Northern War

Northern War
Letnian infantry attacking a Jedorian position
Date 11 April 1940 - 23 May 1944 Location Jedoria, Letnia, Cherniya, Kolodiya Result Letnian Victory
Belligerents
Letnia	Confederation of Jedoria
Commanders and leaders
Alexis III	Gastons Mihailovs
Strength
7.2 million	5.3 million
Casualties and losses
2.5 million killed 3.9 million wounded	1.8 million killed 3.2 million wounded

The Northern War (Letnian: Северная война, Severnaya voyna, Jedorian: Ziemeļu karš) was a war between Letnia and the Confederation of Jedoria. The war began on 11 April 1940 when Letnia invaded Jedoria following a series of territorial disputes between Jedoria, Letnia, Cherniya, and Kolodiya.

Disputes over territorial claims had long defined the relationship between Letnia and Jedoria, of particular contention being Jedorian control of the highly arable land around Voronezh, inhabited by ethnic Cherniyans but controlled by the Confederation of Jedoria. Attempts to negotiate a peaceful resolution were undermined by Jedorian concerns of growing Letnian influence, exacerbated by Letnian ties with both Cherniya and Kolodiya. Several years of border skirmishes preceded the official outbreak of hostilities, which occurred in April 1940 when Letnian forces invaded Jedorian occupied-Cherniya.

The Letnian invasion, despite posessing superiority in numbers and material, suffered from poor leadership and execution, resulting in the expulsion of

Although taking place concurrently with the Pan-Septentrion War, the conflict is not typically considered to be part of the wider, although events during the PSW influenced the Northern War and vice versa. Jedoria's defeat is widely considered to be the catalyst for the dissolution of the Confederation and the rise of communism in Jedoria, which would occur a decade later with the Jedorian Revolution.

Background

In the aftermath of the War of Sylvan Succession the Empire of Letnia had found it’s ability to project influence into Casaterra limited by the powerful states of Ostland, Vihoslavia, Sylva, Tyran, and Sieuxerr. Despite leaps and bounds in Letnian industrialization and modernization a war with one of the major powers in Casaterra was an unwelcome thought, and something the Empire was keen to avoid. Still desiring to expand Letnian influence and resource base, the Empire turned it’s attention westward, towards Vinya.

Letnian relations with the Vinyan powers had been largely nonexistent. Kolodiya, large but sparsely populated, was under the influence of the crown, as was Cherniya. The only other two states that bordered the Empire were the Tyrannic colonies of the Galenic States and Jedoria. Jedoria had largely been a nonfactor to Letnian concerns in the preceding centuries due to its fractured nature. The Treaty of Taurach established the unified Confederation of Jedoria in 1843 and finally presented a singular power on Letnia’s southwestern flank. Efforts to corral the fledging Confederation under Letnian influence fell through however, and the rapid industrialization of Jedoria in the 20th century proved alarming to Turov. Jedoria boasted a large population, substantial natural resources including iron, coal, and oil. More concerning to the Empire however was Jedorian control of the Voronezh Coastal Plains. Letnia’s expanding population needed food that the Empire did not produce in sufficient quantities.

Border issues however remained at the forefront of Letnian-Jedorian relations. The Confederation had disputes with all of it’s neighbors, and these continued to serve as an obstacle for Letnian efforts to bring Jedoria under it’s wing.

Letnian-Jedorian relations 1936-1939

Unable to make any progress on the Vinyan front, in 1936 Tsar Alexei III pushed his government to host a diplomatic summit hoping to soothe over relations and bring Jedoria under Letnian influence. The Turov Conference of 1936 hosted by the Tsar began in good spirits but quickly faded as a resolution was not met. Foreign Minister of the Empire Kalagin Lukyan Leonidovich proceeded with the summit by presenting the concerns of the Empire, Cherniya, and Kolodiya under a single manner, which the Jedorians balked at. While the Jedorian delegation (led by Foreign Minister Pranciškus Damidavicius) was willing to negotiate a settlement to the ‘’Cherniyan issue”, the Confederation was less enticed towards Kolodiyan demands, which included abolishing the current Jedorian-Kolodiyan border and moving it south along a line of latitude linking the Savelijs Mountains with Lake Andreja and Nijole. The Jedorians expressed their concern that doing so would leave no strategic buffer between the border and their populated coastline along the Jedorian Sea, to which Leonidovich did not consider a worthy enough justification.

