Eastern Vengeance | Germanian Theatre

[Kadikistani Union]

Germanian Theatre
Kadiko-Trivodnian Border

The day had finally arrived, the long-awaited clash between the capitalist monarchs of the Trier Concordat versus the Party Secretaries of the Rurikgrad Pact. In retrospect the 'thaw' that followed the last two Crotobaltislavonian crises seemed to be in vain. From the perspective of the Kadikistani Union the Eastern Slavs had tolerated two unpunished Trier incursions into allied Crotobaltislavonia, the first indirectly through General Radek's Coup and the second directly by seizing Crotobaltislavonian Territorial Waters under the guise of environmental protection. But as if these scars were not deep enough it was combined with a long historic series of provocations coming from Amstov, from announcing an end to the constitutional neutrality to leading Trivodnians pleading for membership of the Trier Concordat. The geopolitical ambush that Occitania's membership was, was seen as the latest offensive of the Concordat against the status quo. Concealing the membership of Occitania, geographically encircling the Union's allies in Serenierre, in addition to the ploy of several high-standing Trivodnians to announce their intention for membership, effectively bringing the Trier Concordat to the Union's western borders was all several bridges too far. Ivar had swallowed the incursions, provocations and even the intelligence reports of Retalian, Burgundian and Eiffellandian military personnel operating in Trivodnia, which was in itself a violation of their constitutional neutrality. This war would be devastating, but the Reformists within the All-Union Communist Workers' Party realized that appeasing Trier only made them more reckless and greedy.

The attack on Trivodnia included a large scale aerial campaign, closely followed by four major armoured offensives on the ground and even a small naval component. The honour of drawing first blood would befall General Miktar Kravjetski in charge of the 19th Guards Rocket Army. Besides assisting the 12th Anti-Air Defence Corps in covering the ground offensive from potential aerial counter-attacks, the 12th would fire a total of 400 cruise missiles into their western neighbour at 0200 hours. Approximately 60% of these missiles targetted Trivodnian anti-air defence systems in order to clear the way for the Revolutionary Air Force offensive that would follow. 15% covered strategic bridges, supply lines, known fortifications and defensive positions. Another 22% of the missiles targetted Trivodnian air bases deeper into the country. Given the speed of the offensive it was hoped that while the missiles took care of the furthest away bases, the following air force offensive would deal with those closer to the border before they could get all their capacity airborne. The last 3% were anti-ship cruise missiles meant to target the largest stationary Trivodnian ships in the White Sea.

The airial campaign would be spearheaded by the 1st and 3rd Guards Fighter Aviation Divisions, including assault and fighter aviation regiments and 3 bomber regiments. This first attack wave would engage with all scrambled Trivodnian air force, take out discovered Anti-Air and Anti-Missile systems and strike at the enemy's air bases within 200 km of the border, striking both infrastructure, runways and grounded aircraft. Every time a bombing run was completed a fighter regiment would break-off from the division formations and escort the bomber regiments back for resupplying while the slower rotating fighter and assault regiments would try and maintain air supremacy. But the bomber regiments within the 1st and 3rd Guards Fighters would not be enough. In the rear of the intial air wave were two heavily escorted Bomber Aviation Divisions and the 8th Mixed Aviation Division. Their priority was to take out remaining anti-air/missile sites, static and mobile, target important supply bridges and roads, energy stations, fuel, weapons and ammunition depots, armoured military forces, military infrastructure, eventual targets of opportunity and large Trivodnian troop concentrations.

Simultaneously with the missile strikes a total of 2,700 artillery pieces and 2,000 light and heavy mortars began their barrage of the Trivodnian side of the border. The towed Pjotr-28 and the Zefr-8 made up the bulk of the artillery while the 120mm mortar took up most of the mortar positions. Artillery was placed along side the entire border, but with three heavier battery concentrations were the armoured attack would take place one hour later to soften-up the Trivodnian defences. The northern-most offensive would leave from the southern border of the Olrusk Socialist Oblast and make its way to the Crotobaltislavonian borders. In each of the three majors ground offensives the tank divisions would take the lead, hoping to cross the mountain range as soon as possible. Rather than to take cities or large towns on their way the tanks would surround them and leave the supporting Motor Rifle Divisions to take them after heavy aireal bombardments while the tanks would proceed to their objective.

While the Olrusk Offensive was meant to punch a corridor to the Slavonian allies, two other large offensives would be organized to the West with Amstov as their final objective. A northeastern armoured offensive would leave from the border regions of the Marekt Socialist Oblast in the Krasnislavian SR. They would form the northern wing of the offensive, targetting northern Amstov. The theory would say that they would be joined by the southern wing of the offensive coming from the Bernovsk Oblast, including many Xinhaiese units. This offensive would be the toughest geographically as a mountain range was needed to be bypassed by the armoured divisions as Slebuchya commando's would be dropped in the mountainous border regions to clear out enemy positions that the air force can not reach.

A fourth offensive was the most southern one near the tri-nation crossing with Ruthenia-Galicia, Trivodnia and Kadikistan. They would try and break through to the Polesian Sea and cut Trivodnia off from Ruthenia-Galicia. Once they would be established and secure they would make their way along the Trivodnian Polesian coast and meet up with allied forces in Amstov. Along their way the biggest concern for all the offensives would be a vulnerability for counter-encirclements, prevention measures were taken as the units would only progress if their flanks and rear were sufficiently secured. Speed was the key to ending this conflict rapidly, but not at all costs.

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The largest obstacle for this speed was not only the Trivodnian military, but also the two mountain ranges in parts of the border between Kadikistan and Trivodnia and within the Trivodnian mainland. Except for southern-most offensive to cut Trivodnia off from Ruthenia-Galicia the locations of the offensives were selected because of the relatively flat lands in order to maximize the mobile advantages of the armoured divisions and the motor rifle divisions supporting them. It was still to be seen how the Trivodnian military would respond to the mass subsequent missile, air and artillery strikes and how they would formulate a military answer to the invasion of the ground forces.

In command of this oversized penal expedition was Marshall Radovan Molarjevica, Supreme Commander and Chief of Combined Staff of the Unified Pact Armed Forces, in close communication and co-operation with the other members of the Rurikgrad Pact. It was 0155 hours when he ordered the Kadikistani missiles to be fired along with the inferno caused by the artillery, the latter often equipped with a small variety of special shells depending on the needs of the battlefield. Ten minutes later the Kadikistani RAF started entering Trivodnian air space and attacking their respective targets. Already an hour later the tanks would start rolling in and the paratroopers dropped in the two mountain ranges. A last segment of this 'shock and awe' doctrine was an amphibious assault over the White Sea, but they would wait and prepare until the enemy coastal defences were thinned out and the weather conditions proved more favourably. The day the world had feared for so long had come.

 

[Khemia]

Bernovsk Oblast
Kadiko-Trivodnian Border
0200 “Zero Hour”


The hour of reckoning had come. A joint offensive by Rurikgrad forces, launched immediately following a formal declaration of war, was nigh inevitable. The main offensive would be from the north, spearheaded by three Kadikistani armies pushing to Crotobaltislavonia, Amstov, and beyond. The southern thrust was left to Xinhaiese units, supported by modest numbers of Kadikistani units who’d serve to garrison any captured land.

Although the People’s Republic of Xinhai had announced the mobilization of much of its forces a week prior, many of the units mobilized had yet to arrive at the front lines. They were arriving at a significant pace – entire air fields had been shut down but for the arrival of personnel by air, the Trans-Kadikistan Railroad was closed to commercial use as tanks glutted its aging length. The 1st Armored was almost entirely deployed to the region, but it was not at full operational effectiveness yet. As such, it’s component brigades, the 9th and 15th Armored Brigades would join the 21st, 32nd and 54th Motor Rifle Brigades, already deployed to the Trivodnian border for more than a week, in the opening phase of the offensive. They were joined by the 143rd Long Range Missile Brigade, 168th Air Defense Artillery and the 151st and 183rd Rocket Artillery Brigades.

The strategy for this front, given its weaker status, would necessitate finesse until the full force of the Xinhese deployment could come to bear. As such, the opening barrage of the Xinhese units was not as brutal as the Kadikistani, but the strikes were perhaps a bit more calculated given the more limited resources available. The 143rd‘s long range missiles were deployed further back from the front. This was necessary to prevent them from being shot down during their vulnerable launch phase. Their targets were shipping facilities along the Polesian through which potential supplies could reach Trivodnia from Eiffelland via Bergenheim. They would reach their terminal phase over the Inner Sea, significantly reducing the probability of shoot-down as they rocketed towards near-hyper sonic speeds.

The 9th, 21st and 54th, deployed back from the frontline, were to be held in reserve while the 15th and 32nd served as the forward maneuver elements. A mere two brigades, these units still comprised more than one hundred of the most modernized

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and two hundred and fifty

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combined with three thousand ground troops. They were supplemented by an additional six thousand Revolutionary Guards, having been more swiftly deployed by all civilians means possible and currently equipped with little more than rifles, ammunition and the basic necessities. Rumors held that even these forces would begin to be augmented by the infamous Shemed militias in the coming days, but there was no proof that the martyr brigades had yet arrived to the front.

The forward maneuver elements were to push along the Inner Sea towards Kretyn under cover of cruise missile fire. A tepid advance to say the least, units were ordered to skirmish with hostile contacts and allow swift retaliation from the 151st and 183rd Rocket Artillery brigades and supporting airstrikes from the Kadikistani Air Force. Revolutionary Guards units would cross on foot in the expanse between Zarkazeni and Kretyn, ostensibly with the objective to push to the Polesian if possible as a skirmishing flank of the Kadikistani offensive along the Ruthenian-Galician border offensive, but with the tactical flexibility to go to ground in the face of a counter-offensive, were only the Trivodnians crazy enough to launch an offensive in the face of overwhelming Kadikistani firepower in the north.

One advantage presented by the dispersion of Xinhese forces was that no elements were concentrated thickly enough to present rewarding targets to air strikes or artillery, were the Trivodnian air force able to contest the skies long enough to permit such in these opening days of the offensive. Each armored platoon consisted of three tanks, each company containing three platoons and a command tank – companies themselves were generally assigned to capturing small villages with the support of one motor rifle and one Revolutionary Guards company. A single air strike supporting the defense of a small village would be presented with no more than thirty APC’s and ten tanks, yet verily the militia hastily raised to execute the defense of such a location would lack the tools necessary to deal with the armor. Where this was not true, the rocket artillery brigades would see that structures providing stiff resistance were levelled swiftly.

