Dalmacijan Campaign: Difference between revisions

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| conflict    = {{PAGENAME}}
| conflict    = {{PAGENAME}}
| partof      = [[War of Lost Brothers]]
| partof      = [[War of Lost Brothers]]
| image      =  
| image      = [[Image:Captured Dolstier.png]]
| caption    =  
| caption    = [[shire:Babkhi|Babkhi]] conscripts posing with abandoned [[Dolstier I]].
| date        = 12.XV.1654–25.XV.1654
| date        = 12.XV.1654–25.XV.1656
| place      = Dalmacija / Arboria
| place      = Dalmacija / Arboria
| coordinates =  
| coordinates =  
Line 22: Line 22:
| combatant3  =  
| combatant3  =  
| commander1  = {{flagicon image|SANE Flag.png|23px}} Magister-Generalissimus Hasimir Mo'll Steffki
| commander1  = {{flagicon image|SANE Flag.png|23px}} Magister-Generalissimus Hasimir Mo'll Steffki
| commander2  =  
| commander2  = {{flagicon image|Jingdao flag.png|23px}} Abe Anami, ''Jiangjun'' of the Sixth Field Army (1654 - 1656)
{{flagicon image|Jingdao flag.png|23px}} Tzao Yao, Field Marshal (1656)
| commander3  =  
| commander3  =  
| units1      = {{flagicon image|SANE Flag.png|23px}} [[Apollonia Command]]
| units1      = {{flagicon image|SANE Flag.png|23px}} [[Apollonia Command]]
*2nd Army Group
*2nd Army Group
*24th (Nat.) Army
*4th Army Group
*4th Army Group
*3rd Tactical Air Force
*3rd Tactical Air Force
Line 35: Line 35:
*Yobi-gun
*Yobi-gun
| units3      =  
| units3      =  
| strength1  =  
| strength1  = 345,000 Legionaries<br/>810,750 Auxiliaries<br/>428,415 State Troops<br/>125,013 Arborial Volunteers<br/>
| strength2  = 308,310 [[Imperial Armed Forces|IAF]]<br/>1,572,504 Yobi-gun
| strength2  = 308,310 [[Imperial Armed Forces|IAF]]<br/>1,572,504 Yobi-gun
| strength3  =  
| strength3  =  
| casualties1 =  
| casualties1 = 324,537
| casualties2 =  
| casualties2 = Est. 434,000
| casualties3 =  
| casualties3 =  
| notes      =  
| notes      =  
Line 46: Line 46:


