Operation Firebird

Operation Firebird
Part of Norcustsur conflict
Date October 31, 2013 Location Hartfer, Radictistan Result Radictistani security forces occupy Freifelg and Virkamp blutstats; KPR bombmaker captured
Belligerents
Royal Radictistan Army Royal Security Police	Communist Party of Radictistan Blutstat gangs
Commanders and leaders
BG Paul Haugwitz (DRA)	Unknown
Strength
3,000 (Royal Radictistan Army) 80 (Royal Security Police)	100 (estimated Communist Party of Radictistan) 1,000 (estimated Blutstat gangs)
Casualties and losses
2 killed, 11 wounded (Royal Radictistan Army} 1 killed, 3 wounded (Royal Security Police) One armored vehicle destroyed, one armored vehicle damaged (Royal Radictistan Army)	20 killed, 1 captured (estimated Communist Party of Radictistan) 50 killed (estimated Blutstat gangs)

Operation Firebird (Radictistani: Unternemen Feurvogel) was a military operation executed jointly by the Royal Radictistan Army and Royal Security Police. The objective of the government forces was the apprehension of four known members of the Communist Party of Radictistan, a communist militant group, and the seizure of blutstat areas used by the KPR to launch mortar attacks on civilian targets. The operation was a mixed success with two of the four human targets apprehended or killed. The mortar-firing areas were cleared with minimal resistance and subjected to extended police occupation.

Background

Beginning with the bombing of a Radictistan Automotive Works office building and the Sudermann Mall shooting, the Communist Party of Radictistan (Kommunistpartei Radictistans) perpetrated a deadly campaign of bombings and shootings aimed at inspiring the overthrow of the Radictistani government and monarchy. In addition to these attacks, the KPR used positions within the Freifelg and Virkamp blutstats, two of the city of Hartfer's notorious slum areas, to launch mortar attacks against more affluent residential districts. The mortar attacks did little damage because of the small explosive payloads of the homemade extended range rounds but along with the periodic bombings served as a symbol of the government's inability to provide security.

After receiving intelligence concerning the identities and whereabouts of four men believed to be key bomb assemblers for the KPR in Hartfer, the Royal Security Police drew up plans to capture the bombers. The Army was soon brought in to the plan which was expanded to include the seizure of the sections of the blutstats from which mortar fire was being directed to other areas. As the majority of personnel involved would be from the Army, that organization assumed the lead role in planning the operation.

Preparations

In order to minimize the risk of security leaks, the decision was made to use only Army and RSP units already present in Hartfer. The operational plans were known only to select officers of the 19th Light Division staff until just five days before the scheduled commencement of the operation when senior officers of Brigade Task Force Hartfer were briefed. Battalion commanding officers and their staffs were briefed with 72 hours notice and the remaining personnel involved were given only forty-eight hours notice at which point a strict communications blackout was ordered. The County of Norcustsur Police was not informed of the pending operation because of the organization's history of operational security failings. The confinement of all soldiers and policemen to barracks was publicly explained as part of an exercise.

The Operation

Operation Firebird commenced with a series of smoke barrages executed by the 81mm mortar platoons of the three participating infantry battalions. The mortar fire was designed to shield the helicopter landing zones from small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. 194 Light Battalion and 195 Light Battalion assumed blocking positions around the blutstat during the opening barrage, reinforcing existing police checkpoints. The four capture teams were inserted simultaneously.

Schneider

The capture of the individual codenamed "Schneider" was assigned to 1st Platoon, B Company, 191 Reconnaissance Battalion. The twenty-three men of the platoon fast roped from a pair of Mi-17s and were immediately engaged at close range by more than a dozen gunmen. One member of the platoon was killed and three others wounded. The helicopters remained on station and provided suppressive fire, finally extracting the platoon after the decision was made to abort the grab.

Bastler

The capture of "Bastler" was assigned to about thirty personnel of the Special Action Group, the Royal Security Police's elite counterterrorism unit. Three ten-man teams and a few bomb disposal specialists were inserted by helicopter under cover of the smoke barrage and proceeded to the target's last known location. Two teams assumed overwatch positions while the third assaulted the building. Four KPR cadres were shot and "Bastler" subdued with the use of flash-bang grenades. The SAG group held out against a KPR counterattack before being extracted with their prisoner. One operator was seriously wounded during the attack and died on the helicopter after being extracted.

Tischler

2nd Platoon, 192 Military Police Company was given the task of apprehending "Tischler." After being inserted by Army helicopters the platoon made its way to the target's last known position, encountering light resistance along the way. The target and about five other persons engaged the squad detailed to perform the capture. The target was fatally shot during the brief firefight in which two soldiers were wounded.

Koch

The apprehension of "Koch" was assigned to a thirty-member Fast Response Team of the Royal Security Police. The team was inserted by police helicopters and quickly moved to the objective area. Despite encountering KPR cadres the force was unable to locate the target and was extracted to avoid becoming decisively engaged. Three team members were wounded during the operation.

Clearing action

The assault on the blutstats was conceived as a two-pronged assault aiming at a double envelopment of the mortar sites. Two rifle companies of 196 Light Battalion were tasked with sweeping through the Virkamp blutstat while the third rifle company and the battalion heavy machine gun platoon were assigned the task of clearing the Freifelg blutstat. Each platoon was reinforced with a squad of combat engineers to locate and neutralize improvised explosive devices. Both columns advanced with Dingo 2 infantry mobility vehicles providing mounted fire support.

Initial resistance was light with most blustat gang members encountered briefly exchanging fire with the advancing infantry before falling back into the labyrinthine alleys of the sprawling slum. After advancing about four kilometers into the Virmamp blutstat, A Company began to encounter suspected KPR cadres. The level of incoming fire intensified as did the fortitude of the enemy fighters. Twenty-eight minutes after entering the blutstat, A Company's 2nd Platoon had its advance temporarily halted when the lead Dingo was struck by an RPG. The gunner was wounded, the company's second casualty that day. Minutes later, 3rd Platoon was hit by a flanking counterattack and suffered two casualties. A and C companies achieved all their objectives within the Virkamp area of operations after three and a half hours.

B Company and the machine gun platoon met sporadic resistance as it advanced through the Freifelg blutstat. One man from the machine gun platoon was killed when his Dingo struck an IED. Two other men received wounds from gunfire. The company team met its objectives by H+3.

Aftermath

196 Light Battalion occupied the blutstats for five days before ceding control to the Royal Security Police. During that time one military engineer was killed while defusing an IED and one soldier from C Company was killed by sniper fire. The occupation of the Freifelg and Virkamp blutstats marked the first prolonged occupation of blutstat areas by security forces. A large number of blutstat gang figures were taken into custody in the weeks following the operation as were some low-level KPR cadres. Interrogation of prisoners partially removed the veil of mystery surrounding the KPR,

The militants retaliated by shifting some of the focus of their attacks to off-duty military personnel. Three soldiers from Brigade Task Force Hartfer were shot while off-duty, two of them fatally, in the two weeks following the operation. Despite the presence of the security forces, a number of informers and suspected informers were murdered in the following weeks and months.

Operation Firebird marked the beginning of a period in which the Royal Radictistan Army increased its stature at the expense of the Royal Security Police, threatening the carefully established system by which the Royal Security Police was the lead agency for counterinsurgency operations in Norcustsur.