Chapter 13: Operation Hightide (Wave upon Blood Stained Sands)
Present Day, Military Base 'Schwarze Ritter', exact location unknown, Atlas
Jaune was in his office, waiting for two things. First, a holographic conversation with General Ironwood to discuss the progress of the evacuation operations and to receive his first orders, as his small force was ready for a small deployment, to test their training and equipment (thankfully the first batch of light vehicles had arrived), with the second being getting Lisa ready to go into the field with the troops to do some field reporting. Last thing he needed (or wanted) was getting Lisa killed because she didn't know the limits of her freedom during the operation.
He heard the door to his office opened and saw to his surprise both Lisa and unexpectedly Winter. He hadn't expected to see the specialist, as she had been busy with something that the general needed. What, he wasn't sure, but if he had to guess, it may have something to do with his mission.
"Ms. Lavender, Specialist Schnee, take a seat," Jaune said. He waited for them to take a seat before speaking further. "While I know why Ms. Lavender is here, what is the nature of your appearance Specialist Schnee?"
"I was sent by the General to provide a more detail regarding your mission," Winter stated. "There are some details that he felt shouldn't be discussed over open airways."
Jaune frowned; that didn't bode well. He knew that communication technology in Remnant wasn't as great as that on Earth, mainly due to lacking the means to launch satellites into orbit, but the means of encrypting communications was pathetic. There wasn't a means as of yet to prevent someone from hacking into the signals and effectively listen in to a conversation.
And worse yet, what could be so damaging as to require a face to face meeting? He really, really hoped that it wasn't some bigoted requirement that the Atlesian council was demanding.
But before Jaune could enquire about the nature of said details, the holographic display came to life, showing General Ironwood.
"Colonel Maximillian, good to see you," the general said. "I hope that your preparations are coming along smoothly."
"They are," Jaune replied. "While my force maybe small at the moment, 300 if you recall, they have become well versed with operating their weapons and the officers leading them have shown their tactical leadership in exercises. How they'll preform under combat is another issue, but it's one that has been alleviated as best as one can prepare for with veteran NCOs from the Atlesian military."
"That's good to hear," Ironwood stated. "Because I have a mission for you Colonel."
An image popped into view. From what Jaune could tell, it was a mountainous region just north of Mistral. He could make out a long winding railway that traversed throughout the mountains. In addition, he saw a dossier of a black hair woman with red eyes and a cargo manifest of a train with a lot of it blacked out. This didn't bode well for Jaune.
"While the media has been busy with the situation in Vacou, it's not the only hotspot in the world," James said, beginning the briefing. "For the last three months, Mistral has had a major problem with bandits raiding military grade supplies throughout this stretch. They have tried handling it themselves, but the Huntsmen teams they sent have arrive far too late to do much of anything."
"The reason would be the bandit's leader, a former huntress named Raven Branwen. She left to return to her bandit tribe a few years back, mainly raiding small towns or caravans. But recently, they decided to go for larger hauls, to the point that most of the small towns and villages far from the capital of Haven are running low of much needed supplies, things like guns, ammo, medical supplies, hell even food. Mistral decided to reach out to Atlas due to our long running cooperation, and while I couldn't send the main Atlesian army on a small Bandit raid during the fighting in Vacou, I could send you and your formation in."
"The mission is simple; escort the train through the mountains and through the five major rail hub points on the way to Haven, stopping any raids that may occur. If Raven shows up, consider it a high priority that you capture Raven. While I would approve of simply…eliminating this bandit, it would cause some grief for me as unfortunately, Ozpin had a vested interest in her, and may want her in exchange for a favor. Ozpin is too well versed in politics to simply deal without something he might want. In any case, I have Specialist Schnee there to explain the mission in more detail."
"Understood General," Jaune said. "Before you go, might I inquire the local Grimm activity in the area."
"Yes, they are generally low at this time of year, what with the mountain passes having winds in excess of 45 miles per hour and being near 0 degrees Fahrenheit. You shouldn't encounter Grimm until around the 4th rail hub, where the climate begins to normalize and the terrain is less mountainous. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will be off to see the final steps of the evacuation."
