Royal and Confederate Army (New Harren)
 | This article is a work-in-progress because it is incomplete and pending further input from an author. Note: The contents of this article are not considered canonical and may be inaccurate. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. |
| Royal and Confederate Army | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 2021 |
| Country |  New Harren |
| Type | Army |
| Role | Land warfare |
| Size | 42,501 regular personnel (2022) |
| Patron | Riordan VIII |
| Motto(s) | Pax Quaeritur Bello |
| Website | |
| Commanders | |
| Prafáti Princeps Glássariaei |  Guillaume d'Agostino |
The Royal and Confederate Army is the principal land warfare force of New Harren. It was previously comprised of a mixture of autonomous tribal and confederate forces as well as volunteer forces from both within the Kingdom and from Levantia. In 2027, the Royal and Confederate Army was reorganized for post-Final War of the Deluge service.
While serving as a standard military branch and border patrol force during peacetime, the Royal and Confederate Army is intended during wartime to functionally serve as a corps sized formation attached to the larger Royal and Imperial Army when fully mobilized. Prior to full mobilization, the Royal and Confederate Army is designed to serve as a defensive force to allow time for the Royal and Imperial Army to be deployed to Cusinaut.
History
Origins
The Royal and Confederate Army was formed during the early stage of the Final War of the Deluge as a wartime necessity. Prior to the conflict, New Harren had no official armed forces and was under the protection of the Armed Forces of the Apostolic Kingdom of Urcea, meaning that the Royal and Imperial Army was responsible for defending the borders of the Kingdom and prosecuting war against its enemies as necessary. As the conflict shifted from a defensive war with Algoquona to a general war with Varshan with the Invasion of Cetsencalia, the Royal and Imperial Army needed to rapidly redeploy from Cusinaut to Cetsencalia and Quetzenkel, leaving very few spare units to continue the conflict with Algoquona even on a defensive posture. Accordingly, an agreement was reached with the constituent tribes of New Harren for them to provide their tribal militias for a new standing army that they would maintain influence within. With the constituent tribes providing a majority of the manpower, later supplemented by volunteers from the Rectory of New Harren and from abroad, an officer corps was created using LUDC officers on global assignment, particularly from Yonderre and the Deric States, as neither were involved in the war with Varshan. Guillaume d'Agostino, a native of Yonderre, was given the rank of Prafáti Princeps Glássariaei (equivalent to commandant) and placed in command of the Army.
Invasion of Algoquona
Four Neighbors Campaign
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 urban warfare 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 reconaissance-in-force 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.
Post-war reorganization
Following the end of the Final War of the Deluge, many of the tribal militias activated for wartime service went home, and consequently the major source of the Army's manpower - confederated units - effectively ceased to exist with the beginning of the Electorsbourg peace talks. Regardless, Guillaume d'Agostino maintained many of its volunteer forces and liberated units in good order, implementing new training regimens and unit organization following the war. Many of the liberated units would remain with the army; having previously been Algosh conscripts from impoverished areas of the Four Neighbors, most of them had gained considerable experience and became the professional core of the Army along with some volunteers from the Rectory of New Harren. The wartime structure continued through late 2026, when questions about the Army's future came into doubt. At the end of the year, d'Agostino entered into negotiations with the constituent nations of the Kingdom to establish a new organizational structure for the Army which would be centered around a professional volunteer core with rotating, rationalized adaptations of tribal militia forces. These negotiations succeeded and the new organizational system entered force in mid-2027, and with it the Army received additional funding from the government of New Harren as well as additional equipment from recently decommissioned units of the Armed Forces of the Apostolic Kingdom of Urcea, allowing for new training and better equipped professional units.
Organization
The Royal and Confederate Army was initially arranged on an ad hoc basis for use during the Final War of the Deluge, and accordingly most of its structure was intended to be an officially sanctioned coalition of native forces. With support of the government of New Harren and tribal leadership, Guillaume d'Agostino implemented a major structural reform to the Army in 2027.
Initial
During the Final War of the Deluge, the Royal and Confederate Army was organized into regiment sized groupings called "units". Unlike conventionally organized militaries, units within the Royal and Confederate Army maintained a degree of autonomy owing to the confederated nature of the Army. There were three sources for the "units" within the Royal and Confederate Army, typically called "Levantine", "Confederate", and "Liberated". These units were formed into different brigade and division level groupings under the command of Levantine volunteer officers, most especially from Yonderre.
Levantine and volunteer units
Levantine units were traditionally organized units within the Royal and Confederate Army, being fully subordinated to the chain of command. These units were comprised of individuals from the Rectory of New Harren proper regardless of ethnic origin as well as volunteers from Levantia and other Nysdra Sea Treaty Association states. Many of those enlisted within the Levantine units during the Final War of the Deluge were veterans of the Royal and Imperial Army settled within New Harren; a survey from November 2021 indicates nearly 40% of the enlisted men of the units fought in the War of the Northern Confederation.
The non-commissioned officers within the Levantine units were typically New Harren resident veterans or non-Urcean Levantines, with Deric NCOs being the most common.
