Upon the Sons of Odin

[Kaiser Martens]

By the time that the Germanians started to realize that something was going on, it was already too late. The Dalmatians seemed to have gathered their whole strength in the northwest and were now striking with all their might towards Germany and Prussia.

As usual, it began on the air. Feldmarschall Tambarskjelve got several calls from various Generals and other high officers. The red buttons had been pushed, and there was no turning back. Nobody knew why, nor whatfor, but what had happened was that, at first, a number of missiles were detected being shot from aircraft at Dalmatia all along the Germanian Border. At that point, they did not know what the missiles were going to target, but the men did not need to think, only to act. The Thinking had been done from them previously. Alarms rung across the country and right away, everything that could fly and battle was on the air, while the noncombatant luftwaffe assets took off and moved to the west and north so as to at least be out of the way. It did not matter much, because, after all, Air Defense Related Structures and Communications Infrastructure were the target.

By the time that the second wave was sent, they were ready...or, they were ready to some extent, one could say. There was a sector from Austria to Slavorussia, that is, along the Dalmatian Border, which simply could not defend and was blinded by the many missile attacks. This could simply not be helped. The Fighters and Interceptors could not move in to those areas, as they would be within firing range of the Dalmatian AD. Therefore, the enemies were able to essentially do as they pleased, while the Luftwaffe remained flying on the actually defensible zone, creating a perimeter so as to be able to intercept missiles and aircraft if they should try and strike at the heart of the nation, which they probably would soon.

The third wave comes. By now, the AD was shattered enough that it could not do much. A few fighters attempted to do hit-and-run missions upon the incoming foes, but this was little more than a gesture - As said, they knew better than to fight on the Dalmatian Turf. The border zone was a sort of Forlorn Hope row. It was better to give it up than to foolishly charge and be defeated in the first hours of the conflict. There was only minimal fire from the zone's AD structures. They'd probably cease to exist at all when the next row came.

Automatically, Germania had fired its own salvo of rockets against Dalmatia. Firstly, the most advanced missiles, recently developed and used succesfully during the English War, were tasked with "returning the favor" as far as the space was concerned. They'd be made to ram the Dalmatian Satellite network. Their regular warheads were replaced for some kind of grapeshot so that even in the unlikely case that one of the missiles might miss, they'd still have a fairly reasonable chance to hit by scattered fire anyway. Still, by those who knew what they were doing, this was widely considered to be only a psychological maneuver, for unless satellites became sci-fi spaceshifts, there'd be no avoiding anything. For both sides. Germania watched its satellite network go down.

There were other missiles - aimed at the land. These simpler but powerful beasts were shot towards the silos that had fired the anti-satellite missiles to begin with. In fact, all Germanian Silos which had at all fired, afterwards went on to fire every missile that the compound hosted and then evacuated, because they knew they'd be hit in return for having exposed themselves by firing. Along the border, several SAM sites and Detection Arrays would be targetted, and a couple of these cruise missiles actually shot at the recently-discovered Army Groups.

Of course, by now all the Kriegsmarine Submarines were out and about, not willing to eventually get pearl-harbored. Either way the majority were already deployed to watch the Athenian Movements. It was so tempting to simply ambush them, but the leaders knew that doing so would hardly be a suitable move. They'd just patrol the seas, and, of course, guard the gates to the Baltic - Oresund. That Norway and Kurland were under attack by the southerners couldn't be helped, however, at least, before official declarations of war were extended, a few commanders would misplace some of their military assets just over the Kurlandic and Norwiegan borders. For the most part Air Defence and Infantry Weapons...Germania had so many weapons that in the chaos of the war not even the most obsessive of the Prussians would notice. The Norwiegan and Kurlandic Government were sent official encrypted messages as well, which basically stated: [i]"Be strong, we'd help if our hands weren't so busy."[/i]

Other messages were sent. Moscow was asked to help against Dalmatia. France was warned that it'd probably be the next target of the Dalmatians and the Athenians. And...that was it. There were no other allies. Austria seemed to be quickly falling into anarchy at any rate, which was just perfect timing. At least in the Germanophone Areas of Austria-Hungary, demonstrations would start to spread to support Germanic Union. Not that the smaller, broken country seemed to be able to do that much at the moment. Hungary would surely revert back to the Dalmatians soon...

