War in Ketcheria

War in Ketcheria
Part of the Great Bakran War
Date March 6th, 1997 – July 11th, 1999 (2 years, 4 months and 5 days) Location Aemperya Result Imperial Victory Aemperyan Government retains control of Ketcherian territory Dissolution of the Republic of Ketcheria Mahsadar formally relinquishes claims on Ketcherian territory within the Empire.
Belligerents
Aemperya	Republic of Ketcheria People's Army of Ketcheria " Free Ketcheria" Battalion "Mahsadari" Fighters Ketchkov Liberation' Army Kaukaz Independence' Brigade "Ahkmuj" Brigade Supported by: Mahsadar
Commanders and leaders
Vladymor VI vaz Valkyr Vyktor Kazantyv Markusz Csuszdol Hermann vaz Kamorr Isztvan Ferrol und Kameinytz Konstantinos Saeraios Konstantinos vaz Mystras	Abdyrzah Kallormizov † Abdul ibn Eridah † Dmitrios Kurogot † Khamul Al-Rashadi † Burogo Shamil-Mukri (MIA) Shamil Abdulleyev

The War in Ketcheria was an armed conflict taking place in the semi-mountainous region of Ketcheria which straddled the Aemperya-Mahsadar border between the Lesser Zagron Mountains and Azoron Bay which in turn connected to the Kaszarian inland Sea. The conflict can be described as ethnic and religious in nature as most Ketcherians followed Neveri Islam (a radical conservative sect) and were a small minority in the Aemperyan Empire. The territory having been previously organized into the Kaukaszyn Oekrug. This territory accounted for over 60% of the Ketcherians ethnographic territory with the remainder being with Mahsadar.

Tensions between the Ketcherian population and the Imperial government in Vaalerya had been largely overlooked by the generally peaceful attitude of the region. Which had historically been quite a troublesome region for the Empire until the 1950's when it began to witness just over 40 years of peace and prosperity. However, escalating tensions religious tensions between the local Volghai minority who accounted for 16% of the population and the Ketcherians who accounted for 83% never fully ceased. Only festering and fueled by the infiltration of radical Neveri Islam leaders like Khamul Al-Rashadi and Shamil Abdulleyev who supposedly arrived in the region by 1993 from neighboring Mahsadar. Further, recognizing of the local Ketcherian language on the Imperial level had been denied in 1990 and again in 1994 by the Imperial Assembly. However, Governor Krum Eryanovskiy, who was ethnically Volghai, did permit local Ketcherian municipal officials to produce documents in the local Ketcherian language from 1994 on wards in an attempt to cool tensions.

On the morning of February 5th armed Ketcherians stormed the municipal offices and city hall in Ketchkov, the largest city in the region, and proclaimed the Republic of Ketcheria under President Abdyrzah Kallormizov. Kallormizov advocated for peace and Governor Eryanovskiy did send an official request to recognize the new Republic as polity within the Empire as a means to assure peace. However, Kallormizov was soon overruled and while the Imperial Assembly debated over what to do various local Ketcherian militias began to conduct violent pogroms against ethnic and religious minorities within the newly proclaimed Republic. Thousands fled the territory while the local military forces, namely the 127th Motor Rifle Division, was besieged at their garrison in Yurugert by thousands of Ketcherian fighters. Armed by suppliers in Mahsadar that crossed the border. on March 1st, a day after the siege of the 127th Division began, Emperor Vladymor VI declared open hostilities between the Empire and the Republic of Ketcheria. Additionally, the Emperor tasked the 8th Army HQ under General Vyktor Kazantyv based out of Stavrokrai approximately 350 miles North-West to take control and move it's assigned units to surround Ketcheria to begin a full invasion of the rebellious territory. Meanwhile, the Imperial Air Force's 4th Air Fleet based out of Kathiryoi with Colonel General Konstantine Saeraios in command began an extensive air campaign with the main objective in providing supply and relief to the surrounded 127th Motor Rifle Division.

