Pure Basalt and Granite [OPEN | MT]

[Allanea]

Somewhere, 3500 km away from Soviet Asbekistan

“Whirlwind, this is Omicron, do you read me, over?”

“I am reading you loud and clear, over.”

The Corona bombers sped to their targets. This time, the teams' targets had been shared with the Martilians – and this time, the bombers were far more plentiful. Fifty of the heavy, long-ranged, atomic-powered craft had been assigned – 25 to Guata and 25 to St. John Harbor. They would attack from maximum range – 3500 kilometers.

This range had been chosen by Allaneans for a reason – at this range, practically no AA weaponry could track or assault the bombers themselves. The missiles could be shot down, but of course they were stealthy, and had no active guidance. Therefore, they could target only immobile targets.

The heavy bombers carried a large load of Lyran made Hellion missiles – 1,250 for each city in total. As soon as the bombers entered range, the missiles began to deploy.

“Whirlwind, I am Omicron, commencing launch, over.”

“Omicron, this is Whirlwind. The birds are leaving the nest, I repeat, leaving the nest, over.”

The missiles were beginning to speed towards their targets – fixed military installations, air defense positions, and power plants around the two cities. This was the first blow.

[Asbekistan]

Thousands of missiles fell all over Saint John Harbour, the hailstorm had surprisingly missed every single church in the city but brought destruction to power generators and electricity was cut off. Citizens were ordered to begin digging underground, they would replace generator but it would need to be put underground or else it's a big sitting duck. The soldiers laid more intensive mines and finally little fishing boats placed naval mines in the waters surrounding the port, they were a cheap and extremely cost-effective way to take down enemy ships. Any approaching mine-sweepers would be met with a wall of missiles. Nine hundred assorted peoples died from the strike, mostly electrical workers.

---

At Guata the power went down on the main grid, though a smaller mobile unit allowed the military to continue operation. They copied the inhabitants of Saint John Harbour and began to dick. The fixed bunkers and much of the cement works had been mangled up into a needed repair. Positions that were weak, due to the missile strikes, were reinforced with extra infantry in case the rebels attempted to breach the city. Naval mines were also being placed around the harbour waters. Seventeen hundred eighty-four men fell.

---

Bandera had finally trained the sixty thousand troops, they were equipped with self-manufactured AK-47s. The men continued to run drills, they would act as the strategic reserve for the country. A debate was raging in the Plenary Soviet, whether to draft more men into the military or keep them at home so they continue to produce goods. The demand was largely met by the plants in Guata, but with the recent strike it wasn't guaranteed how much they could rely on that production centre, it was just as vulnerable to invasion as Saint John Harbour, though both had a heavy garrison. The fighting would be costly, but did the country want another Lesic?

[Hobbiest Republic]

Casualty report from bombarded region(178 k 64 w)

As the soviets moved from the city of Guata in the night, a platoon of militiamen watched them. They knew not the purpose of these soviets, as patrols had become less frequent as the raids fulfilled their purpose. The men in the trees took aim with their mosins, still a useful skirmishing weapon. Patience born of having to survive in the wild allowed them to wait until the soviets were close to their position, where the men in the trees opened fire, and two more platoons nearby would be drawn by the sounds of the snipers firing on the annies.(36k 5 w)

" Tonight we burn a convoy of soviet supplies my brethren, construction, raw materials, the works, soon we'll have a township of our own in this godforsaken land of dozens of encampments, finally a base of operations. Of all the platoons, a place to rest without an eye open. With all our strength we'll come down upon them. 22,000 strong we'll harry them and worry at their defenses until their resolve breaks and they weep at the misfortune of being such scoundrels in this day and age." General Valkyrie announced to his staff of trusted Captains and Colonels.

He outlined an ambitious attack where by several outposts far away from the convoy would be attacked by raider platoons, just enough to draw the supporting Soviets away. While all the while, pairs of battalions would engage the convoy along several ambush points. Their infiltrators were to simultaneously secure a passage by which they'd be able to attack the trains, and make the soviets believe that all was well. Their tanks split into sets of 20 where they'd fire from concealed positions to slow down the convoy, a mobile unit of 20 tanks would support whichever position needed them.

