Voor Koning en Vaderland!

[Centurius]

Two Weeks Earlier

Many called it the greatest event since the Imperial Wedding a decade earlier, the marriage of the Prince of Orange and Duchess of Luxembourg. However as always there were also those opposed to it, for years the Internal Intelligence Agency had been tracking a domestic separatist organization of Dutchmen in Northern France and Wallonia. While until recently the intelligence community as a whole had considered them harmless there had long been suspicions the organization received funding from a foreign actor. The Noord-Unie Staat being a prime suspect. It wasn’t until this very day that the IIA had finally received what they believed conclusive evidence of Noord-Unie involvement but for now it would be too late. As the car drove through the streets of Liege a man pushed himself past the High Guard and ran onto the road in front of the car.

“Voor volk en vaderland!” He yelled before emptying the magazine on his gun on the open car. High Guard managed to get him down but not before hitting the driver, a personal guard and the Prince himself. Both the driver and guard were pronounced dead on the scene while the Prince was taken to the hospital in a critical condition.
The shooter was quickly taken to an Advanced Interrogation Facility in Mali where after two days of questioning he confessed to being a member of the separatist group and admitted the Noord-Unie Staat had paid him off. By order of the Director-General of Intelligence and Special Operations all transcripts of the interrogation and all information relating to the case were declared top secret.

One Week Earlier

As investigations continued and more and more people were involved leaks would start, slowly the press were informed of the organization suspected and the nature of their funding. Through all formal channels all knowledge would be denied and the official position remained that it was expected to be a rogue individual acting on his own. However this would not be enough as thousands of citizens in the recently established Duchy of Luxembourg and Wallonia went to the street. In other regions of the Athenian Federation such as the Atlantic Free State and Athens itself Dutch minorities would also protest what they felt to be a lack of action from the government. The Hellenic Army would be deployed to the Duchy to guarantee law and order.

Today

Following continued protests and the Directorate-General formally reporting its findings to the Imperial Palace and Council of Magistrates a press conference was announced. As the cameras turned to the Megale Autokrateira the Athenian flag was flown in the background but next to it was a flag not seen in a very long time. The red-white-blue flag of the Netherlands.

Drastic Measures

“Citizens of the Athenian Federation and the world, I come today to you to report on a grave injustice. The attempted assassination of the Prince of Orange which resulted in the deaths of two citizens of this Federation. Two of our brothers. While the Prince is in a stable condition at his home this Federation requires retribution. A few hours ago I have been issued a report describing the involvement of the Noord-Unie Staat in the attempted assassination. This is only the most recent in a series of actions threatening the stability of the European continent and the subjects of that nation.

The Noord-Unie Staat’s offences against its own people and its neighbours cannot be tolerated. Therefore I have been left with no other choice than to dissolve the Noord-Unie Staat effective immediately and declaring its government fugitive. As it is clear that the government of this now dissolved state can no longer function I am declaring martial law and announcing a no-fly zone.

At this point in time I request the Sovereign Initiative to not engage in military support however I do request its political and diplomatic support. Furthermore I am inviting other states involved in Scandinavian affairs to join in this police operation”

---

With the politicians and diplomats having had their say it was now time for the military to kick in. Ever since the collapse of the Nordic Socialist government Imperial Intelligence had mapped bases and specifics about these bases. Following independence satellite surveillance continued to observe countries for signs of new constructions. While most states had since independence changed around military structures there had been no evidence of any such effort by the Noord-Unie Staat as such the decision on how to proceed was made quickly by the Imperial Security Council. With confirmations from various parties in Europe the orders for the Hellenic Forces were to focus the bulk of its attack on the Netherlands and Flanders while acting in a supporting role on all other fronts until the former was accomplished. As such the first strike would come from both the seas, ground, space and air.

The first stage, space, would consist of a total of 50 ICBMs being launched from bases throughout the Athenian Federation mere seconds after the announcement. These would be headed for key installations throughout the Noord-Unie Staat on basis of size but special focus was placed on the navy bases in Den Helder and Zeebrugge, the Air Force bases in Volkel and Leeuwaarden and the Army bases in The Hague, Ede, Schaarsbergen and Soesterberg. Each of these would receive two ICBMs which themselves contained ten re-entry vehicles of which one was an EMP and the others a combination of high explosive and kinetic systems to guarantee maximum damage to the targeted bases but avoid collateral damage. Of the remaining 32 ICBMs another twelve would each target one of the remaining bases in the Low Countries. The final twenty would target Air Force and Naval bases in Norway.

The second stage, air and ground, would see the Hellenic Army and Hellenic Air Force work together in a way not seen often before. Using satellite information and imaging for U-2s sent over the Noord-Unie Staat damage from the missile strikes would be assessed while new ones were being established. For those within Flanders the Hellenic Army had already prepared an array of ground-launched M100s. Only half an hour after the missile strike, and anticipating widespread chaos due to the surprise of the initial strike, two hundred of these M100s were launched at Army, Air Force and Navy bases in Belgium. Each missile being armed with one 200kg HDRM warhead with two additional 50kg effectors would seek to target and destroy facilities and military equipment. Special focus was placed on grounded aircraft. A second strike aimed at the enemy Air Force would come in the form of a B-2 squadron hovering over Wallonia firing 300 anti-radiation weapons into the Low Countries to destroy enemy RADAR and communications. These bombers would also shoot another 84 M100s armed with runway cratering cluster munitions at Air Force bases in Flanders and the Southern Netherlands.

