Elatian Army

Elatian Army
Active	1847 (as the 'Blessed Army')
Country	Elatia
Branch	Army
Size	375,676 (active), 877,000 (reserve)
Motto(s)	"Arise, oh ye Martyrs!"

The Elatian Army is the ground warfare arm of the Elatian Armed Forces. As of 2021, it consists of some 375,000 troops under arms, making it one of the largest land forces in the world. It is charged with defending the Blessed Republic from its potentially hostile neighbours, in particular Belfras in the south, Enyama in the north and Gristol-Serkonos in the southeast.

The Elatian Army is not the sole land combat force in the Blessed Republic's service. Alongside the army, under the command of the Ministry of Defence, are the Elatian Airborne Corps and the Elatian Navy's Naval Infantry Corps. Similarly, under the Ecclesia's jurisdiction (and not the Ministry of Defence) are the Ecclesia Forces, primarily intended for the defence of the regime against internal enemies, as well as unconventional and political black operations abroad.

History

Origins

An Elatian gunner during the Second Belfro-Elatian War

The first incarnation of the modern Elatian Army was the rebel warbands of Peter the Harbinger, the 'Crazed Preacher' who led the oppressed peasants of the interior to overwhelm and destroy the league of coastal city states which had long exploited them, thereby founding the modern Blessed Republic. Throughout the history of Elatia, the country had to fight numerous wars with its neighbours, including two against Belfras beginning in 1853 and 1941 respectively, as well as twice against Enyama in 1904 and 1973.

Late Twentieth Century

Elatian cavalrymen during the Second Belfro-Elatian War

Subsequent to the end of the Second Belfro-Elatian War, the Elatia decided to adopt the policy of 'Purification by the Sword'. Its stated goal was the liberation of the world from the clutches of pro-Demiurge regimes, beginning with the Norumbian continent. Accordingly, it built up one of the largest armies the world has ever seen. Conscription terms ran to four years for men and two for women. At its height, in the early-1980's, the Elatian Army could count more than 100 divisions in its combined mobilisation strength, including reserve formations.

The major problem for Elatia during this period was its backwards technological and indusrial base, making it reliant upon the use of human wave tactics by its fanatical soldiery to overwhelm its enemies. Whilst the Prophet's Guard and a number of elite tank divisions had modern equipment and a reasonable level of professionalism, the remainder were, as a foreign observer described, "a vast peasant horde, tricked out with tanks". For example, an average infantry division should theoretically have six battalions of tanks, three concentrated in it organic tank regiment, and three distributed amongst its infantry regiments. In reality, most could only muster a single battalion under the divisional HQ's direct command. The infantry regiments themselves were supposed to be equipped with armoured personnel carriers. However, most had antiquated half-tracks if they were fortunate, and ordinary lorries (in Elatian slang, 'potato wagons') if they were not. The only weapon which was available in abundance was artillery pieces, and that was only because guns dating from the 1940's and even before were being issued to front-line forces alongside more modern specimen.

Elatian mechanised infantry in the 1970's. At the time, even relatively simple APC's such as these were available only to high-readiness units.

The Second Enyaman-Elatian War of 1973 threw the army's problems into sharp relief. A limited conflict lasting twelve days, it saw an Elatian tank division and an infantry division crossing the border to occupy a disputed town. The Enyaman Army, which had transformed itself into a force of mobile, combined arms combat groups in the preceding years, reacted much more swiftly than the Elatians anticipated. After a major tank battle, one of the largest since the Second Belfro-Elatian War, the tank division was in full retreat and the infantry division besieged, before the latter surrendered altogether after four days of urban combat.

Despite this humiliation, the army's organisation, training and doctrine remained largely unchanged in the subsequent years, largely as a result of institutional inertia, and partly because it was anticipated that the enormous Elatian numerical superiority, coupled with the deployment of weapons of mass destruction, would lead to ultimate victory in any full-scale war.

