The ending moments of the Venetian role of the Byzantine Civil War
Southern Greece
The Separatist Byzantines had complete control of Greece at this point. A fort recently built by the Byzantines specifically to prevent a seaborne invasion was specifically chosen for a seaborne invasion. This was pure propaganda tactics, to weaken the moral of the Byzantines. When the first air strikes happened to soften the landings, the "Evils" knew that when Venice is pissed off, you don't mess with them. By the time the invasion started, all the long ranged artillery was destroyed, and the med and short ranged weren't even a factor anymore. Most of the Pillboxes were destroyed, the AA cannons were a smoldering crisp, and almost all the fortifications were moot, either destroyed or damaged to the point that they were useless.
When the landers actually came, the Separatists were much afraid. It was a lot more than what the fortifications, even at full capacity, were made for. Battleships fired their cannons in anger, bombarding the beachheads with thousands of craters. Aircraft carriers had plenty of fighters to give strafing runs against the remaining Infantry. The tanks landed first, firing mostly on the fortifications. The fort lacked any vehicles, the Separatists have long sinced moved them to fight with the Loyalists. The infantries various volleys had no effect on the Tanks, with anyone too stupid enough to stick their bodies out for more than 3 seconds, or, god forbid, charge at the tanks, were mowed down by the ruthless machine guns. The infantry came next. With the cover of the tanks' machine gun fire, they charged at the defender, easily overrunning them. Next, they charged the fort itself. To their surprise, the Byzantines surrendered. In a policy to be followed to the end of the war, the soldiers were ordered to brutally execute every single one of them, with no one spared.
Greco Hill Countryside
By now, the Loyalists had flooded Greece, and a major skirmish has flared up. The defending Separatists were defending a key location from a flood of Loyalist soldiers. Each side was taking major casualties, screams of terror would have been heard for miles if it wasn't for the ear screeching noise of the motors being fired at the enemy.
A battalion of Venetian soldiers, with air cover, was scouting out, making sure that no large force of Byzantines of either side were going to attack the main army. There, they saw the battle raging on. They immediately engaged, and with the fire of tanks, artillery, and missiles from fighters, teared apart vehicle after vehicle of Byzantines. The two forces, even under this, still engaged each other rather than the Venetians. Big mistake. The fire only multiplied as more Venetians got in range, completely tearing apart both sides. Like last time, there was no Byzantine survivors in that engagement.
The morale of both Byzantine sides dropped after this engagement. Not only have Venetians landed in their former Greek colony, but they brutally slaughtered all ethnic Byzantines in their war, armed or not. They even ignored age, yes, they slaughtered children! Back in Venice, support of the war skyrocketed. Ethnic Byzantine's homes were set ablazed, murdered, robbed, etc. The government made no heed to stop this. In fact, it almost seemed to approve of it.
Athens
By the time Athens was besieged, the Byzantines "surrendered" a long time ago. However, the civil war was still raging. Well, it was, until a Separatist scout saw what was, to them, worse than the Black Death. A Venetian Tank. The two armies declared a ceasefire to defend Athens from falling to foreigners. The Greek minority still living in Athens were unsure what to think of the situations. At one point, the Byzantines still holding the city stripped all their rights. They were little more than slave labor. However, tales of the Venetian army made them think they too would be slaughtered, like all the Byzantine civilians.
1 week after the ceasefire is when the Venetian army actually attacked the town. With no outer defence, the army rolled in. The Byzantines at this point were just Partisans with better weapons, a futile attempt to hold the city. They hid in any building they could find, but Artillery and Tank fire crumbled them to dust. One memorable moment was a Tank division charging to take the Byzantine palace, heavily guarded, and the remaining place not under Byzantine control in Athens. A pregnant Byzantine civilian surrendered. She was mowed down by machine fire. A group of Byzantine workers also surrendered. They all died after a Tank cannon blasted them. However, when a group of /Greek/ Middle Schoolers surrendered, to their astonishment, the tanks stopped. One of the gunners told them, in Greek, no less, of a Venetian camp for displaced minorities. They quickly ran off, and the tanks continued off their way. Another moment was when the palace was finally taken. On a PA, a Lieutenant, on his own will, yelled, "Citizens of Athens! A ring of steel surrounds your rotten city! We will crush all who dare resist the will of the Venetian army! Abandon your posts! Abandon your homes! Abandon! All! Hope!!!!". Needless to say, this was a huge morale crush to the Byzantines. Also, the kind treatment to the minority Balkans also made them rise up against the Byzantines. Finally, after this battle, like the Communist and Capitalists Chinese did after WWII, the two Byzantine sides, at least in the Balkans, declared a permanent ceasefire until "the Venetians were removed from the eternity of the Balkans".
Sofia
By this time, all of Byzantium, Loyalist and Separatists lands have been conquered. Only a large bastiodon in Sofia remained. The Bulgarians in the city tried multiple times to drive the Byzantines out, but to no avail. Also, due to the ceasefire, there was no weakened forces. They would face the might of a (under supplied) Byzantine army comparable to what it was before the civil war began. Trenches have been built all around the city, so there would be an actual siege this time around. There were plans to just nuke the city to get the war over with already, but complaints from freed Bulgarians prevented this.
At first, Artillery pounded the trenches. To their dismay, they still held. It seemed like they were prepared for an invasion like this, and all the armed Byzantines would be fighting for the last breath. For weeks, Venetian tanks and soldiers sit just out of range from Byzantine soldiers, the drivers out of them, all waiting for the order to charge the city. It would be 3 months for that order to come. During that time, Sofia starved. With no way to transport food into the city, the defenders grew more and more hungry. Meanwhile, Bulgarians got secret shipments of food, given by a group of Venetian spies. After those three months, the enemy soldiers had barely any strength left.
A huge Artillery barrage that drawfed everything like it before marked the beginning of the push. Yet the defenders still stood. So, the tanks and soldiers charged anyways, in probably the most brutal moment of the entire war. The guards would not take a step back, the Venetians hellbent to take a step forward. The screams of agony were drowned out only by the sound of constant bombardment from Tanks and Artillery, and the destruction of the former. After an hour of fighting, the Byzantine outskirt guards had all died, not a single one even retreating. The fight inside the city wasn't much better. The Bulgarians, now armed with Venetian weapons, and the Venetian Infantry were in constant street fighting. An engagement would happen for about 30 seconds, before one either falling back or, in desperation, one charging directly at another. The amount of Byzantine snipers were also alarming, so much that almost every single building was stormed. The largest building were even destroyed by Artillery, just to speed up the battle.
Then, came the palace. This was truly the Byzantine's last stand. If they lost here, the entire war was lost. The storming started with a quick Marine rush, followed by Army regulars. Bulgarians gave cover fire to distract the defenders while the main army rushed in to quickly kill off the defenders. When the battle was deadlocked, the Bulgarians stormed the building. With the surge of extra troops, the Byzantines were finally crushed. The flagpole was already destroyed, so 3 marines, 2 regulars, and 1 Bulgarian quickly brought the Most Serene Flag above the tallest pile of rubble, the flag indicating the siege, and the war itself, was finally over.
Policy after the war
The policy after the war was simple. It was to Balkanize the Balkans. Venetian immigration was limited, Greek, Bulgarian, Croatian, etc, all became recognized minority languages. Byzantines started to lose their majority, due to the atrocities done by them. It seems like, in a year or two, the thousand-year rule of Byzantium culture in the Balkans will be reversed.
