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Description

Backstory:

The National Revolutionary Army (Kuo-min Ke-ming Chün in Chinese, converted from characters to Latin alphabet according to the Wade-Giles-System) was the government army of China under the nationalist regime of Chiang Kai-shek. They were one of the largest standing armies before, during and after the wars of the 20th century. Although on paper it was a mighty force, without outside help the industrially weak country would struggle to even arm their men with proper rifles. Indeed, since 1924 the Germans had been helping the nationalists build up their army and help train the raw recruits according to their standards. This meant hat Germany and China had a great relationship and this continued when Adolf Hitler became Führer in 1934.

The German advisors operating under Chiang Kai-shek’s watchful eye several divisions, like the famous 88th, were trained to become the elite of the large, but feeble, army. The German’s objectives included training the divisions in standard German infantry tactics, including rapid ground assaults. At some point, the infamous Heinz Guderian was involved in mechanising and arming the Chinese army with tanks and halftracks. In these attempts he had failed in the early phases, since China was a long distance away and its native industry at the time couldn’t support the refined methods to make a proper panzer. However, this doesn’t mean he failed entirely, he managed to supply some battalions with Pz. 1 Ausf. A’s and Sd.Kfz. 222’s. These panzers and armoured cars would come in handy in the later Sino-Japanese conflict that had been brewing for some years.

The army, as weakly organised it was, did have the strength of having and almost unlimited pool of manpower to recruit from. Many millions of men could be called upon or, as was mostly the case, pressed into service at gunpoint to die for their country. This of course caused low morale, but even a demoralised army of millions could stop the Japanese onslaught at some point, or so they thought. Either soldiers would desert, refuse to fight or openly rebel against their commanders, in some cases they would even defect to the Japanese.

However, after 2 years of fighting, and the Chinese and Japanese having been in a stalemate for most of the time, the Germans took it upon themselves to mediate between the two parties. The Trautman Mediation brought the parties together and, under orders from Hitler, a compromise would be made between the two countries. Von Ribbentrop, head diplomat of the Reich, had asked both parties what exactly they wanted out of this war. It soon dawned on him that Japan attacked China because they needed a guarantee for resources essential to their war machine, whilst China didn’t really want anything other than peace (Chiang especially wanted to focus more on exterminating the communists than to fight the Japanese). So the compromise would be that China would guarantee the flow of raw materials towards Japan and, in return, Japanese forces would aid the National Revolutionary Army in hunting down Mao’s guerrillas.

Finally, the German advisors, having never been recalled even though Germany sought greater relations with the Japanese, could properly build up this army. New steel helmet contracts were made, German style small arms were bought and given to as many divisions as could be. Training began under Alexander von Falkenhausen, a very effective infantry leader, whilst some of Albert Speer’s office workers occupied themselves with the creation of a five year plan to build up China’s industry to allow for ,amongst other things, the building of panzers. What was in return for this? The National Revolutionary Army would march along with the Imperial Japanese Army to war against the USSR when Germany asked for it.

The times seemed ripe for the NRA, they were being trained and equipped properly, no more men were pressed into service since the three year draft was introduced to get men into the army for a given time. The National Revolutionary Army was being drilled into a deadly and disciplined force against communism in the east and the USSR would feel it several years later. Germany had aided them to get into proper shape, and that debt would not be forgotten amongst NRA members, one could even say their loyalty lay with the men who had supervised their graduation from the Wampua Military Academy: von Falkenhausen and his men.

Disclaimer: I do not support any of the views these people might have had, this is just for creative purposes and alt-history curiosity!

Credit to TheRanger1302 for his adaptation of the GLK base, the-roast for his wrapper legs and Grand-Lobster-King for his original base

Description

Backstory:

The National Revolutionary Army (Kuo-min Ke-ming Chün in Chinese, converted from characters to Latin alphabet according to the Wade-Giles-System) was the government army of China under the nationalist regime of Chiang Kai-shek. They were one of the largest standing armies before, during and after the wars of the 20th century. Although on paper it was a mighty force, without outside help the industrially weak country would struggle to even arm their men with proper rifles. Indeed, since 1924 the Germans had been helping the nationalists build up their army and help train the raw recruits according to their standards. This meant hat Germany and China had a great relationship and this continued when Adolf Hitler became Führer in 1934.

The German advisors operating under Chiang Kai-shek’s watchful eye several divisions, like the famous 88th, were trained to become the elite of the large, but feeble, army. The German’s objectives included training the divisions in standard German infantry tactics, including rapid ground assaults. At some point, the infamous Heinz Guderian was involved in mechanising and arming the Chinese army with tanks and halftracks. In these attempts he had failed in the early phases, since China was a long distance away and its native industry at the time couldn’t support the refined methods to make a proper panzer. However, this doesn’t mean he failed entirely, he managed to supply some battalions with Pz. 1 Ausf. A’s and Sd.Kfz. 222’s. These panzers and armoured cars would come in handy in the later Sino-Japanese conflict that had been brewing for some years.

The army, as weakly organised it was, did have the strength of having and almost unlimited pool of manpower to recruit from. Many millions of men could be called upon or, as was mostly the case, pressed into service at gunpoint to die for their country. This of course caused low morale, but even a demoralised army of millions could stop the Japanese onslaught at some point, or so they thought. Either soldiers would desert, refuse to fight or openly rebel against their commanders, in some cases they would even defect to the Japanese.

However, after 2 years of fighting, and the Chinese and Japanese having been in a stalemate for most of the time, the Germans took it upon themselves to mediate between the two parties. The Trautman Mediation brought the parties together and, under orders from Hitler, a compromise would be made between the two countries. Von Ribbentrop, head diplomat of the Reich, had asked both parties what exactly they wanted out of this war. It soon dawned on him that Japan attacked China because they needed a guarantee for resources essential to their war machine, whilst China didn’t really want anything other than peace (Chiang especially wanted to focus more on exterminating the communists than to fight the Japanese). So the compromise would be that China would guarantee the flow of raw materials towards Japan and, in return, Japanese forces would aid the National Revolutionary Army in hunting down Mao’s guerrillas.

Finally, the German advisors, having never been recalled even though Germany sought greater relations with the Japanese, could properly build up this army. New steel helmet contracts were made, German style small arms were bought and given to as many divisions as could be. Training began under Alexander von Falkenhausen, a very effective infantry leader, whilst some of Albert Speer’s office workers occupied themselves with the creation of a five year plan to build up China’s industry to allow for ,amongst other things, the building of panzers. What was in return for this? The National Revolutionary Army would march along with the Imperial Japanese Army to war against the USSR when Germany asked for it.

The times seemed ripe for the NRA, they were being trained and equipped properly, no more men were pressed into service since the three year draft was introduced to get men into the army for a given time. The National Revolutionary Army was being drilled into a deadly and disciplined force against communism in the east and the USSR would feel it several years later. Germany had aided them to get into proper shape, and that debt would not be forgotten amongst NRA members, one could even say their loyalty lay with the men who had supervised their graduation from the Wampua Military Academy: von Falkenhausen and his men.

Disclaimer: I do not support any of the views these people might have had, this is just for creative purposes and alt-history curiosity!

Credit to TheRanger1302 for his adaptation of the GLK base, the-roast for his wrapper legs and Grand-Lobster-King for his original base