Not helping matters was the Jedorian insistence that their borders rightfully extended as far east as Lake Krayevskaya, which would have placed the city of Borisogansk within Jedorian borders. Mutual suspicious and poor understanding of the other’s intention resulted in a lack of any kind of meaningful compromise, and the Jedorian delegation flew back to Strana Mechty only to state that the conference had been a complete waste of time. To the Letnians and their allies, the conference cemented the opinion that a peaceful resolution with Jedoria in regards to the Voronezh dispute was unattainable.

Subsequently the individual states met in several more meetings between 1936-1939 and some progress was achieved, but without the backing of Letnia such discussions were ultimately rendered moot. The mood in Turov had very much soured after the 1936 Conference and the attitude of the Tsar and his government was towards a more unilateral solution. In 1938 the Imperial General Staff was ordered to commence planning an invasion of Jedoria, specifically the disputed territories of Cherniya and Voronezh.

Letnian Invasion Plans

Despite rapid progress in the 1920s and 30s the Confederation of Jedoria still lagged behind the Letnian Empire in almost all major categories. Combined with the Confederation’s various domestic issues and a lacking strong central government, it was the opinion of the Imperial Staff that a war with Jedoria could be fought and won relatively quickly owing to the material and numerical superiority of the Letnian Imperial Army.

The first plan was laid out in 16 September 1938 and named Operation Pelevin after the 13th Century Letnian Patriarch. Pelevin was to be a two-pronged offensive that would split into three eventual thrusts. The first two avenues of attack would occur on each side of the Talalikhina mountains, with the eastern thrust consisted of a field army composed of two rifle corps and two mechanized corps that would pour into the Voronezh coastal plain and seize control the agricultural base in the area. The second thrust in the west would consist of three mechanized corps and three rifle corps, with one corps of each moving through the Olena valley towards Voronezh, while the other four corps would cut through the Koiv Valley and head for the Jedorian city of Impor on the Matejs peninsula. The capture of Impor was not a necessary objective but was merely intended to draw away Jedorian reserves and allow the Imperial Army to establish complete control over Voronezh. It was expected that at that point the Jedorians would be forced to sue for peace.

While operationally sound, when presented to Marshal Eshman Luchok Vsevolodovich it was met with criticism, mainly due to the lack of strategic consideration towards Letnia’s allies, Cherniya and Kolodiya. Pelevin made no mention of the other two countries nor involved their military forces. When the Tsar was informed of the plan he expressed similar reservations, namely the fear that unilateral Letnian action without any attention given to it’s allies would reflect badly on the Empire and potentially undermine Letnian influence in the region.

With that in mind, Lt. General Susoyev Zigfrids Yakovich wrote up and presented another plan, code named Operation Georgiy after the 11th century Letnian hero of folk lore. Georgiy involved the addition of Kolodiyan and Cherniyan forces by forming three separate field armies. 1st Army stationed out of Plaschizh, 2nd Army in the Talalikhina Mountains, and 3rd Army in Cherniya itself. 1st Army would invade from the north, crossing the border and following the Urtyzh River south, splitting off eastern Jedoria from the rest of the country. 2nd Army would push through the Olena Valley towards Voronezh. The 3rd Army would attack westward from Cherniya and link up with 2nd Army to secure control of the Voronezh coastal plain. No additional effort would be made towards Impor, under the assumption that 1st Army would effectively cut off any additional Jedorian reinforcements and that both 2nd and 3rd Army could hold off whatever Jedorian forces remained on the Matejs peninsula.

Operation Georgiy was better received and was rewarded with the Tsar’s blessing in early 1939. From then on the Letnian Imperial Armed Forces began preparing for the invasion itself.

Forces

The war was fought primarily by Jedoria and Letnia, but heavy fighting took place in Cherniya and Kolodiya, who fought alongside their traditional ally Letnia. Jedoria was largely left to it's own, but received material support from the Federated Fire Territories in the form of loans and material.

