CHAPTER SEVEN: FIELDS OF SALVIOS
There are few universal truths, though two are readily apparent to every soldier afield: war is hell, and death comes for all. To the Abberans we've trapped in the Savannah these are even clearer.
After being cut off from their forces for months the soldiers within the pocket were resorting to eating vermin, saving ammunition until they could spit on us, and succumbing to sickness and disease. However the first sign that they weren't left for dead came in the form of the
Sky Tyrant attempting to cross over our encirclement with Abbera's small fleet of
Argos - their imitation
Charybdis providing cover along with a large number of Abbera's wide variety of airships. While the enemy craft are marked, any glimmer in the distance now often results in scrambling intercepting aircraft. Our
Charybdis craft far outnumbered the escort
Argos, and the better trained, more experienced crews had little issue outperforming their Abberan equivalents. Aerial combat had begun to equalize between the two nations however, and now that Abbera had number of working replicas of our best and only combat aircraft the fight in the air turned slightly in their favor.
The
Sky Tyrant dropped fire and ice on our forces below as it pushed to reach the isolated forces and was joined by an extensive bombardment from the ground and air. The "thin yellow line" of Salviosi forces, almost entirely focused on crushing the pocket, were not quite prepared for the devastating pressure of forces trying to break
in to the pocket as opposed to those trying to break
out. The
Sky Tyrant passed into the pocket with relatively minor damage, however the bombardment from the ground did not stop.
In an attempt to keep from fighting in two directions at once, we began launching offensives from the southern line while the troops preventing Abberan retreat were forced to hold their ground and hope that they wouldn't be blown to bits for so much as trying to take a shit outside of their trenches. The Abberan troops were quick to withdraw as our forces pushed into the pocket, though not without resistance at every turn.
Salviosi artillery fell upon the pocket, but the forward lines, most easily and accurately targeted, held hard-to-target skeleton crews, and so we had to resort to crushing the Abberans on foot. A number of days passed and Salvios had made solid gains with losses building on both sides. However on the sixth day of the push the Salviosi came across empty trenches. Distant specks above the last Abberan strongpoints lit up as
Orleans craft and the
Sky Tyrant opened fire on the positions they had left abandoned. At the same time on the other side of the pocket the most intense, devastating, and extensive artillery bombardment throughout the war had begun and would persist for an entire 24 hours. The Salviosi trying to hold the thin line began to get momentary relief as sections of the trenches saw their bombardments ease up, only to become the target of forces dedicated to breaking through at these select point. The Abberans within the pocket continued roll back to their final line, with many foolishly throwing themselves at certain death in order to delay our incoming forces while artillery zeroed in on them.
Tired, hungry, dehydrated, and suffering from afflictions both physical and psychological, the survivors in the pocket began to push against the Salviosi line between them and their brothers in arms.
Bullets flew overhead and grenades fired from our rifle launchers, as unreliable as they were, still inflicted casualties among the Abberans. Having squeezed the pocket as tightly as possible, though at
great cost, we began our own bombardment on the pocket. With nowhere to run, and with no relief in sight, it seemed as though victory was inevitable. Fighting was bloody, intense, and unforgiving. Both sides engaging in this fight were nearly broken and had been painted into a corner with no choice but to fight or die. Unwilling to bombard the men they were trying so hard to save the Abberan artillery ceased firing on the forces approaching from the south as they'd crossed No Man's Land and had begun fighting in close quarters. The few
Halberds left with ammo and charged Sparkpacks focused on the armored Salviosi while Abberas own remaining armored infantry utilized themselves as highly mobile firing posts. Our marksmen were capable of picking off targets aplenty, but in close quarters their infantry were unmatched by our own.
Our southern forces pulled back, though a breakthrough had yet to be achieved to the north.
Our officer's whistles blew again. Again they were repelled, but not without severe losses for both sides. This occurred five more times throughout the day as we tried to probe the Abberan force's last stand, and we were forced to withdraw each time.The Salviosi north of the pocket suffered consistent bombardment, and eventually a single Gendarme crested a "hill", if a series of craters deforming the earth could create such a thing. It was destroyed by a bunker gun almost as soon as it appeared, but that was all the Abberans needed. A single knight in
Crusader armor decorated in countless commendations with stylized pauldrons in the shape of a lion's head jumped from the trench and began charging our lines while shouting in one of the Old Languages.
"GOTT MIT UNS!"Abbera wasn't known as a religious nation, but strange things happen in a warzone. Soon the entire line was filled with the ancient war cry.
"GOTT MIT UNS!" The cry poured from each man's mouth as they followed the Lion of the North.
"GOTT MIT UNS!"The rallied soldiers jumped the bags and charged the sections of the line already pressured by the Abberan attempts at breaking through. With whole sections of the line charging out of position the Abberan artillery was able to resume bombardment of the southern forces trying to close back in on the Abberans. Soon, split in multiple places, our line could no longer hold the Abberans at bay.
The engagement continued, but both sides had broken themselves against one another, and soon they were all forced to hold their ground and recuperate. While overall Salvios gained ground in the Savannah,
increasing control to 90%, the Abberans in the pocket were rescued and a decisive victory denied to us. While we didn't complete all we set out to do, we still view this as a
Salviosi Victory!.
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We won the battle, but at a price no nation should have to pay - 3000 casualties, 15% of our army, though as time goes on our soldiers who get Ambrosia treatment will trickle back into combat and provide invaluable combat experience). Unfortunately due to the enemy's tactics this turn there were a lot more large wounds than small, smearable ones, but they suffered plenty of irreplacable losses as well. It is now the
Design Phase, so prepare and plan accordingly!
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Topic: Industrialized Warfare: Salvios Thread / 1917 A.C. Cold Season (COMPLETE) (Read 101676 times)