Nagato Campaign of 3578
Table of Contents
Strategic Overview
When looking at a military campaign, several factors need to be analyzed. These are just three examples, but for the sake of this overview, each of the three are important to understanding this campaign as a whole:
- Where this campaign is located.
- Why it is taking place.
- What are the goals of both sides.
The "where" factor is Nagato Province, an important province that separates the eastern coastal plains from the central coastal plains. Specifically, it is the famous Nagao Pass, which is the one of the key arteries of travel between those aforementioned regions. The Nagao Pass is one of the more frequented mountain passes in the Tazumi Mountain Range, and one of the more well-developed in terms of infrastructure.
For both sides, the Nagao Pass is something that needs to be held or captured. This brings us to the "why" factor. The reason this campaign takes place from a greater strategic picture is discussed here from the perspective of the Bakufu, and here from the side of the Chūshin. But a more detailed explanation is needed to explain this natural question: But, why the Nagao Pass in particular?
The answer that is simple: The coast would have taken longer for the Bakufu to reach, while Nagao is at least half the distance and a much easier march as shown by the map below.
Though the quickest path isn't always the best path in all situations, but for the men of the Bakufu Army, it certainly is because it would allow them to get into the rear of the Chūshin; Giving them freedom of movement towards Ririmugawa to the north, or to the heartland of the Higuchi clan to the south. It is also important to remember that Seitō Taishōgun Mononobe Harumitsu, wanted to end this revolt as soon as possible. Putting out the "flames of rebellion" as he said to his generals before the campaign before they could turn into an "unstoppable inferno."
This leads us to the "What" factor and this is extremely simple too. The Bakufu wanted to capture the pass and drive off whatever Chūshin forces were there. The Chūshin wanted to hold the pass to prevent the Bakufu from entering the interior of their domains.
Opening Dispositions and Movements up till the 6th of Shishanogatsu
Before discussing the opposing forces themselves, the opening moves of both sides going into this campaign and up till the events of the 6th of Shishanogatsu (The date when the first stage of the campaign ended) are explained in full.
Chūshin Movements and Strategy
As was noted here, the Chūshin decided to secure the mountain passes before any engagement back in Hachigatsu. They succeeded despite the protests of several of the local Daimyos, with others like the Nagao clan its enthusiastically joining their cause.
The obvious line of advance from their enemies would be through the Southern Passes, like the Nagao Pass and that is where they concentrated most of their power though they couldn't rule out the pro-Bakufu clans of the Tōkaidō and Tōsandō from launching their own attacks (As they would end up doing). But the overall problem that they faced was that Chūshin forces at the start of the campaign were unconcentrated and divided due to these decisions. They could not concentrate all of their forces in one position or even all of their forces in one region in one area either.
Thus, upon the recommendation of Shizuka Tatsuyuki, they had made the decision that forces concentrated in the mountain ranges would be manned by smaller forces and that their strategic reserves would be placed behind the mountain passes at locations. In theory, this would allow these reserves to reinforce wherever the main attack was going to strike. While this was a rather sound solution, it risked the issue of their forces being defeated in detail.
For example, if the Nagato Corps was defeated by the Bakufu forces before it could be reinforced by the reserves, the reserves would be outnumbered and could also be defeated in a cascading effect. Memories of the masterful Marsen and the Lausitzer campaigns of Pomerlane in 3546 (1112) were fresh on the minds of both sides and would play a major role in some of the decision making of both sides in the coming campaign.
Bakufu Movements and Strategy
The Bakufu march to the north was, upon the recommendation of the Pomeranian émigré Johann Christoph Pomu von Appetzhofen, to be conducted with the Stetige Schnelligkeit associated with Pomerlanian operations of movement. They reached the city of Arisu by the 12th of Jūichigatsu (July 3rd), and then Yuhioka on the 15th (July 6th).
After resting and reinforcing for 3 days at Yuhioka, the decision was made to split the "Heavenly Army of the East" (東の天軍) into smaller two forces. Unceremoniously called "Left Wing" and "Right Wing", they would aim to outflank and force back the Nagato Corps from their advanced positions and cut their path of retreat off before their rendezvous at the key town of Shimogō.
The Right Wing (under the command of Morinaka Tomoyuki) advanced rapidly, drove back the Nagato forces in their wake in a few skirmishes, and quickly reached Shimogō by the 28th (July 21st). This was because the speed of the Left Wing (under the command of Uemura Akimasa) couldn't match that of the Left Wing to close the net on the Chūshin forces. They faced stiffer resistance, abysmal roads, and their commander just simply wasn't up to the task given to him unlike the hard-marching Morinaka.
