Face the Giant (Galra-Nevarra)

[Greywall]

Galra was looking to expand the scope of the war, their forces began the ambitious crossing of the Sierra Grande. No mountain range was like it in all of Ouhiri, the massive mountain sprawl formed the natural borders of Galran and Nevarra. Crossing it to hit the Nevarran North would help the Veraki front and give the Galrans an alternative route to supply their invasion of Koi, Galran infantry would have to do most of it on foot using climbing eqiupment and establishing checkpoints across the mountain range for resting stations and supply camps. 

Pulleys to haul up artillery guns and field guns meant bringing real firepower was delayed significantly and most aircraft was being pulled to the other fronts. The Galrans only had access to small biplanes in this front to scout ahead and map out the best way to cross over. But the best source of information came from the mountain folk who lived here, while they lived in the Galran Imperial State they never adhered to the Church state nor bent knee to the tyrannical government they still considered themselves Galran and cooperated (for fee of course). 

The Galran mountain folk of Sierra Grande don't adhere to the State.

Yet despite proper payment, many of the mountain folk took their time showing proper crossings and would sometimes let their Galran mountain drawl get a little exaggerated to misinterpret or mispronounce things. They did after all, trade with the Nevarrans. It was this trade that Nevarra would be tipped off of the crossing. 

As Galra marched over 250,000 troops to get over the Sierra Grande, the Galran mountain people alerted Nevarra with detailed descriptions of what the Imperial State was doing. They would cross in 4 days with the first wave of troops on the Nevarran side. Mountain towns would slowly empty to get away from the inevitable warfront being brewed by Galra's intent to fight the Nevarrans on their own soil. 

[Faust]

The intel provided by Galran informants alongside Nevarran mountaineers tracking the Imperial State's attempt to move through the Sierra Grande evoked decisive action from Kingdom. Of course, Nevarra was committed to the south but thankfully the borders of Verak and the borders with Galra (alongside the Rio Grande being on the western half of the country) meant a ready redeployment of of units. The Kingdom was still mostly occupied by Veraki pressure causing them to rely heavily on their defenses and every bit of manpower they could muster. Supply trucks both follow and vanguard 55,000 Nevarrans, not even a quarter of the forces that reports have claimed Galra mustering and marching through their mountains.

A covert network was beginning to be established on the Galran side. As if by overnight, information became a commodity and one that the crown was willing to spare no expense. Nevarran agents made contacts in both various villages on the Kingdom's side of the border as wells as those beyond and anything from goods that were banned in the Imperial State to plain money was offered for anything about the wave of troops moving in. This subterfuge continued for as long as the Kingdom was able to maintain their contacts but the Nevarrans and Galrans would not come to conflict just through whispers and infiltration...

The first assault began on a bitter cold morning in the war as one of the Galran vanguard divisions began pushing deeper across the border, securing small road networks and earthen pathways. The nearest village on the Nevarran side was still well ways away; Cartatina, a remote place that doesn't receive much traffic especially being straddled along the borders of Galra. The quiet march of the Galran division would be interrupted by a thunderous series of explosions adjacent to their position in further elevation. One could've mistaken the series of strikes for a stray bombing run though there was no sound of a plane in the air proceeding or following the event. The previous rumbling of the earth was replaced by new rumbling as descending upon the division's position would be a tide of cracked stone and charred boulders; a rockslide

(First actual war post, Nevarrans on the home side have started to entrench themselves and set up traps using the natural terrain and what equipment they could be spared. In this case a lot of dynamite packed on points of soft stone for potentially both short and long-term successes. I don't want to take agency from the Galrans and if I need to edit my post for any reason I will do so.)

[Greywall]

Galran forces were given a rude awakening, the rockslides and assault by the Nevarrans put them on the defensive. The loud explosive sounds of rifle fire and the falling of rock and soil disturbed the otherwise peaceful Sierra Grande. 

Galran troops seized any and all villages on their side as they funneled wounded into the local Ux Voshoz chapels, the initial strike blunted the Galrans who began setting up field guns and firing at the Nevarrans, striking mountain and rock to force the Nevarrans back. 

Galran scout planes were instrumental to isolate and pick out where the enemy would be located, artillery strikes would be delayed to hit proper targets until the planes could land. Unlike the aircraft on the main fronts these did not have radios. 

Galran infantry would begin pushing forward against the Nevarrans following the landslide and initial strike, getting their wounded to the rear line and engaging in a dangerous firefight. 

Galran mountain troops hunkering down firing at Nevarran forces.

