The Road - (Concluded!)

[Pelasgia]

Sounio
The news of the unexpected backstab by the Junta had exploded the politics of the Amarysian League, Sounio most of all cities. Phones ringing, people running, papers all over the place. In the office of the Consul of the Sounio all chaos had broken loose. While Amarysia was the official political centre most power was de facto in Sounio, along with the military command. The news of the arrival of Krusevan volunteers who would be added to Sounian troops sent to the front was a happy one, yet the Consul was weary of the vanguardist Krusevans. Some military involvment was welcome but it would need to be at a controlable level, one that could be contained in case the Krusevans forgot in whose country they were. The telegram sent by the Consul had stated it subtly, yet strongly. For now they were fully content with working with fellow Socialists agaist the monstrosity that was the Junta.

The three volunteer brigades seemed to fit that balance. Wendziema seemed to be a more likeable, less vanguardist and honest source of help. The Consulary welcomed any aid from them with open hands, because for now that aid was too little to intervene with its internal workings, something the Wendziema seemed to not be interested in anyway. Eiffelland was also a source of support, though it almost surely would have helped the Naupactite Crown too. The Eiffellanders had been very friendly without political reasons, for solely humanitarian purposes, since as far back as the autumn of 1954, so the Consulary office had almost full trust in them. The people liked them and any Eiffellander aid to the League would defenately boost its popularity. A little caution against a monarchy could never hurt though. During a war a degree of paranoia was only natural.

Κυκλωπική Τριαρχία - Τομέας Αμαρύσιου Συμπολιτείας
From the office of Triarch Cleisthenes Zorbas

ΑΚΡΩΣ ΑΠΟΡΡΗΤΟ - TOP SECRET

To: Boleslaw Zalenski, Overseer of International Affairs of Wendziema
By: Cleisthenes Zorbas, Consul of Sounio, President of the Amarysian League & Triarch of the Cyclopeian Triarchy

Comrade and Friend,

We thank you for your genuine offer of support and concern for the Cyclopeian people. It should go without question that we accept your help and we would like to cooperate closely in order to achieve a victory for the Cyclopeian people against tyranny. A meeting with your ambassador, or any other official of your choice, is among my top priotities.

Κλεισθένης Ζορμπάς

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​

The volunteers who arrived from Kruseva were landed in Elena island instead of Sounio, as the Consul was weary of any submarine operations by the Junta in the area. When the Triarchy was formed the regular military had been split so that the Duchy got most of the Airforce, the League most of the Navy and the Junta most of the Army. So the League sent out its large navy in order to patrol the southern waters. Once the waters were found to be clear the Krusevans, along with Elenan troops, were brought to the mainland to be sent to the front. However the Junta could hide its forces near the waters of the neutral Antikyra, which was part of the Oenotrian Duchy, so the Sounian navy had to be on alert. Once ashore the Krusevans were greeted by the General Chief of the Volunteer Briagades and welcomed by the people who loved the foreign socialist support. They would be deployed on the Petropyle passage along with four Sounian, one Amarysian and one Elenan divisions.

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The Krusevans were placed on the top segment of the formation to avoid any possible incidents with the neutral Antikyrans who had placed their forces on the border on alert and they were officially integrated into the International Volunteer Battalions. Upon arriving to the Petropyle they were briefed by Strategos (General) Anastasios Vafiotis, who had been placed in command of all operations in the area. The General met with Ioannu Andric in the HQ of the Amarysian League I Army Corps, in Heraclia. The office was on the third floor of the HQ, a generic neoclassical building in Cyclopeia with enough decorations to fit the category but nothing extremely delicate. Stacks of papers and maps were here and there and people run around, in the panic the slow but very real advance of the Junta had brought on everyone. The General seemed to be the only calm man in the chaos, overlooking a map of the Petropyle corridor on his desk, in the Olive coloured uniform of the Amarysian Army, with his peaked cap on the side of his desk, bearing a red star surrounded by golden olive branches, the same insignia also present on his uniform. He looked up and welcomed Ioannu, a man who was known as a hero of Socialism across the Long Sea.

"Hello Mr. Andric. We are honoured to have you here. Please, have a seat. I am sorry we have to receive you under these circumstances... but better like this than never. How much do you know of the current situation?"

Naupactus
In Nauplio and Sounio everybody seemed to be on edge. But in Naupactus and all of Oenotria life seemed to go on uninhibited. At the top of Naupactus stood the Acropolis, in which among with the Ancient structures, some of which were temples, one was the Megaro of the city. There the Duke of Oenotria & Antikyra, Ericthonius walked up and down in his personal study trying to think of what to do about the current situation. The light poored in from both sides in the windows between the pillars while the bookselves of the study and the wood that dominated the room calmed Ericthonius, reminding him of Amarysia. The population of the city and the entire Duchy lived calmlu confident that the Duke would keep the peace. But he, entrusted with that huge responsibility, was somewhat less confident. His personnal friend, Alexandros Leontokardos, the Archon (Lord) of Naupactus walked into the study.

"Good morning your Majesty. I was told by Princess Theodora I would find you here."

"Good morning to you too Alexandros. I would be surprised if Theodora could not be honest. I assume you are here because of the war?"

"Well one would not be entirely wrong to assume that. Since you mentioned it we might as well start with it. What have you thought of so far?"

"I think our neutrality is the way to go. I hate the Junta as much as the Sounians but right now we cannot risk Antikyra being invaded. Those potheads will give us an excuse to help the Sounians soon enough. We might as well let both drain their men and salt their fields so they are weakened when we come in."

"Perhaps sooner than you might have thought. You have been told, have you not?"

"Of course. But I already suspected it long ago. They just proved my suspicions."

"To kill a Despot is one thing. To think they would go as far as killing Princess Ioulietta too just to make it look spontanious... A man may kill a dog, an insect... but a Despot and a Princess of Nauplio?"

"Does the idea offend you? When a throne is at stake men will do much more than just kill two bluebloods. Men like Papanikolaou and Pelasgiotis that is."

"Their time will come. Death does say 'Et in Oenotria ego' after all."

"Indeed. But we have to Ducal Council for such discussions. What else did you want to talk about?"

"Oh yes, I almost forgot. It is about time you spoke to the ambassador of the Crown of @

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."

 

[Rheinbund]

Long Sea South East of Eiffelland

In the 13th and 14th century, there were three Eiffellandian Kings who were also Emperor of the Holy Germanic Empire. The Eiffellandian Navy had turned it into a tradition to name the largest Navy ships after these three Emperors. This tradition was introduced when the first battleship was baptised. Now it was Eiffelland’s aircraft carriers that were named after the three Holy Emperors. Eiffelland’s aircraft carrier was called the SMS Kaiser Lothar Der Erste. It was part of a carrier fleet together with two cruisers, two torpedo boats, five destroyers, five frigates, three mine sweepers and three submarines.
This carrier fleet was already heading southeast when new orders were received. Generaladmiral Tobias Fischer, who led Eiffelland’s carrier fleet, gave the order to make a U-turn and set sail to the war theatre in Cyclopeia.


Eiffelland

The government had made a statement in a rather conciliatory tone, but it had more plans than it showed. Wendziema and Kruševa officially made clear that they would prepare troops to support Zorbas. Eiffelland was silent, but already prepared for an intervention. A tank battalion, 20 infantry battalions (among which also some armoured infantry battalions and airborne battalions) and an artillery battalion of the 3rd army were ready to be shipped to Cyclopeia. The Eiffellandians would propose to Triarch Erichthonius to let them land in Antikyra. The same amount of troops were prepared for stationing in the Amarysian League.
The Air Force was ready for an intervention as well. When Triarch Erichthonius would agree with it, 50 jet fighters and 10 jet fighter-bombers would be stationed in the Duchy of Oenotria and Antikyra, on top of the batallions of the 3rd Army.

General Modersohn was the general of the 3rd Army, the only land army of the Eiffellandian Armed Forces that could be deployed outside Eiffelland after a simple majority of the Staatstag and Staatsrat approved it. The reason for this was that the 3rd Army solely consisted of professional soldiers. The privates in the 1st and 2nd Army were conscripts, however. Therefore, these armies could only be deployed outside Eiffelland when needed for the defence of an ally or upon approval of a 2/3 majority of the Staatstag and Staatsrat. That situation was different for the Navy, because a conscript had to volunteer for the Navy.

General Modersohn, nicknamed The Sphinx, was the general of the 3rd Army. This would probably be his last battle. He would retire next year, at age 55, which was the normal retirement age for Eiffellandian soldiers. And he would probably retire with the honorary title of General-Feldmarschall, after last year’s intervention in Wendziema and the upcoming intervention in Cyclopeia.


