Chapter 13: Designated Day
The Solar League and Internationale had claimed victory in North Africa, The Middle Eastern Front line continues to escalate and Malta would be the site of the first New World Order territory taken in the war, allowing Aircraft and Naval operations upwards into the Mediterranean. In America, a Climactic Naval battle would enable the Trans-Pacific pact to lick their wounds and retreat into Union State territories to hold off the Americans. All the while Scandinavia, the Shun Dynasty and the Pegu State remain neutral as the world slowly and surely burns to ash.
With the Summer of 1943 in full swing the way forward at least for the New World order looked to be pressing the Russian and Caucasian Slavic Armies further south to retake Shirvan and pressure the middle eastern fronts while defenses in Anatolia could be prepared.
For the Solar League and International it would instead be expanding Air and Naval Influence in the Mediterranean as well as pushing in the same areas of the Middle East. The Solar League itself also needing to make plans to return to the homeland as soon as possible.
Through the summer however the frontline in the middle east was once again looking grim. Reinforcements from the resolved Caucasian frontline had streamed south and in combination with further troops and equipment from Europe, namely the Spanish who no longer had African commitments had forced the International outside of the city limits of Shirvan and now laid at the gates of Persia. In the west Mosul was under threat with a major armored push attempting to push as far south as possible.
This would be a staggering success, effectively reversing the counterpush at Aleppo and further placing strain on the Khitan 3rd Army and 22nd Armored who now were finding themselves outnumbered and outgunned by new Bohemian armored divisions, supported Russian conscripts. The Internationale meanwhile was still reassembling itself to fight a long war to retake Anatolia and recover from losses in greece.
(The Cz.42 Model 10 Medium(Top) and Cz.43 Model 4 Heavy(Bottom) Tanks)
The NWO would credit the staggering success due to the implementation of thier new 1942+ Model armored divisions, equipped with more powerful anti tank armaments and sloped armor. The Cz.42 Model effectively being a modified copy of the Defiant series of tanks fielded by the Khitan Empire, while the Cz.43 Model being a more experimental Medium-Heavy tank hybrid with more advanced parts for use as a long ranged breakthrough vehicle. The appearance of both vehicles on the field had changed Solar League armour priorities drastically, the Defiant series which had managed to work as a stopgap was now out of date despite continued revisions to the design. The prospect of seeing such armor in greater numbers in Europe however was the top concern.
In terms of actually effectiveness the Breaktrhough in the summer of 43 came not from new armored divisions but a lack of defenders as the Khitan Army recalled the 4th Exile Expeditionaries from bases on the Front to west africa for redeployment. Similarly the Khitan 2nd Exiles Army did not redeploy to the middle east as planned due to continued criticism on turning the war until a 'Greek War' especially with the Khitan Marines holding onto Malta.
On the Technological front, the Khitan Army put pressure on both the Kiwi Tank Company and Westing to produce counters to the new series of Czech tanks being seen in the middle east. The KTC had recently finished thier research on the so called 'Champion' revision to the defiant which was proposed for final testing in late August. Westing however had nothing but anti tank rifles and field guns which allowed Formosa Arms to instead steal the military contract for a man portable anti tank weapon.
The I-PAT or Infantry-Portable Anti Tank weapon would be the natural response and debatably long awaited response to the domination of armored and mechanized divisions on the field of battle. Just as the musket had changed the nature of cavalry so to was Anti Tank Weaponry expected to do the same to the Tank.
The I-PAT featured a spring launched, shaped charge warhead capable of burning through the side or in some cases front armor of a tank or other vehicle and render it inoperable through killing or wounding the crew. In practice the weapon often could not destroy a tank in a single hit but could incapacitate at least some of the crew or destroy essential equipment inside. The Design would later be copied by the NWO who would use a rocket propelled projectile to produce the same effect. The SBU's solution to increased Armour however was more novel, increasing the level of portable anti tank guns such per unit to staggeringly high levels, as Manpower both to occupy the enemy and crew larger weapon system was viewed to be cheaper than complex anti tank machinery which took time and retooling to manufacture.
(The Battle Tank Model 1944 'Champion' with the 11th 'Wolfhounds' Exile Cavalry division)
The BTM1944 Champion meanwhile would be the culmination of the planned changes to the Defiant series of tanks. Originally the defiant was planned to house an 85mm Gun but between ergonomics and a simple lack of need the project was dropped. The Kiwi Armor Company however had renewed the plans, feeling that an upgraded and streamlined Defiant series would be superior to develop during wartime than a completly new design.
