NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: I decided that I want to invade Tunisia. If anyone claims this, feel free to post here. Unless you are some sort of large colonial power. I am looking to fight native Tunisians, whereever you are. This is simply because I wish to gain a foothold in North Africa, and Tunisia happens to be close. Enjoy!

Valletta, Malta - Home of the Knights of St John Hospitaller

With much secrecy, the whole of the VII Marine Expeditionary Force, some 60,000 men (includes logistic troops), plus air and naval assets, set sail. The Mediterrean was relatively calm, making for easy, fast and effieceint sailing. Simulateanously, the 9th Fleet passed by the island Mallorca. All had one singular objective: Tunisisia.

Mediterrean Sea

The two armadas met off the coast of Pantelleria, a small island near Tunisia.

"How are we looking, skipper?" asked XO of the naval assets, Capt. Doug Lewis. "The sailing is good but we are gonna have hell on those beaches," replied CO of the operations naval side, Rear Admiral Paulus "Rolf" Rollegetz. Looking out at the sea from the flagship, the SJHS St. Athanasius, he could see the beginning of the Tunisian coast. Lord help those poor Tunisian bastards, he thought quietly.

[OOC: You might want to tell us which Earth this is on, so we know whether or not to get involved.]

OOC: I guess it would be Earth I, or whatever the default one is. I have not yet gotten involved in Earth II, III, IV and so on.

OOC : I guess I am goin ghave to wait before I take any ground because there is as of yet no one to shoot at. Deals can be made, alliances built if you so wish.

OOC: If its Earth one then its Chellis territorry.

If it's Earth I it's already taken, and you'll be destroyed.

"Sir, some Dumpsterdam ships are nearing the strait of gibraltar..." Said an ensign on the bridge of the CHN Sapphire. "We have been asked to send some V-21's to perform interdiction.

"Good deal." Said the captain. The Chellian territories this side of the world had been in a buzz of action since Chellis had closed off the strait of gibraltar to the RWC, as well as a few other individual nations. The V-21's were sent off, but it was probably more of a misunderstanding than anything than anything. They were probably just merchant ships, which would be let through.

Morale was low for the chellian army. They had been mobilized for a while now, expecting a war in europe. African force numbers had been lowered, though not much. If really needed, more could be shipped to france over the med.

Tunisia only had about 800,000 men in it, its main defense being the close air support from north africa and france, and the quick response forces in Algeria. A number of Medium ranged ballistic and cruise missiles had been installed in tunisia, to provide strike ability into anywhere in the mediterranean that threatened chellian superiority in it. A few airfields in northern tunisia were active, but the section of chellian control was the least defended, least prepared. Who would attack tunisia, anyways?

"Sir, our intelligence indicates that Chellis' strength is some 800,000 men. They lack morale and we will have tactical surprise but we will be completely outnumbered, " stated Intelligence Colonel Shea O' Reilly to his commander, Gen. John Schroeder. The General, who would be in charge of the whole operation, replied, "Don't worry, I just got off the phone with the Grandmaster. We now also have command of the V Corps, giving us about 110,000 more men, and another seven divisions." "We still are short." "But three of the seven divisions are airborne, plus one light infantry. If you add in all the force multipliers we have on our side it should come out about even." The Generel said, matter of factly. "I hope you're right," O' Reilly said quietly. "

OOC: I am going to be busy over the next few days, so don't destroy me yet.

((On Earth 3 Risban owns it))

"Corrupt pigs!"

An RPG fired from the darkness of a building, slamming into a moving Chellian technical. An Indigo IFV flipped on its thermal detection, as it scanned the building the rocket game from. Two rounds fired out of the 76mm gun, their fast velocity ripping through the brick wall and collapsing the roof into it.

Two Tunisian-chellians ran across the street with Aks-74u's. The insurgents provided excellent tactics, surprising for people of their background. The two gave covering fire as four more ran across. Chellian forces opened up on them with machine-guns, but fired in vain.

The chellians were heading to the Bizerte port, where insurgents were storming chellian naval vessels and trying to take them over. It was only a few kilometers away, but that didn't stop it from taking the Quick-response forces 2 hours to move one kilometer already.

The worst part was, many of the chellians were Tunisian-chellians who had signed up with the chellian military for local service. All Chellian soldiers had to ride vehicles, to shorten friendly-fire incidents.

