Battle of Changsha

"“We at Changsha were among the first places to receive the news, the Republican and Qing having signed an uneasy armistice. Hundred of thousands of dead-eyed men crawled out of what we thought would be our graves, tears running down our dirty faces. Chinese, Germans, French, Dutch, Hungarians, Slavs, and Vietnamese, both thanking and forsaking our gods as we finally got to cleaning the corpses of our fallen comrades.”""- The journal of an unidentified Chinese soldier"   The Battle of Changsha was the bloodiest battle of the Chinese Civil War, it was also the longest-lasting battle and is the single most referenced event of all of GS3. It serves as a testament to both why throwing more soldiers at a problem is generally a bad idea and why a Chinese man should never be within a 10km radius of our lord and savior, Chegg.

Before discussing Changsha, the background must be established. From the start of GS3, Conq, playing as Germany, had organized Austria-Hungary, Russia, Japan, Italy, and the UK to colonize the Qing. Italy never participated in the war and Japan simply made deals with and threatened the Qing to annex Hainan and a few coastal cites. Conq had originally intended to prevent France, controlled by Quartz, from annexing any Chinese territory, however, Quartz decided to invade anyways. Russia and the British decided to drop out early, while, presumably because of Austrian inbreeding, AH invaded Tibet. Due to the failing Qing, a massive Republican revolt occurred in Southern China. Quartz decided to back the Republic to hopefully puppet China, meanwhile, Conq did the same for the Qing. This is where the story of Changsha starts.

The Battle for Changsha began on the 25th of June, 1900. The Germans and Qing attempted to begin the campaign against the Republicans, deciding to attack at the city of Changsha with 77k men. However, the Republicans were actually preparing to invade North with 83k men from Changsha, resulting in both forces meeting each other outside of the city at a river. After heavy casualties, both sides entrenched, with over 50k dead in just 2 days of battle. After that, the Qing attempted to cross the river in July, only to be stopped by Republican forces, and at the city of Changsha itself, were pushed back. It was after this point that both sides increased the number of soldiers in Changsha, a vast majority of soldiers were Chinese, with the Republicans having a significant number of soldiers from French Indochina in their ranks, and the actual French and Germans mainly serving in officer and commander roles, allowing Conq and Quartz to throw even more men at Changsha and feel no guilt for the Asians. Very little real progress was made after this point asides from a small French advantage, at least until Bloody Sunday.

September 25th, 1900. The single bloodiest day of the Chinese Civil War, during which almost half of the deaths at Changsha took place. Even more, men had entered the trenches of Changsha, Conq had gotten the Austro-Hungarians and Dutch to send soldiers in to help him take back the lost Qing positions at Changsha. 750k men and tens of thousands of artillery pieces fought that day. The 450k men under Conq’s command were a detriment more than a benefit. While he gained the advantage in numbers, they were physically unable to supply them, pro-Qing soldiers went hungry and, in many cases, without any ammunition. This resulted in extremely high casualties for even Changsha, as hordes of men, with poor ability to communicate, and few supplies, being thrown upon the Republican trenches. In the end, they were only able to capture one trench before the German commander called for an end to the assault, losing almost twice as men as the enemy did.

After that, there was no further fighting at Changsha, as around late October to early November(records were unrecoverable), the Qing and Republicans independently decided to sign a peace, establishing an unstable constitutional monarchy. In the end, ~432k died, but Changsha would not be the bloodiest battle of GS3, that crown belongs to Bangalore. However, at the time it was, and always maintained a casualty rate that was, at any given moment, either equal to or significantly higher. Of the many battles of GS3, Changsha is not remembered only for the scale of death, but instead, for the lessons that it taught to most of the veterans of GS3, as well as the fact that all the deaths amounted to nothing, in both the battle and the war. In conclusion, GS7 will be a continuation of GS3 before the peace in China so that way everyone can throw more Chinese at the problem and thereby allowing Chegg to escape his depression.