A Display of Force

[Kira]

Spring/Fall 1932

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Having been redeployed to the Kithium's care, the forces under Captain Potter had finally arrived at the town of Ishan'Moran. Tents and logistical stations had been set up, the men establishing a camp outside of town. The Captain, assigned for both liaison and handover procedures, had been a prominent cavalryman prior to his recent promotion.  His assignment to the command was not the only thing unusual about the force, as a good deal of scholars and medical experts hired by the state to accompany the force. With the change of government, a good deal of experimentation within the armed forces had been cleared where tradition and superstition had once blocked it. Thus, while also an able force lended out to the Kithium, the secondary purpose of the deployment was research into better care for the troops of the Mil'Nor.

Their arrival would be communicated to what representative of the Kith government was available within town.

[VoxApocrypha]

The Kithium army mustering in the town was still slowly growing hour by hour, caravans drawn by horses and some small convoys of trucks riding in on mostly smooth dirt paths to the town proper. It was clear that this force was not particularly well equipped in terms of modern equipment, as they were all still using single-shot rifles and gattling guns, though they had a lot of both at hand, and a fair number of field guns.

Word had it, passed by a courier after contact was established and proper procedures put into place for communication to be steady, that the Veneshy army had split apart was now marching back to the League to come and further reinforce the forces here, adding modern armaments - but that was a fair bit away still, at least another week and a half. For now this force was gathering with mostly the aim of attacking into Xagreau from the West, with the overall goal of flanking around the defenses, and then encircling the main forces from behind and destroying Xagreau's army. Though that plan was not finalized it seemed, at least from what they told the Valderan leaders. When the Veneshy force arrived they'd likely aim to b-line directly for the Capital with the aim of occupying it.

[Kira]

The Kithium plans were agreed upon by both the Captain and his staff, with preparations made for Valderan logistics to properly support the forces in Ishan'Moran. News of the attack at Harrlosburrow would reach the town a week after they arrived, the Valderan force marshalling for immediate movement towards the Capital per Field General's Tyrann's orders. What forces the Kith could marshal in aid were asked to join for the assault, Potter's orders clear. He and the Kith were to spring a third front on the war, further encircling the Xagreau into a multifront war. 

Once ready, 100k standard infantry and 300 field artillery along with 100 mortar batteries were to begin their march towards the first settlements in their path towards the capital.

[VoxApocrypha]

The Kithium forces were still largely in the preparatory phase, and they had been planning initially to move out when the Veneshy army had arrived and spent 9 hours in a resting state. However because of this change of developments the Kithium force would have to start to immediately marshal its strength. It wasn't able to bring it all to bear in that immediate moment, a fair lot of equipment still unaccounted for despite the constant wagon trains, but the infantry force was mostly assembled and was attached to the Valderan force with the majority of its field guns, mortars and other equipment. Particularly, the Kitihum were bringing about 500 field guns, 600 mortars and a number of gattling guns, and a few of the maxims they'd been given by command with them. The Kithium infantry force was 112k strong, the majority of the rest of the Kithium present being logistical and medical staff.

The rest of the force would stay behind until the Veneshy detachment came up to the city, and then after they'd march the army to reinforce the assault force.

[Greywall]

The Western Front

Autumn 1932

Xagreau Army vs. Kithium League, Valderan Republic


Xagreau Army

60,000 conscripts
20,000 light infantry
10,000 standard infantry
9,000 carabineer infantry 
150 field guns
300 mortars

The Xagreau were preparing Jakka for a direct assault from the Xaspeshi when everything was for the most part collapsing in. Reports rushed in that the Kithium were marching across the Western borderlands forcing the Xagreau to march out and to meet them. General Boroko instilled that the enemy were all foreign trash occupying land that rightfully belonged to them. The Xagreau set up a battleline in the West, connecting various villages and towns West of Jakka, villagers who couldn't fight were put to work digging trenches and ditches as artillery began setting up. Carabineers rode out to report enemy movement, if they wished to reach Jakka they had to breach the western line. Boroko's strategy was to deplete the assault in the West, force the Kithium to a ceasefire so he could swing this force East to hit the Xaspeshi who were now closing in on the capital. 

[Kira]

Scouts made careful attempts to ride out among the brush and fields of Xagreau, the Valderan's leading the march at a cautionary pace. Orders were to harass and occupy both land and hostile forces, and as such the reports of Xagreau defenses came to much glee of High Command. The first shipments of Pomaz weaponry had been rushed to the front, protentional candidates for the nations first armored assault taken from the battle at Harrlowsburrow. Battlelines would be established, the men taking to the shovel and pickaxe once again in their lives. Working the earth was the life of a vast majority of the nation, "Mining Teams" forming quickly between shifts. Trenches, foxholes, and earthen defenses were formed from the ground, with fire being freely used to clear the land.

