First Ralkovian War

First Ralkovian War
Date MC 2028–30 Location Ralkovia Result Partition of Ralkovia into Regime and Federal States Overthrow of Raskov Dynasty Abolition of Slavery in Ralkovoia
Belligerents
Romani-Mar'si Union, Lamoni, The Commonwealth of Morrdh, and the Timocratic Republic; Eitoan	Ralkovia

The First Ralkovian War was a military conflict between Imperial Ralkovia and The Alliance fought between MC 2028 and 2030.

The Metal Sea. January 5th, 2028-February 5th, 2028.

The seeds of the Ralkovian War had been planted for generations amongst the soon to be Alliance, whose largest member states of the Romani-Mar'si Union, Lamoni, The Commonwealth of Morrdh, and the Timocratic Republic were all opposed to the act of slavery while Ralkovia was the largest slave-trading nation in Greater Dienstad. It was decided in 2025 that after generations of growing power and greater ability to move in the region, it was time to strike at the heart of the Ralkovian Empire. At a meeting in the Romandean capital of Vesta, more than a dozen nations signed a secret agreement to cofull-blownl blown combat operations no later than December 31st, 2027. This set up the initial phase of the war, the growing anti-slaver naval operations of the various Allied forces.

For years before the official outbreak of the Ralkovian War, blood was being spilled in the name of slavery across the seas of Greater Dienstad. The Romani-Mar'si Union had open bounties for all slaver vessels and had a shoot on sight order, while allied nations such as Lamoni would intercede against Ralkovian traffic as well. Thousands of ships annually would be captured or destroyed every year. This represented only a small portion of Ralkovian shipping but a still significant amount of loss every year. Likewise, Ralkovian naval assets were tasked with responding to such threats and many small, unnamed naval battles happened over these shipping lanes in an undeclared yet decidedly bloody naval war.

The first moves of the war were to increase the intensity of such operations slowly, and to lead the responding Ralkovian forces into a series of traps in the high seas. This slow build-up of Allied naval forces was noted by Ralkovian naval command, but it was believed to be a commitment to already started objectives than anything else. By the time December 31st, 2027 was reached, the Allied forces had been able to achieve a degree of naval build-up across Western Greater Dienstad that was considered an optimistic ideal at best. The Allied forces started a full-fledged anti-naval interdiction campaign and announced that a state of war existed on January 5th, 2028.

The Ralkovians responded to the Allies' naval initiatives without full knowledge of the size or scope of the enemy they were about to fight. This was an intelligence failure, but as post-war records have shown, early war Ralkovian decision making was plagued by an inability to grasp the threat they faced. As such, their naval forces were dispatched with less than ideal knowledge of their enemy. In a series of increasingly devastating engagements, the first wave of Ralkovian responses were overwhelmed and annihilated. All the while, Ralkovian shipping was consumed with increasing ferocity. 'Safe lanes' were left open only to shuttle together large elements of Ralkovian shipping, to be struck by subs, carrier battle groups, and swarms of small missile boats. The colonies, already undergoing extreme strife due to the Marshite demands, were cut off in due time.

The Ralkovian Navy would recover from these setbacks quickly, their skill, determination, and professionalism coming into play. They would respond en masse to try and force one-half of the Allied force into an open battle to try and defeat it, then pull back, regroup, and defeat the other. Their knowledge of the waters and their desire to wipe out the allies was strong; their intelligence, however, was not. The Marshites alone had tens of thousands of combat vessels out by now, with the forces of Lamoni and other Allied forces bringing their significant forces to bear as well. Romandeos and other Union States were were also deploying naval forces en masse, with only scant knowledge of their force being known to the Ralkovians. This would become a critical error in Ralkovian intelligence, one that would decide the course of the war.

The Battle of the Slaver Bay was not one large engagement, but dozens, perhaps hundreds, of smaller battles. Many of them are worthy of tomes all their own and are among the bloodiest battles in the history of naval warfare individually. The Ralkovian Navy engaged the Allied Navy with an initial advantage. However, the Allies had far more than the Ralkovians had prepared for and the Ralkovians proved unable to push deeper into allied waters, and indeed found themselves on equal footing. It was then that Marshite and Union naval forces, operating in a wide strike, struck at the rear and supply lines of the Ralkovian battle fleet. The Ralkovian Navy attempted to push back but found themselves surrounded, outnumbered, and increasingly outgunned. Not only were mainland naval bases pressured intensely, but a ground invasion of the Ralkovian Slaver Bay Enclaves cut them off further. These enclaves would be taken in a matter of days and were quickly repurposed into entirely military-operated areas of control.