(WIP)
(WIP)
==Overview==
By the final month of 1654, the late Natopian entry into the war had opened up a new front. While the war in Floria received a lot of attention, the northern front line proved to be extremely deadly for both sides. Huge losses were counted, while few gains were made. Both sides saw their tactical manoeuvres being halted, often even before the offensive had really started. Mobility was at an all now and made impossible by the destroyed underground. Even the antigrav tanks of the Shirerithians which had been able to levitate across no man's land found that their essential support vehicles, the ubiquitous [[shire:Horjin Armoured Fighting Vehicle|Horjin AFVs]], carrying their supporting infantry, ammunition, and fuel cells were frequently bogged down in the shell-scarred terrain to their rear. The local air supremacy of the Shirerithians hampered the supply lines of the Jingdaoese Armed Forces and hindered Jingdaoese offensives, but the Imperial Shirerithian Air Forces lacked the airlift capacity to keep the mobile legions supplied. A pattern was established whereby the Shirerithian gravimetric armour would achieve a breakthrough, secure a location for a time but then be obliged to withdraw, usually within the 48 hour lifecycle of their armoured vehicles onboard fuel-cells, as their supply situation deteriorated and Yobi-gun human-wave attacks began to eat away at the edges of the hastily established defensive perimeters.
Some breakthroughs and gains were made in 1655, when an incursion by the [[shire:Imperial Army|Exercitus Comitatenses]] led to the capture of Setouchi and caused the collapse of the western lines as the 2nd Army Group poured auxiliary reinforcements into the corridor opened by the advance of the legions. The 6th Field Army was shattered and its remnants were obliged to fall back towards Port Nevermore, which was now isolated from the remainder of the province now in range of Shirerithian artillery. One consequence of this sudden development was that Jingdaoese command and control structures broke down whilst panic infected the civilian population. Mobs besieged food warehouses or else converged upon the port's harbour district in a frantic scramble for places on the last departing boats. The [[Tegong]] was obliged to rush a detachment, reinforced by the 2nd Banner Brigade, via a risky nighttime airlift, into the besieged city to restore discipline by executing looters and "faint-hearts" in the 6th Field Army's command staff. This exemplary and severe punishment had the requisite effect, galvanising the remnants of the 34th and 35th Heavenly Corps, augmented by civilian militia, to hold the outskirts of the city at all costs.
The urban landscape of Port Nevermore proved to be an adverse environment for the Shirerithian Bandersnatches, where the defenders - having despaired of their ineffective 37mm anti-tank guns - resorted to acts of suicidal bravery. One notable tactic was the use of hastily armoured trucks and SUVs packed full with plastic-explosive, jerrycans of petrol and surplus anti-tank munitions, which a martyr-volunteer would then park in an inconspicuous alleyway, disguised as another abandoned vehicle, and wait for enemy hover-vehicles to appear on the main street whereupon the driver would rev up his rigged vehicle and drive it at full speed into the midst of the Shirerithian armoured convoy with the hope of detonating beside or preferably underneath one of the levitating steel behemoths with the hope of using the blast to disable the tank's gravimetric drive or else flip it over crashing it into one of the ruined buildings lining the street.
Ironically most damage to the city's infrastructure, which slowed the Shirerithian advance and aided the defenders by creating a churned landscape of craters and rubble from which to create improvised defensive positions, had been made by the obliteration bombing campaign waged by ISAF Bomber Command after the 3rd Tactical Air Force had gained air superiority over northern Dalmacija. The onset of an unusually severe winter, combined with night harassment raids on Shirerithian supply routes led to the invading force to lose momentum, which allowed the Jing to properly regroup and send in reinforcements.
Although they had come within an ace of capturing Port Nevermore and destroying the 6th Field Army, the Shirerithian Field Army and the Army of Arboria, now found themselves trapped in a war of attrition, losing a third of their established strength to death or injury. Rather than withdraw the decimated cohorts and worn out regiments to reform and retrain, [[Apollonia Command]] instead fed in a continual flow of [[shire:Corps of Auxiliaries|auxiliaries]] to plug the gaps. Over time the overall fighting quality and professionalism of the legions began to deteriorate. The Jingdaoese defenders, alongside those sent as reinforcements by sea or air, also suffered an appalling rate of attrition. 
Rather than relieve Port Nevermore directly, the IAF opted in early 1656 to launch a counter-offensive against the newly formed 4th Army Group, comprised of Arboreal Volunteers and 3rd line infantry brought over from Elwynn and Goldshire, which now held the allied left flank, extending from north-east of Kuomi all the way to the Senyan border. A bitter back and forth battle ensued which had brought both sides back to where they had started. By then, morale in the Jingdaoese trenches had collapsed and calls for an immediate end of the war resounded loudly among most of the men. Leftist revolutionaries, like Yamato Wei, sparked feelings of rebellion among the (mostly Kildarian) soldiers. The arrest of a Kildarian soldier by a Jingdaoese officer for spreading pamphlets of the socialist movement sparked [[Nivelle Mutiny|a mutiny]].
==Timeline==


