NationStates Jolt Archive

Wake Island

After the Rosian decline in power, there were massive discussions as to what would happen with the once vast amounts of territory that TIOR once owned. Most of it was quickly gobbled up by various nations, and even more new nations emerged, but one area were left alone. The small island chain called Wake Island.

In reality, Wake Island (http://users.ev1.net/~gpmoran/wake_island_134kb.jpg) was the largest of the three islands that made up what most people considered Wake, with Pearle and Wilkes Islands being the other two. Still, the once mighty Rosian base there were now slowly, but surely decaying. Only a few civilians were there now, most of them fishermen. The Rosians had been careful not to destroy the environment there, something the commander of the Cottish 12th Assault Flotilla was happy to discover. It would make things so much easier for him.

Aboard his flotilla, he didn't carry the usual 12,000 Marines, but rather a small garrison of 1 100 Marines, roughly two battalions, and workers and equipment. Air Force C-17A Globemasters would arrive later with personell to man the combined air and naval base already there. It would naturally be upgraded slightly, and a refuelling station for ships and aircraft would be established there.

As the first Marines landed on Wake Island via CH-53E Sea Stallion heavy transport helicopters, they were greeted by the small community there with arms wide open. They had been left to fend for themselves for a long time, and they were happy to see humans again. The community of roughly two hundred civilians, just over half of them women and children, were located on Wilkes Island, where they had their fishing boats moored inside the lagoon. They rarely ventured to the base, with the exception of the local teens going to the base to party in the weekends. They would have to find themselves somewhere else to party from now on, the Lieutenant Colonel commanding the Marine detachment thought when he got the reports from the platoon that had spearheaded the "occupation". This would be a nice posting.

A hour later, two companies of Marines had been brought ashore via either helicopter or AAVP7A2. Several old Humvees were also being brought ashore using the large LCACs and LCU-2000s that accompanied the flotilla. The Cots had figured that their M2008A1 Dingos were put to better use elsewhere, so the Humvees would be used on Wake. When the Marines were satisfied that the old base was secured, they proceeded to raise the Cottish flag (http://www.bjoanett.no/images/me_al_flagget.jpg) over the island, thus proclaiming that it was in Cottish hands. Now, it was time to start upgrading things.

French Polynesia

The island archipelagios that made up French Polynesia (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/islands_oceans_poles/frenchpolynesia.jpg) consisted of roughly a thousand islands of various sizes, with the largest of them, Tahiti, being the main island and home to the capital city, Papeete. There, the majority of the population were in favor of the transfer of power back to Cotland. They remembered the time that Cotland had been in power and the prosperity and stability they had enjoyed. Right now, they were just waiting for the Cottish marines to land on Tahiti. However, a bit to the northeast of Tahiti, in the Marquis Islands, people weren't so happy. They had all been in favor of the Zeees and hated the Cottish and all that they stood for. One of the people that hated Cotland the most were the Regional Governor of the Marquis Island, Jean-Claude Devereux.

Devereux had already sent out a message to the Cots that he intended to ceede from Polynesia and claimed sovereignty. Needless to say, the Cots denied the claims of independence and dispatched the 5th Assault Flotilla, 3rd Nimitz Battlegroup and elements of the 3rd Submarine Flotilla to the Marquis Islands with orders to return the Marquis Islands under the Cottish flag. All in all, 13 500 Marines, 16 attack helicopters and 134 combat aircraft, along with more than 60 naval vessels were going to get the Marquis Islands back to the Empire.

In the Marquis Islands, or the regional capital of Taioahe to be more exact, Devereux was looking over the numbers for the Liberation Army of the Marquis Islands, or LAMI for short.

He had all in all 35 000 light infantry, equipped with AK-74s and RPG-7s, as well as 154 tanks of the types T-72, T-80 and a few PT-76s. The LAMI also had a few hundred APCs and IFVs, primarily BMP-3s and BTR-80s. On the artillery side, he had 2S7s and 2S9s, roughly 300 of each. AAAs and SAMs were dominated by ZSU-23-4 Shilkas, SA-11 Gadflys and SA-13 Gophers, as well as a few SA-20 Triumph sites.

On the naval side, the opposition would face three Kirovs, a Orel Ul'yanovsk class carrier filled to the ghills with 27 Su-27K Flankers, 10 Su-25 Frogfoots and 15 Ka-27 Helix helicopters, ten Sovremenny and four Udaloy class destroyers, twelve Neustrashimy class frigates and ten Akula-II class submarines.

In the air, he could get fifty Su-27 Flankers, twenty MiG-29 Fulcrums and twelve Su-25 Frogfoots for air combat, as well as thirty Mi-24 Hind and twenty Mi-28 Havoc attack helicopters.