In any case, once the Left Wing finally reached Shimogō on the 6th of Shishanogatsu (July 29th), they were ready to press on into the Nagao Pass proper and left the next day.
Chūshin Response to the Events of the First Stage
Immediately after the discovery of the Bakufu army's movements on the 13th (July 4th) and upon the news reaching the 2nd Army HQ at Hinoemata on the 26th (July 19th), the reserves started their movements towards the Nagao Pass starting on the 30th (July 23rd). Word was also sent to the Mizugaki Corps (Arriving on the 5th of Shishanogatsu or July 28th) to begin transferring most of its forces north as well, which started its own movements on the 8th (July 31st).
The race was now on to see who would reach the Nagato Corps first.
Opposing Forces
Both armies shared a lot of commonality between them, and thus will be discussed here first before each side can be discussed independently. The basic composition of both armies was the professional troops, the feudal-style formations, and the irregulars. The most important to understand, given that most of each army was composed of them, were the feudal-style forces.
To understand the feudal forces of both sides, one must first look at the feudal structure when it came to warfare. There were two separate categories when it came to this: Shibun and Keihai.
Shibun or Shikaku, was the term for persons with the full social rank as bushi (warrior) class. They were officially allowed to have a family name and carry swords, in contrast with the Keihai. The Shibun can be subdivided into 2 separate classes as well: The Kishi, who were the upper most of this class and allowed to ride horses, and get an audience with the shogun while the Kachi weren’t allowed these privileges. The Kishi were exclusively cavalry traditionally but in recent years, Kachi were permitted to become cavalry in some domains given the need for more cavalry. Kachi infantry still existed, and fought well in melee or as musketeers.
The Sotsu and Gochi were somewhere in-between the Shibun and Keihai, often being low ranking samurai. These two fought largely in line tactics, and were trained reasonably well for feudal troops.
The Keihai were in the old times made up of Ashigaru, but due to the long periods of peace, they had largely disappeared as the common foot soldier. During the events preceding the Heishin war, units resembling the Ashigaru resurfaced however, but nothing like they were in the past in terms of quality. Instead, the modern Ashigaru are mostly levies equipped with basic weapons that their masters grant to them. These weapons could rank from flintlocks if they were lucky, down to spears and pikes.
Another important thing to note is that the size of both armies was larger than any forces that had fought yet during the preceding years, and as such, most commanders did not have experience operating such large formations in battle. This would lead to mistakes on both sides in the upcoming fights.
Bakufu Army
The Bakufu Army was a formidable force on paper, with a good many of its men having spent the last 5 to ten years crushing rebellions. However, whether or not it lived up to its billing against a larger, more organized enemy than anything it had yet faced remained to be seen.
The backbone of the army were the various professionally trained forces that had been raised by the Shogun. Colloquially known as the “Usagi-gumi”, they were drawn from regiments and battalions that had proven themselves to be the best during the various rebellions over the past 8 years. 4 infantry battalions (~3,360 men) were formed after the infamous Marumori Rebellion of 3570 to 3572 (1136 to 1138) to be trained up to the standards of the famous Pomeranian Army, and were armed with the most modern weapons available. Their officers were the first that came from the new “Eden Military Academy” to the Pomerlanian style that was dominating military thought at the time.
Since their first arrival in 3573 (1139), they had proven themselves to be unmatched on the battlefield and the demand for more of them, along with similarly trained cavalry and artillery to complement them. As a result by 3578 (1144),Usagi-gumi had grown to the size of 16 battalions of infantry (~15,120 men on paper, less in reality), 6 squadrons of cavalry (~4,500 horsemen, less in reality), and 8 artillery batteries (~1,600 men along with ~2,400 horses manning 64 guns in theory, less in reality) to complete an entire small Pomerlanian Corps.
But such rapid growth also caused issues. The officer corps simply was not large enough to staff all of the positions. As a result, the minimum training standard for an officer was lowered greatly and many men that would have never been frontline officers in the army were now given such roles. The employment of foreign, mainly Pomeranian, officers was able to help this issue somewhat but this issue reduced the effective combat power of the Usagi-gumi.