The Kith were asked to join in the works once they caught up, preparations for a winter in war well in progress

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Valderan Forces: 
100k Standard Infantry
300 Field Artillery
100 Mortar Batteries
-
Recent Reinforcement:
50k Pomaz grade equipment for unit conversion
200 Pomaz Field Artillery
100 Pomaz howitzers
700 Pomaz Trucks
100 armoured cars
50 tankettes.

[VoxApocrypha]

The Kithium, rather experienced with trenches, took more or less de facto control of the construction fairly immediately - and introduced a few changes. When they could they had the trenches dug with the end back towards friendlies being slopped, so that the defenders in the trench behind that first would be able to fire down or lob grenades and bombs into the trench ahead of them if it had fallen with relative ease, and they made the zig-zag important in every aspect of the trench, including to the communication lines.

As this went on the Kithium troops from Veneshy would arrive, some 150,000 soldiers.
They brought with them their 200 artillery guns, modern-ish rifles that they had gotten from Ulster-Gaelia, and their maxims and gattling guns, as well as around 800 field guns.

[Greywall]

"Enemy spotted West of us and forming a perimeter here" the scouts reported back relaying information making it clear and grim for the Xagreau. General Boroko now commanded over three fronts, he desperately needed the best troops here and against the Gaelics but knew the longer the Xaspesh hit the North the more likely the conscript forces would likely waver and lose faith in the battle. They were barely trained as is and death shakes the weak will of men. 

15,000 heavy infantry were called to be pulled from Jakka along with another 10,000 standard infantry. Additional 30,000 conscripts would also hastily be drawn to the front. 

Xagreau Army

60,000 conscripts + 30,000

20,000 light infantry 

10,000 standard infantry +10,000

9,000 carabineer infantry

150 field guns

300 mortars

15,000 heavies from Jakka arriving in three days

"Order our batteries to open fire" the General called, Xagreau field guns opened salvo on the Valderan and Kithium. Gatling guns were installed where possible as for this front Boroko needed to goad the enemy into a direct attack and whittle them down. An assault would be suicide. The last of the Xagreau military were nearly on the field, Xagreau infantry lined up in their trenches prepared for the battle coming. 

[Kira]

Fire rained from the sky as initial encampments were finished, sending the troops for cover. The Valderan response was a full bombardment in return, targeting larger defenses along the Xagreau line. Orders were to break the enemy, with work being pushed for the Mil'Nor in particular to begin work on underground tunnels towards the Xagreau defenses. Designed for the Mil'Nor in mind, plans were drawn by Captain Potter and his field staff for assault. The arrival of Pomaz guns and armor had been a blessing, even if the crews at best had a poorly translated manual. Those Pomaz officers hired out to aid the use of the new weapons had been rushed here along with the shipment, as the rest of the equipment purchased was to be used on the Eastern Front. 

Regardless, the Kith would be asked to aid in the matter. Artillery was to soften the enemies entrenchment, while the tunnels were given time to be developed. Once conditions were adequate, armor, infantry and cavalry were to advance in spearheads led by the tankettes. Casualties were expected to be relatively high, bar any objection or alternative to be given by the Kithium.

[VoxApocrypha]

The Kithium weren't keen to press the Xagreau's positions, but they acknowledged that ultimately they'd need to push forwards. The Kithium laid down a constant bombardment of the Xagreau's lines with both their modern Gaelic guns and their field guns, targeting any significant defensive position they could see or more particularly - they targeted any sort of crew-served weapon so that it would be destroyed and the enemy's ability to resist effectively worn away as the conflict continued.

Kithium snipers and marksmen were put along the line to target enemy lookouts, scouts, snipers, and officers if they could identify them.
The Kithium as well prepared to bring a number of mortars with them. They'd seen success with the strategy of bringing up mortars during a trench assault to use them to break open defenses at relatively short range, but they weren't entirely sure if it'd work again - in part this was an attempt to verify if that had been a fluke or not. They'd otherwise send their soldiers in with the Valderans following a similar strategy, though they opted to use the armored vehicles for cover if they could.