Cyclopeia

Other preparations were also made. The Eiffellandian medical troops active in the Nauplio-Pyrgiot Junta were withdrawn. The reason given to the Junta was that the medical troops had to be relieved. The Eiffellandians considered it doubtful whether General Papanikolaou would risk a war with Eiffelland by taking the medical troops hostage, but Eiffelland didn’t want to put the lives of their medical troops in the Junta at stake by rushing into a war. Therefore, Eiffelland wouldn’t do anything before having taken the medical troops out of the Junta. A new type of transport plane was used for that, a transport plane that the Eiffellandian company Dassau Flugzeugwerke would introduce soon but that was already used by the Eiffellandian Air Force for testing purposes (OOC:

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Naupactus

Roman Kästner was 31 years old. He was 1.75 meters tall and slim. With his blue eyes and light blonde hair, he was a typical Eiffellandian from the North. He also spoke Cyclopeian, because of which he was the perfect man for his current role. The Eiffellandian authorities considered Cyclopeia to be one nation, so there was only an Eiffellandian embassy in the former capital. There were large consulates in the “capitals” of the Triarchies though. Kästner worked at the Eiffellandian Consulate in Naupactus. He was also the liaison between Duke Erichthonius and the Eiffellandian Government.

In that role, he went to the Triarch of the Duchy of Oenotria and Antikyra, with the message that Eiffelland would wait with interfering until all Eiffellandian medical troops (and preferably all other Eiffellandians present in the Junta) had been evacuated, but that 20 infantry batallions, one tank batallion, one artillery batallion, 50 fighter planes and 10 fighter-bombers were ready for sending to Antikyra upon approval by the Triarch and as soon as the Eiffellandians had been evacuated from the Junta. Furthermore, he would also tell that Eiffelland would support the Amarysian League against the Junta as well.

Streng Geheim – Top Secret

Kanzleramt
Trier, Eiffelland

To Cleisthenes Zorbas, Triarch of the Amarysian League.

Dear Triarch Zorbas,

Also we would like to offer our support in defending the Amarysian League against the Junta. However, we are facing a problem. There are still Eiffellandian medical troops active in the Junta. We are in the process of withdrawing them, but at this moment we prefer to not put them at stake by officially offering you help. Our medical troops in the Amarysian League will stay there, and when needed withdraw together with your troops. We are preparing 20 infantry batallions, one tank batallion and one artillery batallion for deployment in the League, as well as 50 fighter planes and 10 tactical bombers. They will be deployed when we have evacuated our medical troops from the Junta, and when you approve the deployment.

Matthias Graf von Seydewitz, Chancellor

 

[Pelasgia]

Κυκλωπική Τριαρχία - Τομέας Αμαρύσιου Συμπολιτείας
From the office of Triarch Cleisthenes Zorbas

ΑΚΡΩΣ ΑΠΟΡΡΗΤΟ - TOP SECRET

To: Matthias Graf von Seydewitz, Chancellor of the Kingom of Eiffelland
By: Cleisthenes Zorbas, Consul of Sounio, President of the Amarysian League & Triarch of the Cyclopeian Triarchy

Comrade Matthias,

The Amarysian League would certainly welcome all support from the Kingdom of Eiffelland. Eiffelland was the first nation to send humanitarian aid to Cyclopeia, without any purposes for gains of its own or political motivation, much less than I can say for any other party involved in the conflict. All help from such friends is unquestionably trustworthy. Eiffelland is free to station the mentioned troops in the lands of the Amarysian League. We will do our best to avoid a placement near Krusevan or Wendzieman forces, to prevent any incidents. I am sure you understand better than me than some of the foreign volunteers can be overzealous and less disciplined than your professional troops. If you happen to need any help in evacuating or even smuggling the medical troops out of the Junta's illegally occupied lands feel free to ask us for it. It would only be a minor service compared to the aid you have given us and the Cyclopeain folk.

Yours as a friend,
Κλεισθένης Ζορμπάς

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​

While Zorbas did appreciate all the foreign help enough to allow them on his soil, he knew very well that friction between them would only be natural. He would do his best to make sure all the weapons were pointed at the fascists of the Junta and not under pillows in the night. Placing foreign troops at a distance from one another with Cyclopeian forces in between seemed like the best way to achieve it. With the aid from Eiffelland arriving soon Zorbas was confident his forces could begin a counterattack coupled with an offensive on the weak front of the Junta on the Titanian mountains. This would be enough to relieve the Amarysian forces and push closer to Nauplio. A movement of the fleet toward Nauplio would also be a good idea, considering that Sounio's navy could easily defeat any other naval force in Cyclopeia. With the stance of the Duchy unclear however these moves would be uncertain and costly in manpower and resources, at best.

Naupactus
Roman Kästner was welcomed warmly by Duke Ericthonius who assured him of the Oenotrian Duchy's, and by extension Antikyra's, positive outlook and acceptance of Eiffellander aid against the Junta. He granted the Eiffellanders permission to station the mentioned troops in Antikyra and guaranteed them that the local authorities would help in facilitating and supplying them appropriately.

After the meeting with the Consul, Ericthonius called a summit of the Ducal War Council in the Megaro of Naupactus. The summit was kept completely secret as the plan that they had been working on was based primarily on surprise and rapid, blitz-like shock warfare. Codenamed Operation Harpy (Άρπυια - Árpyia) it would catch the Junta by surprise... and deliver a crushing blow to their combat abilities in the Long Sea, opening the way for a Sounian advance and a rapid Ducal blitz. The Ducal Armed Forces had compiled a report and overview of the operation, a censored-lighter copy of which the Duke gave to the Eiffellander Consul. He figured it would be best that the Eiffellanders, as the Duchy's only foreign supporters, knew what was going to happen, thoughnot in too much detail. He did however ask that they keep it a secret, because he wanted to use the effects of the surprise in negotiations with the Amarysian League and in order to capture as much territory as possible, before the League could use the window the attack would open to advance too.

OPERATION HARPY - ΕΠΙΧΕΙΡΗΣΗ ΑΡΠΥΙΑ
TOP SECRET & STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL - ΑΚΡΩΣ ΑΠΟΡΡΗΤΟ & ΑΚΡΩΣ ΕΜΠΙΣΤΕΥΤΙΚΟ
CENSORED VERSION - ΛΟΓΟΚΡΙΜΕΝΗ ΕΚΔΟΣΗ
- OVERVIEW -

Operation Harpy, conceived jointly by the Ducal Navy and the Ducal Air Force, and to be executed by mentioned branches of the Ducal Armed Forces, consists of an operation to deliver a shocking blow to the Junta's ability to conduct operations in the Long Sea and the Eastern front that shall be opened after the first phase of the operation is complete. It aims to destroy ground troops and aerial forces stationed in the south and east and to anhilate the naval forces of Nauplio swiftly enough for them to be unable to respond appropriately to a major incursion, with minimal losses on the part of the Ducal Armed Forces. It will consist of two phases. Secrecy is absolutely crucial if the plan is to succeed, as failure to retain it will result in catastrophic losses for the Ducal Armed forces.

PAGE 1 - ΣΕΛΙΔΑ 1
​

 

[Rheinbund]

Naupactus, Cyclopeia

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Roman Kästner said. “Actually, we were already taking into account that these plans would exist. I can tell you that we would be willing to assist you in this. This means that our troops to be stationed in Antikyra will be available for this operation, as well as the planes we will send in. Of course we will keep it a secret that these plans exist.”


Eiffelland

While the Eiffellandian medical troops were evacuated from the Junta, an additional tank batallion, 20 additional infantry batallions and an additional artillery batallion of the 3rd army were mobilised. Ships were made ready for transporting the troops to Cyclopeia under the guidance of the Eiffellandian Navy. The Amarysian League would have been able to handle the Navy of the Junta as well, but Eiffelland preferred to protect its vessels personnally.
The first convoy of ships already set sail to Antikyra. It would arrive there after the last medical troops would have been evacuated from the Junta. Planes were also made ready to fly in troops.

Erichthonius’s plans didn’t really come as a surprise to the Eiffellandians. Indeed, if the Duchy wanted to defeat the Junta, this was the moment. Apart from that, the Eiffellandians saw the geopolitical advantage of a strong Duchy in the South of Cyclopeia. The Amarysian League was currently only leftleaning, but it remained to be seen how much influence more radical elements in the Socialist world would gain on Zorbas. Eiffelland wanted to keep the League like it was: Leftleaning. But if the League would become more radical, it would be good not to have it in the position that it could control the Long Sea. Therefore, it was needed that the southern half of Cyclopeia would fall into the hands of the Duchy. A good Air Force with a simple Green Navy would be enough to control the Long Sea then.

There was another advantage to this situation. The Eiffellandians were already testing out a new transport plane, but they could also test out a new weapon.

