Invasion of Ruvelka (Siduri War)

Invasion of Ruvelka
Part of The Siduri War
Clockwise from top: Syaran infantry on the march during Operation Sarissa; Fort Sirok following a concentrated Syaran bombardment; A Ruvelkan tank during the Siege of Aszód; Ruvelkan troops surrendering after the battle of Hadju-Bihar; Ruvelkan refugees on the road; The ruins of Sopron in 1934.
Date 4 April 1934 - 8 June 1934 Location Ruvelka, Eastern Syara, Western Allamunnika Result Syaran and Allamunnik victory Territorial changes Occupation of Ruvelka; Ruvelkan territory divided between Syara and Allamunnika
Belligerents
Republic of Syara Allmunnika (From 23 April 1934)	Principality of Ruvelka
Commanders and leaders
Sasko Anastasov Kostadin Zhelyaskov Metodij Kuzmanovski Kliment Gecevski Zdravko Bikić Jirayr Bedrosian	Rózsá Prohászka Rebeká Tímár Kata Kovács Rudolf Takács Patrik Lengyel Emese Hegedüs
Strength
Total: 3,150,000 troops 134 divisions 14,204 guns 3,300 tanks 3,285 aircraft	Total: 2,000,000 troops 79 divisions 20 Fusilier regiments 6,300 guns 1,210 tanks 1,000 aircraft
Casualties and losses
53,580 killed 211,852 wounded 14,799 missing 834 aircraft lost 1,233 tanks destroyed	84,000 killed 289,757 wounded 1,378,100 captured 457 aircraft lost 688 tanks destroyed

The Invasion of Ruvelka, sometimes referred to as the Fall of Ruvelka, marked the beginning of the Siduri War when the Republic of Syara launched Operation Sarissa on 4 April 1934. Although the Principality had anticipated the possibility of a future conflict with Syara, the scale of the invasion was much larger than Ruvelkan High Command had predicted. As a result, Ruvelkan forces were forced to withdraw from their forward bases close to the Syaran-Ruvelkan border to the more established Dorman Line to the east. As fighting continued in the west, which forced Ruvelka to redeploy its forces from the eastern half of the nation, Allmunnika launched its own invasion of the Principality on 23 April.

Syaran forces invaded Ruvelka early on the morning of 4 April, mobilizing enough troops to make a concerted advance across the entirety of the Syaran-Ruvelkan border. A short-lived Ruvelkan counter-offensive was launched in mid-March, but failed to gain any traction and was quickly beaten back. This Ruvelkan defeat gave the Syarans an undisputed advantage, forcing the Principality to reform its defense along the foothills of the Kurilla mountains where they could buy time to draw reinforcements from the east.

On 23 April, the armed forces of Allamunnika invaded Eastern Ruvelka under the auspices of the Syaran-Ruvelkan Frontier Treaty. With their troops in the east out of position and now facing a second front, the Ruvelkan government concluded that the defense of the Kurilla mountains was no longer possible and ordered an emergency evacuation of all governmental personnel to neutral Cacerta. On 8 June, following the Ruvelkan defeat at the Battle of Hadju-Bihar, Syaran and Allamunnik forces possessed full control of Ruvelka and marked the end of the newborn Principality of Ruvelka, although the Ruvelkan government-in-exile refused to formally surrender. Following the end of the invasion, several resistance organizations were formed which would eventually be unified into what became known as the Földalatti, making extensive use of the unbroken Csúcs codes to forward valuable intelligence to the Common Axis during the remainder of the War.

Prelude

Following their victory in the Divide War in 1918, the Republic of Syara had sought to establish itself as the 'leader' of the nations of Siduri, and had attempted to forge an international alliance known as the Inner Sphere. The stated goal of the Inner Sphere was to protect the sovereignty and dignity of the Siduri nations, especially against perceived imperialist threats, namely the Cacertian Empire. Most Siduri states however did not express much support for the Inner Sphere, with many seeing it as a Syaran effort to replace Cacerta as the primary power in Siduri. The Syaran government did little to mitigate such concerns with outwardly nationalist and bellicose rhetoric, coupled with a major military buildup that saw the Syaran armed forces rapidly expand. By 1932 Syara boasted the largest army in Tyran and the third largest navy after Ossoria and Cacerta, a move which was widely seen as a Syaran effort to become a dominant naval power. The only Siduri country to fall in with Syaran intentions was Allamunnika, at the time under the control of a fascist regime that shared Syaran ambitions when it come to continental domination. Beginning in the late 1920s both nations began cooperating closely in the realm of geopolitics, economics, and military affairs. Both states, having fought against the Cacertian Empire in the early 20th Century, viewed continued Cacertian influence in Siduri as unnacceptable and sought to counterbalance the Empire.