In a much larger air offensive ten F-1 squadrons operating from bases in France and Wallonia and three F-3 squadrons operating from the HNS Athena entered the airspace following the attacks to take out enemy RADAR. Goal of these aircraft would be to guarantee air supremacy over hostile air space and deal with any aircraft lucky enough to have survived the initial onslaught. Simulataneously to these efforts three B-1 squadrons would fly over the English Channel and North Sea as they released 576 ER-M100s in total. 376 of these targeted Air Force bases in the North of the Netherlands and would have a similar composition as the runway cratering missiles launched before. The remaining 400 missiles would maintain a sea-skimming attack profile and target Noord-Unie ships in port and within Dutch and Flemish territorial waters. Upon reaching their targets the missiles would pop up at the last possible moment and leverage their independent effectors to spread the damage and optimize the chances of success.

These efforts would be reinforced by the launch of the launch of ASBMs at surviving ships to clear the Dutch and Flemish coasts of any hostile ships and clear the way for a Marine landing.

Task Forces 1 and 9, having already established themselves in the North Sea earlier for exercises and leveraging the confusion in the British Isles to deploy itself strategically to cut off the Low Countries from access to the seas while remaining dispersed to make pinpointing exact locations significantly more difficult, would turn against the Netherlands and Flanders. From various ships a total of one hundred ER-M100s were launched, these missiles would target all naval bases(including those hit before) along the enemy coast to guarantee they were out for good.

In the end all of these attacks established the basics for the final stage of the initial offensive. The First and Second Divisions of the I Corps of the First Army of the Hellenic Army would rapidly move over the border into the Flemish border regions and into such cities as Brussels to leverage the general chaos over the war and attacks to march deep into enemy territory and raise the Athenian flag over it.

At the same time the Imperial Security Council was well aware of the need to assume control over specific installations to control the region and cripple the enemy economy to make the locals dependent on Athenian forces for their wealth. To facilitate this several special operations would be ordered as soon as air superiority was confirmed. The first was the to be conducted by 116 of the 800-man strong Hellenic Air Force Manticores would be dropped over Antwerp to quickly assume control of port facilities and render it out of use until the main invasion force could establish more permanent control. In another operation(jointly between the Marine Paratroopers from the Fourth Army of the Hellenic Marine Corps and Razor Special Operations) 3000 Marines and 220 Razors were dropped over the Hague to take control of the Binnenhof to render the regional government obsolete. Members of government found would be detained by the Hellenic Forces and held as hostages to deter any counter-attack.

All of these air-based operations would find themselves protected by the fighter aircraft in the air.

[Zoot Zoot]

When the signal reached the Norse fleets respectively in the North and Arctic Sea's that Athens  had begun the attack, they too, would swoop into action.

 

Short range ballistic missiles fired from Arsenal ships throughout the entire fleet would streak away from the warships and towards Norway, with programmed targets gleaned from satellite analysis of Norwegian military facilities. The missile assault would focus on radar stations, military bases and other items of strategic importance. Those missiles fired towards airbases and airports would carry a mixed payload of high explosive and cluster warheads with the aim of cratering any runways and causing massive damage to the housing of military equipment such as aircraft and ground formations. Munitions depots, fuel depots and arsenals would also be targeted by the enormous assault which would strike across Norway from the south, all the way up to the northern wastes. Hundreds of missiles would be fired.

 

Second to this, the fleets cruisers and and destroyers would launch their own attack comprised of sub sonic and supersonic cruise missiles to saturate the more mobile forces of Norway's military infrastructure such as mobile anti air, radar units and static defences, as well as supplementing the arsenal ships own assault.
 

Aircraft from all seven carriers, primarily F-35C's and F-14++ jets would begin the massive first wave aerial assault to dominate Norwegian skies. With the F-14's primarily to dominate the skies from the carrier fleets, the F-35's would carry mixed payloads to assault ground targets. Military command and control which had been identified with satellites would be attack mercilessly by JDAMs as well as any targets of opportunity which presented themselves. Once the ground attack munitions had been expended, the F-35's would aid the F-14's in dominating the airspace, actively hunting down any Norwegian military aircraft which made it into the air, that is assuming it could take off. This air attack would be supplemented by Tornado ECR++ aircraft which would jam surviving enemy air defences and provide an EWAR assault on any enemy aircraft.

 

From the Kingdom proper, the thousands of aircraft on readiness due to the 'exercises', had begun filling the skies in waves to ensure complete and utter saturation of the enemies air and ground forces. Fifteen squadrons of B-2's would break off into fifteen independent squadrons and begin SEAD operations using long range air to surface missiles and smart bombs, these would be maintained for as long as required by the remaining fifteen squadrons which would maintain rotation over Jutland and the north sea. To support the B-2's SEAD operations and the deep strike missions being run by F-35's and the F-14's,  thirty squadrons of Tu-160 supersonic bombers would operate on the same basis as the B-2;s, but using their speed to strike hard at Norway's military infrastructure and military forces on the ground using payloads of long range air to surface missiles with HE and fragmenting warheads. Five squadrons of Blackjacks would operate on an air support basis, providing heavy missile truck roles to support the air dominance campaign.

 

F-15E Silent Eagles would operate in the same role as the F-35 squadrons, only on a much larger scale. With twenty squadrons of F-15's in the first few waves, their part in the aerial supremacy attack would be kept rolling with replacement squadrons from the reserve pools of aircraft. These would be supplemented by  ten squadrons of A-10 II's to focus on enemy ground formations.

