The Boico Deployment
In May 2007, the United Socialist States of Boico was gripped by a drastic civil war. Robert Ozriach, a former solider in the Boicoian Army, launched a series of terrorist raids against major governmental targets in the western regions of the nation. Ozriach was proponent of the Cyonist Dogma - a political belief that called for the "purification" of modern society and a reversion to a semi-agrarian economy with freedom of entertainment and religious expression being outlawed. The Boicoian Army was split between those who supported the government, and those who supported Ozriach. Terrorist outrages and major battles raged throughout the month. As the situation rapidly deteriorated, the President, Jack Ondrinhow, called upon fellow nations to send him military aid. Swift responses came from the nations of Brukistan and Payal. Tragically, the royal detachment from Brukistan suffered a major setback when one of its 12-man military team was killed upon arrival in the country.
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The Koenwitz Expeditionary Force
On 30th May, 2007, Field-Marshal Kaen sent a communique to President Ondrinhow, offering help from Koenwitz in the form of the 2nd Jäger Division. The situation being somewhat similar to that encountered in Koenwitz during the Great Patriotic War, it seemed logical to the Field Marshal that Koenwitzian aid would help the government restore law and order. The offer was accepted - with some reservations - and Colonel-General Heinrich Mohnke, second in command of the Infanteriewaffe was sent to Crepia Naval Base on the Northern coast of Boico to establish the military presence. In co-operation with the Boicoian military, Mohnke established a plan which called upon the Koenwitzian Expeditionary Force to search for the so-called "Chairman Ozriach" and take him prisoner, thereby crippling the Cyonist Command Network.
On 5th June the first elements of the 2nd Jäger arrived in Boico, under the command of Major-General Joachim Meyer, a hero of the war. Mohnke immediately ordered Meyer to send his troops to the nearby town of Torneo in order to start the search for intelligence. At the same time, he issued a communique to Chairman Ozriach, offering him the chance to surrender and end the war without bloodshed. This ill-judged move was met with a caustic response, in which Ozriach revealed himself to be in possession of nuclear weapons. Mohnke believed this to be a bluff, and effectively told him so. Ozriach responded by firing a missile at the large eastern town of Julion, killing nearly 400,000 Boicoians. On the same day, the elements of the 2nd Jäger Division that had moved into Torneo - namely the 2. Komapnie of the 3rd Jäger Regiment under Captain Kurt Schwarz - were caught by a Cyonist ambush. The company was effectively eliminated in a brutal two-hour battle in the town's main street, with Schwarz being taken prisoner.
Mohnke was relieved of his command and replaced by the 2nd Jäger's General Meyer. Kaen sent two of Koenwitz's precious freighters to help evacuate civilians from eastern Boico, while also deploying the 5th Jäger Division (Airmobile), the 1st Airborne Division and the 2nd (Light) Armoured Division to the country.
Disaster
On June 11th, the war worsened when a specially-modified KV-116 Bomber aircraft dropped an experimental nuclear weapon on the Cyonist-held town of Alamedo, wiping out 10,000 Cyonist troops. Ozriach responded by firing ten nuclear warheads at targets in Eastern Boico. Three of these warheads were prevented from reaching their targets by three brave helicopter pilots from the 422nd Aviation Regiment, who enacted Meyer's last-ditch "Phoenix Plan", and intercepted the missiles at pre-designated 'buffer zones'. Nonetheless, almost 1.5 million civilians were killed. The evacuation was stepped up.
By the middle of June, the government troops were on their knees, but still fighting, and the 5th Airmobile Division was continuing small-scale raids into Western Boico. However, despite the success of the Giliathian 403rd Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) at the large manufacturing town of Pruyi in Western Boico, there was little in the way of movement. That changed dramatically the following day when troops and battlecruisers from the Socialist States Union, which had pledged its support for the Cyonists, finally arrived in Boico. The cruisers sailed up the mouth of the River Ead, which flows past the Crepia Military Base, headquarters for the KEF, and proceeded to shell the airfield. Although the cruisers were warded off by Brukistani fighters, the runway was seriously damaged and the lifeline severed. Further disaster was only prevented when a helicopter from the 422nd Aviation Regiment, "Toothy 22", had a chance encounter with a column of SSU vehicles packed with troops that was moving towards Crepia. The chopper pilot attacked the convoy and destroyed four vehicles before being shot down. The SSU attack was halted for the time being, but the war was clearly tilting in the Cyonists favour.
