Second Elwynnese Civil War/Battle of Amokolia

The Battle of Amokolia, which commenced on 20.XIV.1695 AN, concurrent with the fateful Scouring which saw a limited nuclear exchange destroy seven major cities in Eastern Elwynn, was a strategic offensive launched by Benacia Command aiming to break the deadlock of the Southern Amokolian Front and cut lines of communications between the Free Elwynnese Republic and its Kalgachi allies as well as neutral Batavia.

The air battle

At 7pm on 20.XIV.1695 twenty-five B-67 Shahrukh strategic bombers of the 305 Pathfinder (Electronic Warfare) Regiment, supported by seventy-two F-8 Shrike multi-role strike aircraft of the Central Banner Air Force crossed into Amokolian airspace, escorted by one hundred and forty-four F-9 Ashavan II of the Northern Banner Air Force, and commenced the suppression of enemy air defences, targeting dispersal airfields, ground based radar systems, and surface to air batteries.

Against this overpowering aerial armada the SDF could only scramble four F-9 Ashavan II and a single F-8 Shrike for the defence of the darkening skies over the Southern Amokolian Front. These were joined by sixteen T-2/A-2 Saeqeh and two T-3 Akóntio which joined the battle with no intention beyond distracting the enemy fighter escorts from targeting the more capable interceptors. By this time the news of the events which had transpired out east had rippled throughout the territories of the Free Elwynnese. A recognition had sunk in that the end was at hand. Although the SDF was to claim thirty enemy aircraft shot down in air-to-air engagements, all of them Ashavans from the screening fighter-escorts, it had been a futile gesture as all remaining twenty-three airframes assigned to combat air patrol duties on the Southern Amokolian Front had been swept from the skies.

Throughout the South Amokolian Front thirty-eight Burdock air defence systems obtained from Kalgachia were assigned, of these twenty-nine were identified and destroyed during the course of the night but not before claiming in turn the impressive haul of sixty-nine Ashavans, twenty-three Shrikes, and twenty B-67 Shahrukhs, effectively eliminating the 305 Pathfinder (Electronic Warfare) Regiment as a formation capable of conducting further offensive sorties over enemy territory.

Timeline

• 21.XIV.1695 (dawn):
  • First six cohorts of the Saznan Darneï, supported by the 8^th Brunïak Afzælt-bi-Łoïdi commenced contested airdrop into open country north of Highbloom, successfully establishing a bridgehead in the face of opposition from Kalgachi volunteer formations attached to the XIII Corps of the SDF. Attacking force, consisting of 2,160 stormtroopers, delivered by 100 TR-279 Dront, and afforded close air support by 117 GAV-4(U) Jackalope, and 40 GAV-5(P) Nereid, faced resistance from a mere 7 Malus portable launch units, a single 35mm autocannon, and small arms fire from an assortment of converging Kalgachi and Home Guard units. In spite of this mismatch, the defenders were able to bring down 3 Nereids and 4 Dronts, at the loss of 4 Malus launchers. The assaulting force endured 96 fatalities during the landing.
  • The remaining four cohorts of the Saznan Darneï were delivered by the 6^th Brunïak Afzælt-bi-Łoïdi into what was nominally the Joint UGB-Kalgachi Protectorate of Northbloom. The Kalgachi Northbloom Dragoons having been deployed into the Murtin-Highbloom Gap, the burden of defending the protectorate had fallen upon a mixture of KDF reservists, Church Partisans, and Border Guards. Objectives for the deployed assault force were to isolate Fort Ermingander, and the mysterious entity dwelling within, and to seal the border with Amokolia to prevent any further reinforcements or military equipment passing from Kalgachia into rebel hands. In spite of some scattered exchanges of small arms fire, the arrival of forces under the command of Benacia Command went largely unopposed, with both sides seemingly adhering to a tacit understanding to only act in self-defence so as to avoid any irrevocable breach of the Treaty of Gloomburg.
  • Following a preliminary artillery barrage, regiments from 201^st Streïafzælt "Lachvaþnur" assaulted positions held by the 23^rd Territorial Brigade in the Murtin-Highbloom Gap, breaking through the first line of defences at the cost of 2,642 dead, 1,403 wounded and 262 missing.
• 21.XIV.1695 (morning):
  • With only 2,893 effectives called to muster following the assault, the six regiments of the 201^st faced a determined counterattack by the Northbloom Dragoons at a local disadvantage in terms of numbers and firepower.
  • TBC
• 22.XIV.1695: Streïhvasza Nord, the LII Combined Arms Corps, and LIII Combined Arms Corps, strike deep into Amokolian territory and drive for Highbloom, Murtin, and Mittlere Stadt respectively. Easy progress is made in the north and centre but encountered desperate resistance in the southern sectors strengthened by Kalgachi detachments.
• 25.XIV.1695: Highbloom falls after a four-day siege. UDF armoured formations entered Murtin. Largest tank battle of the war begins in front of Mittlere Stadt as the armoured pincers of the UDF divisions attempting to encircle the city are counterattacked by the 3^rd Mobile Brigade and Area Defence units from the Malexander sector.
• 24.XIV.1695–6.XV.1695: 2^nd Pansararmé sealed SDF resistance into pockets around Mittlere Stadt and Malexander. UDF armoured scouts make contact with elements of the 1^st Pansarmé, encircled for most of the war by the West Amokolian Front, east of Tel-Amok.
• 7.XV.1695: UDF armoured spearheads reach Spring Valley. Counterattacked by elements of SDF X Corps from Thorgilsby.
• 15.XV.1695: LIII Corps crushed the last remnant of SDF resistance in Mittlere Stadt.
• 16.XV.1695–17.XV.1695: 1^st Pansararmé crushed a counteroffensive by the Western Amokolian Front formations of the SDF, and pursued the broken remnants of V Corps from Cherokee to Hyfrost.
• 20.XV.1695: Exhausted and at the end of their supply lines, UDF armoured formations paused their pursuit of the broken SDF on a north-south line that extended from Thorgilsby to Malexander. SDF forces continued to withdraw eastwards towards a defensive line between La Terre and Petersburg that, as yet, remained purely conceptual.
• 21.XV.1695–24.XV.1695: Streïhvasza Nord redeployed from Highbloom to Spring Valley while the 1^st Pansararmé turned about to drive towards Selfoss and thereafter the Batavian frontier.