 

Twenty five squadrons of Saab JAS 39 Gripens++, twenty five squadrons of Typhoons++, ten squadrons of MiG-35's and ten squadrons of F-22's++  would begin the second phase of the assault in tandem with the heavy SEAD operations, which would be the mission to dominate and destroy the Norwegian air force in its entirety. Supported by naval, land and air based radar systems, the fighters would systematically hunt down and wipe out any hostile aircraft they detected with overwhelming force and aggression. This would be sustained by the massive reserve pool for continually rolling SEAD and AA operations to cover the ground assaults.
 

The ground assault would come from the MEU's situated with the fleets comprised of forces of the North Sea and Baltic Marine Commando Divisions. These forces, hindered by the terrain, would deploy from helicopters to secure Bergen and Stavanger, towns which would be covered by the massive aerial assault taking place overhead. It would be under the covering firepower of the air force that would allow the landing ships to get close into the towns seafronts and begin deploying armoured forces from hovercrafts and more heavy infantry from AAV's.
 

The Marines mission in these towns would be to secure local weaponry and the local Government as well as establish a fortified beachead and forward HQ. All armed resistance would be wiped out as and when encountered, with the use of aggressive tactics, light artillery support and armoured vehicles in the form of the M33-A3 Marine Battle Tank, MT-41A2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle and the M-102 Armoured Personnel Carrier, not to mention a host of smaller, lighter armoured vehicles.
 

Advance elements of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th Commando regiments would spearhead attacks to secure Hardangerfjord bridge and any military installations in the area. The remaining Marine forces would stay in the two towns, fortifying and consolidating the positions until new orders were received.

From Jutland, airborne forces including the entire Norse Parachute Regiment would begin an invasion of Norway by air with the aim of seizing Oslo. Two Para line regiments would spearhead the attack as they landed in the areas around Oslo to shut down the roads. Both Special Forces support regiments would then follow, transported by heavy helicopters and transport aircraft directly into and around Oslo with the support of the Engineer and light artillery regiments. To support the Para assault on Oslo, the Norse SAS would mount its own assault, targeting the government buildings and known residences of Norwegian government officials in Norway by using helicopters with stealth imbuing features to infiltrate the city and begin their own attack. Not only would they try to capture the Government, but they would begin destroying any communications infrastructure that was missed by the air force. To support this attack, the Norse SBS, using its twenty five ship fleet of LCS's would large a massive attack up the waterways leading to Oslo to seize the strategic settlements that covered the inlet supported by attack helicopters and strike aircraft. Providing overall support of this operation would be several AC-130 gunships which would be protected by the vast number of air forces dominating the sky. Forward air controllers with the ground units would call in air strikes as and when necessary.
 

Overall battle command would be observed by live satellite data links, J-STARS and AWACS, and response from the Norwegians in terms of a counter offensive would be detected and quashed with overwhelming aerial force and missile bombardment.

[jeff744]

Televisions across Sweden cut to a dark room with the only light shining down on a hooded man tied to a chair. Another man walked over to the seated man and pulled off the hood to reveal King Gjord. The man held up a note in front of King Gjord and said “read or we disband the corgi corps.” King Gjord had an instant look of terror and began speaking “For their crimes against the Prince of Orange Sweden has no choice but to join Athens in declaring war on Noord-Unie Staat”. After finishing his sentence the screens returned to normal.

 

Simultaneously with the Athenian forces the Swedish launched their own attack. the first wave consisted of 200 Perseus Cruise missiles being launched. 10 of them set aside for wiping out the only Norwegian radar station north of Nord-Trondelag, Sorreisa. Another 15 were dedicated to striking the naval base at Sortland to cripple the sole Norwegian naval base in the north. The remainder would target the numerous air force and army bases in and north of Nord-Trondelag, emphasizing strikes on runways and munition depots.

 

The Swedish Air Force would wait to launch their air attacks simultaneously with the NordBoerne Kongedomme. When the attack finally did occur 20 Squadrons of F-2 Mitalexis targeted bases in Nord-Trondelag and north. One squadron was primarily carrying AGM-130 and AGM-88 HARM and were tasked with ensuring the destruction of the radar base Sorreisa. The remainder was carrying 6 AGM-154A and 2 Air-Air missiles. They would make use of the extended range of the AGM-154 to strike the air and army bases from a distance before returning to base to rearm. The attack by the 19 squadrons would result in a total of 228 AGM-154As being launched, upon reaching their targets each bomb would release 154 BLU-97/B CEBs, totally over 70,000 CEBs.

 

The second main air group consisted of a further 20 squadons. They would have the same loadout of 6 AGM-154s and 2 Air-Air missiles. They would target army, air, and naval bases located in Oslo and north of the city. Their attacks would be timed to coincide with the arrival of the Norse air forces.

 

The Swedish army would primarily take up a defensive role along the border of Sweden and Norway. The army would make use of thousands of small outposts along the border consisting of only a few soldiers each while the majority of the forces positioned themselves into rapid response teams. M1201 Reconnaissance and Surveillance Vehicles would also run patrols along the border to detect any potential breaks in the event the enemy is able to avoid detection. The outposts would send check in messages to a larger check in point every 10 minutes to ensure that even complete elimination of an outpost would not result in a large break of defensive line integrity. The check in code would be changed every hour to prevent the enemy from creating a false check in signal. These larger outposts would also send their own check in messages every 10 minutes to larger ones, and so on. In the event of enemy activity being spotted every stage is capable of contacting the rapid response teams independently. Once spotted the teams would use M1 Cerberus, M1202, M1203, M1204, and M1206 to respond to the enemy activity. The scale of the response would vary heavily based on the scale of enemy activity.

