The Battle of Haiphong Harbor

As the countryside of Indochina is ripped asunder by the open warfare between Bonapartist and Revolutionary forces, the people struggle to get many of the usual supplies necessary for survival. The Anglo-Japanese Pact has staged a full blockade of the former French colony, ensuring that neither faction can resupply for a potential clash with the Japanese taskforce that has been stationed there for years. As fighting in the south winds down, attention is turned towards stabilizing the nation, with the highest priority being the wellbeing of the people. The French hatch a daring plot to break through the stranglehold, knowing it may very well escalate the conflict with their occupiers. The future of Indochina may very well be at stake.

Indochina was divided in a state of rebellion, with remnants of the former colonial government holding up in the southern arsenal at Saigon. The “President” Jean-Paul Babineaux was vastly outnumbered, but his professional force had been honed into a weapon of mass fear against the locals, massacring protestors to make an example. He hoarded resources, turning the city into an impressive stronghold, neglecting much of the southern countryside that he pillaged. All defensive fortifications beyond the city were left with minimal manpower as of early 1939, as he sensed an open battle was impossible no matter how many men he lined up against the Revolutionaries. His army, still 200,000 strong, was waiting for Nguyen to slip up, exposing himself so Babineaux could take his head. His opportunity would never come however, as his adversary was simply too careful.

Nguyen’s government was barely taking shape in 1939, with the revolutionary leader following the army southward in secret. The Hanoi command focused on establishing supply lines to the southern push and stabilizing the local populace, who quickly faced resource shortages in the power vacuum. At the very least the people of Indochina did not take much convincing to join Nguyen’s cause. His troops now greatly outnumbered the "Petit Bonaparte in Saigon", and his troops' guerrilla tactics meant that casualty counts were low in most encounters. In February, the Revolutionary Army seized Dalat, albeit after a week of intense fighting. A column of Babineaux’s tanks was cowering in the city, using the locals as human shields against what little heavy ordnance Nguyen had captured. This time his forces had to commit to an open offensive, resulting in a heavy loss of life. As a silver lining to the brazen assault, many of the tanks were seized in the fighting, and they were able to use that former nuisance against their previous owners.

By this stage of the conflict, Nguyen Tat Than was developing a heated obsession with Babineaux, who brutally tormented his people, on top of symbolically representing everything he hated about the institution of colonialism. It is said that his foe would send letters directly to him as a means of taunting him, often picking the most emaciated or sickly prisoner in Saigon to carry it, which often resulted in the messenger’s death. The unfortunate fact was that this tactic succeeded in rattling Nguyen, but only made him a more aggressive opponent. It became the policy of the Revolutionaries to only spare captured local conscripts, with any colonial officers loyal to Babineaux being summarily executed. Fear of capture led to desertion in many cases, with the Bonapartist front line disintegrating at increasing vigor. What was originally a guerilla war was quickly turning into a military parade through abandoned territory. Nguyen’s liberation campaign only paused when a very important wire message made its way from France.

On May 1st, a missive was delivered from Paris via satellite, announcing the formal restructuring of the French Empire. In accordance with Revolutionary policy, colonies adhering to an adequate degree of socialistic vigor would be released from formal control by military authority, instead holding representative seats in the Communiste Internationale, which would be led by the French Liberation Party Chairman. While he was still nominally under the leadership of France, this elevated Nguyen Tat Than from a Governor-General to an independent President of the newly birthed Democratic Republic of Indochina. A small swearing in ceremony was held in Phan Thiet, with formal proclamations held in Hanoi the following day, albeit without the new head of state.

Realizing the increasing importance he had in the affairs of the nation, President Nguyen decided that committing all available resources to an assault on Babineaux’s stronghold would be most pertinent, in order to end the conflict as soon as possible. He knew his country would not last its first year if he didn’t wipe them out quickly, as he needed the arms and armor the Bonapartists had hoarded to combat the impending Japanese invasion. Of course an open assault could result in massive casualties, but allowing Babineaux to live any longer posed the same results.

