Inyurstan Intervention in the Lolloh-Ruolnik War

Lolloh-Ruolnik War
File:Inyur forces01.jpg Top Left: Army Aviation AH-1Y Cobra gunship near the DMZ, Top Right: Marine Scout Team in southern Wesselania, Bottom Left: Inyurstan soldier dressed for the harsh Lollohian winter, Bottom Right: M1A2 Alligator in combat
Date 16 June 2003 (2003-06-16) – 20 September 2014 (2014-09-20) Location Ruolnik, Lolloh, Ruol Sea Result Ruol Coal Victory, Ruol independence secured, Ruol Sea free from Lollohian intervention, Southern Lolloh broken into smaller independent republics
Belligerents
Inyursta Supporting: Merick Isles Romic Ruolnik Cevronik Isles	Template:Country data Lolloh
Commanders and leaders
General Antonio DeLoroza Admiràle Alfanso Cortez General Marco Dassault Colonel Armando Nuelle Station Chief Ignaçio L'Adineau	N/A
Strength
> 50,000	> 2 million
Casualties and losses
Inyursta KIA: ~ 6,300 WIA: >18,500 POW: 20 Total: ~25,000	Lolloh KIA: >420,000 WIA: N/A POW: >110,000 Total: 600,000 - over 1 million

This article describes the involvement of the armed forces of La Républiqua D'Inyursta in the Lolloh-Ruolnik War and associated events. For a detailed summary of the Lolloh-Ruolnik War, see: Timeline of the Lolloh-Ruolnik War

After a short insurgency-turned-war for independence starting in 2001, the nation of Ruolnik was established as an independent state. Inyurstan military and intelligence in Ruolnik began in 2003 and steadily increased, evolving to direct combat operations and eventually drawing down to a protection force following a victory in 2014.

Background

A separatist movement known as the Ruolnikian Liberation Army began an armed insurgency in the southern province of Lollon in 2001. The RLA had no professed ideology, but opponents in Lolloh labeled the group as "fascist". Lollohian forces were called in to crack down on the RLA rebels, however several other nations moved in to support the rebels, including the Inyurstan-allied Merick Isles. In late 2002 Lollohian dictator Tyvar Slovak was assassinated by a Chinese sniper, and a treaty was signed recognizing Ruolnik as a sovereign state; however Lolloh ignored sections of the treaty, mainly including Lollohian forces occupying the disputed rural province of Elescu as well as Lollohian agents and government officials actively tampering in Ruol elections.

Early Intervention

Inyurstan intervention began officially in 2003 in the form of a naval surface group sent to assist, support and help bolster the naval forces of the allied Merick Isles who were conducting operations to keep both Lollohian and international anti-independence forces at bay in the waters around Ruolnik. With the surface group came a small marine detachment, who landed in the port city of Balezea to help with the security situation. Following poor performances in election polls, pro-Lollohian reunification extremists formed the Unionist Movement of Ruolnik (UMR) and began attacking police, army and other government targets. However, once the group's vangaurd formation and a larger insurgency failed to occur, the UMR became desperate and began attacking known political opposition and eventually turned to shooting any ethnic Roul they encountered. Inyurstan marines were able to reach the war zone in the capital in time to partake in some combat against the dwindling terrorist group.

Unofficially, ISD and NIS operatives were active in Ruolnik. The mission was two-part, assisting the growth and development of the Ruolnikian star agencies as well as participation in the "shadow war" against unionist groups on Ruolnik. Minor details about intel operations at this period were made public in 2008. Lollohian government sources accuse the ISD of being behind the disappearances of at least five individuals connect with pro-reunification efforts; the ISD has made no comment on this accusation.

First Invasion of Lolloh

Ruolnik, seeking retaliation for Lollohian support of the UMR including a direct violation of Ruol airspace to save a terrorist ringleader and several attempts to interfere with Ruol politics, declared that Lolloh was not holding its side of the peace bargain and with the support of its allies moved to reclaim the promised former territory of Elescu. In the winter of 2003 - 2004, a force of approximately three divisions of Inyurstan Inyurstan Marines joined Ruol and Mericki forces an operation to take back Elescu.

Elescu Campaign

Progress through the mountains on the Ruol-Elescu border was slow, especially for the poorly-equipped tropical Inyurstan forces. Lollohian opposition was more focused on delaying progress and sabotaging the offensive than it was directly engaging a tri-national force, so casualites from fighting were relatively low.