Edited April 10, 2014 by jeff744

[Yawoo]

Prussia's representative to allied command in Strasbourg would offer allied armies the ability to use Prussian priority rail lines, allowing their forces to quickly travel through Prussian territory. Field Marshal Harold Graff would be in charge of Prussian participation in the police action. For the time being, Prussia would take on a role as a reserve force and supply hub. Emmerich, Meppen, Ahaus, Bentheim and Papenburg would all have additional units deployed to them to prepare a rapid reaction force capable of quickly moving into the Netherlands. Cologne would receive additional federal police, as well as deployed army personnel to guard the western capital. Prussian marines would deploy to Ost and would coordinate with the Navy for potential sea-based actions. 

[PresidentDavid]

As a sign of support for Iceland's closest ally, the Althing unanimously declared the actions of the Noord-Unie's government "An act of international terrorism" and would also withdraw recognition of the government which was finding itself under the siege of yet another nation. With guidance from the Lawspeaker, the Althing would then declare that Iceland would be entering the police action. A message would be sent from the Office of The King to the government's of the Athenian Federation, the Norse Kingdom, and Sweden declaring that the Kingdom of Iceland would be supporting them through this police effort to tame a dangerous government. After military movements were in place, the King would address the nation and state that Iceland would be acting alongside its ally Athens and in defense of all Royal Sovereigns throughout Europe; stating that attempting to kill a member of Royalty without warrant was not only unjust and inexcusable but an offensive act against the Lord Himself. The Bishop of Iceland would later make a statement that day and declare a national day of prayer for Icelandic and other allied soldiers.

 

Twelve Hours Before - Seven Minutes After Midnight

 

Iceland's military was already at DEFCON 2 which made military mobilization much easier than it would normally be. The Ministry of War would request access to Athenian satellite photographs of the Norwegian Sea and any information they had pertaining to military installments on N-U islands in the sea. If given, the MoW would carefully asses any military installations on the Faroe Islands and Jan Mayen island but would come to be surprised, similar to how the Athenians were, that not much had changed militarily. The Royal Air Force would first have already done a high-altitude flyover at night with SR-71s over the Faroe Islands and Jan Mayen. Normal images along with infrared and other thermal imaging techniques would be used to gather data and military hotspots on, around, or on the coast of the islands. 

 

The Faroe Islands, like much of northern Europe and its islands, did not have extensive infrastructure or any municipalities other than towns and villages. The SR-71s would then begin cover pulse jamming Faroe radar facilities only thirty seconds before the first attack was launched. One of the vital modes of transportation on the islands were three bridges that linked the main islands together. These bridges - which supported Vagavegur road, Sundalagsvegur road, and Eysturoyarvegur road - would be the first and primary targets of the first Icelandic Jerich II long-range missile strikes with a 1,000kg payload. Using gathered data from the Athenians and MoW assets, the Royal Air Force would specifically target the three bridges early in the morning when it would be unlikely that any civilians would be using them. The rest of the strike, consisting of over seventy-five missiles with 500kg of payload per missile, would target military installations on the land and specifically bases. One more fighter squadron of SR-71s with Martel guided anti-ship missiles would would deliver there payload to the largest naval assets around the islands. Meanwhile, the 1st Air Wing which had been performing "exercises" off the south east coast of Iceland, would come fully loaded with air-to-ground missiles and target radar installations and any defensive weapons on the islands. Aircraft on the ground would be a first priority to immediately destroy. The 2nd Air Wing would reinforce the airspace over the islands while the first refueled and reloaded in Iceland - they would continue to change back and forth, ensuring the Icelandic Air Force always had a dominant presence over the islands.

 

While the islands awoke to a chaotic morning of a crippling missile strike and air assault, they would them come under siege from the elite special forces Airborne soldiers. The 1st and 2nd Airborne Divisions were brought in via C-130 transport planes, who had a tactical escort from the 15th Fighter Squadron, and would paratroop onto the two main islands of Streymoy and Eysturoy. The specially trained soldiers would not open their parashoots until a few hundred feet from the ground to avoid detection and would have the mission of taking control of the local municipalities and government buildings. Any N-U soldiers who posed a threat would be engaged and neutralized. 

 

A second assault would come from the Royal Marine Corps. The 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th Infantry Divisions would be brought in by ship and be given air cover. Blue water patrol ships would escort the ships where they would land primarily on Vagar, Bordoy, Suouroy, and Streymoy where they would have the same mission as the Airborne division who they would reinforce. 

 

The uninhabited Jan Mayen island would also have radar jamming done by SR-71 aircraft. The 1st Battalion of the 2nd Airborne Division would land on Jan Mayen after a smaller missile strike if any military installations even existed on the mountainous island. The 3rd Air Wing would engage any targets fond from the given data, however if not they would perform general sweeps over the island, looking for any targets and switching out with the 4th Air Wing periodically to refuel. Supply lines would be set up to Jan Mayen to support the troop numbers there. Constant satellite surveillance would be kept to keep up with troop movements and the destruction put on the N-U military installations.  

Edited April 11, 2014 by PresidentDavid

[iamthey]

Austria would like to express full support for the measures taken by Athens in addressing the threat to the continent. We pledge our full resources to the effort should they be necessary, and wish our allies swift justice in their mission of peace.

[Triyun]

Global hawk and B-9 recon missions would continue to be authorized over the North Sea as the imperial garrison kept it's mission in Britain. Air defense and sea defense mobile brigades would be surged in as the imperial forces protected the isles from the chaos. Fighter squadrons would also be ordered to minimize their emissions while collecting electronic intelligence.

