Thundering Elephant Army

Thundering Elephant Army
Active	1984 – 1987
Country	Itayana
Allegiance	Charnea
Branch	Army
Type	Infantry (1984) Motorized Infantry (1985)
Size	33,770 (1984) 46,990 (1987)
Garrison/HQ	Airashe (logistical hub) Yanomi (logistical hub)
Engagements	Ninvite War
Decorations	Thundering Elephant Banner

The Thundering Elephant Army was an expeditionary military unit sent by various governorates of Karana Basin to Charnea during the Ninvite War. Assembled and organized in 1984 from the forces of regional governors, it saw action in several major battles of the war, notably in the Battle of Hamath and al-Kija Campaign. The was experience aided in developing methods and raising cadres for the future iterations of Itayana military, while joint operations with the Imperial Charnean Army contributed to the rise of the Ur-Scipianist geopolitical and philosophical current, gaining traction throughout the Two Basins and the Ninva in the following decades.

Background

With the onset of hostilities between Gharbaic population of Hatta and Charnean central government, several governorates of the former Karana Basin saw the opportunity to expand their knowledge in modern forms of warfare. As early as 1979, observers from 6th, 7th, 10th, 29th and 33rd governorates were dispatched there at the requests of their governorates. This eventually expanded into sending small units to aid the Imperial Charnean Army in combat by 1983. When the hostilities escalated in a large-scale uprising the ICA alone couldn't contain, the Charnean government used the connection to ask for military assistance in the form of expeditionary unit.

Organization of such unit met significant difficulties, especially after the initial planned division-sized contingent expanded into an infantry corps. All governorates of the Karana Basin answered the call and dispatched their units, partially fueled by the anti-Gharbaic sentiment going back to the Solar Realm, partially in hopes of acquiring first-hand experience to be used in potential future conflicts for unification. Altogether, this amounted to mobilization of the entire Karana Basin, albeit in a haphazard and disorganized fashion because of its divided political nature and lack of experience in mobilizing the masses. Much of the civilian population at that time was employed in a hastily-drafted expansion of Aribango-Airashe Trans-Karana Railroad, while arsenals all across the Two Basins supplied any form of equipment they could make. Yanomi, capital of the 33rd Governorate, was chosen for Army's general headquarters but Airashe of the 29th Governorate was its key logistical hub; its field headquarters changed sites throughout the war.

The unit was prepared by September 1983, but the rainfall season delayed its deployment until January 1984. Before the dispatch, the ceremony by the Solar Temple of Yanbango named the unit "Thundering Elephant Army", in honour of the shock force of the Second Realm campaigns from 1575 to 1625, blessed its banners' colours at the central altar of the Eternal Sun, and presented the banner of the original Thundering Elephant Banner.

Operations

Main article: Battle of Hamath

At the cessation of hostilities in 1987, the unit was transferred to Airashe, where, on January 5th, 1988, it was disbanded in a ceremony attracting much of the city's population and various delegations from across the Two Basins. Its subdivisions returned to the original governorates, while shared units were split between the 6th and the 29th Governorates.

Composition and Equipment

The Army was formed from the forces of governorates of the Lower Karana (1st, 3rd, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th) and the Makgato Plateau (29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th and 36th). Initially, each governorate sent one-to-three infantry battalions and either a pioneer command and/or an artillery battalion, while the larger governorates supplied available support units. Following the escalation of hostilities, governors mobilized additional units, mostly to train replacements for killed and wounded soldiers. Medical services command was expanded and the centralized signal command was established for enhanced coordination of the units.

Initially, the Army troops were issued Pattern 1950 automatic rifles, by that time a standard-issue weapon for line infantry, and a Pattern 1952 LMG as a squad machine gun, a variant of Pattern 1944 machine gun adapted for belt feeding. For company-grade fire support, 15mm Pattern 1952 HMG was used, a rechambered DShK machine gun. Heavier weapons included various 50, 81, and 120mm mortars. Later in war, the banner received AP-42 sub-machine guns and AK-54 assault rifles, proven to be useful in urban confines of Hamath, as well as various RPGs and ATGMs for tank defence and MANPADS for air defence. Infantry units also received portable radios from the ICA stocks and combat medical units were expanded, contributing to lessening casualty rates. However, non-combat support units suffered from the precarious supply situation owing to the embargoes imposed on Charnea, and oftentimes had to make do with leftovers from the ICA units.

Motorization was a significant component of combat capabilities in the Ninvite War. Karana basin did not have means to motorize troops, relying on foot infantry and cavalry units for initial offensives, but this proved to be unsuitable in the open spaces of the Ninva. Motorization and mechanization efforts began with the help of ICA by late 1984. Battle of Hamath showed usefulness of moto-mechanized units in achieving fast breakthroughs, but mechanization was sparse in the otherwise embargoed Charnea. Karanite governors had to employ obsolete T39-100 and T50-100 tanks purchased from Velikoslavia, additionally outfitting them with Kontakt-1 ERA blocks for somewhat better protection against ATGMs. After the Hamath, the Army received IBV-75 IFVs as well. Nevertheless, armoured and mechanized formations, consolidated under a specialized divisional command, were used sparingly, notably at the al-Kija Campaign.