Furthermore, the other issue was regarding equipment. Originally, it was envisioned for the Usagi-gumi to be all equipped with the cutting edge Saschenberg rifle-musket that the Pomeranian army was starting to adopt en masse. However, the scant imports and the lackluster production of the licensed form resulted in only ~1,500 being available at the time of the campaign. To compensate for this deficiency, the smoothbore Heydebreck musket, in both its flintlock and percussion cap forms was imported in great numbers. This did make up the deficit, but it should be noted that the majority of the firearms used by the Usagi-gumi were flintlocks, as the percussion lock form was also not widely available (around ~3,000). The artillery was lacking guns as well, having only half the number that its eight batteries should have too.
Nonetheless, the Usagi-gumi were without a doubt the best troops én masse on either side during this campaign.
The rest of the Bakufu army was a mixture of small groups of professionals organized by loyal daimyos, irregulars, and larger feudal style forces of varying degrees of quality. As mentioned above, little difference can be found here between the Bakufu and Chūshin given they both operated under the same structure, in particular with the feudal forces.
The main differences can be found in individual domains or units. The most notable units aside from the Usagi-gumi in the Bakufu army were the famed cavalry of the Ashikaga Domain, and the Shinsengumi.
Ashikaga Cavalry were arguably the best cavalry force in all of the Empire. They rode the fastest and strongest horses, were extremely well trained, and were well equipped. They had proven their power repeatedly over the centuries and still held up strong even by the time of the war thanks to the tenacity of their current Daimyo, Ashikaga Taichirō. Taiga, as he is known by revitalized his Domain’s cavalry through intense training and through combat in previous rebellions. While they are still not as well equipped with modern weapons, and armor as their professional counterparts; little question who would be the victor in a match between the two on the battlefield. They would bring 5,000 horsemen on this campaign, 1,000 shock cavalry, 2,000 mounted riflemen and 3,000 light cavalry.
The Shinsengumi are unique for several reasons. First being that they are professional soldiers to the Shogun that aren’t part of the Usagi-gumi, and for good reason. It is because the Shinsengumi are in many ways an anachronistic development in that they focus largely on melee combat, strict adherence to the Nijicode, and are a group of samurai that allowed worthy commoners to join their ranks. They have been surprisingly effective in battle up to this point, but they largely serve as the Shogun’s bodyguard. They number some 1,000 men.
One other thing of note about the Bakufu army is that they had learned some lessons from past failures, and in such had gathered a large artillery train for this campaign. Along with the guns of the Usagi-gumi, it totaled 262 pieces of artillery; almost thrice that of their opponents.
All in all, the Bakufu army including the Usagi-gumi numbered some 59000 Infantry, 16000 Cavalry and the aforementioned 262 pieces of artillery. Totaling some 75,000 men.
Detailed OOB of the Bakufu Army.
Chūshin Army
The Chūshin army on paper and by experience couldn't match up against the Bakufu army. Not only were they outnumbered locally, and outgunned; but they had no such force like the Usagi-gumi at their disposal. Furthermore, as things stood, their forces were spread out. In spite of all of this, both the commanders and the men of the Chūshin were highly motivated for the fight to come and determined to fend off what seemed to be insurmountable odds. It also goes to say that as things would unfold, the skill of the Chūshin commanders would shine bright.
The army can be divided into three separate forces: Nagato Corps, Mizugaki Corps, and the Second Army.
The Nagato Corps was largely made up of men from the Nagao domain with some small contingents from the Hoshikawa domain as well. Their forces were lead by the Nagao Katsuki, a very skilled tactician and strategist. His family ruled over the southern end of the past for many years, and knew it like the back of their hand. The Nagao forces themselves were very skilled warriors overall, comparable to those of the Higuchi in terms of ability and were dominated by an excess in the Samurai class compared to other domains. Their valiant efforts in the past days were crucial in their escape to the Nagato pass. The Nagato Corps numbered some 13,000 men: 11000 infantry, 2000 cavalry and 21 artillery pieces.
The Mizugaki Corps was similarly to the Nagato Corps made up largely of the Higuchi domain, but also with large contingent from the Hoshikawa domain also attached. Their leader was not Higuchi Fusanosuke, but rather Hoshikawa Daihachi. Higuchi forces were some of the most modern forces in the whole empire, largely being armed with flintlock and percussion capped muskets and even some rifled-muskets. They could be described as second only to the Usagi-gumi in terms of training and ability, but also because of the lack of professional officers that commanded them. Their reputation in part was one of the unspoken reasons why the campaign was sent to the Nagato pass instead of the Mizugaki passes. The greatest issue for this force in the upcoming campaign was not their abilities, but rather would be their march and the elements that would delay their arrival on the field. The Mizugaki Corps numbers some 16,000 men: 14000 infantry, 2000 cavalry and 24 artillery pieces.
