Battle of Culich

The Battle of Culich was a major battle in the North Levantine theater during the Second Great War. During the battle, Fhainnin forces supplemented by foreign auxiliaries in the form of quisling units and the Deric Freedmens' Legion conducted an enormous combined arms offensive to enter the province of Gallbravan in north central Fiannria, intending to initially cut off the Fiannrian navy's free access through the straights of the Firth of Vorita before besieging the capital of Brídhavn. The battle would evolve to become a major turning point in the war, with the Fiannrian army first blocking Fhainnin forces at the titular city, followed by a major tank battle and overall counteroffensive where the best of Faneria's best armored formations were wiped out in a series of days-long pitched battles. Furthermore, naval action concurrent with the land battle would conclude in the Third Battle of Iber, which simultaneously crippled the Fhainnin navy outside of the Vandarch Sea.

Fanerian Operational Planning
While the initial intent of Fhainnin advances in northern Fiannria were centered on taking the capital, the sobering response of Fiannrian cities to occupation had soured the idea that Fhainnin forces would enter the country as liberators from the 'Latin yoke' early on in the war. Rather than maintain the fantasy of winning a morale victory, Fhainnin staff officers had little confidence in a Fiannrian surrender while they remained backed by Urcea and Burgundie, and instead refocused on practical matters, which still placed emphasis on control of Brídhavn as a major rail hub, industrial and population center, and the geographic center of the Fiannrian heartland. Due to poor Fiannrian performance on land in the previous major offensives in Cyrnan and Costaban, Fhainnin confidence in the ability of the National Army to reach the mouth of the Firth of Vorita by late 1938 was high, as until this point the Fiannrians had fielded no comparable self-propelled guns to their own, nor fielded large mechanized formations in a significant enough quantity to seriously challenge Fhainnim mobility and fires. A successful taking of the straight would allow artillery to threaten shipping to Brídhavn and the surrounding areas, which primarily would threaten the ability of the Fiannrian navy to travel through it; following that, a march on the capital would be considerably easier. The main factors in the decision to attack in such an aggressive manner related to both the confidence of the commanding officers due to previous experience plus the immediate numerical superiority of Fhainnin forces on the front and the very real threat of the Fiannrian army rapidly regaining strength and recovering from its severe losses over the winter of 1938-1939, which put a serious time constraint on securing overall victory without even further years of grinding warfare.

In spite of this confidence, Fhainnin planning aimed to distract the Fiannrian navy with a deployment of the Open Seas Fleet in almost full strength, which would both risk major damage to both sides' surface fleets and draw Fiannrian bombardment capability away from the coastline and the xxx River, which would be helpful in moving rapidly along the rail lines best suited for the operation and securing riverine supply into the area. Forces were drawn both from the Army of Sorhaithe and the Grand Army of the East, creating a combined initial force of forty divisions, including three of the five armor divisions, seven of the eleven mechanized and motorized divisions, and two of the four shock divisions (dedicated urban combat units) extant at the time; an additional nineteen divisions including two more mechanized formations would eventually be directed to the province along with reinforcements for the existing units present.

Southern Front
In spite of this, a number of Fiannrian troops during the later stages of the battle were subjected to chemical bombardments, namely with phosgene gas, which Faneria used as a blocking agent cover retreating forces during the battle after serious debate between the ranking officers present. This was the first large-scale deployment of phosgene gas in combat, and while not as effective as hoped, Fiannrian units suffered large numbers of wounded (exacerbated by defects in much of the older gas masks in use) and the counteroffensive near _____ halted entirely until the 1st of September.

Push to the Sea
However, in spite of the use of the entire available chemical stockpile, Fhainnin troops were unable to delay the Fiannrian advance in the north for more than two days in most places, and the xxth Corps was able to entrap the tail end of Fhainnin troops on a large stretch of coastline along the rail route west of Culich. Fiannrian warships successfully bombarded the costal rails in several locations, slowing the exfiltration from Culich; this alone caused three infantry divisions to be destroyed or captured outright while another was effectively reduced to cadre strength.