Overhead, H-1 helicopters did a fly-by, firing 7.62mm machineguns and 69mm rockets on a suspected weapons cache. A local Caesar also unloaded a few rounds into the building, after satelites got a dot on the building.

Most insurgents had been wiped out as soon as tunisia was taken. The government had been bribed, and as soon as they had agreed to ally with the chellians, assassinated and replaced. It had worked well enough to convince most tunisians, though there was a christian sect in the country, mostly foreigners, who refused to give up religion for the chellian way.

They weren't a big deal, the chellians knew how to handle these types of things. There was a reason each chellian infantry squad carried two RPO-A's each.

With all the pieces on the board set, the game was about to begin. The 9th Fleet launched the first air sortie at 0500 hours. Its target was the Chellian air bases and radaar/AA sites. Complete surprise was expected.

From Valletta, a formal declaration of war was issued, signed by the Grandmaster. Citing Human Rights violations for the reasoning behind the declarition.

(OOC: Sorry not very good post but pressed for time.)

As the Hospitaller ships launched, the chellian air defense network sprung into action. Radar, and then cell-phone radiation detection picked up the launching of aircraft from the ships.

Data began moving at incredible speeds, from the detection computers, to analysis centers and air defense stations. The long range SAM's began acquiring targets, all in a matter of minutes.

The planes weren't authorized. Chellian airspace was closed, and the planes were headed toward tunisia. However, the analysis centers decided to wait until they fired.

And they did. As soon as a Hospitaller ship began launching a missile, the SAM's opened up. There weren't too many in range, as most were on standby. The strait being closed still had tensions high. About 1 sam a plane was fired, though at the ranges some were fired, accuracy wasn't planned to be high. Six quick response Rafale's began to be launched, with two Exocet's and 8 Mica's each. Damage was expected to be high on this initial attack, but the Chellians were ready for invasions.

Mobile AA guns began activating in Tunisia. Planes began readying, while officials were moved to bunkers. Word of the declaration of war hadn't reached these men yet, but they knew when to defend.

Messages were sent to nearby naval forces. The Gibraltar strait was to be closed to Hospitaller ships, while the chellian navy was to block off the Hospitaller one, not allowing them to retreat. 5 inch guns, 155mm guns, missiles, and other surface to surface weapons were readied. The chellian main ports had been recently disrupted though, so not many could be prepared.

About five chellian divisions could defend the north of tunisia. Two were armoured, and three were light infantry. An Airborne division was also ready for drops. They needed to make the best of the little resources they had, but they had not many.

An AWACs also launched from a Tunisian airfield, ready to find targets for SAMs and aircraft. Two I-4's had been launched with eight Aim-152's each, they were to accompany the AWACs and fire on any enemy aircraft they could.

In theory, this quick defense would work perfectly. In theory, communism worked, so few trusted in it quite much.

Surprise was mixed, but the plan set into action anyhow. Fighters were sent to intercept any opposing aircraft, while sqaudrons of both F117's and F-111's bombed both military bases and areas around proposed landing sites for both the marines and Paratroopers. The last of the Marines loaded into their landing craft and the Parartoopers began to roll their chutes.

(OOC: Again bad post in a rush.)

Surprise was mixed, but the plan set into action anyhow. Fighters were sent to intercept any opposing aircraft, while sqaudrons of both F117's and F-111's bombed both military bases and areas around proposed landing sites for both the marines and Paratroopers. The last of the Marines loaded into their landing craft and the Parartoopers began to roll their chutes.

(OOC: Again bad post in a rush.)

OOC: Where are you launching F-111's and F-117's from? Just wondering, I thought you only had a naval presence in the mediterranean.

IC: As the F-111's and F-117's crossed into the radiation detection radius, AWACS and satelites worked in quick combination to detect what and where they were. The Chellian S-400's were modified with the idea that many foes used stealth aircraft, and chellis was prepared for such a thing.

Satelite's kept a 2d location on the enemies, while the radiation gave an altitude for the craft. Missiles were launched at short and long range, and flak cannons opened fire, though at high range it wasn't very effective.

Bombings from the enemy aircraft were fairly percise, and caused signifigant damage on coastal defenses. Mobile sam's fired on the aircraft as they came to fire their weapons, but the damage was done before the missiles hit, if and when they did.

