Midsummer War
| Midsummer War | |||||||
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 Clockwise from top: Æþurian infantry during the initial invasion; A Shalumite mortar fires on Æþurian positions; Acrean troops in urban combat in Gryten; An Acrean EF-662 takes off at night; Shalumite infantry holding a defensive line; A destroyed Mammut tank on Iron Island. | |||||||
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Coalition |
 Æþurheim | ||||||
The Midsummer War, also referred to as the Iron Island Conflict, was a major conflict fought between Shalum, Acrea, and Æþurheim (Aethurheim). The war took place from 21 June 2015 to 15 March 2016, following heightened tensions and a prolonged military buildup in the aftermath of a breakdown in high-level talks concerning a dispute over the treatment of peoples in Maldoria and its status as former Æþurian and Svinian territory.
Since the start of the modern period, the territory of Maldoria has served as a deep source of enmity between Shalum and its neighbouring states to the south. Shalum-Aethurian contention over Maldoria is driven primarily by revanchism, as the resource-rich region was once partially owned by Aethurheim. Aethurian political rhetoric emphasises this historical claim, as well as highlights unequal Shalumite treatment of Maldoria's native slavic population. The latter point began to serve as justification for the former in Aethurian political rhetoric, and was subsequently adopted as a matter of foriegn policy by modern Aethurian governments in an effort to bring Shalumite domestic policy in Maldoria to major international attention. Criticism of such domestic policy generally focuses on the heavy securitisation of Maldoria, which is considered generally unstable thanks to a persistent low-level insurgency by Maldorian armed groups against Shalumite authorities, and its effects on the civilian population. Additionally, criticism is leveled at the high levels of inequality in Maldoria, and accusations of exploitation of the local population for their labour in gathering the region's immense amount of natural resources. Criticism against Aethurheim's role in Maldoria often comes in the form of persistent allegations of a hidden agenda for the province, as well as accusations of clandestine Aehturian material support to Maldorian insurgents. The Vocht administration engaged the Shalumite government in negotiations seeking to reduce the securitisation of Maldoria in mid-2013, though they quickly stalled.
Aethurheim began a military buildup in December 2014, while still in the midst of heated negotiations with Shalum regarding Maldoria. As talks progressed into 2015 they began to devolve, beginning a reciprocal diplomatic escalation of tensions which came to a head when Supreme Chancellor Karlos Vocht abruptly ended negotiations at the beginning of May 2015. Although Shalum had been building up its own forces for several months as a precaution since January, Acrea had refrained from deploying further substantial numbers of troops to Shalum in the hopes of not escalating tensions.
The failure of the initial Aethurian invasion was largely attributed to critical miscalculations by Aethurian leadership. Vocht believed that the invasion would be capable of inflicting enough shock on the Shalumite defence that it would be able to occupy the entire island within days, and thus little accommodation was made for supporting sustained combat operations. Likewise, he believed that the relative isolation of Iron Island and the rapidity of a presumed Aethurian victory would mean that the Acreans would either decide not to intervene in strength, or if they did that they would be unable to mobilise enough forces fast enough. Vocht believed that by seizing Iron Island, he could force Shalum into ceding the territory of Maldoria. The defeat caused Vocht to resign, paving the way for Monika Schefer to replace him.
The conflict subverted expectations of how a war between the belligerents would play out. Traditional perceptions had assumed that any conflict between the two sides would result in a large-scale war of attrition, following the example set by the earlier Zemplen War which it has often been analysed alongside. By contrast, the relatively fast-paced and technologically-dominated nature of the conflict surprised observers. Criticisms have been leveraged at both sides, especially in the Aethurian treatment of Shalumite civilians on Iron Island and the collateral damage resulting from the Acrean-led bombing campaign over Aethurheim. Tensions have remained high in the years since.
Background
Course of the war
Initial Invasion
The invasion began in the early morning before daybreak on June 21, with Aethurian landing forces landing on the southern and western parts of the island. Coalition surveillance recognised the impending attack, however were only able to maneuver forces on the island into pre-prepared defensive positions per an existing war plan, and only began preparing reinforcements to move to the island shortly before Aethurian landing forces arrived. Consisting primarily of six infantry brigades, the first wave of the invasion force concentrated at the relatively lightly defended stretch of Brighton Beach, using amphibious troop carriers and heavy transports to land tanks on shore. The shock troops swept over the seaside residences in what was initially bitter house to house fighting with forward elements of the Shalumite National Guard, who put up a stiff but overwhelmed resistance against the aggressive breakthrough formations.
Although the initial landing was successful, with Aethurian Stormtroopers managing to establish several beachheads and begin pushing inland towards Iron Island's capital of Kaiserwerth, they suffered heavier casualties than expected due to the tenacious Shalumite defence, bolstered by strong defensive positions and fortifications. Aethurian naval assets, initially poised to provide fire support to landing forces further north, were forced to fall back towards Aethurian waters in a to avoid engaging newly arriving Acrean and Cacertian warships: several Type 729-class cruisers and Type 727-class destroyers supported by other smaller vessels arrived to the north off Iron Island, alongside several Type 906-class submarines launched from submarine pens near Aragon. Considerable Aethurian coastal defences including mobile long range anti-ship missile batteries forced Acrean and Cacertian surface vessels to maintain a safe distance until such defences could be located and targeted.
Aethurian troops had made their way deep inland despite stiff resistance. Their advance was largely halted by the arrival of Shalumite and Acrean reinforcements from the mainland. Aethurian naval assets were redirected to secure their line of supply from the Aethurian mainland, protecting logistical ships transporting troops and materiel after several transport vessels were sunk by Acrean submarines. Despite the intial success of the land operation, the Luftforsvar was still continuing to struggle for air superiority. Aethurian fighter aircraft utilised "jousting" tactics learned from the Syaran CAF during the Zemplen War, firing at long range at Shalumite fighters before turning away to avoid committing to engagements. Aethurian attack aircraft endured more substantial losses in the initial stages of the invasion, suffering from prevalent Shalumite surface-to-air defences and a lack of air superiority to prevent them from being engaged by Shalumite fighters. Ground combat turned into a functional stalemate; the Aethurian advance was halted at the point it had progressed by nightfall. Rather than attempt a counterattack, Coalition forces bolstered their defensive positions in the face of aggressive Aethurian maneuvers.