Disaster at Macao

[PresidentMike]

This article appeared in the September, 1913 edition of Military History Monthly. Please note that a map showing Macao and surrounding area can be found on the final page

The German military defeat at Macao was one of the decisive battles in history. Its impact continues to be felt today, both in the global strategic situation and in German domestic politics.

In the last quarter of the 19th century Germany found itself engulfed in a world war. Facing Germany was Egypt, France and Russia. Although not officially allied with Germany, Japan was also the foe of Egypt and France. Germany, France, Russia and England all shared a continent; Egypt and Japan shared another.

The Japanese were doing quite poorly in the war. Cutoff from the outside world and unable to receive crucial raw materials, such as oil and rubber, the Japanese were being systematically overrun by the Egyptians.

Germany itself was having no such difficulty. Most of the country was situated on a peninsula, which contained most of Germany’s cities and all the resources necessary for waging war. In the north the peninsula was connected to the main continent by a narrow, easily defended strip of mountains. To the west an ocean separated the two continents. To the east a long, narrow bay lay between the “mainland” and three additional German cities. Most of the fighting raged in this narrow strip, particularly in the mountains north of Tiblisi and the grasslands around Hannover.

This battles themselves were small in scale and rather sporadic, consisting mainly of air attacks and minor tank skirmishes. The Russians were not equipped for war and took almost no part in the fighting. The French sent tanks to harass the German cities clinging to the coast, but never made a serious effort to capture them. Even with its relatively small army Germany had no difficult fending off these attacks. In fact most of the military’s striking power, including the navy’s carriers and half the army’s armored divisions, had nothing to do. It was this success that sparked the fateful decision to undertake the Macao expedition.

The war had cut off Germany's supply of several luxury goods, including dyes, silks and spices. All three of these resources were found on the Egypt/Japan continent. The French controlled the silk trade from their stronghold at Delhi, which faced east towards Germany. Japan still produced dye and spice, but lacked a route to export these materials.

The German government thus conceived a plan which it hoped would alter the course of the war. A military expedition, consisting of nearly the entire navy and a sizeable force from the army, would be dispatched to the Egyptian continent. Its mission would be to open a trade route to Japan, seize Delhi and the surrounding silk fields, and drive back the Egyptian forces that threatened to destroy the Japanese. In one stroke Germany would supply Japan with raw materials, gain luxury goods, and defeat its enemies.

The expedition was quickly assembled. The navy would commit both of its aircraft carriers, which deployed with a full compliment of aircraft: four squadrons each of fighters and bombers, representing half of Germany’s airpower. In addition three support groups, half the navy’s total and each consisting of a battleship, a destroyer and a nuclear submarine, would also be dispatched. The initial army commitment was four armored divisions (half of the army’s tanks), two mechanized infantry divisions (1/3 of the mechinf reserve) and two batteries of artillery (1/3 of the army’s guns). Recognizing that the army would have to be expanded if the offensive was to be successful, the government began organizing fresh armored and mechinf divisions, but none of these new units would be included in the initial assault.

This would be the biggest German military operation ever mounted, and the first to fight away from the home continent.

The plan was to land at French controlled Macao, a small city just north of Delhi. Mountains outside Macao would provide cover for the assault force. Once Macao was secured an airport would be quickly built and reinforcements, including the fresh army divisions, would be flown in. Roads and railroads from the city led south towards Delhi and north towards Japan, providing good routes for the invasion force to move inland.

The opening stages of the offensive were a success. Navy aircraft shot down a French bomber and sank two French submarines that attempted to interfere with the landings. The assault force, supported by naval gunfire, overpowered Macao’s small garrison and captured the city. But strong popular resistance prevented the Germans from safely securing the area, and the first of many mistakes had already been made.

With the navy’s aircraft occupied, the army turned towards its artillery to help break through the French defenses. This not only meant that a mechinf division would have to be detached to protect the guns, but also that the troops occupying Macao would not have artillery support if attacked. And attacked they were. Soon after capturing the city Egyptian tanks arrived and in heavy fighting overwhelmed and destroyed the First Mechinf division.

