Operation Ewood Park

[Zoot Zoot]

[b]Classified[/b]
Marshal Lannes, Marshal Bernadotte and Marshal Masséna were sat in the Operations HQ waiting for their briefing with General Lewis, the chief of staff.
The three Marshals, Army, Airforce and Navy sat around the table pouring over maps, strategies and motives when Lewis strode into the room. An Intel Analyst in the room called the room to Attention.

Lewis looked around the assembled Marshals, Inteligence officer, there were even several MI6 Spooks in the briefing, all ready to hear about this up and coming operation, still unsure wether it was a live fire exercise... or a genuine military Operation.

"Gentlemen, a large town on the East Coast of the Imperium, has decided it wants to be independant, its leader, Mayor Wilks, has declared himself President of the Republic of Canada, the local garrison of the 23rd Legion Rifles division of the Revolutionary Guard paramilitary unit have declared allegience to his cause and have sworn to defend this "Republic", see map being handed out now.

[IMG]http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb144/zoot_zoot/republicofcanada.png[/IMG]

In the aftermath of the nuclear attacks New Caen was paid little attention due to it suffering no damage or casualties what so ever, but with the military either fighting abroad, or re establishing control over the Imperium, they seized their chance to become independant.

The Emperor has tasked me with bringing this lost sheep back into the fold, and you will help me do this Gentlemen, any questions?"

Throughout this explanation, Lannes, Bernadotte and Masséna were taking notes, and already thinking of ways to bring this rogue province under control. After a few minutes silence whilst Intel sheets were handed out to the assembled officers Lannes collected the other Marshals notes, complied with his own and stood.

"Sir, I have a solution, with the militarys complete moderisation underway, we can use this time to experiment with our new Blitzkrieg doctrine, and deploy our new FRES units. I believe an all out attack would be out of the question, it would have to be a battle of attrition. If we go in, shooting the place up, the people will hate us even more, So I propose this.
We surround the city and place it in a state of seige using two Legions of Imperial Guard and the Gurkha Legion, all three are medium to light troops and are the only troops in the military so far, fully kitted out with the new equipment and vehicles.

When we place the city under seige, we retain air superiority, naval blockade, and use aircraft to drop fresh food and water into the city, aswell as leaflets with a hand written apology from the Emperor."

Lewis Considered this for a moment.
"Lannes, the Emperor wants the city taken back, your method will take too long to Impliment, As good as it sounds I cannot accept that idea yet, but it will be remembered for future usage if no other ideas are presented. Masséna what about you? do you have anything to add?"

Masséna was more of the Political way of thinking and wasnt much of a military strategist anymore, however he stood and presented himself before Lewis.
"Sir, I beleive we should enact a seige on the city and use precision missile attacks on key buildings within the city, Send recon teams in from the three Legions Lannes mentioned and have them highlight targets. Heavy aerial supression in the form of our FB-32 fleet and Comanche light recon helicopters should keep the rogue Legion quiet. Being only a National Guard unit as a whole, and whilst only on city garrison, they have no armour or air support.
The navy will keep the city under seige from the coast, and deploy special forces teams in helicopters and light assault boats to take/disable key facilities in the coastal and industrial areas.

Once those objectives are achieved, the Gurkha Legion, and the 89th Cadian Legion will advance into the city by Battalions, with the 88th Cadian in reserve. The Heavy supression of the Revolutionary Legion will have them weakened and they should give up without to much of a fight."