==Forces==
==Forces==


===Allied===
===Allied===
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible" border="1"
|+ Initial Forces
! scope="col" |Item
! scope="col" |Quantity
! scope="col" |Loses #1654
! scope="col" |Loses #1655
! scope="col" |Loses #1656
|-
|Legionaries||345,000||4,809 ||102,610||19,006
|-
|Auxiliaries||84,000||5,751||26,970||2,051
|-
|Arborial Volunteers||24,000||7,298||12,439||384
|-
|M1639 Stahlhelm||357,000||.||.||.
|-
|Survival Machete|| 277,200||.||.||.
|-
|Combat Knife|| 376,800||.||.||.
|-
|M14 Fragmentation Hand Grenade|| 1,892,880||.||.||.
|-
|M15 White Phosphorus Anti-Lich Grenade|| 1,892,880||.||.||.
|-
|M16 Mustard Gas Anti-Singer Grenade|| 1,892,880||.||.||.
|-
|M18 Red Smoke Hand Grenade|| 1,892,880||.||.||.
|-
|M1525 9mm Pistol|| 18,480||.||.||.
|-
|M1581 7.62 mm Machine Carbine || 50,160||.||.||.
|-
|M1653 5.5mm Carbine (Semi-Automatic)|| 163,200||.||.||.
|-
|Wren 7.62mm LMG|| 39,600||762||3,883||1,188
|-
|Polybolos .50 HMG|| 4,320||84||296||248
|-
|Tankgewehr 13.2mm Anti-Materiel Rifle|| 1,440||68||444||93
|-
|Hornet Anti-Tank Recoilless Rifle||2,880||.||.||.
|-
|Waspsting Anti-Aircraft Missile Launcher|| 1,440||.||.||.
|-
|82mm Mortar|| 10,560||42||652||257
|-
|80mm field gun ||500||3||56||26
|-
|[[Katzenklavier]] ||600||1||67||345
|-
|Horjin AFV||2,304||184||1,261||167
|-
|Horjin APC||6,576||302||2,789||174
|-
|Horjin EWV||192||0||3||1
|-
|GV(MBT)-1 Bandersnatch||5,568||179||1,550 ||314
|-
|GV(SPG)-2 Jabberwocky||1,536||12||450 ||146
|-
|GV(LU)-3 Boojum||768||0||92||12
|-
|GV(CV)-4 Red Queen||1,824||3||554||51
|-
|GV(CT)-6 Walrus||1,920||1||115||40
|-
|GAV(U)-4 Jackalope (CV)||96||0||12||7
|-
|GAV(U)-4 Jackalope (Utility)||960||2||353||18
|-
|IMW-2 Spidertank||2,784||252||323||600
|-
|IMW-3 Snark||48||1||9||12
|-
|SA-1 “Red Mist” SAM||4,608||138||921||354
|-
|F-8 Shrike||64||11||2||0
|-
|F-9 Ashavan||50||5||0||1
|-
|N-1 (1654 only)||80||20||n/a||n/a
|-
|B-49 Delta (1654 only)||288||38||n/a||n/a
|-
|[[wikipedia:Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]] [[wikipedia:The Fifth Element|Big Badaboom]]||10||.||.||.
|-
|B-66 Vulcan (1654 only)||240||22||n/a||n/a
|-
|AH-1 Dromosker|| 180||7||43||14
|-
|UH-1 Mondesian||180||8||60||22
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible" border="1"
|+ Reinforcements
! scope="col" |Item
! scope="col" |Quantity
! scope="col" |Loses #1655
! scope="col" |Loses #1656
|-
|Auxiliaries||726,750||26,460||42,184
|-
|Arborial Volunteers||101,013||6,363||7,572
|-
|Elwynnese Republican Guard||172,800||5,184||8,883
|-
|Goldshire Regulars||255,615||15,337||31,236
|-
|M1639 Stahlhelm|| 802,764||.||.
|-
|}