On March 6th the conflict officially began with the invasion of Ketcheria by the Imperial 8th Army's XIV Corps with the 97th Motor Rifle Division and the 139th Motor Rifle Division crossing into Ketcheria proper while the 14th Tank Division spread out to provide a cordon sanitaire across the Northern plains of Ketcheria. Cutting off the land routes into the territory while the Kaszarian Flotilla dispatched a squadron to blockade Ketchkov and the coastline.

By May, 1999 the war was generally regarded as over with only scattered pockets of resistance and guerrilla combat in the mountains occurring. These too ceased with the final capture of rebel Ketcherian hold outs in the Zagron Mountains and the flight of surviving rebel leadership into Mahsadar in early July. The Republic of Ketcheria is generally regarded to having ceased it's existence on July 11th, 1999 with the official proclamation from the Emperor that all rebel forces had been destroyed or expelled from Imperial territory and that it would be re-absorbed into the Kaukaszyn Oekrug.

The exact death toll is not known but official reports state 2,476 servicemen killed with another 4,922 wounded. Ketcherian losses are estimated to be around 70,000 with another 140,000 civilians killed or missing. Additionally, some 5,000 Volghai and other minorities were reportedly killed by the Republic's authorities between March, 1997 and June, 1999.

Historical Basis

The region of Ketcheria had been struggled over for centuries. Being a land broken up by tribal lines and constantly fighting against foreign influence. Largely from Southern peoples like the Mahsadari, Altaic tribesmen from the East, or Volghai raiders from the North-West. The native Ketcherians, a Eurasian peoples similar to the Volghai ethnically but culturally closer to the Mahsadari, had managed to keep their independence until 1567 when the Mahsadari subjugated the region into a series of small tributary states. It would be another hundred years until 1652 when the first Aemperyan influence began to enter the region by the resettlement of the Volghai Donaya Cossacks to the lands just North of Ketcheria.

Further, in 1722 at the conclusion of the Aemperyan-Masadar War (1718-1722) the region passed from the Mahsadar sphere of influence to that of the Empire. Emperor Konstantinos (r.1688-1723) established an Imperial Protectorate over Ketcheria and recognized it as an autonomous state of the Empire. Empress Alexia II (r.1723-1737) would further organize Ketcheria in the 1730 Decree of Land Rights which reorganized the Southern and Eastern parts of the Empire. Establishing the Transkaukazyn Kingdom as a semi-autonomous appendage of the Empire under a series of local Chieftains and theocratic leaders that paid regular homage to the Empire. This state of affairs remained unbroken till 1816 when the last local ruling chieftain, an Islamic Imam, died and no clear line of succession was specified. The Mahsadari just South quickly intervened and fomented was a full on multi-faceted civil war throughout the region. Drawing in the Donaya Cossacks who managed to repulse the Mahsadari soldiers from the region but forced to retreat given the large scale resistance they faced.

This led to the 1817-1849 Transkaukazyn War with Emperor Alaexyndir I dispatching 75,000 troops under General Greigorios vaz Epyron to the region to restore order. What followed was 32 years of off and on combat in a protracted war between the pro-Imperial forces and the various local warlords. This persisted until first General Greigorios and his successor, General Suvorev, managed to claw back control with the latter breaking all resistance in a bloody campaign in the Mountains pervading through Southern Ketcheria. Emperor Alaexyndir II would establish the Kaukazyn Oekrug under the new Central Oridia Governorate in 1850 to administrate the region.

However, Ketcheria was often a hotbed for sedition along religious, cultural, and ethnic lines for the remainder of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Even sparking an insurgency from 1940 to 1944 when the Imperial authorities bloodily suppressed the region by hunting the rebels systematically.