In contrast, artillery units were used abundantly throughout the war. Initially, the 77mm Pattern 1936 field gun was the primary fire support weapon, lauded by its reliability and readily-available supply of shells from the Two Basins arsenals, while a heavier 144mm Pattern 1930 heavy field gun was used as an army-level asset. Karanite field artillery at the onset of hostilities was horse-towed, matching manoeuvrability of the foot infantry units, and was often used in massed formations. This organization was found to be susceptible to counter-battery fire but not much could be done until the army was at least partially motorized.

Lighter 77mm field guns were quickly complemented in direct fire support role by various means. Light anti-air emplacements, such as KaK-23 and KaK-57, were used as a company-level reinforcement, while 100mm MT-12 anti-tank guns and 152mm howitzers were added for specialized fire support. By the Battle of Hamath, assault gun units were introduced, accompanying infantry in attacks against fortified positions. Most notably, SU40-122 and SU45-100 assault guns outfitted with ERA were used at Hamath to great effect. Mechanized artillery was also introduced by that time; in particular, Velikoslaivian SPG44-152 SPGs was instantly liked by the army and inspired many field conversions featuring any gun present on site. But despite all efforts, 77mm field guns carried on their fire support missions until the very end of the war, often mounted on wheeled or tracked hulls for mobility.

Organization of the Army reflected changes in the overall thought as well. In 1986, it followed the traditional structure of Itayana Banners, corps-level formations from the times of the Second Realm slightly modified with the experience gained in the Agala War. Each banner was formed from two or three "wings" with various infantry battalions and field gun units attached to each wing, usually coming from the same or neighbouring governorates. The banner itself controlled logistics, heavy artillery, communications and allocation of various support units. The structure performed decently in the open-field massed offensives, but was found to be unwieldy in motorized offensive operations, redundant in defence, and occasionally introducing unnecessary friction between the wings.

By the late 1984, the Army was reorganized. Wings were reorganized into square divisions, named "Banners", with independent reconnaissance brigade and two triangular brigades. This later structure proved itself well in the 1985 campaigns, including the Battle of Hamath, and persisted until the end of hostilities. Following the war, the word "Banner" permanently shifted its meaning from corps to divisional level of organization across the Basins, while the word "Army" took the additional meaning of corps-level structure.

Impact

The Thundering Elephant Army made a notable contribution to the Charnean war effort. It was said by several analysts that Amayana forces had to "learn on the job", but in the end the command staff acquired first-hand experience of managing a large-scale operational warfare, first in its kind since 1843, while its troops preformed at their level of ability even when plagued by inadequate orders or fragile and disrupted supply chains. In the Two Basins, the Battle of Hamath is considered the crowning moment of the Army; the quasi-official hagiographic work, Elephants of Karana, Thunders of Hatheria (1995), names it "the birthplace of modern Amayana armies".

The political impact of the participation is harder to ascertain for Itayana. Reports and interviews strongly imply that dispatch of many governorate officers and local armies aided centralization efforts in the Lower Karana; however, with the overall instability encountered in the Lower Karana and Imo Basins, it is argued the Army deployment may not have played a significant role. Many officers of the Army formed high commands of Amayana National Army and Makgato Defence Force by 2010, and were opposing each other in the Central Karana War. While same interviews indicate that it could be a reason for its overall stalemate outcome and the relative stability after the war, economic problems of the Solar Autocracy and the heavy rainfall season of 2010 are believed to influence the outcome more directly. The presence of an informal, semi-official background communication between Yanbango and Yanomi and the loose status of the ISA-AMF border through the Trans-Karana Railroad can be considered its more concrete and undisputable outcomes.

Perhaps the most notable political and philosophical impact of the Army was the emergence of Ur-Scipianism as political philosophy. The Institute for Scipian Studies officially considers the Battle of Hamath as a binding moment for the Scipian Core, similarly lauded as the "birthplace of Scipianism" by independent scholars of it. As a notable current, the Scipianist philosophy slowly emerged in both Charnea and Itayana after the war. Charnean Scipianists entered the public view after the Muttay Ajamhuryin in 2023, while its path in the Itayana mainstream was distinct between the factions. Amayana Makgato Federation adopted Scipianist thought as its de facto kernel after the Central Karana War; in the Solar Autocracy, the current became a secular philosophical mainstream by the 2016 Karana Unity Games, endorsed by several prominent figures within the Autocracy and critically supported by the Solar Temple.