The veracity of the Trivodnian defenders had yet to be tested. These Xinhese commander, General Zhu, knew that were the Trivodnians to overcommit to a defense of this flank, any chance of unifying with Trier forces via Crotobaltislavonia would be removed, and the northern throng of the offensive would overwhelm the defense of that region. At the rate of reinforcement, averaging now two brigades every three days – including now the rapid deployment of the 3rd and 17th Infantry Divisions - it would become difficult for the Trivodnians to accurately assess the threat level presented by this front.

More importantly, the rapidly increasing presence of Xinhese forces in southern Kadikistan represented another crucial aspect of the coming war – the rapid deployment of the 204th Coastal Defense Brigade to the Ivar Oblast had been complete. Advanced supersonic anti-ship missile batteries and long-range surface-to-air missiles were now scattered across the southern islands, ready to lash out at any naval threats to southern Kadikistan. The Rurikgrad Pact was clearly at the advantage here, where the governments genuinely considered Trivodnia to be in league with Trier, the lack of a formal defense agreement sealed the fate of Trivodnia. Even where Trier to deploy, they lacked the level of military coordination presented by the Unified Command; Rurikgrad forces had trained alongside each other as equals for decades and a sense of camaraderie and respect had been earned.

 

[Crotobaltislavonia]

Crotobaltislavonian-Trivodnian Border
"Zero Hour"

Following a concentrated artillery barrage (heavy guns that will be held in reserve), five divisions of Militia light infantry (a man or woman with an assault rifle and grenades) will attack the Trivodnian salient (where Trivodnia projects into CBS) in waves. Independent of the Militia's first division, the regular Army's two separate tank battalions (each with 70 tanks, 9 self-propelled artillery guns/mortars) will attempt to punch a hole through Trivodnian lines for the Militia. The ground offensive will be supported by two wings (72 aircraft) of ground attack aircraft.

It should be noted, a formal declaration of war will not precede the attack.

 

[Polesia]

Kadikistani-Trivodnian border

The day many had feared would come but hoped never will had arrived. For close to a century Trivodnia had lived fearfully in the shadow of a communist Kadikistan that had never fully accepted the Free State's existence, constantly threatening its sovereignty and independence on the flimsiest of pretences. Yet now Ivar's appetite to regain lands once lost had proven insatiable, and not even frantic behind-the-scenes diplomacy by President Meier Lauterpacht could save the country.

As expected, the Kadikistani onslaught was fierce and unrelenting. Cruise missiles streaked across the night sky while the thunder of artillery rolled on the distance. Small arms fire and the boom of tank cannons soon followed, as the Kadikistani and Xinhaiese hordes poured over the border.

Chancellor Alexander Kahnemann had advocated a first strike for this very reason. The Trivodnians were now bloodied and on the back foot, and ultimately reliant on reinforcements from the Trier Concord to save them. Had they struck first, the momentum may have been with them. Alas, the Supreme Court, Constitution and President, nominally supreme commander of the Trivodnian military, proved too great an obstacle. Hiding within a bunker beneath Amstov, Kahnemann could not help but feel a grim sense of self-satisfaction, even as the bad news flooded in.

Trivodnian casualties were heavy, with the dead running into the hundreds, if not thousands. The number of wounded was certainly higher. Some on the frontline abandoned their post as soon as fighting started. Many met the swift bullet of fellow soldiers or from the military police - the punishment for desertion was death after all, and betraying the Free State in its darkest hour of need would not be treated lightly. Young Krasnislavian conscripts who had never believed in the idea of a Trivodnia, only a Krasnislavia divided between three oppressors, were the first to flee their positions but they were also joined by a handful of Jews who did not want to risk dying for a nation they did not fully buy into either.
A few managed to use the chaos created by the invasion to escape into the countryside, where their chance of survival were still far from high.

What remained of the Trivodnian air force - the most advanced branch of the the Free State Self-Defence Forces - was dedicated to defending Trivodnian aerospace. Retaliating against targets within Kadikistani territory was deemed too risky. The Free State Land Defence Force was ordered to resist where possible, but also in certain locations withdraw to where they would have the geographical advantage. With Retalian input, likely Kadikistani attack vendors had been studied furiously studied, and possible counter-measures modelled. They would be put to the test now.

Some communist firepower was wasted on dummy installations set up to deceive the enemy. Kadikistan's assault on the maritime base at Kretyn had damaged much of the infrastructure but done little to dent the number of torpedo boats and fast attack craft that made up the mainstay of Trivodnian naval forces. Mines would help delay the advance of hostile ground forces, while converted aircraft lay the deadly devices in the Inner Sea from above. What remained of Trivodnia's guided missile units was ordered to retaliate against rocket formations within Kadikistan.

The only theatre there was any sense of optimism was near Crotobaltislavonia. The country had been in civil war for over a year now, and suffered political instability for decades before. Its armed forces were old, depleted and war-weary. Amstov prayed a swift victory on the western front would allow it to negotiate peace in the East.

Crotobaltislavonian-Trivodnian border

The attacks from Crotobaltislavonia and Kadikistan were near-simultaneous, but one certainly carried more punch.

Unlike the Kadikistani theatre, Trivodnian forces near Crotibaltislavonia were ordered to be on the offensive. Military facilities inside the country were to be targeted by aerial and missile assets, while Lake Elbe and the Polesian Sea saw Trivodnian vessels attack Crotobaltislavonian ports - both military and civilian. Fishermen would not be spared the Free State's wrath.

The light militia swarming over the border - armed with little more than an ageing gun, ammo and grenade - made easy targets for the Trivodbian army, who were at least trained and equipped with modern assault rifles. The Crotobaltislavonian tank battalions or ground attack aircraft, mostly dated propeller planes, were not deemed as great a threat either.

A sense of superiority - perhaps misjudged - lessened the number of desertions on the western flank. The FSSDF also cynically moved into the refugee camps that dotted the shared border, knowing even if they didn't deter an attack they could claim reels of footage for the other air war - the one in the international media.

The Free State Intelligence Bureau also reached out to friendly assets in Crotobaltislavonia - Yiddish gangsters, remnant Radek loyalists, other dissidents - and urged them to rise up now Banja Luka was distracted by war. Whether they would listen is another question.

 

[Crotobaltislavonia]

Crotobaltislavonian-Trivodnian border

It did not take long for the "Trivodnian Adventure" to crumple to pieces. Tanks that weren't burning wrecks were abandoned as soon as they ran out of gas and expended their onboard ammunition. Planes that could get off the ground immediately flew in the wrong direction and landed at airfields away from the fighting. The militia units, by now comprised mostly of fanatical Farragoists and Otpor loyalists, tried their best to support the tanks, but it was hopeless. The tanks immediately outran the light infantry. If the militia caught up, they were mowed down by machine guns, blown apart by artillery and bombs. Any survivors who got close to enemy positions were forced by political officers to charge with bayonets fixed or with improvised explosives strapped to their bodies. They were slaughtered!

By the end of the first day, no objectives had been taken. Every tank that had crossed the border was out of action. The five "divisions" of militia had completely disintegrated. Even the Border Guards were desperately trying to avoid being attacked, either flying white flags or fleeing for their lives.

Back in Banja Luka, the regime members were burning documents and sending cash overseas. Protesters were already assembling in Red Square.

 

[Kadikistani Union]

Olrusk Offensive
Kadiko-Trivodnian Border

Within the course of only several hours reports had come in that the Crotobaltislavonian offensive had turned into a disaster. While the ageing battle equipment, poorly trained soldiers and outdated tactics were definitely some of the main factors for the very early Slavonian defeat, Ivar was somewhat responsible too. It had been the Kadikistani segment of the Pact Unified Command that insisted on the Slavonians opening another front against the Free State and pushed it through despite mostly Xinhaiese officers protesting. The latter had done so because they had more accurately assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the Crotobaltislavonian Armed Forces and deemed a defensive role for the Free Canton more prudent. After only several hours the Kadikistani initiative had proven to be a fiasco from the Crotobaltislavonian end, no doubt this would cause some shifts in the Unified Command and even provide some opportunities for ambitious Xinhaiese officers. But unlike what the Trier Concordat and the people massing on the Banja Luka Red Square may have hoped, Ivar was not about to let their forward base go down with only a few hours of fighting. The goal of the Olrusk Offensive was still to create a corridor between the Krasnislavian SR and Crotobaltislavonia.

With the ultimatum issued by Chagny, the 15th Air Defence Corps was being readied to create an air defence net over the conquered parts of Trivodnian Krasnislavia as the 6th Guards Tank Division, supported in the initial assault by the 17th and 21st Motor Rifle Divisions, advanced their way into Trivodnian Krasnislavia. After the impressive artillery barrage, preceded by an even more impressive bombing campaign with use of both missile systems and aircraft, the 6th Guards Tankers rolled over the border, facing stiff resistance. It wasn't long before the first tank squads were wiped from the screens of the military Command Centres due to the efficiency of the Trivodnian counter-tank measures. Clearly the defenders had been kept up-to-date on Kadikistani army doctrines and, some units better than others, the Kadikistani attack vectors. The loss of tanks or any other mass-produced military hardware was not allowed to deter the advance. Uncovered enemy positions were quickly attacked from a distance by use of artillery or air-strike. Known static defences in the border region had been largely eradicated after the first strike and due to the proximity of the Kadikistani emplacements even the most mobile defensive stations in the region would face the fire sooner rather than later.

The Olrusk Offensive had two main arms, each passing through one of the corridors between the mountains in the North-western Kadiko-Trivodnian border region while a third and smaller offensive would meet up with the Marekt Offensive in Brisk. The first and largest arm of the Olrusk Offensive would punch a hole between the two mountains, the Guards Tankers encircling Gonin and Tuchin roughly simultaneously before moving on to Hartem while other forces secure their flanks and a final attack wave would take place to meet up with the Slavonian allies on the Crotobaltislavonian border. The second arm of the offensive would use the pass to Kremenetz, again the tanks leaving the city for the motor rifle divisions to take after taming them by heavy artillery barrage and air-strikes. The mountains themselves had been highly monitored by Kadikistani intelligence and like in southern Trivodnia the known military emplacements in the mountains had been targetted prior to the ground attack. Nonetheless the mountains with their many caves still provided for a decent challenge. Elite Paracommando's had been dropped to pacify the mountains under air support and artillery support, but they did not know the cave system like the defender did. At least the special forces could keep the remaining Trivodnian units in the mountains entertained while the offensive below them continued.

