Operation Western Blizzard

Operation Western Blizzard was the codename for a joint aerial campaign waged by Yonderre and Anglei against Algoquona in late 2016 and 2017.

Operation Western Blizzard
Part of The Deluge
Yonderian FS-14 multi-role fighters in Northern Algoquona
Date 28 December 2016 - 30 January 2017 Location Algoquona Result Allied victory Algoquonan military crippled Pachaug and Houstaonic become de facto independent from Algoquona
Belligerents
Yonderre Anglei	Algoquona
Commanders and leaders
Phillip de Stonne	Aslak Tupilak  †
Units involved
Yonderian Defence Force Army of the Air Yonderian Marine Guard Grenadier Division Special Operations Command DELTA	Various militias
Strength
Yonderre:2 Sentinelle-class helicopter carriers 4 Vigilante-class support frigates 6 FS-75 CAS bombers 12 FS-14 strike fighters 8 FS-92 fighters 24 AMS-72 helicopters 16 AMS-82 helicopters 80 VCI-90 IFVs 850 infantry	150-180 vehicles 42 fighters 6,000-7,000 infantry

Background

The breakdown of the Treaty of Narasseta and subsequent military campaign of Operation Mission Shield lead to several international incidents, most prominently including the Kaigwa embassy siege but also the 2016 AMS-72 shootdown. Growing discontentment with regards to Algoquona by the Levantine powers - particularly Yonderre and Anglei - lead to intervention during Operation Mission Shield in limited support roles for the Armed Forces of the Apostolic Kingdom of Urcea. While Mission Shield was ongoing, Yonderre and Anglei began coordinating and planning a separate punitive bombing campaign against Algoquona aimed at destroying its military infrastructure and otherwise disrupting its defense apparatus. Joint planning efforts quickly identified a number of key targets within Algoquona and both countries secured basing agreements with Urcea for aerial operations in New Yustona by Christmas.

Allied justification

Both Yonderre and Anglei spearheaded efforts to relieve their diplomatic personnel in the Kaigwa embassy siege. As the riots and sieges began on the 19th and 20th, both nations attempted back-channel negotiations with Algoquona aimed at having the country step in on behalf of the Levantine embassies. These negotiations, initially premised on diplomatic and economic support by the end of the hostilities with Urcea, were unsuccessful, and by 21 December both powers were leveling threats at Algoquona, which ended negotiations. Consequently, both powers viewed military action as not only necessary but entirely justified on the account that Algoquona had "adopted the persona and behavior of a rogue state", citing not only the embassy crisis but the earlier breakdown of the Treaty of Narasseta.

Military operations

Operation Thunderclap

Main article: Operation Thunderclap

Operation Thunderclap (Burgoignesc: Operation Droncer) was a raid performed by operators of Yonderre's DELTA Special Forces unit against the Algoquonan warlord Aslak Tupilak in the early morning hours of the 12th of January. The intention of the operation was to capture alive Tupilak and as many of his top Lieutenants as possible by rapidly assaulting their forward command centre. Tupilak was shot and killed when he fired back at DELTA operators, but other top militia bosses were captured and swiftly extracted from the area of operations. The operation was described as a major success and a war winning action by analysts, with Collinebourg Gazette's war correspondent Pierre Tantre concluding that the operation "has crippled the militias in Kaigwa, potentially cutting weeks off of the war".

Civillian convoy airstrike

In the early hours of January 29, 2017, a JTAC of the Army of the Air mistook a civillian convoy of refugees for a reorganizing Algoquonan motorized force and tasked an airstrike on the convoy. Two FS-14 strike fighters, callsigns "Chevalier 4/2" and "Chevalier 4/3", struck the convoy with HEAT cluster munitions, killing more than forty and injuring more than a hundred people. Bomb damage assessment from the JTAC indicated at least twenty-six motor vehicles of various types had been destroyed.

The incident was picked up on by the Levantine Times Union from social media reports. The Army of the Air initially denied any responsibility for the attack, but later released a detailed report about the incident, in which it took the stance that the location was a legitimate target as it had been a known main supply route of Algoquonan militias who largely operated civillian vehicles. The incident caused outrage in Yonderre and Levantia in general, and caused the eventual stepping down of Gilles d'Arconne, chief of the Army of the Air.

Aftermath

The Operation was extremely effective in causing the collapse of the organized armed forces of Algoquona, and by the end of January it was estimated by Urcean military intelligence that up to 40% of Algoquona's 2016 enlisted forces had deserted, causing the state to become increasingly reliant on militias for policing and defense purposes.

The government's reliance on militias caused severe political unrest in Algoquona, as tribal militias in other tribal territories caused severe resentment between the constituent groups of the state, and militias began to issue series of demands to the state in repayment of their service. In February 2017, the "Tokorua nga taone nui" (approx. "Two Cities Force"), a militia of united forces from Pachaug and Housatonic, encircled Kaigwa, causing a severe crisis which many Occidental observers believed would be the end of the Algoquonan state. Algoquona had no choice but to submit to Urcean arbitration, which lead to the two cities becoming international charter cities nominally part of Algoquona but largely autonomous and under Urcean administration. Although the immediate crisis passed, Algoquona would continue to be racked with civil unrest.