File:Inyur BTR01.jpg

Marine BTR-82Y in the plains of Elescu, January 2004.

Once allied forces reached the plains of Elescu, the harsh winter forces of the high-altitude mountains subsided and supply drops were able to bring in much needed winter equipment to the Inyurstan Marines. Intel had anticipated that fighting would become intense and direct upon reaching the plains, however the allies found the Lollohian Army in a state of total retreat while a large portion of the Elescuan populace was actively taking up what limited arms they could against their former rulers. The Lollohian government retreated it's army out of Elescu and prepared to hold off an attack against its northern provinces, while they ordered all loyal police forces in Elescu to fight down to the last man. Despite being exceptionally well-armed for a police force, the loyalist law enforcement units stood little chance against professional military units utilizing tanks, artillery and aircraft.

Elescu was then brought into Ruolnik as a semi-autonomous province with the popular vote of both Ruolnik Proper and Elescu. Allied forces and opposing Lollohian forces began amassing on the border in anticipation of a continued offensive from either side.

Post-Liberation

Soon, international peace-keeping forces including units from Romberg, Ontorisia and Firmador moved into the borders between Elescu and the Lollohian provinces of Tyvar and New Elescu. A second peace treaty between Lolloh and Ruolnik was signed and the war declared over by most parties. The government of Lolloh then began dumping refugees across the border into Ruolnik, some of them armed, with the two-fold goal of influencing the Elescuan vote back towards unification with Lolloh as well as to "seize stolen property". Ruolnik cracked down on these protests, as well as continuing to "over-fortify" the border defenses with Lolloh, both moves which drew protest from the Lollohian government and created tension between the two nations.

To make matters more complicated, the multinational peace-keeping force broke apart, with Ontorisia annexing part of the "refugee zone" for itself and the discovery that Firmador was only deploying "peace keepers" to allow its ally Lolloh time to regroup and reconquer Ruolnik. A short naval skirmish in the Bay of Elescu followed by a failed drone-strike assassination of Lollohian leader Nillary Hinton resulted in a border war breaking out.

Inyurstan forces under General Antonio DeLoroza pushed north into the Lollohian province of Ninnipar without interference from peace-keepers, intent on striking at the capital in Dekkar. However, under pressure from several governments including allies in Ruolnik and the Merick Isles, the Peresque Administration recalled DeLoroza back into Elescu and approved yet another peace treaty between Lolloh and Ruolnik.

This move would later be seen as one of the biggest errors of the Peresque Administration.

Second Invasion of Lolloh

Following the peace accords and ceasefire, allied intelligence noticed a build-up of Lollohian forces north of the DMZ - a 5-km wide stretch of no-mans land between the two nations. The Lollohians were also ripping down fortifications on their own side and building infrastructure meant to support a mass movement of vehicles and people from Lolloh into Elescu (now reunited with Ruolnik). Lollohian officials claimed that they planned to rip down all defenses on the DMZ and open up border crossings with Ruolnik as part of "reconciliation", as well as to allow refugees to cross.

The governments of Ruolnik and its allies opposed this Lollohian policy, and tensions again rose. Ruol commander General Samuel Bulregard openly stated in a televised interview that when Ruolnik launched military action against Lolloh, it would come through the central Lollohian province of Tyvar. Leaders of Lolloh saw this as a direct threat and regrouped their forces to attack across the DMZ into Ruolnik.

DeLoroza's Offensive

Unbeknownst to the Lollohians, Bulregard's words on television had been part of a ruse meant to draw the overwhelming numbers of the Lollohians into Tyvar in order to open up Ninnipar to penetration by DeLoroza's armored force. Neither Bulregard nor DeLoroza expected the Lollohians to actually attack the DMZ, hoping for the lesser goal of a simple troop redeployment. This left just 30,000 men defending a roughly one-hundred mile stretch of land in Ninnipar while the main bulk of Lollohian infantry were throwing themselves across a minefield under heavy artillery and air pressure to attack an excessively over-fortified line.