Comparative strengths of combat forces, Northern War, 1940–1944

Date	Letnian and allied forces	Jedorian forces
11 April 1940	700,000 Letnians; 200,000 Cherniyans, Kolodiyans Total: 900,000 on the border (60% of the Letnian Imperial Army)	112,000 active in Eastern border regions out of 350,000 (overall); 500,000 mobilizable reserves
4 March 1941	650,000 Letnians; 330,000 Cherniyans, Kolodiyans Total: 980,000 in border regions	435,000 (East); 145,000 (West/North) Total: 570,000
12 September 1941	2,803,000 Letnians; 400,000 Cherniyans, 250,000 Kolodiyans Total: 3,453,000 at the front	1,724,000 (West); 126,445 (East); Total: 1,850,445
1 May 1942	3,460,000 Letnians; 375,000 Cherniyans, 250,000 Kolodiyans Total: 4,058,000 at the front	2,386,000
1 June 1943	4,230,000 Letnians; 500,000 Cherniyans and Kolodiyans Total: 4,730,000 at the front	2,530,000
1 April 1944	3,960,000 Letnians; 500,000 Cherniyans and Kolodiyans Total: 4,460,000	1,910,000

The above figures include all personnel in the Royal Confederate Army, including the Aerial Corps and support troops. In April 1940 Letnian forces enjoyed a significant numerical advantage against Jedorian forces stationed along the eastern border. Letnian and their allied armies were just under a million strong, whereas the Jedorians fielded 350,000 troops. Both sides saw their total numbers rise after that; despite the destruction of the 1st Voldurian Front conscription of Cherniyan and Kolodiyan populations were able to offset Letnian losses, while by the time of the invasion of Letnia, the Jedorians mustered some 570,000 troops. The completion of the Jedorian spring training cycle produced well over half a million new soldiers and by September 1941 the Royal Confederate Army fielded 1,800,000 troops in the east and west. Letnian forces remained numerically superior throughout the remainder of the war around a factor of 2:1 against the Jedorians. Jedorian forces peaked in 1943 when they amounted to 2,530,000 million troops, with Letnian troop size also peaking at 4,730,000. Following that point Jedorian troops numbers began to decline as the Confederation's ability to sustain the war effort rapidly collapsed, and the Letnian Spring Offensives of 1944 effectively destroyed the Royal Confederate Army as a fighting force. Both sides made extensive use of armored vehicles, aircraft, and artillery, though Letnian production rates outpaced Jedorian rates by a significant margin. Letnia over the course of the war produced 45,000 tanks and self-propelled guns, 38,000 artillery pieces, and more than 20,000 aircraft. Jedoria production rates amounted to 22,000 tanks, 8,000 self propelled guns, 18,000 artillery pieces, and 7,000 aircraft. Production peaked in 1943 and began to decline shortly thereafter, falling to pre-war levels by March 1944.

Foreign Support

Jedoria received extensive financial and material support from the Federated Fire Territories, whom supplied Jedoria with tanks, aircraft, ammunition, and loans to finance the war effort. Jedorian purchases caused Jedorian debt to rise considerably, and the Confederation battled severe inflation throughout the war.

Course of the war

Jedorian and Letnian historians both apply periodisation to the war, though specifics vary from one to another. Jedorian historian Bernadeta Kugeleviciute has typically divided the conflict into five stages, which has gained mainstream acceptance.

• Letnian Invasion 11 April - 4 November 1940

1. Operation Georgiy (11 April - 2 July 1940)
2. Battle of Voronezh (30 April - 12 June 1940)
3. Battle of Telkija (21 May - 15 June 1940)

• Jedorian Counter Invasion (4 February 1941 - 28 June 1941)

1. Operation Ziedonis (19 February - 13 June 1941)
2. Jedorian Invasion of Cherniya (1941) (15 February - 17 April 1941)

• Jedorian advances east (20 August 1941 - 6 May 1942)

1. Seige of Novokirov (17 June 1941 - 18 April 1944)
2. Lake Yunkina Operations (3 October 1941 - 10 March 1942)
3. Operation Melnikov (25 March - 6 May 1942)

• Major Offensives (13 June 1942 - 6 May 1943

1. Battle of the Siyalova River (13 June - 20 September 1942)
2. Operation Skomantas (12 October 1942 - 17 March 1943)
3. Operation Pirozhkov (14 April - 16 May 1943)

• Major Letnian Operations (1 July 1943 - 15 May 1944)