Like in the Marekt Offensive the participating spearhead divisions of the Olrusk Offensive had many Krasnislavian units participating. The 6th Guards Tank Division and the 42nd Motorized Infantry Division especially had a majority of Krasnislavians filling the ranks. Often the T-80U's or BMP's carried the flag of the Socialist Republic of Krasnislavia besides or even without the disputed Union flag flanking it. This would definitely cause some tensions with other units, especially the Kadik dominated ones like the 3rd Guards Tankers.

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Flag of the Socialist Republic of Krasnislavia​

Banja Luka International Airport
Banja Luka
Crotobaltislavonia

Of all the scenarios that were deemed plausible for the Slavonian incursion into Northwestern Trivodnia the worst had come out. The Slavonian Offensive was crushed in under 10 hours and already the opposition was gathering in the Red Square. After the so-called Christmas Coup Kadikistan had based an entire mechanized division, General Ulad Statkadjev's 6th Motor Rifle Division, in Crotobaltislavonia. The latter had actively helped in crushing the forces of General Radek and the protests that were taking place in Banja Luka while also assisting the Farragoists in purging the state apparatus from all those who didn't commit to the new Marxist-Leninovist doctrine. Despite what the Trier Concordat and its affiliates claimed at the time Kadikistan quickly started gradually dismantling its forces in Crotobaltislavonia and moving them back to the Kadikistani Union. The action was meant as a sign of goodwill by Ivar at the time with the genuine hope such an act could lead to a decrease in tensions. The dismantling stopped when the Trivodnian and Elbener regimes announced their intention to operate in Crotobaltislavonian territorial waters, violating the latter's sovereignty. At that time it had become clear that the gradual demobilisation of the veteran mechanized division had been a mistake.

By the time the last Crotobaltislavonian Crisis broke out in the Polesian Sea there were roughly 8,000 of the 20,000 Kadikistani soldiers still present in the Free Canton. These forces had remained largely on the background at the request of the Farragoist-Otpor regime, but the desperate times called for desperate measures. The remnants of the 7th Motor Rifle Division had been reorganized into four regiments and had been popularly renamed the 'Vanguard Division' in Kadikistani media. General Statkadjev was sitting in his lifeless office, decorated only by the Union and the Party flag as a clearly nervous aid walked into his office carrying a highly classified letter in his hands. The letter was sealed with the emblem of the Supreme Military Committee and was short, but clear. "Enact Directive 34", an order that authorized the remaining Kadikistani forces in Crotobaltislavonia to seize control over the government and securing it for the loyal Farragoist elements. This would be done in accordance and with prior consultation towards key figures of the regime and its armed forces. The barracks of the Vanguard Division were based near the Banja Luka International Airport, taking the airport was not deemed the hardest part. In many of these cases the Kadikistani soldiers would just join up with their Slavonian comrades and reinforce them. Protesting Slavonian officers or soldiers would be arrested respectfully or with brutal force. Directive 34 was not meant to secure Banja Luka for Kadikistan, but assist the regime in staying in the saddle. Kadikistani soldiers would hermetically seal off the government district and secure several other strategic locations such as radio towers, bridges, fuel depots and power stations, mainly in a ploy to keep them out of the hands of the opposition.

Ivar would use all diplomatic channels at its disposal to pressure President Valerian Fyodorov and his Farragoist-Otpor administration into arresting or even using lethal force against the protestors on the Red Square. The message was clear, if the Slavonian security apparatus couldn't keep the country together Kadikistan would sow unity through blood.

Marekt Offensive
Kadiko-Trivodnian Border

The Marekt Offensive was the Northern wing of a joint Kadikistani-Xinhaiese military enterprise. Geographically the road lay open for the 3rd Guards Tank Division and their support divisions. Trivodnian resistance had proven hard, their delay tactics instrumental for their own preparation down the line. But like on the other front the Kadikistani firepower was relentless and while there was still something of a Trivodnian Air Force left the Kadikistani air superiority would become undeniable. It remained to be seen if Kadikistan could maintain that air superiority as the renown air forces of the Trier Concordat would soon join the fray, but in these first days Kadikistan would do all the damage they could. The Marekt Offensive heavily targetted installations, troops concentrations and positions of the Trivodnian 4th Infantry Division based in Brisk. Even before the breach in the Trivodnian line along the border Brisk would receive much of the payload coming from artillery on the other side of the border. There was a moderate attention in avoiding civilian targets, but as soon as a certain building or installation provided even the smallest security risk it was flattened. Winning the hearts and minds of the Krasnislavians in hopes of enlisting them as allies against the Amstov regime was one of Ivar's strategies, but many realized that the generations of resentment for Kadikistan could not be so easily washed away.

Nonetheless every convinced Krasnislavian was one potential insurgent less. Troops were ordered to behave and be respectful to the local population, yet brutal in their response to hostility. Pamflets, gifts and other propaganda were used to convince the people that their brothers and sisters had come to liberate them and deliver them the heads of their enemies. Trivodnian flags would be removed and all official buildings would now wave the flag of the Krasnislavian SR. Local collaborators would already be contacted and mobilized to help organize the occupation later on. These collaborators didn't need to be convinces Marxist-Leninovists either. Kadikistan would often exploit existing feuds and conflicts to gain loyalty, but also wouldn't shy away from blackmail and threats.

Zarkazeni Offensive
Kadiko-Trivodnian Border

The smallest of the four majors offensives into Trivodnia the Zarkazeni Offensive would move from Kadikistan to Druzhnia, securing Slutsk to its eastern flank. Like the Marekt Offensive and unlike the Bernovsk and Olrusk attacks this division had an ideal geography for rapid advancement. General Dajun Krimkov was put in command of the Zarkazeni Offensive as the youngest high ranking officer of this campaign. Out here he was a very skilled and relatively young officer who had proven his command in the Militarized Socialist Republic up north. Unlike the forces operating in the north there was no intentional deployment of Jewish soldiers in the Yiddish parts of Trivodnia. Troops were also informed to be more cautious toward the Yiddish and consider all of them as hostile.

 

[Khemia]

Bernovsk Offensive
Kadiko-Trivodnian Border

The initial phase of the attack had overwhelmed the Trivodnian border defense, causing many units to abandon their positions, leaving behind heavy equipment and supplies and hampering the organization of many of these units. It was the determination of the Xinhese force to maintain the initiative - they were perhaps comparably the weakest force of the many Rurikgrad Pact offensives, although they comprised a not insignificant amount of armor and rockets.

The Xinhese strategic redeployment efforts had been redoubled, pushing the limits of the Xinhese logistics wing. A full infantry brigade, complete with heavy equipment, could be airlifted to the Bernovsk front within 24 hours while a motorised or armored brigade could be transported via the Transkadikistani Railroad within 48 hours. Already the 9th and 15th Armored Brigades of the 1st Armored Division were considered combat effective, with the prestigous 2nd Motor Rifle Brigade en route. The 8th Motor Rifle Division would be next by rail, while the 3rd Infantry Division was en route via plane, with the 24th Light Infantry Brigade already forming ranks in the gap north of Proskerev. The People's Republic Revolutionary Guards were also conducting their own airlift, although much less sophisticated than the regular Army. Many men were sent with just enough ammunition to see them through several serious engagements, relying almost entirely on the preliminary infrastructure setup around Bernovsk by the Xinhese units which had been stationed there for months. Those advance units had already stockpiled significant amounts of fuel and ammunition, as if preparing for this exact scenario, with the full permission of the Unified Command. Altogether, the People's Revolutionary Guard forces amounted to roughly a single division, broken out into many battalion-sized combat units.

The Xinhese forces deployed west of Bernovsk already matched the entire Trivodnian southern command in size, outnumbering their armored forces tank for tank, and more equipment and personnel arrived daily, yet this offensive was not expected to be easy. The Trivodnian defense would be fierce and there were few strategic objectives of real value in this region. Perhaps this would work in their favor; where Amstov more pressed to secure Kretyn and Amstov from offensives across the central plains of Trivodnia and keep their territory contiguous, the uplands east of Kilno could be easily captured. The logistics of maintaining a significant offensive for a long period of time would be nightmarish, particularly with forces still being deployed, and as such the offensive had been planned with finesse in mind.

Three axes of attack had been selected:

The first axis would be along the coast towards Tichin, with the 9th armored brigade committed fully to the thrust, alongside the 21st independent motor rifle brigade and 151st rocket artillery brigade.

The second axis of attack, also towards Tichin, would focus on the ridgeline running east-to-west south of the town. The 15th armored brigade and 2nd motor rifle brigade, both elements of 1st Armored DVN, would work alongside the 54th independent motor rifle brigade, 183rd rocket artillery brigade, and 168th air defense artillery brigade to seize the hills and assert fire control over the once peaceful Yiddish village.

The final axis of attack would see the 32nd independent motor rifle brigade and 24th light infantry brigade push through the Proskerev gap towards the river system that flowed into the Polesian Sea.

A sizable contigent of Republican Guards forces would support each thrust, although the first and third axes would receive the most support. Each axis had a different goal, and the commander of each axis a different strategem to executing their objective. The first axis was led by General Liu of the 1st Armored DVN, a careful man who would use Revolutionary Guards as the vanguard forces, pushing into the resorts and fishing hamlets house-by-house and wiping out resistance, calling for mechanized and armored units as fire support when faced with stiff opposition. General Liu was relying on the success of the second axis to push on Tichin, knowing that without fire control over the town, infantry and tanks would remain vulnerable to anti-tank missiles and retaliatory artillery strikes.