On the 25th June the Cyonists released a video to the Koenwitizan Press, showing the captured Jäger Captain Kurt Schwarz. In the ten-minute video Schwarz rambled about the terrible involvement of Koenwitzians troops in Boico and urged the people to rise up against the government and pave the way for Cyonism in Koenwitz. As a propaganda ploy this might have worked, and there was certainly some unrest in Koenwitz, which was quelled with typical gusto by the Police. However, the tape continued to run and showed Schwarz being shot in the back of the head. This caused outrage and turned the vast majority of Koenwitzians against the Cyonists and for the war. However, events were about to take a final turn for the worse.
Epilogue
In the last days of June the war finally drew to a close. The news of the SSU's arrival, coupled with the grevious civilian and military casualties (over 3 million) forced the President's hand. He surrendered, without consultation, and was arrested by the Cyonists. Taking the opportunity, the Koenwitz Expeditionary Force began preparations for a withdrawal. Defences around the Crepia Base were stregthened so that the KEF could hold for at least a day to allow all of its troops to be evacuated and also to provide an escape route for civilians and soldiers who did not want to live under Cyonist rule. At the same time, the withdrawing Koenwitzian troops institued a 'scorched earth policy', destroying remaining bridges, villages and towns and poisoning agricultural land, as well as placing over 900,000 mines. The last Koenwitizian troops withdrew on 18th July 2007.
Overall, the Boico Deployment was a highly ignominious affair which many in Koenwitz felt was unnecessary. As the country's first foreign deployment, it showed Koenwitz to be both brash and unreliable, and has placed it in considerable danger by creating enemies in both the new Cyonist Boico and the SSU. However, it enabled the Army to free itself of the restrictive "Peactime Act" and to begin to increase its size and strength, and there are rumours that it also caused the re-raising of the infamous Koenwitz-Freikorps or "Freebooters" - the infamous mercenary troops that quelled the rebellious east during the 1990s. These troops were to prove vital when the Cyonist Government invaded in the winter of 2007.
Casualties
TOTAL MILITARY CASUALTIES: 1,151 killed, wounded and missing
Koenwitzian
- 1st Airborne Division: 3 killed, 10 wounded, 9 missing
- 2nd Jäger Division: 200 killed, 327 wounded, 42 missing
- 2nd (Light) Armoured Division: 16 killed, 77 wounded, three Pz-48's destroyed
- 5th Jäger Division (Airmobile): 32 killed, 196 wounded, 10 missing
- 115th Transport Regiment:98 killed, 19 wounded; twelve KV-52 and eight KV-80 transport aircraft destroyed.
- 116th Transport Regiment:47 killed, 4 wounded; five KV-52 transport aircraft destroyed
- 422nd Aviation Regiment:18 killed, 2 missing; ten KV UH-1D helicopters destroyed
- 424th Aviation Regiment:36 killed, 5 missing; eighteen KV UH-1D helicopters destroyed
Giliathian
- 403rd PIR: 22 killed, 43 wounded
Boicoan
- Civillian: Over 2.7 million killed, 9765 wounded, unaccountable missing
- Military: 4,340 killed in action, 9,082 injured, 800 captured and pending execution under the Cyonist Government.
Roll of Honour
- Major-General Joachim Meyer (2nd Jäger Division/Koenwitz Expeditionary Force Commander)- Oakleaves and Swords to the Knight's Cross
- Major Eugene Tibbets (4th Infantry Division, Boicoian Army) - Iron Cross of Koenwitz
- Captain Kurt Schwarz, K.I.A. (3rd Jäger Regiment, 2nd Jäger Division) - Knight's Cross
- Lieutenant Gerd Hauenmeyer, M.I.A (422nd Aviation Regiment) - Knight's Cross
- Lieutenant Hans Feldmann, K.I.A (422nd Aviation Regiment) - Knight's Cross
- Staff Sergeant Erich Waegner, K.I.A. (422nd Aviation Regiment) - Knight's Cross
- Staff Sergeant Lukas Fritsch, K.I.A. (422nd Aviation Regiment) - Knight's Cross
- Sergeant Kurt Ludendorff (5th Jäger Division (Airmobile)) - Iron Cross
- Sergeant Josef Hannes, K.I.A. (3rd Jäger Regiment, 2nd Jäger Division) - Iron Cross
