Operation Citadel

Operation Citadel
Part of the Great War
After securing Eagle Beach, the Federation began unloading reiforcmenets, armor, and supplies.
Date 15 May 1932 (1932-05-15) – 7 July 1932 (1932-07-07) (53 days) Location Cartho, Caesena Result Democratic Alliance Victory Defeat of Caeseni Forces on the island of Cartho First major Entente defeat on home soil Allies gained foothold in Fascist Euclea
Belligerents
Democratic Alliance Federation Estmerish League Roeselle Gaullican Free Army Lusitan Resistance	Entente Third Solarian Empire Gaullica
Commanders and leaders
Alliance Leaders James Henderson David Wilkins Robert Titus Kyle Lemons Harry Totten Peter Henderson Sheila MacArthur	Entente Leaders Caeseni General Caeseni General Caeseni General Caeseni General Gaullic General Gaullic General Gaullic General
Strength
Democratic Alliance 1,121,000 personnel 967 tanks 1,218 military aircraft 3,912 artillery pieces	Entente: 345,000 personnel 1,422 tanks 3,115 aircraft 4,589 artillery pieces
Casualties and losses
91,000+	245,000+

Operation Citadel, also known as the Great Crusade, was the codename for the invasion of Cartho by the Democratic Alliance in May and June of 1932, and is considered the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. Operation's Citadel's goal was to secure the issland for the Democratic Alliance in order to launch further invasions into the continental holdings of the Third Solarian Empire. It was a part of, and played a major role in, the War in Caesena and overall, the Great War.

Background

Cartho is a large island to the southeast of Caesena, and during the Great War, was vital to the Entente's control of the Solarian Sea. During the early days of the war, Gaullican and Caeseni Forces used Cartho as a launching point for the invasion of Northern Coius. Later on, it became important in the naval conflicts with the Estmerish League in the region. When Federation Forces opened up a new front with Operation Ruby, Cartho was vital to keeping Entente troops in Coius supplied. After Coius was liberated by the Democratic Alliance, Cartho would become the next target of the Alliance as they prepared for an invasion of Caesena. President Parker and Federation Army Command knew that they could not invade mainland Caesena without control of Cartho, and thus created Operation Citadel.

Preparation

The Alliance knew that taking Cartho would be no easy task. After the Entente was defeated at the Battle of Saivan and Bahia was liberated, Gaullica and Caesena would begin a massive effort to fortify the island. More than 500,000 Entente soldiers were deployed to defend Cartho, along with more than a thousand tanks, three thousand aircraft, and five thousand artillery pieces. 75% of the Caeseni Navy was tasked with defending the island, along with 25% of the Gaullican Navy. Rafael Duclerque was willing to dedicate vast amounts of resources to defend Caesena, as he feared that should they be defeated, Gaullica would ultimately follow. In February of 1932, Duclerque cancelled a planned offensive in Kaxakh and instead redirected large numbers of troops and other military assets to assist their Caeseni allies in defending Cartho. With hundreds of thousands of Coalition forces sitting on the island, with hundreds of ships in the waters around it, the job of the Alliance became increasingly difficult, and new tactics were soon adapted.

Both the Caeseni and Gaullican navies were far smaller than those of their Allied counterparts, so they relied primarily on U-Boats to keep a strong presence in the sea. Of the 800 Coalition naval vessels protecting Cartho, 78% were U-Boats. Alliance Command was confident that if they crippled the enemy's U-Boat strength, they could carve out the rest of their defensive fleets and have a window for invasion. The Battle for Cartho was the result. This exchange lasted until the end of April with the near-complete destruction of Entente naval assets protecting Cartho, and in late June, Alliance forces made their first move. Federal Marines, in coordination with Estmerish and Roessan forces, would assault the four islands just off of Cartho. While the battles were short and not many casualties were claimed, the rocky terrain mixed with dense forest showed just what the Allies would be facing in Cartho. In early May, after securing the outer islands, they began the Great Crusade.

The Great Crusade - Allied Landings

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Asterian Soldiers engage Caeseni troops while advancing up Eagle Beach, early on in the May 15th Landings

The largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare was divided into 5 separate targets. Across a span of 15 miles, the Alliance had established 5 target beaches in which the hoped to capture: Red, Fox, Keller, White, and Jupiter. To better-focus each nation's military assets, the beaches were divided among participating nations. The Federation, which carried most of the weight in the invasion, was tasked with assaulting beaches Red and Eagle, which were expected to house the heaviest resistance. Estmere was tasked with assaulting Keller beach, while Roeselle was to attack at Fox. Jupiter beach, one of the larger targets, was to be attacked by the combined forces of Roeselle, Estmere, and elements of the Gaullican Free Army. The night before the invasion, more than 30,000 Paratroopers were dropped in various locations behind enemy lines - securing various points of importance such as small towns and bridges. At approximately 5:30am on the 15th of May, 1932, more than 150,000 Alliance troops embarked on the Great Crusade; the Invasion of Cartho.