With the intelligence reports of early 1943 and the Under-performance of the defiance against the CZ.41 Heavy Tanks they had been proven right, and plans proceeded to a Defiant with the turret of the planned BTM.1944 'Hercules', a completely new tank that was expected to replace the defiant. after initial tests with the 85mm Gun and Hercules turret, a new crew member was added alongside new Internals and extra armor. By Summer the project had been given official designation and the new revised defiants were ordered en-masse under the callsign 'Champion' while the Hercules battle tank concept was abandoned.
Alongside the Champion designs were finalized to finally replace the ailing and failing 1940 Golem Heavy tank. The Paragon, which was significantly heavier and expensive was to serve as the basis for an affordable breakthrough tank to be used in infantry support and plans had been drawn up since 1942 for its implementation but design had stalled mostly due to the cost of the project.
With the 2nd Paragon Unit pressed into service to retake Shirvan July, the plans which had continually been revised over the last year and a half were given approval by the army for production. The ITM-1944 'Barbarian' would see the light of day.
(ITM1944-C 'Barbarian' at a field test in Northern England in service with the 103rd German Cavalry, 1944)
The Barbarian quickly hit production lines, primarily at the Golem production facilitates at Johannesburg, South Africa after some retooling. It would end up quickly finding its way into the 22nd Armored Corp and 16th Armored Corp, the later being composed primarily of exile divisions from the Netherlands, Holstein and Bavaria who had nothing but good things to say about the vehicle, its armor and its formidable weapon, the 90mm 'Gungir' Anti Aircraft Gun. The Barbarian Model A and beyond would expand the weapon to the 120mm 'Mjlonir' Flak Gun used on the Paragon Breakthrough tank. Capable of putting down any armored vehicle on the planet it soon established a niche roll for itself as a tank hunter and breakthrough machine, despite continued reliability issues and concerns with fuel consumption.
Following the success of Malta the Khitan Marines staged another daring landing this time for the Isle of Sardinia. Sicily and Mallorca had both been considered as potential landing spots but were both shot down. In the Former's case it was the worry about a concentrated Italian force making the landing far more difficult than anticipated, potentially resulting in the depletion of the Marine task force and weakening of further invasions afield. In the later's case, Naval command felt that Spain would not be as threatened as Italy in the event of success as Rome lay just beyond Sardinia while the Spanish capital still laid behind the Iberian mountain range.
Sardinia itself had the added effect of enabling a 'Southern' invasion into the Khitan empire through burgundy as well as any invasion all along the Catalonian, Occitan or Italian west coasts. This would further put a tax to the manpower of the NWO forcing them to plan for every contingency while the Khitan Navy could operate relatively unhindered in the Atlantic at the same time.
On the scientific front, July had been a fairly notable month. The Scientific Bureau for Alternative Energy had successful tested and built a practical Nuclear reactor based upon fission principles. After the successful test however news of the Alternative Energy team went dark, the team dissipated and the reactor test site in Australia was abandoned and stripped. Funding for the IBS meanwhile doubled over the next few weeks for classified designations.
In the Airwar the KAF was now putting effort into both the Core territories of the NWO. A Heavy strategic bombing campaign centered from Captured Airfields in Sardinia and secure bases in Morrocco had begun as quickly as possible during the Fall of 1943. The Campaign would be focused around primarily disabling military industry through civilian structures were often destroyed as a consequence of these raids.
The 4th Air Wing in Algers meanwhile focused entirely on establishing Naval superiority along the supply routes between Sardinia and Tunisia, harming any naval effort to disrupt supplies heading to the new base in the Mediterranean
In the North, the KAF had a different strategy focused more around hunting down enemy aircraft and strafing them or bombing them in their hangars. Heavy Bombers meanwhile focused around disabling dams and other infrastructure deep in Bavaria to disrupt supply lines heading west from Bohemia and forcing them up into Northern Germany. In Northern France, where defenses had been prepared over the last three years Anti Aircraft fire and existing fighter garrisons had managed to pose significant resistance to the KAF who still was adopting the F-12 across its various air wings.
The British, who were also present in this theater continued to focus around Island defend, hunting down submarines and protecting convoys moving to and from the isles.
In the East, the Khitan Expeditionaries had opted into a Fall offensive. All across the front the aim was clear, to push the NWO out of Mosul and back up into Dulkadir, hoping to eventually link back up with the encircled divisions in the highlands near Malatya.