By now, all rockets fired would have either been intercepted or hit their targets, and the land war was starting.

The amount of troops stationed at the Dalmatian Border were clearly insufficient. They were only Border Troops and Penal Batallions for the most part, and were essentially outnumbered ten to one by the time that the Dalmatians had unleashed the massive artillery strikes. There were almost no mines whatsoever to be found, the border had not really been fortified. The border zone proved to be indefensible and in fact, for the most part undefended. When the Dalmatians chose to advance, they'd meet few challenges - now and then a small group of troops might surge out of nowhere to attempt an ambush, or from under some rubble a tiny group of determined defenders that knew that retreating would be impossible would shoot at them. Sometimes some tiny groups would hit the rear areas as the Dalmatians moved on - they were just the very few survivors of the initial operations. So far, it'd seem more of an Antipartisan Operation rather than fighting the supposedly competent Reichswehr.

Farther away from the Frontline, the counterattack was being prepared. Germania was a large country, this proved to be an issue as this implied that, given the unusual circumstances of the continent, all of the borders had to be guarded. Furthermore, the different Islands too needed their garrisons, while England found how to keep itself safe by recruiting Vikings to found most of the new army - most Germanian Units travelled back to the Netherlands. What this implied is that, while Germania nominally had a numeric superiority against the Dalmatian Army, in the end, the amount of troops which they would be able to commit to actually fighting Dalmatia would be, while viable, also smaller.

The groups that were to battle Dalmatia were the following:

Army Group Bayern (In the south)
Led by General von Lübeck

Army Group Saksenland (Around the Center)
Led by Feldmarschall Gebivson-Mannelig

Army Group Berlin (By the Capital)
Led by Feldmarschall Tambarskjelve

Army Group Preussen (On the East)
Led by Dierik Martens

The groups were quickly assembling, and would be ready to tackle the invaders soon. They were already protected by air, and in a matter of hours, they would become the frontline. From Nordheim, the Valkyries and Einherjar were summonned to join the battle. The Reserves were mobilized, and the citizens would rise and take their arms. Finally, the decades-long monthly training would start to pay off, although it was hoped that the Professional Army would be able to deal with things as is.

Lord von Falkenhausen addressed Germania and the World,

[i]
"Free people of the world,

On this day of doom, we find ourselves under Dalmatian Fire. Earlier today, one of our longest-standing allies, our Southeastern Neighbors, have without any provocation, diplomacy, nor warning of any kind initiated a full-scale attack and invasion upon Germany. Due to the nature of our relation with the Dalmatians, whom we considered to be our closest allies, this attack can be best described as a stab in the back, a vile act of cowardice.

But we are ready to answer. We are ready to fight, and we are ready to fight for as long as needed until the enemy is pushed out of our land, no matter the odds, and no matter the cost.

We will show them how steel is made!"
[/i]

The message lacked the usual brilliance seen in Martencist-style speeches, von Falkenhausen was rather a man of action instead of one of words. After delivering the message, in the center of Germania, he continues with his work...it was probably the most hectic place in the world at the moment.

[Malatose]

[b][Air War]
[/b]

With the first strikes against enemy air defenses and infrastructure deemed a success, the Imperial Airforce initiated stage two of combat operations, which would be the complete destruction of German air units and inland air defenses. For this operation, over four Xenian Airborne Warning and Control Aircrafts were deployed over German soil, where there were virtually no air defense or fighter patrols. Using their powerful multi-mode S-band pulse Doppler radar, they would be able to detect enemy fighters up a range of 600 kilometers. As the Xenians prowled the skies scanning for targets, the 30 Lu-65 Eagles Squadrons began to stream across the borders. The Lu-65s were equipped with two ATAIM-9 Advanced Tactical Air Intercept Munition (Cross-platform Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (XMRAAM)), with the rest of it's hard points being taken up by the ATAIM-8 Advanced Tactical Air Intercept Munition (Cross-platform Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile (XSRAAM).

