The invasion of the United Sates by the Pan-Asian Alliance and the South American Federation in 2039 has few parallels in modern history. The closest example would be Hitler’s invasion of Russia in 1941.
In that year, Germany marshaled approximately three million ground troops in 167 divisions. Two hundred thousand of those soldiers were from satellite nations. The Germans envisioned Operation Barbarossa as a four-month blitzkrieg campaign—a panzer race to the Volga River, sealing off European Russia from its Asian hinterland.
In 2039, Operation Whirlwind dwarfed the German numbers, although it had a similar scope. Seven million Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian and Venezuelan soldiers in 368 divisions would roll across the New Mexico-Texas border. Instead of three Army Groups as the Germans used, Chairman Hong divided the force into three gigantic Fronts.
The concentrations were as follows: Marshal Liang commanded the Third Front. It consisted of two PAA Army Groups, together with General Zhen’s Tank Army. Marshal Wen commanded the Fourth Front with two PAA Army Groups and General Shin’s Tank Army. Marshal Sanchez commanded the SAF First Front, with two SAF Army Groups. Lastly, a South American Federation amphibious force waited in Venezuela to assault the American coastline.
All together, this represented the greatest concentration of military power ever used in a single campaign. The world had never seen such might and it is unlikely that such a mass of men and tanks will ever again drive united toward a goal.
From Military History: Past to Present, by Vance Holbrook:
Invasion of Midwestern America, Phase I, 2039-2040
Chinese Plans. Worsening, worldwide glaciation dominated Chairman Hong’s strategic thinking. Mass starvation was becoming a stark reality for almost every nation, including China. The American heartland with its continued bounty was the world’s most critical asset. The lure of the wheat fields drew Hong’s attention like a magnet and may have warped his judgment.
The grand plan was simple. The Pan-Asian Alliance together with the South American Federation marshaled the greatest invasion force in history—seven million ground troops in Northern Mexico, 368 divisions. They would smash across the Rio Grande as the German Dominion invaded New Orleans and Louisiana. Led by Marshal Liang, one gigantic thrust would use the Rocky Mountains as its western wall, driving north into the American Midwest. The second thrust under Marshal Wen would use the Mississippi River as its eastern wall, also driving north. In the center and linking the two Chinese Fronts was the SAF First Front under Marshal Sanchez. The Canadian border was the end goal of all three field marshals. Vast battles of annihilation would destroy the core of the American Armed Forces in the prairie corridor between the Rockies and the Mississippi.
This conquest would yield to Hong and Greater China the Great Plains wheat fields, and it would divide the United States into two unequal halves. In the following year, if the Americans didn’t sue for peace, Hong envisioned the Western Conquest, from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast. In the third year and campaign, and with German Dominion help, China would complete the American subjection with the Eastern Conquest from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Coast.
Originally set for 12 May 2039 and with the addition of 2 million more ground troops, the timetable for Operation Whirlwind was seriously disarranged by the preemptive attack into California (see Invasion: California). Beginning 21 April 2039, two million Chinese troops smashed against the SoCal Fortifications and drove north into the Golden State. Unprecedented Chinese losses, the paucity of conquered territory and the deaths of Marshals Kao, Nung and Foreign Minster Deng shook the Chinese military and its allied forces, particularly the German Dominion. The need for Chinese reorganization and resupply of stockpiled munitions added many weeks to the original start date of Operation Whirlwind. Instead of May 12, the Midwestern invasion began on 15 June 2039.
American Plans. American forces were heavily concentrated behind the Rio Grande in Texas and New Mexico, with coastline defenses along the southern Atlantic and Gulf States. The lessons in California taught the Americans the need for defense in depth. Mobilized American ground strength approximated five million on the Rio Grande, half a million in California with another million scattered elsewhere, primarily on the Eastern and Southern coastlines. Reserves were available and the formation and training of hastily assembled troops had begun. Although the country possessed the world’s largest concentration of rifles and shotgun, the problem was that more American materiel—tanks, cannons and planes—were desperately needed.
German Plans. American defensive stubbornness in California impressed the