Streng Geheim – Top Secret

Kanzleramt
Trier, Eiffelland

To Cleisthenes Zorbas, Triarch of the Amarysian League.

Dear Triarch Zorbas,

Thank you for your approval. We will send in the troops promised to you as soon as we evacuated all our medical troops from the Junta. As it looks now, we will be able to get our people out. General Papanikolaou will probably realise that he might face some problems if he would hinder us in getting our people out.

At this moment, our relations with Kruševa and Wendziema are good. We will, however, respect your decision to keep our troops apart.

Best regards,

Matthias Graf von Seydewitz, Chancellor

 

[Josepania]

Biuro Nadzorcy Spraw Międzynarodowych
Pałac Rewolucyjna - Nowogród, Wendziema

Rzeczpospolita Ludowa Wendziema W Najwyższej Godności • In the highest dignity

Sciśle tajny (Top Secret)

Sekret (Secret)

Poufny (Confidential)

Ograniczony (Restricted)

z 1954

Oznaczenia są w kolorze czerwonym. Dokumenty nieoznaczone są niesklasyfikowana. • Markings are in red. Unmarked documents are unclassified.

• • • • •​

Comrades of the Amarysian League,

Your message of the acceptance of our assistance warms our hearts and renews hope of a future of peace, prosperity and partnership for the Cyclopeian people. Our ambassador in Sounio has been informed of the developments and has been given instructions in regards to preparing the way for our aid, whatever that may be agreed upon. We shall keep in contact through him.

Sincerely,
Boleslaw Zalenski
Overseer of International Affairs

Spokój. Dobrobyt. Współpraca.

• • • • •

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Wendowie Consulate, Sounio, Amarysian League
16 / 2 / 1955, 0759 Hours​

The development of the Cyclopeian Triarchy had complicated diplomatic matters for the Wendowie in Cyclopeia, where Consulates in Sounio and Navarino were suddenly in independent, or at least quasi-independent, realms in one country, and the confusing political situation resulted in the Wendowie ambassador running back and forth between the embassy in Nauplio and the two consulates in order to coordinate the diplomacy of the Rzeczpospolita Ludowa. It was taxing, to say the least, and on top of that an administrative nightmare that would have driven lesser men insane. Not Ambassador Radoslaw Gomułka, for he relished the challenge and, if anything, drove his staff and Consul-Generals insane.

It, admittedly, helped that the Junta was showing its true colors through its unprovoked aggression, for it provided an excuse to the Rzeczpospolita Ludowa to suspend indefinitely its diplomatic mission to Nauplio, protesting the attack on the Amarysian League, and transfer a majority of its embassy staff to the Consulate in Sounio, a minority going instead to the Consulate in Navarino. The transfer also made it easier for Ambassador Gomułka to receive word of the intentions of the Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, and schedule a meeting with Consul Zorbas, in order to discuss the terms of Wendowie aid to the Amarysian League.

Ambassador Gomułka's instructions were to be accommodating to the desires of the League, and not press for any aid they were unwilling to receive, for they wanted to be in the Cyclopeian good graces and distinguish themselves from the bolder, more aggressive Krusevans. If it had to be restricted to humanitarian aid for the present, so be it, though a constant reminder of the willingness of the Wendowie to assist in the revolution in every way was encouraged. No matter what, though, it had to be gradual, for the build-up at home to a willingness to intervene was also gradual, if inevitable, through the efforts of Nadzorca Kongresu Krzystof Kowaleski in firing up the people to a revolutionary fervor.

As the Wendowie Ambassador made his way to the governing halls of Sounio and approached Consul Zorbas, he warmly shook the man's hand. "Salutations, Comrade Consul Zorbas. I hear you have a problem with a Junta, tell me what the Wendowie can do to help you deal with this... problem."

 

[Pelasgia]

Sounio
"Comrade Ambassador Gomułka, thank you for coming!" the Consul showed the man into his office and invited him to take a seat. He then continued by awnsering the Ambassador's question.
"I believe aid in the form of supplies and diplomatic aid would be the most important, like medical aid and food supplies. A few troops could also be very helpful, because the Junta has a much larger regular land army, say a brigade or two, as much as you can spare. We are in a really tight position right now but with your help I am confident that we are able to win."

Heraclia & Petropyle
The General went ahead an explained the current situation on the front. The Junta has more troops than the League, strangely though some Brigades seem to have pulled back. They could be preparing for a manuveur, since they are winning on all fronts and they would have no other reason, or maybe the local civilians were rising up. In either case there was no space on the Petropyle corridor for more movements, because of the stalemate. The only area where they could move was the flank of the Antikyran part of the corridor but that would mean invading neutral territory of the Duchy, an unlikely and suicidal move, even by the Junta's standards.

The Krusevan volunteers' three brigades were deployed on the northernmost part of the formation behind Petropyle. The rocky mountainous terrain there was perfect for the guerilla tactics and mountain warfare they specialized in. The Junta's forces had already begun moving on the ridge where the bulk of the Krusevans was located, shelling it and attacking it by air day and night. The tight passages of the rocky ridge saw the death of countless soldiers, while many others fell to their deaths. The highest peaks still had snow and charges there by both sides along with air raids were especially bloody. Vehicles got stuck and were attacked with molotov cocktails, explosive devices or missile lanuchers. Thrice they attacked it by land and thrice they were repealled, with appaling losses on both sides, numbering in the thousands.

Under the steel leadership of Andric the men held their ground, despite all odds being against them. On the third attack they even managed to gain some ground and an enemy brigadier died in the retreat of the Junta's forces. The victory on the mountains northof the Petropyle corridor was critical, as it secured the flank and bought enough time for reinforcements from the League's cities and foreign countries to arrive. Finally after four days of fighting, the defenders got supplies, medical care, food and a good night's sleep in the increasingly harsh and bloody battlefields of the Cyclopeian Civil War.

 

[Josepania]

Sounio, Amarysian League
16 / 2 / 1955, 0829 Hours​

Ambassador Gomułka looked visibly pleased by the request. "Supplies and diplomatic aid can be swiftly and easily done, Comrade Consul Zorbas. Such a request is much more easily swallowed by the Wendowie people in the Kongresu. As for military aid, I am authorized to pledge up to a division towards the defeat of the Junta, wherever the Amarysian League needs it the most. This too is of course dependent on the will of the Wendowie in the Kongresu, but I have confidence that Nadzorca Kongresu Kowaleski will deliver on all I promise."

 

[Rheinbund]

The Kaiser Lothar had positioned itself southwest of Elena Island, together with its fleet. For now it protected Eiffelland’s ship transports to Antikyra and Naupactus, but when needed it could also fight the Junta Navy. It was surprising that the Triarchy had not simply split the former Cyclopeian armed forces into three parts, but instead had assigned most of the Navy to the League, most of the Army to the Junta and most of the Air Force to the Duchy, but now this strange division turned out to be advantageous. The Junta only had an Army; it didn’t have a Navy or an Air Force that was strong enough to prevent Eiffelland from supplying the Duchy. However, to be on the safe side, two additional submarines had been added to the carrier fleet.

The calculations of the Eiffellandian Generals had been correct. As soon as the medical troops had been evacuated from the Junta, the transport ships arrived in a harbour on the east coast of the part of the Duchy called Antikyra. It contained tanks, trucks, armoured personnel carriers and howitsers. Two additional artillery batallions had been sent to the Duchy together with the batallions already promised. Troops were flown to Antikyra as well, under the guidance of the Air Force, which operated both from Eiffelland and from the region of Antikyra and patrolled the air together with the Air Force of the Duchy.

Additional artillery batallions were also sent to the League. But while the focus of the troops in Antikyra was on a possible attack, the focus of the troops sent to the League was defensive. Three artillery batallions with a total of 72 howitsers were sent to the League to build up a front. Shipments with tanks, trucks and armoured personnel carriers had arrived in the League as well., and also here trooops were flown in under the guidance of the Air Force, which patrolled the skies of the League from bases in the League itself. This battle would possibly become the last battle to be seen by the

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.

But it would also become the first battle of Eiffelland’s first design of a heat seaking missile.

The medical troops flown back from the Junta remained in Eiffelland, so that they could rest. However, additional medical troops were sent to the Duchy and the League.

 

[Pelasgia]

Nauplio
Stratarchis (Marshall/generalissimo) Papanikolaou and the rest of the Junta were gathered around the table of the Junta's 'Council of Ministers'. After attendants took care of the minor comforts of the men, like glasses of water et cetera, the meeting begun with Papanikolaou adressing Strategos (General) Pyrgopoulos, the man who was in charge of the Petropyle offensive. Papanikolaou drunk a sip of water before talking.
"Gentlemen. It has been almost half a month since our offensive begun. By now, according to General Pyrgopoulos over there, we should have taken Amarysia and be heading for Sounio. How is it that we just lost ground on the northern corridor?"