[Greywall]

Casualties:

Xagreau: 932
Mil'Nor: 732
Kithium: 500

[Greywall]

89,068 conscripts

20,000 light infantry

20,000 standard infantry

15,000 heavy infantry

9,000 carabineer infantry

150 field guns

300 mortars

Xagreau Army

"Incoming!" enemy artillery came down hard on the Xagreau forces putting hundreds of infantrymen into cover. "Return SALVO!" Xagreau guns fired back as officers slapped around the scared conscripts, "Get your fuckin head back in it!". The heavy units took over to the front line, the absolute shock of the shelling was bringing morale down and shaking the resolve of the lesser Xagreau soldiers. The more fanatical standard and heavy infantry were prepared to die for the cause preached to them since birth, the grande war against the colonizers. 

"You don't fuckin hide like dogs from the whip! If you face death, you face it like a man! What slime have they brought forth to me!?" an officer bellowed out, the conscripts were barely trained. Farm boys dragged to the frontline as Xagreau faced an increasingly difficult situation. These weren't the radical hardcore soldiers of Gentaki's crusade. 

To make matters worse, supplies from Jakka were slowing implicating that the capital defenders were getting greedy and holding onto munitions. "Dammit, send some trucks to Jakka and demand more ammo!" Boroko ordered. Several staol powered trucks would kick up a column of orange smoke heading East to the capital as Boroko watched from his command tent at the back and forth artillery barrages. He ascertained this to be the biggest threat in all the front, unlike the North the West had zero major fortifications and there were no major settlements in the West, just hundreds of farming villages and towns. The West was flatlands used for cash cropping and funding the poor Xagerau economy. 

[Kira]

Valderan Forces:

War Theme

99,268  Standard Infantry

300 Field Artillery

100 Mortar Batteries

200 Pomaz Field Artillery

100 Pomaz howitzers

700 Pomaz Trucks

100 Pomaz armored cars

50 Pomaz tankettes.

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With what little time the Valderan's had left, the order for the Pomaz tankettes and armored cars to be sent forth was given. The spearheads were ordered to attack the Xagreau's line, taking full advantage of their imported weaponry. Trucks were used for medical support, the experiment mobile medic station near the Valderan logistical base treating to the rapid influx of causalities. A foreign war had never been attempted in the Mil'Nor's history, and their first conflict looked to be a truly bloody affair. On another field of war, the song of the Mil'Nor joined the shelling and gunfire. The frontlines surged forth with the Mil'Nor, renewed bombardment targeting the frontmost of the Xagreau's defensive line. Progress had to be paid for, if the Valderan force was to break it's attackers. The tunnels would be continued despite the charge, their pace quickened to try and line up with the boots reaching trenchlines.

[VoxApocrypha]

Kitihum War Theme
Link

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111,760 Standard Infantry (-340)
(32k Standard, 40k Dragoon Standard Converts, 30k Carabiner Standard Converts)
9840 Carabiners (-160)
489 Field guns (-11) , 588 mortars (-12)

(Largely collating losses from prior post and adding up current numbers for the sake of keeping track as others are)
(Numbers here are the addition of the Veneshy detachment, as well for keeping track of numbers)

+80,000 Marines (Special Infantry)
+20,000 Standard Infantry
+15,000 Dragoon to Standard Converts (no horses)
+25,000 Carabiner to Standard Converts (no horses)
+10,000 Standard Dragoons

+200 Howitzers
+800 Field guns

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 The Kithium force worked in support of the Valderan one, and when the time came for the push, they would fall in besides them in the task. Whistles were blown and the Kithium marines and infantry rose up out of the trenches, their infantry racing alongside the Valderans own, though they actively tried to take paths lots of obstructions, including craters, so that they could avoid massing casualties. However the Kithium had the mass, and the sheer amount of infantry they'd brought with them made the likely staggering losses they were about to endure somewhat more manageable. Many of the Kithium moved behind and with the armored cars and tankettes, using them for cover and in turn providing them with additional infantry support, forming somewhat adhoc formations and intermixing with the Valderans to aid them in what ways they were able.

 The Kithium had artillery superiority in the battle and they intended to put that to use, as they marked particularly resistant enemy positions for massed fire from field guns, and their heavy artillery, the howitzers bought from Gaelia were soon thundering away, targeting enemy fortifications and backline trenches and positions. The Kithium as well rolled gattling guns on wheels across the landscape to bring their heavy weapons with them as they pushed with the Valderans. They took their mortars and used them against the trenches en mass, to break up any particular pockets of resistance when they could and to suppress defenders to the best of their ability.

[Greywall]

Casualties

Xagreau: 5,943
Mil'Nor: 4,093
Kithium: 6,211