The Cottish military would get a hell of a difficulty taking over the Marquis Islands, and they knew it. That was why the admiral in command of the task force requested additional ships and Marines to help take the islands. While he waited for them, the ships he already had would start a blockade and do its best to decimate the LAMI's naval force. That was up to the seven Virginias and two Hades class submarines he had access to.

OOC: So what do you think? Will the Cottish navy stand a chance to take the Marquis Islands, or will the rebels win? If anyone want to RP the resistance, let me know via TG. Comments and constructive critizism are welcome.

Cot, where's TIOR?

OOC: Huh? What do you mean? He gave me Wake Island in exchange for Monaco for his puppet. Send him a TG or something.

IC: Twenty-four hours after the call for assistance, two full Assault Flotillas carrying two Marine Expeditionary Units, each consisting of 13 500 marines, were off the Marquis Islands, supported by two Nimitz class carriers and nine independent attack submarines, were in the area. Now, it was time to unleash hell on the Marquis Islands, starting with the closest one.

Twenty nautical miles in front of the main task force were five of the nine attack submarines, busy at work looking for the enemy fleet. On one of the subs, a Virginia, the sonar operator detected a strange sound. The sub was operating on a depth of 530 meters, moving forward at ten knots. It was a hole in the water, and armed to the teeth. In her four torpedo tubes, she carried three Mk-48 Mod 7 ADCAPs and one UGM-84G Harpoon, with an additional 15 ADCAPs and five Harpoons, as well as twelve UGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the twelve VLS tubes. Anyway, back to the sonar operator. He had been listening to a sound in the water that he thought sounded suspicious, and now he finally had something clear enough to run through the computer. It came up as a positive contact, having matched the sound of the reactor pump in the contact with the sounds in the memory. It was definately a submerged submarine in the Akula-II class!

"Conn, sonar. Master 4-1 has been confirmed as an enemy Akula-II class submarine, bearing 2-3-2, range seven nautical! Contact is moving left to right with a speed of twelve knots. I don't think he's discovered us sir," the operator said with a calm voice.

"Copy that sonar. Good job," the Captain of the sub said before returning the 1-MC to the cradle and turning to the tracking team. "Get me a firing sollution on that bastard." The weapons crew acknowledged the order and started relaying target information from the sonar array to the three ADCAPs in the tubes. A minute later, the executive officer, who had been in charge of getting a lock on the enemy sub turned to the Captain and gave him the thumbs up. Everything was set. They would attack with one weapon.

"Good. Set it to go silent untill there's a thousand meters left, then let it loose. Coordinate bearings and fire."

Two seconds later, the entire hull shuddered as the submarine launched the ADCAP from torpedo tube number one. Immedaitely after, an enlisted man spoke up.

"Weapon fired electrically sir. Fish running hot, straight and normal. Time to intercept, one minute, twenty-two seconds."

A minute and fifteen seconds later, the guidance wires were cut and the torpedo increased to fourty-five knots and started pinging with active sonar, alerting the Akula for the first time about the enemy presence. It tried a manouver that stood in every submarine captains textbook, fire a torpedo yourself. Then the enemy sub would have to cut its guidance wires and evade the torpedo, lest it was suicidal. However, the Virginia had already cut its wires and it was already deep down, going slowly. The Marquis torpedo had been fired stray, and not even in the general direction of the Virginia. Two seconds after the enemy torpedo had been fired, the ADCAP slammed through the outer pressure hull on the Akula and detonated. The resulting secondary explosions from the torpedo storage, where the ADCAP had hit, caused the hull of the Akula to implode, and everyone aboard were killed instantly. The remnants of the hull sank to the crushing depths of the Pacific, never to be seen again by any human being. Fortunately, the nuclear reactor wasn't damaged too hard, and there were no radiation spill or meltdown. Perhaps it would have to be recovered sometime later. For that purpose, the exact position of the downed submarine was noted in the log of the Virginia. Half an hour later, the torpedo that the late Akula had fired ran out of fuel, and it too sank down to the bottom of the Pacific.

Five more Akulas were sunk that afternoon by Cottish submarines and S-3 Vikings operating off the two carriers. One of the S-3s also spotted what seemed to be a naval formation, something later reconnisance trips made by RA-5Es would confirm. A Kirov, two Sovremennys and two Neustrashimys were out hunting it seemed, thirty nautical miles south of the island of Fatu Hiva, the first target for the Marines.

