Normark-Cerulea war of 1727

Operation Northern Mist
Part of Wars of the Disinherited
Date 22.I.1727 AN – Location Cerulea • Normark Status Ongoing
Belligerents
Raspur Pact  Raspur Pact  Normark (Lead nation)  Nouvelle Alexandrie (Combat aviation and logistical support)	Cerulea
Units involved
Keltia Command  Nordhaer  Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie	People's Armed Forces People's Army People's Air Force People's Navy Red Guard KGB
Strength
Personnel: 321,614 Active service: 106,138 Reserves: 215,476	Personnel: 295,598 People's Army: 51,835 People's Air Force: 18,600 People's Navy: 16,500 Red Guard: 208,645

Background

• 17.XIII.1726 AN: With immediate effect from midnight on the morning of the 17th, all adult male subjects of Normark between the ages of sixteen and forty-five were prohibited from leaving the country. Concurrently, all male members of the House of Einhorn between the ages of fifteen and sixty-five were instructed to return to Elijah's Rest within seventy-two hours of the issuance of the general summons being made.
• 18.XIII.1726 AN: Previously designated border crossings points between Cerulea and Normark are blocked by detachments of the Elian Militia. Ostensibly the closures are to prevent violations of the travel bans instituted on the previous date. Notably these measures were not however implemented on the border between Normark and Mercury.
• 19.XIII.1726 AN: Further declaration of a "National Emergency". The Chief of Operations of the Nordhær instructed 38,417 telecommunications employees and 19,208 postal workers across the realm to send out news of the declaration to the 159 second and third line regiments scattered throughout the far north of Keltia to begin mustering their reservists. The Nordhær requisitioned from Jernbanekompaniet i Normark and Trans-Keltia Railways 5,700 locomotives, 12,500 passenger coaches, and 153,700 freight cars. The mobilisation transports started moving immediately upon their assembly at railway marshalling yards. Effectively disrupting the operation of the Trans-Keltian Express within Normark. Einhorns received at Elijah's Rest by the King: Stefan Einhorn, Valde Einhorn.
• 20.XIII.1726 AN: Amnesty offered by the crown to those living descendants of Riccard Amundsson who would present themselves to the crown as part of the summons of the Einhorns, excluding the sons and daughters of Knotaric, who remained attainted as traitors.
• 21.XIII.1726 AN: Hitherto quiet about events in Normark, the Cerulean government began mobilising its own forces along its long borders with the Green, but with extra focus along the border with Normark and adjacent border areas. Commissar for foreign affairs, Ilia Abram Shvets, decried the Norse provocations and urged calm and peace, as well as a "return to the fruitful cooperative atmosphere that Cerulea and Stormark achieved around the time for the Cerulean Extradition". After that statement, Shvets was asked "Stormark? You mean Normark?", whereupon Shvets replied, "Yes, indeed, but for me, they're pretty much the same. Like Stormark, Normark has a perverse colonial attitude that needs to be stomped out. We need an auspicious occasion to save us from the Stormark-like imperialism we see in Konungsheim."
• 22.XIII.1726–24.XV.1726: Deployments of Nordhær regular forces sees the Red Division and 1st Logistics Brigade of I Corps concentrated at Galvø, whilst the first wave of mobilised reservists were assigned to formations within II (Reserve) Corps and deployed to bailiwicks along the frontier with Cerulea. 30,000 Nordhær personnel, both regulars and reservists, were accordingly assembled at forward deployment points formed out of a series of fortified encampments.
  • During a similar period, Keltia Command identified Cerulean formations including the 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade and the 103rd Separate Guards Airborne Brigade as having been moved into northern Caledonia, estimated as having a combined strength of 6,150 paratroopers.

Campaign

I.1727

• 22:
  • Without the issuance of any prior ultimatum or formal declaration of war, Krlsgorod is bombed by four waves of F-9 Ashavan II aircraft, flying under the insignia of Normark, whilst Nordhær troops cross the frontier into Caledonia from the directions of Eikbu, Galvø, and Slevik.
  • Command and control nodes, as well as critical infrastructure such as international airports and railway marshalling yards, in Kaledonija, Krlsgorod, and Škoda were struck by an unidentified type of ballistic missile, presumed to be variants of the S-3 Schlächter provided to Normark by the Benacian Union.
  • Surviving members of the largely defunct Nordisketing assembled in Elijah's Rest to hear a proclamation from the throne read by the Prime Minister, Ragnar Filip Tarjeisson. "Having long heard the groans of our Nordic cousins, who languish under the foul tyranny of false egalitarianism, we, mindful of our duties as humanists towards our neighbours, are committed to the liberation of our kin and the establishment of a reorganised nation under our protection and tutelage."
  • The Cerulean People's Air Force claimed to have shot down twelve intruding enemy aircraft during the day's series of air raids for no losses of their own.
• 23:
  • Bulletin from Keltia Command stated that three enemy aircraft had been engaged and "forced to ground" during the course of the previous day's sorties, in turn acknowledging one allied aircraft as having returned in a damaged condition whilst another had been regretfully lost owing to mechanical failure, with efforts to recover the pilot being ongoing.
  • A storm system developing over Lake Caledonia restricted air operations by both sides, with planned air raids against targets in and around Krlsgorod being cancelled.
  • 3rd Brigade of Foot, advancing along the Galvø axis in northern Caledonia, reported to be heavily engaged in fighting against border guards under the command of the Cerulean KGB.

II.1727

• 1:
  • Elements of the Cerulean 19th Mechanised Brigade, reinforced by mobilised reservists of the Red Guard, begin to concentrate around Kaledonija.
  • Impacts from multiple suspected short-range ballistic missiles reported in Jelsinga. Electronic communication and information networks are "throttled" in the immediate aftermath, most probably in an effort to prevent the circulation of images of destruction or news of civilian casualties.
  • Detachments from the 38th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade begin to engage the 3rd Brigade of Foot in forested and wintery conditions, where movement on both sides were impeded by heavy snowfall - a consequence of the previous day's storm.

International reaction

•  Aerla: The news of war between Normark and Cerulea was a call for concern for the government in Noursala, always paranoid of regional instability reaching their doorsteps. Curiously enough, several Noursala Military-Industrial-marked crates of weapons and ammunition were observed being transferred over the Normark and Aerla's shared border near Port Aerla.
•  Floria: Floria has called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict and would provide refuge to those affected.