Vessel after vessel ran out of munitions. Vessel after vessel was destroyed by concentrated fire, while the Marshite and Allied navies were able to keep up a steady stream of fire and were easily resupplied. Ralkovian resupply efforts were repulsed by the Union navies. Breakout attempts were thwarted with extreme prejudice. The skill, bravery, and cunning of the Ralkovian Navy was of the highest quality, but they found themselves pitted against enemies who shared these same traits. Escape lanes would appear in 'disorganized' allied naval lanes, only to be closed like the jaws of a great beast on those who attempted to make good their escape. Over the course of several weeks, in open water, the Ralkovian Navy was erased from the war as an active threat to Allied plans, with the last large combat action against the Ralkovian Navy taking place on February 5th. So devastating were their losses that in some places ships could no longer sail, as the sunken ships at times stacked to create a virtual sea bed of steel and death a dozen or so feet from the surface. So much tonnage was lost and at such volume that the waters off of Eastrn Ralkovia would become a horrifying petri dish of disease for years afterwards, while the sea level would rise to cause small scale flooding in the colonies and Eastern Ralkovia.

Allied losses were devastating as well. Several hundred carrier battle groups were crippled while submarine forces suffered crushing losses, to name just a few of the notable . Luckily, they had the numbers, and the main battle groups who had been prepared for the battle were pulled back and replaced by the second stage forces of the War in Ralkovia: The securing of the skies over Eastern Ralkovia (Operation Dawn Compass) and the Marshite invasion of the Colonies (Operation Riptide).

Operation Riptide. January 20th, 2028-February 17th, 2028

The Marshite invasion of the colonies was proceeded by two things that made it an overwhelming success. The first was the cutting off of the colonies from the mainland. While some colonies were more than able to sustain themselves on their own, many others could not. Even those that could sustain themselves suffered a psychological blow when they finally understood they were on their own, magnified by the victory of the allied forces in the titanic naval struggle off of Ralkovia. There was little the colonies could do. The colonial defense fleet was mighty as far as defense fleets go and the waters around the colonies would need to be taken, but it cannot be overstated that the psychological impact of the allied victories at sea caused a wave of defeatism to devastate colonial morale.

The second was the Marshite ultimatum. Many colonies were already free states with only limited ties to their Ralkovian masters. Cut off from Ralkovia and facing destruction, many of the colonies agreed to the ultimatum and would round up Ralkovian officials and those who supported them. Others were split, with a number of colonies devolving into internal strife and civil war. Colonial armed forces as well as the defense fleet would suffer vital fractures. Long before the first Marshite boots hit the shores of the colonies, blood wasspiltspilled over the ultimatum itself. It is doubtful that even an entirely united Colonial Front would have lasted long against the invasion, but with a good many of them outright abandoning any Ralkovian pretext and many others being torn apart by civil war, the incoming Marshite invasion would face little initial opposition.

The first part of Riptide was the controlling of the seas around the colonies. Outnumbered and torn apart by strife and issue, the colonial fleets were swept aside by the Marshite attacks. Indeed, a number of vessels and battlegroups even joined the invaders in a number of sea battles tied to the civil war. Then one by one, Marshite forces landed in the colonies. The first colonies were the friendliest to the Marshite presence, having taken the ultimatum by heart. Marshite forces were greeted by Ralkovian officials who had been rounded up as well as their supporters, who were quickly whisked away. Marshites would establish a series of laws and then move on to use local military bases where possible; they otherwise left these colonies on their own, with Union states starting new resupply efforts.

The next colonies struck were those undergoing civil strife. Marshite forces would aid the friendly forces and in each and every instance, regardless of pre-existing situations, Marshite forces made quick work of their colonial opposition. The skill and bravery of Ralkovian loyalists was not questioned by any, but thy were simply overwhelmed by the situation. The colonial situation quickly turned against the loyalists as the days ticked by and one colony after another was captured. Some of these were to be the site of long-standing insurgencies, countered at first by the draconian responses of the Marshite Church against loyalists and their families, and then by other Union states when the Marshites found more important targets to attack. The various insurgencies were mostly put down rather violently in this time, though a number survived, though depleted and robbed of significant ability to affect change.

