Entire post is spoiler: Harbin, I turned every stone in this map

[OrangeLark]

This is an interesting city in this game. It is the only playable city outside of Russia in the entire journey ( the only other playable location outside of Russia is the airfield with a lot of Sikorsky Russky Vityaz before Harbin. But it is a military base so everything is Russian anyway )

In the first run I didn't pay as much attention because I struggled to keep everyone alive. I am in Harbin the second time and I decide to wipe everyone off the map and see how this city looks like.

Before arriving in Harbin, there is a smaller village on the map without anything to buy or collect. It is written as Qiqihar on the map but the correct period spelling should be Tsitsihar. Qiqihar is the spelling invented by the communist in the '50s so I refuse to use any communist spelling. ( I still hold the policy of one drop of Red is Red and better Dead than Red )

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3159740551

And when I am in Harbin, the buildings are noticeably more Chinese with red lanterns and shop signs. It says weapon and ammo on this building for example, in traditional Chinese characters. And of course, simplified Chinese characters were invented by the communist party so the same rule of one drop of Red is Red applies and I still refuse to use them.

And of course I am aware of the communist reform of Russian language and even though I cannot read Russian at all, I can tell the difference between the pre-reform and post-reform. Post-reform version looks overly simplified just like the simplified Chinese characters and of course, I still refuse to use them because it was invented by the communist.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3159740804

Sign of this says clothing, gentleman. Well, it doesn't really make sense. I guess it intends to say suits for gentlemen, or tuxedos

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3159740961

Unfortunately Mr Pergler looks cheaply dressed like peasant, he doesn't have his suit on. I guess he shares the same skin as other ordinary villagers

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3159741643

One of the alarm on the east end of the map is around a Cathedral. Amazingly, it isn't just an ordinary Cathedral, it is the Saint Sophia Cathedral! It was the city center of Harbin for many years until the communist took over and used it as a warehouse ( typical for many other places ) thankfully they didn't demolish it like those in Peking (beijing), where cathedrals were burnt and cemeteries were razed flat to be parking lot. I remember seeing somewhere that the Soviet government wrote a memo in modern time (60s or 70s) resentfully about it even though the cemeteries were for the dead White Army. Some buried there were young cadets, not tweeny young but merely mid-teens per modern standard. ( I assume those tweens were either luckier ending up in Shanghai from the broken naval fleet, or just dead in Russia altogether ) I guess when Reds showed up, not only they died young, they wouldn't get to rest after dying neither, either by the Russian or Chinese.

I forgot to have a screenshot of Saint Sophia Cathedral in the game, maybe I will take it next time. There are plenty of both vintage and modern photos about it. Of course, remember to add Harbin when searching. ( and yes, Harbin is an English/Welsh name too. I have a co-worker and her family is Harbin but she has zero connection to Harbin. It is purely a coincidence )

I didn't have in game screenshots because when I was around the Cathedral, I was busy planting two mines to destroy the Renault tank. I wiped every Red soldiers so I could take my time exploring.

There is an interesting detail too,
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3159741352

Before Harbin mission, it is clear both Reds and White are enemy to the Legion at this stage. But it isn't really clear until the last chapter that Belov acts as a villain. In Harbin most players would run to the exit area but I decided to check out the battlefield and maybe say hello to the White, and I wondered what they were doing. Ironically the Reds would only shoot at the White, not the Legion in the north west skirt of the map. So after all the Reds were eliminated, I approached the White and I was surprised my squad machine gunned all remaining White soldiers down also! ( it happened so fast, and I could only capture a screenshot of the White machine gunner ) but for some reasons I don't know, they wouldn't shoot back at the Legion.

So after anything moving is bombed or destroyed or ran away ( I didn't have a good look at the civilians, they just ran after every Red soldier was shot. I couldn't have a glimpse of them if they were Russians or Chinese ) in Harbin, I entered the exit area. ( and even at this point, I still had two artillery strikes left )

And yes, all my soldiers ate too much. Goulash or caviar, soup, whatever were going to waste if not consumed before Vladivostok so I let them eat as much as possible and drank all vodka. No one became alcoholic however

[OrangeLark]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3160413302

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3160413241

In real life

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3160414277

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3160414330

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3160414368

[Stanis]

Well written!
By the way, I found a box of documents in Harbin near the factory. What to do with them?

[OrangeLark]

Originally posted by Stanis:

Well written!
By the way, I found a box of documents in Harbin near the factory. What to do with them?

thank you!

It's been so long since I was on this map. I think it was a document to hand over to someone, which might come into play during the plot a little while later