Battle For Malden
CONTENT COPYRIGHT (EXCEPTING COPYRIGHTS FROM FLASHPOINT UNIVERSE)
SPINECHICKEN, © 2003
(USES ELEMENTS FROM "OPERATION FLASHPOINT" GAME UNIVERSE)
2nd April-25th November 1974
1.The Build Up To Battle
By Jack Kingsbridge, Military Historian and Writer.
PART ONE: A BRIEF HISTORY
The large island of Malden lies between Russia and Denmark in the North Sea. It is 120 sqkm big, characterised by high valleys and forests, and has long and empty winding roads, several small villages and one medium sized port as well as a decent town. It has a population of just over 10,000, and a booming tourist industry thanks to it's war memorials and brilliant climate (the Northern Beaches are among the best in Europe), and the biggest airport in the region. Currently, it is governed by the Malden Islands Coalition, revived in 1990, with the central government miles away on the bigger island of Nogova. Off its expansive coasts is a small islet ("Blake Island"), where there is an active American military base, holding a full-time garrison of 100 men from the 29th Infantry Division. This is an indication of the dark past that lies beneath Malden's beautiful countryside.
In the 1400s, the French, sailing around the Danish coast, discovered two large, uninhabited islands, that they called "Les Isles de Malden" after the man who discovered them, Eric Malden. They quickly set about colonising them, filling the islands and beginning farming on the strangely fertile fields. The other island, Everon was also colonised. What the French failed to notice were two other islands, close to the Russian mainland. The Russians discovered these in the 1700s and also colonised them, being much bigger than Everon or Malden, and with more fertile land, as well as the capacity for coal mining. They were called Kolgujev and Nogova, after the Russian sailors who found them.
In World War 2, the islands were invaded by the Nazis and seized from them. The local populaces began to rebel against the Nazis, fighting a fierce guerrilla war, the fiercest on Malden in its' deep valleys. When the Nazis left in 1944, the islanders called for an end to colonial rule and the setting up of a republic. In 1946, the Malden Isles Coalition was born, government offices on each islands' capital, and a large defence force shared between the three islands (the main bases on Everon and Kolgujev) called the Malden Islands Defence Force- help being supplied by the Americans in the form of equipment and training, o prevent the growth of communism that was spreading like a cancer across Europe. In spite of the threat of Russia off their shores the President of 1947, Jean-Luc Malden (descendent of Eric) stated, "peace would rule our pleasant isles"
However, since World War 2, there have been two battles for Malden (and indeed, the other islands). The first, and most famous, was the American- Russian fighting that lasted for a month in 1985, codenamed "Operation Flashpoint" and was one of the most intense campaigns of recent years, with nearly 30,000 casualties.
However, 16 years earlier there was another Battle for Malden. It barely reached the television screens of the world, regarded as an internal conflict (though film shot by local television stations is now being gathered together for a large history documentary) but was incredibly fierce, and the last battle where there was little reliance on modern technology.
PART TWO: The Spark
In 1970, the island of Kolgujev broke away from the Malden Islands coalition to form a communist state. The Malden Islands Defence Force presence on that island was overthrown and replaced by committed members of the rebels, who renamed themselves the Kolgujev Army, and a whole division from the Russian Army (as the coup had been supported by the Soviet Union) The newly elected leader of the Kolgujev Union, Spetzy Walckowcz, declared that "The Isles Of Malden would soon be sleeping under a red star"
The MIDF increased it's request for arms and support from the US, and training teams and advisers were sent to Everon and Nogova along with thousands of weapons and vehicles. The Americans wasted no time in pulling out their force on the islet off Malden (now called "Blake Island", after Colonel Peter Blake, who commanded "Operation Flashpoint" in the 80s), leaving only their advisers and weapons behind. The Advisers left in mid- March, letting the "Maldenese deal with their own affairs"
The stage was set for a battle. Both sides knew it was inevitable, the only question was when.
PART THREE: The Battle Begins
The "when" was 1st April 1974, when the Kolgujevians landed on the Northern Beaches. At 2300 hours two regiments of parachutists landed at the Malden airfield and quickly seized it, allowing the tank regiments to be flown in. The rest of the forces landed on the Northern beaches, and rolled through the weak opposition. The MIDF was caught unaware by this strike, and by the time the armoured support from Everon was on its way, the Kolgujev army had taken La Trinite, capital of Malden. Fighting a rearguard action, the MIDF forces on Malden pulled back onto Everon, and the island was seized on April 15th.