The men looked at eachother anxiously and Pyrgopoulos took a deep breath before replying.

"Sir, there have been some... complications. Foreign aid arrived quicker than we imagined and the flee thas been unable to do anything other than annoy the Sounians. We need reinforcements."

"Reinforcements? We already have more men than the anarchocommunists. And because of your incomptence the Aurarines and the Eiffellanders are moving in forces big enough to push us away. How do you propose we deal with Eiffellander planes, seeing that the Duchy is neutral if not hostile and they have most of the aircraft in Cyclopeia?"

"We have been holding back half a dozen battalions on the Petropyle corridor to use them when needed as a surprise. A quick attack on the Antikyrans could be swift enough to destroy their forces and allow us to outflank and route the Amarysians. After that we can take Antikyra and force the Eiffellanders out before they have time to respond. As for the Aurarines unless the Duchy allows them through we can surely hold the front on the Titanian mountains."

"Very well then, get to it. If you fail I will have your head."

"If I fail they will have all of our heads, sir."

Southern Petropyle Corridor, Lordship of Antikyra
Just as the Antikyrans received woke up their radio gave them word of the Eiffellanders arriving in Antikyra's port. Eating their normal breakfast and relaxing they had little idea of what would follow. In the HQ building of a battalion that was located near the border, on the mountains of the southern Petropyle corridor, the Antisyntagmatarchis (Lieutenant Colonel) looked out of the window with his binoculars. Suddenly he saw a big cloud of dust and soon a line of black figures, most likely tanks, on the horizon. Just as he shouted to the men to take cover an artillery shot struck the building and air raid sirenes sounded.

The men rushed out of the mess hall to their barracks and the pilots to their planes but many where gunned down by planes or struck by artillery shells. By the time they had managed to repeal the air raid and form up the enemy assault force had advanced significantly. The men dug into the already prepared bunkers and fortifications, the airplanes lifted off and the artillery started returning fire. At the same time the border units started messaging High Command in Antikyra requesting all aid available. The Antikyran troops and the Eiffellander reinforcements that had just arrived at the city's port to the south would see their first combat almost immediately.

Unknown to the Antikyrans the Junta had also started an attack on the Petropyle corridor's areas held by the Amarysian League, advancing both to the east and south at the same time with its numerically superior, until the Eiffellander aid arrived, forces. The High Command in Antikyra received a message from the front lines which it also rerouted to Naupactus.

HSYB WNDZ YVMG MULW FZEZ NIHI ZALT LRFZ MCDD GXMQ GOKZ PKKC OVGA FGWK HLYQ HLDV TVBK JJYU UUMO GVOU W
"enemy forces of Junta assaulting border fiercly - requesting all available help immediately - taking heavy losses"
​

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Current combat situation map.

 

[Rheinbund]

“Verdammte Scheisse, du blöder Idiot! Oberarschloch!” Air force captain Johann von Dietz-Hadamar said after having received orders from his superior Oberst (Colonel) Ranke and having turned off the radio of his fighter. Even during peace time the skies above Eiffelland were patrolled permanently, but Oberst Ranke, the man in charge of the Eiffellandian planes in Antikyra, had kept the planes on the ground, assuming that the Junta wouldn’t attack Antikyra. And now it did. Reason enough for Prince Johann to call his superior a stupid idiot and a first rank asshole. If Ranke would have kept at least ten planes in the air permanently, the Eiffellandians and the Ducal Forces would have seen this coming, or at least they would have been able to shoot down the planes as soon as they crossed the border. All people at the air force base were lucky that the enemy planes didn’t drop any bombs. Prince of Eiffelland Johann von Dietz-Hadamar had barely escaped the enemy fire while running to his plane. He didn’t need much imagination about the number of people that had died.
Now he chased the enemy planes with his brand new Mysterium II plane. This plane was able to cross the sound barrier at level flight and reached Mach 1.12. And Johann did cross the sound barrier. His plane carried two heat seaking missiles. Johann had noted at least one jet aircraft among the attackers, and he was determined to take that one out. Furthermore, his plane was carrying enough rockets to take the other planes out. But he wouldn’t be the only Eiffellandian in the air.

As soon as he noted the enemy planes, he fired one of his heat seaking missiles, hoping that it would take the jet fighter out. Meanwhile, the other Eiffellandian planes, who had taken off from other bases, arrived at the scene as well. It would become an interesting dog fight.

The Eiffellandians in Antikyra assumed that they would fight an offensive war, but now they had to fight a defensive war. The first hit was given by the Junta, and it was a hard one. But the Eiffellandians reacted immediately. The howitsers were put into position and started to bombard the Junta’s forces. A front was built up by the Eiffelandian infantry together with forces from the Duchy. The tank batallion took position for an attack in the flank of the enemy forces. Jet fighters got into the air with the order to keep air superiority over Antikyra—Oberst Ranke had learnt his lesson with that respect. Fighter-bombers (also Mysterium II planes) took off to bomb the enemy’s forces, together with the B32s stationed in the League. Also two B47s took off from Eiffellandian soil guided by J29 planes. Planes took off from the Kaiser Lothar to patrol the seas around the Junta and to take any boat recognised as a military vessel from the Junta under fire. Also the cruiser Aachen (without Prince Ludwig, who had been demobilised after having fulfilled his military service), two submarines and two destroyers went to the seas around the Junta.

 

[Pelasgia]

South Demetrias Airbase
In the Ducal Aviation Base of South Demetrias a heavy atmosphere of anxiety and unbearable suspense had filled the air ever since news of the Junta's attack on Antikyra had reached the Duchy's populace and been confirmed. Everywhere else the suspense was no ligther. People craved a response, a counter-attack, a fist to respons to the punch they had taken. But nowehere was this feeling as evident as in this base. For if this counterstrike was to happen it would start right here.

Officers and soldiers moved aboutt heir daily tasks, but with fast steps and tense senses, as if it would make the waiting for orders end sooner. The old loud conversations in the mess hall during breakfast where gone and so was the small talk during work. Everyone looked to their radios or to the large megaphones on the outside, hoping they would soon hear a voice ordering them to bring the fight to the Junta. And it was in the morning of the day after the Junta's attack on Antikyra that a communications operator go just that.

LCTF ZQQU GBUU IQFU JGPI AZYN NBII XOKY HHQC TUIU NGWC HORG MTTF BHJV BUDM HNRW HRJW DDBR JRYN MPOO NWXH OCGS SCII CWWT DNHZ MPWM DAHA KOOP UVTH XCBX QWSW LGON WQQF AQKQ RERW ODWO LXPY RYSW SFVN ZBVK NPBU XDVF TCUT GXFH MWBY JJME DYSK LZWV FAOZ HNRD IYOS UXRC YVDX NNKB FTEZ
"THIS IS NOT A DRILL - REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL - initiate operation Harpee all planes and ships move out as per operation parameters - Bring the fight to the Junta and make them pay - God save the Duke - May the Lord be on your side - General Staff of Officers of the Ducal Armed Forces as per Order of His Majesty the Duke"

The operator confirmed it twice before passing the order on to his superior who rushed to confirm it too. The Ducal Navy's fleet had gotten the same message. The Ducal embassy in the Junta had gotten another message.

​

MKWK SGZA CBKU IEQV EMNM HPPK KLBL JHBZ IRUN QYTT GMLH BXFW TRCR IJPS DQWU COZE VURX XHLY PARK YPZI RR
"Operation Harpee in action - Destroy all documents and encryption devices - Empty embassy - Evacuate ASAP - THIS IS NOT A DRILL"

​

Nauplio
The sun shined brightly on the Naupliot port. With the fleet in harbour and the Duchy still in shock from the attack on Antikyra the Junta's forces believed they were safe from nay attack. The 'honourable nobles' of the Duchy would never do anything too foolhardy... and it was too soon anyway for them to after the shock they suffered. For now the fleet, at anchor and in peacetime shape in the harbour, was celebrating along with any locals who supported the Junta and those who had to pretend to.

The ships were palced as if it was peacetime, in full rows and completely unprotected, with all jacks and signals flying for the celebrations. Sailor either enjoyed themselves, clapping, dancing in circles and preparing the ships for the celebrative feasts that the Junta would hold in the night, or sleeping soundly in their beds isnide the ships. Some simply laid at their in-ship querters playing cards and relaxing. Yet Ioannis, a trooper who was assigned to gaurd duty on a lighthouse on the rocky edge of the bay of Nauplio, on the edge of the port, kept hearing a weird buzzing sound ever louder. Suddenly he saw squadrons of planes approaching the port. Perhaps they were the Junta's? Then he kept seeing more and more.... and more. No way the Junta had this many. Until one passed next to him and he clearly saw the crown on the roundel of the plane. As he tried to run into the port a machinegun shot barrage from one of the planes ripper through him, leaving him bleeding to death n a half-wreckt structure.