1. Far Northern Operations (6 August - 9 October 1943)
2. Letnian Spring Offensive (1 March - 24 April 1944)
3. Borisogank Offensive (6 March - 12 April 1944)
4. Battle of the Stuysk Delta (14 March - 7 April 1944)
5. Second Battle of Voronezh (4 May - 7 May 1944)

Letnian Invasion

Operation Georgiy marked the beginning of the war on 11 April 1940 when the Letnian Imperial Army, along with allied forces from Cherniya and Kolodiya, crossed the Jedorian border. The invasion was carried out principally by the 1st Voldurian Front, and amounted to over 700,000 soldiers. Jedorian forces stationed in their eastern territories amounted to just 125,000 men under arms. News of the invasion did not reach Strana Mechty until 12 April due to a break down in communications. What scant forces the Jedorians had directly on their border were not able to halt the Letnian advance. Despite minimal resistance the Letnian advance was noticeably slow in several areas, resulting in what was supposed to be a coordinated offensive dissolving into advances by individual armies that were not capable of mutually supporting one another. The main Letnian goals were to seize major industrial and urban centers, which the Jedorians deduced thanks to counter-intelligence efforts.

The only major force in eastern Jedoria was First Army, under the command of Major General Anakletas Mykolaitis, which was immediately ordered to protect major cities in the area, namely Grestin, Impor, and Voronezh. Due to the lackluster resistance presented by the Jedorians, the Front's commander, Colonel General Ponchikov Fridrik Savelievich was confident victory was soon to be achieved and split his forces to seize as much territory as possible, dispatching the 5th Army to head west for Impor, while the 12th and 26th Armies headed for Voronezh, and the 6th Army made for Grestin.

The Letnian Imperial Air Force began bombing raids on suspected supply depots, rail junctions, and troop concentrations to impede Jedorian resistance, but lacking proper intelligence of the enemy's disposition, few Letnian bombing operations significantly impacted Jedorian actions. It wasn't until mid-June that the Jedorians were able to transfer enough aircraft from the Aerial Corps that they were able to contest Letnian control of the skies.

Letnian forces expected to find Voronezh undefended but soon realized it had already been reinforced and was defended by the 103rd, 308th, and 309th Divisions. Despite numerical superiority in armor and infantry, early Letnian attack against the well dug in Jedorian forces proved disastrous, with nearly 60% losses among Letnian armor. Further west the 5th Army ran into the elements of the Jedorian 91st, 211th and 12th Divisions, which successfully repulsed Letnian attacks and sent the 5th Army into retreat. The 5th Army was ordered to withdraw to Voronezh and help with the capture of the city, assuming that the Jedorians would remain in place to defend Impor. Instead the Jedorians gave chase, and following a successful breakout by Jedorian forces within Voronezh, the entirety of the 5th, 12th, and 26th Armies had been thrown back in defeat.

The 6th Army's advance south along the Urtzhy River had been lethargically slow, giving the Jedorians ample time to mobilize reserves to defend Grestin. Before the Letnians could even reach the city they were forced to engage the rest of the Jedorian First Army at Telkija, which ended in a decisive Letnian defeat. Within three and a half months the entire Voldurian Front had been thrown back, and the offensive had completely failed to capture it's objectives.

Not yet willing to accept defeat, Marshal Babichev Ruslanovich ordered the Voldurian Front to dig in and await reinforcements, as the Front still operated within Jedorian territory. Between August and November of 1940 the Jedorians launched a series of local counterstrokes against the Front's positions within Jedoria, and by 4 November the last Letnian soldiers had been driven off Jedorian soil. Having succesfully repulsed the invasion, Archon Gastons Mihailovs assumed the Empire would be willing to talk peace and attempted to negotiate an end to the war. Tsar Alexis III however was infuriated by the failure of the invasion and sacked General Savelievich, while ordering Marshal Ruslanovich to mobilize the rest of the Letnian military. It's likely the Tsar feared that the exceptionally poor showing of the Letnian Imperial Army would cripple Letnia's standings after the Pan-Septentrion War, and also hoped that a succesful conquest of Jedoria would show the Empire was a credible military threat.

With negotiations failing and signs that the Letnians were rebuilding their forces for another invasion, the Jedorian High Command began planning an invasion of Letnia. To facilitate the invasion Jedoria's reserves were mobilized in full, with hundreds of thousands more in training. With the winter putting an end to major combat operations, it was decided to carry out the invasion in early 1941.

