanks to: The US War Department, US Command & General Staff College, US Centre for Military History. Alan Travesa, Bernard Holmok and Dr. Leo Niehorster Jabu Sawichi, Edward Wilson and Teodor; juniorgeneral.com 1 THE COMPLETE ARMY- HANDBOOK2 - FOR THE MANCHURIA AND BURMA 1937 - 1945 The army list presented in this book is primarily to be used in conjunction with Battle Front’s ™ range of rulebooks and miniature soldiers, but can ideally be used for any rule set for World War II. This is NOT an officially sanctioned Battle Front ™ product and therefore cannot be used for tournament games and can only be used if your opponent agrees to the lists before hand. This is a supplement to be utilised in conjunction with Flames of War. The list here covers the Chinese Nationalist Forces in greater China, Manchuria and the Burma front from the period of 1937 to 1945 and victory over Japan. The list combines the early Chinese forces right through from their annihilation to their reformation with British and American training right up to 1945. The lists for the later period of the war can also be used to war game China’s Civil War, 1945-1949. This book should ideally be used in conjunction with the Imperial Japanese Army Handbook Manchuria and SE Asia 1940-1945 and Indochina and SE Asia: Japanese Puppet Troops and ‘Free Forces’ of SE Asia, Indochina & Thailand 1942 - 1945. This book has undergone a slight revision from the previous, First and (Revised) First editions. Apart from some minor formatting errors (page numbers non sequential and some text out of alignment) this edition has also had some changes incorporated, including air support. In the previous edition Air Support was mentioned, but not the cost, or who could call it! This has been amended. In this version the pictures have been updated with better drawings and includes Transport Truck Platoons and the addition of the T-34 Heavy Tank Platoon for the Communist Forces for 1945-1949. Also included in this revision is the Animosity rule affecting Nationalist Forces, the rivalry, distrust and outright animosity between the Kuomintang and Communist forces in the Nationalist Army. This rule is included under the Special Rules section. 2 - 3 - HOW TO USE THIS BOOK 5 THE CHINESE NATIONALIST ARMY 6 CHINESE FORCE LISTS 9 CHINESE SPECIAL RULES 12 CHINESE NATIONALIST FORCES 14 CHINESE NATIONALIST FORCES, CHINA & MANCHURIA 1937 TO 1941 14 BATTALION HQ, MANCHURIA & CHINA 1937 TO 1941 14 CHINESE NATIONALIST INFANTRY COMPANY 15 HEAVY MACHINEGUN PLATOON 16 MACHINEGUN (MG) PLATOON 16 MORTAR PLATOON 17 ANTI-TANK PLATOON 17 SUPPORT UNITS, MANCHURIA & CHINA 1937 TO 1941 18 ARTILLERY BATTERY 18 ARMOURED CAR PLATOON 19 MIXED LIGHT TANK PLATOON 20 CAPTURED TANK PLATOON (TYPE-97’S) 21 ANTI-AIRCRAFT SECTION 21 GUERRILLA RECONNAISSANCE PLATOON 22 CHINESE NATIONALIST FORCES, BURMA FRONT, 1941 TO 1945 23 BATTALION HQ, BURMA FRONT 1941 TO 1945 23 CHINESE NATIONALIST INFANTRY COMPANY 24 MACHINEGUN PLATOON 25 MORTAR PLATOON 26 ANTI-TANK PLATOON 26 SUPPORT UNITS, BURMA FRONT 1941 TO 1945 27 ARTILLERY PLATOON, US 76MM AND 105MM 27 M-3 STUART LIGHT TANK PLATOON 28 M-4 SHERMAN TANK PLATOON 29 ANTI-AIRCRAFT SECTION 29 TRUCK TRANSPORT PLATOON 30 MANCHURIA 1941 TO 1945 31 BATTALION HQ, MANCHURIA 1941 TO 1945 31 CHINESE NATIONALIST INFANTRY COMPANY 32 MACHINEGUN PLATOON 33 MORTAR PLATOON 34 ANTI-TANK PLATOON 34 SUPPORT UNITS, MANCHURIA 1941 TO 1945 35 ARTILLERY PLATOON, US 76MM AND 105MM 35 M-3 STUART LIGHT TANK PLATOON 36 M-4 SHERMAN TANK PLATOON 36 ANTI-AIRCRAFT SECTION 37 TRANSPORT TRUCK PLATOON 38 GUERRILLA RECONNAISSANCE PLATOON 39 OSS TRAINED GUERRILLA RECONNAISSANCE PLATOON 40 CHINESE COMMUNIST FORCES, MANCHURIA 1941 TO 1945 41 3 - 4 - CHINESE COMMUNIST BATTALION HQ, MANCHURIA 1941 TO 1945 41 CHINESE COMMUNIST INFANTRY COMPANY 42 CHINESE COMMUNIST HEAVY MACHINEGUN PLATOON 43 CHINESE COMMUNIST MACHINEGUN (MG) PLATOON 43 CHINESE COMMUNIST MORTAR PLATOON 44 CHINESE COMMUNIST ANTI-TANK PLATOON 44 CHINESE COMMUNIST SUPPORT UNITS, MANCHURIA 1941 TO 1945 45 CHINESE COMMUNIST ARTILLERY BATTERY 45 CHINESE COMMUNIST ARMOURED CAR PLATOON 46 CHINESE COMMUNIST CAPTURED LIGHT TANK PLATOON (TYPE-95’S) 47 COMMUNIST M-3 STUART LIGHT TANK PLATOON 47 COMMUNIST CAPTURED TANK PLATOON (TYPE-97’S) 48 COMMUNIST T-34 HEAVY TANK PLATOON 48 COMMUNIST GUERRILLA RECONNAISSANCE PLATOON 49 CHINESE NATIONALIST, KUOMINTANG COMPANY 50 CHINESE NATIONALIST FORCES ARSENAL 51 COLLECTING AND ASSEMBLING A NATIONALIST FORCE 52 CHINESE NATIONALIST FLAGS, INSIGNIA AND RANK 54 HOW TO WARGAME THE CHINESE CIVIL WAR 1945-’49 56 BIBLIOGRAPHY 57 CATALOGUE OF ORDER OF BATTLES AVAILABLE FROM CHOKDINOK 