As the fighters flew forward at full speed, the pilots activated their active countermeasures. First, they activated their ADN-2 infrared jammer, which makes use of a gimbal-mounted low-powered microwave laser to detect and jam incoming IR missiles. Next, they activated the EOCM-6, which is a pod-mounted blue-green laser used to detect and jam passive systems such as TV/FLIR automatic trackers. Finally, the pilots activated their NRV-27 RF Jammer. NRV-27 is the Lu-65's RF jammer which serves to emit radio frequency signals that interfere with hostile transmitter operation. The “smart skin” antenna embedded in the Lu-65's airframe enables the NRV-27 to engage in DRFM (digital radio frequency memory) jamming in addition to standard noise jamming modes. In the DRFM mode, the Lu-65's manipulates received radar energy and retransmits it to change the return the hostile RADAR sees. This technique serves to provide conflicting and confusing information for enemy interpretation.

As the fighters moved forward, they spotted the the enemy fighters and began to unleash armageddon. The ATAIM-9s were launched first from a distance. When the fighters closed in, the full payload of ATAIM-8s were launched against the German fighters. The warhead tracking of both the missiles were some of the most sophisticated in Dalmatia. Guidance for the ATAIM-8 is provided by a gimballed combined imaging infrared/electro-optical seeker head. The wide-angle, focal plane array used in Ataim-8 enables pilots to engage targets at up to 90 degrees off-boresight. The secondary EO system serves as a filter against IR countermeasures employed by a target aircraft - the seeker is capable of rejecting deployed flares by cross-referencing data regarding UV and optical wavelength emissions with the IR component. Aircraft targets exhibit low UV signatures as well as heat, thereby granting the missile a fairly significant level of IRCCM (Infrared Counter-Counter-Measures) capability with its advanced guidance package. Additionally, the electro-optical system generates a clear physical picture of a target in the terminal phase of the missile's flight profile which increases hit probability and lethality.

On the other hand, the ATAIM-9 has a different guidance system. At extended range, the deploying aircraft provides data regarding target disposition and velocity relative to the launch point via a secure two-way datalink. Midcourse updates regarding the changing attitude of the selected target are relayed to the missile which adjusts its flight path accordingly. Between updates, the missile operates under inertial navigation, provided by a fiber optic gyroscope. s the range is closed, the ATAIM-9 XMRAAM may engage its onboard RADAR system to track the target without need for additional updates, thus freeing its data provider to other activities. The solid-state active RADAR operates in X-band, and is able to track fighter-sized targets at up to 28 km in optimal conditions with superb off-boresight capability thanks to its electronically steered antenna. Once the ATAIM-9 has reached the terminal phase of its flight profile, a gimballed combined imaging infrared/electro-optical seeker head activates to maximize kill probability.

In the end, over three hundred combined air to air missiles were now headed towards German air targets. When their missiles had been exhausted, the fighters began to drop multi-spectral chaff and flares only in the direction of a threat as determined by the NSER-5. The flares are treated with chemical additives that spoof the IR sensors of most IR guided missiles, as the fighters blasted back towards Dalmatia. With the air attack over, the Xenian Airborne Warning and Control Aircraft continued to loiter over undefended Germanic airspace.

The Xenians, using their RADAR-Synthetic Aperture systems to paint a picture of ground based targets to aid in targeting and thus enhancing weapon accuracy, transmitted targets to the incoming ten Lu-67 squadrons. The targets mostly consisted of the occasional RADAR and SAM launchers.