===Jingdaoese===
===Jingdaoese===
Line 125: Line 253:
|-
|-
|}
|}
==1653==
===War plans===
Jing plans concerning the defence against and possible invasion of Arboria and Hawshire Dura versus invasion plans and war preparations from the Shiro-Natopians.
==1654==
===Building up the defences===
Everything quiet on the northern front.
==1655==
===Natopian entry into the war===
===Air supremacy===
Successful air offensive almost totally annihilated the entire air fleet of the Jing. The Jingdaoese air-defence and command and control networks were left in total disarray by the sudden loss, however the Sxiro-Natopian forces failed to follow this up with any concerted offensive action, owing to the delays which had accumulated in the mobilisation process as a consequence of the [[Natopian Abduction Crisis]]. Moreover, in spite of these successes the allies only had ninety-eight fighter jets and ten strategic bombers available in Arboria for continuing use. The unexpectedly severe losses endured by the high-tech N-1 fighter against the distinctly low-tech [[Raven IV Model|Raven]], a quarter of the committed force, stymied future Natopian operations. In time the remaining N-1 fighters alongside the majority of assets available to Natopia's Aerospace Command would be called away to the various hot-spots that boiled up during the nebulous and shifting confrontation with [[Passio-Corum]]. In the absence of Natopian top cover the Shirerithian Bomber Command was unwilling further to further large scale raids.
As a consequence the 3rd Tactical Air Force was constrained to limit itself to so-called tip and run attacks, usually launching air to surface missiles or glide bombs from the edges of hostile air space. Given time the Jingdaoese command and control structure reconstituted itself and restored its ground based radar networks to the semblance of operability. Nonetheless the surviving Jingdaoese airframes were obliged for some time to operate from the bases of the Fifth Air Support Corps in southern Dalmacija according the Sxiro-Natopian allies complete air supremacy over Northern and Central Dalmacija (above the 22nd parallel). Although they were unable to follow up by going onto the strategic offensive, the Shirerithians were able to utilise attack helicopters and gravimetric vehicles for reconnaissance missions and night-harassment attacks along the line of contact and towards the rear of the enemy field armies' logistical tail. Moreover the elimination of Jingdaoese ballistic missile capability in northwestern Apollonia removed a threat to the important Shirerithian forward supply base on the island of [[shire:Kezan|Kezan]] and allowed for allied forces, especially the newly raised Natopian levies, to assemble and train in comparative safety to the rear of the frontline.
The Jingdaoese response was the dispatch of sending more troops to the coast line in case of a naval invasion. The 6th Field Army in particular was reinforced by a horde of Yobi-gun and recruits levied by the Young Wandering Society. In the absence of further air raids of comparable scale up to a million personnel, many poorly armed and untrained, flooded into the northern portion of Dalmacija during 1655. An attempt meanwhile to reinforce the Third Battle Fleet with White Wolf Pack 1 & 2 and Buffalo Pack 1 & 2 collided the convergence of Shirerithian and Natopian fleets in what became the calamitous Battle of Carama Bay.
===Dalmacijan Push===
A relative late response by the SANE forces to push through the defences. Attacks are successful and it is feared that Port Nevermore will fall in enemy hands. However, the arrival of the first reserves brings an end to the offensive and a counter attack is held.
====Battle of Kori====
====Battle of Setouchi====
====Battle of Yuanbeichang (Port Nevermore)====
====Counter-offensive====
===Insurrections in the River Warrior's Regio===
A full-out offensive is put to a halt until the River Warriors are suppressed. Senya is blamed for supporting rebels.
==1656==
===Arboria Campaign===
Attempt of the Jing to start its campaign into Natopia.
===First signs of mutiny===
====Yamato Wei's crusade against the war====
The year 1656 proved to be one of several difficulties. The Arboria offensives which were meant to push the SANE forces back on Natopian soil, and split the Natopian territory into two, isolating the troops in New Aquitane from backup in the west, had failed miserably. At enormous costs, the Jingdaoese Armed Forces had retaken their original positions from three years earlier. The offensive into Arboria was anticipated to be, by all means, a fruitless and pointless slaughter. The higher ups were still convinced that the Natopians and Shirerithians would muster their forces on other fronts (in Batavia and against Nova England) and would pay little attention to a front with no real future. None, except for some officers, really believed this.
The supply lines soon started to be overstretched, and the Shirerithian air supremacy hindered any effective offensives. Soldiers at the front, especially new recruits of non-Jing descend, started to get disillusioned. Many of them got the feeling that they were expendable meat shields, used to throw at the enemy without any real plan in mind.
In this political climate several ideologies, which otherwise were harshly suppressed at home by the [[Tegong]], but could now flow freely through the trenches became popular. Some gathered around the rightist group 'Patriotists', while others were fascinated by the charismatic leftist leader, Yamato Wei. Yamato, second son of Tsukono Wei, had been a conscript from the first hour. There was little doubt that his early enlistment was a consequence of his family ties.
In the spring of 1656 Yamato was arrested after a fight between him and a senior officer during his leave. When he was released from prison, after the end of the offensive, he noticed the circumstances had changed: the soldiers who have lived in the trenches had lost hope of a swift victory. The Wei's socialist ideology had taken hold among a lot of people and started to spread.
====The Nivelle Mutiny====
The execution of corporal Nivelle, a Kildarian officer, for not following orders enrages a part of the men and sparks a mutiny.
==Aftermath==
Social unrest in Jingdao, especially in the region around Lake Christoph.