No time was wasted in planning for a quick invasion of the island. General David Bradley of the US Army stayed as an adviser to the MIDF's Supreme Commander, General Albert Roetin. The plan to recapture the island was an audacious one, landing nearly 2000 men on the Southern beaches and capturing several towns in a matter of hours, with the use of paratroops. It took Bradley and Roetin only a few days to formulate the plan, but longer to assemble trained troops. The majority that comprised the MIDF were inexperienced privates, and certainly were not ready for the horrors that lay ahead. Regardless, Bradley and Roetin set the date for invasion on the morning of the 20th May.
Prior to this, at 1900 hours on the 19th May, 200 men from the 2nd Parachute Battalion were dropped over the towns of Chapoi and Sainte Marie. Chapoi was capably taken by the 501st Regt of the paratroops, who held it for four hours against a stream of KGA counter attacks. However, the troops intended for Sainte Marie missed it, as their UH60 drop chopper was hit by ground fire, and crashed just outside Arudy, in the centre of Malden. Dazed and lost in the morning fog, the survivors stumbled toward the town and managed to surprise the small garrison there. However, within an hour the Russians had sent a tank battalion into the town and killed every single paratrooper, barely minutes before a rescue chopper arrived.
Despite these setbacks, the 4th MIDF infantry hit the beaches at La Riviere, Chapoi and Le Port at 0500 and took the towns with ease. The KGA/Russian forces were reinforcing the centre and north of the island, expecting an assault from the east or west, not from the South. The 4th held the towns and soon thousands of reinforcements poured into the temporary base camps. Tanks from the 12th Mechanized Division pushed the Allied frontline to just past Sainte Mairie (it later turned out the town had been abandoned for a week, so the paratroopers would have been safe had they landed there) and the Allies held about 100 km inland, waiting for the next command.
By 25th of November, the MIDF soldiers had entered Lolisse, the northernmost village of Malden, and watched the enemy ships return to Kolgujev from the Northern beach. There was still much to be done however, nearly 10,000 bodies to be buried, and much rebuilding work to be done. Less than 5 years later, the fragile Malden islands peace frazzled away as the newly elected President Roetin was overthrown, and the islands of Nogova, Everon and Malden became separate entities. However, the Americans kept (and still keep) a garrison on the small island just off Malden, in case of another invasion, which is exactly what they got in 1985.
-J. Kingsbridge
(SOURCES: "Malden: The Forgotten War" by Viktor Troska, 1977; "My Life As A Soldier" Captain Yuri Speltyn, ex-Russian Infantry, 2001; "Malden Isles: A History Of Pain" David Armstrong 1992)
CONTENT COPYRIGHT (EXCEPTING COPYRIGHTS FROM FLASHPOINT UNIVERSE)
SPINECHICKEN, © 2003
(USES ELEMENTS FROM "OPERATION FLASHPOINT" GAME UNIVERSE)
2nd April-25th November 1974
1.The Build Up To Battle
By Jack Kingsbridge, Military Historian and Writer.
PART ONE: A BRIEF HISTORY
The large island of Malden lies between Russia and Denmark in the North Sea. It is 120 sqkm big, characterised by high valleys and forests, and has long and empty winding roads, several small villages and one medium sized port as well as a decent town. It has a population of just over 10,000, and a booming tourist industry thanks to it's war memorials and brilliant climate (the Northern Beaches are among the best in Europe), and the biggest airport in the region. Currently, it is governed by the Malden Islands Coalition, revived in 1990, with the central government miles away on the bigger island of Nogova. Off its expansive coasts is a small islet ("Blake Island"), where there is an active American military base, holding a full-time garrison of 100 men from the 29th Infantry Division. This is an indication of the dark past that lies beneath Malden's beautiful countryside.
In the 1400s, the French, sailing around the Danish coast, discovered two large, uninhabited islands, that they called "Les Isles de Malden" after the man who discovered them, Eric Malden. They quickly set about colonising them, filling the islands and beginning farming on the strangely fertile fields. The other island, Everon was also colonised. What the French failed to notice were two other islands, close to the Russian mainland. The Russians discovered these in the 1700s and also colonised them, being much bigger than Everon or Malden, and with more fertile land, as well as the capacity for coal mining. They were called Kolgujev and Nogova, after the Russian sailors who found them.
In World War 2, the islands were invaded by the Nazis and seized from them. The local populaces began to rebel against the Nazis, fighting a fierce guerrilla war, the fiercest on Malden in its' deep valleys. When the Nazis left in 1944, the islanders called for an end to colonial rule and the setting up of a republic. In 1946, the Malden Isles Coalition was born, government offices on each islands' capital, and a large defence force shared between the three islands (the main bases on Everon and Kolgujev) called the Malden Islands Defence Force- help being supplied by the Americans in the form of equipment and training, o prevent the growth of communism that was spreading like a cancer across Europe. In spite of the threat of Russia off their shores the President of 1947, Jean-Luc Malden (descendent of Eric) stated, "peace would rule our pleasant isles"
However, since World War 2, there have been two battles for Malden (and indeed, the other islands). The first, and most famous, was the American- Russian fighting that lasted for a month in 1985, codenamed "Operation Flashpoint" and was one of the most intense campaigns of recent years, with nearly 30,000 casualties.