The second axis was led by Colonel Zao of the 15th armored brigade, subordinate to General Liu, quite the polar opposite of his superior. He believed in feverish attacks and shock and would not hesitate to use his armored forces more aggressively. The goal would be to capture the ridgeline, using the 2nd motor rifle brigade to sweep the southern valley and secure the northern shore of the river while the heavy armored forces advanced from defilade to defilade, remaining in the trees where possible, and with the vigilant support of the 168th air defense artillery brigade and its missiles and SPAAG's to clear the skies. Each brigade would be committed in turn; where hills provided plenty of absolute cover to armored forces, they also required significant reconnaissance to maximize the use of. Armor would struggle to maneuver in certain areas, although the terrain here was determined to be traversable. Still, space itself was at a premium and forces would have to be held in reserve or risk presenting the enemy with a juicy concentration of forces for artillery to capitalize on.

The third axis of attack would attack from the cusp of a valley down either bank of an icy stream towards the river whose mouth opened at Druzhnia. These forces consisted of a single independent motor rifle brigade, a single light infantry brigade, and no less than seven battalions of Revolutionary Guards. The light infantry, though equipped with little more than trucks for transportation, were still well equipped to fight off a light armored force. Serious armored resistance would pose a problem, though. Still, with more than fifteen thousand troops arrayed in this valley, they presented a sizable force. The majority of these Guards, however, were deployed as sentries throughout the mountains, accompanied by a handful of Kadikistani regulars who were uncomfortable with the idea of Xinhese troops guaranteeing the security of Kadikistan's borders from a Yiddish counterattack. Communication breakdowns would lead to no less than three friendly fire incidents in the bleak mountainous borderland, but given the distance of engagement, no casualties had been caused by either side. The goal of the southern axis was to push beyond the river towards the highlands between Kilno and Proskerev and secure fire control over as much infastructure connecting the south to the north as possible and open the possibility for a more potent advance to the Polesian and encirclement of southern forces.

The Xinhese forces lacked any air support of their own. While the Xinhese Air Force spoke fluent Kadikistani and could competently work alongside the Kadikistani jets, the airspace was congested enough as it was and the Kadikistani ATC was already up to their necks in sorties. Close air support would have to be routed up the chain of command to the Unified Command rather than to dedicated units, and so such requests could only be made against serious threats such as large concentrations of armor or artillery. Despite that, the Unified Command would attempt to, at the very least, dedicate a surveillance mission to each axis to supply them with information regarding enemy reinforcements, artillery locations, advancing armor, and other threats.

SPECIAL COMMUNIQUE TO PRRG CBS BRANCH:
"CBS military expected to collapse; determined to be an unreliable partner. Efforts should be made to communicate with Otpor League officials to arrange the evacuation of non-essential Xinhese noncombatants. Special funding is to be made available as necessary to appropriate arms and equipment from regular CBS military units to supply weapons to Otpor League militia; including the arming of technicals and IED's.

Additional funding for Otpor project to provide special benefits to Otpor League militia members, including a daily living allowance three times the amount of a CBS Army conscript and death benefits to be granted to the family amounting to five years wages and guaranteed citizenship for direct family of members."

 

[Holy Frankish Empire]

Ducal Palace, Chagny. 7/21/2018

The entire Council of State and military high command had descended on the palace for the second time in a week. Following the call up of all reserves, a decision to conscript 250,000 troops had been made. It was order almost everyone in the room hoped would be cancelled. It would cost the Grand Duchy billions but it would mean that war had been avoided. The ultimatum to @Kadikistan had been delivered. The odds were frankly daunting. But the council had already agreed that if it would be a fight to the end. Kadikistan and her allies would have to sell their sons at a high rate to achieve their neo-imperial ambitions.

The Grand Duke glared round the table as the ministers and generals drank tea or smoked pipes- still fashionable in Bourgogne, or cigarettes. "Gentlemen, I expect a full report on each minister's preparations momentarily. First, I want to know the military position. Marshal Lafitte...report"

Marshal Maurice Lafitte was a calculated individual. His experiences had been many and he was universally respected in the command structure. His skill as chief of staff was good but his battlefield leadership was minimal. Yet he was trusted universally. "Sire, the army will soon have about 500,000 men under arms. Mobilization is still taking place but it is going better than expected. At your directive we have begun to notify the Post-Reserve. We will activate, initially, about 60,000. These will be our initial pool of replacements until our conscripts complete training or more Post-Reserves have been called up. Senior leadership has been briefed- sir if you look at the files in front of you..." said Lafitte, gesturing. "You can see that senior leadership has been briefed on Plans 19, 56, and 40. We have begun to reopen and repair old fortifications on the Serenierre border. Per your order, the majority of the QRF for that region has been put near Foyes in the Southwest. Army air defenses have been in full operation since last night. Frankly sir, even if we avoid war with Serenierre, we will be facing a tremendous numerical disadvantage. Our primary advantage is better training and better equipment to some extent. Our officer corps may have a slight edge. But we need to ensure we do not overestimate either of these. We are facing a largely conscript military. Every body that is dropped there are 3 more conscripts ready to be shoved into their place" he said, shaking his head. "Ivar's allies are the same. For ever man we drop, 8 or 9 are ready to fill their spot" he concluded, nodding to one of his colleagues.

Marshal of the Air Roger Ste. Jean was a vehement anti-communist. His father was a supporter of the pseudo-fascist Republic and heavy critic of the Grand Duke, his father, and grandfather. 3 generations of Dukes that were detested by the Ste. Jean clan. But now they sat on the same side. "Well, numerically the enemy is superior. We have a better air defense system only in terms of density. The Bow anti-Missile systems are active. We expect Kadikistan to use its missiles. If they choose to use gas or biological weapons the option to retaliate is minimal in this regard but conventional missiles are an option as well. We expect to largely be on the defensive in the air" he said, looking down at his list of talking points. The Grand Duke interjected.

"We will release the 75 Billion Livre reserve immediately. I want factories to be converted and production trippled on tanks, aircraft, and essentials by the end of next month. The Senate will find the rest of the money" the Grand Duke concluded. Some nervous looks were exchanged before Ste. Jean continued.

"As Air Marshal I must caution against early offensive strikes. We must conserve where possible" Ste. Jean concluded. He became silent and it was Admiral Berthier's turn.

Berthier inhaled sharply. The Navy was the Burgundian forces' weakest arm. "Our ships are patrolling our coastline. Air support is at the ready as are shore-to-surface missiles. Our aircraft are also patrolling for submarines. Our own subs have put to sea. Our merchant fleet is preparing to execute Plan U. That will be completed by the end of next month. About half of the merchant fleet will no longer be Burgundian flagged" he said with a deep sigh.

The Council continued to report as they awaited the ultimatum's answer.

 

[Rheinbund]

This would not be an easy war, but Eiffelland had not choice but to step in. Until the Retalians had their act together, Eiffelland had to fight a two-front war. The first army was mobilised. The second army stayed at their post in Eiffelland. The third army was formed by means of calling people who had served as conscripts earlier back to duty. People who had served as ensigns or lieutenants were promoted to captains. All higher officers came from other places in the army.

The air force was already on Alarmstufe 4. The 6th division of the air force was sent to Trivodnia to fight the Rurikgrad Pact air force there, obtain air superiority above Trivodnia, and attack ground forces of the Rurikgrad Pact. It was made sure that no bomb would fall after the Trivodnian-Kadikistani border; only the Rurikgrad Pact troops in Trivodnia were targets.

 

[Polesia]

Slutsk
Southeastern Trivodnia

There was a palpable sense of fear in the air. Slutsk, a settlement of around 300,000 people, was now entirely surrounded by Communist forces, with Trivodnian border defences crumbling before the awesome firepower of the Rurikgrad Pact. The low grasslands to the south east of the Free State proved to be the perfect terrain for an armoured offensive, as tanks and infantry from Kadikistan and Xinhai swarmed across facing minimal resistance, with the Free State Self-Defence Forces deeming Druzhnia and Proskerev to be more strategically important. The Free State Air Defence Force, stretched across two fronts and still reeling from the Rurikgrad Pact's first strike, left the skies largely uncontested, giving Kadikistan almost complete control of Trivodnian airspace.

Those left defending Slutsk were active units who were unable to withdraw to either Druzhnia or Proskerev, or reservists who had been mobilised days just before war broke out. The majority of artillery and armour had been annihilated by Kadikistani aerial attacks, leaving foot soldiers with limited ammunition and only two options: death or surrender.

Toltrian Mountains
Eastern Trivodnia

The Free State's eastern mountain range was the scene of intense fighting, as Xinhese units raced along towards the cities of Tichin and Proskerev. The coastal plain that ran alongside the Inner Sea proved an easier battleground the peaks and valleys of the Toltrians, and Trivodnian forces were focused on defending the higher ground, which they knew better than the invaders and provided some cover from the relentless waves of air, missile and artillery strikes.

Yet the FSSDF Southern Command knew it would only be a matter of time before Tichin fell, given how close it was to the border, so the emphasis was placed on defending Brod, Jaslov, Kilno and Proskerev. The soldiers fighting, many of who were conscripts, knew if the Communists were able to penetrate too deep into Trivodnia, the war would be all but lost.

Brisk
Northern Trivodnia

On a clear day, you could easily see the border with Kadikistan from Brisk, which sat at the feet of the Black Mountains and was in the heartland of historic Krasnislavia. The city was headquarters to the Free State Self Defence Force's 4th Infantry Division, and as a result had borne the brunt of the Kadikistani assault. Bombs, missiles and shells rained down on Brisk and nearby bases, while the sound of gunfire and tank cannons was almost never ending. It took less than a day for the settlement to fall, as any resistance was quickly overwhelmed. If the Kadikistani military suspected a house or civilian institution to be harbouring soldiers, it was soon flattened. The white flags raised by the few remaining defenders left alive or who hadn't fled could be barely seen through the burning smoke that covered the city.

With Brisk conquered, Kadikistani forces could now push through central Trivodnia onto the city of Pilka or curve around the Black Mountains, cut off the defenders there and head onto the ultimate prize: the capital city of Amstov.

Black Mountains
Northern Trivodnia

Like the Toltrians to the east, the Black Mountains witnessed some of the bloodiest fighting of the war so far. Some five cities were nestled in the range, as were hundreds of towns, villages and hamlets. It was also one of the more ethnically mixed regions of the Free State, as Jews, Krasnislavians, Elbeners and Slavonians lived side-by-side. The strength of their loyalty to Trivodnia - and to each other - would be tested in this conflict.

