Great Southern Gata War

Great Southern Gata War
Location Southern California, around San Bernardino and Imperial Counties Result Dornalian Victory Territorial changes Annexation of San Bernardino and Imperial Counties, establishment of Colorado River as border.
Belligerents
Workers State of New Dornalia, Dornalian Frontier Force, Internal Security Bureau Civil Patrol--Special Police	Great Southern Junta, Mormon Union, Navajo Nation
Commanders and leaders
Tom Smithson, Timothy Ehermentraut, Agent John Seitz	Alejandra Francesca-chibi (KIA), Juanita Katayama, Frederick Shepherd, Lawrence Camarillo

The Great Southern Gata War was another one of pre-MacIntyre Dornieland’s deadliest conflicts, characterized as a war over Southern California in the Mojave Desert, particularly in San Bernardino and Imperial Counties.

Origins

The Dornalians had, for the longest time, attempted to “tame” the wild borderlands of San Bernardino and Imperial Counties. Like the Northern Border, the borderlands of “San Berdoo” were a wild and very ill defined place. Although fraught with banditry, the region was also home to thriving trade using the remnants of I-40 and the I-15 Corridors, which went to both Las Vegas and Needles, Arizona. Additionally, many Dornalians were beginning to resettle old ghost towns and began to push into the interior, both independently and as part of state-sponsored projects to Make the Desert Bloom Again. The Dornalians became concerned about not just banditry, but the increasing migration and settlement of various Gata militia groups in the Mojave. Internal Security and various Dornalian expeditions noted that these groups were likely pushed out of Arizona by the Navajo Nation. Evidence gathered by modern historians concurs with this assessment, noting that Navajo leaders had begun encouraging--by force or bribery--the various Gata tribals to migrate out of Arizona into the borderlands to provide a buffer zone against Dornalian encroachment. The Navajo Nation’s on-again, off-again allies in the Mormon Union, based in Utah and Nevada, likewise feared Dornalian expansion and eagerly encouraged their Gatas to settle in the borderlands.

Tensions soon flared, especially as the Gata settlers tended to be heavily armed, and had weapons such as technicals and even artillery. These settlers imported weapons from their Navajo and Mormon sponsors, and also from Dornalian merchants. These settlers, along with their Northern cousins in the Grand Army of the North, also had many weapons brought by their ancestors, who had migrated north from Mexico when the gata-dominated Mexican Empire--a successor state of the Jacintaist Empire--collapsed in the Great Revolution. Before long, skirmishes began breaking out between the Dornalians and the Gata settlers, with the Gatas opting to form the Great Southern Junta to provide a form of mutual defense and protection over the Gata border colonies and the communties they began to annex, including the city of Barstow.

In response to the formation of the Junta, the Dornalians stepped up their settlement campaigns and Internal Security began a campaign known as Operation Bonanza, which sought to win over the unaffiliated communities in the region and also attempted to incite revolts to dislodge the Junta. Additionally, the Dornalians began recruiting Special Police units made out of raiders and Gata renegades alike, which were designed both to be used against raiders and also had the hidden purpose of directing bandit actions against the gata settlers. Military units, including the one in which Corporal MacIntyre was deployed, were also sent to the region.

This situation continued until 2136, where the Junta, sensing the Dornalians were busy in the Great Northern Gata War, initiated a campaign to try and take control of the region once and for all, proclaiming that the whole of San Bernardino County and Imperial Counties were under the protection of the Junta.

This of course, lead the Dornalians to declare war, on October 10, 2136.

The Lightning War: 2136

Initial Gata Offensives

From the start, the limited resources of the Dornalians--which at the time were in the tail end of the Great Northern Gata War--and the harsh desert environment made the use of fast moving maneuver warfare that much more paramount.

It also initially put the Dornalians at a disadvantage, as the Dornalians at this stage still used ponderous, large formations designed for fighting more conventional opponents such as the Mormon Union or the Grand Army. At this stage, the Gatas sought to sweep the Dornalian garrisons from the region, hopefully forcing them to a truce due to the ongoing Great Northern Gata War. To that end, the Junta used its mobility to cut Dornalian communication lines and besiege Dornalian garrisons into either surrendering or going out in a blaze of glory, so as to better secure the desert for themselves.

In what was a sign of things to come, the Junta launched a massive raid using technicals and surprisingly sophisticated combined-arms tactics (artillery and even the odd MBT was particularly prized) on Victorville as their opening gambit. Although the raid was beaten back by the tenaciousness of the defenders, the Junta also began engaging Dornalian garrisons across the Mojave. Garrisons in places such as Johnson Valley, Desert Heights, Twentynine Palms and Fort Shimura in the Cleghorn Lakes Wilderness Area were besieged by Junta forces, and in the case of smaller garrisons like Fort Shimura, the Dornalian garrison was slaughtered to a man.

Civilians were also not safe. Although regulations on the Junta’s side generally treated the civilians well, the Junta often staged reprisals and raids on towns known to be or suspected of supporting the Dornalians, or otherwise contemplating the effort to do so. In events such as the Old Dale Massacre, Junta forces turned their artillery and technicals against civilians and drove them into the desert to die of thirst and hunger.

