TheLizardKing
Let's talk Michelle.
European Events
Ireland Boycotts!
Dublin, Ireland
The Emerald Island has found itself a little too close to the war in Europe for comfort. It has remained to stay relatively neutral and quiet until this year when it has announced that no Irish citizen will be allowed to trade or purchase any Norse or English goods. The Irish government continues to lay claim to it's neutrality, though members of the Norse and English government seem to view things differently.
The Tripolitan War
Palermo, Kingdom of Naples
The Tripolitan War continued this year, with renewed fervor, as the Hellenistic Empire decided to throw it's armed forces into the fray, in an attempt to help Naples reclaim the classically Italian lands that Luigi Vico promised his people. Last year saw the reclamation of the peninsula, but the loss of most of Sardinia, and a complete battering of the Neapolitan fleet. So when ships from the Hellenistic Empire began arriving in Neapolitan ports, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. Hellenistic submarines began screening the areas outside of Malta almost immediately, destroying Tripolitan shipping and several of their gun-boats. These strikes, were followed closely by the rest of the combined Neapolitan-Hellenstic flotilla, which eventually completely cut off Sicily and Sardinia from any possible reinforcements from Tripolitania itself, leaving their soldiers stranded.
The focus soon shifted on the air war. The dramatic shift in numbers on the Neapolitan side, thanks to their Hellenistic friends, gave them a fairly decent advantage, as Tripolitan planes were forced to call of their attacks on the Neapolitan country side, and defend their military installations in Sicily and Sardinia. Hellenistic bombers were especially effective, going so far as to strike at Tripoli itself, in retaliation for previous attacks on Naples. Several weeks of aerial warfare left the Neapolitan-Hellenistic forces in clear control of the skies, while a growing naval blockade strangled the Tripolitan forces even more. In the spring, after several months, it came as no surprise when the naval landings began.
Casualties, at first, were heavy, as expected. Neapolitan regiments landed in Northern Sicily, while Hellenistic ones ventured further south, trying to take out Syracuse, an important strategic area for the Tripolitan army. The landings around Palermo went fairly smoothly, and Neapolitan forces found themselves pushing south with limited resistance, as the starving Tripolitans felt more inclined to surrender, then die in an obviously lost battle. Partisans from the surrounding areas soon found the advancing Neapolitan army, and greeted them as a liberating force, after years of 'African oppression'. The Neapolitans, and their partisans moved south towards Syracuse, which remained defiant to Hellenistic assaults. Armored brigades landed in the north, however, ended up sweeping down and making short work of Tripolitan defenses. As the casualties grew, and reports of surrenders throughout Sardinia made it's way back to Africa, riots in Tripoli forced the Tripolitan government to sign a temporary cease-fire, while finer details of the peace agreement are being worked out. Colonial authorities in the Balearics and Malta have maintained control of populaces there.
(-6 Tripolitan Regiments, -1 Tripolitan Armored Brigade, -14 Tripolitan Gun-boats, -1 Tripolitan Destroyer, -4 Tripolitan Fighter-Squadrons, -9 Triplitan IP, --1 Tripolitan IP, -2 Tripolitan EP, -Tripolitan Stability, -3 Neapolitan Regiments, -2 Neapolitan Gun-boats, -1 Neapolitan Fighter-Squadron, -10 Neapolitan IP, -4 Hellenistic Regiments, -1 Hellenistic Destroyer, -1 Hellenistic Fighter Squadron)
London's Not Burning
London, England
With all the recent events unfolding closer to home, the England has seemed to of forgotten that it is still very much at war with Russia. Commerce raiding, from what was left of the Russian navy sunk a couple ships in the North Sea, before moving in to London port. Port defense ships intercepted the Russian ships, who were claiming to be surrendering. Not wishing to allow enemy combatants into London proper, coastal guards attempted to board the Russian gun-boats, to take the necessary prisoners. Yet, upon nearing the ships, the crews began to fire at the English, killing several. Then, one of the Russian gun-boats detonated, destroying the other one, and sinking one English ship, along with a local merchant ship that happened to be nearby. The apparent plan of blowing up London docks had a relatively small effect, and aside from the few English casualties seemed to of only served the purpose of destroying what's left of the Russian navy.
(-2 Russian Gun-boats, -1 English Gun-boat, -5 English IP)
The Great Russian War Continued
St. Petersburg, Chernorussiya
The Great Russian War turned into more of a clean up action this year. The complete dissolution of any real sense of order in what was the Russian Republic of Russia made the remaining Russian holdouts easy pickings for the highly organized Chernorussiyans, and their Californian allies. A broad offensive swatted away Russian regiments, and partisan groups that managed to form, and after several weeks of semi-intensive fighting, an eerie silence took over. No gunshots were heard, as Chernorussiyan soldiers advanced towards St. Petersburg, and Californian soldiers took the fight towards Daghestan.
