Part 3: Munzo's War of Independence (Opening Acts)
In the middle of broad daylight, Galladian forces sounded their war trumpets and marched across the border into Munzo. The Gendarme defending defending the northern villages were annihilated, the villages they were defending razed to the ground. This seemingly minor skirmish would come to be known as the Opening Act, though this is an unofficial title.
Due to Munzo's infrastructure not being fully completed by the time of the invasion, the movement of troops were a nightmare. The nearest city in the area was the city of Ariash where one of the government owned military academies were located. The defenders, mostly made up of Gendarme and Trainees from said military academy, erected a hastily constructed defense, mostly involving digging trenches. The city was armed with French 75mm Field Guns, German 105mm Howitzers, as well as various outdated artillery and a number of 40mm Pom-pom anti-aircraft guns. The Trainees and Regulars were armed with the Gewehr 85 6-shot Mauser rifle (an indigenous rifle) while the Gendarme were equipped with the old muskets.
The opposing Imperial-Galladian forces were armed with the traditional spears and swords as well as captured firearms and artillery, albeit all were outdated. However, they heavily outnumbered the Rebels.
At around 0500 hours, Rebel forces spotted what seemed to be torches in the distance. A flare illuminated the battlefield, revealing Imperial positions. The Rebel artillery opened fire on the Imperial forces, destroying more than 30% of the frontline force. The remaining men regrouped and began marching on the city, only to be met by artillery, machine gun, rifle, and musket fire. Those that were not torn apart were forced to retreat.
As both sides licked their wounds (there were no combat related casualties on the rebel side), Munzo's Second Special Forces Unit, a specialized unit made up entirely of Imperial Japanese Remnants, began to carpet bomb the remaining Imperial forces using G8N1 Renzan heavy bombers. Though wyverns used by the Imperial forces attempted to intercept them, they were shot down by Japanese A6M Zero fighter aircraft.
In total, over 100,000 Imperial troops and 235,098 Galladian troops were killed or captured. In contrast, only 5 soldiers and 4 civilians were treated for non-life threatening injuries (getting burnt by hot shell casings, exploding gun barrels, etc.)
During this battle, the trainees and Gendarmerie troops were folded into the 74th Infantry Battalion and were pressed into official active service.
Meanwhile on the Western Front, Rebel forces were engaged with Slavasi forces. Unlike Gallada, Slavasi had decided to modernize and by the time war had broken out, they had been reequipped with falling-block breech loading rifles. However, there were not enough to go around, so muskets were used as well.
Though Slavasi forces had steamrolled the Gendarmerie at first, they began to have trouble when they encountered Regulars. Rebel forces had a massive firepower advantage compared to the Slavasi forces. On top of this, the Slavasi commanders had little will to fight this war in the first place.
Because of this fact, the local government secretly sent an ambassador to the Munzo Capital, Pallada, to negotiate a peace treaty and support in an upcoming revolution of their own. During this time, no major battles were fought as both sides dug in and did sporadic artillery duels at each other in order to keep up the facade that they were at war.
With the opening act concluded, Munzo was finally able to bring their full strength, and propaganda trump card, to the fight. On 17 August 687, the Federal Republic of Munzo declared its independence from the Empire. The war for independence had begun.
Author's notes: And thus another act closes on the History of the Dreisland Federation. This is Karl the Arty. Thank you for reading this chapter. On a side note, I am planning on turning this into a youtube "documentary" series. If in favor, say "Sieg Freiheit!" in the review box. Thanks again for reading.
Next up: A Special Episode on the Province of Slavasi