[b][Ground War][/b]

So far, Imperial troops advanced into Germania with very light resistance. It was quite obvious that the forces encountered at the border were basic guard units, and they were dealt with by basic rifle and sub-machine gun fire from tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. As the Army Groups moved forward, they began to launch dedicated remote controlled UAV platforms, which would provide front specific intelligence. These small UAVs would scan the forward battle area and transmit important information to the advancing army groups. Essentially, this would allow pre-planning as Imperial Commanders knew the real fight had yet to begin. The relative silence of the front was soon shattered as enemy missiles were detected. It was obvious that most of the missiles were headed towards Dalmatia; however, there were a few targetted towards the advancing groups. The command to scatter was soon given and forces began to break apart as not to give the enemy the luxury of a "bonus" hit. The mobile SAM batteries went into action, firing into the direction of the incoming missiles unrelentlessly. A SAM managed to shoot down one missile, with the wreckage slamming into the ground, causing basic injuries to a dozen soldiers. Luckily, the men were wearing their XE-101 Xenias Suits and most of the damage was superficial. The other missile was destroyed in the skies, totally eliminating it was a threat.

The other missiles were aimed at the Dalmatia defense network. The SAM networks went into action and began to fire dozens of missiles to counter the incoming barrage, if it could be called that. The SAMs slammed into the incoming missiles, either damaging them or destroying them completely in the skies. In some rare cases, the damage from the missiles fell ontop of a mobile launcher, rendering it inoperable for a short period of time. The other German launched missiles, which were heading towards silos in Dalmatia, had no chance to reach their targets. The missiles had to go through hundreds of RADAR and SAM networks before even reaching the area of the silos. The enemy barrage was eliminated in a matter of seconds. Some of the damage launched on buildings and various other structures, injuring dozens of civilians.

In response, Dalmatia ordered a retaliatory strike. The incoming missile strikes had all but revealed the location of the attacking German silos. A dozen hypersonic cruise missiles were fired at the silos, in hopes of knocking them out.

[b][Space][/b]

The German counter-attack was ferocious and it caught Dalmatia forces off guard. The German warheads slammed into dozens of satellites rendering them useless. Controllers on the ground attempted to manuever the satellites out of the way of the incoming strikes, as if it were a game. However, most of the efforts were in vain and various communication links were either destroyed or disrupted. It would take upwards to ten hours for a reserve force of micro satellites to be re-launched into space. In the meantime, commanders would have to make extensive use of UAVs and various other communication links to ensure maximum combat damage.

Edited October 21, 2011 by Malatose

[Kaiser Martens]

[quote][Air War]


With the first strikes against enemy air defenses and infrastructure deemed a success, the Imperial Airforce initiated stage two of combat operations, which would be the complete destruction of German air units and inland air defenses. For this operation, over four Xenian Airborne Warning and Control Aircrafts were deployed over German soil, where there were virtually no air defense or fighter patrols. Using their powerful multi-mode S-band pulse Doppler radar, they would be able to detect enemy fighters up a range of 600 kilometers. As the Xenians prowled the skies scanning for targets, the 30 Lu-65 Eagles Squadrons began to stream across the borders. The Lu-65s were equipped with two ATAIM-9 Advanced Tactical Air Intercept Munition (Cross-platform Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (XMRAAM)), with the rest of it's hard points being taken up by the ATAIM-8 Advanced Tactical Air Intercept Munition (Cross-platform Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile (XSRAAM).

As the fighters flew forward at full speed, the pilots activated their active countermeasures. First, they activated their ADN-2 infrared jammer, which makes use of a gimbal-mounted low-powered microwave laser to detect and jam incoming IR missiles. Next, they activated the EOCM-6, which is a pod-mounted blue-green laser used to detect and jam passive systems such as TV/FLIR automatic trackers. Finally, the pilots activated their NRV-27 RF Jammer. NRV-27 is the Lu-65's RF jammer which serves to emit radio frequency signals that interfere with hostile transmitter operation. The “smart skin” antenna embedded in the Lu-65's airframe enables the NRV-27 to engage in DRFM (digital radio frequency memory) jamming in addition to standard noise jamming modes. In the DRFM mode, the Lu-65's manipulates received radar energy and retransmits it to change the return the hostile RADAR sees. This technique serves to provide conflicting and confusing information for enemy interpretation.