A frequent target of Syara nationalist rhetoric was Ruvelka. Relations between Ruvelka and Syara had been poor since the foundation of the Republic in 1875. Territorial disputes and border conflicts had largely defined their relationship, not helped by continuous ethnic tensions along the border. Syara tended to view Ruvelka as a perennial source of trouble due to it's numerous internal conflicts during the 19th century, and prior to the outbreak of the Divide War Syara had invaded the disputed territory of Zemplen during the Ruvelkan Civil War. Zovahr had intended for greater involvement, including the destruction of the Ruvelkan Socialist Republic, the Ruvelkan Anarchist Army, and the Insurrectionist Army, the Desopya Campaign permanently ended Syaran intervention in the civil war. In the 1920s relations between the two states continued to remain sour, in large part due to Syaran occupation of Zemplen and continued disputes over the border.

Although Ruvelkan-Cacertian relations were in fact largely cordial, Syaran leadership continued to believe that Ruvelka was in fact a major ally of the Empire based on Cacertian support for the Imperial Separatists during the Civil War. By 1932 Allamunnic and Syaran disdain for Ruvelka had grown even further, with Syaran President Sasko Anastasov stating that;

"So long as imperialist powers continue to nestle themselves along our borders...threatening our homes, our families, and our soil, we can never know an easy sleep, nor peace...it remains the duty of all honest peoples to resist against the forces of imperialism and its puppets."

Because of Ruvelka's relative political isolation outside Siduri, both Allamunnika and Syara believed that Ruvelka would be forced to concede to Inner Sphere demands, and international outcry over any conflict with Ruvelka would be limited. Beginning in late 1932 the General Staff of the Army of the Syaran Republic began drawing up plans for the invasion of Ruvelka, which would be come to be known as Operation Sarissa. The invasion was justified in the Syaran eyes as necessary to procure resources and materials for an expected future conflict with Cacerta, as well as removing a potential imperialist threat on their own borders.

Opposing forces

Syara had a significant advantage in military forces on the eve of the conflict in terms of both numbers and material. The Army of the Syaran Republic fielded an army of over 3 million men in uniform divided into 134 divisions, supported by more than 3,000 tanks, 3,000 aircraft, and more than 12,000 artillery pieces. The Syaran Army Air Corps fielded thousands of modern fighters and medium bombers, while many Syaran tanks such as the Thaumas, Elatus, and Perimedes were largely impervious to most Ruvelkan anti-tank weaponry. Syaran forces were guided by their Measured Battle Doctrine which emphasized large scale offensives supported by overwhelming artillery support. The Syaran General Staff was well aware of their advantages in numbers and material and planned to exploit both to the fullest.

On paper Ruvelka fielded a credible military force, capable of mobilizing over 2 million men and women in uniform, in addition to over 1,000 tanks and aircraft, and over 6,000 artillery pieces. Many Ruvelkan officers were veterans of the Civil War and therefore had combat experience. The Civil War however had also damaged much of Ruvelka's industrial base and economy, leaving the country in a state of recovery for much of the 1920s. Ruvelkan arms were largely domestically produced but often underdeveloped; Ruvelka's air force consisted mostly of biplanes with few modern aircraft, it's tanks were either too light and outclassed by Syaran armor, or too heavy and mechanically unreliable. Ruvelkan artillery was focused on easily transportable light mountain howitzers, which lacked the range and firepower of its Syaran counterparts. Motorization of the army was slow going as Ruvelka did not posses a major automotive industry, forcing the military to rely heavily on horses and mules for transportation and supply.

Doctrinal the Ruvelkans had adopted a largely defensive mindset. The Imperial General Staff had planned for the possibility of a Syaran invasion in 1925 and in turn developed a defensive strategy that relied on a system of fortifications throughout western Ruvelka, starting at the border and continuing east all the way to the Karilla Mountain Range. It was envisioned that Ruvelkan forces would conduct a series of defensive operations around each defensive line, before withdrawing east while bleeding the invaders white. After securing a defensive line centered on the Karilla Mountains, Ruvelka would build up further reserves behind the protection of the Karillas, eventually launching a strategic counter-offensive once the invading armies had been depleted enough by attrition.

Shortages of resources however sharply limited the Ruvelkan defensive strategy; by 1934 there existed only three major defensive belts between the border and the Karillas. The closest one to the border was manned by so called "fortress divisions"; formations that lacked the mobility for maneuver warfare and could only hold static positions. Subsequent defenses were poorly spaced and unable to support one another. Much of the Ruvelkan army lacked experience in phased withdrawals, and on the eve of the invasion Ruvelkan forces lacked heavy weapon including anti-tank guns and mortars.