It took some time to spread the word to the guerrilla fighters, but by the time that the next daytime convoy went out, the plan was ready for to be tested in battle.

[Asbekistan]

Accurate rifle fire tore up the three point men, the men behind them also came under heavy fire so that the casualties jumped to twenty-one. The saw of light machinegun fire clicked away as Colonel Ashley ordered his men to form a circle against the enemy attack. Where the strikes seemed to come from Ashley told his flamethrowers to spew out some of the napalm. If they got the area somewhat correct the enemy would be incinerated but even without coming into range of the enemy their primary mission of setting this section of the jungle alight would be accomplished. The battle would grow less casualty intensive as the smoke destroyed many opportunities for combat.

Reports repeatedly came in of a heavy attack along the railway posts and a battalion of infantry was immediately sent out to secure the inflicted area. The men grudgingly marched out, the heavy sun beating against their backs and equipment. In case the enemy had left before their arrival they were ordered to set-up a halfway fort where a regiment of men would be set up to respond more quickly to attacks. All the extra equipment weighed down their march and the dozen or so sentries manning their position with valour lost their lives.

The fifteen hundred men escorting the convoy came under heavy attack. Machineguns positioned on both sides of the road cut into their lines. The regiment split into three, two roughly six hundred man groups charged into the jungle while four hundred men tried to secure the convoy and continue moving up from the fire and get them out of harms way. The regimental commander was readying to order for additional support, they were still somewhat close to the base camp and at their current strength they could hold out. He decided to tell the base just to saturate the attackers' positions with artillery fire. They lost two hundred twelve men.

[Allanea]

Several hours later

It was time now for the Allaneans to strike surely.

Now the Corona bombers came in great amounts – fully armed now, with GBU-39B general purpose bombs filling their entire bellies. Now, seventy bombers were deployed, 35 for each city. And this time around, the bombers would attack from a closer range – 60 miles away from the target. They hoped – perhaps falsely – that this would conceal them from the fire of enemy AA.

The bombs glided towards the enemy. Small winglets opened on the bombs, carrying them towards the cities like hostile, angry birds. 50,000 bombs were aimed at St. John harbor, and an equal number near Guata. The bombs were exceptionally selective, targeted by satellite navigation to precision – but the users of the bombs were not quite as selective. Anything that looked important -factories, military facilities, high-rise buildings, rail facilities, bus depots, food warehouses, harbor equipment, even water infrastructure and piers – everything was covered. THe Allaneans had two plans at once: destroy the slavers' ability to defend themselves, and kill as many people as possible.

This latter, in turn, had two goals: one, stop the war as soon as possible by a single act of brutality - thus saving lives in the long run – and two, teach the slaver-communists a lesson.

Slavery is death.

[Asbekistan]

Many missiles fell, though they were just as likely to destroy derelict factories and apartment complexes than anything of value to the war effort. In Saint John Harbour the casualties jumped to some eleven thousand, mostly civilians but like most of the cities had an extremely high-prority fire department to deal with this issue the need arising from a similar, though more frequent, attack method implemented by the Hobos. In Guata the lack of civilians led to a decreased loss in life though several of the important munitions depots had been blown sky high and taken several blocks with them. The losses in Guata mounted to three thousand five hundred six, mostly soldiers.

The return volley was horrid. They were big flyers, had a larger RADAR Cross-section and it made them the equivalent of fish in a barrel. A barrage of a hundred SAMs shot from Saint John Harbour and Sixty from Guata. The invaders had a message, but so did the Asbeks: "Fly at your own risk." Ground-based EW systems came alive in Saint John Harbour, launching extensive jamming programs against the bombers using the military-link eletricity grid. The power was stronger than most EW system attached to supercarriers, being a primary line of defense. The four-set mobile unit would quickly relocate once the mission was accomplished. Triple Ack fire was silent, not willing to launch their medium ranged missiles at the already inundated targets.