Initially the assault had some success and in the flatland of old Assyria and the Syrian desert the NWO had been pushed convincingly back. This however would change as 3rd Army returned to the Anatolian mountains where they found well prepared positions and further reinforcements from Russia, Spain and Italy.
The Initial push to retake Malatya would fail in early September with the 13th Mountaineers being stopped and suppressed just outside the gates of the city itself. With tank support being required further south in concentrated numbers to overwhelm the Bohemians, any further advances from the 13th and supporting Greek divisions had been halted and the entire strike force was now being pushed back, taking heavy losses the whole way.
Supplies into the salient were poor as well, with many men being reported to have died of Heat Stroke and dehydration after days of intense warfare in the desert mountains of East Anatolia. The NWO, affirmed of its hold moved to close the Malatya pocket with haste and make preparations for a hold along the Ceyhan River.
By November Dorian Black's 22nd Armored had arrived at Malataya and had decisively broken right through the lines of Southeastern Anatolia in hopes of driving to the lost 103rd Infantry. By the time the Siege of the city had ended all three army divisions had been encircled and destroyed.
In the Course of the brief autumn counter attack the NWO advance had been reversed, at least in the west, but at cost. Nearly a Quarter Million Internationale had lied dead with another Hundred Thousand Solar League troops, as well as countless tanks, trucks and supplies. Victory had come but it had come with a bitter taste. The Greeks however once again had reclaimed another city which meant further recruits, further reclamation of industry and further resources, with each success the Khitan expeditionary army would be growing weaker but the Internationale would be growing in potential strength.
The Winter of late 1943 and Early 1944 would surprisingly go by relatively uneventfully. While the front in the middle east would not be quieted due to weather as it would have in Europe, lower production and difficulty moving supplies had made the New World Order reluctant to counter attack in Anatolia. This left Arthur Belmore in a position to continue his consolidation at home. Emperor Idris was nearly sixteen and would likely become a prominent figure in Imperial Politics, especially during a potential return and reorganization of the Republic.
(Idris IV, In Military Dress, 1945)
The Emperor despite all this time still had support, arguably more than ever due to the increased importance of the Colonies with the Navy still serving a role as well if not as prominent as before. President Belmore needed to protect against a potential coup and with most of his electoral rivals towing the line of the Grand Coalition the last rogue element was the arguably untouchable monarch.
What Belmore could do however was attack the Monarch's supporters. Prominent but nonessential officers were removed from positions, demoted or sent to do nothing posts in China, Australia or South Africa. Monarchist politicians similarly were easy to silence and steps were made to ensure they stayed that way. The Propaganda ministry meanwhile told a different story, of the Monarch supporting the Republic with even the young Idris being coerced into 'helping' the war effort by lending his legitimacy to the Coalition Government. By spring however long laid plans had to be set into motion, ones that could change the outcome of the entire war.
In the Channel the Khitan Atlantic fleet had returned in force attacking the New World Order all along the coastline through use of heavy shore bombardments and bombing campaigns. Raids were undertaken in several key bases and Submarine pens, primarily based in Britanny were bombed or otherwise sabotaged.
The Main effort and wing of the fleet focused on a less obvious target, the lost super battleship, the supremacy, hunting her in her traditional stomping grounds of the North sea and harassing the ship with aircraft and submarines by night and tempting her with detached escorts by day.
Eventually the bait had proven to hard to resist and the Supremacy had attacked the light carrier Trinity and her escorts of the coast of Flylan. In the resulting battle the Trinity was lost but the Supremacy had been pulled further out to sea where she had been layed on target by the Guns of the Ultimate, Goliath and Maximum.
In a Three hour long sluggfest the Supremacy and her escorts the battlecruisers Aleksander and Vladimir had managed to critically damage the Ultimate and two of her escort craft. The Goliath meanwhile had to disengage leaving the Maximum which had landed several shots on the Aleksander.
Aircraft however would prove to be the crucial edge against the ship. Wings of Naval bombers could easily pierce the Supremacy's air defense perimeter more easily than more modern ships and when the Vladimir suffered a catatrophic explosion in her aft magazine from Goliath's parting volley the Supremacy had turned to shore.
Limping and alone the Super Battleship would make it only halfway back to saftey before a Torpedo would bring her down, ending a three year reign of terror and earning the Maximum, the last remaining ship to lay sights on the Monster a place in history, despite aircraft being the key factor.