Red Beach

Unlike the other beaches that were to be the targets of the Alliance invasion, Red Beach was not located on the southern coasts of Cartho, but rather on the western coastline - just a few miles outside the Caeseni city of Minorum. The Alliance had decided that they would need to pull Entente military assets in Cartho to another location, rather than just to the south, so that the main force would have the ability to establish and fortify a beachhead without an immediate, overwhelming counter-attack. This led to the creation of Red Beach, a rocky, jagged chunk of land next to the sea that happened to be around twenty feet closer to the sea than the earth around it, making it "ideal" for the attack. Supreme Commander of the Democratic Alliance forces, James Henderson, turned down offers from Roessan and Estmerish commanders to have their own nation's forces lead the attack, and insisted that one force in particular be tasked with capturing red beach, and Minorum. The Marines, regarded as the most intense, relentless, and elite combat troops in the entire Federal Armed Forces, were tasked with assaulting Red Beach and capturing Minorum, or as they called it, "The Devil's Den." The Marines would have to land on a thin strip of beach less than 200 yards from the sea to the beachhead, and climb up the jagged rock mountains under heavy machine gun and artillery fire - clearing pillboxes with Gaullican and Caeseni forces, and neutralizing artillery and anti-aircraft weapons. Unlike the southern beaches, the Alliance was unable to drop paratroopers the night before the invasion to disrupt transportation and communication, meaning the Asterian Marines would be facing the full force of the Entente. In fact, due to the jagged nature of Cartho's western coastline, it would be nearly impossible for the Federation to land any armor to support their advance - meaning they would be relying on limited air support from aircraft carriers in the fleets - air support that would be called off if the Entente's AA guns weren't neutralized.

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Federal Marines advance despite heavy fire from Gaullican and Caeseni forces.

Around 35,000 Marines started loading into their landing craft on the morning on May 15, 1932, and around 3:00am local time, fully believing that what they were about to embark upon was nothing short of a suicide mission, they were given words of encouragement. Lieutenant General Robert Titus, the third-highest-ranking officer in the Marine Corps, stood on the decks of the battleship FS New Estmere to send the Marines off to war, saying these famous words.

At approximately 4:45am, 4 Battleships and 8 Destroyers from the Estmerish Royal Navy broke off from the main fleet, which consisted of the Federation's transport vessels, moved into position about five miles off the coast of Cartho. As the clock hit 4:56, the Estmerish vessels began to unleash a massive artillery barrage on the Gaullican and Caeseni fortifications in an attempt to weaken them for when the Marines landed. The bombardment lasted for a little over an hour while thousands of Marines on Higgin's Boats emerged from the early morning darkness, with the sun in their eyes.

As soon as the Entente forces on the beach, consisting mainly of Caeseni troops with an elite Gaullican tank division supporting, saw the fleet of men bearing the Asterian flag sailing towards the shores, they retaliated - visciously. 381mm rounds tore through landing craft like paper, even as Estmerish ships saturated the beach and the shorline, throwing massive chunks back down onto the beach. As reported by many of the Marines, it felt like an eternity before their crafts reached the shore and dropped their front-facing gates and stormed out, though many were hardly able to move before machine gun nests cut down entire platoons still in their craft. Marines often dove off the sides rather than get mashed up by machine guns, but stray artillery was just as dangerous in the water. Within ten minutes of the first Asterian boots setting foot in Caeseni soil, more than 3,000 Marines had been killed or wounded, and the death toll was only rising.

The Asterian Marines drove foreword, taking cover behind anything they could - even trees or pushes if that meant they could remain hidden. As they advanced about 75 yards up the beach, they were greeted by a wall of Caeseni troops that had dug trench lines in the dirt - suffering even more casualties - but by using frag grenades and in many cases, blind-firing 30.Caliber into growds of Caeseni troops below. By around 5:25, Marines overran the Caeseni positions in the trenches and began using them as cover, but with artillery still hammering their position, there was little they could do from there. Caeseni and Gaullican forces pounded the beach with nearly 100 shells a minute - almost two shells making impact every second. Pinned down between machine gun and artillery fire, with the Navy having to hold it's bombardment due to risk of accidently hitting their allies, the Asterian Marines were going to have to think quickly if they were to get off the beach, for that was their ultimate goal. By this point in the assault, Lt. General Titus had landed on the bloody shores of Red Beach and advanced to the front-line, the trenches, where he began directing his men personally.