[The Ctan]

OOC: Luna's parent-nation here. Involved for the same reasons as Allanea; and also bloodlust.

Somewhere, distant, someone had accused the C'tan of insufficient brutality. Asbekistan was selected to suffer the results of this, as the C'tani people unleashed their annoyance at this insult.

The world had to know that Allanea still existed.

It also had to know that the Guild of Venturers still existed. They had been quiet for a long time, and had perhaps passed out of the knowledge of men. For a long time the C’tan state had crusaded against slavery and evil. Now however, they, and the Order of Peace were standing down for what was called Rearmapause (in Allanea the same concept was known as Rearmapeace), so the Venturers were coming out of the batter’s shelter and stepping up to the plate.

The Guild, also known as the Uinendili, took their names from an ancient society of mariners, established by the Ancient King Tar-Aldarion to provide a useful outlet for the young and skilful who craved adventure in his homeland. The Venturers led by his distant descendant Lady Luinthelë nos Ancalimë, had much the same mandate for the C’tan.

Rearmapause was the period of time when the C’tan state scaled back its official operations against the enemies of Liberty, and instead concentrated on positive diplomacy with its friends, and on building up the resources needed to pursue the next campaign in the Bellum Aeternum. The Eternal War, against slavers and tyrants and genocidal maniacs everywhere.

The Venturers were a dedicated brotherhood who operated entirely outside the laws of man and lived by the laws of nature alone. Their evergreen wreath symbol was apolitical and without account to any government save their own Captains, the operational leaders of the movement, chosen by acclaim, and Great Captains, chosen by election.

From high in the arctic they came, desolate islands claimed as their domain not by international law but simply by occupancy, on which they had built their bases. They used, surprisingly, the same planes as Allanea, the fearsome Corona Bomber, Spear of Liberty. The C’tan government was small, but its civil society large indeed, and it was this that funded the Venturers and their deeds, their pocketbook was the envy of many more legitimate governments.

Their mission was much the same, too; to remind the enemies in this conflict that they would know a reckoning. Heavy laden with bombs, they flew high on nuclear engines that could carry them clear across the vastness of the world, a dozen stealth strategic bombers that formed a sword of Damocles above the head of even those who though that might made right, and thought that they had the might.

Two terrible lessons would be delivered to the Asbekistanis today.

The Venturers knew the Allaneans, too.

They knew that Allaneans loved a challenge.

The Allaneans were attacking the slaver-commie forces in an ostensibly counter-force manner, which was to say, attacking their forces directly, the Venturers would therefore attack counter-value. The soviets hoped to prosper by their assault on the helpless. The Venturers would not allow that to stand. And in so doing they would compete gloriously with the Allaneans in the scope of their ruthless persecution of the soviet-slavers of Asbekistan.

Captain Carnimapa nos Lohtëcilya sat in a type of radiation suit in the cockpit module of Celestia-1, the lead Corona bomber. Their payload was intercontinental cruise missiles, conventional weapons, in this case, though incendiary, whose targets were power generators in Asbekistan. They would attack in the day, to maximise civilian casualties. Let them try and make a profit on slavery without industry worth mentioning. Let their skilled workers burn.

He nudged aside an irritating pop-up advertisement – a legacy of the bombers’ designers that licensing issues prevented the current manufacturers removing – for a type of trouser said to include ‘rigid internal padding,’ he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what that was, and smiled as he watched the positioning map. In an hours time, they would be in position to fire.

This was why he loved the Corona. You could use it to drive-by an entire nation.

[Allanea]

The Corona bomber did not have a large RADAR cross-section. The stealth aircraft would be difficult to acquire even at good EW conditions – and these weren't good.

The Allanean craft deployed dozens of decoys – two MALDs each, populating the air with decoys, providing the enemy SAMs with more targets than they could have ever possibly dealt with. Nevertheless, two of the expensive, impossible craft were still lost – not that the enemy would rejoice in this.

One of the atomic-powered bombers simply crashed outright, its reactors plummeting into the harbor. The other, its crew dead, continued to scream down towards the city, burning, spewing yellow smoke as it lost altitude.

