Operation Hyena
#1
Posted 13 August 2006 - 07:28 PM
It would involve twin amphibious assaults.
To the north, the 17th and 18th infantry divisons of the Ninth Army, supported by the 404th Mechanised Division, along with elements and bombardments from the Karkan fleet, would make landfall close to the Darsan Straights area, primarily focusing in on territories that Belka had ceded to Atlantia previously; they knew that area's defences would be weakest due to less time to build up a significant presence there.
Simultaneously, the 8th, 9th and 10th infantry divisions of the Ninth Army, supported by the 672nd Mechanised Division, as well as whatever elements of the Karkan Fleet that had not been tasked to help the northern landing force, moved in not far from the Chezflaun Pass.
Their aim was simple; to bypass their own minefield, secure beachheads and hit the Atlantian border defences from behind and meet up with one another in the middle, giving a huge deployment of the Eleventh Army time to land at the beachheads and reinforce an offensive press into Atlantian territory.
It wouldn't be an easy mission, by any measure, but the Belkans were nothing if not persistent and, driven by pure and abject fear, they weren't about to back down.
#2
Posted 13 August 2006 - 09:59 PM
Unfortunately, the land situation was a bit less favorable. The Atlantian Marine Corps active components were deployed in Oporto, and in the south, the Second Army's reserve components, the XVI. Infantry Corps, consisting of the 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry Divisions, pulled off from the Army's rear to meet the invader. Supposedly, they were to wait for the Belkans to make a move... if they did...
#3
Posted 13 August 2006 - 10:36 PM
#4
Posted 13 August 2006 - 10:44 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[narrative]
20 miles out from Oporto, Atlantia
Onboard the converted transport R.Y.S. Yuktobania
On the deck of the Yuktobania, all was calm, with soldiers sprawling the decks, uncomfortable after the three days at sea. Up on the command deck, however, it was all hustle and bustle. Navigators checking maps of the waters of the region, officers giving orders to lower ranks, and the commanding officer overlooking it all.
"Comms, send a message to Oporto. We're twenty miles out, and we're ready to give a hand in defense."
OLD SIG
When history witnesses a great change Razgriz reveals itself,
first as a dark demon. As a demon it uses it power to rain death upon the land,
and then it dies. However after a period of slumber Razgriz returns
As the demon sleeps, man turns on man.
Its own blood, and madness soon cover the earth.
From the depths of despair awaken the Razgriz.
Its raven wings ablaze in majestic light.
Amidst the eternal waves of time
From a ripple of change shall the storm rise
Out of the abyss peer the eyes of a demon
Behold the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath
The demon soars through the dark skies
Fear and Death trail its shadow beneath
Until Men united wield a hallowed sabre
In Final Reckoning, the beast is slain.
Razgriz intrerpretation
#5
Posted 13 August 2006 - 11:41 PM
It was all going a bit too smooth. However, a flight of ten Tu-95 Bear bombers bearing Belkan insignias showed just how easy it was going. They'd been rushed in at the last-minute as an afterthought, buzzing over and dropping cluster-bombs filled with landmines of varying sizes and payloads. Dumping them along a diagonal between the Belkan landing parties and the defensive line, they were attempting to force the Atlantians into a bottleneck when they did arrive. It was still possible to get down to and up from the beach without treading on anything, but these mines were currently right in the path of the marching Atlantian infantry groups. With a nice minefield dumped right in front of them, if nothing else it would delay the Atlantians. Else, they'd suffer casualties.
To the north, the equivalent strike had been delayed by the lead plane's front landing gear breaking off right before takeoff, causing the plane to nose-down into the tarmac. Estimated time of arrival was now three hours away. Not good for the northernmost troops, but spirits were high, and standard defensive positions being adopted around the shoreline and cliffs. They'd have a much tougher fight than the southern force, but they knew that if they lasted the night, they'd be much better off as fully half the Eleventh would have joined them, or wouldn't be too far behind.
Scouts had been sent ahead from both, to see just how far they could push their luck, and how far they could fan out before encountering resistance. For the teams on point, it was a case of 'deploy-machinegun, get-word-from-scout, pick-up-machinegun, move-on', with the additional squads, antitank and mortar team close on their trail.