Over the next month, Nguyen ordered his senior lieutenants to spread out across the southern countryside, rallying as many southern Vietnamese and Cambodian volunteers as possible for a large mobilization against Saigon. While official numbers are not recorded, it is said that in the two weeks spent preparing, Nguyen’s forces swelled to one million strong, numbers dwarfing even the regular army currently operating against Japan in the north. These men were not soldiers, simply free men of a new nation, doing everything they could to protect their home. In many cases they only had resources collected from their personal effects, with many officers handing off their own service rifles to arm their new recruits. This army gathered around the outskirts of Saigon on May 17th, having seized most of Babineaux’s external territories. What ensued was the bloodiest, but most significant battle in the Southern Campaign.

The Saigon garrison took the first shots, their 90,000 strong army hoping to soften the mass of troops charging before a full engagement. The rate of bombardment was so high that munition stockpiles were already low by the time Nguyen’s charge breached the shield, with gunners barely taking time to aim. The sheer quantity of Revolutionaries could not be defeated, even if each of Babineaux’s soldiers were to personally kill ten attackers. What made the situation even worse for them was that as the army swarmed in, the downtrodden locals often joined the march, scavenging weapons from the fallen. Their forward momentum was unstoppable, and the battle quickly devolved into swarms of Revolutionaries sweeping through the city streets. The last section of the city to fall was the citadel, where the well-trained troops that had been with Nguyen since the beginning were concentrating their sparse armor units. As they pushed into the military command center however, they could not find the False-President Babineaux, even as the entire city fell.

The truth was that Jean-Paul had no intention of holding up in a climactic battle, especially when he realized the sheer numbers he faced. He was a career politician with a nominal military title, not a freedom fighter like his opponent. Fortunately he had planned for his escape two days before. He quietly had shipments of gold taken to the docks at Vung Tau, where a small garrison of troops could guard the hoard while preparations in Saigon were finalized. Babineaux was slipping out of the city on a small river boat around the same time Nguyen’s forces breached the shield, with only a handful of aides escaping with him. That night his men escaped onto open waters with a bulk of Indochina’s wealth, with his suspected course taking him to Singapore. He has not officially been spotted since…

While his quarry may have gotten away, the Battle of Saigon was the final triumph in the liberation of Indochina, and Nguyen’s crowning achievement as a military commander. Tens of thousands lay dead in the street, but it was seen at the time as a worthy sacrifice to end the civil war. Unfortunately for Nguyen, this miraculously swift end to the conflict was still not fast enough to stop what was occurring back in the north, as the situation there was now devolving.

Since November of the last year, Japan and the British puppet government of Canton carried out a blockade of Indochinese territorial waters, with the Protectorate’s Oceania fleet unofficially barring French ships from passing Singapore. This left the new nation surrounded, unable to get any supplies from France. Land routes were equally prohibitive, given that both the British Raj and Joseon were also enemies in the conflict, and would likely shoot down any aerial shipments. Siam also refused to allow supply runs through their land, fearing a violation of their neutrality in the wake of the NFR’s recent aggression in the Mediterranean. The local populace had little in the ways of heavy military equipment or ships, and the civil war had left the nation’s food and infrastructure crippled.

France did not want to leave Nguyen and the Indochinese to die, especially since they now shouldered a heavy burden caused by the Grande Révolution. However, military manufacturing in France was still being reorganized, and what equipment they could produce was sent immediately to the Imperial front. The logistics of sending supplies to East Asia were also not favorable, as Africa was now an active warzone, and sailing around the British Commonwealth’s coastline could easily trigger a hostile response. The decision was made that other members of the new Internationale would have to facilitate this maneuver if they wished it to succeed.

The first party to hatch a scheme was the Naval Command of French Canada, who was perfectly poised to respond to the developing crisis. Vice-Admiral Rollo Mainguy proposed sending a heavily armed marine fleet through the San Bernardino Strait in the Philippines, bypassing the strongest fleet concentrations at Singapore and Taiwan. Unlike aetherships, traditional water vessels could avoid long range detection, and would prove less strenuous on fuel reserves. The United States, while not in the war directly, still supported its allies in the NAA, and would likely agree to such an operation so long as their involvement was not discovered. Their supply lines were additionally still unfettered, and local food could be quickly transferred on board before the final stretch of the run. Canada also had an impressive industrial capacity, with many companies holding American contracts to manufacture their military equipment. The Bernardino Plan could simultaneously feed and arm the Democratic Republic of Indochina in one run, allowing them to hold out as the Japanese increased their military presence.