The other bombers, the enemy EW interfering with their communications, began to flee- but the MALDs were still flying towards the enemy. On Asbekistani RADAR screens, over a hundred bombers, seemingly far larger than the Coronas, would appear – for this was what the small drone's RADAR signature looked like.

*

With the news of the C'tani attack, Priscilla Conde understood instantly.

This would not stand. The previous strike clearly was not enough.

She uttered only four words.

We need more bombers.

Soon a new attack would come.

[Asbekistan]

Another wave of bombers was detected incoming to the nation, the initial barrages of SAMs were launched from the coastal cities, the densest concentration of course being at New Lesic. The incendiary weaponry worked to some effect, but again the previous encounter with this specific kind of warfare had made response near automatic though still traumatising. The further inland the bombers dared go the more honed in their location was, the thicker the jamming coverage and the more copious and assiduous SAM bombers. They had not gained air superiority and once more charged blindingly into the breach with an ill-designed aircraft. The madmen. Across the entire country some hundred sixty thousand people died, the inland casualties mitigated by the stronger and denser AA network.

[Hobbiest Republic]

The attack on the convoy ended almost as suddenly as it began, the tanks and fighters withdrawing into the forest. To allow the next group to surprise the convoy further down the road. By the time the shells started dropping most of the fighters had already left the area. (234 k 31 W, 3 Tanks)

The bombing could be seen from the forests, and sentries brought back word to General Valkyrie.
" Sir, it would appear that some sort of coalition has formed up in the power void left by the Republic, we're not alone. Bombers saturated the city, we saw one get hit. It was about here. We don't know about survivors." The runner told him.

" The first engagement has been relatively successful, we got them to mostly waste ordinance. We'll give them a run for their money yet." General Valkyrie said, placing a little green pin on the map for the first successful engagement.

The two other platoons engaged the men burning the forest from the sides, eyeballing the distance that the flamethrowers could pitch their fuel they opened up a barrage from the maximum estimated safe distance. (19K 5 W)

[Asbekistan]

The men in the forest came under more fire, this barrage more accurate and they lost twenty-one people. The thrower let out another spurt of napalm, the area had now been practically covered in a thick black drape of smoke. Colonel Ashley pulled out his damaged company, staring back at the fire it was quickly spreading. He hoped the people shooting at him from there would burn from it. His men ran back, remembering where the mines were. Their bunker had been destroyed in the coalition airstrikes, but a gunner atop a building protected by sandbags waved them over and whistled. Twenty riflemen aimed their AK-47's into the burning forest as Ashley's group retreated back up it into them. They were pretty hurt, a counterattack wouldn't be too easy to repulse.

Twelve more men went down as the enemy withdrew. A few more artillery shells fell before the men in the jungles got the order to move back to the road. The convoy had actually kept moving, under the guard of about four hundred men. Then the next ambush had come, the convoy having substantially less fire-power to respond with. Several of the trucks were blown to bits or used as cover. The soldiers in the jungle moved up the jungle, hidden by the trees and dense foliage, and struck against both sides of the enemy. An additional one hundred forty men went down.

[The United Peoples of Oregon]

Glancing up from the latest intelligence report, General Rodriguez acknowledged the Specialist that had just walked up, holding several vanilla folders in his left arm. quickly saluting back Rodriguez asked what the specialist needed.

"These intelligence reports have just arrived on how each country involved in the conflict fairs, Sir! President Monk asked me to deliver them to you."

"At ease soldier, and thanks." Joseph took the folders and began to flip through their contents. He read through each report carefully, noticing every detail, no matter how insignificant they appeared. He had found that years ago, every detail could make a difference. One small detail could change the tides of a battle.

Eventually, Joseph set the reports down and made his way out of his small, makeshift office. Wandering the carrier, he observed the crew as they made their way through their duties. He eventually ended up in the armory, and observed the crew run through weapons checks. M4's, P90's, even the occasional M249 Machine Gun lined the walls. Walking to the end of the armory, to where many of the specialty guns were kept, Joseph picked up his prefered weapon, the SR-25 Sniper Rifle. He had always found something elegant about any Sniper Rifle, but the SR-25 had always felt right in his hands. Most of his years as an active duty marine as a sniper, and had gained quite a reputation for his extraordinary aim with the gun.