"Very well General, I shall take care of the mission with great care." Jaune watched the hologram shut off, before turning to Winter. "Alright Winter, what is on that train that the General would not leaked out?"
Winter sighed.
"I am going to assume you don't know the upper kingdom politics all that well," Winter muttered, although not out of annoyance but out of resignation. "To begin with the Vacuo Civil war going on, the Kingdoms are already at each other throats. The Remnants of Vacuo government and the kingdom of Vale are not too enthused by what they perceive as Atlas's reluctance to go to war."
Jaune recalled the brief moment that the various councilors were bickering amongst themselves over what to do with the crisis in Vacuo.
"I take it that something between Atlas and Mistral is going to raise hell with Vale and the Vacuo loyalists?" Jaune asked. Winter nodded, and Jaune could see that Lisa was shaking her head.
"On that train is not merely supplies for the cities and communities en-route to the capital, but a massive shipment of weapons and armor to Mistral's military, with resources necessary to rebuild Mistral's military infrastructure."
"Wait, doesn't that break the Vytal Treaty from the Great War?" Lisa asked. Jaune sighed; the past treaties that his father once harped on for hours was now coming to bite him in the ass.
"It does, but with the VNA Uprising in Vacuo taking out all but a few pockets of loyalist forces still within the kingdom's borders, Atlas's and Mistral's councilors decided to go ahead with a rearmament program to increase the kingdoms' chances against a possible VNA incursion," Winter explained. "Jaune, in addition, on that train are manifests that Mistral will use to form the basis of their military, based on the training your unit is undergoing. The reason being that the training program you have is better than anyone else's except for the specialized training of the huntsmen academies."
"I see," Jaune said. "But won't Vale be doing the same thing as Mistral and Atlas?" Before Winter could speak, Lisa spoke.
"Unlikely, if my few remaining contacts in the media circles are correct. Apparently, Vale's government still sent death notifications to the families of the service men and women involved in Operation Sandstorm, and people began talking over forums to deal with their grief, only to realize the sheer magnitude of losses," Lisa said. "I already heard that there are talks of the people protesting the Kingdom for the failure of the operation and for all the losses that have occurred."
"So, pulling you from the front to silence your voice did little to stop the public outcry?" Jaune mused.
"It delayed and probably downplayed it," Lisa countered. "And anyway, the kingdom of Vale is trying to maintain the amount of negativity so that the huntsmen aren't overwhelmed with Grimm besieging settlements, cities, and the capital. At least that is the reason given."
Jaune sighed; he was never one for political, something he shared with the man he would come to call his father. Wolfgang had always butted heads with German, and then ECA, high command over how to run his unit. This bled into Jaune when he was training, although for Jaune, he was kept from dealing with political elements by being under his father.
"Alright, so when does this train leave the station, and what kind of defenses does this train have naturally?" Jaune inquired. Winter brought up a holographic display of the train.
"The Train is set to leave in a week's time. It is made up of the engine at the front, with 2 passenger cars, 5 cargo cars, and 4 security cars. The security cars separate the engine, the cargo, and the passenger cars, and are armed on the top with a 15mm rotary gun designed to take out Grimm like Nevermore and Lancers. They are reinforced with an inch and a half of steel, with firing ports for those inside to fire out of. In addition, we have a complement of a dozen knights in each car for a total of 48 knights."
Jaune sighed; he really did understate how terrible the AK-100, as testing against his men revealed that they had really terrible tracking and took far too long to recognize a threat that most of the time, his men could take them out before the knights could even fire. He wanted them gone and replaced with something, but unfortunately for him, the ECA had next to no drones outside of the unmanned helicopters that patrolled their HQs; for drone warfare there was the US who had drones that could damn nearly do everything for any occasion and that was about it.
But back to the train, he wondered how to better protect the train. He looked at the gun turrets, and noticed that despite the caliber, they were massive.
"Winter, you said those guns on top were 15mm, right? If that's the case, why are their turrets so big?"
Winter shrugged.
