Talk:Battles of the Magnate War: Difference between revisions
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'''Magnate Ground Forces''' | '''Magnate Ground Forces''' | ||
:Commanding Officer: Dogmatic General/s | :Commanding Officer: Dogmatic General/s, Exarch Castar | ||
:Regular Dogmatic Army, Dawnie ground forces, etc | :Regular Dogmatic Army, Dawnie ground forces, etc | ||
:Millions of Indoctrinated Citizens | :Millions of Indoctrinated Citizens | ||
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'''The Second Battle for Van der Teega''' | '''The Second Battle for Van der Teega''' | ||
(Summary and thoughts; by no means complete) <br> | (Summary and thoughts; by no means complete. Text in "[ and ]" is essentially a overview and placeholder for a developed narrative.) <br> | ||
"Men and women of the Grand Fleet and Army. Today we begin the liberation of the conquered worlds and the invasion of Magnate Space itself. From here we shall turn our guns to More, the heart of their unholy disease." --- Fleet Admiral Willem van der Dussen. <br> | "Men and women of the Grand Fleet and Army. Today we begin the liberation of the conquered worlds and the invasion of Magnate Space itself. From here we shall turn our guns to More, the heart of their unholy disease." --- Fleet Admiral Willem van der Dussen. <br> | ||
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After the Battle of Midway the League Grand Fleet continued with its goal of reaching Dogma, or Van de Teega as all League records refer to the planet, and entered the system on August 20th 2179. Initial plans for the invasion called for the seizure of bases in orbit of the planet and the asteroid belt to prevent their use by the Magnate Space Fleet and to allow the Grand Fleet to establish a foothold in-system. Following the successful strategies that had characterized the war in Chatham's and Saverra it was hoped that after at the very least they could make any attempt to dislodge them prohibitively expensive for the increasingly loss sensitive Magnates, while on the other hand lowering the risks of losses for the increasingly loss sensitive League Central Committee. However during the burn in-system Fleet Admiral van der Dussen proposed a radical change in plan; they would make a run for the planet and begin the ground invasion at once. The Magnates, he explained, would expect them to do what the League and Magnates had been doing for the last fourteen years and such a radical shift in strategy would catch them off guard and before they had anymore time to prepare planetary defences. Post-war some had criticized the subsequent decision by the Council of War to compromise and do both; once intelligence had confirmed that their were no large Magnate space forces in the orbital zones the Grand Fleet was divided into a "Battle" group and a "Escort" group. The Battle group being tasked with the capture or destruction of Magnate bases and the Escort group covering the invasion transports. The risk to destruction en detail was considerable but this was taken into account as the entire fleet first hit the old Teegan Militia space fortress in orbit of the planet. <br> | After the Battle of Midway the League Grand Fleet continued with its goal of reaching Dogma, or Van de Teega as all League records refer to the planet, and entered the system on August 20th 2179. Initial plans for the invasion called for the seizure of bases in orbit of the planet and the asteroid belt to prevent their use by the Magnate Space Fleet and to allow the Grand Fleet to establish a foothold in-system. Following the successful strategies that had characterized the war in Chatham's and Saverra it was hoped that after at the very least they could make any attempt to dislodge them prohibitively expensive for the increasingly loss sensitive Magnates, while on the other hand lowering the risks of losses for the increasingly loss sensitive League Central Committee. However during the burn in-system Fleet Admiral van der Dussen proposed a radical change in plan; they would make a run for the planet and begin the ground invasion at once. The Magnates, he explained, would expect them to do what the League and Magnates had been doing for the last fourteen years and such a radical shift in strategy would catch them off guard and before they had anymore time to prepare planetary defences. Post-war some had criticized the subsequent decision by the Council of War to compromise and do both; once intelligence had confirmed that their were no large Magnate space forces in the orbital zones the Grand Fleet was divided into a "Battle" group and a "Escort" group. The Battle group being tasked with the capture or destruction of Magnate bases and the Escort group covering the invasion transports. The risk to destruction en detail was considerable but this was taken into account as the entire fleet first hit the old Teegan Militia space fortress in orbit of the planet. <br> | ||
The Battle for HPRS-2 Delta begun on August 22nd by a long range missile attack on the asteroid's exterior from the battleships of the Outremondan and Saverran | '''The Battle for HPRS-2 Delta''' begun on August 22nd by a long range missile attack on the asteroid's exterior from the battleships of the Outremondan and Saverran Battle line. Under the cover of the attack Admiral Spica Glenn's task force struck the station and within minutes eight thousand Mink Zero-Gee marines were infiltrating the fortress using old Teegan Militia access points and holes blown into the armor. After eighteen hours of brutal zero-gee fighting the base fell and Admiral van der Dussen gave the signal for the liberation of his homeland to begin. Throughout the campaign the fortress would serve as the staging point for planetary landings and would shelter the transports. Space engineers rapidly turned the fortress back into its old self; the Grand Fleet had been specifically carrying huge laser cannon and mass-drivers to be installed on an asteroid or Luna surface to protect an anchorage. While their were no large Magnate ships present they had not abandoned the system; small ships made constant hit and run attacks on any exposed League ship and the fortress itself suffered multiple impacts from missiles launched on ballistic trajectories over the campaign. By August 27th, however, most of the Orbital space of the planet was considered secure and a great deal of Dogma's asteroid infrastructure was either in League hands or simply destroyed. Despite these successes the senior officers of the Fleet could not help but be concerned. It was only a matter of time before the Fleet they had faced at Midway would make a return, and no doubt the Magnates had chosen to give up orbital control of Van der Teega because they expected to return shortly. <br> | ||
