Operation Purple Splendor

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Operation Purple Splendor
Part of the Wars of the Disinherited
Date 11.VI.1717 AN - 1.XIII.1719 AN Location Keltia Result Annexation of former Bassarid territories in Eura and Keltia by Nouvelle Alexandrie Two new regions of Nouvelle Alexandrie are founded: New Caputia and Boriquén Death of King Manco Cápac I and Basileus Giakoumis Defeat of the Dispossessed in Passas.
Belligerents
Raspur Pact  Constancia  Nouvelle Alexandrie Israati-Haifan Defense Force New Order of Rochefort Wakara Pathfinders (after 1718)	Confederacy of the Dispossessed Wakara Pathfinders (1717-1718)
Units involved
Keltia Command Banner Group Santander Banner Group Skerries Banner Group Valencia Banner Group Wechua Keltian Armada

Operation Purple Splendor was a military operation launched by the Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie on 11.VI.1717 AN that lasted through 1.XIII.1719 AN. The operation's purpose was to annex the territories along Nouvelle Alexandrie's borders in the continent of Keltia that had recently fallen into chaos following the slow collapse of Haifo-Pallisican Imperial Trade Union's authority over them. The operation pacified and annexed the affected areas and created two new Regions of Nouvelle Alexandrie, New Caputia and Boriquén.

The relationship between the Haifo-Pallisican Empire and the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie was been marked by a long-standing regional animosity and only a recent history of uneasy coexistence. The weakening grip of the Haifo-Pallisican Empire over its territories in Keltia and Eura and the increasing instability along the shared border, prompted the government of Nouvelle Alexandrie to launch Operation Purple Splendor in Keltia. A separate military operation, named Operation Purple Reign was launched to seize the former Bassarid territories in Eura.

In preparation for the operation, the government of Nouvelle Alexandrie conducted multiple military exercises, including the major exercise Operation Sovereign Borders, to train the military and improve their readiness. These exercises also served as a cover for testing and developing new weapons by several Raspur Pact defense manufacturers, many of them based in Nouvelle Alexandrie.

The Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie, consisting of the Grand Army of the Federation, the Federal Navy, the Federal Air Force, the Federal Coast Guard, the Federal Border Guard, and the Federal Support Corps, were deployed to carry out Operation Purple Splendor across Eura and Keltia. The operation was a massive undertaking. It faced robust opposition from the local population and remnants of the Haifo-Pallisican Empire, known as the Confederacy of the Dispossessed.

Background

The relationship between the Haifo-Pallisican Imperial Trade Union and the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie has been marked by a long-standing regional animosity, with only a recent history of uneasy coexistence. As the grip of the Haifo-Pallisican Empire on its territories in Keltia and Eura began to weaken, the Nouvelle Alexandrie government grew increasingly concerned about the instability along their shared border. In preparation for Operation Purple Splendor, the Nouvelle Alexandrie government carried out multiple military exercises, including the major exercise Operation Sovereign Borders, to train the military and improve their readiness. The exercises also served as a cover for the testing and development of new weapons, to mixed results

The decline of the Haifo-Pallisican Imperial Trade Union began with their economy, started facing serious labor crunches, economic inefficiencies, and serious lack of food production which led to severe famines. Lack of administration and management led to the mismanagement of farms and reduced worker productivity. Problems such as a scarcity of educated workers, saturation of unskilled workers and jobs made obsolete by technology, and poorly trained and educated farmers brought costs up and drove production down. Cumbersome procedures for bureaucratic administration foreclosed the free communication and flexible responses required to deal with the developing economic crisis, in particular issues with worker alienation, lack of innovation, dwindling customers, and unreliable suppliers. Corruption and data fiddling, long a regular practice in the Haifo-Pallisican Imperial Trade Union to project economic prosperity and power, has become such a common practice among bureaucracy that when the economic crisis started affecting the Empire, no one was equipped with the correct information to address it.

Furthermore, the Haifo-Pallisican Imperial Trade Union faced diplomatic isolation as it lost allies and economic trading partners due to its belligerent and hostile attitudes towards most Micran nations. This isolation was exacerbated when Jingdao, a major ally and financial backer of the Bassarids, rejoined Shireroth, leaving the Bassarids without any significant economic or military support.