#6
Posted 14 August 2006 - 12:20 AM
Furthermore, troops were reported on the beaches in the south. In the north, apparently the Marines had been able to dig in, with one division acting as mobile reserves, but who knew how long that would last? He had already contacted Eastern Front Command about detaching one of those reserve armor divisions, but they had said that they required everything in position for the "imminent breakthrough" that was coming. Central Command under that very nice and competent fellow General Nogues had thankfully detached the 99th Mobile Strike Group, a sub-division strength force that would join the 41st Infantry in their march around to the other side of the purported landing site, creating a ring around it so pressure from the east would not force them to break out west and raze the countryside.
With luck, by morning they'd be looking down at the Belkan beachhead, and then it would just be a matter of killing the damn brutes.
#7
Posted 14 August 2006 - 10:39 AM
The most important drawback here was that the Belkans had created a near-impenetrable minefield several miles deep. However, they had already lined up the artillery guns across the other side of it, and began to shell the Atlantian defensive line. They knew it wouldn't be massively effective, but they were basically trying to bring about confusion amongst the enemy. Meanwhile, the southern beachfront had expanded outward, fanning away to give itself a wider line against the oncoming infantry divisions, and also to hit the edges of the Second Army's defences. They could dig in all along their frontlines and wait for the Eleventh to back them up.
In the north, the Belkans reached the Atlantian Marines' defensive line, and hunkered down for the long haul. They knew an all-out attack would fail; they knew how good the Atlantian Marines were, and so they too elected to hold position and wait for the Eleventh reinforcements.
#8
Posted 14 August 2006 - 03:12 PM
Also you may want to RP some real casualties in the north, amphibious landings against defended positions usually result in about a 15% casualty rate, normally about 30% with mechanized forces.
I can play it though
IC:
The Belkan forces had taken them completely by surprise. As a result, the 2nd Army was forced to retreat immediately, over fifty miles, and the entire Mobile Reserve Group Center was detached and sent north to deal with the Belkan threat. In the north, the 1st Army was forced to do the same, however they were on far better footing than the 2nd.
At Oporto, at the Marine Headquarters, plans were already being formulated for a smashing attack using armored and marine forces in conjunction with the newly committed Monarch Surface Action Group to destroy the Belkan invaders.
Edited by MSpencer, 14 August 2006 - 03:36 PM.
#9
Posted 14 August 2006 - 05:36 PM
I've taken the liberty of making a map of my take of what has happened so far. The dark purply dots are the mine drop regions...the green dot is where I believe your reservists are coming from tho I could be wrong. The blue dots and the little arrow are where my southern force is aiming to get to. They aren't there yet by any measure, but that's where they're moving for. Slowly but surely, because they want to wait for the Eleventh. I don't know if this is correct, because I don't see it from your perspective. Post a similar map from your perspective and we can work from there.
IC:
Things were not faring quite so well on the northern point. The Marines were putting up a hell of a scrap, and casualties were mounting even as they spoke. Fighting uphill was never without its risks, but shore bombardment from the cruisers was underway, and the soldiers on the beach hoped that it would be enough to soften them up and silence those damned machineguns.
#10
Posted 14 August 2006 - 09:38 PM
In the south, the 41st Infantry Division began swinging around what scouts had reported as a minefield, to threaten the Belkan left flank and hopefully bottle them inwards. The 99th Mobile Strike Group had assisted in this endeavor, freeing up Corps forces to be freely moved about, using the minefield as a self-defensive measure. The Belkan plan to stop their advance would serve their purposes nicely.
Unfortunately, the result of this was a total lack of reserve units for the larger army formations. The 1st Army would be stuck with only using its Army reserves, while the 2nd Army was left with no capability to counteract a breakthrough whatsoever. A necessary evil, however.
Edited by MSpencer, 14 August 2006 - 09:39 PM.
#11
Posted 17 August 2006 - 08:32 PM
Indeed, it became necessary for a revised plan. The Eleventh basically abandoned the first northern beachhead and landed further westward along the coast, hoping to bypass the Marines and their reinforcements and link up with the original landing force before they were completely overrun.
Down in the south, the Eleventh were unloading and were already reinforcing the southern lines.
