The paper empire strikes (Shiysil frannerre tafatu)

[Greywall]

Casualties

Frannerre: 400 standard infantry, 10 field guns
Shiysil: 30 field guns, 300 standard infantry

[Greywall]

"CHARGE!!!!" yelled a Shiysil officer right before his head was caved in by a Frannerri round. 

Waves of Shiysil soldiers stormed over the open crater filled terrain toward the Frannerri lines, "Pareau is ours! Its-" whether or not at the rear or front, no Shiysil soldier was safe in the assault. Hundreds fell to the Frannerri defenses, many of them finding what cover they could and firing blindly at the enemy position. Eventually the forced human wave reached the Frannerri where close range firefights and even melee combat broke out, Shiysil artillery barrages continued after the first wave reached the Frannerre lines shamefully striking their own troops before realizing they were off their mark. 

Even after wiping out their own men more rushed to the Frannerri frontline engaging in brutal open combat once more. 

Vokni was sweating, even if he took this position he needed to figure a way to get fuel to prime his tanks and aircraft back into the fight. Infantry wouldn't be enough. 

General Vokni of the Shiysil army, commander of the Shiysil invasion of Frannerre

[aimway921]

"I think 50 or so men would be enough for a propaganda shoot, unless you want to organize a parade or something," Aleksenko replied. "The rest should probably head to the frontline as fast as possible. Meanwhile, I can transfer Kavhevi and his plane to your direct command to make the logistics of his missions simpler for all of us."

~

Reports poured to Lishenko's dugout - the Shyisil troops have increased their activity in the rear - no doubt their little partisan warfare was stinging the enemy badly if they pulled so many troops off the frontlines to search for them. Thankfully the division has learned over this year how to conduct these operations. Whenever possible, engagement with Shyisil troops would be avoided, and their units lured deep into forests, broken up into smaller sections and then stricken from multiple directions. Ashinarans started making rudimentary ghillie suits by tying foliage to their uniforms - which themselves have long turned earthly brown from lack of proper laundering, that also blended in with the forest ground - to make themselves harder to spot as they moved among the trees, shrubs and other flora. Especially at night, sharp Ashinaran eyes, being able to see better in the dark than human ones, would give the Shyisil troops no rest.

~

Meanwhile, a detachment of 300 troops would silently surround a supply depot, the garrison of which, according to earlier scouting, was estimated to be no more than 100. At nightfall, both when it was decently dark and when patrol were the sparsest, they would move in. Wire cutters would be used to make their way through fences. The assault would be attempted to proceed as stealthily as possible - while they had their rifles ready, knives would be used first to kill unsuspecting sentries. If anything, it was hoped that by the time the alarm is raised, enough sentries would be taken out to sow confusion among the garrison.

[callmedelta]

"Thank you," Ranulf said, "I'll fill you in on specifics later, Kavhevi. In the meantime, Aleksenko, numbers matter. I'd have half a mind to try and mix some of my own soldiers into your ranks during the shoot, if it wasn't for the fact that us Franerri's can't exactly grow some fur in a few days. It's a matter of knowing that they're here, and it's much easier to convey that with rows of soldiers than a few men sharing details, no offense."

~

Unfortunately for the soldiers on the frontline, it had taken the Franerri artillery much longer to get organized than the frontline soldiers. As such, it was only now that sufficient fires could be set up. With how much was at stake here, it was decided that the artillery would go for danger-close missions next to the Franerri trench lines. That would mean slower fires, given how they couldn't risk blowing up their own men, but it would blunt the Shysil offensive, and that was what they needed now. While it was a hard choice, the decision was made to also strip the planes from bombing artillery to bombing infantry. With much the same logic and care as the artillery, missions danger close to the trench lines were ran. Shysil had to be stopped here.

[aimway921]

"Alright then," Aleksenko yielded. "You know the situation on the front better than me, so you'd be a better judge where the troops would be more useful. We await your command."

[Greywall]

Mar 24, 2024 0:07:30 GMT -5 aimway921 said:

"I think 50 or so men would be enough for a propaganda shoot, unless you want to organize a parade or something," Aleksenko replied. "The rest should probably head to the frontline as fast as possible. Meanwhile, I can transfer Kavhevi and his plane to your direct command to make the logistics of his missions simpler for all of us."