Initial landings succeeded beyond expectations and captured large beach heads. However, despite success, resistance from Dogmatic regular units were ferocious and it was apparent that the Dogma High Command is merely playing for time since they refused to become bogged down in defence of any particular objective. Several important cities and manufacturing zones were given up. The question is, what. Not long after the question was raised fanatic attacks on League positions by Dogma's own indoctrinated population, backed by the Dogmatic Army, and a general stiffening of defence lines across the front made it apparent that they had been playing for time to organize and move their new army.<br> | Initial landings succeeded beyond expectations and captured large beach heads. However, despite success, resistance from Dogmatic regular units were ferocious and it was apparent that the Dogma High Command is merely playing for time since they refused to become bogged down in defence of any particular objective. Several important cities and manufacturing zones were given up. The question is, what. Not long after the question was raised fanatic attacks on League positions by Dogma's own indoctrinated population, backed by the Dogmatic Army, and a general stiffening of defence lines across the front made it apparent that they had been playing for time to organize and move their new army into position.<br> | ||
''I don't care if they're Van de Teegians or Dogmatics! Blast your way through that city!'' --- -Superior-General Kulinks, 34th League Combat Group. <br> | ''I don't care if they're Van de Teegians or Dogmatics! Blast your way through that city!'' --- -Superior-General Kulinks, 34th League Combat Group. <br> | ||
The effectiveness of this new army was beyond what League Intelligence or Analysts predicted. While post-war stereotypes of screaming masses of civilians with knives, clubs, and the odd small arm had some basis in reality do to a number of initial encounters or deliberate actions of Dogmatic Officers to cover their own attacks or retreats the majority of the "citizens" army past the first few days were well armed; Dogma had acted as a major supply hub for the invasion of the League and material was not something the planet lacked. Never the less the psychological impact was widespread and significant amoung the least experienced troops. The Van der Teegan Free Corps was the hardest hit and was pulled off the line after reports from its commander of "wide spread refusal to advance" in sectors where they were confronting the indoctrinated. The regular League soldiers, especially the bloodied formations from Saverra and Malzula however were the ones that tended to just roll ahead chewing up opposing Light infantry relentlessly. | The effectiveness of this new army was beyond what League Intelligence or Analysts predicted. While post-war stereotypes of screaming masses of civilians with knives, clubs, and the odd small arm had some basis in reality do to a number of initial encounters or deliberate actions of Dogmatic Officers to cover their own attacks or retreats the majority of the "citizens" army past the first few days were well armed; Dogma had acted as a major supply hub for the invasion of the League and material was not something the planet lacked. Never the less the psychological impact was widespread and significant amoung the least experienced troops. The Van der Teegan Free Corps was the hardest hit and was pulled off the line after reports from its commander of "wide spread refusal to advance" in sectors where they were confronting the indoctrinated. The regular League soldiers, especially the bloodied formations from Saverra and Malzula, however were the ones that tended to just roll ahead chewing up opposing Light infantry relentlessly. The entire landing, while generally successful, did not lack in its share of near-disasters or failures some of which were caused by League troops inexperience in fighting in tropical environments. | ||
''We're here to save these people. We can't just butcher them. Fall back.'' --- Major Reza Karn, 351st Grenadiers. <br> | ''We're here to save these people. We can't just butcher them. Fall back.'' --- Major Reza Karn, 351st Grenadiers. <br> | ||
The XI Outremondan Legion and the 4th "Bayonet" Division from Ares landing zones themselves came under relentless attack early on and did manage to secure themselves. They were however forced to retreat, the Bayonet Division to Orbit and the XI Legion thirty kilometers east through poorly cleared tropical forest to the Saverran zone, thanks to the massed attacks by indoctrinated troops supporting by Dogmatic and Dawnie troops moving into the area. Other units had been dropped outside their dropzones due to interference by Magnate aerospace forces and were either able to link up with friendly forces or in the case of three battalions of an Malzulan mechanized division right in the middle of rough terrain that soon became the full of indoctrinated troops. They were subsequently overrun. Because of these setbacks, and others, much of the second wave of the Leagye ground forces were landed in existing zones or much closer to existing ones then originally planned. By the end of the second week of the invasion the rapid advance was halted at the town of Steenwijkerland when advance units of General Manfeld Kulinks XII Corps met with elements of the XXII Corps under (Dogmatic or Dawnie General here) outside of the town, starting the Battle of Steenwijkerland which would see the League advance on the regional capital of Zwolle halted. <br> | |||