==References==
==References==


[[Category:War of Lost Brothers]]
[[Category:War of Lost Brothers]]

Latest revision as of 08:39, 9 March 2018

Dalmacijan Campaign
Part of War of Lost Brothers
Captured Dolstier.png
Babkhi conscripts posing with abandoned Dolstier I.
Date 12.XV.1654–25.XV.1656
Location Dalmacija / Arboria
Result Stalemate
Belligerents
Shireroth
Natopia
Jingdao
Commanders and leaders
Magister-Generalissimus Hasimir Mo'll Steffki Abe Anami, Jiangjun of the Sixth Field Army (1654 - 1656)

Tzao Yao, Field Marshal (1656)

Units involved
Apollonia Command
  • 2nd Army Group
  • 4th Army Group
  • 3rd Tactical Air Force
Army District II
  • 6th Field Army
  • 7th Field Army
  • 8th Field Army
  • Yobi-gun
Strength
345,000 Legionaries
810,750 Auxiliaries
428,415 State Troops
125,013 Arborial Volunteers
308,310 IAF
1,572,504 Yobi-gun
Casualties and losses
324,537 Est. 434,000

(WIP)

Overview

By the final month of 1654, the late Natopian entry into the war had opened up a new front. While the war in Floria received a lot of attention, the northern front line proved to be extremely deadly for both sides. Huge losses were counted, while few gains were made. Both sides saw their tactical manoeuvres being halted, often even before the offensive had really started. Mobility was at an all now and made impossible by the destroyed underground. Even the antigrav tanks of the Shirerithians which had been able to levitate across no man's land found that their essential support vehicles, the ubiquitous Horjin AFVs, carrying their supporting infantry, ammunition, and fuel cells were frequently bogged down in the shell-scarred terrain to their rear. The local air supremacy of the Shirerithians hampered the supply lines of the Jingdaoese Armed Forces and hindered Jingdaoese offensives, but the Imperial Shirerithian Air Forces lacked the airlift capacity to keep the mobile legions supplied. A pattern was established whereby the Shirerithian gravimetric armour would achieve a breakthrough, secure a location for a time but then be obliged to withdraw, usually within the 48 hour lifecycle of their armoured vehicles onboard fuel-cells, as their supply situation deteriorated and Yobi-gun human-wave attacks began to eat away at the edges of the hastily established defensive perimeters.

Some breakthroughs and gains were made in 1655, when an incursion by the Exercitus Comitatenses led to the capture of Setouchi and caused the collapse of the western lines as the 2nd Army Group poured auxiliary reinforcements into the corridor opened by the advance of the legions. The 6th Field Army was shattered and its remnants were obliged to fall back towards Port Nevermore, which was now isolated from the remainder of the province now in range of Shirerithian artillery. One consequence of this sudden development was that Jingdaoese command and control structures broke down whilst panic infected the civilian population. Mobs besieged food warehouses or else converged upon the port's harbour district in a frantic scramble for places on the last departing boats. The Tegong was obliged to rush a detachment, reinforced by the 2nd Banner Brigade, via a risky nighttime airlift, into the besieged city to restore discipline by executing looters and "faint-hearts" in the 6th Field Army's command staff. This exemplary and severe punishment had the requisite effect, galvanising the remnants of the 34th and 35th Heavenly Corps, augmented by civilian militia, to hold the outskirts of the city at all costs.