The final stage of Riptide was the attack on the islands that had by large resisted the ultimatum's temptations and retained loyalty to Ralkovia. The Marshites, deeming these islands full of heretics due to their practice of slavery or willing engagement with those who did, unleashed the full and brutal power of their war machines. Every weapon in the arsenal was used. The Ralkovian Loyalists resisted fiercely and desperately, but as hours became days, collapsed under the titanic weight of the firepower brought against them. This collapse would become an unmitigated genocide as Marshites did not distinguish between civilian and soldier. Only those that came forward to denounce and name slavers or otherwise actively help the persecution of those involved were spared what would be a multi-month unceasing slaughter. Resistance proved desperate once the slaughter began as they fought to protect friends and family, but there was increasingly fewer and fewer left to fight. Post-war, the most loyal of Ralkovian colonies were reduced to corpse-laden deathlands of chemical and biological weapons with only a faint shadow of the prosperity they once had.

There is some debate as to the merits of Operation Riptide. Critics of the policy believe the forces dedicated to this should have been dedicated to other actions. The invasion of Eastern Ralkovia proved to be slower than many would have liked, leading a small contingent to believe that had Riptide not taken place, the post-war would have looked different. Proponents of Riptide point to the psychological blow the loss of Ralkovia's colonies would lead to, as well as cratering Ralkovia's ability to export slaves. It also gave the Union much needed military bases across the world to launch further Crusades. This is the official position of the Union, and one shared by most who support their cause.

There was still one island that stood like a rock against this tide of blood and was a beacon of Ralkovian might and strength. The island of Masada and the battle fought there would become the first great land battle of the war, and a testament to the fire and fury that would consume untold billions before the conflict was over. This battle, known as the Bloodletting of Masada, which ended on February 17th and was the end of Operation Riptide, will be detailed in depth in a later part of this series.

There was still one island that stood like a rock against this tide of blood and was a beacon of Ralkovian might and strength. The island of Masada and the battle fought there would become the first great land battle of the war, and a testament to the fire and fury that would consume untold billions before the conflict was over. This battle, known as the Bloodletting of Masada, which ended on February 17th and was the end of Operation Riptide, will be detailed in depth in a later part of this series.

Operation Dawn Compass. February 5th, 2028-March 10th, 2028

The air battle that developed over eastern Ralkovia after the establishment of multiple air bases nearby was unparalleled in size and ferocity. Ralkovian advantages of its formidable air defense network and capability to deploy more aircraft were not inconsiderable. The Alliance had some advantages of its own- its aircraft were more advanced, pilots more experienced, and had command of the nearby sea, which allowed for the weight of its firepower to be brought to bear at times. FA-15 Cardinals and MAF-50 Pegasi duelled in the skies while wings of Drakes fought through air defenses and ACI-73Ms to reach their targets. Long range stealth bombers from multiple nations were lead in by large numbers of AWACS- some of whom were shot down by any number of Ralkovian fighters, who were in turn destroyed by advanced air superiority craft. Air Superiority Fighters, Strike Fighters, Attackers, Multi-Role Aircraft, Electronic Warfare, SEAD Aircraft, conventional, supersonic, stealth, and even nuclear-powered bombers- to recount a blow by blow of the campaign would end in little more than acronym blindness. Suffice it is to say that low estimates place the number of different types of aircraft deployed at 200 different models, and none of them in very low numbers.

While Ralkovia had local superiority thanks to its ability to quickly turn aircraft around, the Allies boasted a combined air force of many magnitudes more. The strategy was to first engage in tactical battles along eastern Ralkovia in an attempt to gauge their foes. A mostly carrier-borne Allied force engaged Ralkovian aircraft for two weeks. Ralkovian air tactics and habits were studied and assessed. The first real Allied counter came only at this moment, when more ground-based aircraft of superior quality and pilots of great experience led several titanic air battles. While the Ralkovians could be said to have been winning the air war before, the next phase saw the arithmetic of war shift heavily in the Allies' favor. Ralkovian pilots learned quickly; Aces were being made on both sides daily. But as Allied victories came in quick and heavy, they were able to dedicate time and effort to clearing away ground defenses.