The planes continued their descend utni lthey reached the port of Nauplio were the unsespecting fleet laid. Then they split itno two, some started dropping torpedos in the water and then rising, while others rose into the air above the ships and run above the decks dropping large, heavy bombs. Many had timers so they could penetrate deep into the ships before exploding. The port was shocked as the torpedos ripped through hulls of ships and the dive bombers blasted the fleet's only dreadnought into half. the pandemonium continued as sailors tried ti run out only to be gunned down by machineguns or to have bombs destroy their ships and torpedoes explode their hulls' sides. As the attack progressed, twenty mnutes later most of the ships were other cut in two large parts sinking seperately, sinking in a single piece or turning around to sink that way. They carried many helpless souls that were trapped in the lower decks and had no way out. Large crowds tired to hold o nto the ships or swim away but the barrage contineud exploding many ships and the planes gunned down as many sailos as possible. Not content with simply destroying the fleet the plaens moved to assault the port and hit military and strategic facilities in Nauplio's coastal area and in the greater area.

By the time the planes had left a ruined burning wreck of a fleet in NAuplio's harbour, having painte dits waters red and darkened its skies with smoke. Hundreds of wounded were rushed to hospitals whcih had also been hit and the once celebraing harbour had been turned into a giant morgue of burning flesh and broken steel. The Junta had gotten its first taste of its own medicine... and it certainly would not be the last.

 

[Rheinbund]

Naupactus, Cyclopeia

“Your Majesty, I think it is needed to coordinate our actions in this war,” Roman Kästner wrote in a letter to the Duke. “I would like to request an audience.”


Eiffelland

“We have to win this war,” Minister for Defence Ralf Clausewitz said in the Cabinet Meeting. “When the Junta wins, we will have a strong enemy in the Long Sea. Take into account that the Junta will take over the former Cyclopeian Navy from the League and the former Cyclopeian Air Force from the Duchy. In that case, we will either have to swallow dictates from Nauplio to keep the Long Sea open, or we will have to start yet another bloody war to make the Long Sea open. You know the scenarios after then.” Clausewitz took a sip of his water.
“So we have to win this war. Currently, we have almost one brigade of the 3rd Army in the field or ready to depart to the field. I think we have to mobilise the remainder of the 3rd Army as well. For two reasons. We have to win this war, and we have to think about Post-War Cyclopeia. The Junta obtained the Ground Army of the former Cyclopeian Armed Forces. This means that Former Cyclopeia will hardly have a Ground Army left when this war is over, provided that the Junta wins. The country needs to be guarded then until a new Ground Army has been built up. We have to be involved in that, otherwise Cyclopeia will turn red.”
“I think that Clausewitz has a point here,” the Chancellor said. “I agree with his analysis. We must win this war, so more involvement by us is needed. And we need to bring in the forces soon. I want to mobilise the complete 3rd army, like Clausewitz proposes, and I want to have this approved by the Staatstag and Staatsrat still today.”

All the other ministers agreed. Half a day later, the mobilisation of the complete 3rd Army had been approved by the Staatstag and Staatsrat. The move was criticised harsly by the most oppostion parties, but in the end the Socioliberals and the Conservative Christians voted in favour together with the coalition parties. Immediately after that, the mobilisation of 30,000 more soldiers including equipment was prepared. In the end, the complete 3rd Army would be mobilised.

Meanwhile, the generals gave orders to drop several batallions of paratroopers near the city of Antikyra. Their mission was to defend the city in case of a besiege by Junta forces. Together with these paratroopers, the authorities of Antikyra‑City would prepare for urban warfare. A location for droppings of materials was agreed on.


War theatre in Antikyra

The B32 bombers and Mysterium II fighter-bombers carried out raid after raid on the Junta forces, especially on the front lines. The sound of exploding bombs mixed with the roaring of the jet engines, resulting in a deafening growl like that of a prehistoric reptile. When the planes left the scene, the howitsers started a barrage fired their grenades until the next wave of bombers arrived. Fighter planes patrolled the skies above Antikyra to keep the air space safe for the bombers, and fought several dog fights with the Junta air force. Prince Johann wrote quite a lot of enemy planes on his name. And when he wasn’t flying missions, he enjoyed the company of the Cyclopeian young women. The womaniser in him only stopped when he was on a mission.
At a certain moment, the B47s (

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) arrived from Eiffelland. The B32s and the Mysterium II fighter‑bombers made room for the B47s so that they could carpet‑bomb the enemy forces.

But the Eiffellandians weren’t the masters of the sky, at least not completely. The Junta forces managed to shoot down several planes. Two planes involved in the bombing activities were lost, and four figthers were lost during dog fights with the Junta air force.


War theatre in Amarysian League

The Eiffellandians fought a traditional war against the Junta forces, but studied the guerrilla warfare methods of the Kruševans thoroughly. Some captains even tried to copy those tactics, and were succsssful several times. But the Eiffellandians were mainly fighting a normal war between larger armies. The air force wings stationed in the League fought the Junta planes in ths skies above The League as well. Several Junta planes were shot down, but also several Eiffellandian planes.

 

[Pelasgia]

Naupactus
Roman Kästner was granted a audience with the Duke, on the next day at the Megaro of Naupactus. Welcoming the man into his personal office the Duke stood up.
"Welcome back Mr. Kästner. Please have a seat. Is there anything I can get you?" he said.

Petropyle Corridor
After the arrival of aditional Eiffellander forces and the battle that gained the Duchy air supremacy over the Petropyle corridor's southern side had boosted morale on all levels on the frontline. The Ducal reinforcements from Oenotria were arriving by the day raising the total number of Ducal ground forces to 8 Brigades. At the same time the Eiffellander reinforcements and the large Ducal aerial forces had made the Antikyran cause even stronger. In coordination with the 10 Brigades of the Amarysian League on the Petropyle corridor the Duchy and the League bombarded the Junta's positions for two days and nights. The aerial superiority they had gained allowed them to bombard the Junta positions even more intensely from the air, destroying vehicles, camps and wrecking havoc.

After two days of hammering the Junta from afar the coalition forces, numbering 18 Brigades, many planes plus the Eiffellander troops started a joint blitz on the Junta's lines. Fighting was intense with many losses from both sides however the air raids, shelling and the previous major advance, one week ago, had tired the Junta's armies. With Junta morale at an all time low the advance managed to push the Junta further away from the Petropyle corridor, into the small peninsula to the north and behind its original front line, closer to the Naupliot border. By the time the attack had been halted the Junta had lost two full brigades and had countless wounded. Many more had retreated in a disorderly fashion and hundreds were missing.

The coalition also had heavy losses, with three brigades lost and many wounded. The Junta's troops near the Naupliot border were trying to fortify to prevent the coalition from pushing into the Junta's lands, near Nauplio, while the three Junta brigades cut off in the small peninsula to the north were trying to rush to the shore and fight while retreating in whatever semblance of order they could retain, hoping to reach the shore and be evacuated by the remainder of the Junta's navy which was in the north. Unknown to them the Amarysian League was planning an operation to destroy that fleet remnant, opening the way for maritime invasions of the Junta's lands.

At a village on one of the Petropyle corridor's mountains a lone Amarysian League Lochagos (Captain) sat in the remains of what used to be a typical rock-made house of a mountainous Cyclopeian village. Smoking, a way to alleviate stress he had picked up from his own captain when he was younger, he gazed at the setting sun. A small quake from one of the few last artillery shots fired far ahead, on the enemy lines shaked the ground, causing him to drop his cigarette. As he cursed and looked down at the wall of the well where his foot was placed he saw blood stains and what seemed like bodies sticking out of the water. He shouted for help and a couple of Antikyrans who had fought side by side with his troops came over. They helped him pull out one of the bodies. It was the body of a Junta conscript. Shocked they used a flashlight to illumnate the well. They found at three dozens of bodies stacked inside the large well.

The Lochagos rushed to the local field command post of the Amarysian League's forces. The Antikyrans were not deployed in that village so it had to be men from his own side that did it. Slamming his hand of the desk of the officer who was at the door he demanded to see the Taxiarchos (Brigadier) who was responsible for the area.

"I have found a mass grave in a well god-damnit! I need to talk to the Taxiarchos about this!"

"Sir, this is war. This happens all the time. Please, go relax with your men. The sooner we get to Nauplio the sooner it will end-

The Lochagos grabed the man's shirt pulling him close. As he raised his fist he was interrupted by the Taxiarchos who called him over to his office.

