Benacia Command/Military Operations

Litkov Campaign

(Narrative taken from Inner Benacia article)

The Ś°ecehe Yśehe achieve a string of territorial gains to the west of Bagegeniśort, along a route roughly following the remains of the Minarborian-era road between Sansabury and Lepidopterum. Their successes are assisted by an apparent glut of new weaponry and the periodic destruction of rival hamlets and encampments by sudden explosions, the latter reportedly caused by large projectiles descending from the northeast sky fast enough to impact far ahead of their own sound. In other areas the Ś°ecehe Yśehe engage in an accelerated settlement of outstanding debts with their neighbours, a gesture jarringly at odds with the tight-fisted reputation they had suffered since their tardy tributes to the Dolmen in 1660 and celebrated accordingly. Ś°ecehe Yśehe elders refuse to be drawn on where they obtained their new wealth, or indeed their luck.

Backed by continuing supplies of arms, and following the previous year's actions in those parts of the Western RIB lying north of the 46th parallel, the Ś°ecehe Yśehe begin to exhibit renewed territorial assertiveness in areas between the 155th meridian and the Lepidopteran frontier. Whether this is a result of their contracture by third parties, or a natural consequence of new weaponry allowing them to enforce a level of clan control to which they had long aspired, is unclear - although the uncanny adherence of their operations to the aforegiven grid lines, seemingly regardless of the local topography, does not pass without remark. This new surge of activity, under the general leadership of a charismatic Black Laqi ataman named Varҳat Ҳazedinov, is distinguished by assistance from disaffected Yehudi of the Kust Vakh who survived the Dolmen purges of 1670 and migrated toward the ruined city of Litkov as Shireroth's fleeting control of the area slipped away completely. Haunted by folk memories of the destruction of Nackholm along with more recent episodes of heavy-handed reconnaissance-in-force by the Black Legions, these elements actively collude with Ҳazedinov and the Ś°ecehe Yśehe in a campaign of territorial consolidation focused along the chain of derelict Kasterburgish forts facing Lepidopterum (St. Govert, St. Otto and St. Anna), which serve as command and supply rhizomes for the establishment of a forward line of control along the 155th meridian. The campaign is assisted by an unusual quality of command coordination and signs of an enhanced reconnaissance picture, the latter apparently related to low-level overflights of trouble spots by Buzzard fighter aircraft which occasionally develop into napalm strikes. From the old Kasterburgish forts are emitted infrequent and irregular radar sweeps from ground-based air defence systems, rumoured to be the work of Yehudi Kossars from "up country".

In response to these developments Waldemar Tarjeisson was brought out of retirement to lead the Litkov Expedition with the triple objectives of repelling Black Lach incursions into the Litkov Salient, securing the assets of the Imperial Mission in Kasterburg for the Black Legions, and re-establishing contact with the surviving followers of Adin ben Shmuel, the former leader of a puppet state in Nackholm. Waldemar's request for the support of a legion is refused - with a shortage of available fuel cells cited as the cause. Instead he was instructed to assemble such forces as he could muster and to depart for Litkov by no later than the 1st day of the twelfth month of 1672. A meeting with the Board of the General Staff held on the following day only secured a token release of manpower and equipment in return for the ESB Group agreeing to underwrite costs.

Litkov Campaign
Date 1671 – Location Siyacha
Belligerents
Unified Governorates Siyacha Governorate	Inner Benacia Upland Confederation
Commanders and leaders
Waldemar Tarjeisson	Varҳat Ҳazedinov
Units involved
Central Banner Group Uihmanz Lywall Afzælt Litkov	Ś°ecehe Yśehe Black Laqi Clans Yehudi Clans

Date / Time	Place	Summary of Events & Information	Notes & Appendices

Fall Hengist / Unternehmen Horsa

Fall Hengist / Unternehmen Horsa
Date 05.XIII.1672–12.XIV.1672 AN Location Mishalan Result Ceasefire. Direct control established over southern Mishalan. Zones of control demarcated with Amokolian and Elwynnese forces.
Belligerents
Benacia Command Black Legions
Commanders and leaders
Petras Thrangel
Units involved
Central Banner Group Uihmanz Mishalan II Aviation Division No. 10 Group
Strength
36,149 personnel 556 armoured fighting vehicles 1,122 support vehicles 56 strike aircraft 87 strategic bombers 52 light attack aircraft 40 attack rotorcraft 107 transport aircraft

Officially commenced on 05.XIII.1672, Unternehmen Horsa was the activation of a contingency plan (Fall Hengist) that expanded the remit of the Central Banner Group of Benacia Command in Mishalan from protecting the gravimetric driveyards and assembly lines of Red Bear LLC to securing the entirety of the former dominion so as to allow the resumption of production and to prevent the loss of the site to Amokolian forces exploiting the weakness of the Imperial Regency and indifference of Elwynn.

The second phase of Fall Luikur had already seen lines of communication restored between the Mishalan garrison and the main concentration of the Black Legions around Merensk and Lywall, in spite of this the legions, reorganising after securing the Litel-Gloomburg corridor, would only play a supporting role in an operation that was primarily driven by the cooperation of Aerospace Forces and Inspectorate Troops advancing northwards and eastwards from the Bratva Fortress on the Mishalanski-Inner Benacian border.