Yet this was only a relatively minor loss. Once the Macao airstrip was built any number of mechinf divisions could arrive as reinforcements. But the next two German decisions, taken almost at the same time, would have major repercussions on the campaign.

With the landings successful, the navy withdrew the only transport ship, reasoning that it would be needed to ferry workers to repair road and rail lines. This bridge burning act left the troops ashore without an escape route if the situation turned sour.

Meanwhile, the German government was growing increasingly concerned that Japan would fall before help arrived. It ordered the assault force to move inland and link up with the Japanese. This move threatened to leave the troops overextended and vulnerable to counterattack.

Despite this risk the army moved quickly. The first target was French controlled Nagasaki, just north of Macao. From there the assault force could turn west towards Egyptian controlled Edo and Izumo and make the linkup with the Japanese.

The elite Fifth Panzer [note: a “panzer” division is actually a modern armor unit], veteran of fighting in the battles around Tiblisi and Hannover, lead the assault. Its commander was the hard fighting Major General Richtoffen. With help from airpower and naval gunfire the Fifth broke through the French defenses and captured the city.

This victory made Richtoffen into a national hero on the German homefront. Impressed by his achievements and under political pressure from its opponents, the government promoted him to Lieutenant General and made him commander of the expedition. From henceforth the Fifth Panzer would be known as Richtoffen’s Division.

Richtoffen, setting up his headquarters at Macao, inherited a dangerous situation. At sea the navy continued to rule the waves and provide air support, but on land the Germans were split in two and vulnerable. The split army also meant that there were not enough troops available to suppress the continued resistance in both captured cities, making it impossible to construct an airstrip. Finally, the small sizes of both Macao and Nagasaki offered the defenders only limited protection against the growing strength of the Egyptian counterattacks.

Recognizing his forces were overstretched, Richtoffen’s first order was to end the planned offensive on Edo, over howls of anguish from the German government. This decision decisively shifted the initiative to the Egyptian forces, which were growing in strength, both in the air and on the ground. Egyptian bombers targeted the single rail link connecting Macao and Nagasaki, hoping to cut it and limit the Germans ability to shift forces from one city to the other. Normally the navy would have provided aircover to prevent this, but the carriers had been called away. The French navy had come out to fight.

Lone French nuclear submarines had made efforts to penetrate the task force’s defenses, but they had been easily detected and sunk. This time however they came in force, both on the surface and beneath it: four battleships and two submarines. Their appearance north of Izumo forced the Germans to move their carriers to meet them. In a savage battle that saw bomber attacks, surface engagements and submarine ambushes, the Germans sank the entire French force for a cost of two battleships, a destroyer and two submarines; several other ships were damaged. Although the price was high, the Germans maintained their naval superiority. Racing back south, the carriers brought their fighters to bear against the Egyptian bombers, and regained aerial superiority over Macao and Nagasaki. Most of the land around Macao had been devastated, but the tenuous link to Nagasaki had been saved.

Meanwhile Richtoffen was using spoiling attacks to ward off the Egyptian armor massing outside his positions. Supported by artillery and the now freed-up carriers, German tanks destroyed several Egyptian armored divisions and forced others to retreat; at the Samida River south of Edo, a counterattack by the Fifth Panzer defeated three Egyptian tank formations, killing two and mauling the third. But the price for this success was high. His units depleted by heavy casualties, Richtoffen folded the remnants of the Second Panzer division into the remaining three. This left him with a force of three armored divisions, a mechinf division and the artillery batteries. Many of the units were not at full strength, weakened by the constant combat. Forced to defend both Macao (First Panzer, Third Mechinf, two artillery) and Nagasaki (Fifth Panzer, Sixth Panzer) the Germans had been unable to concentrate to secure either town. Riots, guerrilla attacks and other resistance prevented the construction of the vital airfield. Operation planners had always anticipated that German reinforcements would be on the ground in strength by this stage of the battle. Instead the assault force found itself outnumbered and outgunned with its back to the sea, unable to retreat or be reinforced.

