Battle of Otdalennyy Island

Battle of Otdalennyy Island
Date January 31, 1994 - March 3, 1994 (1 month and 3 days) Location Otdalennyy Island Result Allied victory, eradication of Transnapastaini forces on the island
Belligerents
Allied Nations Luminerra Notreceau Licana	Order of Soviet Socialist Republics
Commanders and leaders
	Vice Admiral Sanya Yermilov Major General Yakim Berezin
Units involved
1st Naval Infantry Brigade Allied naval task force	Armada of the Soviet Order Elements of the 16th Naval Infantry Brigade; 16th Headquarters Battalion 161st Naval Infantry Battalion 165th Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion 166th Air Defense Artillery Battalion 3111th Coastal Missile-Artillery Battalion, 311th Coastal Missile-Artillery Brigade 201st Guards Fighter Aviation Wing 2nd Squadron, 301st Composite Aviation Wing Karakurt-class corvette NVS Parshino 3 Tarantul-class fast attack vessels NVS Vitalik Gagolin diesel-electric icebreaker
Casualties and losses
11,259 total casualties 2,892 killed 8,367 wounded 6 captured but later rescued 1 landing helicopter assault sunk 1 aircraft carrier several damaged	10,942 confirmed killed in action 664 captured 218 missing in action All naval vessels destroyed

The Battle of Otdalennyy Island was the last major battle of the Omandan Continental War fought between the Allied Forces and the Order of Soviet Socialist Republics. The battle commenced on January 31, 1994, two weeks after a ceasefire agrrment was reached between the allies and representatives of the OSSR. The Allied invasion, code named Operation Westwend, was intended to eliminate the Soviet garrison forces on Otdalennyy Island and invest the island to effect a strategic blockade of the OSSR in an attempt to disallow any military forces from exiting the nation's interior waters into the Thetian Ocean to the east or the Boreal Ocean to the west, and to disallow any international aid from reaching the OSSR.

The Armada of the Soviet Order had been rendered ineffective in the years leading up to the strategic nuclear exchange between Licana and the OSSR, disallowing it from mounting in attempt to ether evacuate or reinforce the garrison. Only five naval vessels remained in port at Tiksi, the islands only settlement, and were insufficient to evacuate the over 10,000 personnel and 316 civilians stationed on the island. In addition, the garrison lacked sufficient fuel to allow each vessel to make any more than one trip to the mainland and back, thereby disallowing the vessels to ferry the civilians out.

The positions on the island were heavily fortified, with a dense network of bunkers, hidden artillery positions, and over 18 km of tunnels. Of the almost 12,000 personnel on the island at the beginning of the battle, only 263 were taken prisoner initially, some of whom were captured because they had been knocked unconscious or otherwise disabled. The vast majority of the remainder were killed in action, although it has been estimated that as many as 1,630 personnel continued to resist within the various cave systems and bunker complexes for several weeks afterwards, eventually being eliminated, succumbing to their injuries or surrendering.

The battle, lasting a little over 30 days, was one of the fiercest battles of the entire war. Despite the intense fighting and severe casualties on both sides, the Allied victory was assured from the start. The inability of the OSSR to resupply or reinforce the position, coupled with the Allied numerical superiority, and complete air supremacy over the island, left no plausible circumstance in which the Allies could have lost the battle.

Battle

Attempted evacuation

The diesel-electric icebreaker NVS Vitalik Gagolin was ordered by Vice Admiral Yermilov to be provided with enough fuel for a one-way trip to Klyuchi, the closest port on the mainland. Admiral Yermilov then ordered that the 11 children under the age of 12 be evacuated from the island along with "however many women could be crammed board". The Vitalik Gagolin could accommodate 90 passengers, but by running a skeleton crew and filling the vessel to capacity, the captain of the vessel, Junior Lieutenant Yuri Zherdev, was able to evacuate all 11 children and 126 women. The remaining 179 men we refused evacuation and instead conscripted into islands defense force. The political officer of the 16th Naval Infantry Brigade, Colonel Timofey Ivashin, determined that an officer needed to accompany the woman and children and appointed himself. As part of his final communication, corroborated by transcripts captured by Allied forces following the battle, Admiral Yermilov condemned this act as both "cowardly and self serving" as well as "unbecoming of a Soviet solider and leader." Ironically, Ivashin was one of the few suvivors of the sinking of the Vitalik Gagolin and was arrested by MGB officers upon his reparation to Transnapastain.  

The Vitalik Gagolin set sail for Klyuchi at 2230 hours on the 30th of January 1994. Approximately 87 miles off the shore of Transnapastain, it was acquired on radar by the LNS Edar Allen a destroyer of the Licanan Navy that was screening the task force approaching Otdalennyy Island to shore ward. The Vitalik Gagolin was traveling under emissions control regulations under the orders of her captain, and therefore was not transmitting any identifying signals or utilizing any sort of navigation lights. The captain of the  Edar Allen mistakenly identified the vessel as a combat ship and ordered two missile fired. Both missile struck the vessel amidships, causing it to sink rapidly. The Edar Allen approached the stricken ship and, upon realizing it was an unarmed ice breaking ship, rendered all possible aid to the crew and refugees aboard.Of the 164 people aboard the vessel, only 17 were rescued.

Initial air attack

Alpayevo Air Base was home to the 201st Guards Fighter Aviation Wing, who were equipped with a total of 48 MiG-31BSM intercepter aircraft, stationed on the island to intercept any possible bomber raids originating out of Trinovantum. Of the 48 aircraft assigned to the 201st Guards Fighter Aviation Wing, it is estimated that not more than 30 were operational at the beginning of the battle. In addition to the 201st Guards Fighter Aviation Wing, the air abse was also home to 2nd Squadron, 301st Composite Aviation Wing, which was in possession of 8 Il-38N maritime patrol aircraft and four Tu-22M3M maritime strike aircraft.

Knowing that the allied armada approaching would quickly establish air superiority over the island, Vice Admiral Sanya Yermilov was determined to utilize these assets to deal a heavy blow to the incoming allied vessels. He ordered reconnaissance flights commended on January 30 after receiving a report of a large flotilla of vessels passing the Andreyevka Peninsula to the south. The IL-38N's under his command were ordered to patrol to the south, southwest and southeast of the island, and to operate their passive systems only in an effort to elude detection by the battle group.

<Heres the gist: One of the IL-38s gets detected and shot down. Several more are able to fix the position of the center of the battle group and the four Backfires are launched with the MiG-31s escorting. The aircraft have orders not to return to the island, but to head for Klyuchi following their mission. All four Backfires and most of the MiGs are shot down. They manage to score hits and sink one of the oncoming LHAs>