Between the Hammer and the Anvil

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River Marse

Frannerri artillery created a scene out of the panels of hell, Galran forces stormed the Frannerri side of the river and began taking it despite heavy enemy fire, the gas did its job in depleting their defenses. Several areas of the River bank were now large scale infantry firefights, the Frannerri still had alot of fight left in them. But the flow of Galran troops was starting, they began slowly boating over more and more soldiers to overrun and take the Frannerri bank. 

Southern front

Galran artillery began a long campaign of shelling after several Corbas tanks failed to break through the Frannerri lines. Jameson would write a report detailing the Galran light tank was too weak in the face of anti tank rifles, its flat face armor allowing rounds to puncture through. So Galra held its position defensively firing long range howitzers and siege guns at the Frannerri lines. Jameson ordered aircraft to begin a merciless campaign of attacking Frannerri rear line units to shatter command structure and supplies to the front. 

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River Marse

It was time to begin the pull out, as much as Marshal Zelgius loathed the idea. His headquarters was moved from Alcasse to Acrence. A garrison of 20,000 Standard Infantry volunteers and 100 Field Artillery would be left to defend the city, hopefully stalling the Galrans long enough for more divisions along the Marse to retreat. Too heavy to be worth retreating with, the Siege Artillery would fire until their ammunition ran dry, then be sabotaged to prevent the Galrans from taking them. The smaller Field Artillery would begin retreating to secondary defensive lines -- not all the way to the Sarhone yet, but more time to delay was required. The freshest of Zelgius's divisions would continue to hold the Marse, while more weakened ones would be pulled off the frontlines and man defensive lines further back to recover and fortify the position. This entire operation needed to be carefully controlled, lest the entire thing turn into a disorganized rout.

Southern Front

With the orders to retreat given, the defenses of the southern front would be the first to begin retreating. First went the majority of the anti-tank guns and some artillery, leaving only 50 AT guns and 200 Field Artillery to cover the front. Next began the infantry pull out. Only 30,000 had managed to pull out before the Galran bombing campaign began. A further 20,000 would manage to thread the needle of the overwhelming air and artillery attack and be able to man fallback lines. The remaining infantry along the front, caught between a rock and a hard place, had nowhere to go but to hold their place.

Occupied Franerre

The attacks on the railroad had been a success, if a costly one. Galran construction had been set back months, at the cost of practically all the heavy equipment the RPG's forces had in southern occupied Franerre. As missed as those assets were, it was a worthy sacrifice. The tempo of RPG operations would naturally slow after this, focusing more on repairing strength and gaining information on good targets to strike next.

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Casualties

Frannerre: 2,100 standard infantry, 20 field artillery, 400 heavy infantry
Galra: 900 standard infantry, 10 field artillery, 10 light tanks

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River Marse

At long last, Galra was breaching the Marse, troops were now bringing in reinforcements and some areas of the embankments even allowed engineers to work on possible bridges to allow heavy equipment across. Though they were still under heavy Frannerri fire. Galran artillery began targeting Frannerri positions behind the main engagement and attempting to target Frannerri artillery. Jameson was requesting for a formal invasion force to make their move toward Pareu and end the Central Toulian front. With this accomplished he would be the first Galran general in the Toulian War to finish his goals and be able to send troops against Elenria and Zedonia. 

Galran aircraft prepared for an extensive bombing campaign West of the Marse, a pure terror bombing campaign to rattle what was left of Frannerre. 

Southern Front

The Galran forces attacking the Frannerri began to take notice of their withdrawal, another armored assault was ordered sending Galran armor back out in the open to finally take their enemy out. Large artillery ordnance strikes would pulverize the Frannerri lines as the slow moving light tanks and landships crept up toward the remaining Frannerri. Jameson was now able to see progress made after a brutal defense made by Frannerre stalled the Galrans. 

Jameson was infuriated with the Shiysil forces, they had utterly failed to make the impact they were supposed to and with the Elenrian invasion taking up half of his forces he could no longer wait. Reinforcements were drying up and Galra's Colonial Army was now at its peak deployment in the war. Jameson began to realize the situation a bit more than his counterparts, Galra was risking its entire position on the Toulian continent and if they lost the vital Shawbalt supply line or lost significant engagements it would mean a total collapse of Galran offensives on the Continent. Jameson wrote a letter detailing these concerns to the Galran mainland and that at most, Galran Colonial forces would need another 2 million troops to finalize the takeover of the Toulian continent. 

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River Marse

The Franerri troops continued their retreat mostly on schedule and in good order, much to Zelgius's relief. The Franerri artillery had been pulled back far enough that the Galran artillery had little to no effect on them, save for any of the Siege Artillery at was still firing. While the Galran troops were working on creating bridges to cross the Marse, the Franerri troops were digging evermore trench lines, both forward lines and fallback lines. Zelgius's orders were made clear on the exact nature of how the collapsing defense to the Sarhone was to be conducted. If his luck held, this entire operation could go as planned.