As enemy fighters made it to the skies, Chellian aircraft were also making it up for sorties quicker. Rafales and I-4's reached the skies, while AWACs and other detection forms allowed for long-range strikes. I-4's launched their extremely long range Aim-152's before they entered threat regions, while Rafale's used their low RCS, AWACS support, and armaments of Mica's and Meteors to get the jump on the enemy. However, only small numbers could make it up, and no helicopters or CAS aircraft were ready, so the troops would have no support during the initial landings.

Chellian troops were waiting in towns mostly, or heavily protected military bases. They didn't want to risk defending a beach and being bombed, so they would rather counter-attack the beaches when the time came, as well as be ready for any possible paratroopers.

The Tunisian authorities in some cities were given the green light to open weapons vaults, for militia defense. Most militia guns were kept in homes, but heavier ones like machine guns and Anti-tank weapons were kept in vaults, to be returned in any condition after fighting was over. Tunisia wasn't big on defense of the mother country though, as they weren't a part of historic chellis. The roughly 30% chellian population in the nation, however, were likely to fight in large numbers.

OOC: I am based in Malta, so the bombers should be in range.

IC: The airstrike had done job, but it came with 10% losses. The Navy, meanwhile began to pound targets with both naval artillery and a few local airstrikes. The coastal defenses should give way.
Combat Air Patrols were constant. The fleet would not allow any aircraft into its "bubble" of airspace unchallenged.
The Paratroopers in Valletta prepared for the night drop. As soon as the weather was clear enough, they, and the Marines, would begin on the long road to Tunis.

Tunisian Coast, Near Carthage
0300 Hours Local Time

The small boat moved quickly and silently on the cloudy, moonless night. The dozen men on board had just completed a boat drop and were going to land under the cover of an air raid beginning... NOW, thought the leader of the group as he heard the muffled roar of the Navy fighter bombers.
He was a captain in the Army and was leading the most elite soldiers in the whole of the Knights Armed Forces. Their mission was two fold: scout and prepare the landing sites for both the paratroopers and the Marines and then find and organize what resistance there may be inside of Tunisia.
They and the few other teams like theirs had alot of work to do.

I own it on Earth II!

And on Earth II it's New Carthage, not Tunisia, mmmkay?

Secret Radio transmission from Hannibal team

Defenses around target are formidable, yet damaged from sorties. Safe for landing, RPT safe for landing.

end transmission

" I think that we should launch now, during the new moon," stated General Schroeder. " Colonel O' Reilly agreed. " We should stage the main landings around old Carthage and then land the paras about ten to fifteen miles ahead of them." " Do it. A-sap."

0400, Mediterrean Sea

The landing ships launched in total darkness. The Large C-130J's in complete secrecy. No air cover was to be given accept for the CAP, which was extended to the beachheads. The bombers would launch later, to maintain complete surprise.
Shortly, the Paratroopers would land, as would the Marines. Surprise was to be total.

(OOC: I am using a map off MSN encarta for placenames. Check there if confused.)

0500, D-day,Tunisia, Near Halq al Wadi

The doors on the C-130J opened and the paratroopers of the 18th Airborne jumped into the cool air. Beneath them, they could see the lights of the fleet and then the ground, rushing towards them. The whole division landed safely, because the majority of AA guns had been taken care of, and the jamming efforts of the EC-130H Compass Call along for the ride. Most landed without difficulty, altough there were a few sprains reported.
The Paratroopers then began to take vital bridges, roads and installations in an effort to prepare the beach head for the main amphibous invasion.

Along with the 18th, the 10th airborne dropped near Qamart and the 11th airborne dropped daringly near Aryanah. The 11th reported one downed C-130, but only after it had dropped its men.

Although these drops were very successful, all knew much blood would be spilled tonight and by morning.

http://encarta.msn.com/map_701517221/Tunisia.html

http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=190

(OOC: I am using a map off MSN encarta for placenames. Check there if confused.)

0500, D-day,Tunisia, Near Halq al Wadi

The doors on the C-130J opened and the paratroopers of the 18th Airborne jumped into the cool air. Beneath them, they could see the lights of the fleet and then the ground, rushing towards them. The whole division landed safely, because the majority of AA guns had been taken care of, and the jamming efforts of the EC-130H Compass Call along for the ride. Most landed without difficulty, altough there were a few sprains reported.
The Paratroopers then began to take vital bridges, roads and installations in an effort to prepare the beach head for the main amphibous invasion.