The decision was made to strike the squadron, and a attack formation which consisted of twenty-five F/A-18 Super Hornets loaded with six AGM-84G Harpoons and two AIM-9X Sidewinders each, ten A-5 Vigilantes armed with six AGM-84G Harpoons internally, as well as an additional four AGM-84G Harpoons and four AIM-9X Sidewinders on the external pylons, as well as ten F-22N Sea Raptors equipped with four AIM-9X Sidewinders, four AIM-120D AMRAAMs and two AIM-54E Pheonix each for escort. Behind them, a single E-2E Advanced Hawkeye AWACS would fly, accompanied by two S-3 Vikings and four F-22N Sea Raptors equipped with the same weaponry as the other F-22Ns. At dusk, the planes took off for the first real air-raid by the Imperial Cottish Navy in ages. The pilots had trained for this throughout their career, but only now did they get to do it for real! At 2140 hours, the planes were flying at 300 feet and Mach 0.8 towards the enemy formation, which was under constant surveilance now via UAVs launched from the carriers and RA-5E Vigilantes that were watching the group from a safe distance. The ETA for the strike group would be in half an hour, upon which the planes would pull up and fire the Harpoons from a safe distance, some 100 kilometers, or 54 nautical miles away from the enemy ships. The primary target was the Kirov, but the destroyers and frigates were also desired targets. Chances were that the 250 Harpoons would sink the five ships. After all, some fifty missiles were aimed at each of the ships!

Half an hour later, the planes climbed to 3 000 feet and got the attention of the radars on the Kirov, which locked its S-300F missiles on the incoming planes. However, it was out of range for the air defense missiles. The Cots, on the other hand, were well within range, and now they took advantage of that to the full. Almost instantly, the planes in the forward section, eight F/A-18s and two A-5Ds fired their Harpoons, some 68 missiles towards the ships before they returned to the low altitude, letting someone else fire their own missiles. This went on untill about two hundred missiles had been fired. By now, the Kirov and its surviving escorts had fired all their defense missiles and virtually depleted their CWIS systems, allowing the final missiles to break through and slam into the hulls. They exploded in turn, and finally the Kirov and its two surviving destroyer escorts went to the bottom of the ocean. However, one of the F/A-18s had strayed too close and been shot down, although the pilot was able to eject. Now he had to wait for the SH-60R Seahawk on the closest ship to come get him. Two F-22s and two F/A-18s which still had Harpoons left circled over the area, making sure that no ship or plane made it through to the pilot.

After an hour in the temperate Pacific Ocean, the strobelights of the Seahawk finally appeared on the horizon, much to the pleasure of the pilot, who was dipping in the water. He had busted his left leg when ejecting, and it really hurt. All he had to do now, was to light off a flare and contact the Seahawk via the emergency radio. As he lighted the flare, he picked up the water-proof radio.

"Seahawk, this is Omnicorn 3-4. Please come in."

He had to try two more times before the blessed voice of the helicopter pilot came through.

"Omnicorn 3-4, this is Seahawk 0-8. Advise position, over."

"Seahawk 0-8, I'm in the friggin' water, and I've got a flare going. Look to your starboard."

"Copy that. Hey, there you are! Ok, just sit tight for a little bit longer, and we'll come over to you."

The Seahawk started flying towards the pilot, but in the same instant, another helicopter appeared on the radar screen.

"Jackhammer 1, this is Seahawk 0-8. I have a unknown contact on my radar scope, approximately 4 nautical miles out and closing on the location of our pilot!"

The F-22 pilot looked down at his own radar, but he didn't see anything else than the Seahawk. He decided to move in closer and check it out, and warned the Seahawk about that. The Cottish helicopter stopped, and a few seconds later, the F-22N Sea Raptor cruised past, flying very low. Only then did the radar pick up the contact. It was a Ka-27 Helix from one of the sunk ships, and it was heading for the downed pilot! Almost without thinking, the pilot selected the 20 mm M61A2 Vulcan cannon mounted in the nose of the aircraft and fired 74 rounds into the helicopter. One or two must have hit the fueltank, because the chopper erupted into flames and crashed down into the water, only ten meters from the pilot, who was starting to get nerves and seriously considering resigning his commission.

After the Helix was shot down, the Seahawk moved towards the pilot again and finally pulled him up from the water. The wreckage of the Helix was left in the water, and the Seahawk headed back to the carrier with escort from the fighters. Now that the naval force that was protecting the Marquis Islands southern flank had been destroyed, it was time to start landing Marines!

OoC: Comments, anyone?