"When the time came to give the trains some form of aerial protection, a large emphasis was placed on protection. Those turrets have around 50mm of armor, more than enough to stop a Nevermore's feather from piercing it, but it came at the cost of traverse speed and room for a intricate targeting system, and instead relies on a gunner to aim the target on point through a monitor."
Jaune thought to the Gepard SPAAG. That thing would be infinitely more useful with its dual 35mm autocannons that could use the AHEAD cluster rounds to rip anything that flew to shreds. Plus, it could also have a cupola mounted MG-3 MMG to suppress another target. But it wouldn't be ready in time; he would have to rethink of a means to defend the train.
Looking at the train cars, he realized that, besides the security cars, there was no protection on top. He nodded, a plan coming quickly to him.
"Winter, we need to establish some defenses on the roofs of every train car," Jaune said, drawing up a quick idea on some paper to illustrate his idea. "First, we'll line the perimeter of each roof with sandbags. Then, we'll post a squad of my men on the tops of them, giving them a wide range of weapons to handle any threat they may come, except for the mortars, as they aren't useful at close range. I want mainly the Panzerfaust and the Starstreak missile launchers in a protected pit in the center that they can reach should any Grimm that they can't kill with their rifles shows up."
"The rear car I want a reinforced section on the roofs back that we can mount one of the auto-grenade launchers to give a bit more of a punch against anything that might follow us. This allows us to put more men into defending the train than otherwise would be possible, although I would like some men inside the passenger cars dressed like a civilian to give them some protection in case Raven's bandits get in there are try to do anything unsavory to them."
Winter nodded in agreement.
"Yes, I see the point and I'll contact the general to see if we have any anyone who can act like a Marshall to keep the civilians safe," Winter said. She looked over at Lisa, who had been quietly writing down some note. "Ms. Lavender, what exactly are you doing?"
The news reporter looked up at the specialist for a moment before realizing what she was doing and why Winter would be questioning her.
"Oh, I was taking notes as I could assume that this would be a good opportunity to get Jaune's unit good PR and start building his reputation amongst the civilians masses," Lisa explained. "But I wonder how I could show his unit's ability to conduct this mission without being in the way."
In reality, Lisa was terrified of being on a train that was highly likely to be raided. She was a news anchor most of the time, and the closest thing to danger she had to deal with was reporting a White Fang protest that turned into a Riot…from behind the line of Riot Officers, armored trucks with water cannons, and a barrier. She wouldn't know how she fare being so close to real danger, but she supposed there was a first for everything; even if she rather not be in danger.
"Yes, well I suppose you could be in the foremost passenger car, as the supplies that Raven would be seeking to raid are in the back," Jaune said. "That said, is there anything preventing Raven's bandits from forcing the train to come to a halt?"
"There is a possibility she could build an obstruction along the train tracks, but it's standard protocol to send an Arrowhead ahead of the train by about 30 minutes to scout ahead for anything that could impede the train's travel," Winter said. Jaune frowned.
"Is that common knowledge to, say, a huntsmen?" Jaune asked.
"Yes, although why-" Winter stopped as she realized why Jaune was asking. "She probably knows of that then."
"Exactly, which is why I want three bullheads to cover each section of the train's journey, arrange to have a time of 30 minutes, 20 minutes, and 7 minutes," Jaune said. "I'd rather not deal with bandits trying to harm people to get ahold of weapons. So the less time they have to ambush us, the better."
"Alright, I understand is there-" Winter didn't get to finish, as the hologram came to life, with a worried James appearing before them.
"Jaune, Winter, you need to see this!" James practically shouted, bringing up a video on the hologram to show those in the room. The all but one in the room was prepared for what they were about to see.
Landing Site Alpha, Tank Platoon Leader Abraham Dust of the GLA
Abraham Dust sat in his position of his Maruader, waiting for the go order to finally crush the pathetic attempts of Vale to assert their control once more over Vacuo. His Dust Riders were eagerly awaiting for the order to roll over the lines, and finish off what remained of the Valean Army. No more would the GLA sit idly by, slowly bleeding them of their men and war materials, now was the time to crush them in a battle so decisive that generations yet unborn in Vale would weep for the dead.