[Greywall]

Casualties:


Galra: 440 standard infantry, 20 field guns, 100 light infantry. 


Nevarra: 10 standard infantry 

[Faust]

The Nevarran Army continued to collapse conventional routes into the country from the Sierra Madre. To conserve resources direct confrontation and full-out assaults were avoided. Despite towns and villages being seized Nevarra continued to run the gambit on gathering information to track troop movements, encampments, and deployment of resources from the Galran vanguard. After collapsing routed pathways, ones that showed up frequently on maps and such, Nevarran sappers and mountaineers would get to work by creating continually reinforced funnels and corridors leading further into Nevarra.

Even as Galrans pushed to gain more ground, the Nevarran defense would set traps behind them as they were forced to retreat while also demolishing any impromptu set-ups such as minor excavations into the side of hills or mountains to set up gun nests that obscured from aerial overheads just to avoid Galrans being able to repurpose them if they were ever captured.

What's is that there would be a significant commitment of resources to stealth and subterfuge tactics. Though the defense was destroying or altering paths into the Kingdom, Galra was still likely making some progress and there have been times where the Nevarrans seem all the more eager to retreat. But with every step gain and the path being continually reinforced ahead of them, as the Galrans pushed deeper that would also find the steps behind them being destroyed and often times more enthusiastically and frequently than those further leading into the country.

This of course was done in an effort to force the Galrans to commit more and more to the front in terms of manpower only to then pull the rug out from behind them and leave large quantities of units cut off for supply or retreat, effectively creating micro-instances of siege as Nevarrans applied soft pressure against the Galrans back into the artificial barriers that they created while they worked on re-opening the paths to reconnect with supply lines.

[Greywall]

A frustrated Galran force began blasting their way through the mountain using mining dynamite and caring little for the surrounding area after facing a situation where they were losing large amounts of soldiers without an actual engagement. Attempts to cross were met in rock filled messes and sabotage by the Nevarrans.

Reports were given back to Imperial command detailing the difficulty of crossing the mountains, a squadron of 8 scout biplanes would be sent to relay locations where the enemy would be located and places the army could cross over. A small break in the South revealed a passage that would allow a possible crossing. 8,000 standard infantry would be sent to cross and establish a base camp on the other side, finally allowing Galra reprieve to cross in some manner. Unless the Nevarrans were already aware of it.

[Greywall]

Casualties:


Galra: 30 standard infantry

Nevarra: 5 standard infantry

[Faust]

The Nevarran front was making great strides, greater than anticipated by the Crown but they were on the verge of over-extending. Risky plans committing troops and the frequent use of heavy-ordinance left the Nevarrans quickly going through sapping munitions. Though through raids and short assaults in confrontations with Galra they were able to lift some supplies, the other edge of these engagements left much of the resources buried under earth and rubble or would require a significant commitment for retrieval. Though informants as well as general observation of Galran activity allowed the Nevarrans to conclude that the Galran's weren't making as significant of pushes as they were previously.

Initially Nevarran Command determined that the Galran we're either reeling or preparing for a much larger forward push down through one of the direct routes. As time went on, however, no forward push came and direct confrontations with Galran forces became more sporadic. Unlike Galra, Nevarra didn't have any spare planes to commit to the front and along with ducking away from Galran aerial surveillance they also had to rely on their knowledge of the mountains and either foot or cavalry scouts as well as drip-fed local intelligence. Nevarra also couldn't match Galran air superiority in the mountains through both numbers and the fact that any such activity would mean giving away their position and potentially losing valuable resources that could be used in the Veraki front instead.

It took some time but through several reconnaissance missions Nevarran scouts were able to find the base camp in the southern pass, but not before Galra could set up a base of operations. Command opted to continue skirmishing with Galra away from the base camp, informing defense forces where the valley opened up into the Kingdom proper to be on alert. Instead of assaulting the base directly, Command determined two strategems based on information they had thus far;

Operation Hydra: A hypothesized plan revolving to be executed if Galra uses this base to continue to establish more bases and encampments on the southern pass with the Nevarran response being to continually sabotage these efforts in order to continually bleed resources from Galran commitment, its a safe plan but means drawing out the conflict and potentially bringing it closer into the heartland.

Operation Avalanche: Also a hypothesized plan, but instead, based on if Galra continues to fortify just the one base camp before launching any further operations. The conclusion of this being to hopefully destroy any exits and entrance corridors to the base camp in a huge bid to trap a significant number of Galrans and their equipment and to siege them out through the cold season. An incredibly risky bid that would almost certainly result in the loss of lives and resources but would close off reinforcement and could mean the capture of Galran equipment and intelligence.