"What is the problem, Lochagos. I rarely see you so angry." said the Taxiarchos.

"Sir, in the village. Near the south side. I found a well filled with bodies of Junta troops. They were unarmed. There are no Antikyrans in the area and the village is deserted, so our own must have done it."

The Taxiarchos looked out of the window at the moon.

"This is war, Lochagos. Many of our men have lost people to the Juntics. It is only natural they react harshly against the fascists."

"Sir these were conscripts, barely adults! They did not have a choice on whether to fight! Since when are we allowing reprisals?!"

"The men need a way to relieve stress."

"By killing unarmed children in uniforms and shoving them into ditches and wells? Is this not what we are fighting against? Last time I checked I was fighting for the Workers' Army, not the Junta and their fascist generals!"

"As I told you Lochagos: This is war. Go back to your men and forget this."

"No way! These are dead Cyclopeians! I am not letting our youth kill each other when it can be avoided!"

"That was an order!"

"The military code says the perpetrators should be hunged! You either do something about it or I will tell the Antikyrans and the Eiffellanders and half the world will be reading about this next morning while drinkig coffee!"

The Taxiarchos looked at the Lochagos angrily but he did not say anything. After a few moments he conceded.

"Very well. They will be sent to the brig."

"No. No brig. We go by the code. They go to the firing squad. We need to make sure this does not happen again."

 

[Rheinbund]

Eiffelland

The mobilisation of the 3rd Army went as planned. Tanks, tanks destroyers, artillery and troops were prepared for shipment to Antikyra. Additional troops were already flown over to Antikyra. Tanks, tank destroyers, trucks and armoured personnel carriers were loaded into ships, together with the people to man those vehicles. The fact that the Junta’s forces had been pushed back was good news to the Eiffellandians. Now Antikyra could still be used for shipping people and materials to. Otherwise an amphibious landing would have been needed.


Antikyra-City

The Eiffellandian paratroopers had fortified the city of Antikyra in case of a siege by Junta forces. Luckily, the Junta forces were halted by a combined Ducal-Eiffellandian counterattack. The siege of Antikyra would not take place. As soon as reinforcements from Eiffelland arrived, the paratroopers were relieved from their task and prepared for a different mission. Infanterists took the task of defending Antikyra over. Meanwhile, shipments from Eiffelland continued to arrive in Antikyra, both over the sea and through the air.


War theatre in Antikyra

Together with the Ducal Air Force, the Eiffellandians had gained air superiority over Antikyra. The Junta Air Force couldn’t do anything in Antikyra any more. The Eiffellandians used that advantage to the maximum by bombing the Junta forces and flying additional forces in. Additional medical troops were flown in as well. And they were needed. On both sides the number of injured people was high. The Eiffellandians insisted on helping the wounded Junta soldiers as well, although those soldiers were sent to War Prisoner camps after treatment. Eiffellandian and Ducal officers agreed on one thing: The Junta soldiers in the War Prisoner camps had to be treated well, otherwise they would only grow vengeful (sowing the seeds of the next civil war); furthermore, if War Prisoners were not treated well, the remaining Junta soldiers would keep on fighting just to keep out of the hands of the Eiffellandians and the Ducal forces.
The war was also fought in a different way. Radio stations with powerful senders tried to overpower the Junta radio stations, and mixed anti-Junta propaganda with music that was popular in Cyclopeia.


War theatre in Amarysian League

Also here the Junta forces were pushed back, with losses on both sides. Also the Eiffellandians sustained losses, but also here air superiority was achieved and held. The Eiffellandian medical troops had a lot to do. Also Dr. Sauerbruch, who had been moved to a hospital closer to thr front line. He was his usual self there, bossing everybody around, cursing and swearing all the time, and performing brilliant operations. He saved limbs that other surgeons, even very good ones, could not save.
And also here he caused controversies: The Eiffellandians had made crystal clear that they would also help Junta soldiers, after which they would be sent to War Prisoner camps. Once an officer from the Amarysian League made a problem of that. Sauerbruch heard about that just before an operation. He performed that operation (in a brilliant way, as always), and immediately after that he marched straight to one of the drivers and ordered him to drive him to the officer in question. He hadn’t even changed his clothes. So in white clothes covered with blood stains, he marched into the officer’s office, handed out some insults, and barked at the officer that the latter shouldn’t even try to hold off wounded Junta soldiers.

There was also another famous Eiffellandian in the Amarysian League. After some events, he applied for a continuation of his service at the SMS Aachen. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible any more. Therefore, Prince Ludwig decided to turn the civil part of his society service into a 6 months service at the medical troops. Now he was responsible for the logistics at the same hospital where Dr. Sauerbruch worked. Given his organisational talent, everything was perfectly arranged. Nobody missed anything, everything was there. The only person Dr. Sauerbruch didn’t swear at was Prince Ludwig. That lack of swearing had to be considered a huge compliment. And there was another reason why Prince Ludwig was at the right place: One of the many languages he spoke was Cyclopeian, with a slight accent, but otherwise very well.


Naupactus

“Thank you for allowing me an audience, Your Majesty,” Roman Kästner said, in Cyclopeian. “I would like to have a water, if possible.”

After the water had arrived, Kästner started talking. “I think it would be wise if we coordinate our actions against the Junta a bit more.”

 

[Pelasgia]

Naupactus
"Oh yes, of course." the Duke said. He turned toward a large map of caria and the surrounding region, which was painted and carved on the large marble wall of his office in the Megaro.
"My father had comissioned this map. Now you may wonder why I tell you this. You see, we are here. And the Amarysian League is here. Let me be frank. The Junta's fronts are collapsing. On the west they have almost no troops and we penetrate deeper toward Nauplio by the day. In the north their troops keep falling back toward Pyrgos, hunted down like dogs. And in the east you push toward Nauplio and out of Amarysian and Antikyran lands in the Petropyle corridor by the day. This war is no longer a struggle against the Junta. It is a struggle against time. Whoever gets to Nauplio the faster will get legitimacy as the Cyclopeian government. If the Sounians get it they will have most of Cyclopeia and the capital. We will be a rump state at best. If we get it we have a chance of growing larger and standing up to the League. So I have a proposition. Your forces and our forces on the east will keep fighting... but they will not be in such a rush to push into Nauplio. They will fight but they will not advance as much. We on the other hand will rush through to Nauplio in the west and take it before the Sounians. We will gain a difference of mere days at best. But it is worth the try. And of course to coordinate all of this... we will need a joint general staff. What do you say?"

Petopyle Corridor
The Junta's forces on the corridor had been broken into two. The major force had been pushed back, slightly behind the Naupliot border, suffering heavy losses and with its morale broken. The Junta's forces there had dug into a defensive line and were fighting to buy time hoping that some sort of help would arrive. The other force had been cut off, stuck in the peninsula north of Heraclia in the petropyle corridor.

There the Amarysian League's forces were hunting them north to the the coast. In the run to the cost they had already lost half a battalion while they could not even carry their wounded with them. They had finally been cornered on the coast on top of the peninsula's northern tip, hoping for the remainder of the Junta's fleet in Pyrgos to come and resuce them. Having set up tents and field hospitals in their temporary camp they eagerly waited.

Yet, after a week of running and waiting, as the sun rose they finally saw the fleet along with any ship it could commender on its way to the coast. The men celebrated. Among them was Takis, a conscript from the Junta's III Brigade. He, like the others, gathered his things and rushed to the coast waiting for the ships that closed in. A few had reached the coast and were loading wounded and anyone else who could get on them. Suddenly a buzzing sound distracted Takis, who was waiting on an old, rotting, abandoned wooden dock. It was missing half its wood planks, not very different to the ruined buildings of the abandoned fishing village where part of the field camp was. The sound got louder until he clearly saw a squadron of planes flying over. They started firing their machine-guns gunning down countless Junta soldiers who had lined up against the coast. Then they started dropping timed bombs and torpedoes, sinking many ships and exploding them. They set the wrecks of the ships ablaze and those in them tried to jump out burning.

As the cloudy sky was filled with smoke the rocky, barren beach was painted red just like the water near it which was filled with bodies. In the distance the Amarysian League's Eastern fleet was attacking the Junta's fleet. Shots could be heard as could the explosions and screams of the Junta's sailors whose ships sunk hopelessly facing the larger Amarysian League fleet and the squadrons of planes attacking. Takis jumped itno the water as a bomb hit the dock he was on, blowing it up. He tried to swim past the wall of bodies, shrapnel and bullets falling into the water and he managed to get into a small transport ship, which was usually meant to be used for beach landings.