The first signs of destabilization began in the Bassarid Keltian territories of Passas and the Dependency of Tanah-Baru, with famine, mass unemployment, and localized disease running rampant. Governance started to descend into nothing but survival mode and sheer corruption as leaders and religious leaders realized their regime's downfall was imminent. In a desperate bid to secure their own interests, they began pilfering from state coffers and government stockpiles as much as they could from the state to prepare for their evacuation to Corum, where the Bassarid metropole was centered.

Policymakers and military officials in Nouvelle Alexandrie started to notice the growing instability in Bassarid Keltia and instructed its military to begin preparations for a possible Bassarid collapse. While preparations were initially not prioritized, as the situation worsened, Nouvelle Alexandrie increased its focus on military readiness. The government organized readiness drills, increased ammunition purchases, produced more weapons, and invested in research and development to strengthen its military capabilities in anticipation of what would become Operation Purple Splendor.

Operation

The Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie, consisting of the Grand Army of the Federation, the Federal Navy, the Federal Air Force, the Federal Coast Guard, the Federal Border Guard, and the Federal Support Corps, were deployed to carry out Operation Purple Splendor. The operation was a large-scale military campaign that took place across much of Nouvelle Alexandrie's Keltian southeastern and southwestern borders and was aimed at annexing territories along the borders that had recently fallen into chaos following the end of the Haifo-Pallisican Imperial Trade Union's control over them. These territories later became the 11th and 12th Regions of Nouvelle Alexandrie, Boriquén in the southeast and New Caputia (formerly known as Passas) in the southwest.

Pre-planning

Before launching Operation Purple Splendor, the Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie spent months conducting a secret campaign of espionage and subversion in Passas, the former Bassarid territory that they planned to invade and annex. The main objective of this covert operation was to secure the cooperation or defection of key Passasian figures who could facilitate the New Alexandrian advance and undermine the Bassarid loyalists. These included military commanders, local officials, high government officials, tribal leaders, religious authorities, and influential businessmen. To achieve this, Nouvelle Alexandrie relied on its contacts and allies among the native Keltian populations living in Passas, who had long suffered under Bassarid oppression and discrimination. These Keltians acted as intermediaries, informants, and saboteurs, reaching out to sympathetic or dissatisfied Passasian figures and convincing them to join or surrender to Nouvelle Alexandrie rather than resist its invasion. Many of them agreed to do so, either out of fear, greed, or genuine support for Nouvelle Alexandrie’s cause. Some of them were offered incentives such as money, protection, amnesty, or positions of power in the new administration. Others were threatened with exposure, arrest, torture, or death if they refused to cooperate. As a result, Nouvelle Alexandrie slowly gained valuable information on the resistance strength and locations of the Bassarid loyalists, who started calling themselves the Dispossessed and vowed to fight to the death for the restoration of their fallen empire. The operation also enabled Nouvelle Alexandrie to identify and initial leadership targets of the Dispossessed during high-risk reconnaissance missions conducted by its special forces. These missions involved infiltrating enemy territory, gathering intelligence, sabotaging infrastructure, assassinating key figures, and creating chaos and confusion among the enemy ranks.

The pre-planning for the invasion of Passas involved not only covert operations, but also extensive logistical and diplomatic preparations. The Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie had to mobilize and transport thousands of troops, vehicles, weapons, and supplies across vast distances and hostile terrain. They also had to secure the cooperation or neutrality of neighboring countries and regions to ensure safe passage and access to strategic locations. To achieve this, Nouvelle Alexandrie used economic aid, military assistance, or political concessions to its allies and potential partners. The pre-planning for the invasion of Passas was a vastly complex and challenging process that required careful coordination and execution by Nouvelle Alexandrie.

Role of Caputian and Haifan paramilitary forces

The information obtained by the covert actions by Nouvelle Alexandrie were further facilitated by the organization and deployment of several Caputian and Haifan paramilitary groups that sought vengeance and retribution for their own oppression and violence at the hands of the Bassarid Empire. These paramilitaries would later play a crucial role in overcoming the strong resistance from the remaining Bassarid forces. They provided additional manpower, firepower, and local knowledge to the New Alexandrian forces. They also carried out brutal attacks on Bassarid civilians and collaborators, often with little regard for human rights or international law.