The urban landscape of Port Nevermore proved to be an adverse environment for the Shirerithian Bandersnatches, where the defenders - having despaired of their ineffective 37mm anti-tank guns - resorted to acts of suicidal bravery. One notable tactic was the use of hastily armoured trucks and SUVs packed full with plastic-explosive, jerrycans of petrol and surplus anti-tank munitions, which a martyr-volunteer would then park in an inconspicuous alleyway, disguised as another abandoned vehicle, and wait for enemy hover-vehicles to appear on the main street whereupon the driver would rev up his rigged vehicle and drive it at full speed into the midst of the Shirerithian armoured convoy with the hope of detonating beside or preferably underneath one of the levitating steel behemoths with the hope of using the blast to disable the tank's gravimetric drive or else flip it over crashing it into one of the ruined buildings lining the street.

Ironically most damage to the city's infrastructure, which slowed the Shirerithian advance and aided the defenders by creating a churned landscape of craters and rubble from which to create improvised defensive positions, had been made by the obliteration bombing campaign waged by ISAF Bomber Command after the 3rd Tactical Air Force had gained air superiority over northern Dalmacija. The onset of an unusually severe winter, combined with night harassment raids on Shirerithian supply routes led to the invading force to lose momentum, which allowed the Jing to properly regroup and send in reinforcements.

Although they had come within an ace of capturing Port Nevermore and destroying the 6th Field Army, the Shirerithian Field Army and the Army of Arboria, now found themselves trapped in a war of attrition, losing a third of their established strength to death or injury. Rather than withdraw the decimated cohorts and worn out regiments to reform and retrain, Apollonia Command instead fed in a continual flow of auxiliaries to plug the gaps. Over time the overall fighting quality and professionalism of the legions began to deteriorate. The Jingdaoese defenders, alongside those sent as reinforcements by sea or air, also suffered an appalling rate of attrition.

Rather than relieve Port Nevermore directly, the IAF opted in early 1656 to launch a counter-offensive against the newly formed 4th Army Group, comprised of Arboreal Volunteers and 3rd line infantry brought over from Elwynn and Goldshire, which now held the allied left flank, extending from north-east of Kuomi all the way to the Senyan border. A bitter back and forth battle ensued which had brought both sides back to where they had started. By then, morale in the Jingdaoese trenches had collapsed and calls for an immediate end of the war resounded loudly among most of the men. Leftist revolutionaries, like Yamato Wei, sparked feelings of rebellion among the (mostly Kildarian) soldiers. The arrest of a Kildarian soldier by a Jingdaoese officer for spreading pamphlets of the socialist movement sparked a mutiny.

Timeline

Forces

Allied

Initial Forces
Item Quantity Loses #1654 Loses #1655 Loses #1656
Legionaries 345,000 4,809 102,610 19,006
Auxiliaries 84,000 5,751 26,970 2,051
Arborial Volunteers 24,000 7,298 12,439 384
M1639 Stahlhelm 357,000 . . .
Survival Machete 277,200 . . .
Combat Knife 376,800 . . .
M14 Fragmentation Hand Grenade 1,892,880 . . .
M15 White Phosphorus Anti-Lich Grenade 1,892,880 . . .
M16 Mustard Gas Anti-Singer Grenade 1,892,880 . . .
M18 Red Smoke Hand Grenade 1,892,880 . . .
M1525 9mm Pistol 18,480 . . .
M1581 7.62 mm Machine Carbine 50,160 . . .
M1653 5.5mm Carbine (Semi-Automatic) 163,200 . . .
Wren 7.62mm LMG 39,600 762 3,883 1,188
Polybolos .50 HMG 4,320 84 296 248
Tankgewehr 13.2mm Anti-Materiel Rifle 1,440 68 444 93
Hornet Anti-Tank Recoilless Rifle 2,880 . . .
Waspsting Anti-Aircraft Missile Launcher 1,440 . . .
82mm Mortar 10,560 42 652 257
80mm field gun 500 3 56 26
Katzenklavier 600 1 67 345
Horjin AFV 2,304 184 1,261 167
Horjin APC 6,576 302 2,789 174
Horjin EWV 192 0 3 1
GV(MBT)-1 Bandersnatch 5,568 179 1,550 314
GV(SPG)-2 Jabberwocky 1,536 12 450 146
GV(LU)-3 Boojum 768 0 92 12
GV(CV)-4 Red Queen 1,824 3 554 51
GV(CT)-6 Walrus 1,920 1 115 40
GAV(U)-4 Jackalope (CV) 96 0 12 7
GAV(U)-4 Jackalope (Utility) 960 2 353 18
IMW-2 Spidertank 2,784 252 323 600
IMW-3 Snark 48 1 9 12
SA-1 “Red Mist” SAM 4,608 138 921 354
F-8 Shrike 64 11 2 0
F-9 Ashavan 50 5 0 1
N-1 (1654 only) 80 20 n/a n/a
B-49 Delta (1654 only) 288 38 n/a n/a
B-52 Big Badaboom 10 . . .
B-66 Vulcan (1654 only) 240 22 n/a n/a
AH-1 Dromosker 180 7 43 14
UH-1 Mondesian 180 8 60 22
Reinforcements
Item Quantity Loses #1655 Loses #1656
Auxiliaries 726,750 26,460 42,184
Arborial Volunteers 101,013 6,363 7,572
Elwynnese Republican Guard 172,800 5,184 8,883
Goldshire Regulars 255,615 15,337 31,236
M1639 Stahlhelm 802,764 . .

