February 20, 2015| 11.00 AM PCT | înregistrate| By: Filipina Bonkowska | @FBonkowskaBBC
In a surprising turn of events, the Ground Forces have launched a major counteroffensive operation against rebel forces besieging, Rakovnik home to a substantive enclave of northerners and the site of one of the BAF’s largest airbases.
”Began at dawn”
“The counterattack began at dawn,” reported Maria Zuokas, our correspondent from the front, “I could hardly see the rising sun on account of the mist, yet the entire horizon was lit up in a sheet of red – the army says more than 150 guns and Grad launchers were massed for this offensive – some as part of the combat brigades taking part, others hauled from old People’s Army warehouses, hastily refurbished and manned by reservists. Beholding the sight from some 5 km away, and hearing the thunder of the propellants, the freight-train roar of outbound munitions, I could definitely believe it.”
“Leading the way are the sixth, seventh and eighth brigades of the Bogorian Ground Forces. So far, they’ve taken relatively little part in the fighting. I was told by the Ministry of Defence that they constitute the army’s main strategic reserve, and they’ve been unleashed for a decisive confrontation with the enemy, where they’ve abandoned their traditional guerrilla or urban warfare tactics for a pitched battle out in the open, where the regulars’ armour, artillery and airpower can confer on them a decisive edge.”
“Speaking of airpower, the Bogorian Air Force has deployed an unprecedented proportion of its combat strength in close support of the ground operation. After the losses previously inflicted by shoulder-launched missiles and anti-air guns, they’ve stuck to high altitude operations, deploying precision-guided bombs and air to surface missiles. How it obtained its stockpile of high tech munitions when a year ago they were struggling to get enough parts, I do not know, though I think our friends may be the ones to thank. Aside from the jets, the transport planes have been busy at night, parachuting supplies into the perimeter so the defenders can hang on while the brigades beyond strike at their besiegers. “Hammer and anvil” was the metaphor used by the Ministry spokesman, a very accurate one, I believe.”
“Long range strike are also being carried out by the BGF’s surface-to-surface missile forces. I’ve been informed that Tochka armed with cluster warheads have been launched against concentrations of rebel forces in the open in support of the ground operation. Longer ranged Scud-Ds have also been used to deploy scatterable mines on the main supply routes the rebels use to sustain their offensive against Rakolvnik. A relatively safe means of interdicting them, compared to risking our pilots’ lives for the task.”
“Of course, let us not forget the contributions of our patriotic citizens – the Local Defence Volunteers, seven battalions of whom are accompanying the regulars in this offensive. Many of them are providing infantry support to complement the mechanised forces, but they are also performing vital rear area tasks such as line-of-communications’ security, supply, maintenance, medical and other tasks.”
“Overall, I think the decisive battle is at hand. The commanders have picked the moment well and caught our previously elusive foes in the open, and it is time to trust the troops to deliver.”
”Peace is our objective”
“The objective of our government is to cease, as quickly as possible, this plague of bloodshed with our compatriots in the south,” said president Kirkalis in a press conference this morning, just after the beginning of the counterattack, “peace is our objective. Indeed, I shall be heading for the conference at Oured to fight our country’s corner. What we do not want, will never accept, is peace with humiliation, peace without sovereignty, a peace wherein our nation’s very territorial integrity is trampled with impunity.”
“What Bogoria, north and south, needs is peace with dignity, which we cannot achieve unless rebels cease combat operations against the forces of the legitimate government. We are prepared to offer a truce in place, subject to a negotiated settlement at the peace conference. If they force our hands, as they did at Rakolvnik, they leave us no room to manoeuvre but to fight back with every weapon in our arsenal until we can force them to the negotiating table.”
“The ball, as the Emmerians say, is in their court. This is their play now, what will they choose?”