Jedorian counter-invasion

On 19 February 1941 the Jedorians launched Operation Ziedonis with three field armies, the First, Third, and Fourth Armies. Prior to the invasion of Letnia, the Jedorians launched an invasion of Cherniya with the Fifth Army. The goal of Ziedonis was to destroy the rebuilding Voldurian and 1st Razakh Front, in the hopes their annihilation would lead to a cessation of hostilities and a negotiationed peace. Letnian forces were made aware of the impending invasion but did not know the expected time frame until a week before the invasion began, resuilting in rapid shuffling of formations across both Fronts. Neither force was fully prepared for the invasion. The Voldurian Front in particular was poorly prepared to carry out defensive operations, lacking anti-personnel mines and artillery.

First Army crossed the border north of Lake Tolbanova and the Lapteva River, where it engaged and destroyed the 36th and 49th Rifle Corps and advanced more than 100 kilometers east. Third Army was able to exploit the gap bewteen the Voldurian and Razakh Front and destroy the bulk of the 4th Army and 14th Mechanized Corps, while the Fourth Army passed through the Gasha Mountains. Second Army invaded Cherniya itself, seizing Kinenetsk, Zelekala, and Borolzhsky within a month of the invasion. By early April both the Voldurian and Razakh Fronts had been pushed back in all sectors, while the Jedorian Second Army continued to advance down the Cherniyan coast.

The Letnian Imperial Army conducted numerous counterattacks during this period, but due to the disorganized nature of the Letnian forces in theater, such attacks were largely haphazard and sluggish. On 6 May the Letnian 10th Army launched a counter-offensive aimed at recapturing Ramekhovo, but after two weeks of heaving figthing the 10th Army was forced to withdraw with the loss of the entirety of the 1st Rifle Corps and 6th Cavalry Corps. Later that month Jedorian forces defeated the 31st Rifle Corps around Lake Irina. Having largely destroyed the Voldurian and Razakh Fronts by June, the Jedorians suspended further operations, refocusing their efforts in Cherniya, where stubborn Cherniyan resistance had slowed the rate of advance for the Second Army. Despite inflicting heavy losses on the Letnian Imperial Army, the Empire still refused to cede any discussion of negotiations, and flooded reserves into the Usatova Valley.

Jedorian advances East

With fresh Letnian forces taking the field further east, the Jedorian High Command began planning further offensive operations in an effort to drive all Letnian forces out of the Cherniyan Peninsula. Reinforced with hundreds of thousands of fresh troops following the completion of the spring training cycle, the Royal Confederate Army raised three additional armies, the Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Armies. A further army, the Sixth, was also raised but deployed to the north and west as a bulwark against Kolodiya, where it fought a slow moving camaign against the Kolodyan military.

By August 1941 the Letnian Imperial Army had deployed seven Fronts to the war, from north to south they were the 1st Northern Front, 1st Kirov Front, 1st Stuysk Front, 2nd Stuysk Front, 2nd Razahk Front, 2nd Cherniyan Front, and 1st Cherniyan Front. The Jedorians plan of attack revolved around a main pincer movement around Lake Yunkina which would become known as Lake Yunkina Operations. The Third and Seventh Armies would attack thrhough the Usatova Valley against the 1st and 2nd Stysk Front with the aim of driving the 2nd Front further south towards Ivayev. Meanwhile the Fourth and Fifth Armies would move south of Lake Yunkina and push back the 2nd Razahk Front also towards Ivayev with the aim of annihilating both Fronts against the coast. Prior to the offensive however the Jedorians needed to distract the 2nd Cherniyan Front from hitting the Fifth Army's flank, resulting the the Second Army's push towards Novokirov.

The 1st Cherniyan Front was responsible for the defense of southern Cherniya but by Mayhad been forced back along the coast, losing much of it's heavy equipment and weaponry. The Second Army was reinforced by the Jedorian High Command and ordered to push further south and seize Novokirov. Offensive operations began in early June and made rapid progress. Jedorian forces had reached the outskirts of the city by 17 June and began encircling the city, with the 1st Cherniyan Front falling back into the city itself. As desired by the Jedorians, the 2nd Cherniyan Front split off it's front assets to assist in Novokirov, leaving the 2nd Cherniyan Front in poor position to outflank the Fifth Army when the Lake Yunkin operations began.

