Cronan Theatre of the Second Great War

The Cronan Theatre of the Second Great War was one of the secondary theatres of combat during the Second Great War. It saw continued fighting of varying intensity across the Southern portion of the continent as well as smaller island raiding actions in the Polynesian Sea, Sea of Orixtal, and Okatian Sea. The war in Crona started later than the outbreak of hostilities in Sarpedon and Levantia, due to the delayed entry of The Cape into the conflict. Following almost 9 years of open, then guerilla, conflict, the Second Great War in Crona ended with the joint Arco-Capetian Armistice of 1943, also known as the Songun Declaration, which ended open hostilities between the two nations. Arcerion and Burgundie fought the Cape in several major land engagements along the Cape Peninsula, as well as significant naval actions throughout the Songun Sea.

Arcerion
Prior to the war, Arcerion had just concluded several years of direct combat operations against Ardmore, during which its Armed Forces were unsuccessful in their attempt to uphold the Ardmori Royal Family and prevent the Kingdom of Ardmore from collapsing. As part of the withdraw, Arcerion helped resettle thousands of Ardmori citizens and was undergoing a significant economic and cultural post-war boom from both the Ardmori intelligentsia that had emigrated, as well as the significant investments from wealthy Ardmori businesspeople who fled the new communist regiment of the Ardmori Cooperative. By 1934, Arcerion was a modern, industrial state with a strong, diversified economy and was considered to be one of the fastest growing nations in Crona.

The Cape
The death of Melvyn Kalma, the Cape's founding father and dictator, in 1922 led to sweeping changes in the young republic. The doctrine of Kalma's ruling party, the Republican Nationalist Party, focused on democratization and modernization following a period of imposed political tutelage. With him gone, a "palace coup" led by the RNP's growing reformist faction displaced Kalma's loyalists, beginning the first multi-party period of the Federacy of the Cape.

Preparations for the promised 1924 elections went poorly - the palace coup, while having purged the party, had failed to purge the Kalma-loyal and still incredibly influential National Revolutionary Army (NRA) and its powerful Information Office, whose acknowledgement of the multi-party period and acceptance of potential non-RNP civilian leadership remained tepid at best.

Four major parties contested the 1924 elections: the Communist Party, the Constitutional Democrats (Kadets), the Lusophone Worker’s Front, the Republican Nationalist Party, and the Republican-derived  Paraguan Faction. The RNP was controversially returned as the majority with a margin of barely one percent - with the months following being permeated with brutal street fighting between Republican, Kadet, Front, and Communist militias. A leaked NRA memorandum revealing coup plans should a non-Republican government be elected led to a rapid stripping of the Army's funding, duties, and power as the reformist RNP desperately attempted to save the new democratic system. Upwards of 200 officers were executed throughout 1924 and 1925, with hundreds more imprisoned.

The 1928 and 1932 elections would return similar results, each precipitated and followed by periods of intense turmoil that frightened off the scant foreign investors secured by the Capetian government in years previous. Throughout, inflation grew at an alarming rate. By 1935, the Cape would begin to default on its industrialization loans, and direct manipulation of the central bank to repay them led to hyperinflation of upwards of 10,000%. Nationalist opposition within the RNP would release an internal memorandum in late 1934 demanding the government seek foreign trade and aid, specifically naming cooperation with Caphiria, under the threat of a coup. Although ideologically opposed, the Capetian government hesitatingly prepared a delegation to travel to Venceia.

Caphirian Affair
The Capetian delegation depart by seaplane in April of 1935, arriving in Caphiria two weeks later after engine trouble forced them to remain in Pelaxia for several days for engine repairs. Upon arriving, the delegation offered to enter into an alliance with Caphiria, from which Caphiria would be free to use Capetian bases and also stage troops in the South of Crona. Strategically, the Cape allows Caphiria to place significant pressure on St. Brendan's Strait, effectively jeopardizing the Western approaches to the Odoneru Ocean and preventing Urcea from receiving a significant amount of trade. In return, the Capetians would receive a bailout amounting to nearly three-quarters of the country's remaining foreign debt. Concurrent to this, Caphiria would send several battalions of troops to the Cape, nominally to rebuild the NRA, but behind closed doors, to balance out the army with a more loyal fighting force as purges and reconstruction continued. Caphiria also agreed, that in return for raw materials to assist its war effort, that it would send the Cape enough weapons and technical experts to both equip several divisions as well as begin local, licensed weapons manufacturing, with the eventual hope it would be able to resell these to the Caphirians to support their own war effort.