As he took quick breaths he saw artillery shots hitting the beach and countless men coming from the top of the rocky hills that seperated the beach from the rest of the peninsula. He saw the Amarysian League's colours: a blue filed with a red star in the upper left hand corner. And then he realised: the Sounians had not attacked all this time not because they were far behind, but because they had been setting up a plan. And his own hopelessness had prevented him from seeing what had been so obvious. Another plane passed above his ship torpedoing it, with a large fireball taking most of the crew with it and the ship spliting in half. He jumped out and dropped all his equipment, swimming to the coast. As he was about to get out a piece of steel flying around hit him in the head, dropping him to the ground.

The last thing he remembered was Amarysian League Medics carrying him off, and shouting "We have a live one here!".

Western Front
The Ducal blitz continued practically unopposed. Whatever few gendarmes the Junta had managed to sent against them in the surprise attack had been cut down or broken almost immediately. The Junta had underestimated the Duchy and it had sent all of its forces in two massive chunks, to the north and east. However now it faced the rest of Cyclopeia alone and saying it overextended would been an understatement. Then as the Ducal forces moved forward carelessly they finally encountered resistance, in the open fields and small, extremely short hills of the prairies and vineyards around Nauplio. Artillery started shelling the ground in front of their positions, making the whole force fall slightly back and regroup, coming to a halt. They started digging a trench while the Junta had already dug one defending Aegera, a port town that was only 21km from the edges of Nauplio's suburbs. The Junta was determined to make a stand here.

The Ducal forces on the other hand rushed to create a line so they would not be out on the open and to get air support and air recon in order to determine how many people were inside the trench. They had known it existed, however they though it abandoned or manned by very few people. The Junta had apparently forced any gendarmes, police and locals along with any troops it could spare together to create a couple of brigades in order to try and stop the Duchy's blitz. So far they had managed to, leading the Duchy to wait for reinforcements to arrive and for a plan of attack to be drafted.

Northern Front
With the fron lines of the Junta's northern troops going back by the day the Amarysian League's forces in the north advanced forward, leading the Junta to retreat to Pyrgos. There they formed a defensive line. The city was almost surrounded and the Amarysian League was pushing to cut the small corridor near the sea still under Junta control to cut the city completely off from land. In the sea the Amarysian League's fleet had destroyed what few ships the Junta had left, in the coast north of the small peninsula over the Petropyle corridor as they had tried to evacuate the now decimated and captured remainder of the Junta's eastern front strugglers. With its hopes of help becoming less by the day the city prepared for a siege. The population, unlike Nauplio were the Junta needed to oppress the locals, was probably the only major group loyal to the Junta. Even there some residents did not support the Junta, however the majority would be willing to fight t the death... provided they actually had enough weapons.

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[Rheinbund]

Naupactus

“It is also our estimation of the situation in Post-War Cyclopeia that your international position will be a lot stronger if Nauplio falls into your hands,” Kästner said. “We agree with your plans regarding the conquest of Nauplio. So indeed, let your troops from Oenotria advance to Nauplio as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we build up a force in Antikyra that will be enough to hold the front there in the case that you also need your Antikyran troops for the conquest of Nauplio. But we have to focus on the conquest of Nauplio, and on the conquest of as much of Junta territory as possible.”

He took a sip of his water. The idea of a joint general staff was not something he himself had thought about. The Eiffellandian Government and General Modersohn hadn’t considered that possibility yet. However, he himself saw the advantages of a joint general staff, and he thought that the Government and General Modersohn would agree with a joint general staff as well. He would definitely propose it. He continued talking.

“Regarding the formation of a joint general staff, I absolutely see the advantage of that. I will propose it to my government, and to General Modersohn, the General of the 3rd Army. By the way, the paratroopers who defended Antikyra are currently prepared for missions in Junta territory. The defence of Antikyra-City is taken over by other infantery units.”


Antikyra

A new tank batallion had arrived in the harbour of Antikyra. It was immediately sent to the front, together with other units that just had arrived. The paratroopers were relieved from their task to fortify Antikyra, and were prepared for another task. Other infantry units took over the defence of Antikyra-City.
Meanwhile, the air force fought for obtaining air superiority over Junta territory. As soon as that would be achieved, the Eiffellandian air force would be able to perform missions above Junta soil. But that was not the case yet. First the resistance of the Junta pilots needed to be broken.

 

[Pelasgia]

Naupactus
"Once again, I cannot tell you how thankful we are for your valuable help and cooperation. Seeing how decisively our troops are fighting and he lack of equivalent support of Socialists' side, I think we can safely assume we will take Nauplio and the rest of Nauplia before the League can make any serious advances. Pyrgos might be out of our reach, but with Nauplio safely in our control to nite our lands we can bargain later during negotiations." said the Duke.

Western Front
While originally stunned by the defenders' barrages the Ducal forces had re-grouped and prepared for an assault. Planes passed over the Aegera defensive line bombing various points in it, while artillery shelled it and the nearby area. The Junta's forces knew their situation was desperate. Most of their forces had been focused on the Eastern Front, where a week ago they had lost six whole brigades and been forced to embark on a large-scale retreat. Their only remaining troops in the West were soldiers of the 17th and 18th Brigades of the 2nd Army along with the very few volunteers of the National Guard, barely numbering a regiment, and local conscripts who were badly equipped and had no wish to fight League forces on the Eastern front or Ducal soldiers on the Western Front, seeing both as liberators from the Junta.

The shelling and bombardment softened up the hastily made positions of the Junta. The chaos some intense ones caused was enough to cause some conscripts to run away, though many were killed by shells and bombs by going out in the open as a result. With several points of the line weakened and their supply lines crippled the Junta's troops fought on bravely but the numerically superior Ducal troops were more than capable of continuing their blitz. Eventually the 17th Brigade, which had been reduced to a single, regiment surrendered. The 19th's troops held a mutiny by arresting and killing some of their higher ranking officers and they too surrendered. The only unit that kept fighting was the fanatic 'National Guard'. Composed of fascist volunteers its troops fortified themselves in the area around Aegera's town hall, firing at anybody and anything that moved around it. After trying to negotiate with them Ducal forces and locals who joined up with them tried assaulting the town hall three times but they were forced to fall back with minimal success and moderate to high losses. Finally the decision was made to bomb the town hall. The building itself was an Ancient Cyclopeian revival four story buidling with a small dome and a clocktower. An architectural masterpiece in many ways it was suddening to the cultured Naupactites and the locals to see its dome blown to shreds, however necessary. With the remaining National Guards arrested and promptly executed for atrocities their unit had commited the Ducal forces continued their advance to the west.

However the Ducal commanders were anxious about the Amarysian League, whose front line was less than 13km from Nauplio, right on the river that acted as the border of Amarysia, Antikyra and Nauplia. Fortunately the forces closest to Naupli oin the east were Antikyran and thus on the Duchy's side but the Amarysian League was not all that far away, since the river literally touched Nauplio's borders and they were but a dozen kilometers from it. The Duchy's forces decided to start a rapid march through day and night to manage to make up for the time lost taking Aegera and head straight to Nauplio. The way was now open without much resistance, however they expected to encounter some. Unknown to them the refusal of the Socialist states to provide further aid for the Amarysian League's cause had slown down the Amarysian advance to almost a halt as the Junta threw most of its force on the Eastern front, hoping it would find a better fate or even understanding at the hands of the Duchy.

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The Front Lines before the Aegera defensive line was broken by Ducal Forces.

Pyrgos
In Pyrgos the Junta forces were at their strongest. This was not numerically but Pyrgos was probably the only place in Cyclopeia were the Junta had a considerable number of the locals supporting them. Numberous volunteers enlisted in the 'National Guard', forming two Brigades, and three full Brigades of regular troops were present. With propaganda filling the public louspeakers, radios, TVs and walls in the shape of everything from songs to posters the locals prepared for a siege. The small industry of the city had been focused at making shells, arms and bullets to prepare for the siege and before the Amarysian League blockaded the port some supplies had been brought in. The Junta governor and his command bunkered in the reinforced thrird level beneath the ground of the Megaro. Surrounding the building were defensive works, dykes, czech hedghogs, barbed wire, sandbag walls and other defensive fortifications while artillery had also been placed around it. Fortifications were also present surrounding the city, especially at crucial entrance points while major roads had at least two rows of fortifications, in case the first ones were breached.