Logistical strain had increased to the point where League forces were running out of steam and the effective check at Steenwijkerland forced the first halt to "consolidate". After the Battle of Steenwijkerland the successes of the first two weeks could not be repeated as by this time the Magnate High Command had finished redeploying its forces to face the invaders; for much of the first week significant reserves were held back in case of landings elsewhere on the planet. By the time of Steenwijkerland the Dogmatic High Command, and Exarch Castar, decided that the League wasn't trying anything so ambitious and felt confident enough to shift forces away from now-secondary regions while maintaining the appearance of keeping well-guarded. Post-war it was determined through the publishing of several memoirs and the release of official files that many of the assumptions made by the League High Command about Magnate troop deployment were false due to literally thousands of fake soldiers (some of which wore quickly manufactured Replicant armor) and the usage of older or captured vehicles to simulate several whole armoured formations in areas garrisoned only by military police. While both sides prepared for the resumption of fighting the situation in Space had changed with the arrival of the Magnate Space Fleet from More. <br> | |||
On week three of the invasion the Magnate Fleet arrives in-system having underwent repair and reinforcement. (Persumably the loss of the Behemoth was accepted as likely permanent) While the Magnates on more then one occasion threaten a decisive fleet battle the Grand Fleet consistently attempts to avoid one. With their forces spread out to protect long supply lines through Midway to Ares and Outremonde and the need to defend their landing zones orbital zones Admiral Williams and Lebekin decide the risk is far too great, especially considering the Magnates would likely have a superiority of ships and smallcraft. <br> | |||
[On week three of the invasion the Magnate Fleet arrives in-system having underwent repair and reinforcement. (Persumably the loss of the Behemoth was accepted as likely permanent) While the Magnates on more then one occasion threaten a decisive fleet battle the Grand Fleet consistently attempts to avoid one. With their forces spread out to protect long supply lines through Midway to Ares and Outremonde and the need to defend their landing zones orbital zones Admiral Williams and Lebekin decide the risk is far too great, especially considering the Magnates would likely have a superiority of ships and smallcraft. <br> | |||
"Surely they didn't expect we wouldn't defend our planet?" ---Fleet Arbitrator Sauer, during the arrival of the Magnate Fleet. <br> | "Surely they didn't expect we wouldn't defend our planet?" ---Fleet Arbitrator Sauer, during the arrival of the Magnate Fleet. <br> | ||
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The withdraw generally succeeds even as more Magnate ground forces arrive on-planet and increase the pressure on the landing zones. <br> | The withdraw generally succeeds even as more Magnate ground forces arrive on-planet and increase the pressure on the landing zones. <br> | ||
The Grand Fleet is hampered by a need to protect a great many troop transports. <br> | The Grand Fleet is hampered by a need to protect a great many troop transports.] <br> | ||
'''Aftermath''' <br> | '''Aftermath''' <br> |
Revision as of 19:23, 23 September 2011
The Azadestan stuff will be removed as the nation doesn't exist anymore. --Andronicus 09:41, 22 September 2011 (PDT)
First Wave
Sarreva Theatre
Background
"People of Sarreva, we have an enemy. And the enemy has a name."
It wasn't until two years after the first wave of attacks into the Sea of Solomon that any of the irregularly-conntected Rim powers began to seriously believe the idea of a large, organized invasion force pushing its way in from the Deep Beyond. Of the nations that would eventually form the League, Sarreva and Van der Teega were the deepest into the Rim and the first to recieve word of attacks on nearby worlds. The lingering echoes of the Eridanus campaigns of half a century before marhsalled fears of a resurgence of feral drone activity in the isolation of the Breakdown and built enough public will to begin defensive preparations. However it wasn't until a trickle of refugees fleeing towards the inner systems carried the first real accounts of the myterious invaders, whom they called Magnates. While the stories seemed entirely surreal, with dramatic living testament and some actual evidence, the accounts demanded to be taken seriously, although local governments were reluctant to believe they were in danger.
Early in 2162, the second Magnate push overwhelmed the defences of Miranda and Melian's Hope. While they proved doggedly resistant to pacification, efforts to defend the worlds ultimately failed. A number of limpdrive-equipped vessels were able to escape during the intial waves of attacks into the system and landed at Sarreva, where they provided the first military intelligence concerning the Magnates and the methods of their attacks. More disturbingly, it also solidified the near-mythical earlier accounts of monstrous acts performed on the captured populations by these invaders. From a vague threat, the Magnates were finally embodied as an entire civilization of extremist transhumanists, whose actions foreshadowed that their ultimate aims were beyond simple conquest or subjigation. They were out to eradicate the entire way of life of those they encountered and replace it with one that was entirely alien. The call to arms was finally sounded, and finally heeded.