The final and most numerous force within the Chūshin order of battle was the Second Army, known more widely the '2nd Righteous Army' (2番目義なる軍隊). It was made up of forces from the Machita, Shizuka, Takamiya, Yūki, and Yosei domains. It was commanded by Higuchi Fusanosuke, with Shizuka Tatsuyuki being his chief of staff and was divided into 2 corps under its direct command: 3rd Corps (第3軍団) under Yūki Chūichi and 4th Corps (第4軍団) under Machita Iemasa. Both of these men were quality leaders; indeed, it was Yūki's idea for the grand strategy of securing the passes that had lead to this. Machita on the other hand, along with his clan, was one of the newer members of the Chūshin alliance. He had marched his domain's forces at great haste to the south and had arrived only 2 weeks before the departure towards the Nagato pass. His choice as leader of the newly formed 4th Corps on the recommendation of Shizuka and Yūki was controversial, as Yosei Nobutada was the popular choice among the other leaders including Higuchi himself but was begrudging accepted given that the young 32 year old had experience fighting overseas with distinction.
3rd Corps was the larger of the two corps, being composed of Shizuka, Takamiya and Yūki forces. The quality of their forces were similar to the bulk of the Bakufu army being feudal in nature with some modern battalions raised by each domains being also present, with the most notable being the 2,000 man unit from the Yūki known as Byakkotai. Around 26,000 men were in 3rd Corps: 22000 infantry, 4000 cavalry and 34 guns.
4th Corps on the other hand was made up of Machita and Yosei forces. Machita forces were of a higher quality, particularly their cavalry, while the Yosei were more in line with the average feudal style quality and lacked modern battalions all together. Around 13,000 men were in 4th Corps: 9000 infantry, 4000 cavalry and 13 guns.
In total, the Chūshin Army numbered ~68,000 men overall: 56000 infantry, 12000 cavalry and 92 guns.
Detailed OOB of the Chūshin Army.
Main Campaign
Nagao's delays. (9th of Shishi. to 20th of Shishi. or July 29th to August 8th)
After a three-days march, the Bakufu army pressed into the pass facing only the Nagato Corps which it outnumbered nearly six to one. In the "dancing" that accompanies warfare, the next 11 days would be dominated by this.
- the Bakufu would find the Nagato Corps entrenched in a position that that would force them to strike them head on with great losses in both men and time.
- The decision would be made march around them or force them to commit to a battle on advantageous terms for the Bakufu.
- A small skirmish would erupt, along with a delaying action before the Chūshin would withdraw to their next position.
- Rinse and repeat.
Progress was made through the pass steadily at this rate, but it became clear by the 17th that this could no longer continue if the Bakufu wanted to defeat their opponents in detail. Thus, the decision was made for an all-out attack on the Nagato positions at Suwa. Lining up on the morning of the 18th, the Bakufu committed 30,000 to this engagement that could be considered the first major battle of the war. The Nagato Corps held strong after three assaults on their positions, but after an artillery bombardment and a fourth charge they were forced to withdraw in good order. Suwa resulted in the loss of a 1/4 of the Nagato corps, roughly 4,000 men at the cost of 3,000 Bakufu. This defeat forced Nagao to withdraw further and deeper into the pass, and after a few more delaying actions on the 19th and 20th, he made his way to the rendezvous point at Kaneyama reaching it by the 23rd with the Bakufu hot on his heels.
Fortunately for him, the rough terrain and snowfall had made the cavalry of the Bakufu unable to exploit his weakness during this time and much to his relief, the 3rd Corps waiting for him at Kaneyama with the 4th Corps one day away. This first stage was a correctly seen by some of the Bakufu army as where the campaign was ultimately lost. Bad weather, rough terrain, stubbornness, and skill from Nagao had ended their opportunity to be able to defeat the Chūshin in detail. Messengers were sent rapidly to the south requesting that the army gathering around the Iwaki canal be sent north immediately along the coast to Amagasaki to force Chūshin reinforcements to be directed towards that threat, but it would take a while for this to happen.
The choice for the Shogun was either to force some sort of engagement at Kaneyama, which could not be bypassed or put the positions of the Chūshin under siege while he awaited for the southern army to force something around Amagasaki while he gathered more reinforcements to break the position. In a game where time was working against him, and where he had become increasingly distrustful of his vassals, the former was the clear choice. After 6 days of much needed rest, planning and preparations: The Battle of Kaneyama was about to begin.