Wanting to make sure the city's defenses were totally crippled the Marshal of the 2nd Army of the Workers' & Peasants' Red Army of the Amarysian League ordered a full bombardment of the city from air, sea and artillery. The missile artillery and guns along with cheap planes the massive Nikaian heavy industry had built hammered the city for four days and nights while the naval force blockading Pyrgos' port emptied its ammunition stocks twice, leveling the city's harbour and coastal area. The planes dropped bombs all across the city, leveling it in a way only comparable to the horrors Apolloneia had experienced during its four month long siege by the Junta. With the bombardment complete Amarysian League troops begun a bloody, drawn out battle. There was long and costly fighting for every road, window and room, for every inch of the blown out, half-leveled city. The Socialists advanced behind tanks, armed with rifles and with their olive coloured uniforms and side caps, while the Junta's forces wore field caps and black or dark blue uniforms and defended with machine guns and rifles behind rubble and fortifications. Typically a skirmish started with the defenders firing at advancing troops or a tank firing at a barricade and breaking through. Sometimes planes also came down a dropped bombs or a couple crashed and caused even more destruction. While the rivers of blood continued to grow and be filled by both sides, troops of the Amarysian League moved closer and closer to the City Centre and the Megaro of Pyrgos.

There the Junta's forces in Pyrgos made their final stand. They fired with the artillery they had around the building and filled the fortifications around it with men who fought to the bitter end in a desperate fight. As the Socialists took every layer of the defenses of the building, every sandbag wall, every dyke and they blew up every gun around it the Junta retreated to the interior of the mangled building. It was once moe bombarded to a pulp before the League's soldiers stormed it and after several bloody firefights reached its top and its bottom. On top of the building the placed a red flag with the inscription "XV Infantry Division, Order of the Red Banner, 1st Class, II Army - W.P.R.A.A.L." (the name of the unit to which the banner belonged to) along with the Emblem of the Amarysian League. In the bottom they found and arrested key leadership figures of the Junta's rule in Pyrgos and the Junta's armed forces. The Junta troops and volunteers who were not yet dead gathered in the courtyard outside the building and surrendered, as the Amarysian League celebrated. The Junta now only had Nauplio left and it was loosing its grip on that Polis too.

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The flag placed on top of the Megaro of Pyrgos by Amarysian League troops.

 

[Pelasgia]

Megaro of Nauplio - 12:30 PM
With the Junta losing decisively on all fronts the war council was forced to convene once more in the Megaro of Nauplio. Anxiety and fear was obvious all around the table. People clicking pens, moving their legs up and down very quickly as if they were trembling and an akward silence reinforced by scared or empty looks. Marshal Papanikolaou's voice was the first sound heard to break the unbearable silence.

"You all know why I called you here. We are losing dicesively, anyone could say as much. But you have not told me everything. Out of fear or something else I do not know, but now would be a good time to start, because otherwise we are all going to soon be in Megaro Square, hanging. Phalangitis; your report first."

General Phalangitis took a deep breath before speaking.

"The II Army Corps, 200,000 men, has been anhilated at Pyrgos. All dead and injured or captured. Pyrgos itself is under Socialist control. It is safe to assume Antoniadis and the rest of our loyal leadership there has been detained... or worse."

Nikolaidis was next.

"The I Army Corps, 250,000 men, is on the retreat. Its discipline and morale have compeltely broken and all the conscripts are fleeing. The few loyal men are dead or captured and we have countless injured. Most of our equipment has been abandoned to the advancing enemy. A force of three to four Brigades was cut off and destroyed to almost the last man along with what was left of our fleet."

The other commanders started speaking oen by one.

"The fleet is gone on both the North and South. Every single ship, save for half a dozen patrol boats and minor ships is gone."

"The air-force was already small but it has been cut down to less than a hundred planes, many of whcih are too damaged to fly. We also lack pilots."

"The western defensive line has been broken through and the National Guard has been destroyed. Nothing is stopping the enemy from advancing on Nauplio on all sides."

"The forces we have in Nauplio are wavering and they are barely keeping the popualtion under control. We might face a revolt, a coup by our own forces or a revolt supported by the low ranking soldiers."

Papanikolaou slammed his fist against the desk. Their position was hopeless.

"Barricade the city with twice as heavy defenses as Pyrgos. Shoot anyone who openly is agaisnt us. If they want to take Nauplio it will be a bloodbath and they will take a bunch of ruins that make Pyrgos look like art!"

Marshal Papanikolaou's Personal Quarters, 'Presidential' Mansion - 3:00 PM
Papanikolaou was relaxing in his personal quarters, in a mansion that previously belonged to a rich merchant family that had been loyal to the Despot. The mansion was a large, richly built house built in a typical form of houses of major Cyclopeian clans. It featured many columns and ornate architecture in a rectangular shape with many floors, built around a central, open courtyard and surrounded by gardens and vineyards. Average Cyclopeian houses outside the city centre were like this but less ornate and much smaller. The temperate climate of Cyclopeia allowed for such structures. This particular house was Papanikolaou's favourite because it had its own hot baths beneath it, where he could relax as the Junta's troops prepared for a suicidal defense that would cost the world one of its oldest and most historic cities and countless people their lives.

Despoina walked into the house to meet the Marshal. Ever since Pelasgiotis had been killed she had faked loyalty to Papanikolaou to avoid being clensed like the rest of Pelasgiotis' supporters. Originally she was a supporter of Nikaia's interests, regardless of faction. The only thing that had brought her to Nauplio was her close relationship with the man who almost became its tyrant. And it had forced her to stay. She was never sure if Papanikolaou knew about her true loyalty and her views of him, since he had killed Attalus, but she tried to act out a fake servility as well as she could. That way she had managed to retain a high rank in the Junta's hierarchy.

Walking into the baths she dismissed the guards at the door saying she wanted to have a private meeting with the Marshal. As she walked up to the bath where Papanikolaou was she was noticed by the Marshal who turned to speak to her.

"Oh Commodore Pavlopoulou. How pleasant it is to see the fiancé of the late Brigadier. Is that coat not a bit heavy for this room?"

"Oh trust me sir, it is perfectly fine." replied Despoina. Wraping a chain around the Marshal's neck she pushed his head into the water holding it down. The men struggled for a while but soon enough his body was lifeless in the water.

"That was for Attalus." she said as she left the room.

Outside, all over the city the populace, joined by the troops arrested the high ranking officers who were not part of the conspiracy and loyal to the Junta as well as anyone else with similar loyalties. They prepared to peacefully surrender the city to whoever came to liberate it first.

 

[Pelasgia]

ΤΕΛΟΣ ✯ FIN ✯ THE END
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[Rheinbund]

Nauplio

Matthias von Luckenwalde was a conscript Navy Lieutenant at the SMS Aachen, where he was a communications officer. The Aachen had been moored in the remnants of the harbour of Nauplio, and now Matthias was visiting the city, celebrating with the others. Cyclopeians from the Junta who celebrated that they had been freed from yet another oppressive regime, Cyclopeians from the Duchy who celebrated their victory together with the Eiffellandians. Peace had been restored, the war was over. The Eiffellandian soldiers had been ordered to pay in the shops, despite the fact that soldiers were served for free. The reasoning behind that order was the following. Now everyone may be euphoric about the end of yet another dictatorship and yet another war and the shop owners may give their commodity away for free as a result of that euphory, but how would they look at that decision when they would have to make up their books? Then the hands of the Eiffellandians had to be clean in the eyes of the shop owners, so that they could not be accused of plundering.
Matthias knew the history of Cyclopeia. The country that rolled from civil war to civil war. At least, that was how people from Eiffelland looked at it, assuming that Cyclopeia was a country. But was it really a country, Matthias thought. Wasn’t it more a group of many small city-states that the outside world called Cyclopeia for the sake of simplicity? Only when threatened from outside, the Cyclopeians acted together. After then, the country fell apart in its small city-states again. Did the country of Cyclopeia roll from civil war to civil war, or were it sovereign city-states that continuously fought each other? Seen from that perspective, the Despotate was nothing more than an alliance of many city-states that agreed on cooperating w.r.t. foreign politics and defence. Could you call that a country? Maybe not. In any case, despite the alliance called the Despotate of Cyclopeia, the city-states still distrusted each other in such a way that they started fighting again. OK, the one-before-last war was in fact an uprising, but that uprising could only end up so bloody because the country was still a group of city-states. Now the Cyclopeians celebrated the end of yet another war, but how long would the peace last? More fundamentally, were Cyclopeians really able to make peace with each other? Or did they suffer from a pathological urge to wage war against each other?

There was one person Matthias von Luckenwalde, the second son of the Duke of Luckenwalde, missed. But he didn’t miss his fiancée. He wasn’t engaged out of his own free will. His engagement to a woman who was eight years older than himself was the result of a decision of his family. The woman in question was unmarriable. There could be several reasons for that. In the case of this woman, it was her character. She was sneaky, nosy, manipulative, and very mean if she didn’t get her way. She had been engaged a few times, but every time the man had ended the engagement. It was impossible to have a relationship with her. However, Matthias had to marry her, whether he wanted it or not. His family obliged him to marry her. He had told that to Prince Ludwig during those eventful last nights of January. He didn’t miss his fiancée. He missed Ludwig.