Confederate tribal units
Confederate or "tribal" units were comprised of local militias and tribal defense forces of the three allied peoples, free cities, and free tribes of New Harren. These units maintained their own native political command structure and commanders and were mostly autonomous within the Army, though they were compelled broadly to operate within the overall strategic direction of the Army. Local commanders of these units were given Levantine attaches both for advice and coordination purposes, with most attaches being Yonderian officers.
Confederate units made up the majority of the Royal and Confederate Army. In November 2021, nearly 30,000 of the 42,501 listed personnel of the Army were members of Confederate units.
Liberated units
"Liberated" units were comprised of volunteer forces from members of the Four Neighbors prisoners of war captured from the Tepetlcali Campaign or who otherwise defected and joined the Royal and Confederate Army. Though liberated units were divided into the four nations of its members, its command structure was varied. Some groupings follow a traditional command structure with Levantine officers and non-commissioned officers where native officers do not exist, while other units follow local political command like Confederate units did. The Liberated units were the smallest of the three unit types within the Royal and Confederate Army. With the end of the Final War of the Deluge, many Confederate and Levantine volunteers returned home, and liberated soldiers began to take up an increasing share of the regular army.
Post-war
The post-2027 reforms initiated by Guillaume d'Agostino implemented new organizational units and a standing central core part of the Royal and Confederate Army. The new organization not only reflected the need for the Royal and Confederate Army to exist as a going concern, but also reflected new political realities in New Harren with the addition of four new constituent nations of the Kingdom and need to dissolve the liberated units. The newly organized Royal and Confederate Army would retain three types of units; "standing" divisions, "kin-on-service" divisions, and "skeleton" divisions.
As was the case during wartime, the vast majority of officers of the Royal and Confederate Army are officers of Levantine Union members who are serving a tour abroad with the Royal and Confederate Army via the Foreign Services Element Program. The Royal and Confederate Army has been gradually transitioning its non-commissioned officer positions to residents of the Kingdom and away from foreign volunteers.
Standing divisions
The standing divisions of the Royal and Confederate Army are traditionally organized military units made up of paid volunteers serving a specific term of service with the Army. Any resident of the Kingdom may enlist. Given its traditional organization, all units are fully integrated without consideration of national origin, tribal background, or other like considerations. The standing divisions, which are a full-time military force, form the core of the Royal and Confederate Army, and its units are the best trained and best equipped relative to the other two types of units. Demographically, the standing divisions are primarily made up of volunteers from the Rectory of New Harren as well as a significant number of soldiers who were formerly part of the "liberated units", whose number have increasingly taken up professional military service. Only a small number of volunteers come from the confederates tribes or peoples of the Kingdom.
Kin-on-service
Kin-on-service units are a type of rotating national guard service integrated within the Royal and Confederate Army. Similar to some national guards, these units are comprised of soldiers who serve mandatory one year terms within the military. Unlike other militaries, however, the terms are served by battalion-sized groups of men from the confederated nations of New Harren, serving their term together. Accordingly, kin-on-service divisions are units where battalions are rotating in and out on a yearly basis. Unlike the confederate divisions of the war and skeleton divisions of the post-war Army, battalion commanders and up are Army officers rather than local national commanders. Below the battalion level, leaders are elected within the particular units.
Skeleton divisions
The so-called "skeleton divisions" of the Royal and Confederate Army are formations which primarily consist only of Levantine Union officers in nominal formations with little or no enlisted personnel, partly modeled on the ten skeletonized divisions of the Yonderian Defence Force as well as the State Guard of the Unnuaq Mission State. These divisions were created on the "Defensive Preparedness Principle" in order to have organization in place during wartime wherein, similar to the wartime confederate units, brigade level groupings of tribal militias from the confederate nations can be integrated within a hierarchy. Similar to the confederate units, many officers would serve as attaches to native commanders at the brigade level and below. The degree of autonomy afforded to native commanders during envisioned wartime is significantly reduced compared to the confederate units, and most of the skeleton divisions have specific agreements with each confederate nation as to which will contribute forces to which division.
Personnel
Recruitment and commission
Commissions and officers
Commissions for the Royal and Confederate Army corps are granted through the Office of the Governor-General of New Harren and are nominally based on merit; in practice, during the Final War of the Deluge, any officer volunteer who carried the official recommendation of the Levantine Union Defense Council received a commission. The Royal and Confederate Army's officer corps employs the rank structure of the Royal Marine Corps, and its commanding officer is given the rank Prafáti Princeps Glássariaei.
The vast majority of the officers of the Royal and Confederate Army are officers of Levantine Union member-states serving through the Foreign Services Element Program. Officers from Yonderre are disproportionately common in the Army and, due to the similarity in doctrine between the Army and the Yonderian Defence Force, are preferred. In 2028, Guillaume d'Agostino established the Intercontinental Officer School Program (IOSP). Under the IOSP, citizens of New Harren who wished to join the army as an officer would be tested in New Harren and, if passed, would be sent to the Imperial War College in Urceopolis for training as an officer. As a corollary to the IOSP, any individual who serves in a command role at the company level or above must submit themselves for a four week training course at the Imperial War College on the basics of military theory and command practices. While these trainings are usually given to company leaders for the kin-on-service units of the army, special arrangements have been made between the Army and the confederated nations to send prospective wartime leaders to Urceopolis for this type of training in order to better prepare the "skeleton divisions" of the Army.