Daxian occupation of Caldera
The occupation of Caldera by Qian Daxia during the second Great War started on 8 May 1936 after the surrender of all remaining Calderan forces by order of General Jon Weinworth, in the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Bravador. Despite the official surrender, various armed formations, especially those linked to the Volkspartei, continued to resist the occupation and carry out hit and run attacks. Caldera was governed by a military authority until 1938 at which point the Daxians organized a native collaborationist government to oversee most civilian affairs; due to the deep seated resentment of Gothic domination this government was mainly staffed by Volins. In spite of this apparent concession to native Calderan rule, Daxian actions and historical record point to a plan to permanently control the island and colonize choice areas with ethnic Daxians. To this end occupation authorities built several towns and road infrastructure close to important mineral deposits in order to exploit them for the wider war effort. By 1940 some two thousand families had been moved into these new towns, although most would flee the island with the end of the occupation. Losses incurred in other fronts around Audonia, the continued and intensifying resistance of Caldera's population and the complex logistics of supplying a force in a far off island all contributed to the withdrawal of Daxian forces from the island in the spring of 1943. Several hundred Daxian settlers refused to leave with the army and, pillaging some of their equipment as it retreated, some managed to hold out in isolation against Calderan forces until 1958.
The occupation by Daxia is remembered in modern Calderan history as a time of deprivation and hardships brought on by the cruelty of Daxian forces. In Daxia the defeat and occupation of Caldera gave General Xiu Guangho an edge against his rival Dai Hanjian as the leading military man in government but the retreat in 1943 completely discredited him and led to his sidelining and assasination. Relations between the two nations continue to be strained in modern times as Daxia has refused to either offer any reparations or issue any apologies on the subject.