"This is Insurrection leader, Operation Mourning Tide is a go. It's time to end this battle! All forces, commence operations!" Abraham smiled.
"This is Dust Rider lead, all dust Riders, follow me in; we are going to show those imperialist dogs the meaning of war!" Abraham communicated through the radio.
The Marauder lurched forward as the driver put it into high gear, and Abraham could hear the roar of the engines of his unit's and other's Scorpion and Marauder tanks as they turned on. Over it, he heard the screaming wails as rockets from Rocket Buggies and BM-21 Grads flew from their launchers, heading towards the landing sites. He popped open the hatch and looked, and saw soldiers carrying Ak-47s, RPGs, submachine guns, old bolt action rifles, and Molotov cocktails rushing alongside the columns of tanks, all looking forward to cleansing the beaches of Vale's army. There was to be no prisoners taken on this day, for today, their glorious leader decreed would be a day of mourning for Vale.
As they crested the hill overlooking the Valean army defenses, Abraham could see Valean soldiers scrambling for their petty trenches and pillboxes. But today, it would not help them, as Qahira Zaima decided to allow the use of the entire GLA arsenal to crush these pests.
"Dust Rider lead, this is the leader of the Order of Matyrs, we are going to breach the lines with our trucks, please wait before following in. However, can you suppress the bunkers?"
"Yes Matyr Leader, we give your men covering fire," Abraham confirmed, getting back in the turret as the fighting was beginning with small arms fire exchange between both sides.
"Gunner, aimed for the closest bunker!" Abraham shouted over the noise of the engine. "Loader, load the HE and prepare to load nothing but the HE!"
"Yes sir!" both men said, and Qahira could hear the firing of the Scorpion tank's small cannons firing, along with the addition of the chemical-infused missiles going into the trenches. The Valean army wasn't prepared for chemical warfare, and it showed as they used primitive measures to offer a modicum of protection from the gases entering the trenches.
The tank rocked as the massive 130mm cannon fired, sending an HE shell just short of the bunker. Abraham clicked his tongue in annoyance; his gunner should've made that shot land, what with the experience they have gained by now.
"Gunner, adjust you aim by-" He was interrupted when an explosion next to his tank rocked the Marauder. Looking through the commander's externally mounted camera's, Abraham saw to his anger one of his Dust Riders' Scorpion tanks having been exploded, most likely by a Valean Soldier that managed to get his hands on an RPG and getting a lucky shot.
"Damn Valean scum!" Abraham roared before turning to his radio.
"This is Dust Rider lead to all Dust Riders; one of our own has been killed by the Valean! Show them no mercy and load the chemical shells!" He heard a series of affirmation, usually proceeded by a cry for the deaths of the Valean scum that dared to bring Vale's imperialism upon their land. Abraham turned his attention to his gunner.
"Adjust aim by 5 degrees up, 2 to the left."
"Yes sir." Abraham watched with steel eyes as the shell landed not on the bunker by through one of the fire ports, resulting in a massive explosion as the shell set off what ammunition the Valean defenders had inside, before a blue gas seeped out of the destroyed bunkers. Before he could enjoy the destruction, his crew had created the radio squawked to life once more.
"Dust rider Lead, are those bunkers mostly pinned?"
"One moment Martyr leader," Abraham replied. He looked through the external camera, switching to a touchy thermal setting, and could see that the Valean defenders were pinned down inside their bunkers, between the small arms fire, the fusillade of cannons bearing down on them, and the clouds of toxic gases. "Martyr leader, the bunkers are confirmed pinned, you may proceed with your attack."
"Roger that Dust Rider Lead, the Order shall destroy those vestiges of an old era!"
Abraham looked around the battlefield, confident that his gunner and loader could continue to do their mission without too much of his input. He soon saw the massive reinforced chassis of the bomb trucks that the Order had put in for this attack. He said a silent prayer to those that would make the ultimate sacrifice, for what else could he do for them?