~

Reports poured to Lishenko's dugout - the Shyisil troops have increased their activity in the rear - no doubt their little partisan warfare was stinging the enemy badly if they pulled so many troops off the frontlines to search for them. Thankfully the division has learned over this year how to conduct these operations. Whenever possible, engagement with Shyisil troops would be avoided, and their units lured deep into forests, broken up into smaller sections and then stricken from multiple directions. Ashinarans started making rudimentary ghillie suits by tying foliage to their uniforms - which themselves have long turned earthly brown from lack of proper laundering, that also blended in with the forest ground - to make themselves harder to spot as they moved among the trees, shrubs and other flora. Especially at night, sharp Ashinaran eyes, being able to see better in the dark than human ones, would give the Shyisil troops no rest.

~

Meanwhile, a detachment of 300 troops would silently surround a supply depot, the garrison of which, according to earlier scouting, was estimated to be no more than 100. At nightfall, both when it was decently dark and when patrol were the sparsest, they would move in. Wire cutters would be used to make their way through fences. The assault would be attempted to proceed as stealthily as possible - while they had their rifles ready, knives would be used first to kill unsuspecting sentries. If anything, it was hoped that by the time the alarm is raised, enough sentries would be taken out to sow confusion among the garrison.

Shiysil guards would only be alerted once the Ashinarians breached the depot. An intense firefight would break out with many of the Shiysil unprepared and relying heavily on machine guns placed within the base itself to buy some time to react to the raid. They were already at a significant disadvantage. 

[Greywall]

Casualties

Frannerre: 1,400 standard infantry
Shiysil: 1,200 standard infantry, 300 light infantry
Ashinara: 40 heavy infantry

[aimway921]

Now that the chaos of the raid began, it was time for the ace in the sleeve. Hedging bets on the fact that ears would be ringing from the firefight enough to not hear the rumble of the approaching engine, a Stuart tank captured from Shyisil troops during an earlier raid has burst through the front gate. It would proceed to fire both HE rounds and it's own MG's into machine gun emplacements defending the base.

Despite the chaos of the situation, the Ashinarans would make attempts to capture several Shyisil troops who seemed to be of higher rank for questioning.

[aimway921]

POST RETCONNED BY MOD STAFF

The Original Post was as follows:
The time has finally come. The Garlan blockade of the Ashinaran isles has been lifted as they redirected their navy to fight UKUG and Kumo, as well as support their invasion of Elenria, leaving a free path for Ashinarans to deploy to Franerre.

In a week, 100,000 Standard Infantry, 10,000 Special Infantry and 50 Heavy Howitzers of the Ashinaran Royal Army will arrive in Paerau.

[Greywall]

While the Galran navy had left Ashinara to deal with the Elerian front, they had in fact, not left the Frannerri coast. They would be readily available to deal with the approaching Ashinarian forces heading for Paerau.

[callmedelta]

The Saint Parsson Campaign



50,000 Light Infantry and 500 Field Artillery were devoted from the most recent round of recruitment to a new offensive. The target: Saint Parsson. One of the largest logistics hubs connecting Franerre and Tafatu. If Tafatu was ever to be liberated, supplies flowing through the rail lines of Saint Parsson would be vital. What’s more, if a decisive breakthrough and rout of the Shyshil army could be achieved, then the war could turn in Franerre’s favor for once.



General Ranulf had his 50,000 Light Infantry prepared behind the lines at the closest point in the Shysil line to Saint Parsson. Then, he conducted a feigned withdrawal, attempting to exploit Vokni’s eagerness. Once his forces, already tired from their assaults and out of their artillery range, moved to exploit the gap, Ranulf’s 50,000 Light Infantry would smash into their exposed position with a tide of shells and men and roll Shysil’s army back.



The Shysil Front



The rest of the Shysil front was the same song and dance of defense against the relentless Shysil assault, Though with the Air Force moving out to support the Galran campaign, their role had to be taken by an increase in Franerri artillery. Crews were pushed to their limits to get more shells down range and on target to blunt Shysil’s continued onslaught.

[Greywall]

Saint Parsson

Vokni was still fresh off the high of gaining victory over the Tafatu when he received reports of Frannerri lines breaking near Saint Parsson. "Finally" he thought to himself. He immediately ordered 8,000 troops to surge into the gap left as he hoped to flank Frannerre at last and make a break for the capital. 

He also began pulling the Tafatu invasion force to replenish the front line, 30,000 light infantry, 20,000 standard infantry, 10,000 heavy infantry, 100 field guns, 20 siege guns and 90 mortar guns. It would take another season for Galra to replenish supplies like fuel for tanks and aircraft so it would be infantry and mule pulled carts for now. 