In the event that Galra acted out of predicted notions, Command was ready to adjust their plans accordingly but Nevarra would focus on scouting, skirmishing, and reinforcing for the time being.

[Greywall]

Galra began building more bases along the Southern pass, finally getting the break they needed to attempt crossing into the Nevarran side of the mountains. Companies of infantry would move East along the pass establishing base camps and supply outposts before the main invasion force would be funneled through.

All in all this effort involved 8,000 standard infantry and the building of nearly 20 bases and 18 supply outposts. More work was needed to be done before a proper crossing could be made, the Galrans needed to find a way to properly get through the deep gorges and valleys without losing equipment and they then needed to be alert for the Nevarrans.

[Faust]

Hydra.

A great beast with many heads, to cut one spawns two others from the wound. The Nevarran Army was now committed to a long offensive against the Galrans in this pass. Right now it was unclear as to whether Galran intelligence knew that Nevarra was aware of their ever-growing position in the Southern Pass. Command had to leverage what advantage it was perceived they had. Taking the time to restock and avoiding heavy skirmishes with Imperial State's forces allowed both some reprieve in addition to restocking munitions

Unfortunately it also meant that Galra was also able to further entrench and before they had time to process it, Galra had spread across the Southern Pass with a sizeable number of bases and supply outposts. For Nevarra, this stage was quickly moving from making opportunistic assaults to making considerably more calculated plans.

Operation Avalanche was ruled out as a joint-operation as it relied on the Galran's being consolidated to one position. The working theory was that they could disrupt the main base by destroying the infrastructure leading into the passage. If Nevarra committed to this effort now, and failed, it would mean the other bases would continue to supply and entrench with even more reinforcement knowing that the Nevarrans were actually making moves in the area. This would both compromise and at the very least destroy one, if not, both operations.

No, Nevarra would have to decisively bleed Galra of resources as much as possible. Command sent reports back to the heartland and as such defensive structures and reinforcements were brought to the entrances of the Sierra Grande but not reinforcing those combating in the mountains. If anything were to happen to the Sierra Grande Division, then those at the mouths of the mountains would be the final line of rugged defense before Galra breached the interior proper.

Plans were made based on what intelligence they were able to gather. A total of 20 bases and 18 supply outposts stretched along the Southern Pass leading into the Nevarran interior. The biting chill of winter was approaching which meant that hopefully it would slow the Galran advance further as snow and frost would creep its way through the valley. Within the Southern Pass, Command outlined their plans for assault. Obviously they didn't have the manpower nor infrastructure to coordinate an attack on everything at once. In an ideal world Nevarra would be able to force the Galrans to scramble across the Southern Pass from all directions but continuing with that line of thought, an appeasement was brought up.

Nevarra didn't have to strike all at once. Even though Galra was spread out across the valley, all bases and supply depots still relied on a connection to their main Base-of-Operations which formed top-down structure, at least according to what information the Nevarrans had access to. Hydra was appropriate, effectively the Base-of-Operations served as the singular body while each of the bases/supply depots could be considered a distinct head, or rather, that some of them were more of the necks that lead to the head. Striking at the most recently establish bases and supply depots would certainly be easy but it would be expected and countered by the other bases and supply depots further in to reinforce.

A top-heavy network was established and Nevarra intended to exploit that.

Instead of organizing a wide-scale raid across multiple bases or organizing an assault against the "frontier" bases and depot, Command determined a better approach. Using maps, their understanding of the terrain, and what intelligence they were able to gather of the Galran presence in the Southern Pass through reconnaissance the following was drafted;

Nevarra would organize an assault against the bases and/or supply depots that were the most "critically-located" in the Southern Pass. These fortifications or "Nodes" which other bases and supply depots were connected to, if destroyed, would physically isolate and cut off Galran encampments from their main supply hubs. The plan was for these nodes to be utterly razed and using winter in the Sierra Grande to shield their backs for Nevarra to push in on the isolated bases and depots. Then Nevarra would come in as Galrans on their formed side of the pass were taking attrition and would usurp their camps, supplies, and munitions.

With the plan set, Nevarra moved to put it in motion. Nevarra needed to strike like lightning but because of that they needed to wait for the storm. They needed to move quick and as such they had to execute this plan without ferrying much of, if any heavy equipment to avoid the risk of being scouted by planes and having their plans disrupted, or ruined. Also because, even though Nevarra knew the terrain, that didn't mean they weren't spared the cruelty of Iria whose capricious nature could see them swallowed up in a storm.

