A Display of Force

[VoxApocrypha]

Current combat theme: Asura's Wrath - Unleashed

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158,158 Standard Infantry (-3602)
(52k Standard, 55k Dragoon Standard Converts, 55k Carabiner Standard Converts)
79,295 Marines (S-I) (-705)
9198 Standard Dragoons (-802)
8733 Carabiners (-1102)

200 Howitzers (No Change)
1276 Field guns (-13), 553 mortars (-35)

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 The Kithium force pushed alongside the Valderan one, sustaining absolutely brutal losses in doing so. The push was a slaughter, but the Kithium were a determined force with Roskanan blood, and even as many charged across no mans land, many more were crawling through mud and muck to reach their enemy. A lot of the Kithium began to take positions in craters blasted out of the ground to use them as cover from the Xagreau's weapons fire, though many still suffered injuries or were simply killed outright. Kithium artillery continued to fire, trying to suppress the Xagreau as best as they could, but as they did and their own forces got closer, friendly fire would claim almost a hundred lives, and cause the Kithium to start to call their artillery off, lightening the suppression significantly while the Howitzers shifted fire to the Xagreau's backline trenches to unload shells into their translation veins and behind their main trench line. 

 Another whistle was blown, and more Kithium surged out of the trenches, as the ones ahead of them would crawl forwards in a brutal slog, using corpses, upturned rocks and blasted pits in the earth of Ouhiri itself as protection from their enemy, while others pushed with the Valderans, hoping to reach the Xagreau line with the hopes of overcoming it through weight of firepower, and the weight of the rolling metal boxes that they'd found themselves fighting to support, and using as impromptu cover. 

[Kira]

Valderan Forces

95,268 Standard Infantry (-4000)

232 Field Artillery (-68)

100 Mortar Batteries No Change

200 Pomaz Field Artillery No Change

100 Pomaz howitzers No Change

688 Pomaz Trucks (-12)

90 Pomaz armored cars (-10)

47 Pomaz tankettes. (-3)

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The Valderan push was unabated despite the losses, the smaller Mil'Nor leading the charge into hostile lands. Gone was the line formations and order of battle found in the wars of old, replaced with heavy connon, rapid fire weapons and monstrous vehicles of war. Captian Potter's detachment to the Kithium front was a mix of experiments for the Valderan military. As the infantry advanced towards the Xagreau defenses, each platoon was to enact specific orders along the front. Ranging from field gun sabatoge and trench clearing to the evacuation of the wounded and courier duty, the equipment and knowledge brought from the old world aiding the Valderan's endeavors. Medical knowledge of from old world institutions had been imported enmasse to aid field hospitals, with the Pomaz trucks seeing special use as ambulances between the front and backline. 

With the initial assault begun, and the Kith moving towards the second assault, the Valderan's pushed once more as their newly budding war machine was unleashed on the Xagreau defenses. A fresh bombardment was sent ahead of the attack, with Valderan armor pushing to provide cover and support for infantry.  

[Greywall]

89,068 conscripts  -2,200 = 86,868

20,000 light infantry - 1,270 = 18,730

20,000 standard infantry - 2,000 = 18,000

15,000 heavy infantry - 400 = 14,600

9,000 carabineer infantry

150 field guns -73 = 77

300 mortars


"Get your asses on that firing line and don't stop!" even the officers couldn't contain their fear, warfare they had never been trained in nor even told of was breaking down their frontal defenses. The Xagreau flushed fresh troops from the rear vanguard and slowly dragged their bleeding wounded to the rear while pushing aside their staggering growth of dead comrades. Many Xagreau infantry would rush only to be butchered by enemy fire, the Mil'Nor and Kithium having repeating rifles made infantry engagements lopsided enough, but the arrival of Pomaz tankettes utterly sent panic through the ranks of the Xagreau. General Boroko was already preparing fall back positions, he wasn't convinced he could hold ground for much longer, food was scarce enough but they didn't have enough winter gear for everyone. Especially the conscripts. The frontline had become a factory of death as Xagreau rifle fire and artillery now barely held back the Mil'Nor/Kithium assault at this point. 

Life in the vanguard wasn't much better compared to the hell at the front, with food running out many soldiers became demoralized save the radicalized heavy infantry divisions who constantly volunteered to reenter combat. But conscripts facing the bitter cold of winter with no gear not even blankets resorted to starting fires against orders, bringing in bundles of wood and starting large fires that bellowed smoke. "Put that out you morons! The enemy will see it!" the officers would yell, but they were met with angry farmboys now armed by the very officers yelling. It became clear that the conscripts were on the verge of mutiny and leaving the battle. If this happened they would be helplessly outnumbered. 

Making things worse was artillery crews finding guns completely useless, now guards had be to set to stop sabotage. Boroko was half a bottle of scotch in, the entire war effort was collapsing. Within a week or two they'd be in Jakka fighting at this rate. 

[Greywall]

Casualties

Kithium: 2,011
Mil'Nor: 1,342
Xagreau: 4,934

[VoxApocrypha]

157,148 Standard Infantry (-1010)
(52k Standard, 55k Dragoon Standard Converts, 55k Carabiner Standard Converts)
78,695 Marines (S-I) (-600)
9118 Standard Dragoons (-80)
8412 Carabiners (-321)


200 Howitzers (No Change)

1270 Field guns (-6), 543 mortars (-10)

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 The Kithium general would send a message to their counterpart in the Valderan army informing them that their forces were going to attempt a break through, by targeting a particular area of the line with the majority of their artillery weapons.