Urcean intelligence services however had both intercepted telegrams and letters from the Capetian delegation after their arrival in Venceia, but they had also been able to spy on the Capetians during their brief stop in Pelaxia, learning of these plans, transmitting them back to Urceopolis. Significantly concerned that this would not only widen the scope of the war, but also severely impact the Western Odoneru, the Urcean Consul in Arcerion provided an intelligence docket to the Arcer Prime Minister, informing him of both Caphirian and Capetian schemes to destabilize Crona. Fresh from their loss in the Ardmori Civil War, the Confederate Parliament was hesitant to get involved in what was quickly becoming a world war of industrial scale, and quietly sent the Foreign Secretary to Cape Town to personally deliver a letter of protest over the matter, informing the Cape that any actions that were taken in this manner would be considered a direct threat to the economic sovereignty of Arcerion.

Little happened in the months following diplomatically, but Cahpiria and the Cape secretly signed agreements and moved ahead with their plan. Caphirian soldiers appeared in June of 1934. The complete defanging of the Information Office in the decade past had significantly hampered the Cape's counterintelligence abilities, and despite the best efforts of the Caphirian Intelligence Community, Arcerion was able to access information that indicated the Cape was arming itself and that Caphiria was already staging the submarine tenders and building the facilities necessary to support commerce raiding ships came only sporadically from the Urcean Defense Attache in the New Archduchy. By the summer of 1935 however, it was becoming explicitly clear that The Cape's military was burgeoning and Caphirian ships had already made several port calls into the port of Jauhanesar, ferrying advisors, equipment, and intelligence. On 14 November 1935, a Caphirian submarine that was based out of the newly constructed submarine pens in the Eastern Capetian Peninsula sighted what it assessed as a cargo freighter bound Eastward for Levantia. Based on radio communications that Caphiria had intercepted from the vessel, it was able to ascertain it was indeed an Arcer-flagged vessel, although it was confirmed to be carrying both steel products such as road wheels for tanks, as well as some chemical compounds required to manufacture ammunition. It torpedoed the vessel, the SS Finch, which was lost with all hands and sunk quickly due to its explosive and heavy cargo. Arcerion did not learn of its sinking until two weeks later when the company lodged a formal protest after sailors from a Burgoignesc vessel chartered out of Equatorial Ostiecia found flotsam belonging to the Finch. Enraged, the Arcer government summoned the Caphirian Consul in the New Archduchy to answer for the ship's sinking and the loss of two dozen crew. The Arcer government acknowledged it was carrying weapons and other materiel required for the Levantian war effort, but it reminded Caphiria that Arcerion was both neutral and the ship was privately owned and operated. Embattled, the Caphirian Consul conedd it was unfortunate but that the vessel was a legitimate military target. Arceiron expelled the Consul via rail, however his expulsion was leaked in the Kinnaird Financial Times, and he required escort from members of the Royal Arcerion Constabulary to avoid being assailed on his exit. The Arcer government also sent telegrams and diplomatic letters to the Capetian government, who were now emboldened with several divisions and a fledgling armed forces, which rebuked the claims as 'Capitalist Slander,' insisting Arcerion had made itself a combatant by supporting Urcea and its allies.

Arcerion, believing that Caphiria was biding its time until it could finally close off the Songun Straits and use The Cape as its Cronan base of operations, sent a telegram to the Urcean Defense Attache in the New Archduchy, requesting a diplomatic presence in Arcerion with requisite defense officials to begin secret plans for "joint defense of economic and sovereign interests."

Early War (1935-1938)
The early phases of the war little resembled the violent clashes of armies between Levantia and Sarpedon. Arcerion submitted a formal declaration to the Cape on Christmas Day, 1935 that the two countries were now to be diplomatically disconnected and Arcerion considered there to be an open state of hostilities between the Cape and Arcerion due to the Caphirian Affair and insistence of Capetian leadership on hosting Caphirian soldiers, sailors, and air crew.

Arcer Response
The Confederate Parliament was initially hesitant to be dragged into another war not even half a decade after the first. Hawkish Members of Parliament who called for entering the war on the side of Urcea and Burgundie were often shouted down, reminded of the ills of war and told that Crona was thus far untouched by the horrors of the conflict. But after the Caphirian Affair and the sinking of the SS Finch, public opinion shifted wildly against Caphiria and its allies, specifically new communist Capetian government officials. Arcerion's long held grudge against the Cape for its control of the Songun Straits meant that it now had reasonable casus belli to fight its Southern neighbour. Preparations for the war began immediately. Little concerned about Northern neighbours such as Kelekona and Tiechaxha, Arcer forces moved to the southern governorate of Moorden, and began training heavily for coastal defense against what could be a possible invasion. The Arcer Air Force and Nava Service began shifting major assets to Chester-on-Moore and the Southern coastline of the nation, protecting its access to the Songun. Of note was the Royal Arcerion Submarine Service, which began patrolling and foraying further into the Songun Sea conducting reconnaisance, intelligence gathering, and infiltration of Capetian waters in preparation for a larger campaign. Arcerion also invited significant staffs of Urcean and Burgoignesc defense attaches, arriving through the New Archduchy and travelling to Kurst across the nation via the National Railway Service. The most important of these were Burgundian officials who helped to coordinate Operation Flyhook, one of the major long-term combat operations against the Capetian Navy, a joint action by Arcer and Burgoignesc ships.

