The paper empire strikes (Shiysil frannerre tafatu)

[Guestwall]

Shiysil Western front


Frannerri invasion: 50,000 light infantry, 100,000 standard infantry, 600 field guns, 150 siege guns, 40 landships, 25 light tanks, and 10 bi plane bombers bombing frontal frannerri defenses. A war of revenge for Shiysil, their target is Pareu, their forces will carve a path directly to the Frannerri capital.

Tafatu invasion: 20 bi plane bombers will indiscriminately bomb Bellen as Shiysil forces over 40,000 light infantry, 40,000 standard infantry, 20,000 heavy infantry, 200 field guns, 40 siege guns, 100 mortar guns, all cross to seize Bellen. All 20,000 conscripts will act as vanguard with over 20,000 heavy infantry to guard rear lines of both invasions.

The Shiysil airforce will enforce air supremacy on their front and use bombers to hit fortified enemy positions and cities to force swift capitulation. Their next target would be Le Troi.

[aimway921]

Besides the Franerri forces, Ashinara had a Division of battle-hardened veterans, sans a single Battalion that went ahead to support the Samurai in Eleria, stationed by Eleria's border.

    9,000 Infantry, of them:

        1,500 Standard Infantry

        4,750 Heavy Infantry

        2,750 Special Infantry



    50 Field Artillery

    50 Mortar Artillery

    1 recon plane



While their number paled in comparison with the invasion force, they quickly found themselves barely noticed. It seemed the the Shiysil army pushed directly North towards Perau, not really worrying about their flanks. Weather it was overconfidence or assumption that their allies would cover their flanks was unknown, neither did it really matter in this moment. General Lishenko saw a once-in a lifetime opportunity. As the main Shiysil force continued North, the 43rd Infantry invited themselves into Shyisil's logistics lines. 

The obvious superiority in enemy's numbers meant that the Ashinaran forces would likely be defeated quickly in open battle. That is why the Division would break up into small groups and operate a guerilla warfare, their biggest advantage being the element of surprise - not only in them being there in the first place, but also an armed resistance in the enemy's backlines coming up just a few days after the invasion. Drawing up plans in several hours, General Lishenko launched Operation Backscratcher less than a day after Shiysil's invasion into Franerre. 

Special Infantry would be the main spearheads of the operation. Upon short discussion with local authorities, horses and horse-drawn carts would be commandeered from local population of Setange, where the Division was stationed before the invasion, and the surrounding villages. Using the horses to move quickly, about 2,000 Special Infantry would scatter around all the roads that Shiysil might use for resupply of their main force. Convoys meant for the frontline Shiysil troops would be promptly ambushed, the convoy guards killed and the supplies taken to be used against their former owners. The remains of the convoys would then be dragged off the road and hidden, to wait for the next convoy.

The 5,750 Heavy Infantry would meanwhile split into groups between 200 and 500 strong, and disperse in the area wide enough to not draw too much attention, but close enough for several groups being able to converge and support eachother in case of an engagement - they would cover as much ground between the roads as they could, ready to repel attacks once the enemy realized that they have an entire Division reigning chaos in their backlines. While they waited, they did what Ashinaran foxes did best - dig earthworks. Trenches, foxholes and even tunnels. The artillery and mortars would be distributed along these strongpoints. 

The 1,500 Standard Infantry would remain in Setange, guarding the city, along with an improvised airfield consisting of a particularly wide stretch of road on the edge of the city for the single recon aircraft they got.

The troops scattered about in the Shyisil's logistics lines were ordered to conserve supplies, in particular food and ammunition. It was expected that they could resupply themselves from the looted convoys, eventually ditching their rifles for the Shiyisil ones once they run out of Ashinaran ammunition and have to use their enemies. 

[callmedelta]

There were 25,000 Standard Infantry and 2,198 Mortars along the Franerre-Shysil border. The border defenses mainly consisted of deep trenches with the occasional machine gun dugout -- wholly inadequate for the amount of troops bearing down on them. Outnumbered, understrength, and out armored, the vast majority of Franerri forces retreated in a chaotic order before the end of the second day of the invasion, any small traces of resistance crushed by the end of the third day. The only saving grace of the retreat was that the majority of the Mortars managed to retreat with at least some of their ammunition. As the retreating Franerri forces were pursued by Shysil, the Mortar ammunition would be the first thing to be left behind, the guns running dangerously low on ammunition. At the very least, Shysil wouldn't have free reign over the skies of Franerre -- Franerre's entire force of 21 LMAF IV Fighters would be deployed to the Shysil front, ensuring the skies were clear and blunting Shysil's armored spearheads wherever the planes could find them. 12,500 Standard Infantry managed to retreat from the Shysil border with 1,868 Mortars