In the lead-up to the invasion and after the Bassarid administration collapsed, a wave of violent riots swept through Passas, triggered by two incidents by Bassarid-aligned military remnants that were perceived as ethnically motivated acts. These acts consisted of attacks on Alexandrian cultural institutions and buildings in Corcovado as well as some sites of worship for local Caputian populations that worship Melusine. The violence quickly spread to other parts of Passas, with Alexandrian, Caputian, and Wechua communities and cultural heritage (churches and monasteries) attacked by crowds of Bassarid citizens, who blamed the collapse of their vast Empire on the native Keltian minorities in Passas. The Bassarid collapse had also induced a famine of such scale, that many Bassarid peoples in Passas embraced their proclivities towards cannibalism and targeted other groups to obtain sustenance for their own communities. Some of the locations that were targeted were ostensibly under the protection of several of the Haifan and Caputian paramilitaries, as well as the developing communitarian groups among Alexandrians developing due to the violence at the time. During the riots and violence, at least 35 churches were damaged, including 18 monuments of culture, which were demolished, burnt or severely damaged.

Invasion

In the days leading up to the invasion, Raspur Pact forces had imposed a no-fly zone over Passas and on the Dependency of Tanah-Baru, with the Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie serving as the main force enforcing the stipulations of the no-fly zones established by the Keltia Command. These no-fly zones were established to protect Nouvelle Alexandrie, neighboring Raspur Pact allies and forces, as well as the native Keltian communities in Passas that were under threat by the Confederacy of the Dispossessed ground and air forces. The no-fly zones forbade aircraft associated with the Confederacy of the Dispossessed or the Bassarid Empire from flying inside the zones, as well as commercial air traffic in the area. During the enforcement of the no-fly zones, several attacks from the Confederacy of the Dispossessed were neutralized by Raspur Pact forces. As time wore on, the attacks would intensify in sophistication and technology, as the vast weapon caches maintained by theHaifo-Pallisican Imperial Trade Union started to fall into the hands of the Confederacy of the Dispossessed. In response to the attacks on Raspur Pact air patrols, Nouvelle Alexandrie's air force launched a bombing campaign designed at specific military targets and infrastructure that slowly began to erode the ability of the Dispossessed to seriously attack patrol aircraft. Air defense systems were specifically targeted by this campaign. These growing attacks, coupled with the developing violence in Passas, and growing public outcry for an intervention in Nouvelle Alexandrie led to the official launch of the invasion.

The operation was launched on 11.VI.1717 AN. The Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie faced stiff resistance from locals that remained loyal to the Haifo-Pallisican Empire and the Confederacy of the Dispossessed. However, the well-coordinated and highly-trained forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie, backed by the paramilitary support from Caputian and Haifan groups, were able to secure significant territorial gains in the early stages of the operation.

Phase One

In the first phase of the invasion started in 11.VI.1717 AN, the New Alexandrian forces focused on securing key border crossings, strategic cities, and critical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, damns, power plants, and communication hubs. The Federal Air Force provided air cover and reconnaissance support, while the Federal Navy patrolled the coastal areas to prevent any seaborne reinforcements from reaching the disputed territories. This phase was largely successful, as the forces were able to secure most of their initial objectives, although they faced fierce resistance from local militias and remnants of the Bassarid remnants and their associated military forces.

Phase Two

The second phase of the operation, beginning in 23.XIV.1717 AN involved securing the remaining contested territories and consolidating the gains made during the first phase. This involved rooting out pockets of resistance and engaging in a series of hard-fought battles with the remaining forces of the Confederacy of the Dispossessed. New Alexandrian forces used a combination of conventional military tactics, counter-insurgency strategies, and psychological warfare to break the resolve of the remaining defenders. During this phase, New Alexandrian forces also focused on winning the hearts and minds of the local population, especially of the Keltian native populations, who were hellbent on obtaining justice through vengeance due to the ongoing terror campaign wrought upon them by the Confederacy of the Dispossessed. New Alexandrian forces provided humanitarian aid, started rebuilding crucial but damaged infrastructure, and worked closely with local leaders to address grievances and start to establish new, stable governance structures that could help stabilize the area and bring order under the New Caputia Provisional Authority.

