Final War of the Deluge

The Final War of the Deluge, also known as the Varshan-Algoquona War, was a major military conflict fought in Crona between a coalition of Occidental, Audonian, and Cronan nations on one side and a coalition of primarily indigenous Cronan states on other, primarily Varshan. It has been described as "the largest conflict since the Second Great War" and involves most major and regional powers in Crona.

Nomenclature
The most commonly accepted name of the conflict, "Final War of the Deluge" was adopted by the Levantine Times Union once Varshan entered the war against Urcea and Alstin in early 2021. The war had several names in Levantia including "Second Algoquonan War", "Varshan War", "Great Cronan War", before media and academic institutions adopted the "Final War" name towards the end of 2021.

In Veltorine histories and media, the conflict is called the "Second Second Great War".

Invasion of Cetsencalia and war with Varshan
The Invasion of Cetsencalia was the Varshani invasion of Cetsencalia during the Final War of the Deluge. Launched after the Algoquonan failure in the Tepetlcali Campaign, Varshan sought to relieve pressure on Algoquona and eject the Royal and Imperial Army from the Varshani border. The invasion happened concurrently with the Invasion of Quetzenkel. The Varshani forces invaded with more than a million and a half men, overwhelming the initial defenses of Cetsencalia; Urcean and Veltorine defenders reached only about a half a million at the peak of defensive operations. During the fighting, about 44,000 allied soldiers were killed with a larger number captured. Varshani nuclear strike capabilities were neutralized at this initial stage of the war by Operation Overthrow, a joint Kiro-Yonderre operation. The Varshani offensive focused on a thrust up the central plains of Cetsencalia and intended on cutting the Urcean sphere on the south side of the Nysdra Sea in two, with small portions of the country and adjoining Quetzenkel to the east and the peninsula of the Northern Approaches to the west.

Following nearly a half a year of fighting, Varshani forces captured the capital city of Cetsencalia, New Constanz, and induced the Principality's nominal capitulation in September of 2021. After the end of the campaign, Varshan pulled nearly half of its forces back to focus on the ongoing Corummese invasion. The resulting Cetsencalia front was fought to a stalemate for the remainder of 2021. As a result of the capitulation of the Principality's government, the Veltorine Popular Defense Committee took up the cause of Veltorine resistance and pledged to continue fighting alongside NSTA forces. The remaining territories of former Cetsencalia under Urcean control were reorganized as the Veltorine Territories. The defeat was the Royal and Imperial Army's highest profile defeat since the Second Great War.

Following the beginning of the invasion, a "Phony War" broke out in Algoquona as Urcea began a rapid withdrawal of its forces to face Varshan, while Algoquona could not mobilize sufficient forces to push the Urcean advances back.

Operation Broken Chains
Operation Broken Chains was a series of operations launched by Urcea's Royal Marine Corps in Varshan in 2022-23. The operation itself consisted of a number of raids against Varshan which began on March 12 2022. The Operation is intended to liberate those held captive in in Varshan's western region, to disrupt Varshan's labor supply, and to make contact with local underground resistance elements.

The initial and most prominent action of Broken Chains occurred in the early morning hours of March 12 2022. Infiltration units, general marine cohorts, and local specialists of the Royal Marine Corps departed West Seneca aboard the HMCMS Southern Kingdom for the western coast of Varshan adjacent to West Seneca. Infiltration teams landed ahead of the main forces throughout the region in order to secure a beachhead, after which time they advanced far inland to make contact with the local underground slave movement. Following the establishment of contact, intelligence and supplies were exchanged by the Royal Marine Corps. Infiltration units regrouped five miles inland and were joined by two cohorts of marines outside the city of Dasta-Garaz, in the outskirts of which was a major slave trade camp. At 3 AM on March 12, Royal Marine Corps forces assaulted the camp and defeated the guards there, freeing nearly 500 slaves. The Marines successfully extricated themselves and the slaves to the coast over the next three hours, where landing craft awaited them. Six marines were killed and twelve wounded during the raid, and 432 slaves were freed and removed to West Seneca. Many of the slaves were of Occidental origin and were captured during the Invasion of Cetsencalia.