Jingdaoese

Initial Forces
Item Quantity Loses #1654 Loses #1655 Loses #1656
IAF Personnel 302,700 . . .
M15 Adrian helmet 302,700 . . .
P62 Rifle 49,500 . . .
P62 Commando 98,400 . . .
P62 Rifle w/ Grenade Launcher 37,440 . . .
Shirley 9mm Pistol 87,000 . . .
80mm field gun 1,440 . . .
70mm Type 92 Battalion Guns 3,240 . . .
37mm Anti-Tank Guns 216 . . .
Heavy Machine Guns 6,210 . . .
Dolstier I (MBT) 1,689 . . .
Raven IV Model 372 . . .
Jan-van-Gent VII Model 246 . . .
Kurassha Ku-205 138 . . .
Reinforcements[1]
Item Quantity Loses #1655 Loses #1656
Yobi-gun 1,572,504 . .
M15 Adrian helmet 1,720,000 . .
P62 Rifle 431,111 . .
P62 Rifle W/ Grenade Launcher 323,333 . .
P62 Commando 281,159 . .
P62 Covert 258,666 . .
Shirley 9mm Pistol 646,666 . .
P29 Sniper Rifle 116,667 . .
80mm field gun 8,750 . .
Dolstier I (main battle tank) 1,229 . .
Raven IV Model 43 . .
Jan-van-Gent VII Model 57 . .
LAC Buladocga 52 . .


1653

War plans

Jing plans concerning the defence against and possible invasion of Arboria and Hawshire Dura versus invasion plans and war preparations from the Shiro-Natopians.

1654

Building up the defences

Everything quiet on the northern front.

1655

Natopian entry into the war

Air supremacy

Successful air offensive almost totally annihilated the entire air fleet of the Jing. The Jingdaoese air-defence and command and control networks were left in total disarray by the sudden loss, however the Sxiro-Natopian forces failed to follow this up with any concerted offensive action, owing to the delays which had accumulated in the mobilisation process as a consequence of the Natopian Abduction Crisis. Moreover, in spite of these successes the allies only had ninety-eight fighter jets and ten strategic bombers available in Arboria for continuing use. The unexpectedly severe losses endured by the high-tech N-1 fighter against the distinctly low-tech Raven, a quarter of the committed force, stymied future Natopian operations. In time the remaining N-1 fighters alongside the majority of assets available to Natopia's Aerospace Command would be called away to the various hot-spots that boiled up during the nebulous and shifting confrontation with Passio-Corum. In the absence of Natopian top cover the Shirerithian Bomber Command was unwilling further to further large scale raids.