"The Empire offers political support for the Athenian Armed Forces."

[Horo the Wise Wolf]

Meihua denounces Iceland, for their moves in destabilising a safe continental conflict.

[Centurius]

"The Athenian Federation thanks the Norse Kingdom, Sweden and Iceland for their military support and our other allies for their support"

[PresidentDavid]

Meihua denounces Iceland, for their moves in destabilising a safe continental conflict.

 

TOP SECRET

 

An emergency meeting of geographers, members of the Althing, political historians, and national leaders would come together in a secret location in Iceland after reports came from Meihua that Iceland was somehow not a part of Europe. Rumors that the island drifted several thousand miles and was now off the coast of the American Commonwealth, that Iceland was its own continent, or that aliens abducted the landmass were quickly thrown out after a geographer confirmed that Wikipedia said Iceland is geopolitically part of Europe and has been for all of recorded history. Several thesis papers for anxious university students were hastily written stating that Iceland was part of Europe. This groundbreaking information was sent to the Meihuan government so that they could learn of the 2,000 year old fact.

Edited April 11, 2014 by PresidentDavid

[Horo the Wise Wolf]

The Meihua'a Government would kindly inform Iceland that "Continental" meant "The main bit of Europe with all the countries on"; a term that has been used for many wars throughout history.

[Centurius]

All in all the attacks would manage to accomplish nearly all objectives. Most of the missiles had managed to impact their targets and rendered every major base in Flanders and the Netherlands out of use. While a minority of these major bases could be repaired if the defenders acted fast the large majority would take much longer to restore. In Flanders additionally minor bases were also damaged significantly leaving only military warehouses and armouries left for immediate use. Likewise bases along the Dutch coastline had also been taken out of use. Bases on the Dutch interior and in the border with Prussia however were a lot more lucky as due to not being the focus of the missile strikes damage to them was relatively limited and much more easy to repair. Finally the coordinated strikes on hostile ships had left about a third of the ships destroyed, a quarter damaged but still controllable and the rest disabled and dead in the water. 

 

The state of air defences was quite similar, coordinated SEAD operations had disabled the general defensive networks and even managed to take down some communication facilities. While not the entire network was taken down Athenian aircraft were now able to fly over the Noord-Unie Staat without serious risk of attack.

 

As a result of this paratrooper landings on Antwerp and The Hague had been successful. In the initial fights in Antwerp two Manticores had been killed while a dozen defenders were killed before they withdrew. The Manticores then proceeded to establish their foothold awaiting reinforcements. In the fights to seize The Hague twenty Marines and one Razor were killed however not before killing forty enemy soldiers and twenty police officers who had come to fight. At the end of the fight Athenian soldiers had secured the main city and controlled the area between de Uithof and the Veenwatering and between the Buitenhaven and the Zuidvliet. While Athenian soldiers could have moved further their objectives had been achieved and consolidating until reinforcements arrived seemed better. Enemy official were officially detained and held in the House of Representatives where Marines and Razors made sure they could not escape.

 

At the same time the First and Second Divisions had managed to leverage surprise and the unprepared border units to advance deep into Belgium, with Brussels controlled in two hours the forced moved on to occupy the area south of Brugge, Gent, Mechelen, Beringen and Genk. However at that point hostile forces consolidating managed to halt the advance for now. The efforts had let to about two hundred fatalities on Athenian side and four hundred on Noord-Unie side. 

 

---

 

With air superiority a fact, the coast clear for landing and footholds established to move on the Imperial Security Council authorized stage 2 operations. In addition to the ten F-1 squadrons constantly in the air over the Low Countries twenty F-2 squadrons would join the efforts. Each fighter carrying 4 Meteors, two weapons intended for SEAD roles and two Air to Ground missiles with anti-personnel warheads in addition to having an electronic warfare module would serve to support ground forces while making sure the enemy could not oppose Athenian air superiority. Finally a squadron of Advanced Growlers would also be launched from the HNS Athena to aid in these goals. F-1s and F-3s as they returned to their bases/ship for refueling and rearmament would also have a similar load-out as the F-2 for additional operations. Finally with a limited risk of enemy air defences four squadrons of U-1s would also begin operation in Belgium while two quadrons of FB-4s would begin operating in Belgium and over the Hague to aid the soldiers, Marines and Manticores fighting to advance. Each U-1 was equipped with 12 GBU-53/B and each FB-4 with 24 GBU-53/B.

 

On the Navy side ships belonging to the Hellenic Navy would provide cover while Task Force 7 moved closer to the coast, operating from the HNS Hellas, HNS Byzantium and HNS Macedon a total of 4500 Marines landed in The Hague and Rotterdam to reinforce the earlier deployed paratroopers and Razors. The Marines on the HNS Phoenicia would deploy to Antwerp to reinforce the Manticores in the harbour and allow for an easier taking of the city once the Hellenic Army pushed the advance.

 

For now all operations using strategic bombers and shore bombardment were suspended to prevent collateral damage and as the need for these operations had seemed to no longer be there for now. Bombers would however stand ready should somehow a new threat show itself.

 

With all these preparations in place the next phase of ground attacks would begin. The Third, Fourth and Fifth Divisions would join their brothers and sisters in the First and Second as they moved over the border to secure the territory already gained. This would allow the First and Second Divisions in addition to elements of the remaining ones to push harder. Using air support from the U-1s and FB-4s and artillery and mortar fires from their own systems they would strike hard against the enemy holding out in the remains of Flanders, Limburg and Noord Brabant, the goal was to advance far enough north so the forces could meet up with those in South Holland and from there on with reinforcements push even further. Simultaneous to these attacks from the south the Marines that had landed in Antwerp would move outwards from the port facilities and attack the defending forces from behind to enable a faster conquering of the city.

