Operation Vautour

Operation Vautour
Part of Brindamour Armed Conflict
Azurenne soldiers pictured in May 2022 preparing to enter the village of Plé, a trading port on the River Mondragon approxiamtely twenty miles from Mont-Thérèse in northeastern Brindamour.
Date February 19, 2022 - Present Location Brindamour Province, Azure Coast Status Ongoing Vague Rouge rebels clash with the Azurenne Army. The BSDR declares separation from Sartoux. Displacement of refugees from the conflict zone.
Belligerents
Azure Coast Azurenne Defense Forces Supported By: TBD	Brindamour R.S.D. Vague Rouge Movement Supported By: TBD
Commanders and leaders
Céleste Auberjonois Maj. Gen. Georges Naviaux	David Bazalgette Col. Kanin Taugourdeau
Strength
> 140,000 ADF Personnel	> 40,000 Vague Rouge Militants
Casualties and losses
~210 Killed ~1,300 Wounded	~500 Killed ~1,200 Wounded

Opération Vautour (Operation Vulture) is an ongoing military action being conducted by the Azurenne Defense Forces of Côte d'Azur against the Councilist Vague Rogue insurgency and the self-proclaimed Brindamour République Socialiste Démocratique in the Brindamour Federal Territory. The military operation is part of the Brindamour Armed Conflict, known locally as the Second Overmountain War. and has been ongoing since February 2022.

Military maneuvers conducted by the Azurenne Army had been ongoing in the territory off-and-on for several years prior to the launch of Op. Vautour, though these were typically restricted to peacekeeping and other non-combat roles. Tensions in the region had been escalating since the 2017 Bombing of Haxo in which three Azurenne airmen were injured by an improvised explosive device. Attempts to mediate a truce between local dissidents in Brindamour and the PCR-led government in Sartoux were unsuccessful, leading to a period of gradual escalation in the region. The Vague Rogue Movement, the remnant of the losing faction in the Azurenne Civil War (1937-1947) began actively recruiting mercenaries and militants to its ranks, drawing the ire of the Yacine government.

The election of Céleste Auberjonois to the Premiership in 2021 signaled a rapid escalation in events in Brindamour. Believing that the more liberal Premier would be less likely to respond militarily to provocations, Vague Rogue militants attempted to seize the Federal Arsenal at Aulnoy on January 19, 2022, leading to a firefight that killed twelve militants and two Azurenne soldiers. In retaliation, Sartoux ordered the aerial bombardment of a suspected militant training camp in the Sythes-Juoda Basin near the village of Tzinla on January 25, killing a suspected twenty militants. On February 9, two hundred Vague Rouge insurgents crossed the Grinda-Héroux Line and attacked a radar monitoring station near Guerin, killing thirty soldiers and three civilians. On February 12, the Vague Rouge declared the independence of the Brindamour R.S.D. and put out an open call to all international revolutionaries to support their fight for independence. The Azurenne military operation to pacify the rebellious province began seven days later on February 19.

In the first five months of the campaign, more than 2,100 servicepersons of the Azurenne Defense Force perished in the fighting, with another 5,000 wounded; Azurenne military estimates place the casualties of the Vague Rouge over that same period at roughly 3,500 killed and 4,200 wounded with more than 800 taken prisoner. Blue Crystal estimates that more than 10,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting, and 30,000 have been displaced from their homes. The military operation marks the bloodiest engagement for the Azurenne Defense Forces and Côte d'Azur as a whole since the days of the Azurenne Civil War and the Great War.

The attempted bombing in Freedom Square on March 9, 2022 is thought to be a retaliatory act against Sartoux by the Vague Rouge for the military incursion into their claimed territory. The event marked the beginning of heighted security measures in the country, including its suspension of domestic sporting events.