In the Following weeks the Navy would announce the Maximum class, to be built once materials could be made available, with upgraded guns and belt armor. Designed to be the premier battleship of the war, with increased speed and of course a resilient and powerful anti aircraft network of guns to keep the ship safe. The original name of the class, Ultima, was dropped due to Navy considering it to be in poor taste following the Ultimate's sinking.
With the Supremacy at the bottom of the Channel and Air Supremacy continually assured the time had come to finally begin a real push against the New World Order.
The New World Order however had been making preparations and have had spies waiting for a potential landing in Avalon since the exile. The Location of such a landing however was a matter of debate, as four major locations were possible. The Breton Peninsula was an easy front to contain and support through naval action but was far from England and had limited naval bases in which to take to keep such an invasion supplied. Normandy was closer, had adequate naval bases and could be isolated from attempted to throw any invasion force back into the sea due to the Sienne. Calais was closer still but too obvious as a location and the most heavily defended of the four. The Final would be Antwerp and the Netherlands which held the same advantages as Britanny but also many of the same disadvantages except it was also culturally dutch.
The New world order, from a combination on coastal raids and bombing campaigns as well as thier own intelligence assumed that the Invasion would have to strike Normandy in force, where it would then explode out into Picardie and Brittany in all directions before adequate forces could response. The High leadership of the SBU thinking in nationalist terms similarly ruled out the lowlands as any potential site of a landing due to assuming the Khitan Republic would put lower priority on the dutch and higher priority on the ethnically pure Khitan regions of Avalon. In reality this couldn't be farther from the truth and the Normandy was a complete hoax, dreamt up by British intelligence agents to fool the NWO into placing important assets on the wrong side of the Sienne.
Meanwhile in the east things were once again spiraling out of control. Less and less aid flowing into the Greek Front had once again caused a collapse along the center line in Anatolia. General Dorian Black's 22nd Armored, having recently redeployed to Lebanon with plans for deployment in Europe had to be recalled to prevent the loss of Bagadad. Meanwhile the pressure to move forward with plans in Europe was now mounting, and finally on April 17th, 1944 General Francis Dumont, head of allied operations in Northern Europe would pull the trigger.
It would be named Designated day, an operation that would go down in history as the largest scale naval invasion with over two million men taking part and on two large swathes of coastline in the Khitan Republic. The Invasion itself consisted of two prongs codenamed Buddy and Spike with a third airborn paratrooper detachment serving as support in both to slow down and hamper enemy efforts to contain the landings.
When April 17th had arrived, Thousands of troops boarded landing craft and stormed the beaches, Khitan beaches. Despite the loss of life and the near insurmountable task of climbing the atlantic wall, The Army had returned. Amidst a hail of naval bombardment and the scream of aircraft overhead the Khitan 1st Exile Army had landed in Picardie, while the Khitan 4th Marine Army landed in upper Holland.
The Efforts in Holland quickly appeared to be a staggering success. With less resistance than expected the airfield at Bakkum had been taken, with further landings up and down the peninsula and all along the barrier islands seizing the region for the Republic.
However resistance quickly had begun to mount in the North and the New world order wasted no time deploying armor to contain the potentially dangerous northern landing. In the South, the most important landing at Calais by the British and Khitan 1st had also been successful, but had stop to allow for a repair of local port facilities at
Boulogne and Dunkirk.
The good news in the north however quickly evaporated as the port facilities at amsterdam had been sabotage and now heavy air bombing and shelling from across the frontline had made the lives of the 4th a living hell. Pinned along the coastline and bleeding manpower and supplies the marines were ordered to dig in and hold as long as possible while a breakthrough in the south could be arranged.
By June the Dutch front had been pushed up into the peninsula again by NWO armored divisions. Bleeding men and supply by the day, General Conrad Green ordered a retreat and evacuation from the Netherlands, the Northern landing had effectively been a success and a failure at the same time. For the people of the liberated Netherlands the ecstasy of liberation had quickly been replaced with the horror of yet another retreat. Further attempts into Cathay would need to be made, from the Southern front, from Dunkirk.
And attempts there were. In Short order more reinforcements had poured across the channel to bolster the Khitan army. General Dumont had pushed to the Sienne river and the gates of Paris alongside the British and greater Imperial forces. On June 2nd Cambray had been reclaimed by Republican forces and by the 12th Shelling had begun on NWO positions on the outskirts of Antwerp.
The New World order could only stagger in shock at what had happened, another front had opened, the British had arrived and the Republic, the great dragon thought slain had returned to its lair, wounded but filled with a fury unmatched by any beast the world had seen.
The Whole world could now only wait to see what it did next.
