"We have a navy of twelve corvettes, twenty-six patrol boats, nine submarines, six frigates, two cruisers, four landing craft, and eight destroyers. Twenty-five thousand sailors and marines, two naval shipyards, two naval stations, on the northern coast, the other in the south. Southern Fleet Command is held these days, a quite recent appointment due to purges, by Vice-Admiral Odoacer Bell, the Chief of Operations for SFC. He can provide you with more details, but at present, Southern Fleet Command consists of: six corvettes, thirteen patrol boats, five submarines, one cruiser that serves as the flagship, namely the Deborah, two landing craft, three frigates, and four destroyers. It's slightly larger and stronger than Northern Fleet Command, due to the recent shift in focus to offensive operations in the South.
"Northern Fleet Command, under Vice-Admiral Eric Botham, naturally has one cruiser, three frigates, four destroyers, four submarines, two landing craft, six corvettes, and thirteen patrol boats. That's not counting any coastal cutters used by both fleets, for our navy doubles as our coast guard. Air Command is held in the South by Air Vice-Marshal Jean-Luc Mirage, Chief of Operations. He has fifteen thousand airmen, some two hundred fighters, two hundred fifty multirole aircraft, fifty-five medium-range bombers, thirty ground attack aircraft, fifteen maritime patrol aircraft, and eighteen transport or cargo jets, plus another twenty-two propeller-based cargo planes, as well as fifteen utility helicopters, five surveillance-reconnaissance aircraft, and twenty attack helicopters. That's a respectable air force, I hope, not counting the Northern Air Command.
"The army presently is weaker in the south than in the north, but we're in the process of shifting to a defensive focus up there, as mentioned, so we're augmenting our Southern War Theater of Operations under Major General Keith Farrell. General Farrell presently has mobilized some one-hundred fifty thousand regulars, another one-hundred fifty thousand reservists, and two hundred thousand Home Guard or militia troops. He has thus a total of half a million troops under arms, of which three-hundred fifty thousand are ground combat soldiers. They are organized into thirty-five combat-ready divisions, at least in theory, with another ten divisions, or one hundred thousand troops, en route from Suchet's Northern War Theater, which still leaves Suchet with another thirty-five divisions with which to defend the Northern Front against Markham. We are confident that Suchet can do better than his predecessors, albeit with fewer men under his command," Grand Admiral Theron Gaillard stipulated his confidence in the new arrangements.
"What should also be noted is that, having the military at full capacity, along with the rebel forces in such large numbers, would take a toll on the economy, spending a good amount of national wealth and resources in a war economy model. Austerity and rationing were sure to result, but that was necessary to win the war. Everyone must sacrifice, particularly the civilians who've had it so easy of late," said Murray, "we must all give to the cause of the Lord of Hosts, for only then will He deliver our foes into our hands. With considerable aid from Kerkland, of course."
"We should also consider the inferior quality of the Home Guard militia, which are two-fifths of the government troops. They are typically used for local and minor civil disturbance, so were not as well versed, until lately, that is, in counter-insurgency warfare. Compared to the regulars and even the reservists, the Home Guard troops leave much to be desired, many of them older citizen-soldiers who finish their regular and reserve service. Home Guard have been under clear orders not to compete with Regular or Reserve Army forces for younger, more able-bodied recruits, so would naturally consist of middle-aged and aging men, if still able-bodied due to regular drills and tough physical fitness standards. That is one good thing with the Home Guard. They might be rusty, but they are still fit and strong for their ages," Blake recalled.
"And no one could fault their religious zeal. Especially these days since the Purges began," Air Marshal Humbert Danning added with pride.