Among those rescued in this raid was Marcel Dalca, Cartadanian Ambassador to Varshan. Varshan had claimed Dalca was killed in an embassy riot in June of 2021.

Four Neighbors
The Four Neighbors Campaign was the Nysdra Sea Treaty Association invasion of southern Algoquona during the Final War of the Deluge. The campaign was designed to liberate the four tribal nations directly neighboring New Harren - the Honeoye, Canandaguia, Saranac, and Gowandis peoples - from the rule of Algoquona. The campaign was the first operation of the Royal and Confederate Army, which was formed with the express intent of prosecuting the campaign as Urcea and NSTA committed its primary forces in the war against Varshan both in the Invasion of Cetsencalia and the Quetzenkel front. The campaign followed the Tepetlcali campaign and destruction of the primary armed forces of Algoquona, and was primarily waged against Algosh ethnic militias organized as the "Hierarchical Corps of National Defense". Although the campaign began on December 15 2021, most of the early fighting of the campaign were skirmishes in order to test the organization and capability of the Algosh enemy.

On January 2nd, the Royal and Confederate Army crossed the border and defeated entrenched groups of militia defending approaches to the Honeoye city of Cohocton. Unlike most other battles in the Final War of the Deluge, the initial battles of the Campaign were largely unsupported infantry battles due the lack of equipment for the Royal and Confederate Army early in the campaign. Only Levantine units had significant armored and artillery capabilities, and these were held in reserve. The initial victories allowed the Royal and Confederate Army to begin a battle for Cohocton itself. Street-to-street broke out, and the Royal and Confederate Army managed to secure the city following a week of fighting and with the support of local resistance fighters. On the morning of the 11th, the Algoquonan garrison was ejected from the city and "liberated units" of Honeoye forces of the Royal and Confederate Army paraded through the city, greeted by their fellow countrymen enthusiastically. Following the loss of the city, Algoquona-aligned forces conceded much of Honeoye territory and retreated to defensive positions in the far north of the Four Neighbors area.

Following the victorious effort to take Cohocton, the Royal and Confederate Army divided its forces into five primary components. The primary component was the "Forward Component", comprised mostly of Confederal tribal infantry units and accompanied by most of the armor and artillery the Army had from Levantine units. The "Security Component" was comprised of typically "Liberated units" with some Levantine units, primarily for the purpose of defending Cohocton and garrisoning liberated territory. The "Frontier Component" was comprised largely of Levantine and tribal units for the purpose of securing additional territory, spreading out as far as possible while avoiding battles beyond the skirmish level. The "Scout Component" was made up entirely of Levantine units and featured both armored and mechanized infantry, and was responsible for against Algoquonan forces as well as the destruction of isolated Algoquonan garrisons discovered by the Frontier Component. The final portion was the "Training Component", responsible for evaluating and retraining tribal and liberated units after the Battle of Cohocton as well as providing for the training and readiness of new recruits gathered from volunteers in Cohocton. The Training Component was comprised of roughly an equal number of all three parts of the Royal and Confederate Army.

The decision to split the Army was extremely controversial both within the Levantine press and among the tribal members of New Harren, both of whom sought quick and decisive action to defeat Algoquona. Guillaume d'Agostino, commander of the Royal and Confederate Army, believed that the Army was not yet in a posiiton to launch a decisive breakthrough, and doing so prematurely might lead in the fracturing of the Army due to the still-considerable defense the Algoquonans were capable of. Criticism also focused on the extremely sluggish pace of the campaign, given that the Royal and Imperial Army managed to functionally destroy the entire Algoquonan regular army over the course of approximately a month during the Tepetlcali Campaign. In an interview with the Levantine Times Union, d'Agostino famously quipped that his critics "wanted Royal and Imperial Army results on an Algoquonan time table", referring to the lack of preparation his forces still had.

