Invasion of Ruvelka (Siduri War)
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| Invasion of Ruvelka | |||||||||
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| Part of the Siduri War | |||||||||
 Clockwise from top: Syaran infantry on the march during Operation Sarissa; Fort Sirok following a concentrated Syaran bombardment; A Ruvelkan tank during the Siege of Aszód; Ruvelkan troops surrendering after the battle of Hadju-Bihar; Ruvelkan refugees on the road; The ruins of Sopron in 1934. | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Republic of Syara Shirvani Dominion(From 5 May 1934) |
 Principality of Ruvelka | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Sasko Anastasov Kostadin Zhelyaskov Metodij Kuzmanovski Kliment Gecevski Zdravko Bikić Jirayr Bedrosian |
Rózsá Prohászka Rebeká Tímár Kata Kovács Rudolf Takács Patrik Lengyel Emese Hegedüs | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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Total: 3,150,000 troops 134 divisions 14,204 guns 3,300 tanks 3,285 aircraft |
Total: 2,000,000 troops 79 divisions 20 Fusilier regiments 6,300 guns 1,210 tanks 1,000 aircraft | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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33,580 killed 111,852 wounded 1,799 missing 334 aircraft lost 533 tanks destroyed |
84,000 killed 289,757 wounded 1,378,100 captured 457 aircraft lost 688 tanks destroyed | ||||||||
The Invasion of Ruvelka, sometimes referred to as the Fall of Ruvelka, marked the beginning of the Siduri War when the Republic of Syara invaded the Principality of Ruvelka on 4 April 1934. Although the Principality had anticipated the possibility of a future conflict with Syara, the scale of the invasion was much larger than Ruvelkan High Command had predicted. As a result, Ruvelkan forces were forced to withdraw from their forward bases close to the Syaran-Ruvelkan border to the more established Dorman Line to the east. As fighting continued in the west, which forced Ruvelka to redeploy its forces from the eastern half of the nation, the Shirvani Dominion launched its own invasion of the Principality on 5 May.
Syaran forces invaded Ruvelka early on the morning of 4 April, mobilizing enough troops to make a concerted advance across the entirety of the Syaran-Ruvelkan border. A short-lived Ruvelkan counter-offensive was launched in late April, but failed to gain any traction and was quickly beaten back. This Ruvelkan defeat gave the Syarans an undisputed advantage, forcing the Principality to reform its defense along the foothills of the Kurilla mountains where they could buy time to draw reinforcements from the east.
On 5 May the armed forces of Shirvaniya invaded Eastern Ruvelka under the auspices of the Syaran-Ruvelkan Frontier Treaty. With their troops in the east out of position and now facing a second front, the Ruvelkan government concluded that the defense of the Kurilla mountains was no longer possible and ordered an emergency evacuation of all governmental personnel to then neutral Cacerta. On 8 June, following the Ruvelkan defeat at the Battle of Hadju-Bihar, Syaran and Allamunnik forces possessed full control of Ruvelka and marked the end of the newborn Principality of Ruvelka, although the Ruvelkan government-in-exile refused to formally surrender. Following the end of the invasion, several resistance organizations were formed which would eventually be unified into what became known as the Földalatti, making extensive use of the unbroken Csúcs codes to forward valuable intelligence to the Common Axis during the remainder of the War.
Prelude
Following their victory in the Divide War in 1918, the Republic of Syara had sought to establish itself as the 'leader' of the nations of Siduri, and had attempted to forge an international alliance known as the Inner Sphere. The stated goal of the Inner Sphere was to protect the sovereignty and dignity of the Siduri nations, especially against perceived imperialist threats, namely the Cacertian Empire. Most Siduri states however did not express much support for the Inner Sphere, with many seeing it as a Syaran effort to replace Cacerta as the primary power in Siduri. The Syaran government did little to mitigate such concerns with outwardly nationalist and bellicose rhetoric, coupled with a major military buildup that saw the Syaran armed forces rapidly expand. By 1932 Syara boasted the largest army in Tyran and the third largest navy after Ossoria and Cacerta, a move which was widely seen as a Syaran effort to become a dominant naval power. The only Siduri country to fall in with Syaran intentions was the Shirvani Dominion, at the time under the control of a fascist regime that shared Syaran ambitions when it come to continental domination. Beginning in the late 1920s both nations began cooperating closely in the realm of geopolitics, economics, and military affairs. Both states, having fought against the Cacertian Empire in the early 20th Century, viewed continued Cacertian influence in Siduri as unnacceptable and sought to counterbalance the Empire.