He didn't know all that much about the Order to be frank, but what he did know was that they were made up of those pour souls that had nothing left by the Liberation to devout their lives to. Most were from far flung villages and towns that had been abandoned by the older Vacuo government and left to the machinations of bandits and the savagery of the Grimm, or they were souls too far from recovery due to being worked to near death in the mines. They had no family to return to, no will to live a bleak filled life, and no greater purpose; until Qahira Zaima gave them one. They were the perfect Martyrs, willing to do anything to ensure a better future for the Liberation.
What he did know was that the bomb trucks were basically dump trucks given a reinforced chassis, run-flat tires, and loaded with several tons of High explosives or chemicals, which could easily level a city block and leave the area contaminated. Because of this, he knew those bunkers, hastily made out of earth and un-reinforced concrete, stood no chance.
The Order's trucks roared towards the bunkers, with some Valean soldiers trying but ineffectually suppressing them. Then, as the trucks crashed into the bunkers, they exploded in a cacophony of high explosive death. The shockwaves reached the GLA lines, and the Marauder tank shook while the nearby GLA infantry went to ground to avoid serious injury. Abraham looked and saw through the smoke debris the signs of the blue gas seeping throughout the entire Valean Trench Network.
Knowing now was the moment to finish the fight, Abarham got on the radio.
"This is Dust leader to all nearby GLA forces, lets drive them to their graves!"
As one, the GLA forces began the final dash. Marauders and Scorpion tanks charged without care, firing their cannons, missiles, machine guns, and rockets at the remaining but not yet dead Valean soldiers. GLA infantry went into the trenches and began clearing them with Kalashnikovs, Molotov's, shotguns, blades, and whatever else they had.
It was at that point not a battle but an execution. The remaining Valean soldiers still on the beaches had all but given up, their spirit and resolve sapped from the unrelenting battle they've faced. Some just stood up, allowing themselves to be gunned down. Others, dazed from the bomb trucks explosions, were unresponsive to the world around them, not bothering to use their only protection against the gas that was choking them life out of them. But a few were making a futile but desperate last stand.
Abraham wasn't concern about the forces on the shores anymore. No, he was concerned about the retreating vessels that were getting away. He was about to order his tanks to take positions and fire upon them when the radio squawked to life.
"To all GLA forces, once you finish cleaning the beaches of the Valean dogs, take up positions to prevent a second landing; our air force will destroy their ships as a final farewell to these foreign oppressors."
Abraham popped out of his hatch, and saw to the distant various GLA aircraft coming to finish this fight. He wondered how they would fare, as the ships of Valea, while unable to provide artillery support to their grounds forces, were capable of defending themselves from aerial Grimm.
15,000 feet above Landing site Alpha, Flight Lead of the 3rd Strike Wing 'Grun Teufel' Otto Taifun
"This is Commodore Hawk to all GLA flights participating in Operation Hammer fall, listen up."
Inside the cockpit of his Stuka bomber, Otto 'the Terror' Taifun listened to the orders given to him by their leader Commodore Hawk.
"The 1st Intercept Wing is to clear the skies of any bullheads and arrowheads, allowing the 2nd strike wing to eliminate the retreating landing craft. The 3rd strike wing meanwhile will continue onto the larger vessels, prioritizing the Valean landing craft, what they call a destroyer, and the support ships. The eyes of the world are upon you; make the world fear the GLA so they dare not land upon our shores ever again."
A feral grin came upon Otto's face as he heard the orders and began making his way to the largest ship he could see; he hated Vale and its people far more than most.
He had been a citizen of that fucking kingdom, until his village was overran by Grimm when he was ten and in desperation, the survivors of the village made their way to the capital. Along the way, they had been beset by the Grimm, losing survivors here and there, along with bandits seizing upon their weakened selves to take what they wanted. By the time they arrived at the gates of the capital, there was only twenty out of the initial fifty-five survivors, but what happened? Instead of helping with compassion and giving them a no lease on life, the damned council decided to bar them entry into the city!