As the Franerri forces retreated further and the Shysil forces pushed ever onward, the Franerri forces would retreat as far as Saint Parsson, where they would meet a division of hurriedly raised 10,000 Standard Infantry. Saint Parsson was Franerre's key logistics hub into Tafatu, and even though it would fall against such overwhelming forces, it would be a disgrace to Franerre to let it fall without a fight. What's more, if they could stall Shysil in protracted urban combat, or even better a siege, that would give more time for the rest of the Franerri Army to organize a more solid defense. 10,000 of the Standard Infantry from the Shysil border would join the defenders of Saint Parsson with 467 Mortars and the remainder of the ammunition for the guns.

The remaining 2,500 Standard Infantry and 1,401 Mortars would be able to retreat the rest of the way back to friendly Franerri lines and join the forming Army Group B, resupplying, resting, and making a better organized and stronger defense against the oncoming Shysil forces.

[Greywall]

The Shiysil front pressed Northbound encountering Frannerri forces at Saint Parsson, General Vokni sought to capture the town and make it his forward command base.

400 field guns sounded off striking the town prior to a massive ground assault of 50,000 standard infantry and 30,000 light infantry. Supported by 20 landships and 15 light tanks. Their assault made the spear of the encroaching Shiysil invasion force, while they greatly outnumbered Frannere on the ground, their aircraft didn't fair well outnumbered by the Frannerri airforce.

Shiysil fighters struggled against the Frannerri in the skies over Saint Parsson making bombing runs from the air not possible.

Vokni's vanguard were reporting issues in the rear flank by the time Shiysil realized a group unidentified to them was wrecking havoc on supply lines. He ordered 30,000 standard infantry to fan through the Western flank and find whoever was committing this. Failure was not an option as President Azeri threatened execution for failure. The Shiysil President wanted to impress his Galran allies and prove to them that Shiysil was capable of defeating their enemies.

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Casualties

Shiysil: 1,200 light infantry, 400 standard infantry. Supply lines operating at 55% due to Ashinarian raids. 6 fighter aircraft
Ashinara: 200 heavy infantry, 50 special infantry.
Frannerre: 7,300 standard infantry. 2 fighter aircraft.

[callmedelta]

Push forward.

It was an order brutal in its simplicity. The main spearhead of Shysil's advance had been pushing north into Pareau, leaving their flanks comparatively weak. Messages from Marshal Zelgius in the west had detailed Galra moving faster than anticipated. If the initial plan for a defensive line along the Marse had any hope of succeeding, Shysil had to be removed from the war. Ranulf's Army Group A, composed of 41,250 Heavy Infantry, 12,000 Standard Infantry, and 3,325 Field Guns would march from the west to swing into the rear of Shysil's forces engaging Army Group B, surrounding and crushing the foreign invaders, 15,000 Standard Infantry remaining on the flanks and in the rear of Army Group A to ensure they weren't walking into a pincer themselves. Any organized resistance would be met creeping barrages and frontal assaults to crush the enemy as quickly as possible. In support of this operation, 10,000 Heavy Infantry would launch small probing attacks into Shysil's frontlines, meant to hold the Shysil army in place defending while the remaining 40,000 Heavy Infantry and 30,900 Standard Infantry would continue to dig in and hold their positions, acting as an anvil to Army Group A's hammer.

[aimway921]

The Ashinaran troops wrecked havoc in the supply lines. Broken up into small groups, they effectively operated as partisans. Besides raiding convoys, denying frontline Shiysil troops supplies and sowing confusion in their ranks, they continued digging. Hidden all throughout the forests and fields of South Franerre, multiple dugouts were made. Many tunnels were made, with most entrances small enough an Ashinaran could barely squeeze through - let alone a human who are larger. Naturally, such small entry points were easy to conceal.

A lot of raided supplies, especially small-arms, ammunition and preserved food would be hidden in these secret caches that now dotted the landscape. Stolen vehicles and larger weapons such as artillery were harder to hide, but attempts would still be made. A lot would be wrecked, rendered unusable, but some intact ones would be left, sprinkled among the wrecked ones, with the idea being that if they are found, the investigating Shiysil troops miss the intact ones in the pile of wrecked ones, and then later they would be able to be used by the Ashinarans.