Taking the gun over to a nearby table, he sat down and began to take the gun apart, piece by piece, admiring the quality of each part. The soldiers who worked in the Athena's armory were excellent at keeping the many guns in good condition. After putting the SR-25 back together, Joseph replaced the weapon and made his way back up to the command deck. He found the crew working diligently, keeping the carrier running as the fleet made their way towards Asbekistani waters. In the distance he could see several jets making their way around a predetermined scouting path that Joseph had designed himself and put into place as they had neared enemy waters. It would be only a short while before they officially entered unfriendly territory, and Joseph was going to make sure the soldiers under his command would be prepared.

Noticing President Monk entering the bridge, he quickly saluted and motioned for his old friend to join him. "Only a few hours before we enter the general area, John."

"How's the fleet? Ready for combat?"

"The soldiers are on edge, but I believe pretty much everyone is ready to fight. We even recieved word from our closest airfields stating they are ready to launch bombers and fighters at a moments notice. We're as ready as we'll ever be."

To: High Pope Catherine
From: General Joseph Rodriguez
Subject: UPO Military Strike
Encryption: High
Hello, High Pope. I am General Rodriguez, military advisor to President Monk. I will be leading the forces sent from the UPO to help in the fight against Asbekistan. After reviewing our military position and the position of the allied forces, we have decided to strike Guata. We are currently making out way into Asbekistani waters, and will begin deploying forces shortly. During our assault we will look for the afformentioned General Valkyrie and send word if they are located.
Reguards,
General Joseph Rodriguez

[Hobbiest Republic]

Once the 2,000 or so fighters realized the small size of the force they faced, they increased their rate of fire overwhelming the exposed defenders with machine gun fire and grenades. The tanks had only aimed for the front trucks to prevent the convoy from moving on. Before long, if they did not find better ground by which to fight on, the defenders would be so much meat paste riddled with lead and shrapnel.(55K 3W)

Of those responsible for the initial raid on the convoy split up, nearly 800 going to support the next ambushers against the orders of their superiors. The tanks, aware of how valuable they were to the cause and seeing no need to continue on, withdrew with the bulk of the fighters. They formed the defensive line which would face off against the bulk of the regiment they'd left behind with the artillery strike.

" Sir, the city is burning, now would be the best time to assault it." A Captain suggested to General Valkyrie.

" We have little in the way of communications equipment, we're lucky to have the communications between tanks up, much less international communications? Who's to say that they won't bomb us thinking we're the Asbeks, If I remember my war planes, bombers don't look you in the eye before they kill you. Sometimes they fire as far as 2 miles away, at a building. No, we'll keep fighting them as they leave the city. Starve them, make them come to us. This sort of war benefits us. And we have no way of knowing that those planes are bombing for the Asbeks anyway, maybe a miscommunication, and they're trying to bomb us, huh? Would you want that?" General Valkyrie said, chiding his officers.

Meanwhile, the platoons that had pushed the company of soldiers to fall back, themselves fell back carrying their dead and wounded, along with the weapons back to encampments, where refugees and freed slaves would be offered a chance to fight their oppressors with the arms of the deceased.

Outside of New Lesic, Sergeant Winner and General Bartleby were escalating their campaign to cripple the Asbek artillery and SAM sites. (114K 12 w)

[Allanea]

The Asbekistani had now done it – shooting down the Allanean bombers had confirmed Priscilla's view that more bombers had to be dedicated to the strike – not only to beat out the C'tani kill count, but simply because the previous means of attack were not effective any more.

The next wave was now composed of 115 Coronas – every single such bomber in Allanean hands. This time, they did not close to SAM range – clearly it was now far too dangerous to bring in the bombers that close. Instead, they attacked at the full stand-off range of their Hellion missiles, focusing their fire – all of it – on the port city of St. John. Now they carried their full load of the expensive Hellion missiles, for now the foreigner had another lesson to learn from the Allaneans.