A frequent target of Syara nationalist rhetoric was Ruvelka. Relations between Ruvelka and Syara had been poor since the foundation of the Republic in 1875. Territorial disputes and border conflicts had largely defined their relationship, not helped by continuous ethnic tensions along the border. Syara tended to view Ruvelka as a perennial source of trouble due to it's numerous internal conflicts during the 19th century, and prior to the outbreak of the Divide War Syara had invaded the disputed territory of Zemplen during the Ruvelkan Civil War. Zovahr had intended for greater involvement, including the destruction of the Ruvelkan Socialist Republic, the Ruvelkan Anarchist Army, and the Insurrectionist Army, the Desopya Campaign permanently ended Syaran intervention in the civil war. In the 1920s relations between the two states continued to remain sour, in large part due to Syaran occupation of Zemplen and continued disputes over the border.
Although Ruvelkan-Cacertian relations were in fact largely cordial, Syaran leadership continued to believe that Ruvelka was in fact a major ally of the Empire based on Cacertian support for the Imperial Separatists during the Civil War. By 1932 Shirvani and Syaran disdain for Ruvelka had grown even further, with Syaran President Sasko Anastasov stating that;
"So long as imperialist powers continue to nestle themselves along our borders...threatening our homes, our families, and our soil, we can never know an easy sleep, nor peace...it remains the duty of all honest peoples to resist against the forces of imperialism and its puppets."
Because of Ruvelka's relative political isolation outside Siduri, both the Shivani Dominion and Syara believed that Ruvelka would be forced to concede to Inner Sphere demands, and international outcry over any conflict with Ruvelka would be limited. Beginning in late 1932 the Supreme Headquarters of the Army of the Syaran Republic began drawing up plans for the invasion of Ruvelka, which would come to be known as Operation Sarissa. The invasion was justified in the Syaran eyes as necessary to procure resources and materials for an expected future conflict with Cacerta, as well as removing a potential imperialist threat on their own borders.
Opposing forces
Syara had a significant advantage in military forces on the eve of the conflict in terms of both numbers and material. The Army of the Syaran Republic fielded an army of over 3 million men in uniform divided into 134 divisions, supported by more than 3,000 tanks, 3,000 aircraft, and more than 12,000 artillery pieces. The Syaran Army Air Corps fielded thousands of modern fighters and medium bombers, while many Syaran tanks such as the Thaumas, Elatus, and Perimedes were largely impervious to most Ruvelkan anti-tank weaponry. Syaran forces were guided by their Measured Battle Doctrine which emphasized large scale offensives supported by overwhelming artillery support. The Syaran Supreme Headquarters was well aware of their advantages in numbers and material and planned to exploit both to the fullest.
On paper Ruvelka fielded a credible military force, capable of mobilizing over 2 million men and women in uniform, in addition to over 1,000 tanks and aircraft, and over 6,000 artillery pieces. Many Ruvelkan officers were veterans of the Civil War and therefore had combat experience. The Civil War however had also damaged much of Ruvelka's industrial base and economy, leaving the country in a state of recovery for much of the 1920s. Ruvelkan arms were largely domestically produced but often underdeveloped; Ruvelka's air force consisted mostly of biplanes with few modern aircraft, it's tanks were either too light and outclassed by Syaran armor, or too heavy and mechanically unreliable. Ruvelkan artillery was focused on easily transportable light mountain howitzers, which lacked the range and firepower of its Syaran counterparts. Motorization of the army was slow going as Ruvelka did not possess a major automotive industry, forcing the military to rely heavily on horses and mules for transportation and supply.
Doctrinal the Ruvelkans had adopted a largely defensive mindset. The Imperial General Staff had planned for the possibility of a Syaran invasion in 1925 and in turn developed a defensive strategy that relied on a system of fortifications throughout western Ruvelka, starting at the border and continuing east all the way to the Kurilla Mountain Range. It was envisioned that Ruvelkan forces would conduct a series of defensive operations around each defensive line, before withdrawing east while bleeding the invaders white. After securing a defensive line centered on the Kurilla Mountains, Ruvelka would build up further reserves behind the protection of the Kurillas, eventually launching a strategic counter-offensive once the invading armies had been depleted enough by attrition.