On September 1st, 2004 DeLoroza personally led his division across the DMZ to attack Ninnipar. Unlike the Lollohians, the Inyurstan forces utilized engineer vehicles to clear the minefields as well as airstrikes to neutralize pillboxes and ATGM positions on the Lollohian side. Commandos of the 501st Air Calvary Regiment landed behind the line in the dead of night and disrupted Lollohian supply routes and other key support assets. Within hours the Lollohian defenders in Ninnipar were in a full state of retreat.

Lollohian intelligence then discovered the goal of the Inyurstan invasion was not to annex territory, force regime change or gain a better bargaining position at the peace talks but rather the full dismantling of the Lollohian armed forces and dissolution of their geopolitical power projection. With the human-wave attacks on the DMZ in Tyvar miserably failing, the Lollohians surrendered a large chunk of their army to Ruolnik and retreated the rest into the neighboring nation of Shaluach. The Lollohians hoped to either rebuild their military strength from behind the safety of the Shalauch border or force the allies into attacking Shalauch and provoking a larger inter-alliance/regional war. Instead, DeLoroza simply drove north and seized the Lollohian capital of Dekkar without a fight.

Seige of Dekkar

File:Dekkar01.jpg

Inyurstan soldiers posing in the ruins Dekkar after the siege.

As soon as the 10th Infantry Division broke the Lollohian lines, the Lollohian military began a complete strategic withdrawl. Lollohian policy makers in Dekkar knew that their Inyurstan foes were coming in with the mission goals of destroying Lolloh's military capabilities and not an actual attempt at regime change. This, of course, left their capital undefended allowing DeLoroza's forces to sweep in and seize Dekkar without firing a shot. The Lollohian leadership fled across the border to Shaluach where their military had set up camp; meanwhile Lollohian leader Nillary Hinton flew to the Cevronik Isles to discuss negotiations and a peace treaty with coalition leadership.

Crimson May & Lollohian Counter-Attack

The Inyurstan forces then settled into Dekkar, and began constructing a series of roadblocks and fortifications as well as stockpiling food, medical supplies and ammunition. A few days later the peace talks broke down, resulting in the semi-suicidal death of Hinton.

With Hinton out of the picture, the Inyurstans made a controversial decision and a break from previous international custom, beginning with an order to kill or capture every Lollohian public official who had voted in support of the war against Ruolnik. The operation was met with mixed success as many of said officials had already fled or made arrangements to flee and the Inyurstan military was limited only to Dekkar and the surrounding suburbs. This delivered a three-fold message to Lolloh and the world: 1) peace is off the table, 2) the conflict is now a battle of destruction against the Lollohian state 3) the Inyurstan's are no longer playing by the rules. Soon after DeLoroza ordered his troop's to begin desecrating Lollohian cultural landmarks and destroy monuments to socialist icons, the final move in what would be known as "Crimson May". This move outraged the Lollohians, who abandoned their plan to wait out the invasion and in a fury pushed their armies back across the border towards Dekkar.

Inyurstan airborne and light infantry forces which had been in place near the border prior to the Lollohian re-entry harassed their supply lines and rear columns, and most importantly reported the strength and composition of enemy forces to their higher-ups. They were; however, completely outnumbered an unable to confront the Lollohian army group directly. Supply lines leading from Ruolnik to Dekkar were folded back across the DMZ for their own saftey; leaving DeLoroza and his forces to hold out on their own stockpiles and the foodstuffs left behind by fleeing Lollohian civilians.

Lollohian Assault

The first waves of Lollohian forces came in early in the morning hours of June 17th, 2007. Lollohians at first attempted infiltration tactics, similar to the Chechens in First Battle of Grozny; however, the Inyurstan defense of the city was centered around a chain of two-layered roadblocks & barricades which forced the enemy into a frontal assault, rather than allowing them to slip by scattered points. Inyurstan snipers and smart mines played a major role in the combat, diminishing enemy numbers bit by bit. Lollohian General Hamvir Hammirick realized that simply infiltrating and flanking the defenders would not work, and was forced to devise an alternate strategy. Instead of circling the Inyurstans and applying equal pressure at all points, the Lollohians instead focused the mass of their force in an attempt to break a single point of the line.

It is here that "Le Scorpiène" racked up a double-digit number of confirmed kills against Lollohian soldiers.

Allied Relief

Three weeks into the siege, Mericki armored forces and an Inyurstan Marine Corps brigade which had landed in Wesselania made contact with the rear elements of the Lollohian siege.