Massive conventional bombing campaigns, the like not seen in such numbers for decades once the initial high concentration of defense were thinned, rocked the land. Some attacks came in unrelenting waves of thousands of heavy, but cheap, bombers who were unmolested and unconcerned about enemy air attack. Still others came from more specialized and extreme aircraft, Such as the Dragonhawk and Mailed Fist, who combined could in small numbers level a series of bases in a single bombing run. Smaller enemy air bases were simply erased from the map, forcing the resourceful Ralkovian air force to utilize other bases, highways, or fields. This was not without loss; while the Allied air strategy was considered to be working overall, there were signs on all sides that the effort was draining pilots on all sides as well as resources.

Ralkovian pilots were being pushed to the brink. A single pilot may have conducted multiple high-tension life-or-death sorties in a single day, with little or no rest in between. Some pilots died from exhaustion after having landed, while the erosion of skill and reaction time was noticeable to anyone familiar with the nature of Ralkovian pilotry. Alliance pilots meanwhile did not face such concerns. Air Wings were moved in and out for rest and reformation. As the weeks dragged on, the Ralkovian situation became more pressed than ever.

However, the Alliance was not without serious issues of their own. Supplying the forward air units engaged with the Ralkovians was taxing due to the great distance between the nations of the Alliance. Local commanders had to make hard decisions about what to send where as supplies dwindled. For every day of supply they received, they were consuming a day and a half and the vast reserved prepared pre-battle were dwindling. The Ralkovians faced little issue there, as they had quick and easy access to the vast and immediate stores of their homeland. After a month and a half of devastating air battles, both sides were staggering. The Ralkovian Air Force was almost physically incapable of fighting while the Allies had a swiftly dwindling stockpile.

Yet they had both done exceptionally well to hide this from the enemy. Both made plans to achieve a lasting victory in the air war. The Ralkovians planned on launching a massive aerial assault on the bases constructed by the Allies nearby. This would not end the air war, but would force the Allies on the defensive long enough for the Ralkovian air force to recover. The Allies planned on simultaneously destroying all major aerial bases in the east. The Ralkovians had over time moved most of their operations to two dozen major airbases and, while heavily defended, were still capable of being destroyed through heavy bombardment. If destroyed, they would be hard-pressed to defend eastern Ralkovia's airspace much longer.

The Ralkovian operation had four stages. First would be aerial feints, two near the northern coast of eastern Ralkovia and one near the southern coast. Both would be accompanied by a mass flashing of electronic warfare aircraft and signals meant to make the attacks appear much larger. The hope was that the Allies would respond to these attacks strongly, and allow the center strike force which comprised of the majority of aircraft to punch through the Allied navy, strike the bases, and fight their way home. It was a desperate plan and many considered it a suicide mission. It is a testament to the bravery of the weary, bleary-eyed Ralkovian pilot that thousands of them climbed into their cockpits and prepared for this mission.

The Allied plan relied on far less trickery but, oddly enough, had some similarities. They would push into Eastern Ralkovia across all three vectors in equal measure and hopefully drag the Ralkovian fighters out. Then, the single largest bombing attack in human history would 'bleed' in from the borders and strike at the depleted bases, escorted by their own air wings of fighters. If the Ralkovians responded to the bombing strike, they would be pursued and destroyed in the air. If they did not, then the Ralkovian ability to continue strategic aerial warfare was gone regardless. A lot rode on this operation. Failure would certainly force the Allies on the defensive while they restocked and rearmed, and put the entire Crusade at risk. The effort alone to refuel the bombers en route is worthy of a logistical time all its own- failure was a waste of resources not even the vast Alliance could disregard easily.

As war reminds us, the true master is fate, and as chance would have it, these operations were conducted at the same time. Early Friday morning on March 10th, across the coast of Eastern Ralkovia, Ralkovian aircraft appeared and undertook their feints. They ran into superior enemy opposition and were pushed back. The Ralkovian center 'punch' took off, believing their plan was working. They ran into Allied air forces deployed en masse around the coast, much earlier than anticipated. Fierce engagements saw the Allied air force take substantial losses from an enemy outrageously determined to push forward despite the naval anti-air chewing them up alongside Allied air.

It was at this time that the bombers arrived. The first wave were light, medium, and heavy stealth bombers that eliminated defenses and communication. They were followed by super-heavy bombers of all stripes who laid waste to entire bases in moments. Following them were waves of conventional heavy bombers which saturated the earth so heavily with bombs that morning that they fell like droplets of rain in a storm. The fighter escorts found few enemies worthy of their attention and broke off to engage the retreating Ralkovian forces from the feints in the north and south, joined by some stragglers who had broken off from the center when the bombing had started. This allowed the entire local Allied air force to turn towards the center, where the surviving Ralkovian aircraft had bloodied the Allied center enough to get closer to Allied bases.