Along with the 18th, the 10th airborne dropped near Qamart and the 11th airborne dropped daringly near Aryanah. The 11th reported one downed C-130, but only after it had dropped its men.

Although these drops were very successful, all knew much blood would be spilled tonight and by morning.

http://encarta.msn.com/map_701517221/Tunisia.html

http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=190

As the paratrooper's began to land, Information began to spread through the wires under the tunisian soil. What remained of AA defenses opened up on the planes, though it wasn't doing much damage. Most missile's concentrated on the EC-130.

Tiger's began taking off from their bases, 12 had been near the landing zone. They carried 69mm rockets on all four points. They were to arrive about 20 minutes after 12 V-121's dropped Napalm and HE bombs on the enemy.

This was the favorite time for the chellians. They weren't great at sea, and weren't the best in the air, though they did well. However, they had artillery hidden all over the place. From 69mm mortars, to 155mm Caesars, Guns opened up from Tunisia and around.

The armoured division around Tunis came north to hit where the paratroopers were landing by Aryanah. Air raids were starting to be made from Bizerte and Tunis, using high-explosive weaponry. Caesars began getting in place, using cargo weaponry to fire at any sighting of more than two enemy soldiers. Chellis didn't use its huge budget to equip more men; It used it for more ordinance and more expensive equipment.

The divisions near Qamart were to be closed off by police and militia units. Qamart was given the go-ahead to kill enemy soldiers, and especially to block off roads. What they didn't know was, if these enemies tried to take the town, it would be destroyed by all the artillery and bombers chellis could muster in the area. It would be the same deal for any town except Bizerte and Tunis.

The chellian army was told it would be able to use any amount of force anywhere but the two main cities. Every chellian squad carried an RPO-A or two for a reason.

Jason Kramer, Minskia's King was eager for his nation's first war. So he sent diplomats to Chellis to talk about Minskia helping to drive back the invaders from Tunisia. (not that Chellis needs help) Minskia is willing to send the 1st, 3rd and 7th infintry divisions,(about 550,000 men) the 10th airbourne division(about 3,000 men) and the 78th tank division(about 600 tanks and 621 men) to help with the cause. Also Minskia will send 600 fighter plains and 50 bombers.

Hope you will let us help

The Kingdom of Minskia

Jason Kramer, Minskia's King was eager for his nation's first war. So he sent diplomats to Chellis to talk about Minskia helping to drive back the invaders from Tunisia. (not that Chellis needs help) Minskia is willing to send the 1st, 3rd and 7th infintry divisions,(about 550,000 men) the 10th airbourne division(about 3,000 men) and the 78th tank division(about 600 tanks and 621 men) to help with the cause. Also Minskia will send 600 fighter plains and 50 bombers.

Hope you will let us help

The Kingdom of Minskia

We graciously decline. The 132-odd million chellian army is plenty to accept with these invaders.

OOC:Really, I could obliterate his forces if needed. Im keeping the numbers small for better RP.

We graciously decline. The 132-odd million chellian army is plenty to accept with these invaders.

OOC:Really, I could obliterate his forces if needed. Im keeping the numbers small for better RP.

OOC: Thank you very much for that.

IC:

D-Day

The Paratroopers were taking heavy casualties, but had accomplished their mission of drawing out enemy forces. F-14's, F/A-18's, and JSF's all were scrambled to maintain control of Tunisian airspace. Meanwhile, naval artillery was pinpointing enemy strongpoints on both the beachheads and the airheads (OOC: Yes, that is what its called.)
The landing force shoved off at 0600. It was expected to land at 0630 with heavy casualties, but they would be allowed as much air support as possible, including AH-1W Cobras.

OOC: Sorry, I've noticed all my posts are pretty much the same day, but a landing like this would take place within a few hours. This is supposed to be a bit like D-day, 1944 in the timing.

OOC: Thank you very much for that.

IC:

D-Day

The Paratroopers were taking heavy casualties, but had accomplished their mission of drawing out enemy forces. F-14's, F/A-18's, and JSF's all were scrambled to maintain control of Tunisian airspace. Meanwhile, naval artillery was pinpointing enemy strongpoints on both the beachheads and the airheads (OOC: Yes, that is what its called.)
The landing force shoved off at 0600. It was expected to land at 0630 with heavy casualties, but they would be allowed as much air support as possible, including AH-1W Cobras.