The missiles were a mix – 11,500 missiles, half of them carrying ordinary explosive loads, and the other a load of dual purpose bomblets. These latter missiles were also targeted to specific satellite coordinates – but when they reached them, they exploded high up in the air, each releasing hundreds of hungry, homicidal bomblets, seeking out heat sources – car engines, vehicles, and so forth – and attacking them. If vehicles could not be there, the shrapnel would be very... interesting to a human being, and the zirconium could start a fire.

Worse yet, those missiles attacked the locations where SAM sites were suspected on the satellite photographs, or those from which missiles had been previously launched at the last wave of bombers, the one that chanced too close.

*

Dear friends in the Hobbiest Republic!

A convoy of 250 B-22 bomber aircraft is on its way to your country. Please clear sufficient runways, or, barring that, flat fields, for them to land. We hope you can provide us with enough fuel to operate. Further, cargo planes ferrying Hellion missiles are also inbound.

Sincerely yours,

Lady Baroness Priscilla Conde, Grand Marshal, Strategic Air Command

[Asbekistan]

The next wave had managed, threw continued intelligence gathering, to inflict damage despite the distance from the attack. The modus operandi of the AA network was moving, so the counter-attack was largely ineffective against that element tallying only two kills. The strike was made during mid-day to human casualties were relatively low. Saint John Harbour being one of the less stable areas, primarily due to the heavy fighting in the previous war, had many of its old factories blown to bits. As well the ones up in order for random goods such as uniforms, boots and other war miscellaneous were lost, some permanent and other only temporary. The total human loss was nineteen thousand people, the size of the onslaught produced a psychological shock and droves of civilians began to leave the city.

---

Outside Guata the soldiers defending the convoy dove into the nearby jungle canopy and were ordered to fix the opposition. The men left the convoy primarily unguarded save twenty men and launched an all-out attack on the enemy that now surrounded them. Meanwhile the flankers continued to press, the screams of their brethren fuelling a lascivious need for blood. The city sent another regiment to aid the progress, the convoy began to turn around slowly, guarded and guided by the few riflemen around. There was no use pushing forward, the way was blocked. One hundred eighty-nine men died, along with one SAM unit and three artillery pieces whom had courageous yet dull-minded commanders.

[Hobbiest Republic]

The soldiers engaged by the men rushing into the brush responded with their bayonets and gunfire. Once sticking an annie with their bayonets, they proceeded by firing their rifle into the body. A surefire way of not missing. The unoccupied encircling forces focused their fire on the drivers of the trucks in the convoy, trying to kill them before they could get turned around. (82 K 24 W).

The 17 tanks from the first ambush returned to the muster grounds after running from the battle field with their 1000 or so support troops to report in. They were quickly surrounded by the mechanics that Valkyrie had 'hired' on from the refugees. They were only mechanics in the most simple sense, they had a basic knowledge of tools and handyman style repairs. It was they who maintained and repaired the tanks. It was also those same handy men who were tasked with constructing a large transmitter to be used for communications internationally.

" What happened to the other half of your forces Tank Commander Julien?" General Valkyrie asked.

" They went to join the next strike, for effect sir." Julien answered.

" Get me in contact with the tanks assigned to that ambush, I want those trucks looted before the convoy can be properly reinforced from Guata. with about... how many broke off?" General Valkyrie asked.

"About 3 companies sir." TC Julien answered.

" With three extra companies looting those trucks shouldn't be much of a problem, get the rest of the ambush forces to reform between the convoy and Guata, these supplies are ours, and I'll not have those slavers reclaiming them." General Valkyrie ordered Julien.

" Sir, two of the siege platoons have returned with reports." A messenger said running up to the General.

" Well, out with it. what do they have to report? And have their reliefs been deployed in accordance with procedure?" General Valkyrie demanded of the messenger.

" Sir, their CO doubled the strength in his region, and he's requesting that you order the rest of the Unit commanders do the same. He said something about the enemy trying to burn us out." The messenger said, slightly ruffled and nervous from the intensity of the General's response.