59 A strengthened Nationalist Company 4 - 5 - The Information contained in this book will allow you to re-create a Chinese Nationalist Army that fought the Japanese in China, Manchuria and even South East Asia (Burma Front) for Battle Front™ Flames of War World War II tabletop miniatures war game; suitable for the early to late war period, 1937 to 1945; and the Chinese civil war 1945 to 1949. To make this book easier to use, we have split it into several sections. To begin, we have the sections detailing the background and history of several types of Nationalist Force composition, including the Communists and Guerrillas. Armed with this book, and several 15mm/1:72nd scale miniatures, you will be able to fight and re-create various battles involving Chinese troops, suitable both for Flames of War and other WWII tabletop games. 5 - 6 - After the Wuchang Uprising in 1911 that toppled the Empire, the Chinese Republic was established. Fragmented under various local warlords, rife with coup’s, civil wars and revolutions the emerging, dominant force, was the Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang). At first led by Dr. Sun Yat Sen (Dr. Sen), the Kuomintang (KMT) established party headquarters at Canton in Kwangtung province and quickly unified the country with it’s promotion of modernisation and a cessation of the fragmentary leadership of the Republic and a unification of the provinces. At the onset, even though the KMT was suspicious of the then weak Chinese Communist Party , accepted huge amounts of help from the Soviet Union who was more than happy to provide equipment, money and materials to assist the Chinese Government; they where also particularly keen to infiltrate communists agents and sympathisers into the KMT. On the death of Dr. Sen in 1925 the CCP stepped up their efforts to undermine and take control of the KMT but where thwarted by Chiang Kai-Shek who was Sun Yat Sen’s military chief. General Chiang established a strong KMT power base south of the Yangtze river and established the new capitol at Nanking. He expelled the Russian advisors and replaced them with German advisors and started to import equipment and material from Europe; most notably German weapons and uniform’s. A purge of the communists soon followed. The CCP triggered several uprisings within the Kuomintang, the most famous the defection of General Chu Te’s 24th Division which became the basis for the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. Elsewhere CCP uprisings where brutally crushed and the communists where forced to flee North and East, beginning their 6,000 mile Long March. Their power base was established in Yenan under the leadership of Mao Tse Tung. The CCP devoted themselves to fighting the Kuomintang and the Japanese invaders. THE JAPANESE INVASION OF MANCHURIA The Imperial Japanese Army had won a victory over the Soviets in the Sino-Japanese War of 1905 and established several missions and colonies in southern Manchuria. Controlled initially by a Chinese Warlord by the name of Chang Tso-lin the Japanese later assassinated him and created several incidents allowing their army to enter the area to ‘restore peace and order’. A new, puppet, government was established under the Emperor Pu-Yi and the area was renamed Manchuoko in 1932. The Tokyo government was under extreme pressure in the early 1930’s due to several assassination attempts, divisions within the government and aborted coups. To restore a balance the Tokyo government looked to their new province of Manchuoko which was providing the much needed resources for Japans ever expanding population (and war effort). Fighting around Shanghai in 1932, the invasion of Jehol and the campaign in Suiyuan led the League of Nations to protest against Japans continued aggression and violation of Chinese territory led the Japanese to leave the League in 1933. In 1936 Japan and Germany signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, sealing Chinas doom as the flow of weapons and equipment from Germany ceased. 6 - 7 - With the situation worsening and the gathering threat of an all out Japanese invasion of the remaining Chinese territory, Chiang Kai-Shek was forced to make a pact with Mao Tse-Tungs Chinese Communist Party to ‘unite the front’ and concentrate not on fighting each other, but the Japanese invaders. China was already weakened by the years of fighting from 1932-1936 as Communist fought Nationalist, but the outbreak of war in 1937 saw the economy severally shaken, hyperinflation soaring and the decimation of the structure and organisation of government and the splintering and fracturing of society.