Lewis looked at the man whom until five minutes ago he believed to be somebody who had lost their edge, and considered his proposals.
"Masséna, how would we go about using precision missiles and precision Artillery?, our M109's arnt so accurate we can drop them into a heavily populated city."
"Easy Sir, we use the Archer System with the new M982 Excalibur rounds. During testing phases, the round landed withing 4 meters of the target 94% of time. We also have the GBU-28, our bunker busting bomb and the GBU-15 guided bomb, both of which will be sufficient for supressing a Legion of Infantry. Our stockpiles of cruise missiles are currently limited to the navy, so we must use the very best of our smaller scale guided munitions"

Lannes and Bernadotte were impressed and both stood up behind their fellow Marshal, which resulted in Bernadotte stepping forward to say his piece.
"General Lewis, the Navy will do what it is asked, but Im putting it in writing, that I wont be firing any munitions from my ships armaments. Ill send marines, and Ill send helicopters, but the damage just one of my ships can deal out is too great for an urban area we want to preserve.
HMS Thunderchild and HMS Sheffield will provide close support from their 76mm guns and 27mm autocannons, aswell as their other armaments. Those are the only two ships with light enough weapons for direct fire support for marine attacks"

"That is fine Bernadotte, no need for it in writing, your argument is logical and valid" replied Lewis smiling at the compassion and care shown by the Marshals so far before continuing:
"Prepare the units, Lannes, the 88th, 89th and the Gurkha Legions are to begin deployment with their compliment of FRES Vehicles, no heavy armour will be required. Bernadotte move the fleet into position and Masséna use your initative when it comes to deploying your aircraft onto the city."

A Unified "Yes Sir" responded from all occupants of the room before they split to their individual headquarters and made the arrangements for Operation Ewood Park.

[Zoot Zoot]

[b]Midnight
Location - woods overlooking New Caen[/b]

The Spartan rolled into position overlooking the town from the South, its occupants, Driver, Commander and Gunner and seven soldiers of the Emperors Green Jackets Reconnaissance Batallion got comfortable. The Recce soldiers spread out out groups of two, leaving the Officer with the Spartan whilst radio communications were established to the listening post at the hill top. The position was concealed and well hidden from the rogue legion.

The recce troops were armed with all the new equipment which was being intergrated with the military, which included new Ospery Assault body armour, radios built into their helmets and the most up to date versions of their weaponry, which the Company Armourer had customized for their specific role.
Each man was an expert in demolitions, sniping, controlling fast jets and the Javelin anti-tank missile system.
_______________________________
[b]Command HQ[/b]

Lannes was given Operational command due to his battle experience in Anchorage and urban warfare and as reports and high res images flooded in from the SR-71 that had just completed an intel gathering sorty over the town, the go ahead was given from New London to mobilise the forces.
He decided to just use an armoured division from the Imperial Guard, fifteen thousand men in total and 840 armoured vehicles.

All Spartan recon teams had called in and confirmed eyes on target, all listening posts were now active and transmitting messages to the command HQ and the units in the field.

The Imperial Lancers were armoured infantry Battalions, whihc consisted of two thousand men, and four hundred and sixty IFV's such as the Warrior two, Scimitar light tank and the Spartan APC. With only around one thousand two hundred of the two thousand the fighting arm of the battalions, the other eight hundred comprised logistics, signals, intel, the medic corps and engineers.

The third and forth battalions were an armoured Battalion, comprised of two thousand souls, three hundred and forty Challenger II' main battle tanks, which in the end, it was decided they would be used to spearhead the attack when the main assaults came.

The remaining one battalion of line infantry, consisting of one thousand men, were light troops. Moving into combat using nothing but their own feet. Their lack of vehicles allowed them to move right up to the towns outskirts undetected. Light infantry forces typically rely on their ability to operate under restrictive conditions, surprise, violence of action, training, stealth, field craft, and fitness level of the individual soldier to address their reduced lethality. Ironically, forces in a light unit will normally carry heavier individual loads versus other forces; literally they must carry everything they require to fight, survive and win due to lack of vehicles.

The remaining two Legions of similar formation structure, were held in reserve, spread out in Company strength around the town in an iron ring.
The 88th Legion sat ready and waiting for the Archer Artillery systems attached to the 89th and 90th Legions to open fire on laser designated targets from the forward recon teams of the light infantry, and the recon teams over looking the town.

Edited June 3, 2010 by Zoot Zoot

[Sir Keshav IV]

OOC: Blackburn Rovers?