The nations of Ossetia and Daghestan, among the first victims of Russian expansion quickly threw off the chains of their occupiers, killing some of the remaining garrisoned soldiers, before they either surrendered or retreated back into Russia. Kievan soldiers moved in, via invite, to re-establish order, and aid in the transportation of government officials into the nation. Also, with Kievan help, the entire Northern Caucaus region has thrown off the yoke of the NRF, and chose their own representatives to hopefully come to some sort of peaceful terms with the Chernorussiyans. The remaining RRR government has been disbanded, with the president, and several other high-ranking officials being killed by protesting Russians. An emergency Junta has been established, and attempts at brokering a peace have began.
(-8 Russian Regiments, -1 Russian Armored Brigade, -10 Russian Militia Regiments, -2 Russian Bomber Squadrons, -6 Russian Fighter Squadrons, -3 Russian EP, -28 Russian IP, --2 Russian IP, -2 Chernorussiyan Regiments, -1 Chernorussiyan Armored Brigade, -1 Chernorussiyan Fighter Squadron, -1 Californian Regiment)
Barents Sea Live-Fire Naval Exercizes
Longyearbyen, Chernorussiya
With the movement of Californian forces into Russia, to aid the Chernorussiyan offenses, it came as no surprise when the Hudsonist party announced that Californian ships would be joining Chernorussiyan ships in join live-fire naval excersizes in the Barents Sea. Californian ships, already in place since joint-naval actions last year, were quick to mobilize with their Chernorussiyan allies, who found it an opportune time to lay claim to the Russian Arctic Sea islands. The islands were by and large taken without any sort of issue, save for some struggles against the environment.
Refugee Camps on the Steppe
Poltava, Republic of Kiev
Kiev, a long bystander in the Great Russian War has allowed for thousands of Russian refugees to find a temporary home outside of the city of Poltava. Aid shipments to the refugees have come in from throughout Europe, and the increased number of skilled laborers have given the Kievans a nice industrial boost. Pending the peace situation, and what deal can be attained a lot of the refugees are hoping to move back home soon, though many seem to be finding the conditions in Kiev to be ideal. Regardless, until peace is a certainty, Kiev is reaping the benefits.
(+30 Kievan IP, ++2 Kievan IP)
War Against Norse Aggression
Danish Front
Arhus, The Franco-German Empire
At the end of several weeks of diplomatic tag, after the Norse invasion of the Sapmi Republic, a Coalition of forces dedicated to ending the Norse threat assembled with the Franco-Germanic Empire taking the lead. Giving the Norse until the end of the year to remove their forces from Sapmi lands, among other requests, the Kingdom of Spain, Padania, Norway, Brittany, Poland and the Hellenistic Empire all promised to give direct military aid to the Germans. And after some fairly violent rhetoric back and forth, it came as a surprise to no one when the Norse hadn't moved at the end of the year.
And so the Norse, in coordination with the English managed to put together a counter-alliance consisting of Northumbria and Scotland, with varying degrees of support from minor nations, namely South Island, who's position across the world offered little strategic help to the North Sea forces. The Norse Imperium immediately mobilized it's population for war, creating thousands of war time jobs, and boosting industry to record high standards.
The Reich's soldiers were in action on January 5th, as General Conrad sent almost twenty mixed German-Padanian regiments over the border, accompanied by a large number of armored brigades. That morning, in Stockholm, the Norse Emperor was praying for a quick and swift victory over the Reich's forces. Reports from initial contact between the two forces were sent to him hours later, as the first action occurred but a few miles from the border. As the German regiments hit the first line of Norse defenses, it became clear that the Norse were prepared to fight them up the entirety of the peninsula. Partisan groups mixed in the Norse trenches, took positions in hurriedly dug pill boxes, and flak redoubts and molded into the Norse defense forces. Fighting was intense, and for the first few days the Coalition's advances were at a snail's pace. Finally, though, it seemed Norse reserves ran out, and in what best could be described as a steady fighting retreat, the Norse moved to the north of the peninsula. A regiment from Scotland landed to help boost morale and strength, but to little avail. By mid February Arhus finally fell. 'Arhus Falls!' were the triumphant headlines in Berlin and Milan, but the death counts outweighed the good news. And the news in Stockholm was met in stark contrast, especially when news of a complete evacuation of the mainland was issued. Thousands of Norse soldiers, along with the remaining Scots soldiers, and large amounts of citizenry made it to Copenhagen without too much of an issue.