The RCA had hoped to begin offensive operations before the onset of winter, but the logistics needed to carry out the offensive necessitated delays. The operation did not begin until early October, with the Fifth Army commencing operations be leaving behind the 401st Division to maintain pressure on Petrograd. First and Seventh Armies began their attack on 7 October, and rapidly broke through the defensive lines of the 1st Stuysk Front. Despite fericious counterattacks the Jedorians made good progress, and by mid-November the Jedorians had executed the Seventh Army's pivot south, driving back the 2nd Stuysk Front towards Ivayev. In the meanwhile further south the Fourth and Fifth Armies had smashed through the 2nd Razahk Front, with the 2nd Cherniyan Front unable to commit reserves to anything more than harassing Fifth Army's southern flank.

The onset of winter and heavy snowfall slowed the Jedorian advance, but both the Seventh Army and Fourth Army continued to apply strong pressure against what the Letnian Imperial General Staff was beginning to call the "Ivayev Pocket". Determined to avoid it's destruction, the Letnian Imperial Navy began shipping reinforcements and supplies through Ivayev, even after the Jedorian Aerial Corps began bombing raids against shipping. By December the 2nd Stuysk Front had been pushed back to the banks of the Ivayev River, while the 2nd Razahk Front held a tenuous defensive line between Lake Nyusha and Lake Yunkin. Much of the fighting grinded to a halt during December and January, before picking up against in February. Despite Letnian efforts the situation of the two Fronts continued to deterioriate, and in March they were finally forced to surrender. Letnian casualites exceeded 350,000, and the loss of Ivayev cut off the rest of Cherniya from Letnia.

Having suffered blow after blow, the Letnian Imperial Army was deterined to go on the offensive. Drawing up fresh reserves the Letnians formed the 2nd Voldurian Front and 1st Turov Front, and reinforced their remaining units along a new defensive line anchored around Stuysk. Calling it Operation Melnikov, the Letnians aimed to trap the Seventh and Fourth Armies in the same pocket around Ivayev, while pushing the Eighth Army back and threatening the rear echelon of the Third Army. They Letnians began their offensive on 25 March but failed to make significant progress after several weeks. By May the Letnians were still 100 kilometers from Ivayev and the Eighth Army still held their positions, leading the Imperial General Staff to call off the attack.

Major Offensives

Having survived the Letnian counter, the Jedorian High Command issued new orders for another offensive, this time aiming to cross the Siyalova River and push further east into Letnia. Forming a new field army, the Ninth, the Jedorian plan was a broad stroke offensive consiting of the Ninth, First, Eighth, Third, Seventh, and Fourth Army's. The Ninth Army would draw Letnian forces around Lake Aksinya while First Army would seize Arserijsk, acrossthe Siyalova. The Eigthth and Third Army's would split the Frontal boundary between the 1st and 2nd Kirov front, ehilw the Seventh and Fourth Army would seize and then push beyond Stuysk, rolling back the 1st Stuysk and 2nd Voldurian Front along the coast.

Beginning on 13 June, the Ninth Army succeeded in pulling away elements of the 2nd Northern Front, leaving the 1st Northern alone to defend the north-east tributaries of the Siyalova River. Despite being stretched thin the river crossing proved arduous for the Jedorians, who suffered heavy casualties during the operation. Eventually the 211th Division had to be written off entirely, but by the end of June the Jedorians had siezed Arserijsk, beating off repeated counterattacks by the 1st Western Front. Further South the Eighth Army was able to cross the river and exploit the Front boundary, but immediately was faced with heavy reistance from the 1st and 2nd Kirov Fronts, who were reinforced by the 1st Steppe Front. It was only after the First Army was able to attack from the north did the pressure let off, and this in turn was only accompluished by the Ninth Army pivoting south to draw off the 1st Northern Front.

Further south the Jedorians enjoyed greater success, the Third Army was able to conduct it's river crossings in relative peace than it's northern neighbors, though the 2nd Voldurian Front would later provide nasty counterattacks. Stuysk itself was defended by what was left of the 1st Stusyk Front but it was unable to handle the combined wieght of the Seventh and Fourth Armies, who seized the city on 8 July. Both Armies then continued north, crossing the Siyalova and fighting off counterattacks by the 1st Western and Steppe Fronts.