The troops themselves would largely keep moving. Small detachments would patrol the areas around the caches, prepared defensive positions, and the larger units. All of them, both larger and smaller units - far away from each other to be harder to spot, stay mobile and quick, while close enough to be able to concentrate force quickly should they engage a superior enemy.

Such tactics would be used around every existing road from Shyisil leading North into Franerre. The enemy would have to either deal with the Ashinarans - if they could find them - or build a new road, and hope that the Ashinarans can't find it. All Lishenko could hope for now is that their action have starved enough frontline Shiysil troops of food and ammunition to allow General Ranulf to counterattack.

[Greywall]

Chaos.


That was word. Shiysil had enjoyed 3 months of marching into Frannerre nearly unimpeded, sacking defenseless towns and terrorizing the locals. That ended quickly. 


The force General Vokni had sent did not find partisans, they found an organized Frannerri assault bearing down on their western flank. Panic swept as the shiysil offensive came to a sputtering halt as Frannerri forces crashed upon them like a harsh tide hitting the shore. Shiysil quickly moved to a more defensive pose, trying to dig trenches and fox holes, setting up artillery earlier than planned. It was a damn mess. The only thing keeping them from total collapse were the Galran tanks, machine guns and aircraft. All Galran. Nothing shiysil. 

20,000 vanguards were forced up from Shiysil to secure supply lines where after brutal inhumane interrogations they managed to achieve two facts about the southern raiders. They were not Frannerri and not human. 

"Kill them, no mercy" ordered Vokni as he quickly had his forces assume defensive postures. The Frannerri managed to completely obliterate the forward advance and force a 20 mile retreat. Here Shiysil just needed to regroup and focus. Supplies needed to get up to the Northern and Western battlefronts that were stretched along hundreds of miles of open country. Shiysil soldiers were ordered to rob and pillage food and whatever they needed. 

The frontline wasn't much better, Shiysil troops barely had much courage to face angry Frannerri troops bearing down on them and relied again on Galran lent weapons and tech. Galran .30 caliber machine guns saved many areas from falling. But ammo was going to run out soon. .30-40 Galran ammunition was not made in Shiysil and with the war the supply lines were cut until Galra took over Tafatu or Frannerre. 

Shiysil began handing out older 6.36 single shot rifles to vanguard conscripts and taking their Galran Tabh rifles to be sent North. 

The situation while not ideal wasn't entirely lost, Shiysil still had armored units to break up whatever Frannerre sent and they used bombers to counter hit the assaults. 

Shiysil forces desperately attempt to hold off against the Frannerri counter attack.

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casualties

shiysil: 2,000 standard infantry, 900 light infantry, 20 captured field guns, 30 captured siege guns, 2 captured Galran light tanks.
frannerre: 900 standard infantry, 600 heavy infantry
ashinara: 100 heavy infantry.

[callmedelta]

The captured equipment was sent back to Pareau for study posthaste. On the front, meanwhile, General Ranulf knew he had to keep pushing. Zelgius couldn't keep Galra east of the Marse forever, and if the Marse was breached then the majority of Ranulf's manpower would be needed to plug the gap. Ranulf had to knock out Shysil before that happened, but his assault into the Shysil flank hadn't resulted in the knockout blow Ranulf had hoped it would. Ranulf's men could continue to push, but with the manpower Shysil had moved to his front, any further frontal assaults like those he used previously would result in less land for greater cost. Instead, Ranulf ordered a series of pinning attacks with his Army Group A in the west, devoting 10,000 Heavy Infantry to the assault while the remaining forces of Army Group A would dig in against any potential Shysil counterattacks. Army Group B, meanwhile, would push against the forces arrayed against them in the east, trading missions with Army Group A. Instead of a hammer and anvil, Army Groups A and B would act as a left and right hook. Whenever Shysil moved their forces to defend against one army, the other would begin to advance. Shysil would fall.

[Greywall]

General Vokni was slowly giving up territory he gained to attain better battlefield cohesion up until President Azeri ordered him to stop pulling back. With the President ordering him to maintain the seized ground or be removed (IE killed) he decided he had to let the hell that would be the wide battlefield unfurl itself.

