How did the PRC successfully invade the United States?

[RetroAmerica]

One point of the Fallout Timeline that always gave me the moment of pause and had me scratching my head was how the PRC managed to launch a successful invasion of the United States.

It might have been answered somewhere in the Fallout Bible, but can anyone answer these:

Was the PLAN (Chinese Navy) a blue water fleet?

When the PLA landed in Alaska, did they have any support elements at all and if so were they of Soviet origin, or did they develop their own land force away from Soviet style technology and doctrine?

Did the PLAAF provide any air support during the conflict at all?

 

[Tagaziel]

Was the PLAN (Chinese Navy) a blue water fleet?

Unknown, but it's highly likely. Given that the Navy had a submarine that washed ashore in San Francisco, it's a pretty strong indication they did. You don't build a single sub just for show.

When the PLA landed in Alaska, did they have any support elements at all and if so were they of Soviet origin, or did they develop their own land force away from Soviet style technology and doctrine?

The USSR is never mentioned in conjunction with China, only the PRC is. As such, there's no reason to assume that the Soviets participated in the invasion of Alaska. During World War II, the German embassy staff in Washington was interned, while the Soviet consul in L.A. was granted a spot in Vault 13. You don't extend that courtesy to representatives of hostile foreign powers.

Did the PLAAF provide any air support during the conflict at all?

It must've. The sim shows Chinese bombers, though its reliability is unknown.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I'll have to take a couple of liberties, but here goes...

Chinese Naval Forces. Operation Anchorage holotapes mentions heavy naval bombardment - so they'd need big ships, possibly battleships. Also, to invade Alaska in force from an 'Asian' port (China proper, Korea or even Russian Far East) we're talking about a blue-water navy. (Go and look at a Pacific-centric world map, and remember that we're not talking about sailing on Lake Michigan either.) Yes, they might have been able to seize an US port on the Aleutian Islands (if the WWII ones still existed), but then why the hell would the US forces in Anchorage be so surprised by the invasion?

Support Forces. Anchorage is one of the few natural ports in Alaska; it's doubtful they would have just scraped up a division and gave the invasion 'a whirl'. So, it would be a full Army Group; artillery, tanks, engineers, support staff etc. And as they were after the oil, they would have brought loads of engineers and kit to get those wells pumping again.

Origin of Chinese Designs. Their rifle is obviously a AK-variant (as in RL) but their pistol is a 'Broom-handle' Mauser (as used by Nationalist China in the '20s). As China is mentioned to be Communist, it's somewhat safe to assume that China got aid from the USSR in the 1950's, then developed their own designs from there (just like RL). The Soviets seem to be neutral; as the US would have bent over backwards to get the USSR to plunge into Manchuria in the darkest days after the fall of Alaska.

Chinese Doctrine. Hard to tell due to lack of hard information, but I'd guess they've kept to the strategy developed between 1930-1950. Guerilla warfare to harass the enemy's rear when heavily outnumbered, then mass 'human waves' to surround an enemy and overwhelm it, regardless of losses.

 

[RetroAmerica]

Was the PLAN (Chinese Navy) a blue water fleet?

Unknown, but it's highly likely. Given that the Navy had a submarine that washed ashore in San Francisco, it's a pretty strong indication they did. You don't build a single sub just for show.

When the PLA landed in Alaska, did they have any support elements at all and if so were they of Soviet origin, or did they develop their own land force away from Soviet style technology and doctrine?

The USSR is never mentioned in conjunction with China, only the PRC is. As such, there's no reason to assume that the Soviets participated in the invasion of Alaska. During World War II, the German embassy staff in Washington was interned, while the Soviet consul in L.A. was granted a spot in Vault 13. You don't extend that courtesy to representatives of hostile foreign powers.

Did the PLAAF provide any air support during the conflict at all?

It must've. The sim shows Chinese bombers, though its reliability is unknown.

The PLAAF bomber is definitely a unique design though in a way it does seem to remind me of something out of the experimental aircraft which the Red Army toyed around with in the 30's.

Also, if I'm recalling this correctly wasn't it hinted at or mentioned in either Fallout 1 or 2 that the PLAAF had used a variant of the Tu-95 as their main long ranger bomber aircraft?

I'll have to take a couple of liberties, but here goes...

Chinese Naval Forces. Operation Anchorage holotapes mentions heavy naval bombardment - so they'd need big ships, possibly battleships. Also, to invade Alaska in force from an 'Asian' port (China proper, Korea or even Russian Far East) we're talking about a blue-water navy. (Go and look at a Pacific-centric world map, and remember that we're not talking about sailing on Lake Michigan either.) Yes, they might have been able to seize an US port on the Aleutian Islands (if the WWII ones still existed), but then why the hell would the US forces in Anchorage be so surprised by the invasion?

Support Forces. Anchorage is one of the few natural ports in Alaska; it's doubtful they would have just scraped up a division and gave the invasion 'a whirl'. So, it would be a full Army Group; artillery, tanks, engineers, support staff etc. And as they were after the oil, they would have brought loads of engineers and kit to get those wells pumping again.

Origin of Chinese Designs. Their rifle is obviously a AK-variant (as in RL) but their pistol is a 'Broom-handle' Mauser (as used by Nationalist China in the '20s). As China is mentioned to be Communist, it's somewhat safe to assume that China got aid from the USSR in the 1950's, then developed their own designs from there (just like RL). The Soviets seem to be neutral; as the US would have bent over backwards to get the USSR to plunge into Manchuria in the darkest days after the fall of Alaska.

Chinese Doctrine. Hard to tell due to lack of hard information, but I'd guess they've kept to the strategy developed between 1930-1950. Guerilla warfare to harass the enemy's rear when heavily outnumbered, then mass 'human waves' to surround an enemy and overwhelm it, regardless of losses.

Definitely all believable estimates of the PRC's offensive capabilities, though it does beg the question how Chinese doctrine changed so much from the classic defensive doctrine that we're familiar with in our timeline to the much more aggressive and Soviet inspired doctrine which they adopted in the Fallout Universe.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Chinese doctrine has stressed adaptability and unpredictability for thousands of years; it's mentioned in Sun Tzu's 'Art of War'. Deception and espionage is a cornerstone of this - assassins, misinformation on intentions and troop strengths and luring the enemy into conditions that favour you. This was used in great effect between 1947-1948, where they perfected a tactic called 'pulling the stupid cow', where the Communists would siege an outpost, ambush the relief forces, then allow the relief force's relief force to get into the outpost, then cut it off and either starve it out or throw waves of troops to achieve local superiority. The main reason we've not seen this for so long is the fact we haven't seen Chinese forces fighting a conventional battle since the Vietnam border skirmish of 1980 (I think).