War of Golden Succession

To be updated when the war drags on - we're still on at the preliminary stages of the war

The War of Golden Succession spanned from Guffingford to the Second Empire of the Golden Throne, and from the latter to Stevid, encompassing the entire continent which forms the western approaches to Imperial Armies. During its height it carried on throughout the colonies of the nations involved and in far off territories that some of the soldiers who died had never even heard of. Finding its beginnings within ethnic tensions that had existed in the Golden Throne for centuries and in the onstentatious attitude of the heir of the throne, Fedor I, it rose to be one of the most destructive wars in the history of the Second Empire and of the nations involved. In the end, millions would be put to the sword flung by the gods of war, and entire nations would be laid to waste, but from the ashes emerged some of the tightest alliances the world had ever seen. Nevertheless, the slaughter which marked the war from beginning to end cannot be justified by the end result - the continuation of Fedor's reign. Perhaps the future will hold some consolidation for those who witnessed the carnage which highlighted the extensive battle. But regardless, epic in scale, it saw the largest tank battle in history, and possibly one of the most violent aerial wars, with some of the most ferocious naval battles. It was truly a war of Biblical proportions. In the end, it should shape regional history for years to come and would provide some of the greatest heroes in the histories of those involved, including but not limited to men like Grand Admiral Durgstaden von Laifsraggen, hero of Targul Frumos, and Killian Jimmy Wilson, hero of Mons Dei and prodigy of the Killian army. In the end, the war would break souls and make lives, and it would provide a story for the ages.

Background

The Second Empire of the Golden Throne (The Macabees) was founded by Jonach I in 2005. Then a general, Jonach confirmed the surrender of the final resistance on the mainland, Weigar, and then overthrew the king of the Macabees, direct heir of the dynasty that was overthrown at the beginnings of the Great Civil War, and claimed the golden throne as his own. For ten years he rebuilt the Empire into a regional superpower, and certainly into an international power, extending the zone of influence thousands of kilometers over the seas. He had returned the splendor that was lost with the destruction of the Empire during the civil war in a mere decade. Unfortunately, he died abruptly on 13 May 2015, caused by extended cancer through his body. Immediately, his heir apparent, Prince of Dienstad Heinrich Catalán, prepared for his thought inevitable crowning. Suprisingly, on 15 May Jonach's will was read and the heir was denoted as Prince Fedor of Dienstad, son of Heinrich and grandson of Jonach. Shock, disbelief and anger soon ran rampant.

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Jonach I

Fedor Catalán was crowned as Fedor I on 1 April 2015, marking him as the second emperor of both the Second Empire of the Golden Throne and of the Catalán Dynasty. Although he publicly decreed friendship between himself and his father, Heinrich fled to Weigar seeking revenge and aid. On 18 April he approached General Bietz, agreeing to support Weigari independence in exchange for aid in a coup d'etat to overthrow Fedor I from his throne and install Heinrich as his respectful replacement. The result ended in a long training and mobilization of a Weigari standing army which would be able to crack the defense of Fedala and rapidly neutralize the city, trapping Fedor I and freeing the throne. Plans for further set in motion on 13 August when the Dienstadi nobility, long known for their power and sway over the throne, secretely declared their conditional allegiance to Heinrich. It seemed for both Weigar and the Prince that they were on their way to complete victory over what they contended to be a weak and unprepared ruler, too young to understand the mechanisms of war and politics.

Internationally, however, Fedor was proving them incorrect. In fact, the alliances signed by his grandfather had only strengthened since the rise of Fedor, especially that between Hailandkill and the Empire. Increasingly, Fedor has also turned to the aid of the army and had instituted programs which would make the armed forces the future of the Empire indicating the succession of an imperialist attitude on the throne, which Jonach I had already represented. Consequently, relations between neighbors SafeHaven2 and Zarbia had begun to worsen, especially between respective militaries which had always competed for international reknown. Nonetheless, despite worsening regional situations, abroad Fedor was working to strengthen his position and pave the way for the ultimate rise of the Empire as a world power.

