| Battle of Port Arthur Part of: World War II & Russo-Japanese wars |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Russian soldiers ambush a Japanese advancement |
|||||||
|
|||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Russia Chinese volunteers Korean volunteers
|  Japan Manchukuo
|
||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Nikolay Kuznetsov Vladimir Korzhakov Sergey Pozharsky Ivan Trediakovsky Ludwing von Baumann
| Otozō Yamada Seiichi Kita Jun Ushiroku Puyi Zhang Jinghui
|
||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 953,310 personnel 564,140 paramilitary 9,420 artillery pieces 2,420 aircraft 2,420 tanks | 604,402 personnel 360,030 personnel 5,402 artillery pieces 1,703 aircraft 933 tanks |
||||||
In this ATL, Port Arthur and Khabarovsk become the Stalingrand and Leningrad equivalents.
The Battle of Port Arthur (Russian: Битва при Порт-Артуре, Bitva pri Port-Arture; Japanese: 旅順口攻撃, Ryojun-guchi kōgeki; Chinese: 呂順之戰, Lǚshùnzhī zhàn) also known as the Siege of Ryojun was fought by Russia and the Kuomintang, against Imperial Japan and its puppet ally, Manchukuo in 1942, against the Republic of Siberia for the city of Port Arthur (known by the Japanese as Ryujun), a port city that the Russian and Japanese empires had fought over in 1905.
It was considered one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. Marked by fierce close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in air raids, it is one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, with an estimated 730,200 total casualties. After their defeat at Port Arthur, the Japanese High Command had to withdraw considerable military forces from other theaters of war to replace their losses.
The city of Ryojun had been used to stage the Japanese invasion of Russia. After the Japanese defeat at Kharbin, Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, the Russians conducted the Manchuria Offensive, with re-capturing Ryojun as a key objective. However, the Japanese knew that the Russians were coming for Ryojun, and fortified the city heavily.
Early Russian offensives into the city had failed, or resulted in indecisive results, something with General Nikolay Kuznetsov suspected. Nonetheless, the Russians conducted merciless aerial raids and bombings against the city or Ryojun.
On 19 November, the Russians launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weaker Manchukuo armies protecting 6th Army's flanks. The Japanese flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Ryojun area. Emperor Hirohito was determined to hold the city at all costs and forbade the 6th Army from attempting a breakout; instead, attempts were made to supply it by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. Heavy fighting continued for another two months. At the beginning of February 1943, the Japanese forces in Port Arthur surrendered.
Background[]
After Japanese forces were driven out from outer Manchuria, Ryojun was one of General Rennenkampff's largest targets, and immedietly began a aerial bombings of Ryojun in 1942. However, the Japanese were not taken by surprise by the attack, heavily fortifying the city, knowing that eventually, the Russians were going to retaliate for its defeats at the hands of the Japanese in the 1905 Russo-Japanese war. Many Russian aerial forces were cut down by Japanese anti-aircraft and retaliatory aerial attacks. Both General Rennenkampff and Emperor Hirohito considered it a "trophy city", and a Japanese victory would mean placing a thorn on Russian influence in the Asia-Pacific.
The Battle[]
The Manchuria Cathedral under Japanese bombardment
The first of Russian forces arrived in September 1, 1942, by the newly-established 2nd and 3rd Manchuria Front, who were heavily armed with much personnel and heavy weaponry. As usual, Japanese resistance was fierce, akin to Hitler's stubbornness in our OTL, Hirohito demanded that every Japanese crush the Russians at the last drop of blood.
This ended up in the failure of the 2nd and 3rd Manchuria Fronts to take Ryujun, who were significantly cut down by the Japanese forces. However, the Japanese too, got cut down, as both sides stopped at nothing.
The 2nd and 3rd Manchuria Fronts merged to form the 5th Manchuria Front, who were reinforced with reserves from elsewhere in Russia.
In mid-1942, the Japanese air force and navy were starting to get stretched thin, due to the need for troops and supplies in their push in the south Pacific.
The attacks had become more vicious, soon, both Japanese and Russian forces were becoming as they, "animal-like". Both armies were getting stretched thin, and exhausted. General Kuznetsov and General Rennenkampff had actually contemplated on abandoning Ryojun, however when General Ludwig von Baumann found out that the Japanese were using troops from their Asia-Pacific territories, he figured this would severely deplete the Japanese and force them to go on the defensive, a prediction that ended up coming true.
Russian officer with Japanese POWs
The Russians soon utilized native Mongolic and Asiatic units in the battle, to partake in house-to-house combat and sword-fights against feisty Japanese banzai and suicidal units. In addition, the Ussuri and Transbaikal Cossacks joined the battle. They also utilized penal suicidal units, composing of ex-Mongol State military personnel and Russian prisoners to battle against banzai fighters in house-to-house fighting - a decision that proved decisive.
This allowed the Russian attackers more time, and saved supply costs, allowing for a proper re-supplying of Russian forces. The 4th Manchuria Front, led by Ludwig von Baumann and the 6th and 7th Manchuria Fronts, led by Vladimir Khorzhakov and Ivan Tretiatovsky respectively finished off the job, by eliminating the last of resistive Japanese forces from the city. Manchukuo Chinese collaborators surrendered. By 1943, half of all the Russian invaders were using captured Japanese weapons. In addition, General Kusznetsov finally decided to arm Kuomintang and Korean volunteers, providing the Russians with additional manpower.
End result[]
In 1943, Emperor Hirohito, sensing the mistake of fighting against both the Russians and the western powers, ordered Japanese forces to evacuate from Ryojun, declaring that the city has been lost. Many pro-Japanese Chinese collaborators, who felt betrayed by Emperor Hirohito, who declared that only Japanese be evacuated, leaving Chinese collaborators a sitting duck to the Russians, defected to the Russian side. This resulted in a Japanese genocidal campaign against the Chinese. Many Japanese troops too, became pretty much disillusioned and resentful against the Emperor.
Keitaro Okumura, a former Japanese officer was known for his infamous quote, "I have a new Emperor, his seat is in Moscow". Okumura surrendered to Russian forces, revealing to General Ludwig von Baumann key Japanese military secrets.
In the end, the city was officially re-named Port Arthur.
| |||||||||||||||||