Euran War
| Euran War | |||||||||
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 Jingdaoese Fleet in the Sandy River Estuary, Southern Eura |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Marshal Xi | |
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| Units involved | |||||||||
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| x1 frigate (all hands lost) | CASA CN-235 x1 Learjet 45 x1 |
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The Euran War, begun in May 2016, saw the small Kingdom of Constancia plunged into war against the far larger and militarily aggressive Jingdaoese Empire. It was a David and Goliath struggle from the outset.
Background
A faux pas unprecedented in modern diplomacy
The conflict derived from the sudden deterioration in relations between the two states in early May 2016, particularly after the passage of the International Recognition Act by the Synklētos, the legislature of Constancia, which charged the Borders Control Agency to compile a list of recognised states based on three identified criteria, these being:
a) Constitutional Government;
b) The holding of a recognised territorial claim on the map of Micras;
c) Reciprocal recognition of the Kingdom and the ruling Basileus.
The manner in which this information was collated was deemed by some foreign governments to be somewhat insensitive, and queries were raised in Natopia and Craitland about the implicit unilateral alteration of the previously established diplomatic relations between their respective countries and Constancia. The Grand Chamberlain of the Court of the Calm Waters, the Natopian Foreign Minister, went so far as to hint at the potential for the repudiation of their recently signed 'Pact of Perpetual Friendship' after being insulted with the receipt of a box tick form to complete. However the most extreme reaction occurred in Jingdao, where the Emperor immediately responded to being labelled a fascist by conferring 'Hun' status on the entire Kingdom of Constancia.[1] This was rather more serious than it sounds as under Jingdaoese law and custom the hun are impure and may be killed or even consumed with impunity. Following this, the Kattei Emperor, Heinrich Rasmus, commanded his nobles in the Imperial Assembly to debate ways to "bring down Constancia".[2] After more outlandish proposals to use atomic weapons to irradiate the land and render it uninhabitable were discounted, debate turned to the prospect of occupying and colonising the small inland Kingdom on the Continent of Eura.
Jingdaoese preparations
The first act of the Imperial Jingdaoese Navy, two days prior to the declaration of war[3], was to dispatch a force of twelve corvettes of the Imperial Navy to the estuary of the Sandy River, a mega river that flowed from Lake Erik in the southern central portion of Euran continental landmass, southwards into the Southern Ocean. Their mission was to identify a channel in the river deep enough for Jingdao's ocean-going capital ships to use to navigate up into Lake Erik and from whence they could roam at will attacking Vey, the lakeside capital of Constancia, as well as other military and civilian targets.
The secondary objective for the reconnaissance force was to install a boom defence cable across the river to interfere with Constancian shipping and inhibit their use of the river.
The Jingdaoese Declaration of War[4], made on the 8th of May, in an emergency session of the Imperial Assembly, by Chancellor Joseph Myksos, cited a fear of encirclement by regimes hostile to its objective of purifying the continent of Apollonia. Whilst not naming those regimes, there could be no doubt that the Imperial Republic of Shireroth, former ruler of Kildare (the largest territorial component of the Jingdaoese Empire) was foremost on the Chancellor's mind as a spate of provocations, such as a poisoning plot and staged terrorist attacks in the Landsraad (the Shirerithian parliament), had led to Kaiser Hjalmar terminating all forms of diplomatic relations with the Empire[5]. The Constancian diplomatic misstep therefore provided Jingdao with an opportunity to sidestep this rebuff by striking towards Eura instead.
"Our Empire, for its existence and self-defense has no other recourse but to appeal to arms and to crush every obstacle in its path." - Chancellor Myksos
Amongst other, less reputable, acts was the decision of the Emperor to violate the usual customs of diplomatic immunity to order the seizure of the Constancian envoy and diplomatic staff for the acting out of a macabre ritual where half the delegation was executed and fed to the other half[6].
Meanwhile, on the evening of the 8th of May, the the Batavian Royal Navy, an auxiliary fleet of one of the Empire's subject states, joined the main fleet of Jingdao at sea en route to the Euran continent. The aircraft carrier HLS Vermeylen, the battleships HLS Gradus, HLS Goburin, HLS Yuandi and HLS Germania's Justice (the Batavian flagship) and the frigates HLS Dietsland, HLS Transingel, HLS Nedergermania and HLS Pentapolis comprised the significant task force.
Constancian preparations
On the 8th of May, Basileusa Megaliótate Cleo, Autokrateira of Constancia, made an address to the Kingdom that was broadcast on the television channels and over the national radio service. In it she reciprocated the Jingdaoese declaration of war with a declaration of her own. In so doing she reminded her subjects that they were a kingdom of free men and women now faced with war against an empire of slaves. During her short, but emotion-laden, address she predicted that Jingdao would 'never ever come to dominate over the freedom-loving peoples of Micras' and that the war would 'restore Constancian authority on the world scene'.
