Timeline of Operation Lightning Dawn

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Timeline

• • III.15:
    • Operation Lightning Dawn is launched by Oportia as a pre-emptive strike on the massing forces of the Committee of Euran Salvation.
    • 04:30: Naval Carrier Group Fouche begins coordinated missile barrage against Zeed's air defense installations; tactical surprise completely absent due to intelligence leak. Marine forces from 3rd Battalion attempt amphibious landings but encounter prepared defensive positions and coordinated resistance from Zeedic White Guard and local militias.
    • 05:00: Air assault on Constancian installations begins; Oportian aircraft encounter prepared resistance with dispersed aircraft and repositioned mobile air defense systems. Raids on Asterapolis, Ithonion, and other targets meet carefully prepared defensive traps.
    • 05:30: Hatkrou bombardment commences with ONV Indomitable and ONV Steadfast targeting suspected intelligence facilities.
    • 05:47: Hatkrou Missile Defense Complex launches JAV 100 Checkpoint hypersonic cruise missiles, revealing secret New Alexandrian installation constructed since 1736 AN; ONV Indomitable struck amidships and disabled, ONV Steadfast severely damaged.
    • 06:30: Nouvelle Alexandrie launches devastating counterattack with Javelin F-18 Cyclones from Alduria's CCI facility and Norvind; Vanie left virtually defenseless with 85% of Oportian Security Forces committed to failed Zeed operation.
    • 07:15: First wave of New Alexandrian aircraft reaches Vanie; minimal air defense resistance encountered due to forces committed to Zeed operation. Precision strikes begin against Palais Federal, Department of Internal Security headquarters, and military command centers.
    • 08:00: Second wave of Cyclones joins assault; bombardment of Vanie expands from military targets to critical infrastructure including power plants, communication centers, and port facilities.
    • 10:30: Hatkrou Missile Defense Complex launches additional JAV 100 missiles at strategic targets within Vanie, including military communications center and emergency government bunker where National Salvation Council members had taken shelter.
    • 12:00: Operation transforms from failed offensive into comprehensive military and political disaster; coordination of Zeed withdrawal severely compromised. Rusjar Mechanical Machine-Building Plant remains completely untouched while Oportian forces trapped in multiple theaters.
    • 14:30: New Alexandrian bombardment of Vanie concludes after over four hours of sustained attack; large sections of capital burning with catastrophic civilian casualties exceeding 2,100 killed and 4,800 wounded.
      • The reports of massive civilian loss of life would be greatly played upon by the NSC in the following days in order to bolster the regime in the court of public opinion.
  • III.15: Final casualty accounting reveals 1,247 total Oportian military casualties including 823 killed and 424 wounded, 31 aircraft lost, and 15 naval vessels damaged or destroyed. Infrastructure damage in Vanie assessed at over 12 billion Oportian Mérite.
  • III.16: Natopia and Nouvelle Alexandrie announce full military mobilization against Oportia following Operation Lightning Dawn, with Chancellor Isabella Betancourt and Premier Juan Pablo Jimenez authorizing commitment of all military resources to Committee of Euran Salvation operations under Trans-Euran Command authority; joint naval task force begins positioning near Oportian waters while emergency legislative sessions in each nation prepare formal declarations of military action.
    • The Department of Public Information of Oportia begins broadcasting continuous footage of civilian casualties from the New Alexandrian bombardment of Vanie, with the National Youth Service of Oportia organizing memorial vigils in all 33 federal cities. Youth Service members lead processions carrying portraits of bombing victims while chanting "Never Forget Vanie" and "Defense of the Fatherland." The National Youth Service of Oportia reports a 340% increase in voluntary enrollment applications within 48 hours of the attack.
  • III.17: Emergency CATO Council session results in immediate suspension of Oportia from the organization and initiation of comprehensive economic sanctions. Joseph Fouche blames operation's failure on "systematic betrayal by foreign infiltrators" during closed National Salvation Council session, beginning purges within intelligence services and nationalization of all foreign-owned companies.
    • Fouche delivers a speech from the bombed remains of the Palais Federal, broadcast live across Oportia. Standing amid the rubble with National Youth Service of Oportia members holding Oportian flags, he declares: "They have turned our capital into ruins, but from these ashes rises the steel resolve of the Oportian people. Every crater they have made will become a monument to our resistance."
    • The National Salvation Council announces the "Reconstruction Through Resistance" program, using images of destroyed infrastructure to justify emergency economic measures including expanded rationing, mandatory overtime in defense industries, and the channeling of all available resources toward the war effort.
    • The Congress of Chryse debated authorising the despatch of military aid and volunteers from the Benacian Union to Constancia and Zeed.

See also

• Operation Lightning Dawn
• National Salvation Council
• Joseph Fouche
• 1744 Oportian coup d'état
• Corsair Resurgence
• Committee of Euran Salvation
• Democratic Restoration Committee
• Timeline of the New Oportian State
• Sarbanes-Lopez CyberSecurity
• Hatkrou
• Hatkrou Missile Defense Complex
• Nakhjavani Tower
• Vanie