Richtoffen asked for permission to withdraw from Nagasaki and concentrate at Macao. Berlin refused, arguing that holding both cities diverted Egyptian forces from their campaign against the Japanese. Richtoffen asked to reform and reorganize his force, creating an overstrengthed hybrid unit under his direct command, which would be better suited for repelling attacks. Again Berlin refused, believing such a setup would mean surrendering either Nagasaki or Macao to the enemy. Finally, fearing that his exhausted soldiers would be unable to hold out much longer, he asked for a transport to evacuate them.

The lone German transport operating in this area, the same one that had landed the assault force, had only just returned to Germany and, per the original plan, had taken on four construction crews necessary for creating the Japanese trade route and rebuilding damaged infrastructure. It was a week out of port when it was ordered to return home at full speed, deposit the work crews, and then head for the Egyptian continent. Planners had ordered it emptied to be able to evacuate the entire army, but this decision proved to be a final, tragic mistake. If the transport had proceeded directly to Macao it might have been able to evacuate at least a part of the assault force. Instead it would arrive too late to be of any use.

Macao’s end came first. Even with their advantage in firepower (artillery and bombers) the Germans were unable to keep the Egyptian tanks at bay. Despite heroic resistance a final, sweeping assault overpowered the weakened defenders and captured the city. The artillery positions were overrun so quickly that the gunners did not have time to disable their weapons, which were captured intact. Richtoffen himself was killed defending his command post. A handful of stragglers managed to flee to Nagasaki, but for all intents and purposes two German divisions had been destroyed.

Recognizing that it could do no more, the battered task force sadly sailed for home, leaving the Nagasaki defenders to their fate. The Fifth Panzer managed to stay at full strength by cannibalizing units and equipment, but the Sixth was just a shadow of its former self. Recognizing that it faced attack from both the south and west, the German commanders conceived of a desperate plan. They would abandon and burn Nagasaki, then head north and capture Izumo. With luck they would outdistance their pursuers and break into Japanese territory, where they could rest, refit and await either evacuation or reinforcement.

Although the Fifth was able to get within site of Izumo, the survivors of the Sixth were ambushed and destroyed by an irregular Egyptian unit. Low on ammo, surrounded and with no hope of escape, the men of Richtoffen’s Division grimly dug in and waited for the end; it came swiftly. A violent exchange of shells, the German fire suddenly melting away, a sudden rush of Egyptian tanks and then it was over.

The Macao expedition had been a disaster for the German nation. The army had lost 30% of its strength killed or captured [note: this does not count the reserve formations that acted as city garrisons]. Thousands of young Germans would die in captivity, never seeing their homes again. On the homefront the escalation of the war, combined with the shocking military disaster, gave birth to a massive anti-war movement. Riots and demonstrations broke out in nearly every city, shacking the German government to its core. Only emergency measures, including special tax cuts and funding appropriations, as well as expanded police powers, managed to restore order. Strategically the defeat meant that the Egyptians were free to annihilate the Japanese, which they promptly did. The result was an Egypt that spanned an entire continent and was stronger then ever, controlling all the luxury goods that the Germans had hoped to procure.

In the coming months a second expedition, twice the size of the original assault force, landed at Macao. But its objectives were more modest then saving Japan and establishing grand trade routes. Desperate to end the war, Germany hoped that this new army could win enough victories to bring Egypt and France to the negotiating table. After capturing Macao and the silk fields at Delhi, the troops dug in and waited for the diplomats to do their work. Germany managed to sign peace treaties with all its foes, but it found itself locked out of international trade.

The effects of the Macao expedition continue to be felt today. Terrified by the massive anti-war protests the German government passed a National Police Act, creating a federal police force with the power to monitor and crackdown on dissent during times of war. The economic chaos created by the war left Germany lagging in technology development and desperately working to catch up. Germany now faces a much larger, more powerful Egypt and as a consequence must divert funds towards building a larger military. The disaster at Macao helped alter the global balance of power and remains a cautionary tale of military hubris and mistakes.

[unscratchedfoot]

I like this kind of old-fashioned war story. Nicely written with all the tactics and reasons for them. I hope you write more stories.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

A cracking little tale that