[Zoot Zoot]

[quote name='Sir Keshav IV' date='03 June 2010 - 04:26 PM' timestamp='1275578799' post='2322129']
OOC: Blackburn Rovers?
[/quote]


OOC Aye, my former employers and local football team
Operation Ewood parks the evacuation precedure

[Zoot Zoot]

Bernadotte order the two corvettes into the channel as quietly as possable, remaining around slight bend in the channel.
a platoon of marines dropped into several boats and began their journey at full speed towards the quayside.
night vision goggle issued to the marines showed several guards patrolling the inside of the small harbour.

The lead craft increased its engines output as it neared, the ten men inside prepared to jump out and storm the boat ramp and a GIMPY machinegun roared out spraying lead across lead boat, killing and injurying all inside the boat.

The following three boats broke formation and began disembarking on the shore trying to find cover before getting into positions, spread wide apart across the harbour, and returning fire, fighting desperatly to gain ground to a better, more covered area.

The beginings of a ferocious firefight to last through the night begins.
_____________________________

Across the city the light infantry moved into the outskirts of the city, two platoons assigned to a small estate that leads into the outer city center got into a heavy contact with rogue forces that were holed up in a large apartment building. One fo the Platoon commanders called in an artillery strike from the Archer systems, seven rounds of HE soared out of the pink morning horizon and crashed into the building, killing dozens of the rogues, but platoon strength numbers remained alive and fighting.

The two Imperial platoons flanked left and right on the building, tossing in grenades to the lower windows and firing UGL grenades into the higher ones before storming inside and killing/capturing the occupants, loosing only fourteen men themselves. The remaining three squads fanned out into the streets behind the estate, partaking in house to house combat. The fighting got so intense several more squads of armoured infantry carried in the back of warriors were pulled into the growing battle in the outskirts.
_____________________________

Massena ordered in the FB-32's to sit in a low orbit over the city alonside two AC-130's which were covering the marines in the Quayside, and the numerous firefights springing up, particularly the rather large one in the suburbs, which was still pulling in men and armour.
Infrared scopes from the snipers in the nearby hills, and inside captured buildings began picking up flashes on the horizon as the Archer Systems fired up again to reign more precision artillery on the Revolutionary Legion of the Canadian Republic.

[Zoot Zoot]

The large firefight now engulfing the Western district of the town had sucked in over 230 soldiers, 14 warriors twos and 6 challengers.
House to house fighting was now evolving into house to house, whilst street to street.
Three blocks were engulfed in the roaring sounds of gunfire, and the Imperial units wernt even close to the city center yet.

Advancing slowly down the street, a rifleman began firing at a target in a high window, squeesing off seven rounds the target slumped and toppled out of the window. The air cracklled around him and dust began kicking up off the ground around him, diving into cover behind a warrior his world went black as a round passed through the back of his helmet and out of his eye cavity before bouncing off the warrior and into the leg of another soldier in cover.

Morter rounds crashed down around the loyalist forces, sending fragments flying in all directions. Archer artillery counter fired and silenced the enemy mortars.

Lannes could see the battle going to hell before him and ordered a full retreat back to original positions, the mechanised would pull out first, followed by the light infantry, the armoured units and armoured infantry would perform a rear guard action to protect the medivac area on the towns edge near the first contact.
Reports indictated casualties so far were at 47 fatalities, and 62 wounded.
_____________________________________-

[b]Quayside[/b]

The three marine squads that were pinned down had managed to shift their posistion inside a warehouse with a large flat rooftop with a chest height wall around it. The 26 remaining combat able marines fought it out from the rooftops, holding off militia groups, and squads of proffesional soldiers. With ammo running out, and four criticly wounded men the platoon commander called in a blackhawk helicopter to evacuate the troops. However Bernadotte denied the request. HMS Thunderchild and HMS Sheffield came cruising full speed directly into the harbour area, the 76mm cannon, and both 30mm auto cannons, on both ships blazing, crushing all resistance in the harbour.

minutes later, dozens of AAV-7A1 's filled with marines cruised into view and began landing platoons, by the dozen on the coast, several blackhawks raced overhead and began deploying air assault infantry into the main streets outside the harbour...