 

In The Hague with reinforcements and the landings in Rotterdam the goal would be to first consolidate control of these two cities before moving east to be able to meet up with the I Corps, much like in Belgium here too air support would provide fire against armoured and larger clusters of targets.

 

Finally 2320 Marine Paratroopers were dropped over and near Amsterdam to secure control of the city, while there was little of tactical value there it was deemed conquering both the traditional capital and seat of government in addition to having control of Belgium would serve as an excellent propaganda tool.

 

Efforts to which were already being prepared.

 

---

 

In occupied territories efforts were made to make things go as smooth as possible, the Hellenic Forces were under specific orders to leave the locals alone as much as possible. This would be further enabled by only replacing the key officials inside municipal government and leaving the bureaucracy intact mostly.

 

The recently appointed Commissioner of Internal Affairs, Alfred van Dijk, of the Transitional Authority would take residence inside the official residence of the prime minister at number 16, Rue de la Loi in Brussels. A city where additional guarantees were taken to enforce security on the streets and especially near the Commissioner. 

[Zoot Zoot]

Naval Bombardment:
The massive assault by naval forces against Norwegian military installations effectively blinded the Noord military to further attacks. With radar now down across the board, Norse and Swedish forces could attack with near impunity. Ninety percent of usable runways were destroyed or put beyond effective use without substantial repair work required, which would have to be undertaken by any defending forces left alive whilst under sustained aerial attack.

Stockpiles of fuel, munitions and weapons that escaped the assault would be targeted for a second wave missile bombardment, as would an other targets of importance that were either overlooked or not destroyed/disabled during the first attack.
 

With aerial dominance achieved by overwhelming aerial assault, positions had been identified by low flying aircraft, UAV's and the live coverage of military assets in the form of satellites, JSTARs and AWACS a further deployment of smaller, tactical missiles would be fired by the fleets screen ships to target these surviving mobile assets and certain static defences that had escaped unscathed.

Aerial Assault
A dozen F-14 losses and a half dozen F-35's had marred the crushing success of the first wave of attacks. Military command and control centers had been decapitated from the greater body of the Norwegian military, which in itself, had taken hundreds of losses across the theatre of operations and was now in full retreat to the mountain regions under the fractured command of line officers. These retreated forces would be attacked mercilessly by F-35's and targeted missile strikes by naval vessels, whilst F-14's would maintain aerial dominance of the region/ Supported by Tornado ECR's, these would remain unhindered in this operation.

The B-2 and Tu-160 SEAD operations were highly successful and the fleet of aircraft would continue running deep strike missions against newly identified enemy threats with impunity as other aerial operations had crippled radar and continuing SEAD operations by other branches of the armed forces were supplementing the bomber strikes and systematically destroying the enemies ability to respond effectively.

F-15SE's and A-10's would continually hound and attack targets of opportunity, but this resulted in four lost A-10's after they flew to low and were brought down by strafing fire from a previously unidentified AA gun. Most of the A-10's were then retasked with supporting F-35 missions in the open country destroying fleeing enemy formations and executing more command and control kill missions.

The air supremacy campaign as a whole was considered a success by military planners as Norse aircraft now owned the skies and could operate without interference or threat of interference by Noord air forces. They would continue to stalk the skies and keep it locked down, destroying any Norwegian military aircraft that was in the air, whilst supporting elements in the air assault would continue to obliterate ground based aircraft.

Ground Assault
Bergen and Stavanger fell to the MEU's within the first hour of the landings, with all local law enforcement, firearms, and materials that could be used for bomb making, made secure. Six men were killed in total due to a brief firefight with the local police forces and a few off duty soldiers who had managed to organize the police into an effective defence... until a nearby M33-A3 laid down some heavy fire support and forced them to surrender.
 
The rapid advance being undertaken by the forward commando regiments comprised of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th allowed the objectives to be completed and a fortified beachhead was established as well as a shore side forward HQ. Leading armoured and mechanized elements would begin to move inland and block major roadways to force the retreating Norwegian ground forces to divert into far more inhospitable terrain.

This development allowed more and more marines to be moved to shore to support operations and it would not take long for the fortified perimeter to be established in the region.

The battle for Oslo and its waterways was likewise resolved quickly due to the speed and aggression of Norse forces and the air support provided. NSAS successfully captured the Norwegian Government and would transport them to Copenhagen as soon as possible to be held securely. The capturing of Oslo did however come at a heavy cost, with nearly one hundred and fifty men lost to enemy fire which came in the form of a various points of resistance and armed police forces, all which was destroyed or captured as part of the joint operation from the three branches involved in the assault.

Martial law was enacted in the city and Colonel Kurtz named the military Governor of the City, the Paras would begin to consolidate their positions and establishing fortified outposts around the city, and conducting patrols within the city. 1 Para and 2 Para would begin moving out of Oslo with support from the special forces and light armour and begin taking the settlements around the city down to the coastline and near the Swedish border.

 

The First Danish Line Infantry Division and the Copenhagen Division would begin entering Norway via Sweden after traveling on the roads from Copenhagen through Sweden to get to Norway. Using helicopters to move the lighter infantry, the tracked and wheeled elements made good speed. Once within Norway, the Divisions would move to support the Para's as well as move to link up the coastline to the Marine landing.