Military strategists concluded that following loss of contact with Melian's Hope, that the Magnates already knew of the cluster of industrially powerful worlds that lay just beyond the Sea of Solomon, however action on Melian's Hope and Miranda would have confirmed to the invaders that at least some of these worlds were aware of their actions and were preparing to resist. A third wave of attacks was declared inevitable.
The Eve of War
Leading up to the middle of the decade, the timetable for any further Magnate actions was unknown and with negotiations for military alliance solidified between the neighboring worlds, plans were made for an eventual offensive into Magnate-held space as well as contingency plans for a pre-emptive strike by Magnate forces. The League as a whole knew, though, that they were badly unprepared for war and an attack would most likely come early. In past decades, local security was maintained by patrols from European Union. When the Breakdown struck, all able vessels withdrew back towards Earth, abandoning only a number of retired and derelect ships that had already been relegated to mothball yards. Some worlds were fortunate enough to have small local patrols that were marooned in-system, but by and large the vast majority of functional space-faring vessels were freighters and industrial ships that became stranded. But to have any chance of success against a Magnate attack, space-based forces would have to keep supply lines open to League worlds behind the lines and prevent Magnate reinforcements from isolating and eventually overpowering a besieged planet, no matter how well defended.
The crash-militarization that followed the formation of the League was the most epic project ever undertaken in Sarreva's short history, consuming all available resources and industry that had sat idle for the first years of the Breakdown. The recently formed Sarrevan high command began militarizing several asteroid, orbital and planetside locations and constructing defensive works as well as logistical infrastructure to refurbish and reactivate its mothballed Eridanus-era warships. In the interim until those ships became operational, any space-worthy freighter or industrial ship was armed. Cargo bays became missile bays, and long-obsolete technologies like electrochemical guns became the mainstay of the ad-hoc fleets for the simple fact that a ship didn't require a bigger power plant to use them.
By late 2163 news of Magnate movements in the Sea of Solomon alerted the beginnings of the invasion, and as expected the League was not yet ready to resist them. In the intervening years Sarreva had become a militarily powerful world, and although ground fortifications were largely complete its space fleet was almost entirely reliant on civilian craft. While the League General Council was reluctant to commit sizeable offworld forces to Sarreva's defence out of fear that the heavily defended world would be bypassed entirely and isolated, the Battle of Sarreva would be the first action for the Combined Fleet.
It was largely assumed that the Magnates possessed outdated and generally poor intelligence of the League worlds and most likely weren't aware of the extent of militarization, but the League Council agreed that even if the Magnates were aware, they could not afford to leave the frontier worlds with intact war industry or space forces behind their lines. This was particularly true in the case of Sarreva, where a sizeable fleet of formerly mothballed warships could be made eventually FTL-capable.
The Attack on HGO-44
The assault began in earnest in May, 2164, with a large-scale fleet engagement around a cluster of militarized mid-system asteroid bases known collectively as HGO-44. This installation protected Sarreva's mothballed warships as well as numerous construction yards, refueling stations and repair facilities constructed in the years before. Destroying or capturing it would have crippled Sarreva's defences, and possibly doomed the world to eventually fall. It was so important that the Sarrevan command had stripped planetary orbital defenses in order to boost those at HGO-44. It came as no surprise when the opening move of the war struck there.
In the close quarters of the asteroid complex, with local space transfixed by defensive fire from the fortifications and entire ship formations weaving about the massive rocks, fighting was chaotic and resistance frenzied. After little more than an hour losses began to mount, and with the possibility of a clean victory eliminated, Magnate forces disentangled themselves and exploited the chaos to withdraw before becoming completely committed. While many fleet facilities were damaged in the attack, the battle highlighted that Magnate ships weren't well suited to fight toe-to-toe with masses of overbuilt League ships. While disproportionate losses were inflicted on the Mangate forces, it's considered one of the greatest botches in the course of the war. If the defending forces had prevented the Magnates from escaping, they could have crippled the forces attacking Sarreva itself. Even in the light of retrospect though, the successful defence of HGO-44 and the mothball fleet without crippling losses marks it as a massive strategic victory in the face of a number of tactical blunders.
The First Battle of Sarreva
"You have to understand that there is no surrender to the Magnates. If we lose this, our nation is extinguished. For the sake of everything we've built, for the sake of your lives and the lives of your children I implore you to join the fight. Fight with anything. Fight with everything!"
Conventional wisdom from previous Magnate conquests suggested that once control of local space was lost, it was only a matter of time until masses of Magnate supersoliders, which had no equal in the Rim or anywhere else, eventually broke the back of conventional infantry and forced surrender. The Sarrevans had grimly acknowledged that a ground campaign would be horrific, but had made the hard decision that preserving the installations at HGO-44 was more important to the long-term campaign than preventing an initial landing.
