Army of the Confederacy
Month of March and Early April
The fact that Aclusian forces on their border with northern Rannoria, as well as those of the Warglorians already had crossed the border, was extremely alarming, not only did this have the potential to undo everything the 3rd Corps had done in Plais and the Shield Isles. Their worries were soothed however, as their RSF allies came forward and told them what was needed to be told. "They are here to help." The leader of the RSF told Peter MacArthwys. This changed a few things, but the fundamental plan for Rannkradle still remained the same.
As for how that was going, it was going somewhat swimmingly as of present. By March 10, the 11th Division garrison was ready for making an amphibious invasion of the southern bank of the Raeinn, and on the 12th they had landed uncontested. Syndicalist troops were swat away, and their combined remnants thoroughly crushed at the Battle of Cane. The reason why its going "somewhat" swimmingly is due to the issues the other half of the 11th Division was dealing with, the mountains were chock-full of Syndicalist forces, who were also fighting beleaguered RSF troops. Skirmishing in the mountains began around the 10th of March, and by the 15th, they still hadn't crossed past the mountains. As for the 17th Division, they finished the construction of their river barges and were ready to assault Rannkradle when the halves of the 11th Division completed their objectives. RSF troops have also concentrated on their positions to assist in the taking of Rannkradle.
The 2nd Armored Corps and their support troops had also arrived in Rannoria, landing in the regional capital of Plais, a large port city called Palis. A group of some 104,181 men, these would group with the troops of the Aclusians in their advance, to act as the massive sledgehammer breaking down the walls of Rannkradle.
Army of the Confederacy
Shishiri and Indianum
The Sirvanskan front was for all intents and purposes, finished. All remaining rebel strongholds, and any remnants of said rebels, have been thoroughly crushed and their leaders hanged for their crimes. As for their cannon fodder, the 2nd Corps forced upon them decimation. Every one of them in groups of ten, and one from these groups was to be executed by the other nine. The rest were then free to go. The corps would then begin occupation of the Confederate share of Leersog, suppressing unrest and distributing supplies such as food, medicine, building material, etc.
The same could not be said for the Shishiri front however (rather, the Carriebean front at the rate things were going). Although the capital had been taken, and most Carriebean troops (about 200,000 men) captured as prisoners of war, there still was their mainland territories to subdue. Submarines prowled the strait, taking down every Carriebean ship that they came across, and running circles around the 50 or so destroyers the enemy had. The planes from the Hawk also were a help in night engagements, as they popped flares over targets in the dead of night then left without a trace, the ominous sounds of engines the only indicator to their presence.
The 1st Armored Corps had also arrived in Standpoint, Shishiri, by April 5.
Halsten Dubrovnik, 1st Corps Grandmaster
"Enemy fire has ceased, Grandmaster," an officer entered his tent, then told him, "The enemy has raised... A rather ornate flag of truce as well sir." He simply nodded in response, "I will be there myself, let me prepare." And sent the man on his way with a wave of his hand. After straightening himself up, he left the tent and went directly to the stables, where his trusty brown steed awaited him. Mounting the horse, he quickly trotted on over to where the beaten enemy awaited. For every meter he crossed towards the entourage, the stench of shit grew stronger and stronger. He had to draw on every bit of willpower he had to force his face into a neutral expression, and to prevent it shifting into a grimace. "Who," he bellowed out, "Is in command here?". His response was in the form of an old sod just like him dismounting from his horse, a gray destrier.
“I am General Ver Doorman, Commander of 200,000 Carriebeanian Soldiers." the man introduced himself, "Many of them are tired of war and simply wish to go home. I would like to make a small speech to my men, if you permit.”. He nodded, the man was tired of all this, and so he would give him a small respite. A few minutes later- in which he was often grinning slightly due to overhearing the... Questionable content of the General's speech, especially at the final sentence- the enemy relinquished exactly 201,333 varying pieces of equipment, 200 thousand of those were rifles, the rest was artillery. “Enemy Commander," Ver Doorman had walked on over to him, "You have bested my forces on the field of battle and within the walls of hell. I still remain defiant with my honors of war but shall relent from my personal dignity to hand you this.” The commander removed his personal sword and colt firearm, handing them over to his assistant's open hands.
"A rather..." Halsten struggled for the proper word that wouldn't insult the enemy commander while at the same time wouldn't praise him too much, "Sensational speech General Ver Doorman. It is rather discouraging that I would do this action to your men so soon, but such is duty.". He then walked his horse to the center of the formation, where all could hear him, "All of you, this is the terms for your surrender, you will all perform the act of decimation, but taking into account your commander's honorable surrender, you will instead do centimation," he yelled out at the top of his lungs, "You will now group yourselves into groups of one hundred, and draw straws. He who draws the shortest, will die, at the hands of his 99 other comrades.".
"Two thousand rather than twenty thousand will die today!" He yelled as the Carriebean soldiers were being rounded up into 2,000 groups of 100 men by his own, "Consider this a mercy! If this were the 9 Years War, all of you would be dead!". Soon the deed was complete, all of them had been grouped. Then the straws were being distributed...
It took an hour, but the straws were finally drawn, 2,000 men had been condemned. As luck would have it, General Ver Doorman drew the 3rd shortest straw, and would live for another day. Then the screams of men being bludgeoned, stoned, and stabbed to death by former brothers-in-arms came, somewhat lighter than decimation, if that happened to these two hundred thousand men, but centimation would occur today.