Picking up that Frannerri had begun an assault in the West, he ordered his forces to dig in and use extensive artillery to blast the Frannerri back. Shiysil infantry had begun to regain their composure using sheer brute force and numerical supremacy to their advantage to hold ground against the Frannerri assault. The culprits against the supply chain raids had finally been identified as Ashinarians, somehow operating in Western Frannerre, some of the supply convoys were set up to trap any assaults on them with Galran machine guns hidden away ready to fire on the raiders. Some wagons were even set to explode if not deactivated properly.

Shiysil forces slowly regained control of the Vanguard and supply lines with large patrols of infantry staving off raiders. Ashinarians would have to change tactics or face more and more chances of costly firefights.


In the North, Vokni pressed the Frannerri lines after recuperating from the counter. Tanks and Landships led the way with the reassigned bombing fleet being pulled from Tafatu. If Frannerre thought they could win an easy battle, it would be corrected, Vokni did not come this far to retreat back to Shiysil. Frannerre would fall.

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Casualties

Shiysil: 4,000 standard infantry, 20 field guns, 30 siege guns, 10 light tanks, 400 light infantry.
Frannerre: 2,345 standard infantry, 1,500 heavy infantry, 100 field guns.
Ashinara: 400 heavy infantry, 200 standard infantry

[aimway921]

The raiders have noticed the change in the Shiysil convoy tactics. This meant one important thing - they were enough of a thorn in the invader's ass to make a noticable difference. However, it also meant that the Ashinaran troops would have to change their tactics, lest they start suffering greater casualties.

They would start prioritizing the destruction of convoys over their capture, with what could be salvaged taken after the fact.

Using a mixture of their own high explosives, captured ones and IEDs made from whatever was available, they would begin mining the roads. Some would just place the mines into the road and wait for the front carts and trucks to ride over them and explode, some units would experiment with making mine traps that could be pulled out in front of the incoming convoy just as it was coming.

The raiders would use their own machine guns to suppress the fire from the convoy defenders. A mixture of high explosives and smoke grenades would be used to sow further confusion among the Shiysil troops and allow the raiders to close the distance and overwhelm the enemy.

The Ashinarans would no longer waste time hiding the aftermath of the convoy raids, carrying away only their own dead from the battlefields after concluding a raid, and letting the Shiysil bodies and vehicles rot and smoke on the road.

[callmedelta]

The initial Franerri probing attack in the west would be soundly defeated by the massive artillery barrage, the field of battle turning into a landscape of craters. But the attack could not afford to be stopped. If the artillery could be neutralized, then perhaps the initiative could be regained across the whole front. A few days would be needed for the necessary supplies to arrive, but once they did, the Franerri attack would proceed under the cover of smoke shells and commit twice the manpower, with the goal of capturing or neutralizing Shysil artillery guns.

In the north, the planned assault would be canceled in face of the Shysil assault. It would be Franerre's turn to use extensive artillery fires to blunt the Shysil advance, along with the scant few anti-tank guns that were available on this front. In the skies, Franerri planes would abandon their close air support duties to focus on shooting down Shysil planes. If Shysil's air force could be broken here, then Franerre could have air superiority for the entire front. The Franerri infantry on this front would have to commit to a defense for the time being.

[Greywall]

The Northern Shiysilian assault was immediately bogged down by Frannerri artillery, scores of infantry launching the push were thrown aside by enemy artillery striking their approaching position. Counter battery was fired starting a hellish exchange between both sides as troops desperately tried to push against Frannerri lines, reaching their enemy within rifle range and firing desperately at the defenders.

Even the Galran tanks given to the Shiysil were either damaged or repelled leaving a largely infantry only assault in the first wave to face the Frannerre.

Shiysil pilots were in their own hell, attempting to survive the losing battle of the skies, Grinvelian bi-planes given out to the Shiysil military were shot down due to the inexperienced pilots and lack of real combat trials prior to the invasion. For now Vokni had only one card to play and that was to try and gain the air war victory. But his pilots were failing miserably.

To the West the Shiysil forces would shout and gloat at the Frannerri breaking their assault.

In the rear vanguard, intense firefights erupted more than what would be acceptable by most army standards. Ashinarians were wrecking havoc on the supply lines and stretching vanguard rear units to their breaking point. Supplies continued to come in slowly threatening the Shiysil forces as the fighting continued. All in all an utter status quo left the day with Shiysil in a situation where they were in a long and drawn out battle not of their choosing.