Defensive actions over Sarreva itself in the opening day of the war were structured to deny orbital approaches over vital targets, but could not effectively blockade the planet. Unlike the attack on HGO-44, the battles over Sarreva itself became a series of isolated engagements as individual pockets of Magnate ships and landing craft attempted to punch through to objectives scattered all over the world. Space battles over Sarrevan cities were desperate and savage, but even in the face of heavy losses the Magnates were almost universally successful in punching through.
As they burned in towards their targets, assaulting Magnates came under intense fire from defensive guns and fortifications built in the militarization campaigns. Those that reached the ground near important centers were almost immediately engaged by waiting heavy armour and mechanized units. Magnate rearguard forces, support equipment, supplies and fabricators that dropped further into virgin territory landed mostly unscathed by contrast and were able to establish bases out of reach of the ground forces.
That first day sparked a decade of pitched, relentless and tenacious fighting. With masses of heavy armour and mechanized forces, the Sarrevan army was able to stem the tide of vat-grown replicants where no other had done so before. Given over fully into attrition warfare, the Battle of Sarreva became a bloody quagmire that consumed the lives of hundreds of thousands. With the League Combined Fleet still intact, the Magnates were never fully able to reinforce their assets despite constant skirmishing, nor prevent reinforcements from coming forward from the inner worlds.
The Second Battle of Sarreva
For the first three years of the war, the Sarrevan fleet had been incapable of preventing waves of Magnate reinforcements from landing. The untimely arrival of some of these surges had cost the Sarrevans dearly, culminating in the dramatic surprise attack and fall of the city of Vershire. It was not a sacrifice that was made lightly, and after entire campaigns of inconclusive skirmishes, running battles and deep space convoy raids, the modernized Sarrevan mothball fleet finally became operational. Centered around a number of lumbering Canopus class capital ships, the Sarrevan fleet was finally up to the task of taking the fight to the enemy.
With coordination efforts taking place between the League powers months beforehand, the first real offensives ran from September through October of 2167 and became known as the Second Battle of Sarreva. Well-established Magnate bases and a strong system presence proved tenacious opposition and both sides suffered heavy losses through a dozen individual engagements, however these were losses that the Magnates were unable to easily replace.
With the space corridors now hotly contested, the flow of Magnate material to Sarreva became irregular and League reinforcements increased. The Sarrevan army pressed their advantage and struck out at planetside cloning facilities and occupied cities in a massive campaign that simply became known as the '67 Push. While not as conclusive as the fleet engagements, it marked the first time since the beginning of the war that the whole of the Magnate front appreciably shrank.
While subsequent battles reversed many gains of the '67 offensives, the Second Battle of Sarreva marked a turning point in the war from that of a holding action, to a contest with the first real possibilities of Magnate defeat.
The Third Battle of Sarreva
"This is it, gentlemen. I've waited a decade to say this. We're ready. Begin the counterattack."
With Finnegan's Folley and Van der Teega refusing to break after long campaigns of their own and draining Magnate resources, it became clear by 2177 that the Magnate positions at Sarreva were vulnerable. Following the tenth League Summit in March, masses of space forces began moving forward from Minkowsky and Azadestan in preparation for the final assault to eradicate the Magnate presence at Sarreva.
By October of that year the battle was joined, and the largest combined fleet yet assembled crashed against the Magnate outer system fortresses and their defending ships in a series of battles from October 1 through October 15. Realizing they were ultimately doomed, all able Magnate forces began to withdraw towards Finnegan's Folley. In the midst of the battles on October 14, a theta-drive equipped Magnate resupply convoy made a daring run through the gauntlet of League warships to reach a besieged asteroid outpost believed to have been the last refuge of the Magnate system command group. While less than half of the attacking ships survived to escape, it's commonly believed they were able to extract the VIPs and flee before the complex and was bombarded and stormed only hours later.
Sweeps of the system for hidden outposts continued for weeks, but the end result was the total destruction of Magnate space assets that were unable to flee the system. Sarreva itself was declared liberated six months later, paving the way for a new offensive to relieve beleaguered Finnegan's Folley.
Aftermath
The numerous atrocities committed against the Sarrevan people and other League member states has forever etched in the public memory that the Magnates are a force of megalomaniacal evil. The Solomon Treaties that put an end to overt fighting were met with outrage, even though it was clear by the end of the Breakdown that the war had taken a terrible toll on the economical health of the League member-state, and they were ill-prepared to begin an offensive campaign into Magnate space. Sarrevan officials largely don't believe the peace will last, and that the Magnates will remain a threat so long as they exist.
Van der Teega Theatre
The Invasion of Van der Teega
Van der Teega Militia
Commanding Officer: Magnus Wichelman
The Magnate Continuum's invasion of Van der Teega met with widespread and heavy resistance but the planet was unprepared for war and soon fell. Thousands of Van der Teegans, however, were able to flee the system and were among the first to provide warning to soon to be frontline worlds of Chatham's World, Saverra, and Ares. Amoungst these refugees were a considerable number of the planetary militia choosing to go into exile and continue to fight, instead of dying at their posts or melting into the woods.