" We might have to step up our campaign if they're thinking of trying to burn us out. Yes, double the number of platoons watching the city, have the extras set up as 'floating' support platoons behind them, that way we'll be able to more readily respond to the enemy's movements, we don't need more stationary positions." Valkyrie said, pursing his lips as he thought back to his readings and training.

" Sir, the other ambushes have begun to reposition, there will be about 6,000 screening troops and 60 T-34's between the location of the convoy and Guata, where the reinforcements are most likely to come from. We'll place the veterans closer to the road to block the easiest avenue, and have the greener troops organized into ambush squads in the forest." TC Julien stated, summarizing the joint planning of the Tank Commanders who'd been ordered to reform their lines.

[Asbekistan]

The fresh regiment had almost arrived to the battlefield. Several trucks had also made it out of the cross fire, though the majority were still reversing and forwarding to turn around their cars. The soldiers charging lost many of their men and the commanders finally ordered them to withdrawal to the positions near the convoy. They lost about half their men in the charge. The flankers had barely moved, for attacking a force who seemed to be largely concentrating on one focal point (the centre of their ambush) they had made shockingly little headway. Around a hundred men from each detachment were ordered to break-off from the manuever and help out the soldiers fighting to get the convoy out of the way. Artillery fire was finally called in, the enemy had actually continued fighting which was unexpected, a quarter of the town's artillery let a devastating salvo on enemy positions firing on soviets. About seventy men died from the flanks.

[Hobbiest Republic]

Hundreds died from the bombardment, inside the tanks, commanders were trying to figure out why the Annies would fire on their own in order to strike at them. As artillery struck the location the majority of the Guerrillas began to withdraw. Leaving a token force from the ambush to take the goods in the trucks and kill survivors from the ambush. The 800 who had initially repositioned split, some 400 still watching for the coming reinforcements, and the rest moving up the road to disable the trucks with the Anti-Tank weapons they'd held in reserve until now and to kill the Annies who'd run into the forest to fight the ambush troops. The RPG's would be worthless against properly armored targets, but for these trucks they'd do fine.(360K 250 W 6 tanks)

With the artillery strike the reinforcements from the other ambush points were called back to the mustering grounds rather than intercepting the regiment that was deployed and heading to the convoy.

[Asbekistan]

The troops stabbed and shot into the enemy continuously the soaking jungle environment made equipment twice as heavy and many of the fighters went half-naked exposing them to insects and other incidents but making them more agile and less tired opponents. The AK-47 armed soviets continued to send rounds into the backs of retreating rebels. Artillery shells hit the area in front and to the left of the flankers, those manning ditches saw a barrage of artillery come down and some pieces of dirt had even been thrown far enough to hit them. A quarter of the convoy had been absolutely destroyed but most of them were turned around a halt order was given and the awaited the survivors the regroup. Heavy artillery fire continued to fall in the distance. The second regiment had arrived and supported the troops. The men began their retreat to the city.

[Martilia]

New Lesic, Hobbiest Republic
Battle of New Lesic - P+12 Hours
Martilian-occupied territory
Northern Frontlines

The fighting in the city has been intensified with the arrival of additional Soviet Asbekistan troops. The tanks in the area began struggling to fight off the enemy infantry as grey smoke began to cover their field of vision, but it is not enough to disable the Martilian tanks. IR vision has been activated once the smoke covered their entire vision and with their turret machine guns, both coaxial and top, are manned inside the turret they began engaging the enemy attacking soldiers using IR vision. Meanwhile, the 20,000 soldiers who are trying to defend the entire northern frontlines we're reinforced by another infantry division now with an attached artillery brigade. The entire troop strength rose up to 35,000 and with mobile artillery on the positions, they began to rain down shells on the attacking enemy Soviet Asbekistan troops.