The presence of such a respected commander boosted the morale of the Marines on Red Beach, and as hundreds more were landing on the shores, they launched an organized attack to reach the beachhead. It began at 8:40am with General Titus ordering the Estmerish Navy to commence continued bombardments along the coast, despite the close proximity of the Marines. As artillery slammed into Entente fortifications just over the crest of the jagged ridgeline, Marines pressed foreword - having a moment to breathe - and would reach the ridgeline. Now, it was a matter of climbing the jagged and steep rocks and securing the top. The steep incline was a treacherous climb - wet rock from the morning dew, mixed with spiky rocks and the dangerous fall - all while under enemy fire - made it a death trap. The Marines, regardless, pressed on - the first Asterians reaching the top of the cliffs at around 9:20am. A small team of Marines, 7 men under the command of Lieutenant Daniel Woods would later receive Medals of Honor for neutralizing four Caeseni bunkers and three mortar pits that kept the majority of the Asterian invasion force pinned on the beach, and taking pressure off the Marines below. It was the break the Marines needed, and they used it to funnel more men up topside, and establish a beachhead. The Federal Marines fanned out, neutralizing dozens of mortar pits, bunkers, and artillery positions, and at 10:30am, Caeseni forces along the beach were orders to retreat to secondary defensive positions around the town of Anon, 4 miles from the beach, and about 15 miles from the city of Minorum: the ultimate goal of the invasion force at Red Beach. Fighting would begin to slow by noon, with the Marines holding back their assault while reinforcements landed, and the wounded were pulled from the front.

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Gaullican Soldiers battle Asterian Marines in the Carthonian town of Anon.

While thousands of Marines prepared, so did the Entente. In wake of their retreat, Caesena had called upon the elite 4th Gaullican Tank Division, which had been based in Minorum at the time, to launch a counter-attack. In the words of King Albert IV of Gaullica, push those damned devil dogs back to the sea - drown them in their own blood! The Gaullican division would depart from Minorum on the evening of May 15th to reinforce Caeseni troops in the town of Anon, but would be too late. That afternoon, at around 3pm, the Federal Marines had launched a secondary assault with the support of naval forces - bombarding the town naval cannons while they advanced inward - using abandoned Caeseni tanks and trucks and transport and support. Marines secured most of the town by around 5:30pm, while smaller attacks were launched to eliminate Caeseni forces to the north and south of the town. Federal Marines would begin preparing to defend Anon as they learned of the impending Gaullican counter-attack - using the rubble of the town as a defense, and setting up booby traps. General Titus personally oversaw these preparations, and would participate in the fighting. Overnight, Caeseni forces launched multiple attacks on the Marines in an attempt to dislodge them, and weaken them, but they were mostly unsuccessful. After a wave of Caeseni troops would be gunned down by Marines, a hail of naval fire would rain down on the area of town they came from - sometimes for more than ten minutes - turning even more of Anon to rubble. Days later, recovery teams would find Caeseni soldiers trapped under rubble, in basements or staircases, nearly dead from the thirst.

The Gaullican assault would come the following morning, May 16th, at around 6:00am. The Marines had been preparing all night, when not under attack by Caeseni forces, and were determined to hold Anon, no matter the cost. They'd managed to assemble a handful of Caeseni tanks that hadn't been completely destroyed in the fighting, moving two into the town's cemetery, three at the square, one inside the burnt-out church, and three others at various corners and hardpoints. These tanks, damaged and barely functional, would be operated by infantry Marines with no training, or experience, with the machines. They would, however, be vital to the defense of Anon. The fighting that occurred in the small Carthonian village is not enough to be called a real battle, but it was intense. The most elite of the Gaullican War Machine faced off against the most renowned warriors the Asterians had to offer - an "underdog tale", as said by a Marine who participated in the fight, Robert Lawrence. Field Marshall Zacharie Moreau, who commanded the Gaullican attack, called the Marines' defense "the most stubborn display of unwillingness to accept clear defeat in the entire conflict for Cartho." Despite using gas and exhausting their grenades to dislodge the Marines, the Gaullican forces were ultimately forced to retreat due to their staggering losses.

Meanwhile, Federal forces back at Red Beach had been hard at work while Marines battled with Gaullican troops in Anon, building a massive structure to get vehicles from the beach, to the top of the cliff - a ramp, essentially. While only able to hold a few vehicles at a time, it was invaluable. Tanks, and trucks for transport or filled with supplies, along with artillery and other means of support, were now available. Reinforcements arrived, the wounded and dead were pulled back towards field hospitals near the beach, and the Marines prepared to assault Minorum. On the 18th of May, they would do just that. The Battle for Minorum was quick, less than a day, and decisive. Federal Marines seized control of Cartho's largest railway hub - severing the main route for supplies travelling towards the front to the south, and putting a major dent in the Entente's military strength on the island.

Drive into Cartho

It took more than three days, and 20,000 casualties, for the Democratic Alliance to secure a foothold in Cartho... WIP.