Realizing that they were doomed, General Rochstein, commander of the Ralkovian air forces deployed to the front, commanded all pilots to cease operations against Allied aircraft and focus all munitions on the airbases. They did so and while every Ralkovian aircraft was shot down, half of all Allied airbases and airfields targeted were either destroyed or damaged and in need of repair. It was a moment of selflessness that even their Lamonian captors admired, with General Rochstein becoming one of the few Ralkovian leaders during the war to receive positive coverage in Allied press.

The result was nonetheless poor for Ralkovia. They had suffered catastrophic aerial losses in men, material, leadership, and positioning. Many of its best aerial commands and formations had been rendered combat ineffective or been all but erased from the field in that one attack, with its overall combat losses making event its most effective formation a crippled version of its worst self. Its air defense network was a pale shadow of what it once was. It lacked the proper facilities to continue engaging effectively in the east, while the remaining elements of the Ralkovian Air Force were driven to the marrow by exhaustion.

Allied air losses had been exceptionally light overall in comparison (though still quite heavy by any normal accounting) and while losing to one extent or another half of their available local bases was troubling they nonetheless emerged the clear victor. The Ralkovians had actually destroyed the single largest stockpile of munitions the Allied air forces had left as well as several smaller ones, but the Ralkovians did not know what desperate supply situation the Allies were in.

The Head of the Ralkovian Air Force was not alone in wanting to stick it out and fight, however. Indeed, he believed that while they had lost the battle, the campaign as a whole could be won by outlasting their opponent. Logistics said so. But he was overruled in this critical decision. It was decided that defending the skies over eastern Ralkovia was no longer tenable- at least for the moment. They would withdraw behind areas of its aerial defense network in the west which were untouched. They were not abandoning the war- they were simply gathering themselves up for a future deathblow.

When the Ralkovians ceded eastern Ralkovia's airspace after a last week of small aerial engagements, the Allies breathed an enormous sigh of relief. Active Naval Air Forces were reduced more than 95% since the start of the war and wouldn't play a considerable part in the war again until the very end. Losses in bombers, fighters, and specialized aircraft were terrifying. They had taken the skies and broken the air defense network, but they had paid for it in storms of blood and metal. Allied forces had time to remake themselves for the future of the war, but the shadow of loss would hang over them. On March 24th, the Allies established aerial dominance over Eastern Ralkovia.

Ralkovia was determined to ensure that the next time they committed their air force to battle that they would be masters of their own fate. They would recuperate, reconfigure themselves, and go to war again once the enemy ground forces were dealt with. Everyone knew the invasion was coming. It was just a matter of, as far as the Ralkovians were concerned, how many would be killed before contact was ever joined.

Operation Sledgehammer. April 10th, 2028-May 13th, 2028

The next several weeks saw relatively light combat. Relatively- air losses on both sides continued, and the Allied naval forces started mass bombardment of targeted zones. Missiles reached far but naval guns, free of threat thanks to the active allied air forces above, also found their rare usage brought forth on great quantity once again. The firepower directed such was tremendous and accurate, with Ralkovian fortified positions and ground forces receiving devastating barrages around the clock, while selected landing zones and cities received even heavier and more indiscriminate bombardments. The net effect was that the Ralkovian defenses of Eastern Ralkovia within range of the concentrated power of the fleet was reduced again and again, with a focus on any possible entrenchments and on indirect firepower. If the Ralkovians had wanted to defend the landings with great force, they would have taken great loss.

But they hadn't decided to do so, much to the bemusement of the Allied leadership. The area wasn't undefended- several army groups were tasked to its defense and, as such, were getting shredded without air cover and under the guns of the fleet. But considering the size of the Ralkovian military, it was puzzling. The Allies had a notable advantage in manpower that, if allowed to exploit, would allow for the near guarantee of Allied victory in Eastern Ralkovia. Many believed that the Ralkovian Strategy was to sit outside of range of the fleet en masse (missiles could still be used, but the guns of the fleet were not able to reach them) and counter-attack with a newly minted air force when the Allies had committed enough to make defeat painful, but not enough to win. Marshite forces postulated that they might have the same Area Denial 17 Strategy that Marshite cities used: The placement of explosives over a large area, triggered once certain conditions are met. It was decided that the invasion would proceed with caution while the truth of this matter was discovered.