One of the most critical components to the early Arcer war effort was preparing the nation economically for what lay ahead. Thankfully, a strong national railway system, combined with the New Archduchy being part of Urcea's sphere of influence meant that Arcers would not go hungry and materiel to support their Levantine allies could continue to flow. On the homefront, Arcer industry began retooling for the war effort. manufacturers of circuitry and electronics began to manufacture radios and other important electronics for the war effort whilst larger shipyards and automotive manufacturers built new vessels and armaments for the sea and land forces. The benefit of a strong domestic aircraft industry also assisted Arcerion as they were able to rely on this to generate much of their early war airlift and transport capabilities to supplement their land forces. Where Arcerion truly lacked was heavy and strategic bombers, as most of their forces were oriented to support the infantry and armoured troops with close air support or fight screens. Development of a native heavy bomber was slow progress, and Urcean blueprints and designs were licensed with their Levantine counterparts sending officials to Arcerion to help redesign factories to accommodate the new needs of their ally.

Paulastra, while ambivalent, shared a significant land border with both Arcerion and the Cape. With all things being equal, Arcerion's economy and shared interest in Washakara was likely to have them leaning in the favour of the Confederates in Arcerion. To the East and South, St. Brendan's Strait and the Polynesian Sea represented two large maritime areas of operation that the Capetian navy was fundamentally underequipped and resource to effectively fight in, as a fledgling green water navy with outdated First Great War vessels. Lastly, in the Songun, the Royal Arcerion Naval Service and the other elements of the Arcer Armed Forces had distinct advantages - a limited frontage along the southern edge of Moorden Governorate, as well as a safe area to base ships out of in the Malentine Basin. Arcerion also could rely on their economic ties with Paulastra to keep the Kingdom out of the war, and the rail lines and ports of the New Archduchy to keep the Odoneru sea lines of communication to Levantia open.

Capetian response
The outbreak of hostilities in the Cape was met with political turmoil and violence. The first emergency session of the Supreme National Assembly ended in a fistfight between reformist Republican, opposition Republican, democratic, communist, and fascist deputies. With the continued defanging of the NRA still underway before the planned 1936 elections, the Army found itself ill-prepared for the coming conflict as its leadership sparred over whether or not to lead a coup to take over and re-arm the country. A succession of prime executives would resign, leaving the country with no solid leadership as violence continued to consume the streets, with ethnic Arcers lynched in a series of hate crimes by both Republican and fascist paramilitaries. Although strategic planning focusing on protecting the Northern Islands was pushed by successive governments, the NRA instead began preparations and fortifications for a defence of the mainland and an embattled land war. With Capetian industry in the same way it was left in 1922 and hyperinflation still rampant, economic planning proved fruitless in such a short period of time.

Caphiria would become incensed at the Arcer declaration, viewing it as a hostility towards its interests in the Cape. Caphirian naval command also grew concerned as closing St. Brendan's Strait from Urcean and Levantine forces was a critical component in their strategy to choke off the Odoneru.

The Ænglic Alliance
Main Article: Alstin in the Second Great War

The Untied Republic of Alstin, to the West, was another Ængle nation and one of the original colonisers of South Crona. Despite being geographically removed from the Songun Sea and Southeastern Cronan Peninsula, they remained close ties to Arcerion and their mutual beneficial alliance was a historic one based off of caretaker policies of the Indigenous peoples and lands at the time. Alsitn already had major concerns about unrestricted Caphirian submarine activity. The United Republic had secretly sent Defense Attaches to Kurst to begin coordinating closely with their future ally, and plans for both joint defense and mutual spheres of influence, which would last well into the 21st Century, were disucssed.

Alstinian entry into the war would mark another challenge for Capetian Forces, as they now had to deal with a much larger and more experienced naval force in the Sea of Orixtal, Ocean of Cathay, and Polynesian completely interdicting their trade and ability to sustain their war effort with foreign support.