On 29 March the Dienstadi Nobility had gone to Weigar, resolved to finalize dealings with Heinrich over the future of the Empire. Tragically, they were murdered that same night by a vengeant Heinrich who refused to work with the men who had allowed Fedor to the throne in the first place, stating that their previous disloyalty would only be grounds for later disloyaly if Heinrich was placed on the throne. Over ninety percent of Dienstad's nobility was killed that night and the massacre would settle future war as inevitable. In fact, as a direct cause, two Waffen-SS regiments were placed in the city of Weigar on 6 April 2016 in order to stabilize it and bring about the arrest of Heinrich. Events finally spun out of hand and a desperate Henrich instigated the movement of the Weigari Liberation Arm on 3 May striking the Imperial army at Mons Dei on 14 May 2016, sparking the War of Golden Succession. Weigar, the city, revolted four days later while Haven spurred to arms soon thereafter. The war that was sparked would manifest death.

First Period of War: May 14, 2016 - December, 2016

The first period of war refers to the fighting between the Battle of Mons Dei and the end of the first year of combat, and it encompasses the initial brutal battles of the war, as well as the period in which the war went from a closed civil war to a fully international war raging over various regions and dozens of continents. The battles in 2016 would come to exemplify the ferocity of the war, especially between Safehaven and the Second Empire of the Golden Throne.

Weigari Front

Sarcanzan Front

Southern Front

The startling Wegari victory at the First Battle of Mons Dei successfully dislodged status quo on the westernmost continent of Greater Dienstad. Fearing instability to their north, and ripe with power lust of their own, the Havenic government decided to simply replace Fedor I, despite their alliance vows to Jonach I. On 5 June almost have a million Havenic soldiers poured into the Empire's southern provence of Ruska, after a suprise bombardment successfully eliminated local fixed air defenses. Confused border garrisons were bypassed or destroyed within two hours of the attack and over fourty thousand Imperial soldiers began their two month exodus north. Heavy resistance was established in towns, villages and cities, but despite their efforts it was all in vain. Over thirty thousand soldiers were encircled and destroyed within the first three weeks of war.

By the end of June the Havenic Army had advanced up to two hundred kilometers into Ruska. The majority of the Imperial Army now found itself north over the River Styx, with only around sixty thousand soldiers south of the barrier, attempting to slow the enemy advance over a widefront. Despite the small number of defendants it took the Havenic ground forces over three weeks to mop up resistance south of the river thanks to suicidal resistance and near constant bombardment of the Havenic spearheads. It was only through the tenacious defense that Safehaven was forced to stop at the banks of the Styx to redeploy, giving Killian and Imperial defenses another two weeks of respite.

Casualty figures for this period of war are hard to come by. The Golden Throne lost at least 90,000 men in the two months. Southern Ruska was originally occupied by 260,000 men and ultimately another 80,000 would be funneled in to provide further resistance against the Havenic spearheads. Therefore, a total of 340,000 men were at some point in Ruska, meaning that just around 30% of the Imperial Army involucrated with Ruska had been wiped out by the Havenic Army - either killed, missing or irrevocably wounded. It's possible that another 100,000 were wounded, although all these would remain at the front in August, 2016. That gives a total casualty count of 190,000 - well over 50%! On the other hand, Safehaven also suffered stupendously high casualties when taking into consideration their total air supremacy and the lack of enemy cohesiveness. The Havenic Army lost at least 30,000 irrevocable losses and another 50,000 wounded. Despite the apparent disparity in casualty figures, the losses were much easier to replace for the Empire. In fact, by August the River Styx east of Aurillac was defended by over 500,000 men - twice as more as had escaed the grinder of Ruska. Safehaven found it difficult to even bring their army to full strength! It would take Safehaven at least another month to put another half a million men in Ruska.