This was followed on the same day by the publication of a decree ordering the mobilisation of the Constancian Navy.[7]
With the assistance of foreign advisers, the Constancian Army began preparing so-called 'infernal machines', improvised explosive devices in waterproofed containers and attached to a buoyancy device, typically a barrel, disguised as drifting weed clumps or debris. The improvised naval mines were fitted with proximity fuses and or remote control detonators and were floated out onto the Sandy River to help impede Jingdaoese access to the inland sea known as Lake Erik.
The following day, on the 9th of May, the Basileusea issued letters patent authorising the destruction of any and all Jingdaoese combat units or 'private aircraft' encountered within Constancian territory. Otherwise the first full day of the war passed without any meaningful activity by either party to the conflict.
On the 10th of May, the Constancian Army began making a series of deployments towards the city of Portus Felix as part of a strategy to defend the Constanican stretch of the Sandy River from Jingdaoese incursions. On the same day the University of Vey announced the formation of a student militia and the creation of the University Air Squadron, a collection of jet prototypes and donated civilian aircraft which would be converted to provide close air support for the Army.
The Constancian Armed Forces had only been created three months previously, and as such found, on mobilisation, that it was suffering from severe deficiencies in organisation, stores, materiel and heavy weaponry. Only the Home Guard had undergone serious expansion since the creation of the armed forces and yet it was primarily concerned with area defence and equipped with light infantry weapons, where these were available.
The Constancian government, as a consequence, began casting around for overseas assistance in securing arms, ammunition and advisers.
Calbain involvement
On the early morning of May 10th, the High Council of Calbion announced that it would militarily support Jingdao and would send two aircraft carriers, the CNS Llywelyn V and the CNS Owain I, to the Euran continent. The vessels were deployed that same day, proving support for a Jingdaoese invasion. In addition to this, the High Council also decreed a partial mobilisation of all Calbain males under the age of 28.[8]
The High Councilor for Foreign Relations further denounced the Constancian nation as "a force of evil" and accused their government of warmongering.
Calbion officially declared war on Constancia later that day in support of Jingdao, an ally and fellow member of the Blackrock Pact.[9]
Natopian involvement
After several pleas of high-placed officials, and the Basileusa of Constancia herself [10], to the Pentheros of the Dozan Bovic Church in Natopia, the Bovic Church decided to support the war efforts of the Constancians with the establishment of the Naval Phalanx. On the 12th, the Phalax joined the fighting at the Constancian side [11].
The war begins
By the 11th of May, the capital ships of the Imperial Jingdaoese Navy, after being delayed by the need to improvise mine-sweeping operations, had reached firing positions in the deep channels of the Sandy River from whence they began a sustained cruise missile bombardment of the Constancian military airfields and radar installations.
The bombardment was intended to suppress the Constancian defences as a prelude to a riverine amphibious invasion led by the Jingdaoese Marshal Xi.
This attack was met by a desperate counter-sortie by the Constancian Navy's reserve of light attack boats, mounting effectively a suicide charge against the screen of armed trawlers and corvettes protecting the Jingdaoese capital ships. Although wreaking havoc upon the escort ships, the attack ultimately failed to penetrate through to the heavy warships or to the troop transports, and this proved to be crucial, as from these the invasion forces now disembarked and, on the 12th of May, began to land in large numbers north of Portus Felix. The resistance of the Home Guard Banda assigned to protect that stretch of the river was spirit and inflicted heavy casualties on the landing forces, however ultimately the Jingdaoese were ashore in divisional and eventually in corps strength formations with armour and artillery in such numbers that the defenders were swept aside and their defences literally bulldozed. From this beachhead the Jingdaoese staged a deft sickle cut southwards isolating the town from the rest of the Kingdom.
Only by desperate fighting was an armoured thrust by the Jingdaoese [insert number] Panzer division prevented from breaching the city walls and breaking into the centre of the town.
The most successful attempt at breaching the defensive perimeter around Portus Felix occurred when Tyrenian special forces, posing as deserters, set off a series of bombs in front of the headquarters of the 49th Bandon of the 9th Infantry Tagma in the Constancian Army, thereby killing around forty-five soldiers. [12]
War crimes
12th of May 2016: Jingdaoese Panzer Division uses non-combatant prisoners as human-shields in attack on Portus Felix [13]. Constancian refugees abducted by Imperial Jingdaoese Navy.
13th of May 2016: Grand Marshal Xi delivered an ultimatum [14] threatening the use of thermobaric (air-fuel) bombs against civilian population centres if Portus Felix continues resistance. Constancian Army uses chemical weapons in an attempt to break siege of Portus Felix.
