Tepetlcali campaign

Tepetlcali campaign
Part of the Final War of the Deluge
Royal and Imperial Army tanks as part of an operation to lift the siege of Altachuca
Date November 13, 2020 - March 23, 2021 Location New Harren Result Urcean victory
Belligerents
Algoquona	New Harren Urcea Yonderre
Commanders and leaders
Hevovitastamiutsto	Martin St. Clair
Units involved
	WES-COM
Strength
185,000+	44,000 (initial) 500,000 (end of campaign)
Casualties and losses
18,502 killed 120,000+ captured or deserted	5,281 total

The Tepetlcali campaign, also known as the Port St. Charles campaign, was a series of battles fought in northern New Harren and southern Algoquona and was the initial military campaign of the Final War of the Deluge. Significant losses to heavy equipment and military organization incurred during Operation Western Blizzard prevented Algoquona from securing major strategic targets. Despite the initial unexpected success and pace of the Algoquonan advance, the Royal and Imperial Army reinforced its position in New Harren by later December of 2020, leading to the destruction or capture of nearly the entire Algoquonan force in the western "prong" of the invasion. In the east, the smaller group of Algoquonan forces were able to retreat in good order.

Background

Four years after Operation Mission Shield and Operation Western Blizzard, Algoquona had rearmed and reorganized its military to the point where limited offensive operations were available. The reformed armed forces were now largely comprised of militia forces as well as allied tribal warlords. Comprised nearly entirely of infantry, Algoquonan policymakers believed that a "lightning campaign" to capture the capital city of New Harren would be necessary in the event of war. As early as 2017, military hierarchs determined that the best strategy would be a two-pronged invasion, with a western force taking Tepetlcali and an eastern force feinting towards Mixcala before ultimately taking the city in coordination with the western force once Tepetlcali was secured. Under this plan, the forces would then quickly strike south at Port St. Charles. The plan was dependent on speed, as the lack of heavy equipment or industrial capacity meant that Algoquona would not be able to withstand the full Royal and Imperial Army, and consequently taking Port St. Charles would be a valuable negotiating asset to secure a structured settlement to maintain Algoquona's independence over the long term.

Algoquona secretly adopted this "lightning campaign" based strategy of "aggressive defense" as its new foreign policy priority in late 2017. Over the next two years, it sought a pretense to go to war while attempting to subvert Urcean elections while obtaining classified military information which would help its planned campaign. Urcean politician Ronan Cornelius Marcán began a secret correspondence which led to the letter affair, and continued correspondence in order to undermine the Urcean monarchy. Following the revelation of this correspondence during the 2020 Urcean procuratorial election, Marcán fled to Algoquona and the Ministry of State issued an ultimatum to Algoquona for extradition. Over the course of a week, Algoquonan policymakers held closed door meetings and decided to use this ultimatum as the desired pretense for war. On 22 November 2020, Algoquonan forces crossed into New Harren in order to execute the planned campaign.

Aftermath

The Tepetlcali campaign was a success for Urcea and its allies as New Harren and its confederate nations were successfully defended from attack. While the Campaign failed in all of its goals for Algoquona, it succeeded in inviting Varshani intervention, sparking the Final War of the Deluge. In the immediate aftermath of the conflict, the Cronan Phony War began as Nysdra Sea Treaty Association forces were recalled from Algoquona and New Harren to defend against Varshan in the Invasion of Cetsencalia. Despite the NSTA force drawdown, Alfoquona was unable to capitalize due to the losses it sustained in the Tepetlcali Campaign and could only launch limited raids into NSTA controlled territory. The limited resources available to Urcea and its allies led to the establishment of the Royal and Confederate Army.

Four Neighbors

During the conflict, Urcea and its allies established formal diplomatic relations with the so-called "Four Neighbors", tribal subjects of Algoquona which were previously part of the Northern Confederation. Many of the soldiers captured in the final surrender were of these four nations rather than Algosh origin and were soon confined to house arrest in New Harren. Many of these prisoners of war later defected to Urcea on the condition that it launch a campaign to liberate their homelands from Algoquonan control. These forces eventually were joined to the Royal and Confederate Army for the Four Neighbors Campaign.