The combination of terrain and population density would make this a difficult fight for Kadikistan. Likewise, the unexpectedly swift victory over Crotobaltislavonia, whose war-weary army crumbled within hours of launching their offensive, also saw many units redeployed from Trivodnia's western border to the fighting, as were reservists.

Yet Trivodnia could not win this war alone. The Trier Concord and Burgundy had all promised to come to the Free State's aid if invaded. Now it was time to see if they would honour their word.

 

[Rheinbund]

It was not official, but Eiffelland had right of passage in Bergenheim. The 6th division of the Eiffellandian air force flew over the Bergenheimer mountains and the Polesian Sea.
The first volley was from the Wirbelsturm Interceptors. From about 100 km distance, they fired their

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missiles at the Kadikistani and Xinhaiese planes active above Trivodnia. Partly satellite-guided, partly radar-guided, the missiles headed for their targets.
After that, the Luftgeist 2 planes engaged the remaining Kadikistani and Xinhaiese planes above Trivodnia, while the Wirbelsturm fighter-bombers engaged the Kadikistani and Xinhaiese radar systems in Trivodnia, as well as the Kadikistani and Xinhaiese ground troops. Especially the Rurikgrad Pact troops towards Druzhnia and Kemenetz were targeted by the fighter-bombers.

Meanwhile, the 5th division of the air force was readied for an attack, and the 1st army was transported to Northern Eiffelland and Bergenheim to attack Crotobaltislavonia together with the Burgundians and fight themselves a way to Trivodnia. Furthermore, the 3rd army was filled with conscripts who had already served their military service. Of course these men needed a re-training before they would be operational again. For now, they would stay in reserve for the case that Kadikistan decided to violate Ruthenia-Galicia's neutrality — or Ruthenia-Galicia decided to open its borders for Kadikistani troops.

Outside the airspace of Ruthenia-Galicia,

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and

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planes patrolled the skies and checked for ground and air movements in Kadikistan. There were also Warnstern planes patrolling the skies above the Retalian Sea and the Long Sea. Attacks from that side were expected as well.

And of course there was a lot of satellite activity above Ruthenia-Galicia and the regions around the Kadikistan-Trivodnia border and the Kadikistan-Ruthenia-Galicia border.

There were also a clandestine transports through Bergenheim and Ruthenia-Galicia, containing some complete ARS systems, as well as MSLR-2 missiles, KSLR-4 missiles, LAR-3 missiles, BZR-3 missiles and FGPR-3 missiles.

 

[Khemia]

Xinhai

The order had come down from the President herself; and the same strongly worded "recommendation" had been delivered in kind to her counterpart in Ivar. In order to win this war, it would be necessary to attack at the systems that informed their decisions. It was clear that the continued presence of imagery satellites - the sort which almost exclusively resided in low orbit due to the distortion Earth's atmosphere created on higher resolution imagery at high altitudes - would enable the Concordat to determine the strength and disposition of Rurikgrad's forces in the long term.

Across Xinhai, jets buzzed about, launching missiles skywards like Olympians hurling javelins at the sun, supported by ground-launched missiles - intercontinental ballistic missiles with maneuverable payloads to be delivered into space on an intercept course with hostile satellites. Many low orbit satellites, particularly spy satellites, were remarkably maneuverable, but Kadikistan had installed a constellation of tracking and targeting satellites that would increase the reliability of these various payloads. Mission efficiency would doubtlessly suffer, but ultimately those spacecraft would run out of ∆v and be rendered defenseless.

The main objective was to eliminate the presence of imagery satellites over Xinhai. Other targets included any and all spy satellites of unknown use and affiliation having been deployed by rocket from any launch site in a territory controlled or closely associated with Trier. The requirement was that these pass over Xinhai, Kadikistan, and Trivodnia, where they could be intercepted by a multi-layered attack including ground- and air-launched missiles. It did not matter what nation they ultimately belonged to; who would rightfully declare their intention? A spy satellite owned by Bergenheim but put into orbit from an Eiffellander base was a far target were its ownership undeclared. Many of these were assumed to be covert communication, SIGINT, IMINT, and MASINT satellites, as well as satellites used to assist with the targeting of missiles and detection of missile launches. Sure, such satellites would warn the Concordat of this attack; for the first strike, at least.



Tichin

The Red Army had a momentum which the token border defense simply couldn't effectively resist. The sheer concentration of armor and manpower was overwhelming; it was inevitable that the Xinhese forces would assert fire control over the entirety of Tichin from the hills south of the city. The infantry in the valley further south had further secured their objectives and seized the north bank of the river, complicating any attempts by the Trivodnians to reinforce from the south.

From their positions in the hills south of Tichin, Xinhese armor, artillery, and heavy weapons could freely fire on the entirety of the city, intercept reinforcements from the west, and wipe out retreating units. But, until now, direct fire on the city limits had not occurred save for sporadic counter-battery fire against Trivodnian artillery.

Howitzers opened fire on the city with special ordnance; leaflets warning citizens of the impending ultimatum deadline, warning that three days of increasingly intense artillery fire would commence following it. The city would never surrender without a fight, the People's Republic knew. But it was also not essential to capture the city, either. They had asserted fire control over the region and pinned the rabbits in their hole. They could take their time smoking them out - the armored advance would continue.

As 6 p.m. rolled around, the awaited moment arrived. At first, an eery silence fell over the city. Anyone looking south to the hills would see spurts of dust rise from numerous locations, long before they heard the sound of the thunder. Howitzers swiftly struck power plants but left water pump facilities and aqueducts intact. Rockets fell from the sky in such quantities as to be maddening - a full brigade of MLRS had been deployed to this axis, and the weight of such firepower was brought to bear. They were random, explosive missiles slammed into skyscrapers as often as they hit fortifications and houses. Tanks, deployed in scores across the hills to the south, directed high explosive shells onto surface streets, firing at trucks and cars, into neighborhoods, and upon exposed military units.

By the end of the first night, it would become clear that only two locations were exempt from assault: hospitals and schools. By the end of the third day, the guns would fall quiet and the armored assault would begin, having fully consolidated their hold on the territory east of Tichin.

Casualties were to be expected. Casualties were acceptable. Already the ground forces had lost half a dozen tanks and another half-dozen APC's. Any unit which fell below 85% strength was considered hindered; and thus far only a tank platoon had suffered such casualties in the face of stiff HAT resistance in the hills.



Battle for Proskerev Gap

The advance through the highlands north of Proskerev was difficult for both sides. Where the Trivodnians surely had the advantage in more accurate maps, few could be argued to actually have called these mountains home. With GPS satellites falling from the sky, both sides would become blind, and emphasis would be put on personal knowledge, initiative, and situational awareness. In these conditions, intuition, mobility, and aggression were key.

Responding Trivodnian forces hoping to halt the Xinhese advance could only call upon limited reconnaissance resources to inform their decisions on where to draw the line, lest they accidentally choose to deploy behind the Xinhese front lines and be wiped out on the way by ambushes.

The Xinhese light infantry deployed to the region were not to be trifled with. These were men and women of the 24th Light Infantry Brigade were part of the elite 3rd Infantry Division; highlanders experienced in fighting across the plateaus and mountains north and east of Yi'an. Troops well accustomed to fighting in rugged terrain, who trained exclusively at high elevation, who were well equipped to handle the cold mountain winds at night with limited interfacing with radar and GPS. They were used to using maps and, even were it to be claimed that the Concordat maintained enough satellites in their GPS constellation to provide accurate locational information, they would never receive that signal in these highlands.

Still, the Xinhese troops knew that they would be up against Trivodnia's own crack mountain troops. This axis of attack was critical; both sides knew that. If the People's Republic could push to assert fire control over the supply lines to southern Trivodnia, the war would be all but lost. Despite the importance of this attack, fighting would be sporadic - the infrastructure was not significant enough to support massive deployments without serious strain. Just enough armor was moved into the region to provide tactical flexibility and mobility, but the Xinhese measured that they could provide no more. Instead, 3ID would send the 28th Light Infantry Brigade to support the 24th, having recently flown into Bernovsk. A war of maneuver and reconnaissance had erupted, and though its intensity was limited and the scale of casualties far lower than the other fronts, each loss was more significant.

To this point, the Xinhese had pushed southwest towards the confluence of two mountain streams, and thus towards the bank. It was here where the Trivodnian military put up stiffer resistance, where Xinhese troops could still cross by foot, albeit precariously and in poor cover. Easy pickings for the Trivodnian regulars. An ebb and flow battle, each side testing the disposition of the other, probing attacks and speculative mortar fire occasionally disrupting the quiet mountain valley.

 

[Kadikistani Union]

East-Belgarsk Missile Command Centre
Regional Headquarter Revolutionary Strategic Missile Force
Kadikistan

President Zhao's initiative was a bold one to say the least. Taking down the satellites of our enemies in a ploy to put them in the dark would not only greatly influence the outcome of this conflict, but it would change the world as we knew it. Whatever restrains the Kadikistani Union might have had against launching such an impactful endeavour were tossed aside once the Francophone elites in Chagny announced their ultimatum against Crotobaltislavonia and the Rurikgrad Pact. In less than 48 hours from now the Union would be at war with Bourgogne, the latter leaving no opportunity unused to flaunt their acclaimed technological superiority. "Let's see how they handle this.", Colonel Mir Tsjakovski said with confidence and even some malicious pleasure as he was overseeing the preparations for the coordinated launch from the various missile systems in his military district. His counterparts in the other military districts were doing the same under macro-management of the Pact Unified Command.

Kadikistani tracking satellites would betray the positions for the Trier-aligned satellites in lower orbit above Crotobaltislavonia, Trivodnia and the Rurikgrad Pact territory and allow for a precise targetting. Like the Xinhaiese allies the Kadikistani's would use two different platforms from which the anti-satellite weapons were launched. The largest payload would be delivered from the yet unharmed Kadikistani land-based strategic missile installations. At the same time those launched from silo's on the ground would take the longest to reach their destination. Naval launches, submarines and cruisers capable of launching these missiles were out of the question as punching into space along with those coming from Xinhai and their strategically placed vessels was technologically impossible. The last century Kadikistan had secured countless overseas installations, such as in Calidia, Milesia and Gouw Marken, but they would need to be used for different purposes. They ensured the operational abilities of the Kadikistani missile carrying submarines in the Gothic Sea and the Thaumatic Ocean. Second delivery system would be the air-delivered missiles, fired from dangerously high altitude, pushing the limits. At least two jets had to abort their mission due to engine failure at high altitude.