Nevarra would set up raid camps along the Southern Pass, doing the best of their ability to remain obscured from Galran patrols as they ferried men, munitions, and sapping equipment across their targeted points of interest. Once they were established and ready to strike, a hold to the attack was given. Nevarra wanted to wait for the weather to be in their favor; which meant as miserable as it could possibly be to prevent patrol activity from planes overhead and to discombobulate the invading Galrans. They set a deadline for an assault regardless of the weather but ordered to remain ready at a moments notice.

Nevarra waited with bated breath... And then charged... With or without heaven's blessing.

[Greywall]

Small drifts of snow fell across the Sierra Grande as Winter began across the Southern hemisphere, Galran base camps were finally established giving the sense the Imperial State could finally overtake the challenge of crossing the mountains. However the Winter did not usher in much but trouble after the initial camps were finally built, raids by the Nevarrans and saboteurs were making things difficult to keep the network required to finally launch the Galran invasion of Nevarra. 


Nothing prepared them for the assault that came, Nevarrans popped out of the ground assaulting numerous camps sending Galran troops reeling and forced to react on their back heel. The mountains were now drowned in the sounds of small arms fire as flares fired from numerous Galran camps indicating an enemy attack flooded the sky, 10,000 infantry prepared to rush into the Southern pass unaware of what they would find, in the meantime intense fighting would break as Galrans fought tooth and nail to defend their newly established camps in the Sierra Grande. 

[Faust]

The vanguard of the assault was carried out by 5,000 manpower of infantry consisting roughly of 10~ battalions organized by Nevarran Command. Ready to assist but waiting for orders were an additional 8~ battalions consisting of 4,000 men spread out evenly among the assault groups as best as they could. Once more, the Nevarrans couldn't bring as much heavy equipment in order to keep their cover long enough to set up the operation which meant using the assaults as a smoke screen to buy time for sappers to carry out the second-phase of destroying as much infrastructure as possible. Drills were ran in preparation of quickly deploying and retreating from demolitions but of course it would be a different story while under direct gun-fire.

The Nevarrans rained down volleys on the Galrans while they could, the measure of this operation was fleetness and destruction in order to cut off smaller camps, bases, and outposts that Galra had erected further in the "Nevarran" side of the valley.

[Greywall]

Casualties

Galra: 101
Nevarra: 90

[Greywall]

The chaos that enveloped the southern pass was almost too much for the Galran defenders, the Nevarran assault sent them reeling and requesting for additional reinforcements. But the pass would only allow so many soldiers in at a time.

For now Galra had to rely on hardlined defenses and sheer firepower to win the day, it would be the first time in the war where they couldn't employ overwhelming firepower to win the day. Galran forces fell back to the Western half of the pass, installing field guns and mortar batteries to hammer the assaulting Nevarrans and lure them into a killzone between the abandoned Eastern crossway and the opened valley that laid in between the mountains of the Southern pass.

This patch of green field had dirt roads made by the locals to traverse across the various small mountain towns and even to cross over to Galra or Nevarra. But the Galrans were installing dugouts and dug into the high rise placing machine guns and light field guns pointing toward the East. It would take time before more troops could properly enter the pass, but for now the Galrans had to be content with losing half of the pass and allowing the Nevarrans to enter the valley.

[Faust]

In response to Galran retreat, Nevarra forces moved in to entrench themselves in the eastern portion of the Southern Pass. Galran outposts, encampments, and other more recently established bases were quickly descended upon as Nevarra cut them off from reinforcement. Unlike with the main nodes they targeted that were decimated in order to prevent Galran reinforcement, these establishments were attacked more carefully often by ambushing detachments pulled away from them before pressing an assault. The goal for this was the seizure and re-appropriation of Galran assets, and with what equipment was secured a portion would be sent into the Kingdom to be researched while the rest was used to re-arm Nevarran forces in the Southern Pass and to be turned against the western portion of the valley.

With an established foothold in the valley, Nevarran then also began to move heavier equipment in to also appropriately reinforce. Gun nests, artillery, trenches, and dug outs all with the goal being to halt Galran advancement effectively matching the Galrans to the best of their ability in creating a 'no-man's land' divide between the eastern and western portions of the Southern Pass. For now, Nevarra returned back to playing the defense while taking stock of appropriated equipment and also further reinforcing their own position in the valley.