The Retaliation

However, the Dornalians were not about to be caught sleeping. Even in this early stage, the various Dornalian garrisons held out with great courage and tenacity, and even won early victories such as at the Battle of Yucca Valley. Individual commanders at this point, defying the otherwise sclerotic General Staff, also began adopting some of the mobility tactics of their enemies, selecting LRRP teams to perform scouting and even ambush duties. In this manner, several garrisons, such as Johnson Valley, were relieved.

The main source of resistance at this point, however, was the Internal Security Bureau and its Operation Bonanza teams. Special Police units and even civilian militiamen supplied by Scavenger Teams and Army Special Ops began to make raids upon Junta forces, targeting ammo dumps and convoys in the high desert. Casualties were often high, but the rewards were often numerous. A particularly daring raid took place at Bagdad, where a convoy carrying 105mm shells was ambushed and destroyed in a violent six hour raid.

The Six Hour Raid was the stuff of legend, but Dornalian command knew it would take more than commando raids to win back the desert. This was especially as Special Police units were taking casualties, and the Junta began to shift reinforcements further into the region.

Striking Back: 2137

Out Blitzing the Blitzkrieg

Discouraged by the initial lack of progress of the Army, Dornalian Army officials fired General Smithson, the former Supreme Commander in the region, and brought in General Tim Ehermentraut. A fairminded, competent general, Ehermentraut had made his name previously in Army Special Ops and a Scavenger Team, which among many achievements had recovered vital parts for the Dornalian Space Program. With the Dornies busy with the Great Northern Gata War and struggling how to figure out how to break the sieges, Ehrmentraut was able to get away with asking for carte blanche in how to run his war.

With that in mind, Ehermentraut began to adopt the mobile tactics used by his enemies and the individual commanders below. Setting up various Task Forces, the idea was to create commonsense formations which would allow the Dornalians to actually be able to implement mobile warfare as opposed to the static warfare in Northern California. To that end, Ehermentraut began mounting Dornalians in not just technicals and gun-trucks which hauled artillery, but also actual military vehicles such as IFVs and self-propelled artillery. A consignment of M60 tanks was also rebuilt and repurposed for battles in the desert. Finally, helicopters and other air assets were used to spot and attack enemy forces.

Additionally, Internal Security officer Agent John Seitz was brought in to coordinate operations with the Special Police. Seitz ran interference with the civilian authorities, enabling Ehermentraut to coordinate operations and get things done his way.

Liberation

Before long, the reforms had their intended effect. Beginning in June 2137, the Dornalians began breaking the various sieges in what became known as “The Damn Good Summer.” In fights such as the Battle of Indio and the Siege of Twentynine Palms, the Dornalian Frontier Forces--the collective name for the taskforce in the region--won victory after victory using what the propaganda organs called “Ehermentraut’s Touch”--really, as Ehermentraut would put it, common sense desert warfare.

The Dornalians soon became emboldened, and pushed to take cities and settlements by force. This included the First Battle of Barstow, which occurred between July and October 2138. Although the battle resulted in Barstow being only partly occupied, the push was a morale booster for all concerned. Additionally, the Salton Sea Campaign resulted in a major pushback against the Junta’s forces in that region, sending them back east.

Decision in Barstow--2138

Second Barstow

However, the partial occupation of Barstow was not enough, especially as the Yermo Familia and their leader, Juanita Katayama, took over the Junta’s forces. Rumor had it that the Navajos and Mormons were seriously considering deploying troops into the region, and Special Police and regular Army taskforces began capturing “advisors” from both states in the ranks of Junta forces. In response, Ehermentraut initiated the Second Battle of Barstow. Fighting commenced with a massive push to encircle the city by seizing Yermo and Newberry Springs, which resulted in pitched battles for those suburbs. Additionally, the Dornalians also pushed into Eastern Barstow itself, crossing the Great Barrier dividing the city in two to engage Junta forces. Finally, a diversionary push to the north using Special Police and Task Force 5 lead to the Battle of Irwin and Fossil Roads, the largest technical-on-technical fight seen so far in the War.

Eventually, the city of Barstow was fully taken, and with the Barstow Airport taken, a base was provided that could be used by Dornalian air forces to further harass and attack the Junta.

Elsewhere

The fighting near Barstow was a critical part of the War, but alongside it was another critical campaign--the Hayfield-Palm Springs Campaign, wherein Dornalian forces engaged Junta Forces attempting to blunt the Dornalian offensive into Barstow by threatening their southern flank around I-10 and Route 86. The result was a series of pitched battles that saw the Junta’s efforts sapped, culminating in the Battle of Hayfield. There, newly arrived Dornalian aircraft were instrumental in suppressing enemy targets, enabling the defeat of the enemy.

The Great Offensive--2139

Decision Time

The end of the Great Northern Gata War in 2138 had already freed numerous Dornalian regiments for action, and Ehermentraut soon began accepting reinforcements from the North. The culture clash however, was strong--many of the Northerners were unaccustomed to the relatively laid back management style of the Dornalian Frontier Force, with the result that many of them had to be retrained and reorganized in rearline facilities.