The island of Fatu Hiva was a relatively large island, although its size was only about 150 km². Still, it and its two towns (Hanavave on the northwestern side and Omoa on the southwestern side of the island) was a site for a LAMI base with three hundred men and an airbase. That was enough for the Cots to decide that the island would be the first one to be taken.

http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/fr_polynesia/about_destin/fatuhi93.jpg
Fatu Hiva island

The terrain of Fatu Hiva consists of jungle, jungle and then some more jungle, as well as narrow ravines, deep gorges and luxuriant valleys, with only two settlements. The village of Hanavave on the northwestern side of the island, which had two hundred and fifty inhabitants and a garrison of 70 soldiers, and the village of Omoa, which was located on the southwestern side of the island had some four hundred hundred inhabitants and a garrison of 110.

The airbase was located on the northern coast, near Point Tevaii, and contained ten Su-27 Flankers, three Mi-28 Havocs and a garrison of 120 soldiers. The satellite intel also said that there were a few small patrol boats at the area, most likely equipped with 12,7 mm machine guns.

****************

The Cottish warships creeped in under the cover of darkness, getting into position for shelling. The Marines would be landing on the western side, two kilometers south of Omoa. A single Brigades (2 400 Marines), an Artillery Battalion and a recon company would be landed while the ships offshore would provide support and air defense.

At 0450 hours, the Marines started embarking their landing crafts and helicopters, while the massive 16-inch main batteries of the Ragnarok class battleship that accompanied the Assault Flotilla prepared to unleash hell. The cannons wouldn't be fired untill the break of day, which was to occur at 0528. Then, the cannons of the Ragnarok and the four Kubler class cruisers, which were armed with 8-inch cannons, were to be fired on the landing beaches, clearing them for the Marines. At the same time, four Harriers from the Wasp class LHD would bomb the runway at Point Tevaii, preventing the Flankers stationed there from taking off. By the time the LAMI would get a chance to repair the runways, the F-29B Vultures from the Ynoga class escort aircraft carrier that accompanied the group would be ready to shoot the enemy planes down.

At 0528.01, the receeding darkness was shaken away from the orange flash as twelve 16-inch barrels fired at once, sending twelve projectiles filled with high-explosives down on the beach two kilometers south of Omoa. There were a small minefield, which was quickly detonated by the tons of explosives that detonated there.

At the same time, the AAV7A1s, LCU-2000s, LCACs and HLCACs transporting Marines, vehicles and cannons departed from their homes, the four San Antonio class LPH, the Wasp class LHD, the three Wilson class LHPs and the four Winters class LPDs. CH-53E Sea Stallions and UH-95 Huey IIs were in the air as well, escorted by AH-1W Super Cobras and AV-8B Harrier IIs. The helicopters were carrying the recon company and a few hundred Marines.

As the first LCU-2000 hit the ramp, the Marines inside rushed out and up towards the treeline, AG3A1s at the ready. The fifty Marines of the first one was joined by the AAV7A1s and the LAV-300s shorty thereafter. There were no resistance.

****************

Colonel Pierre was shooken out of bed by the explosions a few kilometers away. He was fifty-seven years old, and in charge of the garrison in Omoa. The old man cared for his wine and good food, and it showed on his belly, so it was with some difficulty he managed to get his elaborate uniform jacket on and out to the street. There, an old Land Rover came eventually, driven by a sixteen year old boy with a oversized uniform on. The LAMI consisted of all able men above the age of fifteen. Men. The Colonel laughed at the thought. The pimple-faced kids thinking they were men. Most of them had never fired a weapon before, none of them knew anything about military strategy or tactics, but here they were, going to defend their island against the invaders.

As the Colonel finally managed to get to the command center at Town Hall, he found some of the elder officers busy at work, waking up soldiers and getting a defense up. Then there came reports that the airfield had been bombed, and unconfirmed reports of soldiers landing on the beach just south of Omoa! 'Marines! It has to be Marines.' the Colonel thought. The Cottish Marines were well trained, professional soldiers with advanced equipment and training. The small garrison of Fatu Hiva was no match to them!

With a heavy heart, he checked his inventory.

LAMI
Inventory - Fatu Hiva

AK-74 assault rifles: 280
RPD light machine guns: 18
PKS heavy machine guns: 9
RPG-7s: 59 launchers, 240 grenades
Mi-28 attack helicopters: 3
Su-27 jet fighters: 10
Jeeps w/ machine guns: 28

It wasn't even close to being enough to defend the island. It wasn't even enough to defend the villages. Not one! He would have to consider a surrender, although that would only be a last resort. After all, he was French!

****************

Back at the landing site, the first battalion of Marines were ashore now, moving through the shrub and jungle on their way to Omoa. It was hoped that if they captured Omoa, the remaining enemies would have to surrender. There weren't so many enemies here, but none of the Marines wanted to die at this place, so they went about carefully.