What finally led to fundamental change was not defeat in another war, but the economic collapse known as the Big Freeze in 1984. Unusual weather led to harvest failure, and the economy, weakened for years owing to a combination of agricultural collectivsation, poor centralised planning and ruinous military expenses, ceased to function overnight. It took a painful combination of free-market reforms, foreign aid and external investment before the economy managed to right itself in 1988.

The army on the streets during the chaos of the Big Freeze

Relative prosperity ensued in the 1990's. However, by this stage, the enormous conscript army of the 1970's had ceased to exist, in large part in order to free up labour for the rapidly growing economy. Most of the divisions which continued to exist on paper were in reality little more than unmanned warehouses for surplus equipment. It was estimated that, as of 1994, the only combat-ready ground troops left in Elatia were around six tank and mechanised divisions of the Prophet's Guard, as well as a couple of combat groups cobbled out of the Airborne Corps and Naval Infantry.

Military Reform

Onset

The post-collapse provincial rebellions had a significant impact upon subsequent Elatian military thinking. The multi-sided pseudo-civil war was fought using the combat groups which an increasingly fraying Elatian Army could scrape together, in conjunction with improved units of the Airborne Corps and Ecclesia Guards. The overall impression that arose was that the structure of the old army, built around fighting a continent-scale mechanised war against Belfras, was not suitable to the complex operational environment of the modern era. Accordingly, reformists within the army began to plan for a ground force of the new model which would be more suitable to the conditions of the 21st century.

Despite the experience of the early-90's, traditionalists continued to impede the progress of reforms. What led to the acceleration of change was a pair of wars in Scipia and Belisaria. The 1995 Talakh War saw the defeat of the numerically superior Talakh Army by a coalition of developed nations with the benefit of air superiority, precision-guided munitions and satellite navigation. The war, fought by conventional forces rather than insurgents, became a wakeup call and the reforms gathered pace beginning in the early-2000's. They accelerated following the 2005 Polnitsan War. Elatia had supported the radical republicans of North Polnitsa as patron of last resort, and the North Polnitsan military had been organised by advisors along Elatian lines. In a 48-hour campaign, a coalition force numbering four brigades defeated the same number of North Polnitsan divisions, leading to the rapid collapse and surrender of the latter.

Colonel Marcus Celerion, son of the Supreme Prophet and a rising staff officer (now Supreme Prophet Marcus the Purifier), fought in that war as a military advisor. He saw first hand the complete deficiency of the old Elatian military model and, with his father's blessing, completed the program of fundamental reforms in 2007.

Modern Elatian soldiers during an exercise.

Conceptualisation

The reforms saw the complete transformation of the Elatian Army. The fundamental assumption of Elatian defence was changed. Whilst Elatian propaganda still makes some reference to the duty of Elatia to liberate the world for the Undying Angels, the defence establishment has long come to the conclusion that it is not in Elatia's interest (or indeed, within its ability) for Elatia to prosecute a full-scale, life-or-death struggle against Belfras in the mould of the 1940's war. The ability of the two parties to target each others' urban centres with WMD's renders such a war unlikely (although plans remain extant and could be implemented rapidly). Rather, the army is to pivot towards fighting a 'local war under high tech conditions to attain limited objectives' - in other words, to contain and smother a localised conflagration on its borders as rapidly and efficiently as possible by bringing overmatching, rapid-reacting force to bear. This calls for a new type of army - much more mobile than before, and adept at fast-paced combined arms operations.

Reorganisation

The most important change was that of 'brigadisation' - the abolition of the ponderous divisions of the old army and the establishment of combined arms brigade groups, each capable of operating independently for 48-72 hours. They were, in turn, subordinated to the command of Operation Groups. On average, an Operation Group would have five maneouvre (that is, tank or mechanised infantry) brigades, together with one or two brigades each of artillery, SAM, engineering, logistics and helicopters (including drones). In combat, brigades would in turn divide themselves into autonomous battalion tactical groups, which would be assigned sufficient assets to enable autonomous operations over a large area, in conformation to a precisely-configured operatioal plan.