Previously damaged allied air bases were repaired and expanded upon hurriedly, allowing for a short term expansion of air power from them. Naval Air Forces who were withered down to almost nothing were replenished. Dozens of Army Groups streamed into the zone, with lines of transport and defense stretching across Greater Dienstad. Interdiction attempts were made by mercenaries and the scattered remnants of the Ralkovian fleet, and a series of small naval battles across the region created stories of heroism, deceit, defeat, and victory for all sides, though the net effect strategically and tactically was null. The day of the invasion, known as Operation Sledgehammer, approached: F-Day, April 10th. For the Marshites this stood for Fire Day, as they planned to burn their way through the Heresy of slavery. For other, more liberally minded nations it stood for Freedom Day. The Ralkovians considered it the Fools Day, for only a Fool would invade them.

The landings would proceed on five major landing areas, each one subdivided by six major beaches and even more by dozens of zones dedicated for certain tasks. The heaviest aerial and naval bombardment of the past few weeks focused on what remained of various artillery platforms and other ground forces. Allied forces landed en masse, with the opening waves brought into the conflict borne on Tigersharks, Warbeaches, Rocs, Molinors, and a wide variety of other transport craft. Allied forces hit the beach en masse, coordinated not only with aircraft and naval firepower, but with each other. Many of the transport aircraft themselves brought devastating amounts of firepower to the table.

Ralkovian forces who had survived to this point fought bitterly, but were not intended to fight for long. Almost every beach achieved their F-Day objectives. Many achieved their F-Day +1, +2, or even +3 objectives in quick order. A few failed to meet their objectives due to particularly stubborn resistance, though by F-Day +3 all objectives up to +3 had been completed. The Ralkovian armies in the area retreated in good order despite taking significant losses, pulling back to secondary and tertiary defense lines dozens of miles inland. This was part of the Ralkovian strategy to ensure maximum number of Allied forces were within fifty miles of the coast, which was the depth of their area denial system. Then they would detonate it, destroy large elements of the enemy, and counter-attack the scattered remnants.

It was very much the same strategy Marshites used, and as the lines solidified, Marshite engineers went to attempt to verify it. They found evidence and then used ground penetrating radar and other methods to eventually discover the scale of it- across every landing zone, covering the majority of territory. It was extensive, and Marshite forces were impressed. Their findings were shared with other Allied forces. They tested several of the zones in an effort to understand the nature of the devices. They were networked, meaning that interference would be spotted and they could be remotely detonated. Utilizing their knowledge of their own systems as well as what intel they had gathered, Marshites began the mass masking of the signals. This allowed them to slowly but surely cut off more and more of the networked explosives from Ralkovian control without Ralkovian military forces being made wiser. Once masked, they could be removed.

Of course, this was a time intensive process and needed to be done away from the view of Ralkovian forces. They also couldn't simply wait and stay in place, as it would arouse suspicion and would disallow the tremendous backlog of ground forces from landing. Therefore, Allied leadership decided to launch a series of offensives to try and capture several important routes out of the area denial network, while also launching multiple feints in an effort to convince the Ralkovians it was a general offensive and not a directed one. Once the important areas were taken, they could fall back to the safe zones, remove the explosives, and punch out.

What followed was a series of battles, none of which were large in the scale of the war (but still saw thousands of casualties on all sides). Allied progress was steady, but paid for in blood, while the battered Ralkovian forces were stretched thin and suffered greatly, but still followed the overall battle plan. They were pushed back along the major routes but held against the smaller attacks outside of them, creating seven bulges in the Allied advance. By F+10, Allied forces stopped. In their advance along the major routes they had masked and started to remove explosives, while most of the landing zones and beaches had been cleared. Ralkovian forces were none the wiser until F+11, when a captured Allied engineer, wounded fatally, gloated that their 'Gambit had failed'.

It took several more days for the dying words of that engineer to reach the ears of a properly paranoid officer. He reported it, and soon Ralkovian Command believed the time had come. The belief was that the Allies may have just discovered the system and were just now starting to try to find ways to defeat it, and thus the slowdown in the offensive. They made the decision to activate on F+14, and allowed a day for their forces to fall back. They activated the system on F+15.