The Siege of Alcasse

The city of Alcasse, under the command of the stalwart General Samson, was preparing the last of its defenses. 20,000 Standard Infantry and 100 Field Artillery were left to defend the city. Buildings along every road into the city were strategically collapsed, the large amounts of rubble preventing any armor from making it inside the city and hopefully breaking up any infantry. Every boat inside the city was commandeered, with the intent of allowing Franerri soldiers to perform night raids behind Galran lines. Unbeknownst to either Marshal Zelgius or General Samson until now, Alcasse had been a critical juncture for the RPG to smuggle fighters and weapons into occupied Franerre. With the city imminently becoming a battlefield, they chose to make themselves known, bringing along an additional 5,000 partisan fighters to the defense of the city.

Southern Front

The fighting would be hell for the remaining Franerri soldiers. There was no help, no fires, no resupply, only the men in those trenches together. What choice did they have but to hold fast? There was nowhere for them to retreat to -- there was only a wall of tanks or a wall of artillery fire. Tactics were devolved to the small unit level; some choosing to brave the wall of artillery, some choosing to rush the tanks, and others trying their best to dig in even further.

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Casualties

Frannerre: 1,780 standard infantry, 300 partisans, 100 field guns
Galra: 250 standard infantry, 10 light tanks, 10 tankettes

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River Marse

At last, Galra crossed the Marse, pouring troops and vehicles across man made bridges and flooding the Western bank as air craft flew overhead to attack Frannerri defenses. Jameson smiled cruelly, ordering his forces to break the Frannerri defenses and sent word to Shiysil to push everything they have toward Pareau. "We break this 3rd world shit hole." 

Galran forces began their attack on the Frannerri as light biplanes and biplane bombers began striking Frannerri positions. Armored units began their assault with infantry support on Frannerri trenches using armored support to break across and shield infantry from small arms fire. The larger and better equipped Galran military was tearing apart the Frannerri, out in the open it was simply out of the question to fight Galra. The Galrans pushed their enemy with ease deeper West. 

The Siege of Alcasse

Galran infantry would have to enter the city, much of the city was closed off to let armored support in and Galran rifle against Frannerri rifle would be the battlefield set for Alcasse. Infantry began engaging defenders in the streets pushing to secure blocs so engineers could clear the way for armored units. With the armor rendered useless in the city itself, the tanks and vast infantry left over would move to flank and eventually surround the city. Cutting it off from the rest of Frannerre. 

Galran infantry participating in the Siege of Alcasse

Southern front

It was an all out massacre for Frannerre, Galra out in the open made itself the clear superior force as it butchered the mostly infantry force before them. Galran armor and infantry began tearing the Frannerri apart. They had one order from Jameson, 'kill them all'. No mercy, no quarter. The defenders were to be slaughtered. 

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River Marse

Things were tense, but the Franerri resolve held just long enough. The Franerri Army shifted entirely to delaying tactics and ways to score cheap shots -- artillery guns taking a few shots to delay and disrupt enemy advances, then retreating themselves. Anti-tank ditches and kerosene to burn anyone trapped. One or two anti-tank guns saved as surprises where they hadn't been seen previously. Retreats past a friendly fallback line to set up another round of trenches. The trenches may have gotten shallower and shallower each time, but the retreats continued to run in good order as things drew closer and closer to the Sarhone. Franerre was doing everything they could not to win, but just to play for time.

Meanwhile, behind the lines, once reports of bombings reached Pareau, the anti-air guns that Franerre had been working on for the defense of the Marse would be rushed out. 100 guns in total, they would be distributed among Franerri cities in an attempt to disrupt or even shoot down the Galran bombers. 

Siege of Alcasse

The defenders of Alcasse knew that this was a suicide operation in all likelihood, and they were all volunteers. In an infantry on infantry fight, this was one of the few times Franerre could be said to be at parity with the Galran attackers. The Franerri forces held their ground at the gates of Alcasse stubbornly, not letting an inch of their city go.

Even with the city surrounded, the defenders still had a port and a coastline. Small teams of both partisan and regular Army fighters took small boats out of the city at night, sailing around to behind Galran lines to act as saboteurs, destroying what artillery stocks or tanks they could and sailing back into the city before the sun rose

Southern Front

As the fighting wore on, there would be a few attempts to surrender to the Galrans, as the Franerri position was hopeless. Yet, even the attempts to surrender were hopeless. The Franerri fought on to the last man, and were slaughtered to the last man, save for those lucky enough to thread the needle of a retreat or a break out into Galran occupied Franerre.