The excessive loss of personnel life bought the Second Empire much needed time. The two months allowed them to introduce their newest weapons. By the end of July the Laerihans [air force], which had been silent previously, was able to regain a limited presence through the use of new Lu-45/B Hawks and Lu-27 Condors. The new Cougar tank proved to be a valuable counterweight against Havenic M88 Badger Heavy Tanks. Most importantly, infantry were reequipped with more modern armaments - the Hali-42, the Ebro anti-tank missile, the DNR-13 recoilless rifle and the new mechanized mortars. All this, ultimately, proved its importance at Mosnoi Bor. It also allowed them to recreate destroyed divisions. In June the Empire fielded about seven hundred thousand frontline personnel on the ground, throughout the Empire. By August this had doubled, and by September quintupled. Of course, this was unmechanized for the most part, but the size provided enough sheer mass to outweigh their opponents.

By late July Safehaven had deployed its 500,000 men, minus losses, to the banks of the River Styx. He had two major obstacles blocking Fedala in his way - these were Mosnoi Bor and Aurillac. Ultimately, the main target would be Aurillac. Consequently, Mosnoi Bor became a minor playground in comparison with the rest of the war, although in the end Mosnoi Bor would be the most important battle in relevance to the final defeat of the Havenic Army both at Mosnoi Bor itself and Aurillac. It's not effectively clear why Aurillac was chosen as the principle objective for August. One reason may be that Safehaven traduces the Killian deployment as the weakest of the two, especially considering the difficulty in mopping up Imperial resistance post-battle. Following a victory at Aurillac the Havenic forces could have easily cut off the hundreds of thousands of men defending Mosnoi Bor from Fedala, depriving the Empire of one of its largest concentrations of men at the time. It was possible that Safehaven failed to understand the capabilities of mobilization in the Empire, and therefore failed to expect that the numbers of personnel that could successfully defend any given point could multiply exponentially. This would explain why the Havenic operation WATCH ON THE STYX was so small in comparison to that of Aurillac, given the amount of men deployed by the Empire by the time the operation began.

Another reason what the Havenic failed naval attempt to blockade Targul Frumos. It was very possible that Safehaven wished to grab one of the most economically successful port cities in Greater Dienstad before the offensive to take Fedala began, therefore necessitating Aurillac's demise given that Aurillac was the only obstacle near the coast that could derail Safehaven's ultimate economic plans. Even assuming that Safehaven would put their own man on the Golden Throne post-war it's equally as sane that the country would have attempted to integrate the economically prosperous regions of the Empire into their own nation. There are various reasons for the subjecting of Aurillac, but the most important thing to know for now is that it was ultimately chosen over Mosnoi Bor. Mosnoi Bor was to be considered a side show by the Havenic Army. This fact would help in their eventual defeat at these two battles.

However, to avoid having Macabee units reinforcing the defenses of Aurillac Safehaven's commanders decided to fire off an offensive across the River Styx, south of Mosnoi Bor. The offensive was of course a diversion. The task of crossing the River Styx and achieving a limited breakthrough was given to Major General Rafael Fernández and his 48th Mechanized Division. Unfortunately, no clear reinforcements were provided as second echelon troops to exploit any breakthrough achieved, and neither was the 48th truly given an actual objective in the offensive. As a consequence, it would prove to be Haven's first major blunder of the war.

The 48th's attempt to cross the River Styx began August 11th, 2016, with a heavy assault across a shallow point along the riverline. The division faced superior firepower from the beginning, and only a few of the infantry fighting vehicles made it across the river before they were knocked out. Those that survived were forced to disengage shortly thereafter, and General Fernández was forced to rethink his attempt. Unfortunately, the Havenic general would not learn from his mistake. The next day the assault continued at the same point, expecting different results, and too failed after heavy firefights from one bank of the river to the other. There was a third attempt and finally the offensive exchanged initiative for a lull, and on August 15th there were no major attempts to cross the river. However, events on the other side of the river persuaded Fernández to try it again. On the 15th frontline troops of the 48th Division reported hearing massive engine noises that came from one source. However, aerial reconaissance came up with nothing.