Post-invasion phase

Insurgency of the Dispossessed

Soon after the second phase of the invasion ended, an energetic insurgency rose from Bassarid remnants and from commercial interests associated with the West Keltian Trade Association. Knowing that no meaningful efforts to retake Passas were being made by the Bassarid Empire, the Bassarid remnants and the West Keltian Trade Association joined the Confederacy of the Dispossessed, fueled by a large cache of sophisticated weapons from the New Zimian War League. From 1718 AN to 1719 AN, the Confederacy of the Dispossessed primarily targeted the Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie, but later started stepping up its attacks on the paramilitaries that were still operating in Passas and collaborating with the New Caputia Provisional Authority.

A full scale sectarian war erupted between the Caputian, Alexandrian and Haifan paramilitary groups and the Confederacy of the Dispossessed in may parts of Passas as the paramilitary groups waged campaigns of vengeance for the actions of the Bassarid Empire and the West Keltian Trade Association, which regularly engaged in piracy that targeted them for centuries - not to mention the cannibalist practices that had Caputians, Alexandrians, and Haifans as their main victims through the West Keltian Season'd Beef Yard. Soon attacks from the Confederacy of the Dispossessed began to target New Alexandrian forces and the developing civil authorities of the New Caputia Provisional Authority.

The insurgents were composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Bassarid units or mixtures opposing the New Alexandrian forces, Raspur Pact supporting forces, and the Caputian, Alexandrian and Haifan paramilitary groups. The insurgents were involved in asymmetric warfare and a war of attrition against the New Caputia Provisional Authority and New Alexandrian forces forces, while conducting coercive and violent tactics against anyone who cooperated with them.

New Caputia Provisional Authority

The New Caputia Provisional Authority (NCPA) was established by Letters Patent of the King on 11.VI1717 AN in order to begin the work of establishing a governing authority over the new territories. It was then that Nouvelle Alexandrie renamed Passas into New Caputia, a name change that surely fueled the rabid insurgency and opposition of the Pallisican people in Passas. The NCPA derives its authority from the Humanitarian Assistance and Protection Act of 1717. Following its establishment, the NCPA vested itself with executive, legislative, and judicial authority over New Caputia from the period of its inception until New Caputia is admitted as a Region of Nouvelle Alexandrie by the Federal Assembly.

1718 Condor One shootdown incident

In 1718 AN, King Manco Cápac I of Nouvelle Alexandrie and Basileus Giakoumis of Constancia passed away in a plane crash over Passaswhile en route to Parap to attend a Chamber of Peers session in Nouvelle Alexandrie. The plane was shot down during their journey by The Gunsmith and ballistics unit of the Confederacy of the Dispossessed. The news of the deaths of King Manco Cápac I and Basileus Giakoumis sent shockwaves throughout both nations, leaving the people of Nouvelle Alexandrie and Constancia in states of grief and disbelief.

Participating Forces

Raspur Pact & Federal Forces

•  Keltia Command
  • Banner Group Santander
    • IV (Santander) Combined Arms Corps
      • Tercio de Extranjeros, 3rd (Santander) Brigade, Constancian Foreign Legion
    • 3^rd Air Fleet
  • Banner Group Skerries
    • VI (Outremer) Combined Arms Corps
    • Zylenisí Command (including Nijima island)
    • Talenore Defense Force
    • 5^th Air Fleet
    • 8^th Ground-based Air Defence Division
    • 9^th Ground-based Air Defence Division
    • 10^th Ground-based Air Defence Division
  • Banner Group Valencia
    • V (Valencia) Combined Arms Corps
    • 4^th Air Fleet
    • 11^th Ground-based Air Defence Division
  • Banner Group Wechua
    • III (Wechua Nation) Combined Arms Corps
    • 2^nd Air Fleet
  • Keltian Armada

•  Trans-Euran Command
  • Susa Banner Command
    • I (Alduria) CAC
    • 511^th Army (Razjania Province)
    • 1^st Air Fleet
    • 2^nd Federal Air Defence Wing
    • Euran Fleet

The Disinherited & Dispossessed

Believed to consist of forces, partially modelled on the New Zimian War League, organised into twelve autonomous corsair fleets, capable of operating at will along the littoral of the conflict zone and across the Sea of Storms in support of local militias comprised of those who stand to be disinherited by the fall of the old regime.

See also

• Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie
• Operation Sovereign Borders
• Operation Purple Reign
• Operation Purple Shroud