OOC: Sorry, I've noticed all my posts are pretty much the same day, but a landing like this would take place within a few hours. This is supposed to be a bit like D-day, 1944 in the timing.

As reports of the first sea landings came in, soldiers began getting out of civilian buildings they had commandeered for the time being. Not many had done this, but small numbers had to be prepared on this day.

Soldiers took of camoflague on the beach-heads. Some of the hidden bunkers and guns had been destroyed by enemy special operations, but many were still intact. The landing ships were seen, and coordinates were found with the satelites.

D-day, 1944 had been an amazing landing. Wrong information, surprise, bad choices, great bombings, all helped the allies land. But this was 2005.

While many eastern artillery pieces were concentrating on the paratroopers, western ones were free to attack. Many Caesar's, and Auf-1L's were in range of the beach landings. While MM.40 Exocet's and 155mm coastal batteries were firing at the larger ships(Which were assumed to be carrying vehicles), The mobile artillery were using mostly White Phosphorus shells, to illuminate the enemy positions(hitting the beaches), cargo munitions for landed infantry or ones in open-topped ships, and HE shells for everything else.

Mobile divisions were moving toward the beaches, but they wouldn't be able to get there too soon. Within minutes, satelite's determined where the most likely thrusts were going to come from. Available soldiers were being moved to create defensive lines to block the thrusts, as chellian tactics thrived in open, defensive warfare.

I-4's were launching in full up-and-down missions, launching only to fire Aim-152's with AWACs targetting, then descending. Rafale's were the ones up getting dirty, using meteor's and mica's for air combat, and Exocet's for any naval ships that got to close to the shore's.

There were small numbers of Mistrail scattered around the cities. The military stole many out of militia vaults, not expecting their own AA defenses to go out so quick. No big emphasis in the military was for personal AA weapons, but they had sufficient numbers to deal with helicopters...hopefully. Leclercs and Indigo's would probably play a role in destroying helicopters as well.

Soldiers were trying to surround beach-heads, using their superior ranged weapons(ATGM's, 7.62N/8.89x63mm battle rifles, artillery in large numbers) to hold the enemy back, but they weren't well prepared, and morale was low. Many soldiers hadn't trained very well with the newer 7.62x51mm P-14a2's, though it was just a recalibrated version of the old battle rifle.

Fighting on the beaches was very light, other than artillery bombardment. The main fighting would be afterward, in the plains and desert, and in the mountains, where the chellians could use defense to their great advantage.

Bombardment by artillery and aircraft on the landing ships was heavy. Using the latest in target acquistion software, naval artillery were doing thier best to neutralize as many batteries as possible. Elswhere on the beachhead, marines had gained an are of about one square mile, which was mostly a strip along the shore. Squadrons of AH-1 Whiskey Cobras were flying continously against the Chellian soldiers, breaking up numerous companies, but with losses that were sobering.
The airborne divisions had begun to set up small airstrips, so that supplies could be flown in. Also they began to make small unit and company raids on supplies beig sent to the beachhead. Although hit hard, Airbone Knights train to work as small units cut off all the way to platoon level. That they were still organized as battalions and divisiopns, although with heavy casualties, was a huge advantage.
special forces teams that had infiltrated the country earlier were begining to paint the airfields surrounding the beachhead for fighter attacks and also made strikes at military infrastructure where possible.
By now, the Grandmaster had seen that the fight would be long just to make it to Tunis, but, hopefully, with that in his hands he could begin to sue for peace.

"This sstalemate is ending," declared Gen. Scroeder. "Deploy the 3rd Marine Armored Division. They have enough room assemble and to push to Tunis. Once they hit Tunis, the Mechanized divisions will land and clear Tunis and as much area as possible before Chellis is forced to come to the table."
"Done," replied his XO.

With as much speed as possible, the 3rd Marine Armored division was moved towards Tunisia.

All personel was flown into the country, since air dominance was acquired for the area around the beachead. Some equipment was also flown in, like personal weapons and equipment, but the divisions vehicles would be moved in on Ro-Ros in convoys of up to twenty vessels. Division operations will commence in 72 hours.

(OOC: Still following, Chellis?)

OOC: Seeing as there is a general lack of interest in this thread, would Chellis wish to stop with this thread altogether?