Neutral countries were respectfully notified that any of their satellites floating in orbit over the conflict zone were at risk of being taken down accidentally. The Kadikistani State issued that it was open to reimburse lost satellites either taken down in the first mass phase or later on when they are outside of the restricted zone. Colonel Tsjakovski wiped some sweat from his bald head as he got the order to launch from Central Command. He didn't doubt or even flinch, but passed the order down the line with great precision. While confident that he was doing the right thing he also knew the repercussions. Trier would likely launch a similar counter assault, knocking out all Kadikistani satellites, especially those in lower orbit. Satellite intelligence was working overtime gathering as much data beforehand, but in the age of mobile warfare that could only offer so much. Nonetheless the Rurikgrad Pact would have a strategic advantage not only because of the shock surprise and the chaos it would produce, but also because it could rely on battle-plans from the past that focussed equally on armoured offensives into Trivodnia and the Trier countries. Surveillance planes would once again become a prime producer of information and with Kadikistani aerial dominance over Trivodnia this would pay off greatly.

Skies over Trivodnia

Three days into the conflict and Amstov's allies had finally arrived. From inside Bergenheimer air space the Trier Concordat unleashed their hounds of war in form of the infamous Wirbelsturm interceptors. The Revolutionary Air Force had anticipated a Trier retaliation coming from the Bergenheim flank and monitored it fiercely while preparing for an adequate reception. The Eiffellandian 6th Air Division did not disappoint, the skill of their pilots quickly proven by the effective take down of a reasonable number of Kadikistani jets. But besides from greatly outnumbering their enemies the Kadikistani pilots were not without talent. The counter attack quickly ensued. The Eiffelandian Air Division was facing the 1st and 3rd Guards Fighter Aviation Divisions along with the 8th Mixed Aviation Division in its brave ploy to achieve dominance over the Trivodnian skies. Brave, but also careless as they relied on the assumption of immediate superiority and even penetrated their bombers deep enough to deliver their payload to the Kadikistani ground forces on the front-line.

On that same front-line the soldiers and their equipment were not defenceless targets either. Since the beginning of the conflict the Unified Command had anticipated the unavoidable Trier airial incursions. While maintaining superiority in the skies remained a priority the forces on the ground were prepared for eventual penetration of the air web. The 15th Air Defence Corps would ensure that any strike on the eastern ground offensive would result in signifcant casualties. The Eiffelandian air division found itself attacking targets deep into Kadikistani controlled airspace, facing three Kadikistani Aviation Divisions, with reinforcement coming in from over the eastern border and while attacking a target covered by SAM installations and other anti-air defences. No doubt they would pay a high price for such a bold move.

Banja Luka International Airport
Banja Luka
Crotobalitslavonia

While a corridor on the ground had not yet been established the air superiority over Trivodnian Krasnislavia allowed for an airbridge to be created between Olrusk and Crotobaltislavonia. Heavily escorted Radyev-156's would move additional forces into the increasingly unstable Free Canton. They would do so under cover of the two veteran fighter regiments that had conducted numerous operations over Crotobaltislavonia in the latter's civil conflicts. Those two regiments served as the vanguard for two whole Aviation Divisions, the Rurikgrad 7th Guards Fighters and Belgarsk based 19th Fighters. These groups would contest the Eiffellandian and Burgundian air forces for air superiority over Crotobaltislavonia, utilizing various air bases across the country and launch coordinated counter-strikes. While the Eiffellandians were still alone the aerial counter attacks would be the most fierce and even reckless to some extent.The initial goal was to keep the skies clear of Trier aircraft, isolating squadron sized groups and destroying them with the help of numbers and ground support.The establishment of the air bridge did mean a reduced capacity for the rapid deployment of the Xinhaiese military to the eastern front as several of the heavy transport aircraft were drawn from there.

Eiffellandian aerial incursions faced a hostile nation, but while that nation was barely holding itself together they had a big brother who would try and do it for them. Since the Kadikistani Union signed the bilateral Treaty of Mutual Defence and Co-operation with the Free Canton of Crotobaltislavonia the latter had been receiving lucrative military contracts, but also cheap military hardware. The war had come too soon for the Slavonian army to fully adapt to the modern weaponry, but safe to say a significant amount of units had already become proficient with their new materials. Knowing the reliance of Trier's strategists on aerial domination the Air Defence Units had been prioritized, leaving a dangerous amount of mobile AA batteries scattered across the land.

But it seemed as if the Trier Concordat had gained a less expected ally by drawing Bergenheim into the conflict. Bergenheim had seemingly violated its own neutrality by allowing itself to become the staging grounds for Eiffelland's air and ground invasion into Crotobaltislavonia and contested Trivodnia. All hopes of Bergenheim being a neutral buffer between the most forward Rurikgrad Pact operations and the Eiffellandian mainland seemed to have faded with not a single courtesy towards the Rurikgrad Pact that could have illustrated their strange sense of neutrality. Not even the most biased nation in the world could deny that Bergenheim had sided with the Trier Concordat. For once the Central Committee acted vast and with great resolve. A secret communique was send to the Bergenheimer Arch-chancellor Sigrid Vogt while a segment of the arsenal was being readied and redirected towards targets in Bergenheim. As the entire Union was now mobilized, additional Aviation Divisions were send to the front, mainly from the Eastern Direction in order to deal with the increased enemy manpower. For the initial retaliation however, no less than a 100 cruise missiles targeting strategic Bergenheimer installations were readied to launch the very second that the ultimatum on the Bergenheim government was surpassed. Main targets were air force facilities, radar stations, ammunition and resource depots, air defences and concentrated Eiffellandian and Bergenheimer armoured ground forces.
________________________________________________________
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNIQUÉ
FOR THE EYES OF THE ARCH-CHANCELLOR ONLY
FROM: Marshall Sergei Moravscik, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Kadikistani Communist Workers' Party, People's Federal Socialist Republics of Kadikistan
TO: Sigrid Vogt, Arch-chancellor, Republic of Bergenheim
SUBJECT: War

Arch-chancellor Sigrid Vogt,

We have been violently made aware of the attacks against our military operations in Trivodnia and Crotobaltislavonia being launched from Bergenheimer territory. These actions directly violate the neutrality of your country. We urge you to reconsider the prospect of becoming an Eiffellandian buffer and evacuate all Eiffellandian and otherwise Trier-affiliated forces from your territory while closing your sovereign airspace for all parties involved in the conflict. You have one hour to comply. If you do not the Republic of Bergenheim shall proceed to a state of war with the Kadikistani Union and we shall take appropriate counter-measures.

Signed,
Marshal Sergei Moravscik
First Secretary of the Kadikistani Communist Workers' Party
People's Federal Socialist Republics of Kadikistan

Black Mountains
Olrusk Offensive
Northern Trivodnia

The Trivodnian defender clearly knew the strategic significance of this region. Not only did it guard the northern flank of Amstov, it also provided the only barrier between the Kadikistani Union and Crotobaltislavonia. Despite heavy bombardments from both ground and air and the deployment of the Special Purpose Regiments along with regular Paracommando's into the mountains the latter would not be controlled so easily. Most of the times an enemy position was only revealed the moment it engaged with the invading forces. The high mobility of the Kadikistani forces and accompanied by air superiority meant that these attackers rarely managed to escape uscaved or at all. Below the mountains the 6th Guards Tank Division, supported in the assault by the 17th and 21st Motor Rifle Divisions, left the highly damaged city of Kremenetz behind an began a simultaneous attack on both Gonin and Tuchin. Support in the form of two more Motor Rifle Divisions was currently pouring over the conquered border regions to fortify the Kadikistani positions and support the push on both cities and the forces that stood in their way. The corridor needed to be established as soon as possible. The forces airlifted to Crotobaltislavonia would not nearly be enough to hold off a Eiffellandian ground offensive coming from Bergenheim and a Burgundian offensive into Crotobaltislavonia from the west. The Eiffellandian bombers of the 6th Air Division who weren't intercepted before they reached the proper proximity of the front slowed down the offensive tearing armour and SAM installations apart. But the delays would only last minutes or hours at most and at great cost to the Eiffellandian fly-boys. So it was on all the other fronts.

Slutsk
Zarkazeni Offensive
Southern Trivodnia

As the scratched armoured divisions of the Zakazeni Offensive pressed on for Druzhnia, expecting heavy resistance, General Dajun Krimkov ordered the 42nd Motorised Infantry Division, supported by an artillery regiment and segments of the 5th Air Defence Corps, to resume the siege of Slutsk. In order to avoid a prolonged and bloody battle for the city the Kadikistani forces would offer their Trivodnian counterparts a chance to surrender. If those remaining in Slutsk refused to give up the city the 42nd would flood the city with with the few mechanized units they had spearheading the assault under cover of nearby artillery and air support. Though the latter would be slightly more limited compared to the first two days as the Eiffellandian 5th Air Division had started contesting the Trivodnian air space, yet against overwhelming odds.

Krimkov, young ambitious and eager for rapid expansion feared that Druzhnia and the river that accompanied it eastwards would be the first major obstacle for his forces. No doubt the Trivodnian defenders would put up a stiff resistance before allowing the Kadikistani forces access to the Polesian Sea and and passage over the river flanking it. But enemy efforts could only do so much against overwhelming firepower form the ground and the air.

Brisk
Marekt Offensive
Northern Trivodnia

With the city secured the 3rd Guards Tank Division could focus on clearing the path for the rest of the Marekt Offensive with the Motor Rifle Divisions on their flanks. The city of Izola was the last bastion that needed to be conquered to pave the road towards Amstov. The 86th Guards Artillery Division moved along with the rear of the offensive and would unleash their own reckoning upon the cities. The armour would move up on the city both through the corridor, the latter taking precautions to appropriately defy a potential ambush, and around the corridor, taking the long way and securing towns and villages along the way. While doing so the shocked and confused local populace was not spared by the well-oiled Kadikistani propaganda machine. Krasnislavian nationalists were encouraged to join their brothers in the fight against the Yiddish regime. Local collaborators surfaced and began organising the local administrations of the occupied region. Trivodnian flags were removed and replaced by those of the Krasnislavian SR, still more often than not flanked by the Kadikistani Union flag. Like with every offensive the enemy movements were closely monitored and any concentrations or defensive manoeuvres were softened up by artillery, air strikes and the rare cruise missile.

