1733 Ankh incident

The Ankh incident of 22.XI.1733 AN was a skirmish on the Red Elwynn that occurred as the cold war between the Benacian Union and Shireroth gave way to the Streïur uis Faïren.

Background

The speed with which the Shirerithian conquest of Sathrati had been effected raised serious alarm in Chryse and Ransenar. Visions of a vast armada of small boats assembling in the Guttuli to disgorge unnumbered multitudes of Jing auxiliaries were stoked by the tabloid press. In spite of the waves of mobilisation undertaken in 1730 AN and 1731 AN, and notwithstanding the efforts now underway to restore the East Wall, popular opinion remained greatly disquieted, and a sense of vulnerability permeated almost every layer of government and society.

Amongst the responses of a population now under the shadows of mounting fear was a revival in the militia movement. Volunteers, of their own volition began to organise a "Corps of River Fencibles" at Teldrin during 1733 AN, sponsored by the Honourable Company and the Guild of Factors in the bailiwick. This initiative would be mirrored by similar armed assemblies forming at Borden and Tyrelwynn. In order to ensure that this movement did not escape out from underneath the control of the authorities of the realm, the corps was duly recognised under letters patent issued by the crown in Ransenar and made subject to the Captaincy of the Three Ports. With the main effort of the substantial Riverine Fleet of the BUDF focused upon the Shirekeep blockade, the defence of the River Elwynn below the boom defences at Teldrin would remain largely in the hands of local Ransenari forces, including the new fencibles.

During this time of heightened vigilance, a Shirerithian Gong-class corvette, the IRS Lacrymosa I, was transferred to the Central Armada Command area of operations and passed the Gates of the Guttuli bound northwards for Ankh on 20.XI.1733 AN. Notably, the vessel had a Batavian captain and a majority Jing crew. This being a reflection of the conscious decision of the regime to begin intermingling forces from the eastern and western portions of the Imperium. The Ahmst-bí-Mari (Mair Griþ) of the ship, Leonard Muysson, and his executive officer, the Fiþnan Meng Dong, had cut their teeth clearing naval mines on the approaches to Novi Nigrad during the Sathrati Emergency. The tribune Muysson had developed something of a reputation for his enthusiasm for engaging the improvised explosive devices anchored in the roads with direct gunfire, even going so far as to organise competitions amongst the crew where prizes were given to any man amongst them who could detonate a mine with small arms fire from the side of the corvette. As someone with a now proven appetite for taking his vessel into harms way, Muysson was felt to be the perfect candidate for the task of reasserting Shirerithian rights along the course of the River Elwynn.

At Borden meanwhile, over two-hundred men, chiefly sailors, fishermen and other persons engaged in riverine trade, had enrolled themselves for service with the Riverine Fencibles and of their own initiative taken to arming a half-dozen commercial vessels and numerous small craft for patrol work. After electing their captains and drafting their terms of service and articles of war, these volunteers at Borden had taken it upon themselves to commence their enforcement actions against their chief rivals, the smugglers operating out of the Guttuli river port of Ankh. The tradition of smuggling contraband along course the Red Elwynn had a history dating back nearly a century to the efforts of the earliest incarnation of the ESB Group, operating out of Teldrin which had attempted to enforce tolls upon all riverine traffic in the name of Noor, then reigning as Queen of Goldshire. This initiative had not been well received by the boat captains of Brookshire nor the merchants of Shirekeep and Musica, and ever since that time it had become a customary practice for the boatsmen of the west bank and the east bank of the extort one another in the name of "tariffs". The initial years after the Kalirion Fracture had been a golden age of river brigandage, but the eventual coalescence of new states bound in fidelity to the Raspur Pact, had brought this happy time to an end with the normalisation of trading relations that were expected to be frictionless and tariff free. The smugglers' trade would once more blossom to life however with the closure of the Shiro-Benacian frontier in 1731 AN and the retaliatory blockade of Shirekeep's riverine trade that ensued. Within a few short years Ankh had cornered for itself a controlling interest in the cross-border trade of prohibited illicit goods and refugees passing across the borders in both directions, much to the chagrin of the good folk of Borden who would much rather have taken that role upon themselves, had the cudgellers and the magisters not been watching them so intently. In the time honoured fashion therefore, the newly incorporated fencibles of Borden, having been long unable to partake in a trade, now resolved to suppress it, and deny their rivals on the other side of the enjoyment of that which they themselves were denied.

At dawn on 21.XI.1733 AN the IRS Lacrymosa I was passing Irenaea on the western bank of the Red Elwynn when the first reports of Shirerithian riverine traffic being harassed by Benacian small craft flying Ransenari flags were reported as having occurred during the previous night. That these Shirerithian craft had crossed over to the Benacian bank of the river to offload contraband and receive emigres being smuggled out of the Union-State was left unsaid. During the morning patrol boats flying the ensign of the Imperial Border Guards were sent out from Ankh to monitor the situation. These were obliged to withdraw after coming under rocket and artillery fire from concealed Benacian emplacements along the shore. After retiring back to the Shirerithian side of the river, the regional command of the Imperial Border Guards made a series of requests for support by the Imperial Forces. These were subsequently received by the Imperial Commission for the Defence of Eastern Benacia which authorised the Department of the Guttuli to undertake whatever steps were necessary to deter further Benacian provocations. As show of strength fly-by of four F-9 Ashavan II and a B-80 Cassandrae was carried out up the river and along the line of control between Guttuli and Monty Crisco without eliciting a response from the Benacian side.

At 9 am the IRS Lacrymosa I received orders from Central Armada Command to proceed onwards to Ankh now at full speed and upon arrival to conduct riverine patrols in support of the local forces assigned to the Department of the Guttuli.