The Battle of Midway
Result: Fleet Admiral Zhang wounded, Behemoth missing, Magnate retreat to Dogma.
Magnate Space Fleet
Commanding Officer: Dawnie Admiral
- Behemoth, Leviathan
League Grand Fleet
Commanding Officers: Fleet Admiral Zhang (Supreme Commander), Fleet Admiral Willem van der Dussen, Lord High Admiral Lebekin
- Here to Help
- Many, many, ships.
The Invasion of Dogma
September 2nd 2179 - October 27th 2179
Result: League invasion of Dogma repulsed, Grand Fleet withdraws intact. Both sides claim Victory.
Forces
Magnate Space Fleet
Commanding Officer: Dawnie Admiral
- Many ships!
Magnate Ground Forces
- Commanding Officer: Dogmatic General/s, Exarch Castar
- Regular Dogmatic Army, Dawnie ground forces, etc
- Millions of Indoctrinated Citizens
League Grand Fleet
Commanding Officers: Fleet Admiral Willem van der Dussen (Supreme Commander), Lord High Admiral Lebekin, Admiral Spica Glenn
- Here to Help
- Many, many, ships.
League Ground Forces
- Commanding Officers: General Annika Matus
- Saverran Divisions, Malzulan Divisions, Outremondan Legions, the Van der Teegan Free Corps.
The Second Battle for Van der Teega
(Summary and thoughts; by no means complete. Text in "[ and ]" is essentially a overview and placeholder for a developed narrative.)
"Men and women of the Grand Fleet and Army. Today we begin the liberation of the conquered worlds and the invasion of Magnate Space itself. From here we shall turn our guns to More, the heart of their unholy disease." --- Fleet Admiral Willem van der Dussen.
After the Battle of Midway the League Grand Fleet continued with its goal of reaching Dogma, or Van de Teega as all League records refer to the planet, and entered the system on August 20th 2179. Initial plans for the invasion called for the seizure of bases in orbit of the planet and the asteroid belt to prevent their use by the Magnate Space Fleet and to allow the Grand Fleet to establish a foothold in-system. Following the successful strategies that had characterized the war in Chatham's and Saverra it was hoped that after at the very least they could make any attempt to dislodge them prohibitively expensive for the increasingly loss sensitive Magnates, while on the other hand lowering the risks of losses for the increasingly loss sensitive League Central Committee. However during the burn in-system Fleet Admiral van der Dussen proposed a radical change in plan; they would make a run for the planet and begin the ground invasion at once. The Magnates, he explained, would expect them to do what the League and Magnates had been doing for the last fourteen years and such a radical shift in strategy would catch them off guard and before they had anymore time to prepare planetary defences. Post-war some had criticized the subsequent decision by the Council of War to compromise and do both; once intelligence had confirmed that their were no large Magnate space forces in the orbital zones the Grand Fleet was divided into a "Battle" group and a "Escort" group. The Battle group being tasked with the capture or destruction of Magnate bases and the Escort group covering the invasion transports. The risk to destruction en detail was considerable but this was taken into account as the entire fleet first hit the old Teegan Militia space fortress in orbit of the planet.
The Battle for HPRS-2 Delta begun on August 22nd by a long range missile attack on the asteroid's exterior from the battleships of the Outremondan and Saverran Battle line. Under the cover of the attack Admiral Spica Glenn's task force struck the station and within minutes eight thousand Mink Zero-Gee marines were infiltrating the fortress using old Teegan Militia access points and holes blown into the armor. After eighteen hours of brutal zero-gee fighting the base fell and Admiral van der Dussen gave the signal for the liberation of his homeland to begin. Throughout the campaign the fortress would serve as the staging point for planetary landings and would shelter the transports. Space engineers rapidly turned the fortress back into its old self; the Grand Fleet had been specifically carrying huge laser cannon and mass-drivers to be installed on an asteroid or Luna surface to protect an anchorage. While their were no large Magnate ships present they had not abandoned the system; small ships made constant hit and run attacks on any exposed League ship and the fortress itself suffered multiple impacts from missiles launched on ballistic trajectories over the campaign. By August 27th, however, most of the Orbital space of the planet was considered secure and a great deal of Dogma's asteroid infrastructure was either in League hands or simply destroyed. Despite these successes the senior officers of the Fleet could not help but be concerned. It was only a matter of time before the Fleet they had faced at Midway would make a return, and no doubt the Magnates had chosen to give up orbital control of Van der Teega because they expected to return shortly.
Initial landings succeeded beyond expectations and captured large beach heads. However, despite success, resistance from Dogmatic regular units were ferocious and it was apparent that the Dogma High Command is merely playing for time since they refused to become bogged down in defence of any particular objective. Several important cities and manufacturing zones were given up. The question is, what. Not long after the question was raised fanatic attacks on League positions by Dogma's own indoctrinated population, backed by the Dogmatic Army, and a general stiffening of defence lines across the front made it apparent that they had been playing for time to organize and move their new army into position.