Having crossed the Siyalova River, the Jedorians had pushed hundreds of kilometers into Letnia, but were not facing increased resistance and longer supply lines. With Cherniya still in enemy hands the Jedorians were now operating on a very extended and uneven front line. Due to heavy losses sustained by the First and Eigtht Army's, in fall of 1942 the RCA raised two more armies, the Tenth and Eleventh, though it would be months before they were combat ready. In the meantime the Letnians, having now been beaten back multiple times, began a major reorganization of their forces in the field. The Imperial General Staff, having learned much from their defeats, began reforming their reserves into new Fronts and Corps. Despite their exhaustion, both sides remained comitted to further operations.

In October the Jedorians launched Operation Skomantas, which aimed to seize Podoshikka in the north and Klipyevsk in the south. Unlike their previous campaigns there was to be little grand maneuvering due to the shorter distances involved. While the Jedorians assumed that the Letnian forces they were facing were exhausted, they remained unaware of the various changes going on within the Letnian chain of command. By now the Letnians had realized that static defensive positions were futile in holding the Jedorians, and opted for a more mobile defense, to take advantage of their superior numbers of armored vehicles. This mobile defense would greet the Jedorians as they advanced further east past the Siyalova River.

Whereas previously the Jedorians had conducted their operations as sustained drives, Skomantas instead evolved into a highly pitched mobile battle as Letnian forces answered each Jedorian attack with one of their own, keeping the RCA off guard. Major tank battles and armored engagements erupted all across the Klipyevsk peninsula as Letnian forces strove to keep Jedorian formations constantly moving and reacting, where their inferior levels of mechanization was a major issue. Although the Letnian efforts were very much a learning experience, as marked by their high casualties, the maneuver warfare effectively halted the Jedorian advance in the middle of winter.

Both sides suffered heavy casualties, some 250,000 Jedorians were killed, wounded, or missing, and some 500,000 Letnians suffered similar fates. This was however, the first time the Letnians had stopped a Jedorian advance before they had made major progress. Reeling from their operational failure, the RCA was still struggling to reconstitute it's lines when the Letnians unleashed their counter-stroke, Operation Pirozhkov, in April 1943. Indepdenent armored formations, the new mainstay of Letnian offensive operations, broke through the lines of the Eigtht, First, and Third Army's, forcing the comittment of the still fresh Tenth Army to shore up Jedorian defenses. Unlike previous campaigns which were marked my long stretches of buildup and movement, rapid Letnian armored columns rapidly drove back Jedorian forces to the Siyalova River.

Major Letnian Operations

Letnian success had be hard fought, and also costly. By the summer of 1943 Letnian armoroed forces across all Fronts were 50% of lower. Casualties were high, and despite their drumming in the spring the Jedorians had reacted quickly and repositioned themselves in strong defensive positions west of the Siyalova River. Although their was widespread desire within the Imperial General Staff to pursue further offensives as soon as possible, Colonel General Dorofeyev Rasim Maximovich, Chief of Operations, cautioned patience. In a series of directions written during July 1943, Maximovich stressed the need to carefully coordiate a multiple axis-advance against the Jedorian forces in western Letnia. To defeat the Jedorians, their entire defensive strategy would have to be unanchored. To this effect, Maximovich proposed the following:

• A strategic offensive north of the Zubarev Mountains, exploiting the thin lines of defense the Ninth Army held in the area. This would stretch the Ninth Army thin, paving the way for a future offensive towards Borisgansk.
• Before Jedorian reserves could be redirected towards cutting off the Letnian troops, a general offensive across the Siyalova River would draw their attention away from Borisgansk.
• Letnian forces would push towards Ivayev then swing south-west to cut off Jedorian forces in Cherniya.

The plan was met with personal approval by Tsar Alexis, who granted it his blessing. To begin, the Letnian 2nd and 3rd Northern Fronts conducted a series of probes and shaping operations north of the North Siyalova River. While never overly threatening a major river crossing, the operations did successfully peel off multiple divisions of the Ninth Army, leaving the Jedorians stretched thin across the northern sectors of the front. Although the Letnians originally planned to start the offensive shortly thereafter, the unexpectedly harsh winter of 1943-44 put a complete stop to operations on both sides, as temperatures plunged to below freezing overnight and both armies focused on avoiding frostbite rather than combat.