As a consequence the 3rd Tactical Air Force was constrained to limit itself to so-called tip and run attacks, usually launching air to surface missiles or glide bombs from the edges of hostile air space. Given time the Jingdaoese command and control structure reconstituted itself and restored its ground based radar networks to the semblance of operability. Nonetheless the surviving Jingdaoese airframes were obliged for some time to operate from the bases of the Fifth Air Support Corps in southern Dalmacija according the Sxiro-Natopian allies complete air supremacy over Northern and Central Dalmacija (above the 22nd parallel). Although they were unable to follow up by going onto the strategic offensive, the Shirerithians were able to utilise attack helicopters and gravimetric vehicles for reconnaissance missions and night-harassment attacks along the line of contact and towards the rear of the enemy field armies' logistical tail. Moreover the elimination of Jingdaoese ballistic missile capability in northwestern Apollonia removed a threat to the important Shirerithian forward supply base on the island of Kezan and allowed for allied forces, especially the newly raised Natopian levies, to assemble and train in comparative safety to the rear of the frontline.

The Jingdaoese response was the dispatch of sending more troops to the coast line in case of a naval invasion. The 6th Field Army in particular was reinforced by a horde of Yobi-gun and recruits levied by the Young Wandering Society. In the absence of further air raids of comparable scale up to a million personnel, many poorly armed and untrained, flooded into the northern portion of Dalmacija during 1655. An attempt meanwhile to reinforce the Third Battle Fleet with White Wolf Pack 1 & 2 and Buffalo Pack 1 & 2 collided the convergence of Shirerithian and Natopian fleets in what became the calamitous Battle of Carama Bay.

Dalmacijan Push

A relative late response by the SANE forces to push through the defences. Attacks are successful and it is feared that Port Nevermore will fall in enemy hands. However, the arrival of the first reserves brings an end to the offensive and a counter attack is held.

Battle of Kori

Battle of Setouchi

Battle of Yuanbeichang (Port Nevermore)

Counter-offensive

Insurrections in the River Warrior's Regio

A full-out offensive is put to a halt until the River Warriors are suppressed. Senya is blamed for supporting rebels.


1656

Arboria Campaign

Attempt of the Jing to start its campaign into Natopia.

First signs of mutiny

Yamato Wei's crusade against the war

The year 1656 proved to be one of several difficulties. The Arboria offensives which were meant to push the SANE forces back on Natopian soil, and split the Natopian territory into two, isolating the troops in New Aquitane from backup in the west, had failed miserably. At enormous costs, the Jingdaoese Armed Forces had retaken their original positions from three years earlier. The offensive into Arboria was anticipated to be, by all means, a fruitless and pointless slaughter. The higher ups were still convinced that the Natopians and Shirerithians would muster their forces on other fronts (in Batavia and against Nova England) and would pay little attention to a front with no real future. None, except for some officers, really believed this.

The supply lines soon started to be overstretched, and the Shirerithian air supremacy hindered any effective offensives. Soldiers at the front, especially new recruits of non-Jing descend, started to get disillusioned. Many of them got the feeling that they were expendable meat shields, used to throw at the enemy without any real plan in mind.

In this political climate several ideologies, which otherwise were harshly suppressed at home by the Tegong, but could now flow freely through the trenches became popular. Some gathered around the rightist group 'Patriotists', while others were fascinated by the charismatic leftist leader, Yamato Wei. Yamato, second son of Tsukono Wei, had been a conscript from the first hour. There was little doubt that his early enlistment was a consequence of his family ties.

In the spring of 1656 Yamato was arrested after a fight between him and a senior officer during his leave. When he was released from prison, after the end of the offensive, he noticed the circumstances had changed: the soldiers who have lived in the trenches had lost hope of a swift victory. The Wei's socialist ideology had taken hold among a lot of people and started to spread.


The Nivelle Mutiny

The execution of corporal Nivelle, a Kildarian officer, for not following orders enrages a part of the men and sparks a mutiny.

Aftermath

Social unrest in Jingdao, especially in the region around Lake Christoph.

References

  1. ^ Based on conversations with Jonas and the Yastreb ruling on USSO Common Market force generation