I don't care if they're Van de Teegians or Dogmatics! Blast your way through that city! --- -Superior-General Kulinks, 34th League Combat Group.
The effectiveness of this new army was beyond what League Intelligence or Analysts predicted. While post-war stereotypes of screaming masses of civilians with knives, clubs, and the odd small arm had some basis in reality do to a number of initial encounters or deliberate actions of Dogmatic Officers to cover their own attacks or retreats the majority of the "citizens" army past the first few days were well armed; Dogma had acted as a major supply hub for the invasion of the League and material was not something the planet lacked. Never the less the psychological impact was widespread and significant amoung the least experienced troops. The Van der Teegan Free Corps was the hardest hit and was pulled off the line after reports from its commander of "wide spread refusal to advance" in sectors where they were confronting the indoctrinated. The regular League soldiers, especially the bloodied formations from Saverra and Malzula, however were the ones that tended to just roll ahead chewing up opposing Light infantry relentlessly. The entire landing, while generally successful, did not lack in its share of near-disasters or failures some of which were caused by League troops inexperience in fighting in tropical environments.
We're here to save these people. We can't just butcher them. Fall back. --- Major Reza Karn, 351st Grenadiers.
The XI Outremondan Legion and the 4th "Bayonet" Division from Ares landing zones themselves came under relentless attack early on and did manage to secure themselves. They were however forced to retreat, the Bayonet Division to Orbit and the XI Legion thirty kilometers east through poorly cleared tropical forest to the Saverran zone, thanks to the massed attacks by indoctrinated troops supporting by Dogmatic and Dawnie troops moving into the area. Other units had been dropped outside their dropzones due to interference by Magnate aerospace forces and were either able to link up with friendly forces or in the case of three battalions of an Malzulan mechanized division right in the middle of rough terrain that soon became the full of indoctrinated troops. They were subsequently overrun. Because of these setbacks, and others, much of the second wave of the Leagye ground forces were landed in existing zones or much closer to existing ones then originally planned. By the end of the second week of the invasion the rapid advance was halted at the town of Steenwijkerland when advance units of General Manfeld Kulinks XII Corps met with elements of the XXII Corps under (Dogmatic or Dawnie General here) outside of the town, starting the Battle of Steenwijkerland which would see the League advance on the regional capital of Zwolle halted.
Logistical strain had increased to the point where League forces were running out of steam and the effective check at Steenwijkerland forced the first halt to "consolidate". After the Battle of Steenwijkerland the successes of the first two weeks could not be repeated as by this time the Magnate High Command had finished redeploying its forces to face the invaders; for much of the first week significant reserves were held back in case of landings elsewhere on the planet. By the time of Steenwijkerland the Dogmatic High Command, and Exarch Castar, decided that the League wasn't trying anything so ambitious and felt confident enough to shift forces away from now-secondary regions while maintaining the appearance of keeping well-guarded. Post-war it was determined through the publishing of several memoirs and the release of official files that many of the assumptions made by the League High Command about Magnate troop deployment were false due to literally thousands of fake soldiers (some of which wore quickly manufactured Replicant armor) and the usage of older or captured vehicles to simulate several whole armoured formations in areas garrisoned only by military police. While both sides prepared for the resumption of fighting the situation in Space had changed with the arrival of the Magnate Space Fleet from More.
[On week three of the invasion the Magnate Fleet arrives in-system having underwent repair and reinforcement. (Persumably the loss of the Behemoth was accepted as likely permanent) While the Magnates on more then one occasion threaten a decisive fleet battle the Grand Fleet consistently attempts to avoid one. With their forces spread out to protect long supply lines through Midway to Ares and Outremonde and the need to defend their landing zones orbital zones Admiral Williams and Lebekin decide the risk is far too great, especially considering the Magnates would likely have a superiority of ships and smallcraft.
"Surely they didn't expect we wouldn't defend our planet?" ---Fleet Arbitrator Sauer, during the arrival of the Magnate Fleet.
The Grand Fleet and the Magnate Fleet engaged in many skirmishes and limited attacks on each other's positions. Eventually the League High Command determined that the cost of invading Dogma would be at this point be unacceptably high, as at this point in the war they were increasingly loss sensitive. These factors combined with the shock that they would not have a large planetary population to raise up against the Magnate occupation the decision to withdraw now, before they become unable to do anything other then engage in attrition warfare on what appears to be Magnate terms, was made.
The withdraw generally succeeds even as more Magnate ground forces arrive on-planet and increase the pressure on the landing zones.
The Grand Fleet is hampered by a need to protect a great many troop transports.]
Aftermath
After the withdrawal from Dogma the reality of any future attempt to liberate Dogma was made apparent. It would be a war of attrition against a population that seemed to support its Magnate government fanatically. While there were no illusions about why this was so the very fact served as a grave disappointment. Much of the pre-invasion planning hinged on large populations behind Magnate lines that could be relied on to act as a filth column or at the very least be disinterested. The failure of the invasion would lead to both sides to embrace the long-running peace process at Solomon rather then holding out for a battlefield victory to increase their bargaining power.