[Zoot Zoot]

The Harbour began to fall under the aggresive tactics of the marines and their light armour, warehouses, docksides and storehouses were secured. With just under seven platoons operating in the harbour and securing it from the republicans, the squads fanned out in a seek and destroy mode of operation, kicking down doors in the harbours buildings and storming them.

At approaching midday, the harbour was secured and the Marines began setting up a perimeter. The enemy conducting probing attacks, but their numbers were dwindling.

_____________________________________________
[i]West New Caens - Canadian Command HQ[/i]

"Sir, their forces are heavily concentrated on the town center, now they dont have armour, and their AT supplies will be running out by now, and their ammunition as a whole cant be far behind."

"Deux, that is not the issue here, the issue is, that we cannnot wait till nightfall for another attack, we must go in dyalight, which is going to cause more casualties" replied Lannes testily.

Masséna stood to face Lannes and began speaking:
"Sir, what about our new experimental bomb?, Ive got a B-2 on station ready to drop it on the city center, and then our ground forces can rush in and seize control."
"Are you mad? you cannot drop a bomb that might aswell be a tactical nuclear weapon on the city center, the collatoral will be enourmous."
"No Sir, it wont, the buildings are reinforced, lots of windows will be broken, and buildings will take light to medium structural damage, but nothing serious"
"Your quite sure of this Masséna?"
"Yes Sir, 100%"
"Ok, deploy your bomb immediatly, Deux, prepare the Armoured companys"
"All of them?"
"Yes, all of them, have them spread out in their companies around the city, to attack from multiple directions, Bernadotte, get a message to your marines, once the attack begins, they are to advance towards the city center and kill all enemy combatants they come across, no prisoners."
"Yes Sir"
___________________________________________________________
[i]40,000 feet above New Caen[/i]

A lone B-2 cruised towards the drop location, its pilot and co-pilot unphased by this new cargo, dropped down in altitude to below the clouds, the bombay doors opened and the 7,100 kg, 80,000lb fell from grace right into the heart of the city center.

Everything caught with 350 meters of the weapon was killed from the explosions vaccume and its shockwave smashed apart loose masonry, and MacGyvered fortifications.
___________________________________________________________

On the ground, the explosion was seen from well outside the city and marked the launch signal for the attack to commence, to which 25 armoured companies and 15 mechanized companies, 20 light companys of infantry and 2 companies of marines all began their charge for the city center.
The remaining 18 companies were the various different units for battle support, such as intel, signals, medical corps, artillery and engineering.

[Zoot Zoot]

The resulting battle lasted well over two weeks, street to street, house to house, clearing out the republican forces wherever they resisted.
"President Wilks" escaped the city and rumour had it, headed west, slipping through Imperial lines and into the Empires wilderness.

The town only took minor damage, with the exception of the city center, which was completley razed from the FOAB... a weapon that its designers severley underestimated. Republican forces, only numbering 5000 anyway, had dwindled to a few hundred, now scattering in small bands throughout the region any way they could after the fast attack and capture of the city over the three week period.

Rogue soldiers ditched their uniforms and tried to blend in with the crowd, now resentful to the Emperor and his legions for destroying their city center, and damaging key infrastructural buildings which rebel forces used to hide inside.

Caen now became a center for republical conspirators to plan their next move..."President Wilks" orchestrating it all from his hideout, his agents spreading far and wide to the many towns around the Imperium which had sprung up in the wake of the nuclear holocaust.

Lannes sent a message to Napoleon:

[quote][b]Operation Ewood Park[/b]
[b]status[/b] - successful
*Rebel leader escaped
*Police and National Guard units informed
*Low casualties - 243 soldiers [b]KIA[/b] 627 [b]WOUNDED[/b] and 13 vehicles
*Minimal city damage
*Enemy casualties - 592 soldiers [b]KIA[/b] 1649 [b]WOUNDED[/b][/quote]