Alstin's defense staff in Arcerion eventually formed a joint command, based out of Kurst, known as Cronan Joint Allied Staff and Headquarters (CJASH), which evolved throughout the course of the war to accommodate the rapidly changing face of conflict in the South Cronan area of operations.

"The Quiet Front"
The start of the war for both sides was characterized by the Kinnaird Financial Times as "A Quiet Front," or as the defense staff at CJASH considered it, "a sleepy period." All three committed nations to the war effort spent time training forces, producing new equipment, ammunition, and units to be used in upcoming offensives. While some dogfights and aircraft engaged eachother over the Songun Sea, action was generally limited to Arcer submarines destroying Capetian shipping via torpedoes or mine warfare. This trend continued into the new year, with the Confederate Parliament summoning the Arcer General Staff to lay out a campaign plan for 1936. Letters from Urcean diplomats stressed the need to fully reopen St. Brendan's strait so as to resume trade from the WesternOdoneru, and as a supporting ally to the major power fighting, the Confederate Parliament undertook this by issuing the General Staff a memorandum to present options on how to end the Caphirian and Capetian interdiction of trade. The General Staff consulted with their Alstinian allies, who concluded that while they had sufficient naval power to exert influence over the area and prevent both the Polynesian Sea and St. Brendan's Strait from being controlled by the Caphirian Navy, but they could not do so consistently due to a lack of permanent basing facilities that even Burgoignesc could not fully change. Concurrent to this, the Cape could always shift to an aerial method of interdicting ships, or submarine warfare from their own shores, meaning the only true option was to destroy the port facilities that the Cape and Caphiria operated from on the Cape's Eastern shores. The General Staff drew up plans for a bold operation to invade the Cape and its Songun islands, using almost the entirety of the Arcer Army. It also would require a significant contribution from the Paulastran, who would have to drive South and invade the Cape. The Operation, codenamed Lightfoot, would be the largest military and combined arms action undertaken by Arcerion to that point. Preparations began by forming an Airborne Division and training remaining Arcer troops for seaborne landings. Supply ships and the naval power required to sealift, escort, and support ground forces as they mvoed inland and attempted to seize ports would continue to be marshalled with merchant mariners called to service and the Confederate Parliament nationalizing several Arco businesses in the maritime trade and cwrgo shipping industry to acquire the tonnage required for such an operation.

Southwestern Peninsular Campaign
Alstin indicated to the CJASH that it was prepared to conduct landings on mainland Crona, to both support the war industry with the natural resources from the small, despotic Indigenous countries but also to provide itself with additional basing as its fleet increased in size to a wartime footing. This coincided with increased naval presence and the Alstinian naval action against the Caphirian Navy's Solemia Squadron, which such the destruction of much of the Imperial tonnage for relatively few Alstinian losses. This was part of the Alstinian campaign plan of both supporting their Arcer allies as they prepared for a major land engagement, while also trying to stymy the flow of resources from Varshan and Central Crona to Sarpedon's war effort.

Operation Lightfoot
Main article: Operation Lightfoot

In June of 1936, Arcerion had finished preparations for the invasion of the Cape and sent an Army Corps to land in the Cape and the Northern Islands, to both destroy their military infrastructure, and with the eventual goal of seizing Cape Town and the Southern ports from which the majority of the National Revolutionary Navy had been operating. The operation was earmarked by the largest air landing of paratroopers in the war, with three concurrent naval landings, two on the Cronan mainland and one on the Northern Islands. The early phases of the operation were an unmitigated success. Outnumbered Capetian conscripts began to shatter and break, and drives inland saw great success for Arcer forces. Capetian commanders achieved mixed successes with counterattacks and defensives, with those that had survived the purges or had Caphirian training and support often providing stiff resistance against Arcer troops, inflicting heavy losses before they were forced to retreat. However, the majority of post-purge Capetian officers, chosen for political reliability and loyalty, sent waves of troops into fruitless attacks or sited poor defensive positions allowing numerically inferior Arcer soldiers to destroy them.

As the summer ended and turned to fall in 1936, Arcer troops had established significant beachheads and consolidated their gains on the Capetian mainland, having fully seized both Northern Islands, which now served as an ideal staging point and base of operations to support the main offensives. To the North, Paulastra was driving its troops South, having been convinced to join the war effort by Urcean promises of additional territory and economic cooperation to support the Paulastran economy. Its forces split on two fronts, the Northern Front and the Peninsular Front, and its ships aggrieved by Burgoignesc, Alstinian, and Arcer fleets at sea, the situation for the Cape was bleak, and cries for assistance to Caphiria were unheeded as even the Caphirians were unable to extricate themselves fully across St. Brendan's Strait due to the growing number of Arco submarines and allied warships patrolling there.