Strategically it was a victory and defeat for all sides. The League had clearly shown its ability to take the War to the Magnates. While the Magnates had shown they were unable to make an attempt impossible they ensured that the League High Command was under no illusion that any invasion would entail enormous losses, and the possible destruction of the very peoples the League desired to liberate. The Magnate defence of Dogma shown that their homelands were in no danger of falling, a fact perhaps not entirely appreciated in the minds of their opponents or the most weary of their ranks but one certainly firmly believed as a fact, a fact no validated, in by those that made their policy.
Both sides were exhausted but neither side was exhausted enough that a collapse seemed imminent. In total terms the single power that gained the most out of the Invasion was Dogma itself. It had empirical proof of its successful social policy and dashed the hopes of the League for a quick or easy reconquest of the planet while improving its status within the Magnate Alliance itself. Effectively they gained enormous security.
Due to the voluntary withdraw by the League and the successful Magnate defence of the system (Both actions having only a relatively small cost to both sides effective war power) both sides could avoid characterizing the campaign as a defeat. Both therefore portrayed it as a victory to anyone who might listen. Happily for the peace process neither side could realistically portray it as a decisive victory to anyone but those who read their propaganda. Thus the invasion posed little in the way of a challenge to the peace process, which the long-suffering diplomats on Solomon considered a blessing.
Billy's Stand
"Our home may be gone, for the moment, but the tides of history shall recede. As long as the League of Outer Stars maintains its strength the millions left behind in Magnate slavery still have hope. It is our duty to ensure that this flame of hope never goes out." --- Fleet Admiral Willem van der Dussen, Attributed before the Battle of Billy's Stand.
Fleet Admiral Williams leads the rear-guard and not only successfully delays the Magnate pursuit but bleeds the Magnate Space Fleet. The Fleet Admiral gives his life in battle. Counted as a tactical Magnate victory but a strategic League victory.
Unused Material
Azadestan Theatre
Azadestan Campaign
Result: Draw. Azadestani orbital infrastructure was damaged in the year long campaign, along with forcing the RAN to limited operations. With the lack of
Forces
League Combined Militia & Azadestan Armed Forces
Commanding Officer: President Delshad Dariush, Azadestan Armed Forces Commander in Chief
- 49th, 3rd, and 1st Vertical Calvary divisions using the Peltast class Mobile Suit
- 10 Wings of Mughal Aerospace Fighters
- Entirety of the Republic of Azadestan Navy
- League Combined Militia ships.
Magnate Continuum Invasion Force
Commanding Officer: Exarch Antonia Savina, Eternal Dawn Templar
Losses
League Combined Militia & Azadestani Military
Losses:
Magnate Continuum Invasion Force
Losses:
Aftermath
Finnegan's Folly Theatre
The Battle of Finnegan's Folly
June-July 2176
Result: Magnate pyrrhic victory. Magnates forced out of system but League fails to prevent theft of the Citadel.
Forces
Magnate Continuum Joint Operations Fleet
Commanding Officer: Fleet Arbitrator Sauer
- lots
League Combined Fleet
Commanding Officer: Admiral Rakesh Zhang, Minkowski National Guard
- more
Losses
Magnate Continuum Joint Operations Fleet
- Significant elements of Expeditionary Force lost
League Combined Fleet
- more
Aftermath
The Battle of Finnegan's Folly was the defining event of the Magnate war: very long, very slow, and ambiguous in result. League ships and fabricators began trickling into the system through the month of June and it rapidly became apparent to the quagmired Magnates that their position was untenable. They accelerated plans to activate and evacuate the Citadel and departed with it in the early days of July, mere hours before the League fleet breached their defenses and reached Near Orbit in force. The Magnates, having limited FTL capability deployed the bulk of the Fleet assets of the Expeditionary Force in the system in a desperate holding action to contain advancing League forces, while remaining fleet assets escorted the Citadel out of the system.
The battle left the Magnates with a significantly diminished Expeditionary Force, but they had achieved their strategic objectives. In the wake of the battle and the other concluding actions of the war, neither side could marshal enough force and transport to initiate a new operation before the Breakdown ended and the threat of Core support forced the Magnates to abandon their plans for conquest.
Minkowski Theatre
The Heaven's Stair Campaign
November 2172 - July 2177
Result: Minkowskan infrastructure and logistics damaged and disrupted.
Forces
Magnate Disruption Fleet
Commanding Officer: A maddened wookie or something
- Several raiders
Minkowski Navy
Commanding Officer: Admiral Rakesh Zhang
- Several more patrollers
Losses
Magnate Disruption Fleet
- Everything
Minkowski Navy
- A bunch
Aftermath
The Magnates snuck some raiders and fabricators into Minkowski and set up shop in the asteroid belt. Minkowski spends years fighting a gruelling anti-piracy campaign amid hungry hungry hybrids.