Vresjak Naval Base
Socialist Republic of Polonsk
Western Kadikistan

With all of the known static coastal defences destroyed and the mobile ones gravely thinned out and what remained of the Trivodnian navy on the Inner sea destroyed it was time to complete the shock and awe doctrine with an amphibious assault. The Vrasjak Naval Base had been build for exactly this purpose, only a few hours of transport over the water required for the the first assault wave of the 88th Naval Infantry Division to reach the designated Trivodnian shoreline. The 88th Naval Infantry was ordered to establish a beachhead on the lowlands centrally between Kretyn and Brod. The operation was carefully coordinated, the naval assault enjoying protection and bomber support from the skies. Uniquely the Kadikistani naval presence had towed an unused battlecruiser to the proximity of the Trivodnian Inner Sea shores. This old war relic was previously used as a museum and its engine removed. But towed and anchored on the coast its easily made fire-ready canons provided for a decent coastal bombardment to aid the 88th in securing the beachhead.

 

[Bergenheim]

The Comminque came as a rude shock, a thunderbolt int he middle of the night. Sigrid had gambled, and lost. She had failed to anticipate the aggression and stupidity of Eiffelland. It began to occur to her, as she stood, frozen in her doorway in her night-gown, that she had been played for a fool by a Kingdom that had never cared for her or her people, appealing to a pan-Germanic loyalty that she, personally, should have known better than to indulge.

"How much time do we have?" she asked, the terrified aide waiting breathlessly. An old woman in her night-gown. Thats how she felt, how she must look.

That would have to change.

"I want a Hot-line call to their capital immediately."
"That may not be possible-"
"Do it. Now!" she snapped.

"Harold! Get up. I need to change. Its time." She yelled. Her husband would have to help her. No time to get the staff. She had to hold them at bay. War might still be averted.

She went for the cellphone on her desk. She called Air Marshall Gerhard Barkhorn's number directly. There was some crackle on the line, but she thanked god it was working. Little did she know the hell that was breaking loose, hundreds of miles in low earth orbit above.

"Archchancellor?" A suprised voice responded.

"Get our jets in the air. Now. All of them! Tell them they are to escort any surviving Eiffelander jets that make it back into our air-space, out of it again. Full neutrality is to be restored."
"That will take a long time-"
"No! No it won't. You will do it right this instant do you hear? Wake the men up!"
She hung up the phone. What else, what else...

She called the National Police Committee Superintendant Conan Lawliet Edogan.
"I'm here Archchancellor." he said, sounding disturbingly awake and ready. The man made her skin crawl, but she was exactly what she needed right now.
"Stop all the Eiffellander vehicles in our territory. Search and impound them. Then send an armed escort to the Ambassador's residence."
"My pleasure, Archchancellor." He hissed.
"That will be all." She hung up on him.

She had time for one more call.

She hesitated. But it had to be done.

She called the Eiffelander Ambassador. It rang longer than for the others.

"Sigrid? Is that you? What an hour to call-"
"You're under arrest. I'm sorry but I have to save my country first."
"What..what are you talking about-"
"Co-operate with the men coming to your door soon. You are being evicted from the country, along with all military assets. I have to do this fast. We're not ready."
"Archchancellor...Sigrid...you can't do this...you know we'll retaliate."
"Unless you plan to invade us in the next hour, I'll take that chance."

She hung up on the Ambassador of Eiffelland. His fury and his government's displeasure was a problem for the morning.

Right now, she had to survive the night. They all did.

"I have the hot-line ready. At least I think I do, my Kadik is not very good-"
"Shut up, hand me the phone. Get me translators, and a live internet conference to the Cabinet. Damnit, you know what to do!"

And so, half-dressed, the Archchancellor of Bergenheim addressed a representative of the People's Republic of Kadikistan. Not the Marshal who had written the letter. Not even his secretary (did a First Secretary have a under-secretary?) but someone. Someone she didn't know. Someone who only wanted to know if Bergenheim was going to surrender.

"We are not at war, comrade whoever you are. This is Bergenheim, not Eiffelland. Yes, the other one. Put me through to your superior. Da, Da, Spassiba."

It was going to be a long night.

Slutsk
Zarkazeni Offensive
Southern Trivodnia

Pinned down in Slutsk, watching the horror of a mass armoured encirclement occur, was the Bergenheim News team and the command staff of the White Chalice Aid organisation, who had been setting up hospitals and clearing stations around the city.

Looking through binoculars, ambitious field reporter Lena Oxten looked aghast as Kadikistani forces seemed almost unstoppable. Artillery began its distant thunder, and she checked her helmet and vest marked PRESS were secure.

"We have to get out of here. God knows what theyll do to a pretty woman like you if they capture you."

"And what about the rest?" Lena gestured helplessly to the city around her.

Her security attached shrugged. "My job is to protect you and the News crew. That is no longer possible. We have to leave."

She looked to the scared, teenaged Trivodnian volunteers, busy unpacking medical supplies and rolling bandages.

She looked to the storm on the horizon, and the Polesian sea behind her.

"My god. We have to tell people. They have to send help. Evacuate the civillians..."

"With what? Any planes or helicopters coming will be just shot down. And trucks..." he shrugged.
"Everyone is pouring out of the city before the encirclement completes. We should leave as well."

She looked helpless, caught between a rock and a hard place. She'd wanted so badly to be a real reporter, to make a difference, to report on a real crisis, a real war...

"We should make a report. Right here. right now."

Her attached began to object, but she shook her head stubbornly. This is what they came here for, isnt it?

"We do this live. Turn on the camera. Backlight me against the incoming tanks."

"Five...four...three..."

Oxten put on her "serious" face, and faced the camera.

"Guten Morgen, Bergenheim. I'm Lena Oxten, of BNTV, and this is Slutsk..."

 

[Elben]

A camp in Elben just north of the Trivodnian border

The aid workers of the Brotherhood of St. Dumas had earned their stripes earlier in the year with the civil strife in Crotobaltislavonia. Many of the most experienced had volunteered for the newly erected camps to the east. And now, in day three of the war, the "fugees" were coming. They were brought in aboard trucks driven by lapista-wearing drivers of the Royal Krasnislavians and off-loaded for processing.

The civilians were women and children along with the elderly who were able to survive the journey as the men had been mobilized and sent into action. They were disinfected if necessary, fed, and treated by BSD doctors as needed. The military personnel were those caught behind the lines whose only axis of retreat was into Elben. These men were quickly disarmed, separated from the others, and detained for internment until the end of the war. Priests circulated, offering comfort and Last Rites. Often the Kaddish was heard.

The order had come down and people who asked were reassured: If Rurikgrad won the war, no one would be forced to go back.

 

[Crotobaltislavonia]

Presidential Palace, Banja Luka, Crotobaltislavonia

Fyodorov stood on the balcony overlooking Red Square. All was quiet. The protesters were gone. The scorch marks, torn up ground, damaged buildings, and bloodstains from the mortar attacks would remain until enough cash could be scrounged up to fix it all.

The President turned and stepped back inside. Otpor ideologues hagled with Army generals over what should be done next. The Militia was gone, that was a fact. The Air Force was next to useless, that was a fact. But the Army survived. Most of the best weapons recently imported from Kadikistan had been held back on D-Day and were not destroyed or abandoned in Trivodnia. And though factions were already forming, the Army was still relatively intact and following orders. And Kadikistan had established an air bridge to Banja Luka.

That worried the President. With Kadikistan on Crotobaltislavonian soil, would it embolden the Farragoists to make a move? Would the power shift to another faction? Would the proles rise up against an "other" occupying the Motherland?

Fyodorov raised his hands, commanding attention. "Comrade General, concentrate your brigades around the capital and the airport. We will defend ourselves and when Kadikistan attacks, we will attack with them, under their air cover."

"What about the rest of the Motherland, Comrade President?"

Fyodorov shook his head. "We knew before the war we would win or lose with the Kadiks. It's up to them to win this one. Follow their lead."

The generals started to shuffle out with the Otpor men, who shook their heads in disquiet at Fyodorov's Farragoist reliance on a foreign power. Soon, only Jedreck remained.

"Comrade Foreign Minister, you need something," the President asked.

"Comrade President, I must know what to do about the ultimatum from Bourgogne."

"Do nothing." The President turned his back. Jedreck merely shrugged his shoulders and left.

 

[Rheinbund]

Trier

“Verdammte Scheisse,” Minister for Defence and commander in chief Ferdinand Jung cursed. Until further notice, this was the end of Eiffelland’s involvement in the defence of Trivodnia. He had full understanding for the decision of the Bergenheimer Archchancellor to close the air space again. Luckily, not much of the Eiffellandian 1st army was already on Bergenheimer soil. The land mission over Bergenheim was aborted. The attack of the 5th division was aborted as well. The remnants of the 6th division were called back to Eiffelland.


Outer space

Bourgogne and the Trier Concord (BTC) were not so naïve to think that their satellites were invulnerable. An attack against them was considered an option. A BTC attack against enemy satellites was considered an option as well, meaning that such an attack had been prepared.
Both from Retalia and from Eiffelland and from Bourgogne, ICBMs and any other type of missile that could reach the satellites orbiting under 1000 km above the earth surface were launched to attack all satellites possibly being a spy satellite of any type that had been launched by a Rurikgrad Pact member or Sereniérre. It could not be ruled out that other types of satellites would be hit as well. The satellites targeted were the satellites considered possibly spy satellites above Bourgogne, Retalia, Eiffelland, Crotobaltislavonia or Trivodnia (as far as it was possible to reach them).

The BTC satellites recognised the incoming missiles as an attack, jammed the Rurikgrad Pact satellites, jammed the incoming missiles they detected and tried to move themselves out of the scene.
The system against incoming ICBMs ARS also did what it could do; it attacked the missiles it could attack. The area the ARS could operate was limited to the war theatres, Bourgogne and Southern Gallogermania.
The result was, that not all the missiles fired by the Rurikgrad Pact hit their targets. Some were knocked out by the ARS system, for instance. The majority of the.missiles of the Rurikgrad Pact did reach their targets, however. About 75% of the BTC spy satellites flying abve Xinhai, Kadikistan or Trivodnia were destroyed.