That was when the first enemy was spotted. A short fellow, running away from the Marines. He was identified as a combatant because he carried a AK-74, and thus free game. The Marines were under orders to shoot anyone who might pose a threat against them, and a person with a weapon was considered a threat. That was why the squad that saw him hit the deck and started to shoot! 6.8 x 43 mm projectiles flew through the area, ripping into the old trees and the body of the enemy. He fell with a high-pitched shreek, something that caused the Marines to be distressed. They weren't supposed to fight kids! You could say a lot about the Cots, but they didn't support children soldiers, nor fighting them! The person responsible would have a lot to answer about when they caught him! So would the parents of the kid soldiers!

The bad feelings among the Marines were confirmed when they got to the killed enemy. It was a boy, no more than fifteen years old. A AK-74 lay a meter away from where the body lay, never having been fired. Nor would it. The Marines checked the area for more enemies before calling over the officers. The news of the kid soldiers employed went up the chain of command quickly, and before long, the head of the battalion, a Major was in the area.

The Major was a veteran of many of the conflicts the Cottish Marines had been involved in for the past ten years, but he had never fought an enemy so ruthless that they used kid soldiers before. This was bad. The PR officer, a Lieutenant from the Navy was also there with the Major. He was to cover the campaign from the Marines point of view, and this would be the first images he would send home to Cotland, and eventually to the world. They would show why the Cots fought. It was a tragic moment, but it was also worth its weight in gold. It was the perfect justification Cotland needed to continue the campaign and stomp out the rebels! He filmed as the Corpsmen from the Navy carefully lifted the body of the dead boy into a bodybag and carried it back to the beach, where it would be brought aboard one of the warships for later identification and burial. It showed that the Cots cared about the dead enemies. It was worth gold!


Two hours later - 8 AM

The Marines were now standing only four hundred meters from Omoa, and now they were just observing the enemy movements. The recon squad saw five Land Rovers, two jeeps fitted with PKS machine guns and twenty soldiers in what appeared to be defensive positions. They weren't even close to perfect. Sure, they worked if the attackers came from head on, but all it would take was to flank and shoot them in their sides. Or just lob a grenade over. Nothing more. They were virtually asking to get slaughtered!

Virtually on the beaches, a battery of M777 155 mm howitzers had been set up, supplied with ammo and prepared for action. Now they were just waiting for orders. They would come pretty quickly.

By now, a battalion had been set up around Omoa, and they were ready to fire. The orders were to avoid firing at the schools, the old church and the civilians, but other than that, it was free game. A captain requested a pamphlet shell be fired. That shell contained a hundred pamphlets instead of the normal explosives, and was intended to weaken enemy morale and encourage surrender. The pamphlets read as follows.

To the defenders of Fatu Hiva!


You are surrounded by Cottish Marines.
There is no escape. Your leaders have
deceaved you. They cannot be trusted.
They do not care about you.

Surrender, and you will be treated well.
Continue fighting, and you will die.
We do not wish to kill you, but we will
if we are forced to.

Surrender now!

The pamphlets were spread, and sure enough. Morale sank down to the bottom. The pamphlets didn't only prove that there were Cottish Marines on the island, but also that they were well capable of striking the defenders down with artillery and probably also soldiers. A minute after the pamphlets were dispersed, the first one threw away his weapon and ran into the jungle with his hands up. Inside there, he quickly stumbled upon the Cottish Marines, who took him as a POW, searched him for intel and sent him behind the lines for interrogation.

Encouraged by the example of the first one, more defected before the officers could do anything. However, as the first ten people were shot by their own officers, the defections stopped. That was when the leader of the battalion decided that it was time to start the attack.

The jungle virtually exploded as five hundred and ninety rifles and light machine guns started opening fire on the village of Omoa, completely destroying any fighting spirit left in the defenders. Some tried to surrender, but it was too late. They had had their chance, and now they would have to pay for the error of not surrendering! The Marines rushed the village, shooting down anything that carried a weapon and checking every house. All men were rounded up, and the military leaders were gathered, among them Colonel Pierre. They were quickly seperated, checked, zip-tied and blindfolded before the Marines lead the officers away.

The twenty-nine surviving defenders were placed at the town square on their knees with their hands on their heads, guarded by armed Marines. Their fate had not yet been decided. Anyway, it was a broken force, and a substantial amount of weaponry and ammunition had been confiscated, and the machine guns and RPG-7s were used to bolster the defenses the Cots established to the north. The island was far from taken over yet, but it would be soon.