However, 16 years earlier there was another Battle for Malden. It barely reached the television screens of the world, regarded as an internal conflict (though film shot by local television stations is now being gathered together for a large history documentary) but was incredibly fierce, and the last battle where there was little reliance on modern technology.
PART TWO: The Spark
In 1970, the island of Kolgujev broke away from the Malden Islands coalition to form a communist state. The Malden Islands Defence Force presence on that island was overthrown and replaced by committed members of the rebels, who renamed themselves the Kolgujev Army, and a whole division from the Russian Army (as the coup had been supported by the Soviet Union) The newly elected leader of the Kolgujev Union, Spetzy Walckowcz, declared that "The Isles Of Malden would soon be sleeping under a red star"
The MIDF increased it's request for arms and support from the US, and training teams and advisers were sent to Everon and Nogova along with thousands of weapons and vehicles. The Americans wasted no time in pulling out their force on the islet off Malden (now called "Blake Island", after Colonel Peter Blake, who commanded "Operation Flashpoint" in the 80s), leaving only their advisers and weapons behind. The Advisers left in mid- March, letting the "Maldenese deal with their own affairs"
The stage was set for a battle. Both sides knew it was inevitable, the only question was when.
PART THREE: The Battle Begins
The "when" was 1st April 1974, when the Kolgujevians landed on the Northern Beaches. At 2300 hours two regiments of parachutists landed at the Malden airfield and quickly seized it, allowing the tank regiments to be flown in. The rest of the forces landed on the Northern beaches, and rolled through the weak opposition. The MIDF was caught unaware by this strike, and by the time the armoured support from Everon was on its way, the Kolgujev army had taken La Trinite, capital of Malden. Fighting a rearguard action, the MIDF forces on Malden pulled back onto Everon, and the island was seized on April 15th.
No time was wasted in planning for a quick invasion of the island. General David Bradley of the US Army stayed as an adviser to the MIDF's Supreme Commander, General Albert Roetin. The plan to recapture the island was an audacious one, landing nearly 2000 men on the Southern beaches and capturing several towns in a matter of hours, with the use of paratroops. It took Bradley and Roetin only a few days to formulate the plan, but longer to assemble trained troops. The majority that comprised the MIDF were inexperienced privates, and certainly were not ready for the horrors that lay ahead. Regardless, Bradley and Roetin set the date for invasion on the morning of the 20th May.
Prior to this, at 1900 hours on the 19th May, 200 men from the 2nd Parachute Battalion were dropped over the towns of Chapoi and Sainte Marie. Chapoi was capably taken by the 501st Regt of the paratroops, who held it for four hours against a stream of KGA counter attacks. However, the troops intended for Sainte Marie missed it, as their UH60 drop chopper was hit by ground fire, and crashed just outside Arudy, in the centre of Malden. Dazed and lost in the morning fog, the survivors stumbled toward the town and managed to surprise the small garrison there. However, within an hour the Russians had sent a tank battalion into the town and killed every single paratrooper, barely minutes before a rescue chopper arrived.
Despite these setbacks, the 4th MIDF infantry hit the beaches at La Riviere, Chapoi and Le Port at 0500 and took the towns with ease. The KGA/Russian forces were reinforcing the centre and north of the island, expecting an assault from the east or west, not from the South. The 4th held the towns and soon thousands of reinforcements poured into the temporary base camps. Tanks from the 12th Mechanized Division pushed the Allied frontline to just past Sainte Mairie (it later turned out the town had been abandoned for a week, so the paratroopers would have been safe had they landed there) and the Allies held about 100 km inland, waiting for the next command.
By 25th of November, the MIDF soldiers had entered Lolisse, the northernmost village of Malden, and watched the enemy ships return to Kolgujev from the Northern beach. There was still much to be done however, nearly 10,000 bodies to be buried, and much rebuilding work to be done. Less than 5 years later, the fragile Malden islands peace frazzled away as the newly elected President Roetin was overthrown, and the islands of Nogova, Everon and Malden became separate entities. However, the Americans kept (and still keep) a garrison on the small island just off Malden, in case of another invasion, which is exactly what they got in 1985.
-J. Kingsbridge
(SOURCES: "Malden: The Forgotten War" by Viktor Troska, 1977; "My Life As A Soldier" Captain Yuri Speltyn, ex-Russian Infantry, 2001; "Malden Isles: A History Of Pain" David Armstrong 1992)