New Year's Offensive

Nationalist troops in house-to-house combat during the Siege of Lo-Trang.

Belligerents| **Provisional National Government** * Wat Dynasty

The **New Year's Offensive** was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the First Zhanun War. The Hội Linh launched a sneak attack on December 28th, 1913, against the forces of the Grand National Army of the Provisional National Government (PNG) and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centres throughout South Zhanundeor. The purpose of the wide-scale offensive by the Hội Linh was to trigger political instability and eventually the collapse of the Nationalist government in Chengquiang, in a belief that mass armed assault on urban centres would trigger defections and rebellions, making an end of the war come much faster.

The offensive was launched prematurely in the early morning hours of 23rd December in large parts of the Heliu River Delta of Central Zhanundeor. This early attack allowed allied forces some time to prepare defensive measures. When the main operation began during the early morning hours of 24th December, the offensive was the largest in the history of the war; eventually more than 600,000 Hội Linh troops struck more than 30 towns and cities, including 9 major settlements & came deadly close to the capital, to the point where the southern capital of Chengquiang briefly came under shellfire. The offensive was the largest military operation conducted by either side up to that point in the war.

Seloi had launched the offensive in the belief that it would trigger a popular uprising leading to the collapse of the South Zhanun nationalist government. Although the initial attacks stunned the South, causing them to lose control of several cities, they failed to regroup, attempted to beat back the attacks, and whilst remaining in systematic retreat inflicted heavy casualties on Hội Linh forces. The popular uprising anticipated by the North never happened. During the subsequent Battle of Heinan, intense fighting lasted for seven months, resulting in the destruction of large parts of the city. During their occupation, the Hội Linh executed thousands of people in the Heinan Massacre. Around the Nationalist port city at Lo-Trang, fighting continued for 537 days.

The offensive was a military defeat for South Zhanundeor, as neither uprisings nor PNG unit defections occurred in the Nationalist government. However, this offensive had far-reaching consequences due to its effect on the views of the First Zhanun War by the South Zhanun public. Emperor Wat Ngọc Thạc released a scathing retrospective on Zhanuntang governance, calling for the end of the Provisional National Government and the restoration of Imperial rule alongside a re-evaluation of the current war situation. This was deeply unpopular across the remnants, and ultimately led to the regions of Gaofeng & Pingyuan agreeing to part ways with the PNG & the Wat Dynasty in 1915, paving the way for the fall of the Wat Dynasty in 1916. Anti-imperial sentiment reached unseen proportions, with student protests in Chengquiang spreading to other cities like Lo-Trang calling for the death of Ngọc Thạc.