At sea, fighting was slower to develop but no less violent. The Norse fleet was in a full blockade of the Sapmi coast, when it was called down into the Danish Straits, after meeting with some Scottish ships. Small naval actions occurred throughout the fleets trip down the North Sea, with air raids being a relatively common occurrence. The fleet lumbered towards the straits, and rather then seeing the expected German fleet sallying to fight them, saw a highly mined region, and but a ghost of the grand fleet they hoped to come across. Instead, several German ships and Polish ships, seeing lone Norse gun-boats 'sally' out of port generally fell prey to Norse ambushes of using almost kamikaze like attacks with repossesed civilian aircraft. The ploy worked several times before the Coalition forces properly prepared themselves for the assaults. Meanwhile, the semi-constant action around the straits, and the massive amounts of mines used by each side to help contain the other side completely restricted the flow of trade in the Baltic, causing the Free-City of Riga's economy to sputter, along with the Baltic Union. Representatives from both nations requesting some sort of monetary aid in their time of need fell on deaf ears as the war began effecting the masses of neutral states.
In the air, confrontation had already began, with the Reich's airforce, and allied Coalition units making sure their assault up into Denmark was fully effective, and attempting to prevent the onslaught of Norse assaults on population centers. From the get-go, Emperor Henric III made it clear to his subjects that the Norse were not to be trifled with. Bombing attacks carried out against opposing Coalition forces took their tole, though attempted bombings of Berlin and other major German towns more often than not fell short, and it became obvious the airwar, largely forgotten in the movement on the ground, was forgotten.
(-5 Norse Regiments, +10 Norse Militia, -7 Norse Militia, -5 Norse Gun-boats, -1 Norse Destroyer, -3 Norse Squadrons, -20 Norse IP, --5 Norse IP, ++15 Norse IP, -1 Norse EP, -1 Scottish Regiment, -3 Franco-Germanic Regiments, -1 Franco-Germanic Armored Brigade, -7 Franco-Germanic Gun-boats, -1 Franco-Germanic Destroyer, -1 Franco-Germanic Submarine, -10 Franco-Germanic IP, --2 Franco-Germanic IP, -2 Polish Gun-boats, --2 Polish IP, -1 Padanian Regiment, --2 Riga IP, --2 Baltic Union IP)
Pommeranian Front
Klaipėda, Poland
Following the Reich's capture of Arhus, the Polish Military Headquarters in Warsaw immediately issued an order that a slow and steady advance into Norse Pommerania begin. No resistance was encountered for the first several weeks of the occupation. As Polish soldiers began settling in, that's when the partisan resistance started up. Prepared by retreating Norse soldiers, groups of Pommeranians loyal to Henric took up arms, and began killing Polish soldiers whenever the opportunity arose. The Polish policy of gentle respect of the Norse citizenry was hampering the process of finding the rebels, with the initial mode of operation being to not fire at any Norse citizenry without some form of authorization. Eventually, Warsaw redacted this policy, in face of widespread rebellion. IED's took out Polish soldiers left and right, as stricter martial law went into effect.
(-2 Polish Regiments, -Polish Stability, +5 Norse Militia, -3 Norse Militia, -15 Norse IP, --2 Norse IP, -1 Norse EP)
The North Front
Kiruna, The Norse Empire
Most Norse strategists viewed the defense of Denmark and Pommerania to be nothing but a holding action. The real focus of the Norse, at least for now, was the complete annihilation of both Norway and the Sapmi Republic, especially in face of a growing war. The main cause of the war was for the sake of Scandinavian Unity, and Henric was going to maintain that ideal. As the German's thrusted up into Denmark, regiments began tightening the hold on the Sapmi Republic. The remaining Sapmi military, comprised mostly of partisan soldiers had fought valiantly in the year prior, especially with Norse fascism being the enemy. But logistically, bombing campaigns against food supply depots, and defenses on behalf of the Norse airforce made continued resistance relatively useless. By late spring, starvation was killing the Sapmi defenders that the Norse weren't. Direct aid from coalition powers was non-existant, save for some attempted moves by Norway, which were promptly cut off by Norse counter-points.
Oslo, in fact found itself under attack almost immediately. The Norwegians had more to worry about than Sapmi survival. Strategic raids, and flanking maneuvers left most of southern Norway under Norse control, including the capital, by the end of March. In the following weeks, naval and air sorties aided Norse movements along the coast, with major city after city falling to the Norse advance. It wasn't until July that the movement was halted for good, as the remaining Norwegian military and government forces managed to establish itself in Trondheim in a defensive perimeter that pushed back several Norse attacks. The real Norse focus continued to be the Sapmi Republic, which eventually fell in October with more of a whimper, then a bang. The Sapmi population, at that point had been beaten, starved and massacred by the Norse. Officials from the Sapmi government raised the white flag as Norse armored brigades entered Kiruna in parade formation. Resistance groups have largely been unheard of, with the small amount of able-bodied men largely choosing to forge ahead in life, rather then toil more in war. The remaining Sapmi Navy was taken over by the Norse, as was the airforce. King Henric III made an appearance in the captured capital, which proved to be a propaganda Godsend for the Norse, who immediately began looking towards the recapturing land from the Poles and Franco-Germans, all while punishing the Norwegians.