Previously, during the course of the first year and a half of the Kalirion Fracture, the Mishalan Garrison, comprising of auxiliaries and the Second Aviation Division, had gone over too Benacia Command, securing the majority of the Imperial hardware and facilities in the region as the protocols of the first phase of Fall Luikur had been implemented with severity against those of their former comrades who refused to affirm allegiance to the Raspur Pact or else had otherwise taken too long in their deliberations on which side to join. In spite of this success, the garrison had proven unable to secure the vital gravimetric driveyards and, under continual harassment by partisans in the surrounding countryside, had been obliged to make to with making the Red Bear facilities inoperable before retiring southwards towards the fortified border zone facing onto Inner Benacia where the majority of their depots, emplacements, and forward operating bases, had been concentrated. From these positions they went on to quietly secure a zone of occupation approximately 68,688 square kilometres in area straddling the border and centred upon the minor trading post of Ketekgorod and the considerably more formidable Zitadelle Bratva, a former training encampment of the Konkordskaya Bratva, which had been expanded in the twenty years after the Auspicious Occasion to become a first tier Imperial fortification. From behind this new defensive perimeter, now resupplied by an air-bridge established from Sansabury as well as by "contributions" taken in from the local communities, the garrison had settled down to reorganise, retrain, and wait for the order to resume the offensive.

With only one still under-strength corps - that of the garrison itself - available for immediate use, supported by the aviation allocated to the Central Banner Group, the action would have to be carried out with maximum speed and aggression, with the consequences worked through in the aftermath.

Date / Time	Place	Summary of Events & Information	Notes & Appendices
1672.XIII.05, 08:23	Mishagrad	Representatives of the N&H Cadre in Mishalan gain admittance to the residence of the family of the former Vicereine, and de facto ruler of the region, Aleksandra Volkova. The members of the Volkov family are swiftly informed of the intent of Benacia Command; they have 30 minutes in which to make a submit a request to the Commander-in-Chief for Mishalan's peaceable incorporation into the Unified Governorates of Benacia, on favourable terms. If no suitable answer was given within the allotted span, they alone would be responsible for the fate that befalls the city. The N&H delegation departs at 08:40, having rebuffed pleas, remonstrances, and accusations whilst curtly observing that the clock was ticking. A satellite phone with a sole preprogrammed number was left behind for their use.
1672.XIII.05, 08:45	Mishagrad	1st wave of 24 B-49 bombers arrive over the city flying in tight formation, wheeling above the floodplains of the Blue Elwynn. Armed N&H activists surround the Volkov residence.
1672.XIII.05, 08:49	Merensk	With barely minutes to spare, the frantic Volkov family uses the satellite phone to signal their complete capitulation. The Political Directorate, fielding the call, laid down the terms for collaboration; in return for subsidy, and the appointment of a member of the Volkov family as governor, the clan is to ensure cooperation of clients in all cities across Mishalan with the implementation of the new order.
1672.XIII.05, 08:52	Mishagrad	Obliteration bombing of Mishagrad cancelled.
1672.XIII.05, 09:00	Zitadelle Bratva	The Streïkrupp Wallenstein, a double-regiment strength battlegroup comprised of 106 Horjin AFVs supported by Jackalopes and Whirdlebirbs in the scouting role, crossed out of the Black Legions occupied zone, ploughing through some abandoned villages of no consequence before attaining the road eastwards to Mishagrad.
1672.XIII.05, 10:45	Mishagrad	Aleksandra Volkova, fortified by a mixture of codeine syrup and amphetamines, is brought to the Benacian Data Network hub and radio broadcasting centre, by a mixed force of family retainers and N&H activists. A radio proclamation declares the government overthrown and the authority of the Imperial Regency in Mishalan ended. A Republic of Mishalan is declared, with Aleksandra as President of the Provisional Government, details of which would be announced separately. Her first act, following a script provided by the Political Directorate, to invite the Black Legions to restore order.
1672.XIII.05, 11:20	Mishagrad	N&H activists arrive at the gates of the Palace of the Lieutenancy. The Shirekeep appointed Lieutenant, who had returned to his post after the suppression of the Verionist coup in Shirekeep, had once again decided that discretion was the better part of valour and fled without giving any orders for the direction of resistance against the rising. Bereft of leadership, the Imperial Marshals stacked their arms and were allowed to depart unharmed. The Crypteia detachment however refused to surrender. Encrypted communications traffic, monitored by the Panopticon Bureau dipping into the Benacian Data Network, suggested that the Rapid Response Group was attempting to establish contact with their parent legion.
1672.XIII.06, 07:00	Niu Vena	Leaflets, bearing the nationalist Mishalanski flag on one side and a exhortation to support the new "Republic" on the other, are airdropped over Niu Vena by Jackalope gravimetric transporters hovering over the settlement. A couple of instances are reported where leaflet bundles were thrown over the side without being first unfastened. Reprimands, where appropriate, were issued subsequently.