Operation Jonah

Operation Jonah
Part of the Final War of the Deluge
Royal Marine Corps landing reinforcements on West Seneca, 2 January 2022
Date 24 December 2021 - 26 April 2022 Location Seneca Islands Result League of Nations victory
Belligerents
League of Nations Urcea Alstin	Varshan
Units involved
Royal and Imperial Army Royal Navy Royal Marine Corps United Republic Navy	Seneca Islands Garrison Navy of Varshan
Strength
125,000+ (initial) 300,000+ (March 2022)	130,000+
Casualties and losses
High	High

The Operation Jonah was the Urcean invasion of the Seneca Islands during the Final War of the Deluge. The Seneca Islands, a critical commercial and shipbuilding territory for Varshan, were the only major remaining target to ensure the full naval blockade of Varshan. The Islands, which are strategically located just off the shore of mainland Varshan, also provided allied forces a convenient target to relieve pressure from Varshani operations elsewhere, including the ongoing occupation of Cetsencalia, Quetzenkel front, and other parts of the Final War of the Deluge. The campaign featured the first wartime use of an atomic bomb since the Second Great War.

Background

Through November 2021, allied forces in the Final War of the Deluge - especially Urcea and its Nysdra Sea Treaty Association partners - had been unable to make significant progress against Varshani territory itself. Varshan, on the other hand, had managed to successfully invade Cetsencalia and were making progress in their war with Daxia. Allied planning dictated that a major operation against Varshan was necessary to relieve pressure on other fronts. Operation Jonah was designed in order to take advantage of the allies' clear naval supremacy in the war and was originally envisioned as an amphibious attack against mainland Varshan, which was eventually ruled out due to the objections of the Royal Navy. The strategically valuable Seneca Islands, on the other hand, presented numerous advantages. Varshan would be quick to reinforce the islands due to its proximity to the Varshani coast where the could be easily trapped by allied naval action. Additionally, several new shipbuilding facilities and other commercial ports had been constructed on the islands during the early 2000s as an effort by Varshan to prepare against The Deluge. Consequently, it could be easily reinforced and used as a forward base for further operations against the mainland at a future point in the war. Allied leaders agreed to the Seneca Islands as the target in early November and operational planning began immediately.

Summary of operations

Naval campaign

Main article: Battle of the Seneca Straits

West Seneca invasion

The successful joint naval campaign of the end of December 2021 allowed for an amphibious assault to occur on the Seneca Islands. On the morning of 30 December, elements of the Royal Marine Corps landed on the southwestern tip of West Seneca and established a small beachhead after 72 hours of straight fighting in which the Marines took heavy casualties. Following an attempted naval breakout by what remained of Varshani naval forces in the area, the Royal Marines captured the city of Enuzha'Thaan, which was then the second most populous city on the island and also the second largest port. The capture of the port allowed major Royal and Imperial Army forces to reinforce the Urcean position. Among the port was found the keel of an Occidental-style supercarrier along with evidence that unknown Occidental advisers had been assisting the Varshani navy with construction of a vessel capable of countering the Royal Navy and Urcean advance. The fall of Enuzha'Thaan necessitated a change in the defensive strategy, and on 5 January the Varshani army conceded the southern half of the island and withdrew to the approximate middle of the island, establishing a line of defenses anchored by the village of Ne'Shel to the south and Hazaan to the north. The remaining armored forces were marshaled at the defense line to attempt to penetrate and encircle the advancing Royal and Imperial Army in a counter offensive once they attacked the line.

The Royal and Imperial Army continually advanced to the northeast and broke through the main Varshani defensive line at Ne'Shel, destroying most of the Varshani armored forces remaining on West Seneca on 24 January. The Varshani counter-attack quickly stalled due to the relative outdatedness of its armored forces and lack of reliable aerial or satellite intelligence on the Urcean armored force. Following the destruction of most of its ability to counter-attack, the Varshani forces were divided into independent platoons and used suicide attacks in order to slow the Urcean advance towards the main port city of Zakan Rot. These tactics were successful in delaying, and Urcean forces did not arrive at the outskirts of Zakan Rot until 19 February. A secondary defensive line erected around the city was broken the next day, resulting in street-to-street skirmishes for nearly two weeks. Varshani forces were largely beaten back to the port by 22 February, though independent platoon cells began to fan out through the city the same day requiring a larger engagement of Urcean forces.

Atomic bombing of Zakan Rot

Main article: Atomic bombing of Zakan Rot

With the Royal and Imperial Army spread throughout the city of Zakan Rot engaging independent bands of Varshani forces, several full divisions of Urcean forces were committed within the city limits. On the morning of 24 February, the Varshani forces detonated a 300 kt nuclear bomb at the port, destroying the port and inflicting severe casualties on the civilian population, the Royal and Imperial Army, and the local Varshani forces. Nearly a division and a half (at full strength) of the Royal and Imperial Army was destroyed. In the week following, military efforts shifted towards humanitarian relief for the local population. On 3 March, West Seneca was declared fully secured.

East Seneca invasion

On 25 March 2022, the Royal Marine Corps made initial landfall on East Seneca, experiencing stiff resistance from the remaining Varshani forces in the Seneca theater. Allied intelligence reports from 23 March indicated the entire island was "probably defended by less than a division", creating a favorable environment for a Urcean offensive. Nonetheless, a beachhead was not firmly established until 29 March. On 3 April, Varshani forces across the front began to offer their surrender to the Royal Marine Corps while a large scale mutiny and popular uprising broke out in Varshani controlled territory. The uprising was triggered by the landing of Urcean forces as local residents feared becoming "another Zakan Rot" while many in the deployed Varshani army wanted to avoid a "certain death" fighting the Urceans. The fighting lasted for three days, and on 6 April, the Varshani garrison in Maz'an'taal - the largest city on East Seneca - surrendered to local insurgents. Negotiations began between the insurgents and the Royal Marine Corps on 7 April. The insurgents surrendered a nuclear device that the garrison had embedded within Maz'an'taal for the purpose of destroying the port city as in Zakan Rot. On 22 April, insurgents agreed to surrender the entire island in exchange for a permanent, sizable garrison of the military for the remainder of the war in order to protect against reprisals. The insurgents also sought that all Varshani forces on the island who had mutinied would be released and not charged in association with any war crimes committed by the Varshani regime, which Urcea agreed to. The Royal and Imperial Army entered Maz'an'taal on 24 April, and on the same day Martin St. Clair declared Operation Jonah complete.

Aftermath

The seizure of the Seneca Islands was the final step necessary for allied forces in the Final War of the Deluge to blockade Varshan, effectively ending their ability to send blockade runners to conduct trade abroad. The Seneca Islands naval bases had been a critical part of Varshan's defense strategy in the late 2000s, severely weakening the country's ability to interdict both air and sea-based offensives.

The position of the Seneca Islands immediately off the coast of Varshan allowed functionally uninterrupted raids on the Varshani coasts, especially slave liberation raids as part of Operation Broken Chains.