It should be important to note the ineffectiveness of Havenic close air support during the battle. Havenic Rains attempting to provide close air support to attacking units were decimated by unseen anti-air artillery cannons ranging from 37mm to 155mm. This had been the same type of resistance found during the border battles, however, by the time Mosnoi Bor saw the first firefights concentration of air defense artillery multiplied by ten. The only air defense provided at Aurillac were mobile Praetorian II batteries, and these only saw action during the latter days of the battle. Consequently, the ground battle between August 11th and August 14th was almost exclusively fought between opposing ground armies, where the Empire achieved superiority almost immediately. Although casualties derived from close air support operations and bombing runs were proportionally higher than those that came from firefights this was mostly due to the Imperial defensive superiority on the ground moreso than the effectivity of the bombing campaign. This is shown during the FESTIVAL counterstroke where Havenic close air support failed to make a single impact. One of the major reasons that bombing failed, other than the concentrated air defenses, was the introduction of the Lu-27 which could commit itself to hit-and-run air tactics before they could be caught by Havenic AWACS aiding the bomber approach.

Irregardless, Fernández renewed the offensive on August 16th using his M88 Badgers to provide mobile artillery support for the crossing AFVs and infantry. Ultimately, the heavy use of artillery by the Macabee Army forces a division between the armour and the crossing by using smoke extensively. Once again, the crossing failed to dent the defense of the crossing points and the invaders were thrown back across the Styx for the fourth time in five days. This time, however, at least the Havenic Army was able to cause damage to rear echelon defensive troops with heavy artillery bombardments and it was perhaps the last few days of the offensive that the most Imperial troops actually died. The 17th saw a probing attempt, but nothing was achieved and the last major offensive attempt was done on the 18th.

The last attempt would prove to be a total debacle for Safehaven. The assault commenced early in the morning and met heavy resistance from across the river. Attempt to supress Imperial fire by Havenic artillery and tanks was thwarted soon thereafter by the sudden appearance of the Morrigan ultra-heavy battle tank, which was able to successfully stop an armoured thrust across the river and then begin shelling the southern banks, effectively putting a stop to armoured support. By mid-day the Morrigan had crossed the river and the 48th Mechanized Division was put to flight. Thus began operation FESTIVAL, the exploitation of the newly created gap.

By 1400 Hours, August 18th, two armoured divisions of Arca. I Cougars and Broadswords exploited the gap. Despite attempts to repatch the hole in their lines the Havenic Army in the area did not have the necessary amount of personnel to put up a serious effort without weakening the rest of their line. Therefore, by August 18th the Havenic Army began a full scale retreat southwards. Sudden mass pressure on the Safehaven's eastern wing began to roll up their frontlines towards the east, pushing for a full encirclement of the one million or so men the Havenic Army had deployed to Ruska by mid-August - Safehaven had originally reinforced their 500,000 men with another 500,000 men after they had been introduced to the bulk of the Imperial Army. Between August 18th and August 22nd the Imperial Army was able to bag up to eighty thousand Havenic troops, all of which would become irrevocable losses for the remainder of the war - there would be no prisoner of war swap. Half of these were killed in battle, and only around 11,000 were ultimately taken prisoner, meaning the rest either killed in battle, missing, or simply died before they could make it to the prepared prison camps in the northern areas of the Empire. This proved to be a fatal loss to Haven, who could not make-up the losses without weakening their renewed offensives toward Aurillac.

By August 22nd the Havenic Army disengaged from Aurillac, as well, putting up many rear fights to protect the retreating army from Killian prodding. By August 24th the offensive picked up as both Hailandkill and the Second Empire put as much pressure as necessary to push back the enemy across the prewar borders. But by that time the offensive was already faltering. A lack of proper logistics that could reach far enough to push them across the border caused the Killian Army to literally stop in their tracks by August 27th, and the next day the general offensive ended and a period of rest and recuperation begun. The groundwork was being laid for Ishme-Dagan.

Zarbian Front

Naval Operations

Gerfaanlich, Izistan and the Colonies

An Explosive End

Further Reading

[| Black Void Sorrounding]
[| A Passion Play]
[| Guffingfordian Troops Amass Near Zarbian Border]
[| Final Curtain Call]