Via the Ceylonian consulate, the Cape received diplomatic notice from Arcerion, supported by the navies of Burgundie and Alstin, that the invasion would continue until the Cape capitulated, expelled all Caphirian forces from its land, and submitted to an occupation by Urcean and allied forces for the duration of the war.

Formation of the National Reclamation Government
Arcer terms were accepted by the government, despite no consultation outside of the Cabinet or with the Supreme National Assembly.

As the news broke across the Cape Town, the National Revolutionary Army finally seized power in a coup d'etat. Heavy street fighting broke out throughout the city as the NRA committed the 2nd Guards Army from the front.

...more purges, dictatorship, and formation of a wartime government.

As the initial invasion slowly ground to a halt due to harsh weather conditions in the late fall and winter months. Bitter fighting in the central highlands of the Cape, as well as significant urban combat in the city of XYZ characterized much of the late phases of Operation Lightfoot. The Cape by now had burned through much of their Caphirian-trained soldiers, which had been consistently thrown as shock troops to absorb Arcer offensives and blunt their advances, at great losses. Where they were unavailable, regular Arco formations had made gains and slowly enveloped these Capetian units, forcing their withdrawal to prevent being surrounded and cutoff from support and destroyed. Irregular, conscript, or poorly trained Capetian forces would melt away with successive actions by the Arcerion Parachute Regiment, which despite egregious losses early in the campaign, had received some reinforcement and was forcibly keeping Caphirian and Capetian troops on the back foot as they pushed towards Cape Town. the Confederate Parliament again submitted a memorandum to the Arcer General Staff on Christmas Eve, 1936 calling for the campaign plan for 1937, as soldiers in the Cape settled in for a lull in the fighting.

Operation Severance
rearmament and reinforcement

paulastran invasion stalled in mountains

Drive psot-lightfoot consolidation drive into the Capetian heartland

january 1937 - fall 1937

stalemate by end of 1937

Mid War (1938-1940)
More fighting in Sarpedon and Crona in 1938. Capetian forces are making gains by this point (?). Faneria reaches its greatest point of advance (?) before newly available R&IA troops and Urcean military as well as improved Fiannrian army jointly push back Fanerians and surround their breakthrough. General fighting everywhere.

lightfoot done by 1938, arco withdrawal from mainland (occupies islands until end war)

1939 1940 commando raids along the coast of the cape to keep them down and out

Late War (1941-1943)
submarine actions and convoy running

continued commando raids (solemia islands, lotoa, escal, coribus)

End of Hostilities and Armistice
full arco withdrawal

prevention of the cape from being major combatant or supporting caphiria

strengthened arco-burg relationship, arco-alstinian relationship, and burg-alstinian relationship

Alstin acquired territorial possessions in the Orixtal, Polynesian, and Cathay

---Existing Lore---

During the Second Great War Acer submarines saw extensive action against The Capetian Navy, operating in the Songun Sea and the Polynesian Sea. This was part of the larger Arcer naval mission to deny the Capetian Navy freedom of navigation and freedom of movement in the Songun sea, as well as conduct sea lane denial and commercial raiding to prevent the Cape from receiving the necessary materials and supplies it required to sustain its own war effort. Arcer submarines achieved the most success, as the Arcer surface fleet and Capetian Navy's capital ships never engaged directly in a major battle, the largest being a few smaller flotilla-sized actions between groups of escort ships that happened to make chance contact. Submarines operated under the umbrella mission of Operation Forefront, however under the command of Rear Admiral Lawrence Arthur Coxley, who was acting as Commander, Submarine Force, the Arcer Subsurface fleet operated under Operation Flyhook, which was the sea lane denial, commerce raiding, and minelaying conducted by the submarine force at this time.

Overall, Arcer submarines achieved great effect, sinking dozens of Capetian, Caphirian, and Daxian-flagged merchantmen, as well as a number of smaller Capetian warships of corvette and frigate-size. Moderate damage was done to Capetian major capital ships, although none were sunk, just forced into shipyards for repairs. During the war, four Arcer submarines were damaged by enemy fire or anti-submarine warfare, and an additional two were lost. His Majesty's Arcer Submarine Superior, was destroyed by enemy surface vessels, likely due to depth charges and being unable to surface in 1951. HMAS Typhoon was lost with all hands during an emergency dive rehearsal as part of crew training in the Malentine Sea, where it sunk to 300 meters and was destroyed. The legacy of the war continues to influence modern Arcer submarine doctrine. An emphasis on torpedo and mine warfare are consistently emphasized as the most important aspects of the Service's capabilities, and while it maintains the ability to launch cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles, these are considered of secondary nature.