Captain Basilio Koslov, and his men who was reinforced by a Martilian armor began fighting off the enemy attack and keep their position on hold. "Grenade!", one of his men yelled as a grenade was thrown at their position. They quickly scrambled from their position but unfortunately he lost 17 of his men. "This will be bloodier that what I have thought", Captain Basilio Koslov whispered to himself. Meanwhile, besides from artillery support, four gunships were deployed and began engaging the enemy troops on the ground. These gunships are in danger of being attacked as some of Soviet Asbekistan AAs has not been disabled yet.

Less than 50 miles off the coast of Asbekistan
Expeditionary Task Force - Asbekistan
10th Soviet Fleet - SMS Tatrain, Uzunaga-class Command Ship
Central Operations Room

Grand Field Marshal Edilberto Salonga and his other commanders are still at the COR watching the battle, gathering latest informations, and also planning for the two operations. When the attack of the Soviet Asbekistan at the New Lesic and the bombardment of Guata and St. John Harbor by their Allanean allies began, Salonga asked the other commanders for their next move. "So, the attack on New Lesic has began. What is our next move, gentlemen?".

One of the commanders stood up, "I think we should begin Operation Guidote and Operation Cassidy. Since the bulk of their forces are on New Lesic, leaving their other cities sitting ducks in the open waters and less troops, we could probably capture the cities in no time, sir.". Salonga thought about the idea, but there are confirmed reports that possibly more or less 10,000 troops are stationed in both Guata and in St. John Harbor. "Alright. I guess its now time. Order the other six divisions to prepare for invasion and tell our ships to launch a bombardment on both Guata and St. John Harbor.".

As soon as the final word has been given, three battleships sailed near the Guata and St. John Harbor each, roughly less than 20 miles away from their bombardment area. The four eighteen inch guns of the battleships begin to turn towards their target. There was a moment of silence only the flocking birds and splash of water towards the hull could be heard, but it break when the guns finally stared the bombardment. Sound waves could be heard as far as five miles from the shells as they fly through the wide open coast heading towards their targeted cities, Guata and St. John Harbor. A few seconds later, several explosions could be heard from the deck of the battleships, it signaled the beginning of the two operations.

Back at the main fleet, several transport helicopters began to create noise at the deck of the helicopter carriers and soldiers, fully equipped, begin embarking on the choppers. A man wearing a deck uniform with flags on his hand began swinging his arms to the choppers infront of him. The choppers soon take off from the deck of the carriers and headed towards Guata and St. John Harbor, at the same time several amphibious vehicles and hovercraft begin heading to the beaches of the two cities.

[Lesser Asbekistan]

The assault on the tanks doesn't bog down but the attackers were completely unable to completely encircle and cut-off the massive mechanised arm. Attacking from the buildings and ground with RPG-7s, no machine-gun positions had been set up at the lower levels of the buildings but in the higher ones they were and fired rounds down from overhead. This was done because tanks had a certain degree with which they could actually lift their turrets, and the deadly nests were positioned with extreme leeway to make sure they couldn't be blown by the main turrets. Only the IR auxiliary cannons proved difficult the manage, the heavy main gun ineffective against moving infantry even with perfect visibility, and in the initial phases many had been killed in a false belief of impunity behind the smoke. A crushing total force of seventy-five thousand Soviet infantry were sent to envelope and destroy the significant enemy armour. Enemy gunships swooping passed the town would find heavy AAA fire greeting them while the others would discover the deeper and deeper they got the more guns fired accurate and focused rounds on them. Seven hundred twenty-one men fell.

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The first rounds landed against the fortress port town of Guata and heavily defend city of Saint John Harbour. Both commanders were concomitantly shocked by both the firepower of the enemy naval artillery but that they come so close and not seemed to have lost even a single ship, told from the distinct lack of black smoke on the horizon, from the extremely mine-saturated waters. It was a stunning shock. Fortune? No, impossible it had happened for two fleets in two distinct instances. The enemy invaders would have themselves a much less auspicious arrival. The position they now attempted to take or recon had now become marked with bright, thick, tracer rounds and the smoke exhaust from incoming missiles. The survivors would find most of the beach heavily mind, so once they found that issue out they would be forced to land much closer to Asbek soldiers.