The plan still had a major issue: What would the ships do if they were caught? Civilian vessels could easily be scuttled by the dozen or so patrol cruisers the IJN had drifting through the South China Sea, and any one of them could alert the combined Pact Task force stationed at Hong Kong. Even if they were able to get through, it is likely they would only get one shot at this run, as the Japanese would certainly respond by doubling their active ship counts, and potentially even involve the British. Mainguy’s answer was to fully commit to this single blockade run, and exclusively use armored navy vessels for the transfer. If a battle was all but certain, the best course of action was to expect the need to fight his way out. For this mission the Vice Admiral was assigned eight cruisers, a single battleship, and a carrier filled with fighters designed for surface-to-aether combat. Half of the cruisers in the fleet were slated for refits or decommissioning, and could be easily lost with minimal impact if the operation failed. Mainguy took command of the Quebec, what he felt to be the least conspicuous craft in the event of a firefight. On May 15th, the fleet departed Vancouver under cover of night, beginning its two week voyage across the Pacific.

The first stage of the Bernardino Plan was a complete success, with the fleet arriving on schedule in Hawaii and later the Philippines, where they refuelled and picked up their food deliveries. On May 27th, they left American territorial waters, carefully proceeding into the blockade’s range. The first day went well, with the fleet successfully avoiding detection. On the dawn of the second day however, the fleet encountered the Tenryū, one of the many patrol cruisers sent by Japan, and briefly engaged in a shootout. The Canadian battleship, the Valence, stayed behind to dispatch the cruiser while the rest of the fleet made a break for Indochina, but a message was already wired to Japanese Naval command. The Pact was on its way.

The Canadian fleet arrived at Haiphong just after midnight on the 30th of May, with the Valence only 7 hours behind it. They had wired ahead to the Indochinese Port Authority, who had hundreds of men waiting at the docks to assist in unloading. It wasn't long however before problems arose, as the Japanese joint task force in charge of the Indochinese invasion was stationed just up the coast at Mong Cai. A battle ensued between the Canadians and Japanese, with Haiphong’s naval batteries assisting at long range. While Mainguy succeeded in repelling the enemy, he lost one of his cruisers in the fighting, which unfortunately had not yet been unloaded. The fleet managed to finish unloading the remainder of the ships by nightfall, but they realized they were already too late to flee on open water. The Pact’s main fleet had arrived already, this time with two aetherships assisting them from above.

A little before dawn on the 31st, the Cantonese fleet approached from the northern delta, blocking potential flanking routes. The twin aetherships, the Fusō and Yamashiro, opened fire from above, targeting the Valence. As the Canadian fire was drawn upward, the bulk of the Japanese fleet pushed in. The initial battle on the open water lasted all day, with Mainguy’s fleet battling fiercely. While outnumbered, they were still able to accrue heavy casualties, with all but one of the Cantonese vessels, their flagship the Jardine, being destroyed. With assistance from the Haiphong battery, Canadian aircraft were able to land a lethal blow on the Yamashiro, which plummeted into the harbor. The Cavorine Gas mixed with the oil and munitions of dozens of dead vessels ignited the very coastline, engulfing the battlefield in an aquatic conflagration. The fire burned for days, long after the fighting lulled. Unfortunately for the Indochinese, their Canadian allies failed to hold off the Pact onslaught. Vice Admiral Mainguy himself lost his life in the chaos, after the Quebec was rammed by the Japanese Hiei. The blockade run had been a massive success as far as giving hope to Indochina, but the many thousands who died to do so was a great tragedy for the Internationale.

The combined Pact fleet was not satisfied with simply eliminating the trespassers. While they lacked proof, they suspected American involvement, launching new sanctions against the nation, and embargoing Philippine goods. The loose blockade of the South China Sea was upgraded to a constant coastal presence, with the remaining fleet at Haiphong extending their presence into a full siege. The Fusō deployed its Rikusentai contingent, who assisted the advance of Imperial Army forces to the north of the city. The banks of the Bach Dang River turned into the front for a full Japanese assault, while the naval blockade shelled the city for days on end, waiting for their shield generator to give out. By the time President Nguyen arrived in Hanoi on the 9th of June, the situation was clear to him: A collapse of the front line was imminent, and the capital would soon be in the line of fire. His war was not over.