The attackers ran right into a trap as Vokni learned his men were being torn apart by a Frannerri force approaching them. "Dig in the rest and prepare to hold this shithole, the men up ahead will have to get back on their own or die." 

Chaos would ensue for the advance party, Frannerri artillery shells hammered their position hard as they desperately sought cover. Once the barrage ended came the Frannerri, all 50,000 of them. The advance group quickly lost ground and fled back to Shiysil lines near the city. 

"Open fire!"
"But our men!"
"Do it or we die!" 

Shiysil artillery batteries and machine guns opened full whether they hit Frannerri or Shiysili was irrelevant, allowing that massive force to come in was not an option. Vokni faced another massive Frannerri army, "Why are they coming here? They are late in wanting this city." 

He had held Saint Parsson for some time, so for Frannerre to launch an assault now seemed off. Vokni would have to hold here, Galra wasn't interested in hearing his requests for aid anymore. They had become very annoyed with their Touli allies as of late and were pushing hard to seize the Marse. According to Jameson, high command had told him to seize the river and demand Frannerre surrender in order to focus on the Elenrian invasion. This undoubtly angered Azeri, who wanted to build his empire over Frannerre and Tafatu, but who was going to argue with a super power?



The Trenches of Western Frannerre


Shiysil could only send another 8,000 young men to the front this year, most of the young men in the nation were fighting the war while the rest who were either unable, too old or children worked factories and fields nearly all day to feed the slowly starving war economy. Shiysil was severely overdependent on Galran imports, domestic factories were making ammunition and rifles as best as they could but had to make a new rifle using Shiysili rounds to compensate for the lack of foreign .30-40 imports. The new rifle was based on Galran technology and pressed into mass production rapidly, the rifle was prone to jamming and the parts that moved around weren't very refined as well as they should. Despite that, President Azeri was profuslely proud of it, he named it after himself and ordered as many rifles to be made as possible. Azeri rifles would soon be in the hands of several divisions within the next few months. 

Azeri rifle 6.6mm 6 round rifle. Reloads using individual rounds

Shiysil attempts to continue storming the Frannerri trenches began to slow down, they were taking heavy losses and inflicting little on the defenders. Shiysil would opt to wait for tanks to be refueled before assaulting again. 

[Greywall]

Casualties

Frannerre: 1,090 light infantry
Shiysil: 2,100 standard infantry, 3,000 captured by Frannerre, 450 light infantry, 600 conscripts

[callmedelta]

The Saint Parsson Campaign

The Franerri forces had routed the Shysil frontline. From here, there was only one thing to do. Charge ahead, move forward onto their backlines and silence the artillery that had shelled them. If the gap in the Shysil line near Saint Parsson could be reinforced and exploited, the entire frontline could be blown wide open.

The Shysil Front

General Ranulf had a choice to make. Both the Franerri and Shysil armies were tired after the slogging match the two had engaged in all season. However bruised and battered the Franerri army may be, it had been Shysil who had flinched first and stopped, at least on some parts of the front. General Ranulf couldn't be certain for the reason, but one likely assumption, with the tremendous amount of men and material expended in their assaults, was that they had simply run out of steam. Any land connections to Galra would currently be tenuous at best, so resupply from them was currently unlikely to be in any large quantity. Ranulf couldn't say how that would change in the future, however. There was of course, some other reason that the Shysil advance could have stopped that the General simply didn't ascertain. Despite the risks and unknowns, there was too much at stake not to take the opportunity in front of him. The order went out.

"Avanti!"

It would now be Franerre's turn to begin assaults all along the frontlines. Somewhere had to give.

[Greywall]

Mar 24, 2024 22:24:13 GMT -5 aimway921 said:

Now that the chaos of the raid began, it was time for the ace in the sleeve. Hedging bets on the fact that ears would be ringing from the firefight enough to not hear the rumble of the approaching engine, a Stuart tank captured from Shyisil troops during an earlier raid has burst through the front gate. It would proceed to fire both HE rounds and it's own MG's into machine gun emplacements defending the base.

Despite the chaos of the situation, the Ashinarans would make attempts to capture several Shyisil troops who seemed to be of higher rank for questioning.

The base would scatter as any Shiysil remaining would surrender, the base would be under Ashinarian control. 


Captured 40 Shiysili light infantry, 32 conscripts, 2 officers.