Shortages of resources however sharply limited the Ruvelkan defensive strategy; by 1934 there existed only three major defensive belts between the border and the Kurillas. The closest one to the border was manned by so called "fortress divisions"; formations that lacked the mobility for maneuver warfare and could only hold static positions. Subsequent defenses were poorly spaced and unable to support one another. Much of the Ruvelkan army lacked experience in phased withdrawals, and on the eve of the invasion Ruvelkan forces lacked heavy weapons including anti-tank guns and mortars.
Shirvani forces contributed to the invasion numbered 1,300,000 men organized into 55 divisions. Shirvani forces were judged by the Syarans to be well led and competently trained but lacked heavy weapons and artillery. Much of this was due to Shirvaniya's smaller industrial base than Syara. Following the invasion, Syaran arms industry would end of providing direct support to the Shirvani armed forces.
Course of the campaign
The Syaran code-name for the invasion was Operation Sarissa and was written and developed during the summer of 1933. The Army of the Syaran Republic began mobilizing along the border during the winter of 1933-34 under the guise of winter training exercises. By March 1934 Syara had positioned nearly 3 million troops along the border supported by thousands of armored vehicles and artillery pieces. Ruvelkan intelligence had deduced Syaran intentions by February but the Ruvelkan government had opted for last minute diplomatic efforts prior to the mobilization of the Imperial Ruvelkan Armed Forces, which began in mid-March. By the first of April Ruvelka fielded some 2 million men and women in uniform, but mobilization was still ongoing by the time of the invasion. Ruvelkan divisions were still in the process of occupying their defenses in western Ruvelka, and deliveries of ammunition, weaponry, and helmets left Ruvelkan forces under-equipped.
Syaran Supreme Headquarters aimed to overwhelm the Ruvelkan defenses along a broad continuous front, threatening all sectors so as to prevent the Ruvelkans from routing reserves and containing breaches in their lines. Syaran doctrine, known as Measured Battle Doctrine, emphasized slow moving offensives characterized by heavy artillery and deep attack columns. Thus Syaran forces avoided traps and rapid reversals at the cost of a slow rate of advance, something the Syarans were willing to accept in exchange for the complete destruction of the enemy. The Syaran Army saw its armor as meant to support its infantry rather than as independent formations as the Cacertian, Acrean, and Æsthurlav theorists believed.
Syaran forces were organized into three army groups, Alpha, Delta, and Kappa. Army Group Alpha led by Field Marshal Kostadin Zhelyaskov was assigned to northern Ruvelka to capture the cities of Kapsovar, Kunhegyes and Sarerejo. Army Group Delta under the command of Jirayr Bedrosian was responsible for the front from Sarerejo to Dunakesi. Army Group Kappa, commanded by Metodij Kuzmanovski, was to capture the cities of Pannonhalma, Alberirsa, and Aszod.
On the morning of 4 April 1934 33 Ruvelkan divisions found themselves facing 65 Syaran divisions along a nearly 1,000 kilometer front. Around 0300 in the morning local time more than 8,000 Syaran guns opened fire and began shelling Ruvelkan fortifications and formations along the border. The bombardment lasted eight hours and by the end of the day the Syarans had fired over 3 million shells. In the Divide War Syaran commanders had learned that prolonged artillery bombardments tended to inform the enemy of where the attack was expected, however since the shelling was conducted along the entire border it proved of little use to the Ruvelkans. Ruvelkan batteries attempted to counter Syaran shelling, but their efforts were drowned out by the much more numerous Syaran cannons. In the skies the Syaran Army Aerial Corps dropped more than 40,000 tons of explosives and bombs on Ruvelkan defenses and structures, targeting Ruvelkan airfields and forward supply depots.