As the fighters moved forward, they spotted the the enemy fighters and began to unleash armageddon. The ATAIM-9s were launched first from a distance. When the fighters closed in, the full payload of ATAIM-8s were launched against the German fighters. The warhead tracking of both the missiles were some of the most sophisticated in Dalmatia. Guidance for the ATAIM-8 is provided by a gimballed combined imaging infrared/electro-optical seeker head. The wide-angle, focal plane array used in Ataim-8 enables pilots to engage targets at up to 90 degrees off-boresight. The secondary EO system serves as a filter against IR countermeasures employed by a target aircraft - the seeker is capable of rejecting deployed flares by cross-referencing data regarding UV and optical wavelength emissions with the IR component. Aircraft targets exhibit low UV signatures as well as heat, thereby granting the missile a fairly significant level of IRCCM (Infrared Counter-Counter-Measures) capability with its advanced guidance package. Additionally, the electro-optical system generates a clear physical picture of a target in the terminal phase of the missile's flight profile which increases hit probability and lethality.

On the other hand, the ATAIM-9 has a different guidance system. At extended range, the deploying aircraft provides data regarding target disposition and velocity relative to the launch point via a secure two-way datalink. Midcourse updates regarding the changing attitude of the selected target are relayed to the missile which adjusts its flight path accordingly. Between updates, the missile operates under inertial navigation, provided by a fiber optic gyroscope. s the range is closed, the ATAIM-9 XMRAAM may engage its onboard RADAR system to track the target without need for additional updates, thus freeing its data provider to other activities. The solid-state active RADAR operates in X-band, and is able to track fighter-sized targets at up to 28 km in optimal conditions with superb off-boresight capability thanks to its electronically steered antenna. Once the ATAIM-9 has reached the terminal phase of its flight profile, a gimballed combined imaging infrared/electro-optical seeker head activates to maximize kill probability.

In the end, over three hundred combined air to air missiles were now headed towards German air targets. When their missiles had been exhausted, the fighters began to drop multi-spectral chaff and flares only in the direction of a threat as determined by the NSER-5. The flares are treated with chemical additives that spoof the IR sensors of most IR guided missiles, as the fighters blasted back towards Dalmatia. With the air attack over, the Xenian Airborne Warning and Control Aircraft continued to loiter over undefended Germanic airspace.

The Xenians, using their RADAR-Synthetic Aperture systems to paint a picture of ground based targets to aid in targeting and thus enhancing weapon accuracy, transmitted targets to the incoming ten Lu-67 squadrons. The targets mostly consisted of the occasional RADAR and SAM launchers.[/quote]

The Luftwaffe did not risk an awful lot in the ongoing battle. They mostly knew what they were up to, and expected the Dalmatian fighters to be as good, if no better, than the chinese which they had fought years ago. They knew that they would be targetted from afar, and information relayed not only by their own sensors as well as ground-based detection facilities and AWACS confirmed this. When the Dalmatians moved in for the kill, the Germanians moved back, so that the enemy would only be able to get Luftwaffe Targets by moving further ahead onto the zones which were still protected by SAM sites.

If this worked, then the Dalmatians would be fired upon from below while going "Just a little longer" so as to be able to shoot their missiles at the fighters. Very few squadrons were assigned to make a small counterattack - the first three, while the attack was ongoing. The other three, while the Dalmatians would have to fall back.

In spite of this, there would still be [i]casualties which would vary depending on how the above-mentioned intended plan worked[/i]. The missiles that still did get to target non-counterattack squadrons would lead to further-inland AD attempts of interception, or in some cases attempts of interception through the use of the targets' own misiles. Whether if this would work or not had yet to be seen. [b]If[/b] all went as planned, there'd be relatively small casualties on both sides.