On April 13th, the bulk of the northward advancing "Forward Component" of the Royal and Confederate Army in addition to elements sent by both the Training and Scout Components encountered the majority of remaining Algoquona-aligned militias in the Four Neighbors area infront of the village of Harlaouga, a Gowandis settlement. In what analysts called the "first, modern, combined arms battle of the campaign", tribal unit infantry routed the militia forces following an advance by Levantine armor (primarily SAV-11 tanks) and barrage by artillery. The victory at Harlaouga concluded the campaign by removing all Algoquona-aligned militia forces from the territory of the Four Neighbors. The battle also proved that the Royal and Confederate Army could fight a modern-style war, provided they had the equipment. The victory lead to further investment in the force by Urcea.

One month after the victory at Harlaouga, on May 12 2022, the four neighbors declared independence from Algoquona, establishing the Nysdra Provisional Republic. The Army would take up a defensive posture in south-central Algoquona in preparation for a later push on the Algosh heartland. During the campaign, the Royal and Confederate Army, which began the campaign with around 43,000 personnel, took moderately high casualties, with 2,582 killed and 8,401 wounded. The opposing force, estimated by Urcean intelligence to have been around 50,000 from the start of the campaign, took higher casualties, though precise figures were not available to Occidental intelligence services.

Chenango Campaign
Concurrently with the beginning of the Anzo Campaign, policymakers in Urcea sought the end of all hostilities in Crona. Accordingly, at the end of April 2024, the Royal and Confederate Army and Royal Air Force began a major joint offensive northeast out of the Nysdra Provisional Republic with the intention of securing the eastern peninsula of Algoquona, its major remaining link to the sea. By May 10th, advance units were skirmishing with Algoquonan militia, which gave way to a major aerial bombardment campaign of the few entrenched Algosh positions within the territory of the Great Chenango people. The Royal and Confederate Army followed with an advance of what limited armored forces it had, occupying most of the Great Chenango territory by May 20th, or roughly concurrent to the Fall of Anzo. Operations were temporarily halted in order to allow forces from the Royal and Imperial Army to redeploy to Algoquona to bolster local efforts, the first deployment of the regular Urcean army to Algoquona in three years.

With the territory of the Great Chenango secure, allied forces next focused on entirely cutting off the eastern peninsula. On May 28th, a combined force of Nysdra-New Yustonese/Urcean forces pushed north out of the territory of the Great Chenango into territory of the Algosh people themselves in a "race to the sea". Concurrently, Royal and Imperial Army forces - specifically, Veltorine Volunteer divisions - were redeployed from Varshan to Pachaug at the tip of the peninsula and were joined by elements of the Royal Marines who had previously pacified the island of Atavia. On June 1st, this combined force began to push southwest out of Pachaug in order to secure the peninsula as a whole, which had largely been cut off from the Algosh heartlands. During this campaign the combined force faced little resistance as most Algosh militias had already fled west.

On June 30th, with the entire eastern peninsula captured and Algosh access to the sea cut off, the three peoples of the peninsula - the Great and Little Chenango as well as the Island Honeoye formally declared their independence from Algoquona, establishing the Chenango Confederacy on a provisional basis. The Confederacy later adopted a constitution and became a full member of the Nysdra Sea Treaty Association.

Insurgent efforts
During the entire liberation of Cetsencalia, multiple insurgent groups waged a campaign against occupying Varshani forces, disrupting their supply lines and tying down large numbers of forces. The insurgent groups were of varied loyalty, with a majority belonging to the Veltorine Popular Defense Committee and a minority belonging to the Veltorine government-in-exile among other groups. These efforts successfully slowed the pace on which Varshani troops could move and retreat from the country, contributing to their encirclement during Operation Gideon.

Western coast campaign and highlands
The Royal and Imperial Army, now fighting on Varshani territory for one of the first times during the conflict, viewed an offensive on Anzo as inevitable in order to win the war. In order to prepare for this eventuality, Martin St. Clair devised a multiple-pronged offensive across the country that would secure all the flanks for a final approach to the Varshani capital city and eliminate any possible logistical or manpower support for the regime from the rest of the country. Following the destruction of the Xiquipilli of Continental Liberation in Cetsencalia in late 2022, these offensives were to take place in 2023 over the course of three major offensives which would secure the western coast of the country, the middle highland "ridge", and the southwestern coast, which would be part of a separate offensive called Operation Alterator.