Still, their knowledge of artillery usage and their expertise in infiltration tactics made them useful fighters, and with more men and artillery, the Dornalians began a great push into the desert. Centered along the Interstates, the “Interstate Campaign” sought to methodically push the Junta into the desert, so as to compel their surrender. This they did with great force, resulting in fierce fighting in Apton and other small towns in the desert. However, the Junta proved tough to crack--although disorganized and disunified, this disunity proved to be a useful asset, making commanders unpredictable and making the Junta capable of fighting a running guerilla war as the Dornalians got deeper into the desert.

The Interventions

Unlike the Evenstar, the Mormons and the Navajos launched Operation Pusherman, in an attempt to force the Dornalians back. Using the interstates and the local routes such as Route 126, the Pusherman Task Force sought to “contain the Red Menace” by blunting the Dornalian offensive. Of course, Ehermentraut adapted to this fight, and sought to seperate the Junta from its sponsors in the region. He also sought to blunt the momentum of the enemy offensive, and use the desert to his advantage. This would not be easy, as the Mormon-Navajo Task Force brought in its own aircraft and also employed its own mobile forces, all of which were perfectly happy to fight pitched battles with their hated Dornalian enemies.

This resulted in seesaw-like duels for the Eastern Mojave, with places like Shabbuck, Tecopa, Milligan, and other small towns seeing massive technical-and-tank duels in their backyards. Still, through a combination of clever manuevering--in the Battle of Renoville, for example, Dornalian forces flanked the town using forces sent across the desert from Fort Irwin--and sheer grit, the Dornalians stymied the intervention of the Mormon-Navajo/Junta forces.

Peace Comes at Last-- 2140

The Colorado Campaign

In an effort to push the enemy towards peace, Ehermentraut sought to push the enemy to the Colorado River. The resulting campaign, appropriately titled the “Colorado River Campaign,” was the last campaign of the war, pushing the Dornalians to cross to the border of Nevada and Arizona. To make matters worse for the enemy, the Dornalians even made flanking maneuvers, including raids on the towns of Primm and Lake Havasu City, to show their determination to push the war to the utmost.

The most audacious raid was the Raid on the Hoover Dam, which involved the Dornalians marching a combined Special Police and Army Special Ops taskforce into the region, staging a raid deep into the heart of Mormon Territory and sabotaging the Dam before exiting.

The Treaty of Las Vegas

The Dornalians and all three parties, eager to deescalate the situation, met in Las Vegas in November 2140 to settle the matter peacefully. After weeks of intense negotiations, the Treaty of Las Vegas was signed on Christmas Day 2140. The treaty essentially recognized the Colorado River as the border between the Navajo Nation and the Mormon Union and the Workers State, with the Junta to either submit to Dornalian control or otherwise leave.

Many of the Junta objected to this treaty, and indeed fully half of the Junta retreated into Southern Nevada, where they rearmed and bided their time. The other half stayed in San Bernardino and Imperial Counties, to an uncertain future.

Legacy

The biggest legacy of the Great Southern Gata War is that it helped form Corporal and later Premier and President Robert MacIntyre’s ideology. The experiences he had wandering with Adrienne “The Canuck” Perrault, which included witnessing military incompetence and corruption first hand, and the markets of Barstow, were among some of his formative experiences during his sojourn with The Canuck. He also became inspired in his anti-slavery ideals here, for any number of reasons. More importantly, the former President, in his memoirs, reflected on "encountering a strange group of Italian gatas and their unusual friends who bothered to ask all the right questions." Historians continue to dispute the statement's significance, and the presence of conspiracy theorists and a recurring legend of "The Purple Lady" around the San Bernardino County area doesn't help.

Most importantly, the Great Southern Gata War and the Great Northern Gata War effectively bankrupted the nation, winning peace but also causing shortages and discontent at home. The poor economic situation, plus the ongoing corruption in Dornieland itself, would help dissident movements flourish in the coming years. Historians argue that these Wars helped to bring down the Dornalian Government by 2158.

Ehermentraut himself was arrested on trumped up charges and then released--this event helped push him to join the Underground and helped him to side with the MacIntyre Government when the Anti-MacIntyreist Coup attempted to overthrow his regime in July 2158.

Commemorations

The Great Southern Gata War is commemorated throughout the Inland Empire and Imperial County, with the most prominent monument being The Technical in San Bernardino--a pair of Toyota Trucks circling each other--one in Dornalian military paint with Dornie soldiers inside, and the other with Gatas inside.

On the Dornalian side, the end of the War is commemorated as part of Christmas Day celebrations, with fireworks and celebratory gunfire alongside the usual presents. The gatas themselves tend not to honor that part of Christmas as much, especially those descended from the Junta’s constituent members. The whole affair is remembered as The Great Gamble, and its commanders generally remembered in gata historiography as honorable losers.

Dornalian history tends to remember the conflict as vital one, as while it was an example of Marxist excess it also helped shape the Republic as we know it. Movies and TV have been made about this show, including the famous Dornalian war drama show The Truck, about a technical mounted group of Dornalians fighting in the war, and Comanchero!, a gritty Western about a Special Police agent who is a former bandit.