Trivodnia

The attack of the 6th division could not completely be considered a success. The losses were high. Enough damage was inflicted on the Rurikgrad Pact troops, however. The Wirbelsturm planes specialised in attacking aerial defence systems had knocked out quite some SAM batteries. As a result, the Wirbelsturm strike planes had managed to send quite a lot of missiles into the Rurkgrad Pact ground forces, among others quite a lot of cruise missiles. The Wirbelsturm interceptor planes had carried out quite some successful strikes; it couldn’t be different than that quite an amount of Rurikgrad Pact planes had been shot out of the air.
Also the Luftgeist 2 planes had fired cruise missiles at the ground forces of the Rurikgrad Pact. Quite some of the dog fights carried out by them had been successful. The end result was: Damage inflicted but mission failed (mainly because Bergenheim closed its air space so that the 5th division could not take over). About 35 planes were knocked out in Trivodnia. Some pilots managed to save themselves with the ejector seats; some of them were so lucky to touch ground on friendly soil.
Now the remaining planes of the 6th division flew back to Eiffelland, escorted by the Bergenheimer air force, while the parts of the 1st army that had already entered Bergenheim were escorted back to Eiffelland as well.


———————————————————————————————————————————————————


Streng geheim — Top secret


TO: His Excellency the Right Honourable Admiral Walter Drake the Viscount Drake, Lord-Protector of the First Republic of Engellex

FROM: Dr. Stephan Röpke, Chancellor of Eiffelland


Your Excellency,

As you are aware, the Rurikgrad Pact has unveiled its real intentions regarding world domination in the name of the worst oppressing and most fraudulent governmental system the world has ever seen. While claiming to fight for the rights of the workers, they oppress the workers in the worst way ever demonstrated. Now they have found their next victim to subject: The Trivodnians.
At the same time, the Serenien decided to impose their own rejectable system upon Occitania. It can’t be different than that this is a concerted action. Serenierre and the Rurikgrad Pact have coordinated this action.
It is my duty to point you at the long term danger of a victory of Serenierre and the Rurkgrad Pact. It will have immediate consequences to Gallogermania, but on the long run it will also have consequences to your honourable republic. Trade will diminish for you as well, and the false propaganda of the Rurikgrad Pact will poison the minds of the Engellexians as well.
It can’t be different than that the Kadikistani government has sent or will send you a letter containing threats or demands. Only the Kadikistani are arrogant enough to make such a move towards your honourable republic. I know Eiffelland’s position in the world (which is smaller than the Rurikgrad Pact and Sereniere wants the world to believe), and I know Engellex’s position in the world. From that position, I ask you to help us in the struggle to keep Trivodnia free from marxist-leninovist oppression and to keep Occitania free from Serenien oppression. In return, I offer you a licence to build the RRF Fallwind plane for the Engellexian navy and air force against a reduced price.

Yours faithfully,


«signature illegible»


Dr. Stephan Röpke

———————————————————————————————————————————————————


OOC: This post was modified on 05AUG2018 23:53 CET. The paragraph "Outer space" was rewritten. Please see below for the original paragraph:

Bourgogne and the Trier Concord were not so naïve to think that their satellites were invulnerable. All kinds of scenarios had been thought out, also the idea put into effect by the Xinhaiese and Kadikistani armed forces with attempts to jam the satellites and knock them out by means of missiles. The Rurikgrad Pact leaders were considered psychopathologic enough to build space rockets with warheads on them. People enjoying to maintain a marxist-leninovist system were capable of everything.
The Burgundian and Trier Concord (BTC) satellites recognised the Rurikgrad Pact hunter satellites’ actions as jamming attempts, started to try to detect any incoming missiles, jammed the Rurikgrad Pact satellites (also the hunter ones), jammed the incoming missiles they detected and tried to move themselves out of the scene.
The system against incoming ICBMs ARS also did what it could do; it attacked the missiles it could attack. The area the ARS could operate was limited to the war theatres, Bourgogne and Southern Gallogermania.
The result was, that not all the missiles fired by the Rurikgrad Pact hit their targets. Some fell back to the earth, some exploded too early, some exploded too late, some were knocked out by the ARS system. But indeed, some also hit their targets. Quite some satellites were knocked out, and indeed the damage was quite large. However, contrary to what the Rurikgrad Pact would expect, Bourgogne and the Trier Concord had not turned completely blind. Furthermore, quite some satellites of the Rurikgrad Pact would have been knocked out as well. The Eiffellandian command of the armed forces estimated that the Rurikgrad Pact had done as much damage to its own satellites as it had done damage to the BTC satellites.

 

[Polesia]

Outer Amstov
Amstov Metropolitan District
Free State of Trivodnia

It had been a grim year for General Radek.

Pulled out of the freezing depths of the Polesian Sea by Trivodnian special forces after his failed rebellion, he was smuggled into the Free State's capital in a fishing boat. He was then moved from hostel to hostel by his FSIB handlers, lest he be found by Kadikistani intelligence and face a swift bullet to the head. Meanwhile the Trivodnian government continued to publicly denounce him as an anti-Semite and drug smuggler, claiming credit for his 'execution' after he supposedly violated Trivodnia's territorial waters. Finally, after weeks of sleeping in dingy rooms, he was placed under the knife, given not only a new identity but a new face by the FSIB.

Trivodnian plastic surgeons were some of the best in the world, if poorly regulated. Many a Eiffellander or Retalian house-wife, desperate to keep a sense of youthful beauty (and their husband) popped over to Amstov for a long weekend of Botox, silicone and knock-off luxury handbags, and depending how well their marriage was going, perhaps some cheap vodka too. Yet for all their skill, no Trivodnian doctor could disguise an entirely new visage, and so there was something eerie about Radek now. The fake eye colour didn't help either.

The official story was Radek was a veteran of the sectarian battles in the 1980s, and was gruesomely wounded after a Jewish car bomb detonated while on patrol. Retired with honours and full pension, he lived in subsidised housing on the outskirts of the capital with some doctored paperwork with the Ministry of National Defence, and was expected to spend the rest of his days on his balcony, smoking and drinking, venturing to the local market when needed.

The FSIB claimed it no longer watched over him, but Radek knew the opposite was true. A car that would linger too long on the street. Unfamiliar faces hanging around the estate. The ex-general swore he even heard the odd cackle of a walkie-talkie.

Even if they did not watch over him, they still knew where he lived. And so three days into the war, there was a knock at his door.

"General Radek, your country needs you."

 

[Holy Frankish Empire]

Crotobaltislavonian Border. 3am. 8/5

The Guard Lancers, a light armored regiment sat 2 miles from the border. It would be the lead unit into Crotobaltislavonia. The deadline had come and gone, leaving the Burgundian Air Force to hit targets. However, only military targets were hit. It should have been clear to the forces of Crotobaltislavonia that all they had to do was lay down their arms. Like lightening, Burgundian forces were to punch through along 4 main routes- opening Crotobaltislavonia for troops to stream into Trivodnia.

Major General Francois Mortier found himself in overall command. He was not well respected due to his temperament but he was considered professional enough. He had been surpised to have received command. Mortier had been considering retirement- even with the war. He stepped among the light tanks and men who gathered beside them in the darkness. He sipped at the steaming coffee. It was a chilly morning for summer. He noted that the coffee was quite warming as he returned salutes and chatted with the men. The Guard Lancers were one of a handful of elite guard units of the Ducal army. The Guard Lancers would represent the first thrust. Some of these men would die but Burgundian command had been blunt- casualties are to be accepted. Not expected- but accepted. The first hours would be crucial to securing routes for the followup forces. Mortier had been sure not to overly concentrate on one or two roads. With Crotobaltislavonia in shambles, it was expected to take no more than 36 hours to rush from border to border. Air support was scheduled to be stacked around the clock. Lastly, Mortier had pulled two generals from field command and gave them complete control of Burgundian trains and roads. The Burgundian machine was slowly awakening. It had taken its time. Marshaled its resources. The post-reserve troops would start filtering in by that Saturday. Quick and experienced replacements would keep the units fresh and battle effective. Mortier didn't know it, but he had been chosen for his logistical and organizational abilities. Mortier's appointment caught many by surprise. Most thought initial plan was fairly simple, but the gamble in front of it raised many eyebrows. Yet, he had faced no protests.

Operation Deppaneur was relatively low risk. 95,000 troops would cross the Crotobaltislavonian border. They would step off at 0400. At 0505 the main force- Task Force Depayser would follow behind consisting over 150,000 troops. The goal would be to reach the Trivodnian border by the following day- at most 36 hours. The initial attack would secure routes and allow Depayser to rush through to their staging positions within Trivodnia to begin the next operation while the intial 95,000- Task Force Drapeu, would begin to deal with resistance and slowly begin the task of temporarily occupying Crotobaltislavonia.

Mortier had been talking to an aide when the rocket trucks (MRL) began launching, lighting the sky and deafening any discussion. For Bourgogne, the war had begun.

 

[Elben]

Delivered by hand to the Burgundian foreign ministry in Chagny

Königreich Elben
Ministry of Foreign Affairs​

Communique 2018-08-07/01
Marked: Top Secret

To His Grace the Grand Duke of Bourgogne;
From Gerhard Schenk Graf von Schlabrendorff, His Majesty's Minister of Foreign Affairs:

Greetings!

It is with regret that I must open communications with Your Grace during this time of strife in Gallogermania. Since the civil conflict began in Crotobaltislavonia began last Christmas, many have fled to Elben. Among these refugees, a movement has arisen, men who have organized themselves into an army. This army has been for the past eight months been under the tutelage of veterans of Elben's armed forces, who have worked tirelessly to instill in these men the skills and fighting spirit to free their homeland from the shackles of the invading ideology of the east.

These men are now ready to join the fight. Due to the international situation, it would be inopportune for them to do so directly from Elben. I send this missive to you to ask if they may join with the forces of Bourgogne in their advance into Crotobaltislavonia. If this is possible, Elben will facilitate their transport to Bourgogne so that their final organization before entering the fray may take place.

Most cordially yours,
Gerhard Schlabrendorff, etc.

@Bourgogne