Declaration of the Republic

The Republic of Ketcheria was proclaimed on February 5th, 1997 by armed Ketcherian militia under the command of Abdyrzah Kallormizov. A local chieftain. Kallormizov advocated a peaceful transition of administration with Governor Eryanovskiy sending a request to the Imperial Assembly to recognize the Republic as a polity within the Empire. It is unclear if Kallormizov would have accepted this though given his anti-hostile rhetoric it certainly seemed that he would have agreed to being semi-autonomous. However, Kallormizov's own rule was limited to Ketchkov and certain villages given the clan based loyalties of the native Ketcherian population. Further, radical elements like those led by Al-Rashadi and Shamil-Mukri firmly stood against anything other than total independence and ethnic expulsion of non-Ketcherians.

Lack of Centralized Leadership And Imperial Plans

Imperial Plans were already being formulated while the Imperial Assembly debated over what to do with the sudden declaration of the Republic. The Lemurian City-States advocated for recognizing it as a polity within the Empire while the rest stood firmly against. Emperor Vladymor VI, however, had already ordered the Great Imperial General Staff to draw up plans for military intervention into Ketcheria. The plans called for an Army Corps to quickly cut off Ketcheria or make it very difficult for fighters to move into neighboring Imperial territory. While Internal Troops would move in to guard key locations as quickly as possible in addition to opening a land route to the Army Base at Yurugert. From then on the Internal Troops would gradually take back control of the territory with support from the Army and Air force if needed. The Kaszarian Flotilla would provide a screen to cut off the the capital of Ketchkov from the seaward side.

In Ketcheria the month of February saw mostly political infighting and attempts of Kallormizov to establish a structured government. Managing to get most of the clans on his side equip thousands of fighters to take over policing duties in the Republic. However, he could not stop the pogroms launched against non-Ketcherians in the Republic by the radical factions. The Dogu-Ashkoi Massacre saw 660 ethnic Volghai shot and put in a mass grave outside the village of Dogu-Ashkoi. This in turn caused any non-Ketcherians that could to flee the Republic for neighboring territories. Many hundreds of more people would die as pogroms occurred throughout the Republic. When news of the pogroms reached the Imperial Government and Governor Eryonovskiy the Imperial Assembly firmly rejected any recognizing of the Republic in addition to the latter deploying Internal Troops to set up check points around the rebellious territory. Meanwhile the 127th Motor Rifle Division was besieged by February 20th in their garrison at Yurugert.

Ketcheria Besieged

The 116th 'Maikov' Motor Rifle Division, an Internal Troops unit, was the closed formation to reach Ketcheria and began setting up a perimeter from coast eastwards until it linked up with the incoming 222nd 'Novocherozovsk' Motor Rifle Division on February 24th and 272nd Separate Rifle Brigade who formed the other perimeter cordons. These Internal Troops where later reinforced by March 1st with the 14th Tank Division, 97th and 139th Motor Rifle Divisions, with their XIV Army Corps HQ. Colonel Eron Cathirai provided the head of the 4th Air Fleet's staff attache to the XIVth Army Corps commander Lieutenant General Markusz Csuszdol. The 4th Air Fleet provided several reconnaissance flights between February 26th and March 6th.

Imperial Offensive, March-August 1997

At 5:30, March 6th, an hour after the Kaszarian Flottila had arrived just outside of visual range from Ketchkov to blockade it's port, the 97th and 139th Motor Rifle Divisions crossed the border in force from the North and North-East. While the 272nd Separate Rifle Brigade moved in from the East. They were met with resistance by 6:45 with Ketcherian fighters defending the approaches to villages and hamlets. Heavy fighting took place at the village of Ashken which was not cleared of fighters until 16:00 and saw the first Imperial casualties of the conflict. Other villages like Dogu-Shtakoi and Kyzokov held out until the evening of March 7th when enemy fighters slipped under cover of darkness.

The Offensive throughout March was slow with the Army and Internal Troops having to systematically clear towns, villages, and the countryside. Ketcherian fighters increasingly made use of IEDs, used ambush tactics, and fortified buildings to anchor their positions. In some cases such as at Nazorikov requiring the 4th Air Fleet to extensively bomb the area before it could be taken.