 The Kithium infantry kept trying to slog forwards but were unable to break through - beaten back again and again. However this was not the end of it, and the League's soldiers were bitterly stubborn. Soon what intensified as the soldiers were bogged down, would be the ferocity of the artillery barrage. The Kithium artillery crews were ordered to hammer those trenches with everything they had, as fast as they could hope to manage, and the ruthlessness of this ensured that while they'd be unloading hell onto the Xagreau trenchline, they would be damaging their own equipment and hurting themselves from the constant pace of shelling and attacks. This was not directed across the entirety of the line, but had been concentrated into a area of only a few kilometers width, to try to bring down as many of the defensive emplacements as it was possible to, and to open up a wound in which the Kithium could charge into and break through like a infection. 

 The Kithium's rate of attrition rapidly increased, an army of mostly smaller hermaphrodites having a build like that of women didn't enable them to endure as much as the human men in the force were able to, and this rate of fire only kept up because so many were available to rotate into the place of the injured or exhausted operators. The Kithium around the 200 Gaelic howitzers had all started to scream, not from pain, but instead because they were trying to equalize the pressure between them and the environment as much as they could, with the constant pace of bombardment. This had to stop however, and it did, when the crews were too exhausted to keep going, after almost eight hours of burning through their shell reserves and rounds at a extreme pace. 

 The Kithium infantry were now massing, reserves moving up into sally ports along the trenches where they'd be able to race out onto the field and tear across the no mans land. 
The artillery fire would continue, but at a reduced rate, lower than the usual pace that had been set before the big barrage. 

[Kira]

Valderan Forces

95,178 Standard Infantry (-4080)

50,000 Heavy Infantry (+50k)

300 Field Artillery

100 Mortar Batteries

600 Pomaz Field Artillery(+400)

300 Pomaz howitzers (+200)

995 Pomaz Trucks(+300) (-5

295 Pomaz armored cars (+200) (-5)

147 Pomaz tankettes. (+100) (-3)

---

From his command post near the front, Captain Potter stood in what could barely be described as a place safe for a meal, let alone what could barely be called sugary. He and several of his command had been selected for medical duty, due to the joint program Potter had been pushing for in the first place. The few nurses on staff were more often then not soldiers brought in from guard duty, the young men seeing the aftermath of the war they were more then grateful to be spared from. The Captain had just finished with the third batch of wounded from the second assault, the Mil'Nor wringing his gloved claws free as his last patient was taken to the housing that had been erected for winter.
"Alright people, take twenty and let me know about any further casualty reports as soon as we get them. I'll be in my office for the time being" He said, the toil of the wounded and dead brought to him wearing on the man. The attack had truly yet to begun, and the problems found between both a lack of proper medical supplies and trained personnel had left things a nightmare for the officer. The sound of another truck was heard outside as he finished, the horn sounding off as a nearby artillery bombardment found it's mark. Snow may have come to Touli, but war and blood was still aplenty. Leaving his staff to their duties, Potter made his way to his office, the small room more a medium supply cabinet by human standards. The dual task of sending the very men he vowed to save to their deaths had weighed on his mind every since the war had begun, and as the Captain sat down at his desk, the fresh orders had come in from command.

~
The final winter war shipments had arrived to the Valderan forces on the western front, fresh deployments of artillery, tankettes and other motor vehicles pushed alongside their Kith allies. The Mil'Nor unleashed a rain of renewed artillery bombardment upon the Xagreau defenses, the greater numbers of armored vehicles allowing newly formed heavy infantry squads the ability to counter the Xagreau's own. These squads advanced along with the imported Pomaz armor, providing mobile cannon fire and machinegun support upon the Xagreau defenses. The sound of horns and drums was heard here as well, the Mil'Nor oftentimes charging ahead to face a foe they found a great deal of reason to hate. Mercy was a forgone concept from the Mil'Nor, those forces engaged with the conscripts oftentimes mocking their foes in a mix of common and their native tongue.

The tunnels worked for from the previous season would now be used against the Xagreau as well. Munitions were brought along them to their breach points within the enemy trenches, their detonation timed along with the advancing forces above ground. A mix of machinegun, shotgun and slug round fire came from these exits once they were blown, the blast vaporizing any poor sod nearby as Mil'Nor poured through the rubble and bodies.

[Greywall]

89,068 conscripts -2,200 = 86,868 (-900)

20,000 light infantry - 1,270 = 18,730 (-2,342)

20,000 standard infantry - 2,000 = 18,000 (-1,692)

15,000 heavy infantry - 400 = 14,600

9,000 carabineer infantry

150 field guns -73 = 77

300 mortars




The situation was now a lost cause, the borderline defenses were on the verge of total collapse and now the Mil'Nor Kithium forces were puncturing through their trench lines. "Order all our mortars and field guns to fire directly on the front, prepare for full retreat to Jakka." Boroko couldn't win here, supplies had dwindled to nothing, his flank was becoming exposed and reports from the Northern front showed conscripts on the verge of utter mutiny. "Waste the weaker troops, save those who will fight" Conscripts were forced to the front but once they saw the machines of war they fared little than firing wildly at them and trying to avoid being in the open. The final break came from massive eruptions at the Xagreau trench line, the explosions sent several Xagreau reeling before a hail of gunfire cut those unfortunate near them. 

The main trench line was utterly lost in less than an hour, Xagreau field guns and mortars fired rapidly and recklessly to stall the advance of enemy troops but at this point it became clear the conscripts were unwilling to fight anymore many of them breaking off and running. "Cowards!" officers would yell but it did little to nothing, they were to focused on the advancing enemy. Boroko had to make a call, he chose to save his artillery and elite troops. He plunged his light and standard troops into the fold with a massive charge, they would be met with the full open might of the Kithium and Mil'Nor while Boroko gave his carabineers, artillery and heavy infantry time to retreat to Jakka. 

[Greywall]

Casualties

Xagreau: 6,342
Mil'Nor: 1,034
Kithium: 923