Second Great War: Difference between revisions

Due to the [[Second_Great_War#Burgundie_falters|ongoing military crisis]] in [[Burgundie]] beginning with the general Derian uprising in spring [[1934]], Burgundie required large numbers of men redeployed to Levantia. These redeployments, staged in such a way as to appear to be cycling men and arms out for normal duty, managed to evade detection until July 1934, when [[Corumm]]ese intelligence services managed to deduce that garrisons throughout Burgoignesc eastern possessions were drastically reduced. At the 2 August meeting of the Nationalist Association of the Orient leaders, the Corummese delegates presented their findings and argued that it was the perfect time to strike, especially given the divided attention of the Burgoignesc. The Association Council reached a split decision, with the Council resolving to reinvestigate the matter next month to see how the situation in Dericania unfolded. Undeterred, the Corummese government informed [[Venceia]] that the Council had, in fact, resolved to go to war, and that urgent supplies of arms and money were required. Throughout August, large shipments arrived in [[Zaclaria]] from [[Caphiria]] and were distributed among the various parts of the Association by Corummese agents, with a plurality of resources being taken by the Corummese themselves. On 20 August, the Corummese government determined to launch a secret program of mobilization, as the government decided it would go to war against Burgundie alone if the Council refused.  

In early September, allied forces suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Dericanians at the [[Second_Great_War#Nationalist_summer|Battle of Marmande]]. An emergency meeting of the Association Council was held on 18 September. Corummese delegates successfully persuaded their colleagues to declare war, stating that Corummese forces were already prepared and that a declaration could go out in as little as ten days. The Council agreed to declare war but asked for more time, but Corummese officials forced the matter by stating that the best opportunity had already come and that, with our without the Association, it was going to war on 28 September. The Council assented to this timeframe.

The "main" powers of the Nationalist Association, chiefly [[Corumm]], spent the early months preparing for a full offensive in December, the peak of campaign season in Alshar and Audonia. Although relatively inactive in the first months of the war in the east, Corumm began shelling [[Ayermer]] forty five minutes after the declaration of war was proclaimed. Local concentration of forces essentially allowed the Corummese to blockade the island, putting it under a state of siege. Lifting this early siege became the top priority of the [[Navy of Burgundie]] in early October 1934.

Although stretched thin on land, the complete lack of a Derian naval force combined with the supremacy of the [[Urcea]]n [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Royal Navy]] in and around [[Levantia]] ensured that [[Burgundie]] had a plethora of naval assets to dispose of by the time war in the east broke out in September 1934. Accordingly, a massive share of Burgundie's naval forces were diverted from the Occident and locations abroad to the [[Middle seas region]], with a portion of those committed to keeping sea lanes between [[Levantia]] and the east open for both commerce and military purposes. By late October 1934, sufficient operational strength had been mustered to allow the [[Navy of Burgundie]] to begin offensive operations in various places, as well as stationing small flotillas around its coastal strongpoints to provide heavy artillery support. A major portion of the navy's offensive capacity were sent in the first week of November to [[Ayermer]], where it destroyed a smaller force of [[Corumm]]ese ships and lifted the month-long siege of the island. On 14 November, a Corummese defeated a Burgoignesc force to a draw near Salarive, requiring additional ships to move to the south Middle seas area to ward off the Corummese navy. For the remainder of 1934 and early 1935, the Corummese and Burgoignesc navies largely skirmished without a decisive engagement. The arrival of [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Royal Navy]] ships at [[Antilles]] plus additional Urcean ships guarding the sea lanes gradually allowed the Navy of Burgundie to shift more of its ships to the combat theater.

===Corummese offensive===

On 14 December 1934, the [[Corumm]]ese Army launched an invasion of [[Pukhgundi]], one of the few "loyalist" states in the Burgoignesc eastern sphere. The invasion, launched over land, was initially very successful, with Pukhgundian and Burgoignesc forces pushed back from the border with heavy losses as of 1 January. The Corummese force outnumbered the allied forces nearly 2-to-1, requiring allied command to concede most of the country and pull back to Pukhgundi's southwestern peninsula. There, a strong line of defense combined with naval support fire stopped the advance, and Corummese forces switched over to the defensive.

While the redeployment of Fiannrian land forces to Burgoignesc possessions further south would take time, the [[Fiannan Commonwealth Air Force]] would see significant action in early March 1935. The Fiannan Oriental Air Squadron (FOAS), a relatively small force, redeployed from its airfields in Soirwind to airfields in [[Salarive]] on 1 March 1935. The FOAS featured the Air Force's most elite pilots and latest planes, and in several engagements with the relatively primitive [[Corummese_Armed_Forces#Corummese_Air_Fleet|Corummese Air Fleet]] it managed to establish superiority over the enemy over the [[Pukhgundi]]an peninsula. Additionally, the ROAS employed pioneering {{wp|dive bombing}} techniques in both Pukhgundi and [[Bulkh]], giving Burgoignesc forces the ability to strike out in aggressive raids and crippling Nationalist Association supply lines for a period of time.