 

The 1st Household Cavalry Regiment (Armoured), would advance northwards on the E6 under the protective support of the air force, towards Trondheim. Force recon forces belonging to the 7th Marine Commandos would advance along the coastline Northwards, seizing settlements along the way, with the main Marine element in rearguard to secure the locations.  This force would continue to advance on the coast roads until every road and bridge between Bergen and the outskirts of Trondheim was secured.

Recon elements from the Marines would also begin landing on Svalbard, securing positions. No resistance was met.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Zoot Zoot

[PresidentDavid]

The destruction of all four bridges on the Faroe Islands were immediate and with the loss of life of only two civilians. With radar jammed, the Airborne divisions, which had paratrooped onto the islands, found little to not resistance among the sparsely settled rocky shores and even some excitement among local residents as the sun rose to see a new day and a new country raising its flag over the islands. The first objective of the Airborne troopers was to secure any and all military instillations which had not been destroyed in the initial missile strike. This mostly consisted of radar/early warning stations and a few small naval facilities which most likely housed some sort of coast guard.

 

If there were any large ships off the coast of the Faroe Islands, they were severely damaged and would be a prime target for the Royal Air Force who were armed with more anti-ship weapons. Later, when the Marines arrived, government buildings and the small stations which produced power on the islands would be seized for the security of the population. Soldiers did not fear too much from the population who were never given the right to bear firearms, however they remained vigilant in the event that there would be some type of uprising on the islands. The Marines would specifically venture to every island and designate a “fort” to house the Marines for the duration of the military occupation of the islands.

 

Most of the soldiers, however, would stay at large in population centers to spur violence and maintain law and order. Any N-U soldiers, military officials, or non-local government officials would be detained. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would notify the Athenian Federation of their identities and if they had any interest in them. Seeing as soldiers and government officials not from the islands were considered the biggest threat, they would be deported back to the mother country so they would not be tempted to cause trouble for the Icelandic troops. Any and all firearms or explosives found on the Faroe Islands or Jan Mayen would be confiscated immediately. 

 

Meanwhile, the island of Jan Mayen would pose virtually little to not threat at all. The troops who did land and beach on the island would take the invasion very seriously and begin looking for any secret or underground installments but would come up empty-handed. Any naval forces off the coast of the island would suffer a similar fate to those off the coast of the Faroe Islands. The 18 people who did live on the island would be found and offered any food or supplies they needed while the military operations went on. They would be filled in on what the public international political situation is but would have an eye kept on them at all times.

 

Seeing as most of the 18 people living on the island were scientists, it would be assumed that they would be more interested in peace and the continuance of their work. They would be allowed to do so, however all digital and electronic communications to the rest of the world from the island would be stopped from the time being. In addition, the Air Force and Navy would ensure that no vessels would enter the waters around the island unnoticed.

 

Because the island had previously been a nature preserve and also because there was no military threat, the military would take special precautions when going onto the island including clean boots, not bringing unnatural plants or materials onto the island, and not polluting the environment or harming wildlife. A company of Marines who met this criteria would scale the summit of the Beerenberg volcano and plant the flag of Iceland at the top.

Edited April 19, 2014 by PresidentDavid

[Centurius]

As the attacks against hostile air defences continued as soon as new units were brought on-line by sheer attrition air superiority would continue to be guaranteed. This sustained air superiority further enabled the aircraft and U(C)AVs used to support ground operations to continue with limited threat of responses. While these operations managed to prevent a significant challenge to air superiority the country simply was too big to have every single method of anti-air systems detected and even error in Athenian systems themselves would lead to some casualties. From these events and hostiles using MANPADs two U-1s were lost while significant damage was done to a third. This loss was however acceptable to the Athenians as it came at the price of crushing resistance on the ground against the advancing forces, after all by now they had to deal with artillery, infantry, tanks and threats from the air. Within hours from stage 2 operations Flanders was secured and only a day later forces advancing from the south had reached Utrecht and Gelderland placing everything south of it under the control of the Transitional Authority.

At the same time the Marines in the west had managed to push the defender back to Noord Holland and Utrecht effectively securing the province of South Holland and linking up to the forces that had so far advanced from the south. While heavy resistance had been encountered in Amsterdam the Marines had eventually managed to secure the city centre where they would establish their positions and hold their ground.

 

The suspension of the more heavy bombing campaigns however had enabled the partial restoration of bases in the remaining provinces of the Netherlands, with forces returning to a more organized state and a new military command established in Arnhem continued advances without significant reinforcements would lead to potential loss of gained territory.

 

---

 

With these developments in mind the Imperial Security Council would order all forces to hold their positions and avoid further advances into enemy territory, forces currently in the country would assume responsibility to maintain order in the liberated territories and to strike down any counter-attack the enemy might plan to launch. Additionally U-2 and satellite surveillance over the still enemy territories would be increased significantly to have a more complete picture of the area. With this information the ISC would sanction another sustained bombing campaign against the Noord-Unie Staat. As part of this new operation two B-1 Squadrons would be sent over the liberated territories, 22 bombers were armed with 32 M100s each armed with various warheads from anti-personnel to EMP and anti-structure. The remaining two were armed with 8 NGMWSs for defeating hard and deeply buried targets. The goal of these air attacks would be to deal a final destructive blow to hostile military within the Netherlands and guarantee victory.

 

As soon as the bombers came into range they would deploy their deadly weapons. The NGMWSs would be used against military command structures and most importantly the new command centre in Arnhem while the remaining bombers would launch their weapons against the same bases but also cluster of ground personnel, reserve bases, armouries, etc.