[quote][Ground War]

So far, Imperial troops advanced into Germania with very light resistance. It was quite obvious that the forces encountered at the border were basic guard units, and they were dealt with by basic rifle and sub-machine gun fire from tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. As the Army Groups moved forward, they began to launch dedicated remote controlled UAV platforms, which would provide front specific intelligence. These small UAVs would scan the forward battle area and transmit important information to the advancing army groups. Essentially, this would allow pre-planning as Imperial Commanders knew the real fight had yet to begin. The relative silence of the front was soon shattered as enemy missiles were detected. It was obvious that most of the missiles were headed towards Dalmatia; however, there were a few targetted towards the advancing groups. The command to scatter was soon given and forces began to break apart as not to give the enemy the luxury of a "bonus" hit. The mobile SAM batteries went into action, firing into the direction of the incoming missiles unrelentlessly. A SAM managed to shoot down one missile, with the wreckage slamming into the ground, causing basic injuries to a dozen soldiers. Luckily, the men were wearing their XE-101 Xenias Suits and most of the damage was superficial. The other missile was destroyed in the skies, totally eliminating it was a threat.

The other missiles were aimed at the Dalmatia defense network. The SAM networks went into action and began to fire dozens of missiles to counter the incoming barrage, if it could be called that. The SAMs slammed into the incoming missiles, either damaging them or destroying them completely in the skies. In some rare cases, the damage from the missiles fell ontop of a mobile launcher, rendering it inoperable for a short period of time. The other German launched missiles, which were heading towards silos in Dalmatia, had no chance to reach their targets. The missiles had to go through hundreds of RADAR and SAM networks before even reaching the area of the silos. The enemy barrage was eliminated in a matter of seconds. Some of the damage launched on buildings and various other structures, injuring dozens of civilians.

In response, Dalmatia ordered a retaliatory strike. The incoming missile strikes had all but revealed the location of the attacking German silos. A dozen hypersonic cruise missiles were fired at the silos, in hopes of knocking them out.
[/quote]

The UAVs detected the rather large armies that were going to eventually battle the Dalmatian forces. They were not yet within firing range, like the aircraft, they seemed to try and want to be "almost reachable" at all times, which had the side effect of allowing Dalmatians to advance with little resistence. Somehow, the Reichswehr seemed to shy away from the forces, excepting for the aforementioned groups of 4 or 5 "berserker" militians, which would be happy if they each got to kill two before being eliminated. Now, while the UAVs were able to relay useful information, this has the side effect of the UAVs themselves being detected. SAM-Panzers would look up and towards them and then try and shoot them down. It didn't matter much, there'd always be new UAVs, and they'd always take a look at the armies before being eliminated, excepting for the armies which were even *farther* away from the frontline, in which case fighters would intercept.

The Germanian Silos which were targetted, were in fact almost always eliminated, because those were the silos which were on the area which Dalmatia had succesfully attacked. This meant that even if they hadn't fired, they'd have probably been actually taken over by Dalmatian troops.

[quote][Space]

The German counter-attack was ferocious and it caught Dalmatia forces off guard. The German warheads slammed into dozens of satellites rendering them useless. Controllers on the ground attempted to manuever the satellites out of the way of the incoming strikes, as if it were a game. However, most of the efforts were in vain and various communication links were either destroyed or disrupted. It would take upwards to ten hours for a reserve force of micro satellites to be re-launched into space. In the meantime, commanders would have to make extensive use of UAVs and various other communication links to ensure maximum combat damage.[/quote]

As far as the Germanians could see, the attack had been successful. But that was little consolation for the fact that, after all, the own Germanian Satellite Network wasn't doing any better. It was clear that they'd probably have to fight the rest of the war with extremely scarce aerospacial support.

--------

Things were not working out. Germania had depended too much on Nuclear Weaponry, and not enough on the Air Force. At least they had learned not to stupidly rush the Dalmatian airforce, and the upgrades after the last war allowed them a fair chance to defend, by using what the troops named "Flying Ovens" to try to fry missiles in midair. Such was the field nickname for the new jamming technologies which were somehow jokingly equated to microwave ovens. But the detection systems were useful as well, without the upgrades, they probably wouldn't have even realized that missiles were being shot at them, nor that they were within range, to begin with.

If the Reichswehr continued to avoid confrontation with the Dalmatians, the invaders might soon be in a position to cut Prussia and Southern Germany from Central Germany, or even, there might be a drive for Berlin so early in the war.