Incident

By 5 pm the Lacrymosa had arrived on station off the approaches to Ankh and taken on a local pilot dispatched by the port authorities. The corvette also embarked two files of riverine infantry (sixteen men) from the 18th Legion. These would be able to conduct stop and search missions from the rigid inflatable motorboats carried aboard the corvette. In addition to these sixteen men the Lacrymosa had an onboard complement of thirty-three officers and ratings out of a nominal establishment of forty billets. It would spend the remainder of 21.XI.1733 AN following a doglegged patrol route up to the termination point of nominal Shirerithian control over the western side of the Red Elwynn. By midnight on 21.XI.1733 AN, the Lacrymosa had dropped anchor in mid-channel parallel with Ankh. Pointedly, its 76 mm naval autocannon was trained upon the Benacian side of the river.

The arrival of the corvette had been noted by the Riverine Division of the Ransenari Grouping of Forces on the 21st. Its presence in the region was deemed as a provocation by the Eastern Banner Group of Benacia Command, albeit one that was at present situated within the area of operations for the Southern Banner Group. Heinrich Lavrent, the officer commanding of the Southern Banner Group, based in Florencia and still smarting from the loss of Sathrati in the previous year, hardly regarded the arrival of a single corvette on the edge of his area of responsibility with the same level of interest that the venerable Troy Lyon. Moreover, Lyon additionally double-hatted as both the Deputy Commissioner for War on the High Presidium of the Benacian Union and also the Commissioner for Public Instruction and Safety & Minister of Security on the Civil Executive of Ransenar. As such, although by now unreasonably ancient, like so many of his colleagues, and heavily dependent upon dubious rejuvenation treatments, it would be Lyon and not Lavrent who would take the initiative with regards to the new Shirerithian deployment. With the majority of the Riverine Fleet positioned to support the Shirekeep blockade it would fall to the Captaincy of the Three Ports to follow the directives of Troy Lyon and see off the unwelcome new arrival.

At 7 am the Lacrymosa resumed patrolling on a southwards course. At 8.39 am it was passed by a barge sailing in a northwards direction on the Benacian side of the river. As the barge passed, guards in the green uniforms of the Public Forces of Ransenar appeared on deck and brandished rifles and rocket propelled grenade launchers in the direction of the Lacrymosa as the distance between them closed to within four thousand metres. In response Muysson ordered his crew to general quarters and directed the embarked legionaries to go up on deck with their full armament with instructions to match the posture of their opponents. With the main armament of the corvette being now brought to bear upon the barge, the Benacian vessel hoisted a Ransenari riverine ensign but otherwise sped up and turned towards the east bank of the river, averting the risk of confrontation. With the passage of the barge the order to general quarters was rescinded and the corvette continued upon its course, ultimately turning about to return northwards at 11 am.

Meanwhile the Corps of River Fencibles at Borden had been brought to an alert by reports of the earlier armed confrontation between a grain barge bound for Teldrin and a Shirerithian warship. Orders had been received from the Captaincy of the Three Ports to put out into the river and to drive off the Shirerithian vessel, lest it provide cover for smuggling and infiltration actions across the river. Accordingly three armed merchantmen with six speedboats in tow set out southwards from Borden with the intent to cross the line of control from the north.

At 3.48 pm the returning Lacrymosa encountered the Ransenari flotilla approaching it mid-channel. Muysson ordered the corvette to maintain its course and approach the lead merchantman, whose nationality he challenged over the radio. In response the three Benacian merchantmen raised the banner of the defunct Riverine Forces of Ransenar alongside the flags of the Captaincy of the Three Ports and North Lunaris. Muysson, with the concurrence of his executive officer, took this gesture to be an indication of hostile intent and once again gave the order for general quarters. Furthermore he gave the order over the radio for the three Ransenari merchantmen to stand down and await the dispatch of boarding parties. In response the lead Ransenari merchantman turned towards the east revealing the six speedboats, crewed by river fencibles and each armed with a recoilless rifle and machine-gun. The second merchantman opened fire with a 57 mm cannon whilst the speedboats closed at full speed to within a range where their machine-guns could rake the bridge and decks of the corvette. The Lacrymosa replied in kind, scoring two hits on the second merchantman with its main gun. The river-fencibles aboard the armed merchantmen were less experienced in gunnery than the Shirerithian crew and only managed to score a single hit upon the Lacrymosa in spite of the constant fusillade that all three ships kept up. The speedboats had better luck, scoring four direct hits with their recoilless rifles albeit at the cost of one of their own being blown out of the water in reply by the Lacrymosa. The action would continue for another hour before the Ransenari merchantmen turned about and retired towards Borden. During that time the lead merchantman had received a hit amidship whilst the second and third had both received a hit on the stern and the stern and prow respectively. The Lacrymosa had been struck three further times and whilst Muysson had been keen to pursue Meng Dong had cautioned against a chase into the Benacian controlled stretch of the river where they could be fired upon from both shores. Reluctantly, the Tribune concurred and ordered his ship to put into Ankh for an assessment of damage sustained during the battle. Five of his crew would ultimately be taken off the Lacrymosa on stretchers whilst thirteen of the embarked legionaries, who had engaged in fighting the speedboats from the deck and superstructure of the corvette, had been incapacitated.

On the other side six Benacians had been seen aboard the speedboat that had been destroyed, either killed in the blast or left to their fate in the river. Casualties aboard the armed merchantmen were unknown but blood was at one point claimed to be observed flooding from a ruined porthole in the side of the second ship in their line.

The Ransenari side, having been obliged to retire, might be said to have had the worst of the encounter. Nonetheless, the Shirerithian corvette had endured some credible blows and had ultimately been compelled to break off its patrol in order to undergo a thorough damage assessment.