Many more Belkan planes soared ominously overhead, this time showering the defensive lines themselves with cluster bombs and cluster minelets. The effect was to keep them off-balance. Additionally, the botched northern mine-wall plan was totally scrubbed, and instead they dropped conventional bombs carpet-style on the heads of the Atlantians who stood in their way. Right now, the majority of Belkan air support was to the northern LZ, purely because that was the one that was suffering worst.
It did not matter. Their losses were perfectly acceptable. Even the Eleventh was somewhat expendable. The Belkans were almost ready.
#12
Posted 18 August 2006 - 03:30 AM
What they had made no mention of, was that the retraction of a full mechanized corps would leave the 1st Army with two infantry divisions, an armored division, and a mechanized artillery brigade as its total strength with absolutely no reserves. It was a horrible little plan, stripping the defenders of their heavier assets, but it would tip the scales of the numerical ratio in the north to 6:1. This time, the Belkans wouldn't even be given a chance to surrender.
At 0350 hours, Eastern Reserve Group Headquarters sent orders to all artillery units to begin a constant barrage of enemy positions. Close air support units from the Air Force were sent from bases near Ft. Cartago and Oporto, bombing enemy positions on constantly rotating shifts. AWACS support was provided against the non-existent air threats, while naval forces which were to be in striking distance of enemy naval assets within a few hours promised intense support.
At 0500 hours, Operation Mars began, with the immediate assault of the 1st Reserve Armored Corps, with enemy positions still under fire from the attached artillery units. The 97th Mechanized Battlegroup and the 110th Infantry Division were sent on a diversionary attack from the west. With the arrival of the XXXII. Mechanized Corps two hours later, the Belkans would be completely encircled (This is the part where they're really, really, really fucked). The orders were not to be questioned, in retaliation for the murders in Pythogria, there would be no prisoners. High ranking officers were to be captured for interrogation by the Field Intelligence Company of the 10th Special Services Division before they were to be summarily executed in the field. If it was a war of extermination they wanted, they would certainly get it!
On the southern front, interceptor support had finally arrived in the form of a few Air Force squadrons operating the AEF-11B Condor. Within a few hours, the Atlantis CVBG and the Sovereign SAG were to be expected in theater to strike at Belkan naval assets still unloading troops. Beneath the waves, the Danae Subsurface Action Group prepared to launch a deadly strike against some detected Belkan assets. (Waiting for some information as to what is there, I did say I'd have forces around within 17 hours, and there will be some forces in the north pretty soon too)
Provided Naval Information:
Atlantis CVBG
AES Atlantis (CVN-01)
AES Tortuga (CVL-02)
AES Réquin (DDGN-21)
AES Sines (CGN-03)
AES de la Porte du Theil (DDG-49)
AES Triumphant (SSCVN-01)
Sovereign SAG
AES Sovereign (BCGN-02)
AES Cartago (DDGN-22)
AES Deuseigneur (DDG-52)
AES Cataan (CGN-04)
AES Ardant du Picq (CGN-05)
Monarch SAG
AES Monarch (BCGN-01)
AES Levasseur (DDGN-23)
AES Phoenicia (DDG-41)
AES Ursus (CGN-06)
AES Gloire (CGN-07)
Danae SSAG
AES Danae (SSN-767)
AES Dragon (SSN-766)
AES Gromaire (SSN-771)
AES Algerie (SSN-242)
AES Empress (SSN-233)
AES Dreadful (SSGN-896)
AES Perseverance (SSGN-899)
#13
Posted 18 August 2006 - 01:27 PM
While indeed the northern forces were taking an awful beating, and were likely to be overrun, they all refused to break and give in. Meanwhile, the tides were about to take an unexpected twist. The minefields between Belka and Atlantia were bombarded by fuel-air and low-altitude detonation burst missiles.The shockwaves and pressure generated were enough to clear huge swathes of the field. With these corridors now made through the field, the Belkan Eighth and Tenth Armies, who had just needed time and the division and diversion of the main Atlantian defence forces to arrive, began to mobilise en-masse, along with a large detachment of the mercenary force Clan Wolf. Having come from neighbouring cities and leaving them undefended, the Ninth and Tenth had waited for much of the war to see action. They barged through the corridors in the minefields.