Despite the massive bombardment there was comparatively little direct combat between Syaran and Ruvelkan forces. Syaran forces for the first few days of the invasion limited themselves to small encroachments and raids to seize key border crossings and outposts. Later Syaran advances were hampered by their own bombardment, which had reduced much of the border to cratered wasteland that proved difficult to navigate especially for tanks. Despite such issues the shelling largely accomplished its goals; by 12 April most of the Ruvelkan fortifications along the border had been destroyed and the foremost defensive line had been shattered. In many instances shell shocked Ruvelkan defenders surrendered without firing a shot, too overwhelmed by the psychological impact of the Syaran bombardment to offer any resistance.
By 15 April Syaran forces were beginning to advance across the front, easily overtaking the mostly destroyed Ruvelkan first line of defense, capturing the city of Balatonalmadi. What Ruvelkan formation still manning the front line were destroyed, captured, or forced to retreat. The Syaran advance continued largely unopposed at a steady slow pace until 20 April when Syaran forces began reaching the Dorman Line. Here Ruvelkan troops were better positioned, and with Syaran artillery still on the move the fighting intensified, but Syaran forces had succeeded in capturing Dunakesi, Balatonalmadi, Pannonhalma, Alberirsa, and were surrounding Aszod. By 25 April however Ruvelkan defenses began to crumble under the Syaran onslaught and the Imperial General Staff realized that Ruvelkan fortifications were simply no match Syaran artillery. On the 26th Army Group Alpha breached Ruvelkan defenses around Kaposvar which came under attack from First Army's 3rd Corps. A day later Kunhegyes was attacked by the Second Army. On 28 April the 1st Northern and 4th Reserve Fronts were ordered by the Imperial General Staff to counterattack and relieve the pressure on both cities. The decision to counter attack effectively marked the end of Ruvelkan efforts to rely on a strategy of defensive fortifications and transfer to a more fluid battlefield.
Ruvelkan Counteroffensive
Ruvelkan counter-attacks along the front began on 30 April. The 2nd Central Front and the 5th Reserve Front were ordered to attack the growing salient south of Sagerejo held by Army Group Delta, and further south the 3rd Southern Front and 6th Matra Front tried to relieve the Ruvelkan garrison in Aszod by outflanking the Syaran Eighth Army. Nearly 1.2 million Ruvelkan troops took part in the counter-offensives, made possible by the transfer of hundreds of thousands of reserves from eastern Ruvelka, away from the border with Shirvaniya. Unbeknownst to the Imperial General Staff, this suited Syaran planning just fine.
The Ruvelkan counter-attacks were large in scale but the rapid nature of their undertaking meant that Ruvelkan planners had little time to fully examine intelligence reports or corroborate information regarding Syaran dispositions and strengths. By 30 April the Ruvelkan air force had been effectively destroyed, and therefore aerial reconnasaince was not an option. Ruvelkan forces were still short of heavy weapons and anti-tank guns. Emese Hegedus, Chief of the General Staff, doubted the possibility of a major reversal, but gave the go ahead anyway.
Lt. General Patrik Lengyel, commander of the northern defense of Ruvelka, wanted to conduct a major pince movement on the Second Army which was threatening Kunhegyes and ordered the 13th and 11th Armies to do so while the 14th Army held the Seventh Army in check. The 20th Army was also supposed to attack the southern flank of the First Army which was threatening Kaposvar. Further south the 18th Army would hit the Ninth Army south of Sagerejo. In the center the 21st Army would attack the main line of the Third Army while the 23rd Army exploited the gap between the Third and Fourth Army, while the 25th Army would do the same against the Fourth and Fifth Army while the Fifth Army would be held in place by the 16th Army. In the south, the 19th Army would attempt a flanking maneuver against the Tenth Army while the 30th and 31st Armies would attack the lines of the Eighth Army.
The offensive did not go well from the start. The 20th Army's attack on First Army was immediately blocked by the 4th Corps and routed by a local counterattack of the 5th Corps' 1st Armored Division and 3rd Mechanized Division. The Ruvelkans initially had some success against Second Army, but during the night of 30 April to 1 May the advance of the 13th Army was halted by stiff resistance from the 3rd Sibko Infantry Division. Later on 1 May the 5th Corps of First Army attacked the unprotected northern flank of the 13th Army. The tank heavy corps rapidly overran the 13th Army which was routed within two days of fighting. With the 13th Army taken care of, the Second Army wheeled around to force back the 11th Army's pincer movement, effectively eliminating any remaining resistance between Army Group Alpha and Kunhegyes. The attacks of the 18th and 14th Armies were almost immediately repulsed by the much larger Seventh and Ninth Armies, the latter of whom dispatched the 41st Corps to wipe out the remaining of the 4th Reserve Front aroudn Sagerejo. The city itself fell to the Syarans on 4 May.
