Operation Bait Harvest
| Operation Bait Harvest | ||||||||
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| Part of Benacian Reconquest | ||||||||
 Image grab from the gunner's viewfinder of a Snark attempting to engage an enraged Tee-al disturbed from its siesta. The Snark's black box was recovered two miles from the scene of its destruction. |
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
 Shireroth
| Tyrannocricetus aliger |  Siyachi-Yehudi Brigands Laqi Brigands Old Believers
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| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
| Daniel Dravot
| Pachad ben Mavet
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| Units involved | ||||||||
Shirekeep Garrison
| 486 suspected nesting sites | Siyacher Militerischer Kraft Laxija Aҳatkөrija Әrmija - Laqi National Army Black Rangers (Remnants) Syzygy Partisans (Remnants)
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| Strength | ||||||||
| 60 Sentinels 120 special forces operatives 2,160 naval ratings 3,600 Palatine Troops 5,160 aircrew 57,600 Legionnaires 84,000 Auxiliaries 8 IMW-3 Snarks 50 Horjin Electronic Warfare Vehicles 560 80mm field guns 1,500 Horjin AFVs 12,760 logistics support vehicles 25 F-8 Shrike 240 A-6 Pundarikam 720 A-10 Kambera 1 aircraft carrier 1 cruiser 2 destroyers 3 logistic support vessels 4 submarines | 3,890 breeding adults | |||||||
Operation Bait Harvest was the second pacification drive and Tyrannocricetus aliger containment action undertaken in central Benacia by the forces of the Imperial Republic. The previous incursion, Operation Erebus, carried out in the years 1649–1650, had formed a part of the wider Benacian period of turmoil known as the Struggle for the South.
The Imperial Government, under Steward Kyle Kilynn had expected a swift and unopposed occupation of the littoral provinces of the former Minarborian Empire. However in this he, along side his Minister of the Exterior, Hallbjörn Haraldsson were ultimately to be disappointed.
The ferocity of the permanently enraged Tee-als, the persistently lethal flora and fauna of Whisperwood, the tenacity of the straggling bands of partisans, and a certain amount of improvisational diplomatic footwork had necessitated a swift, if not ignominious, withdrawal from the provinces of Poroly, Lywall and &zeter. Only Lachmeren, Litel and Gloomvale fell permanently into the grasp of the Imperial Republic.
The presently reigning Steward, Liv Dravot, remained resolutely opposed to any further expansion of the imperial frontiers, with sufficient difficulties presently attending in the digestion of western Benacia and the partition of Elwynn. However, in order to placate the extremists in the Imperial Government, led by the Viscount Myn, who constantly railed against the continued existence of the Minarborian Gap, the Steward authorised an operation more limited in scope to exterminate the Tee-al menace to Mishalan and Malarboria and to punish certain warlords who had played an instrumental part in obliging the Imperial Army to retire from Lywall. The price demanded by the Expansionist faction for remaining settled behind defensible frontiers was the head of Pachad ben Mavet.