In many ways, the winter pause helped the Letnians and harmed the Jedorians. Organizing the major offensive required a major logistical undertaking that stretched the Letnian supply system to the limits, but ensured that at zero hour every Letnian tank and soldier had everything he needed for the coming battle. By comparison, the Jedorians found their position steadily eroding. Back home, Jedoria's economy was struggling to with the cost of the war. The country was already billions in debt and production levels were beginning to fall as shortages of raw materials, especially rubber and food, began to cripple the war effort.

The Letnian Spring Offensives as they would later be known as began on 1 March 1944 with a major river crossing of the northern Siyalova River by elements of the 1st and 2nd Far Northern Fronts. The Ninth Army, spread thin attempting to cover the northern sectors, soon suffered multiple breaches in their divisional boundaries, and within a week large Letnian armored columns were pouring south. Just as this was occuring, a dozen Letnian Fronts unleashed their assault over the Siyalova River, expaning what bridgeheads they already held and pushing back the Jedorians in all sectors. On 10 March the Seventh Army was forced to pull back across it's entire frontage in light of repeated Letnian assaults, and in doing so opened a gap between Jedorian forces in the north and south. Having broken through, the 2nd Voldurian Front, the 1st and 2nd Western Front, and the 2nd Steppe Front all poured through, with the 1st and 2nd Western Fronts pivoting south to cut off Jedorian forces along the coast.

What followed was a climactic battle that became known as the Battle of the Stuysk Delta, as both the Fourth and Third Army's attempted to avoid becoming pinned bewteen the Letnian Fronts and the coast. In the end both Armies barely managed to avoid encirclement, thanks in no small part to repeated counter attacks by the green Twelfth Army. Letnian forces continued to pour south towards Cherniya, stopping only when the 2nd Voldurian Front pivoted directly west to push through the Usatova Valley, now held by the depleted Twelfth Army and what remained of the Fourth Army. Further south, attacks by the 2nd Cherniyan Front and the 2nd Western Front forced the Fifth Army to pull back alongside the Third Army, which both began retreating due west. For a few brief days it was feared that the Second Army might be cut off, and only by hugging the coast was it able to withdraw, in doing so abandoning the siege of Novokirov, and the positions it had held for nearly 3 years.

In the north the situation quickly developed against the Jedorians. Overwhelmed by the 2nd Northern Front and the 3rd Steppe Front, First Army became pinned against the Ekaterina Mountains and annihilated, leaving a huge gap bewteen the now broken remnants of the Ninth Army and Tenth Army. In the Sobirgask Valley the Eighth and Eleventh Army's attempted to form a defensive line and succeeded in holding off Letnian attacks for nearly two weeks. It was all for naught however, as the 1st and 2nd Far Northern Fronts began to bear down on Borisogansk, threatening to cut off Jedorian forces in their entirety.

By May Jedorian forces had pulled back across the entire front. In doing so they had lost nearly all of their heavy equipment, and most of their armored lay destroyed or abandoned. The Third, Fourth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Twelfth Armies had been shattered, and Letnian forces were moving too fast to reconstitute a defensive line anywhere. In an effort to somewhat stabilize the situation, the Jedorian High Command rerouted the Second and Fifth Army towards Voronezh, to defend the city against the approaching 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Cherniyan Fronts. The ensuing battle was to be the last major engagement of the war, and ended in a decisive Letnian/Cherniyan victory. Sixteen days later, Jedoria sued for peace.

Aftermath

The Northern War was the bloodiest conflict in Vinyan history, although it has often been overshadowed by the concurrent Pan-Septentrion War. By the end of the war 4,500,000 people were dead, with Letnian forces suffering higher casualties than Jedoria. For all the bloodshed, Letnian gains were relatively minor, with Cherniya and Kolodiya both receiving larger gains. The ramifications of the war resulted in very systematic changes to Letnian society and politics, in addition to the changes in military doctrine and organization.

For Jedoria, the war was devestating, leaving the country in economic shambles. Rampant cases of war profiteering and corruption negatively impacted the Jedorian war effort, leading to protests and riots across Jedoria. The subsequent economic downturn, coupled with displeasure with the government's handling of the war, would ultimately lead to the Jedorian Revolution just ten years later, led by veteran and communist activist Aleksis Kraulis.