In the center of the front things continued to go poorly for the Ruvelkans. The 21st Army's attack against Third Army was repelled by 6th Corps, while the flanking efforts of the 23rd Army were crushed between the 42nd Corps and the 9th Corps of Fourth Army. Attacks by the 25th Army made little progress and the 16th Army by the 8th and 12th Corps of the Fifth Army, which was then able to dispatch the 43rd Corps to attack the rear of the 19th Army, effectively surrounding and annihilating the force by 6 May.
Further south the situation grew only worse. The 30th Army's attack on the Eighth sputtered out almost imemdiately when the commander of the southern forces was killed. Brigadier General Kata Kovács then took command and personally led the 31st Army to attack the southern flank of the Eighth Army and relieve Aszod, but heavy fighting against the 44th and 45th Corps eventually forced the 31st itself to become trapped near Aszod. Kovács retreated to the city (which had been besieged by Syaran forces since 17 April) and informed the Imperial General Staff of the development; General Hegedus then assumed direct command of the southern forces herself. She attempted to reunite with Kovács by launching another local stroke by the 6th Matra Front, but heavy resistance from the 13th and 7th Corps of Eighth Army effecitvely ended further Ruvelkan offensives in the south.
Shirvani Invasion
On 5 May Ruvelka's already poor strategic situation was doomed by the invasion of eastern Ruvelka by more than 1 million Shirvani troops. Having been purposefully kept waiting in order to draw all available Ruvelkan reserves west, the Shirvani invasion caught the Ruvelkans completely offguard. On 6 May an emergency session was held in Debrecen and attended by Chancellor Rebeka Timar, Minister of Defense Rudolf Takacs, General Emese Hegedus, and Royal Princess Rózsá Prohászka. Hegedus confirmed that the strategic situation was hopeless; before Shirvani intervention the Ruvelkan strategy had been to fall back to the Karilla's and mount a defensive line there. There were virtually no forces available to stop the Shirvani invasion. It was decided that the only option was either to surrender, or evacuate the country. Timar was a proponent of surrendering, chiefly because she sought to avoid further damage to Ruvelka. Hegedus urged the Princess and the rest of the government to evacuate to a neutral country, either Cacerta or Acrea and continue to fight in exile. All eventually agreed to evacuate after a positive reception was confirmed in Cacerta. The government officially evacuated on 7 May, first by travelling to Polgardi then taking automobiles to Mateszalka, where they embarked on a privately owned yacht in the early morning of 8 May with what was left of the Ruvelkan Northern Fleet. They narrowly escaped the Syaran navy and reached Cacerta on 15 May.
Following the evacuation of the government and the failure of the Ruvelkan counter-offensives, the Ruvelkan military rapidly collapsed in the face of the combined Syaran-Shirvani offensive. Ruvelkan forces continued to resist in a number of sectors, most noticeably Aszod and in the Karilla Mountains, but coordinated resistance was no longer possible for much of the Ruvelkan army. Polgardi was seized on 14 May, and Kerepes on the 16. Kovács continued to rally what forces she could in the south, refusing to evacuate the city and flee herself. On 20 May Army Group Delta destroyed what was left of the 2nd Central Front, and a day later Syaran troops marched into Debrecen. Spirited resistance continued for another two weeks throughout southern Ruvelka where Fusiliers took advantage of the mountainous terrain to defend Berhida and Puspokladany, but both cities eventually fell to Syaran and Shirvani forces in early June. The final Ruvelkan hold out was Aszod, which was finally forced to submit on 8 June, effectively marking the end of the campaign. Despite the fall of Aszod hundreds of thousands of Ruvelkan soldiers either managed to flee the country and go on to form the Ruvelkan Army-in-Exile, or stayed at home and served as the basis of the Földalatti, the Ruvelkan resistance movement. The Földalatti would be led by Kata Kovács, whom would escape Aszod and go on to elude Syaran forces for the duration of their occupation of Ruvelka.