Also of note is the change in the mobilisation schemes. Marcus decided to abolish half-strength formations, which were not immediately combat ready as whole formations, whilst simultaneously consuming more manpower than cadre-strength 'shell' units. The manpower and equipment thus freed up were used to bring the active-duty units up to full strength. An active unit would have a 'shadow' command staff, with supernumerary officers known as 'second deputies'. In the event of mobilisation, these officers would be used to crew the headquarters of a 'shell brigade', which would be manned by reservists recalled to the colours. Theoretically, if the entire force is mobilised, the Elatian Army would thus be able to double its strength within ten days. Whether this is practicable in reality is the subject of heated debate amongst commentators worldwide - the mobilisation system has never been tested in its entirety in an exercise.

All Elatian citizens not going into higher education now serve two years in the ranks. Subsequent to this, they may be required to serve up to a maximum of six years in the Ready Reserve, which provides the manpower to fill out the shell brigades in the event of mobilisation. Members of the Ready Reserve are obliged to take part in 38 training days per year. After that, they are released into the general pool of manpower for the People's Militia, which are not mobilised except for genuine national emergencies. Those studying undergraduate courses and have not served their two-year term as an enlisted personnel must take part in training to staff the junior commissioned officer positions of the shell brigades. Officers of the standing army's field units are primarily full-time professionals, as is an increasing proportion of its senior NCO's.

Government propaganda portrays the new army as leaner, more agile and efficient and, despite being numerically much smaller than the old, significantly more lethal on the modern battlefield. The next phase of the Elatian military reform will probably be manning. This would entail the acceleration of the current program to ensure that all senior NCO's are full-time volunteers by 2027, and all infantry, armour and reconaissance personnel by 2033.

Order of Battle

An Elatian mechanised brigade

As of 2018, the total active strength of the Elatian Army stands at 46 maneouvre brigades, divided into nine Operation Groups. Six are deployed on the southern border, two on the northern, and the outsized Prophet's Guard corps protect the capital city and its environs.

The two main types of brigades in the regular army are mechanised brigades and tank brigades. Mechanised brigades are balanced, combined arms formations featuring three battalions of mechanised infantry, one battalion of tanks, and supporting elements including three battalions of tube and rocket artillery. A tank brigade is organised in a similar manner, but feature three battalions of tanks and one of infantry. Each brigade consists of roughly 4,500 personnel on paper.

Each Operation Group consists of five maneouvre brigades (except for the Prophet's Guard with six brigades), together with 1-2 brigades each of artillery, air defence, engineering, logistics, army aviation units and a special forces group. As part of the standing army, each brigade is required to be able to generate a high readiness Battalion Tactical Group at immediate notice. Furthermore, they must be able to operate as an entire brigade within a short timeframe of between 72 hours to 4 days, depending on the location of the unit and its importance.

Artillery is the cornerstone of the Elatian Army. At the Operation Group level, there are typically two artillery brigades. In regular formations, they typically consists of four 155mm gun battalions and two 400mm rocket battalions, whereas reserve brigades are armed with four 130mm gun and two 240mm rocket battalions. In addition to the artillery brigades attached to the Operation Group, there are seven artillery brigades in the regular army which are unattached and may be assigned where needed. A further seventeen gun and rocket artillery brigades have been allocated with stored equipment and may be manned by reservists upon mobilisation. Finally, the army retains a limited number of independent 203mm gun and 240mm mortars in independent heavy artillery battalions.

Each brigade also possesses a cadre of supernumerary 'second deputy' officers, who form the core command element of a shell brigade. Each of the standing army's combat units is thus theoretically able of cloning itself with mobilised reservists. Limited mobilisations have been carried out in drills conducted by military districts, although a large-scale stress test of the mobilisation system has not yet occurred.