The Clan's pay had been considerable (though it had been negotiated so that more of it would be in material assets and hardware as opposed to monetary value. Additionally, the Clan had procured some of the hardware, the price of which had been deducted from the mercenary force's fee), however it would provide an additional thing for the Atlantians to deal with. Used to the Belkan way of fighting, the Clan's style, it was hoped, would be notably different enough to further trick the Atlantians.
With a quarterback-style push into the main defensive lines, the Belkan Eighth and Tenth, it was hoped, would be able to break through and save the halves of Eleventh and Ninth in the north from certain destruction.
The Clan was charged firstly with supporting the two Armies' initial advance, before heading north to assist in the fight against the Atlantian Marines while the Belkans primarily worked on consoldiating the south. Actual city capturing was not in the list of imperatives for either group; the primary goal for all the assaults was the complete destruction of Atlantian military ground forces, leaving the nation itself ripe for the plucking.
#14
Posted 18 August 2006 - 04:32 PM
I've also got a few questions as to exactly how you managed to pull off four or five massive amphibious operations when it was stated that my entire navy was busy defending the shores, without even engaging so much as a cruiser? IMO with all these units popping out of nowhere, with most of them just materializing in areas which make no sense, it seems quite a bit godmoddy that you can just have your airplanes drop bombs everywhere without even an aerial engagement, and keep your units supplied and continuously landing without running into my forces...
I've got my entire navy in the area anyways, so it doesn't really make too much sense to me how you can mobilize enough transports to move over one million men, keeping them supplied, and transporting tanks and fuel without so much as even running into my naval forces in the south.
The northern front was completely overrun (As it should be!). The two armored corps linked up on the beaches, shortly after receiving orders to abandon the area and leave it to the 110th Infantry Division for cleanup, and to move to the southern front at the best possible haste. The Belkans had somehow slipped past the air defense crews for a ninth time, and upon receiving barely any losses, bombed their own minefield, breaking through the XVI. Infantry Corps forward units with mechanized forces. The 2nd Army had shifted the 15th Infantry and the 11th Motorized westwards to act as a defense in depth unit for the XVI. Corps, however they were due to arrive in a few hours.
On the seas, the Atlantis CVBG sortied a strike wing of forty aircraft armed with ASUW munitions. The 30 F-35s, originally planned for use only aboard the Triumphant class SSCVN, armed with two AGM-84C Harpoons each joined with 10 AEF-11B Condors, air superiority fighters that would be flying intercept. The attack was designed to coincide with a massive strike from the Danae SSAG, in which the missile submarines Perseverance and Dreadful would be used to deliver a payload of sixty TASMs all in concert with the fighters above. It was a strike that would definitely be remembered.
#15
Posted 21 August 2006 - 11:52 AM
Operation Hyena was a complete failure for the Belkan forces. The two landing forces were completely decimated, even the Eleventh, who were the only ones lucky enough to get anyone back off the beaches...though they were indeed mostly those who had not yet left the offshore landing coordination craft. Everyone else Belkan was dead or captured.
The two Armies that were sent to attack the main defensive lines head-on had made some headway, but in the end had proven unable to break through due to the failed amphibious assaults giving the Atlantians time to regroup.
The Belkans fell back out of the foreign soil, resuming defensive perimiters at the borders. They attempted to resume airstrikes with the intent to delay any possible Atlantian counterattack. Oh, and the commander in charge of this botched mission was executed without trial.
Meanwhile, the Belkans were organising with a rather shady character to try and sort this whole mess out using a less direct route...
#16
Posted 21 August 2006 - 04:06 PM
OOC: Corrected a typo. That's what you get for nicking text from an event in a game made by Swedish developers.
Edited by MSpencer, 23 August 2006 - 06:09 PM.
#17
Posted 23 August 2006 - 05:37 PM
#18
Posted 23 August 2006 - 06:13 PM
#19
Posted 24 August 2006 - 07:16 AM
Mainly to probe the terrain and get a feel for the enemy...
Save the environment, use green text
Some Bullshit Somewhere
#20
Posted 24 August 2006 - 10:01 AM
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