9th Regiment, 6th Infantry Division
Caoirigh go Brách!
Southeastern Aryshtakova, March 2, 0632
"Pierce through! Pierce through!" The unified shouts of his now 60 man band grew louder and louder as they slowly but surely started advancing to the rest of their regiment, and their First Lieutenant shouted along with them. An enemy peeked out of cover, but was overrun by a ramshackle group of ten men. "PIERCE THROUGH! PIERCE THROUGH!" The shouts continued.
Then he could see the flags of the 9th at the bottom of the hill, "Men! Safety is at hand!" He yelled while stabbing another enemy in the eye with his flagpole's pointed top, spilling red fluid all over the green standard, "Let's ensure that we grab it, shall we? ONWARD!". And so they went, the 50 man group, shooting and stabbing their way into safety. By the gods, their cohesion must hold, or else they would break.
Forty five men.
Forty men.
Thirty five men..
Thirty men..
Twenty five men...
"WE'VE BREACHED IT MEN! FORWARDS, FORWARDS!" The desperate and hoarse shouts of a bloody Sheridan Maugham resonated throughout the air and the spirits of his men, and they all rushed onward as if they were a band two hundred strong. Their battered group was able to rejoin the rest of their regiment safely, and looking back at their track, "Damn, we sure did carve through em good.". A burning trail they had made downhill, evidence being the consistent and jagged line of burning or destroyed buildings. "Men, I'll report to the Corporal," he told his men as they were attended by medics, "We'll see that these rebel bastards die for what they did."
"Well don't ya look like shit First Lieutenant," the group had retreated to the back to get medical attention, but the first lieutenant trudged to the tent of his superior officer, and these were the first words he heard, "Now what kind o' shit you've been plowin through?".
"If I may be so bold sir," he replied, "Rather tough shit.".
"Well a good thing you survived," Corporal Shepard MacRyder replied, not looking up from the paper that he was reading, "We're all going home.". The corporal passed the paper over to him, and looking upon it, it appeared that it was a list of which regiments were to go home and which regiments would stay to garrison their new territories, and luck would have it, they were grouped in with the former.
"That's... Good to hear sir," he had paused, there really wasn't anything he was going back to in the mainland, and here he could have a fresh start, but it would be good to go back home, and thus he was conflicted, "But what about the folks we're fighting there?".
"We'll be retreating, the conflict is done First Sergeant," the corporal answered, "It appears that you have been left in the dark in terms of important happenings, we're allied with those folks you're attacking, Hoosier folks.". Shepard sighed, "I'm trying my best not to blow a vein and court martial you right on the spot," his superior's hands had curled up into fists by now, "Attacking a town of the Hoosiers like that, are you trying to start an international incident you fool!". And now he was standing with a fist raised.
"Sir, sorry sir," he apologized, but the men he had lost... "This will never happen again, sir!". He finished with a bow, and Corporal Shepard sat back down with a deeper and exasperated sigh.
"We'll be retreating soon from this damn place," the corporal was rubbing his temples rapidly while he spoke, it then shifted to rapid scratching of his hair, "This shit you've started will have consequences.". And so the 9th retreated from the town battered, a defeat in their eyes.
Diplomacy
The condemnation of the Manticorans of the strategies being used in Shishiri was met with opposition from the militarists, seeing the gas being a necessary move towards subduing Carriebean quickly and effectively, but the Confederacy could not afford losing their best ally in the new Central Alliance, which they had more or less joined with the fall of the Imperial Bloc, which happened due to Norcourt's withdrawal, and thus, an apology was made and a promise of not using chemical weapons in the near future unless provoked extremely was made as well. But this was secondary to the fact that the Vicuna Conference would begin soon.
Masset Hiellan had arrived at the city by March 30, having a day for some final preparations before the conference began in earnest on April 1. Then that day came around and the meeting was opened, more specifically, opened by a certain Mr. Francis Golden. “Greetings, gentlemen. We have a goal to de-escalate the situation in Indianum and, to that end," he said, "We have created a rough draft for an agreement.". He stayed silent, physically and mentally, only listening, there was no points to be contested as of yet.
The man resumed, "Key among the points would be disarmament and reductions in force sizes for all parties," there it was, the point that needed to be contested, a force reduction was unacceptable, "As well as the removal of combat forces by Nihon to reduce the apparent threat that is posed by them.". Mr. Golden took a deep breath before resuming, "The reductions shall be to ensure that no nation maintains more than two and one-tenth percent of their population actively underarms in peacetime.". Again, unacceptable.
"The Nihonese will, as stated," the man looked around the men seated while speaking, "Reduce deployments of their forces in Indianum to five divisions in Manchuko and five divisions in Shishiri.". He then continued speaking on a similar point, "The Central Alliance will match those, with no more than 5 divisions to be deployed by Manticore in Almaty and no more than five divisions to be deployed in Shishiri by the Northern Confederation.”. Those last terms of his were acceptable, they would be well within the realm of legality to simply deploy more troops in their portion of Leersog.
Now he would speak up, "With all due respect Mr. Francis, are you certain that a reduction in armies is wise in these tumultuous days?" He inquired with a skeptical voice, "The Indianum issue may be solved by this meeting aye, but do you think that will be the only issue we will be facing in the near future? There is an incident brewing in Rannoria as we speak, and opposing sides may clash with the confirmation that the Transvaal is supporting a side and the Warglorians siding with another.".
"I say nay to these proposals of reductions, and instead make a counter proposal of keeping the status quo on armies.".