The major routes had been cleared in the majority sense, though some losses were experienced near the forward edges of the advance. Allied forces who had been stalemated had fallen back towards cleared zones by F+14. Landing zones likewise were cleared. This didn't stop the rest of the landmass from going up in a nearly simultaneous explosion of mammoth scale. Thousands of miles of landmass exploded into the sky, blocking the sun and creating a cloud of dirt and death that would roam over the continents of Greater Dienstad for a full year. Forces not caught in the blast still suffered from many issues, such as the overturning of vehicles and thousands of personnel losses due to wounding. The explosion, it was said, could be heard all the way in Potthan. It caused a tidal wave that slammed Ralkovia's neighbors and cause the Allied fleet to lose cohesion for several days. More than a dozen aircraft would be lost in the cloud, with one even being carried aloft for several days before landing the wild lands of the far western continent.

Allied forces still survived this, and the Ralkovian counter-attack that was launched was met with vastly more resistance than expected. Instead of the scattered remnants of a shattered, broken force, they met army groups of dazed but still powerful men and women under arms. The Ralkovian counter-attack made some headway along multiple axis of advanace, but were bogged down quickly. Allied forces then launched several mass offensives, utilizing a bevy of engineering vehicles to slowly but surely bridge the shattered landmass. Day by day the Allied forces grew in firepower and significance. The Ralkovian forces on the ground were at first bled dry, and then beaten down by extreme firepower. Gaps would appear and be exploited. By F+25, Allied forces punched through the area impacted by the Area Denial System and started to envelope some of the counter-attacking elements.

Not wanting to risk annihilation, Ralkovian ground forces attempted to retreat. However, Allied forces had broken through in so many areas that they were able to launch surprise attacks deep in Ralkovian held territory, shattering the cohesion of the retreat. Under dirt-choked skies that browned out the sun, the Ralkovian forces in Eastern Ralkovia meant to engage and defeat the Allies were brutalized in terrible fashion. Dozens of Ralkovian divisions fought with great honor and distinction, with General Feingurg and the Ralkovian Death Guard providing a legendary defense of a series of bridges up until F+31. But by F+32, the Allies had thoroughly smashed the first major Ralkovian ground force and had taken all major first month objectives. On May 13th, F+33, the Allies declared Sledgehammer a success.

The Ralkovians fell back and established a series of defensive lines and strategic strongpoints. The Allies would soon launch the First General Offensive, which targeted the very heart of Ralkovia as well as the cities near the coast who had been left alone up until that point. For the Ralkovian public, the Sledgehammer was a shattering event that sent shockwaves throughout the nation. Mass exoduses were attempted, but many towns and small cities were captured. The dismantling of the Ralkovian government started here. Allied forces also started to broadcast messages encouraging open rebellion. They promised aid in terms of direct combat support, weapons, ammunition, food, and medicine.

The next phase of the war, the First General Offensive, would see the fate of Eastern Ralkovia decided in more than one way.

The First General Offensive. June 20th- August 5th

The General Offensive was launched with hundreds of Army Groups across a wide front. The goal was the capture of the entirety of Eastern Ralkovia. Indeed, the General Offensive is simply a catch-all term to describe several dozen smaller offensives. Hundreds of battles were fought, and no true accounting has yet been made of the casualties on both sides.

Vast tunnel networks existed underneath Ralkovia. Not unlike the networks underneath Pushania or Marshite territory near the historical frontline of the Long War, these unbelievably vast constructs were the result of billions of slaves laboring for decades. Built with defense in mind, these often had their own power supply, depots to provide for food, medicine, equipment, and vast quarters to house Ralkovian troops. While the benefits in neutralizing some aspects of enemy airpower were obvious, in a strategic sense, it was a far more devastating logistical and campaigning tool. Ralkovian defensive strategy centered on defending the few passes capable of moving large armies through while utilizing the tunnel networks to attack the enemy in depth. As the General Offensive began, this tunnel network saw extensive use.

As the Allies advanced, Ralkovian forces would generally only give brief if intense resistance before pulling back into more defensible locations. However, under the ground, entire Ralkovian army groups awaited the go-word. Once given, thousands of smaller attacks and ambushes would overwhelm their enemy, causing a terrible sense of chaos that would render Allied advantages in airpower, firepower, numbers, and momentum moot. Ralkovian forces that had retreated would sometimes launch a counter-attack. In the mountains and other defensible places of the east, bloody close-range firefights would rob both sides of tactical and strategic capability.