(-6 Norse Regiments, -1 Norse Armored Brigade, -3 Norse Gun-boats, -1 Norse Destroyer, -5 Norse Squadrons, +11 Norse Squadrons, +4 Norse Gun-boats, +20 Norse IP, -4 Norwegian Regiments, -1 Norwegian Armored Brigade, -5 Norwegian Gun-boats, -2 Norweigian Destroyer, -70 Norwegian IP, --5 Norwegian IP, -4 Norwegian EP, -The Sapmi Republic)
Germanic Rule
Paris, The Franco-Germanic Empire
The Franco-Germanic Empire is just that. An Empire. One formed over the past hundred years from the remnants of the previous German military, with minor help from the French military. The military has ruled the state with a fairly tight fist since then, but this growing war has given some of the silently repressed secessionist groups throughout the empire the hope of eventual emancipation. Small protests in France, namely Paris, have been dispersed by the Reich's military, though the calls for a Free France are undeniable. While the old French government might have been lost, the cultural legacy and identity haven't been. Similar movements have also begun to take hold of the Reich's southern Italian territory, which has been protesting both the government in Berlin and the Pope for more autonomy.
(-Franco-Germanic Stability)
The Normandy Front
Amsterdam, The Dutch Republic
A combined North Sea fleet swept across the channel, destroying groups of Spanish, Britannic and German ships. Several pitched battles occurred, with English integrated air defenses usually being the key to victory. Sorties were made left and right, and within a few weeks the English channel was assuredly controlled by the combined navys of England-Scotland-Northumbria.
On the continent proper, political divisions in the Lowland's Union, held since Germanic and English economic interests joined with cultural clashes in the past few decades, began to flair up. With the start of the War Against Norse Aggression, many groups opposed to what they perceived to be cultural and economic dominance of the Reich began protesting economic policies in the Union. As English industries began defaulting one by one in the nation, through rather questionable means, the protests soon turned to open faced rebellion, as the English government began promising the masses that it would help 'liberate' them from Germanic economic occupation. Resistance groups began appearing, in favor of establishing a true Dutch Republic, apart from the Belgians, and received immediate help from the English government. A Civil War essentially erupted as cultural sects soon began appearing, and the Lowlands government was forced to relocate to Berlin in exile. Dutch Republican forces managed to take over large parts of Amsterdam and the Hague, but more importantly began securing landing sites for a North Sea Alliance invasion.
No military action was taken in Normandy for the first few weeks of the year by North Sea forces. Regiments from English colonial territories were being shipped back to the home island, while army units from Northumbria and Scotland were being trained with English soldiers in preparation for the landings in mainland Europe. By the time the colonial regiments made their way to England, and after a few weeks of rest and reorganization, signals from Dutch Republican Militia units allowed for the invasion to get underway. By the time North Sea forces hit the already friendly beaches, Britannic and Germanic military units were rushing to contain the invasion force, but were too late. English regiments pushed south into Franco-Germanic territory and managed to capture most of what was Belgium. Northumbrian and Scottish soldiers filled the gaps, and greatly aided Dutch Republic militia units in retaking parts of the Lowlands Union.
(-5 English Regiments, -4 English Gun-boats, -2 English Destroyers, -3 English Squadrons, --1 English IP, -1 Northumbrian Regiment, -1 Northumbrian Gun-boat, -1 Northumbrian Squadron, -2 Scottish Regiments, -2 Scottish Gun-boats, -1 Scottish Squadron, -1 Scottish Destroyer, -4 Franco-Germanic Regiments, -3 Franco-Germanic Gun-boats, -4 Franco-Germanic Squadrons, -1 Franco-Germanic Bomber Squadron, -15 Franco-Germanic IP, --4 Franco-Germanic IP, -1 Franco-Germanic EP, -3 Britannic Regiments, -2 Britannic Gun-boats, -2 Britannic Squadrons, -2 Spanish Gun-boats, -8 Lowland's Union Regiments, -1 Lowland's Union Armored Brigades, -10 Lowland's Union Gun-boats, -6 Lowland's Union Fighter Squadrons, -100 Lowland's Union IP, -5 Lowland's Union EP)
Rebellion in Finland
Helsinki, The Norse Imperium
Somehow the citizenry of Finland have been recieving weapons and funds, in substantial amounts. Substantial enough to allow for a rebellion to occur in the recently annexed region, with the busy Norse military stretched to do much to handle it.
(-Norse Stability)