 

Further the ISC issued orders to prepare for stage 3 of the ground invasion. In line with this a full Corps of Hellenic Marines were moved into Prussia and along its border with hostile territories to make one final push from the east and force the enemy in a war from three fronts.

[jeff744]

Voided

Edited April 23, 2014 by jeff744

[jeff744]

The missile attacks on Noord-Unie Staat would prove to be highly effective, leaving the northern radar institution at Sorreisa in pieces. The strikes on Sortland destroyed the armouries and severely damaged the docks as well. The remaining missiles struck various less exposed targets in the air and naval bases, leaving the more vulnerable targets to the AGM-154s.

 

The aircraft aimed at the north ensured the complete destruction of Sorreisa, the HARM missiles ensuring all traces of radio activity at the base were crushed. The 19 remaining squadrons fired all of their AGM-154s without entering range of Noord AA and SAM. The bombs glided to their targets and dispersed their bomblets across runways, hangars, and positions with a large number of military vehicles. While few vehicles were completely destroyed, a large number were damaged enough to render them incapable of combat without extensive repairs. All northern runways were pitted by thousands of the bomblets, making repair extremely difficult. Noord aircraft left in aluminum shelters and exposed to the elements were destroyed by bomblets and/or the debris they sent flying across the bases. The aircraft would make a second run using the same load out, this time using all 20 squadrons, their intention to concentrate heavily on the remaining land bases to leave the Noords without armour.

 

The attacks on Oslo struck various air and land bases, having a similar affect as those that hit the north. After this strike they would retain their load outs and would run a rotation leaving 10 squadrons of F-2s in the air at all times to strike locations when requested by the Norse. 4 B-52Hs, each carrying 20 AGM-86C cruise missiles, would also remain in the air at all times to answer any Norse requests for strikes.

 

The land forces would be left facing no resistance as they continued to defend the border

[Centurius]

Once the air cleared and the damage could properly be assessed it was obvious the Hellenic Air Force had completed its objectives. What remained of the command and control capabilities in the Low Countries had effectively been taken care of as short of certain smaller facilities everything else had been damaged to such an extent repair would take weeks, added to that the massive casualties among primarily the enemy officer corps rendered the defenders incapable of sustaining operations and general coordination. It would also leave the remaining land wide open to a final push to take over the Netherlands in its entirety with only highly unorganized ground forces left to stand in the way.  

 

---

 

Realizing to properly leverage the situation swiftness was needed the Imperial Security Council began putting the preparations in place for the final push once the Marines were in place to strike. As such as soon as the units were there elements of the Atlantic Fleet were ready near the shores to launch weapons against the still unliberated parts of the coast and the Hellenic Air Force had put U-1s and FB-4s in the air at all important locations. At midnight that day the order to advance would come from Athens.

 

The full Corps of Marines would push hard into the Eastern Netherlands from the German border while U-1s and FB-4s flew ahead of them to weaken enemy targets and leave the Marines to finish them off. Simultaneously the forces in the Southern and Western Netherlands would make their own pushes into enemy territory, with the same protections from the air but also the addition of missile strikes from ships against the shore, to establish control. This time the orders were clearer than ever, advance until entirety of the Low Countries were controlled by the Hellenic Forces. Due to the nature of the terrain and the mobility of the Marines it was expected this especially would go fast and effectively.

 

---

 

Meanwhile in the liberated territories it was time to take the next step, until now order had been maintained as regional and local authorities were left to maintain the law and to handle the day to day administration. In secret however Imperial Intelligence had been monitoring events and the calls for resistance to the liberators had been strong in some areas. As such units from the Hellenic Military Police would be deployed to major cities and the Transitional Authority would announce a dusk to dawn curfew and a ban on all gatherings of groups larger than 10 persons without a permit.

[Kankou]

"We surrender to this Nozi-class invasion."

[Zoot Zoot]

The Norse Kingdom accepts Noords surrender.
*On the ground*

With hostilities over, and the Noord forces surrendering, Norse forces would consolidate their positions and more troops would be flown into the region to support stabilization operations for the next few weeks whilst a provisional military government was put in place to maintain order.

 

[Centurius]

With the final surrender of the illegal government the forces in the Low Countries would assume control in the parts that were yet to have been liberated. Meanwhile preparations would be made for the final composition of the Transitional Authority to assume control from the Hellenic Forces in all of the Low Countries.

[Triyun]

The Kingdom of Great Britain would request of Athens the Shetland Islands rejoin Britain.  

[PresidentDavid]

OOC: You already own the Shetland Islands. I think Lyn just forgot to color those red. They are still Irish green.

[PresidentDavid]

Private

 

Teams of military engineers would be quickly assembled and flown to the Faroe Islands where they would begin designing and constructing new bridges where the old ones had been destroyed. Any damage to other infrastructure was minimal and citizens would be allowed to maintain their everyday lives. Electricity would be kept running by the military until it would be deemed safe to turn back over to the public. Scientists on Jan Mayen would be questioned by the Military Police but it was determined they had no espionage or worrisome connections back to their former N-U mother country. The military would continue to keep its heavy presence on the two groups of islands while the Icelandic government waited for word from Athens and the other powers at be. But for all intents and purposes, the war was declared over and mass celebrations opened up in the capital and throughout Iceland. 

[jeff744]

Swedish troops would begin entering into Noord lands, disarming law enforcement and the general population while recording names for later return of the property once the annexation was complete.