The Allies were not incapable of responding, however. Marshite forces were tunnel fighters by training and experience in the Long War. Utilizing the experiences they had in formulating and executing thousands of battles in the depths of their own tunnel networks as well as the growing amount of human intelligence they had gathered from freed slaves and Ralkovian prisoners, they launched tens of thousands of operations aimed at clearing tunnel networks. The goal was less to engage and defeat Ralkovian forces and more to limit their ability to attack ground forces by destroying the majority of tunnel exits. After clearing a section of the network and keeping Ralkovian forces bottled up, Marshite forces would then slowly but methodically destroy pathways and exits, retreating into a tighter and tighter cordon until they made their exit through one of them. This would then be marked and sensors placed near. While not every operation went smoothly, the net effect was that as the campaign dragged on Ralkovian forces underground were forced into narrower avenues of exit and faced increasingly more immediate and devastating resistance to their emergence, while being less capable of using their numbers.

Despite general success in this operation, the toll was heavy and it lasted until the end of the war and even past it- some sections of the tunnel network even to this day, cut off from Western Ralkovia, resist the new government and Allied occupation forces. Stories of small units of the Tunnel Men as they are called climbing out of small, unknown exits to launch a guerrilla attack are uncommon but not unexpectedly so. Post-War, Allied forces postulate that it would require several hundred thousand men to finally clear out the tunnels in the occupied zone. Such manpower is unavailable but Allied and Union political will to do so currently lacks, and thus sieges of indeterminate nature and length take place.

One of the primary goals of the General Offensive was the securing of ports for the supply of the operation. Razmaki was thus a major target and was struck from both land and sea, with multiple army groups attacking from the land while several Marine divisions landed to capture the port. Led by a large-scale special operations forces, they were able to capture the port facilities and prevent their destruction swiftly. This put the overwhelmed defenders off-balance and after a few hours of combat mostly consisting of desperate counter-attacks in an attempt to destroy the port, local forces attempt to fall out of the city to reconnect with others. They were unable to escape the tide of Allied forces however and suffered catastrophic losses in killed or captured, rendering them incapable of further resistance. Along with smaller ports captured before and after, Razmaki would play an important role in the continued health of the General Offensive.

The river valleys and alpine nature of the terrain made full utilization of their manpower advantage difficult for Allied forces. Tremendous airlift capability and airborne divisions allowed movement and many battles were wide-ranging in nature with dozens of smaller battles making up any significant push. Ralkovian forces attempted to bleed the Allies forces out, attrifying them over time. A sound strategy, but the sheer size of the Allied force meant that for every thrust that could be parried or slowed down, another was able to meet no topside resistance of note. Ralkovian defenses were only ever slowly enveloped and flanked, but enveloped and flanked they would become. Some, entirely given to defense of their homes, would fight bloody last stands. Many others committed themselves to sound strategy and tactics and fell back. Over time however these battles were quicker and Ralkovian forces found themselves having to displace faster and faster. And while Allied forces could rotate in and out, Ralkovian forces were engaged for longer and longer times. Defenses started to become ragged, and then broken, and eventually with the exception of holdouts the Ralkovian army topside was in mass retreat to a defensible location.

Ramkov was overwhelmed by the sheer number of refugees flowing from the east. Existing on a rare patch of relatively even ground near the entrance to Balkovia, it existed as an important defensive stopgap in defensive strategies. Ralkovian forces found themselves using it as a likely defensive strongpoint as they pulled back into Balkovia. However, the many individual armies that made up the Ralkovian defense found themselves almost entirely unable to create a meaningful defense. Hot on their heels were larger, fresher troops who had vast air support. Ramkov and the area around it turned into a slowly churning charnel house, with massive Ralkovian losses mounting as hours rolled by. They were saved by the single largest tunnel-based counter-attack of the entire war which cut off Allied forces and prevented the final strike to surround and annihilate the Ralkovian forces. Gathering themselves, top-side Ralkovian leaders made the decision to abandon Ramkov and fall back into Balkovia, where they were assured by their leadership that the Ralkovian Air Force was ready once more to take to the skies. By the time the Allies had pushed back the Ralkovians into the tunnels, Ralkovian forces topside had been able to pull back into Balkovia with the vast majority of the refugees in tow. Ramkov was taken, and the General Offensive took a deep breather. Top