There are in addition two partially-manned, but heavily fortified Defence Zones, one of which is located along the Gristol border and the other protects the outlying islands of the Makrian. The manpower for each Defence Zone is primarily comprised of reservists. However, most of the technical sub-units are permanently manned, as well as 1-2 ready battalions of mechanised infantry. The Defence Zones are the only units of the Elatian Army which are comprised of a mixture of regular and reservist troops.

Small unit organisation

As a typical tactical-level combat unit, a mechanised battalion group is organised around a mechanised infantry battalion reinforced with variants elements devolved from the brigade-level.

It possesses three mechanised infantry companies, each equipped with ten infantry fighting vehicles. Each of its platoons has three infantry fighting vehicles, plus at the company HQ one additional infantry fighting vehicle and one lorry. Of the dismounted element, there are 21 riflemen, divided into three squads of seven (consisting of a machine gunner, an RPG gunner, a marksman and four riflemen). The platoon commander (who acts as vehicle commander in one of the IFV's) dismounts with the infantrymen. Riflemen and machine gunners in high readiness units are now typically equipped with optics and night sights for their weapons (thermal imaging scopes).

When operating on its own, a company team may be reinforced with a tank platooon (3 tanks), a mortar section (2-3 82mm or 120mm mortars), a reconaissance team, and an ATGM team (2-3 launchers) or a pair of missile-armed tank destroyers devolved from the battalion level. Forward observers may be sometimes be attached at this level, although doctrinally it is theoretically frowned upon for any echelon lower than battalion to directly call for fire support more serious than mortars. Low cost miniature UAV's have become increasingly prevalent.

The battalion group possesses organic fire support in the form of a battery of six to eight 82mm or 120mm mortars, whether towed or self-propelled. It maybe reinforced by a battery of six gun-howitzers, up to a full battalion of 18 if operating in a key sector, as well as a battery to full battalion of 127mm multi-launch rockets, again depending on whether it is acting on a key or supporting sector. It also has organic reconaissance assets in the form of a reconaissace platoon equipped with at least one ground-scanning radar, mounted in light utility vehicles.

The mechanised battalion possesses an organic anti-tank platoon with nine launch posts for wire- or laser-guided anti-tank missiles. A battalion group would usually receive reinforcements from the brigade-level anti-tank battalion.

Other reinforcements devolved to the battalion from the brigade level usually include a company of 10 main battle tanks in three platoons, an air defence platoon of 9x MANPADS gunners, as well as an engineer platoon.

Special Forces

In addition to its conventional forces, the Elatian Army also possesses ten Special Forces Groups (known as 'Speska' - short for 'Specialaa Ka'anali': Special Rangers). They are estimated to be around the size of a large battalion or a small regiment. There is one of these units per military district (except the Capital Military District, which has two), plus three 'skeleton' groups staffed by reservists. Their primary role is that of special reconaissance - to infiltrate behind enemy lines in a clandestine manner in order to obtain actioanble intelligence for corps commanders, although they are also highly effective in direct action where necessary.

In terms of capabilities, the army's Speska are somewhat more limited than those of many developed nations, being focused primarily on supporting conventional forces through special reconaissance and raiding high-value targets. They are roughly analogous in role to 'Ranger' type units in other armies.

It is usually acknowledged that the premier special forces unit under the purview of the Elatian military is not found within the army. Rather, it is the Elatian Airborne Corps' Special Operations Group 'Serafaay' (i.e. 'Seraph'). The navy also possesses an elite combat swimmer unit, the Special Operations Group 'Sagaan' (i.e. 'Orca').

Outside of the military, Special Operations Groups 'Antares' and 'Vega' are directly subordinated to SMERSH, Elatia's main intelligence directorate. They are in theory oriented towards counter-terrorism and foreign operations respectively, although in practice they are sometimes used interchangeably. Likewise, the Ecclesia Outreach possesses the Special Outreach Operations unit, which is specialised in extraterritorial humanitarian aid, missionary, espionage, as well as covert operations.

Equipment

See: Equipment of the Elatian Army