They were forced to make a long trek through forest, mountains, deserts and plains, picking up fellow survivors of Grimm raids, losing even more, trying to make their way into Vacuo, where they hoped to have a new life. But by the time they arrived, they was only three survivors; a retired huntsmen who was badly injured from the long trek, a nurse who was almost broken by the sheer amount of death, and a vengeful Otto, who vowed to make all of Vale pay. They were let into the city, but Otto soon realized that Vale, along with Atlas, dominated the kingdom, forcing Vacuo to barely scrape by on its own.
He tried to raise a nationalist revolt, but the people of Vacuo were to oppressed, thinking that any revolt would be violently suppressed by Atlas. He was forced into hiding when the Vacuo government, with some money passing hands from Atlas, began to hunt him down. He took the only asset he could get, a bullhead, and began trying to inflict damage upon Vale's influence. But then the GLA and its leader Qahira Zaima came and offered him a place within its fledging air force.
He quickly made his name, becoming known as the 'Terror' as he would use his aircraft to constantly harass enemies on the ground, even well after he should've left. This caused him to get the eye of Qahira himself, and he was offered the position of the 3rd Strike Wing leader, along with a new aircraft, one that fit his personality.
He began looking at the monitor, waiting for his position to be lined up with the vessel he was after. It was a basic ground-tracking radar, designed to aid the pilot in lining up a bombing run or rocket attack, but the pilots of the 3rd strike wing used them to gauge when to begin their dive. Tt was crucial they time it right; dive too early and they would miss short, dive too late and their bombs would drop past the target. If they tried to correct, they risked losing control and slamming into the ground, or this case the ocean.
He waited until the last moment, where his display signaled his aircraft almost on top of the vessel's bow, before he began his dive. Rolling his aircraft into an 80-degree dive and turning on the siren, Otto felt the airbrakes extend automatically to control his airspeed to a max of 350 mph. He watched his altimeter as it began to descend; 14,000, 12000, 10,000, 8,000, 6,000, 4,000, 3,000, while he ignored the incoming machine gun fire from the vessel and the siren unleashed its ear-piercing wail. Checking quickly and grinning when his sights lined up on the vessel perfectly, he waited until he was at 2,100 feet.
He quickly pressed the bomb release button, dropping his desired and modified two 500-kilogram bombs, the bomb clutch throwing the bombs away from the propeller and forcing the aircraft to level off. His vision blurred at the intense G-forces, almost causing him to black out. Seconds later, he heard his bombs crash through the deck of the ship and feeling a massive shockwave pass by his plane was his bombs exploded in the fuel department.
Otto turned his plane back to the ship, before seeing a second explosion rip the ship in two. His plane shuddered at this second explosion, and Otto grinned as the sea became enflamed from the fuel that was now burning. He saw other vessels facing similar fates, as the 3rd Strike wing tore into the largely undefended vessels. He saw Vale Bullheads futilely defend the ships, but it was for naught as the Hyenas fought them off, killing them with rockets and cannon fire.
He smiled at the sea of chaos, before turning his radio to the GLA FAC.
"This is 3rd Strike Wing lead, confirming the destruction of a landing craft, over."
"This is observer, we saw you take out their largest landing craft; it was acting as a hospital ship, good kill!" Otto grinned; there were some Vale dogs not returning to oppress Vacuo anymore.
"Roger that, please keep me informed about the tally my flight does, returning to base."
"Roger that Lead, may Vacuo welcome the return of its heroes!"
Otto turned the radio off, before laughing to himself. He had done it; he finally helped get rid of those dirty damned Valeans from Vacuo! Now, the GLA could consolidate and secure Vacuo from further attack, maybe even spread Vacuo's borders. And if that day were to come, Otto vowed to bring death and terror to the GLA's enemies.
Password Required
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Searching for 'Operation Sandstorm report'
Found 1 document, opening document.
Operation Sandstorm, the Vale and Atlesian counteroffensive to reinstall the Vacuo council and to destroy the VNA had four primary goals;
1: Destroy the VNA
2: Capture or eliminate Qahira Zaima
3: reinstall the Vacuo council
4: Restore peace and order
In this regard, the operation was a complete failure. Of the forces sent (taking into account the second and third wave of reinforcements bringing the total from the 4000 soldiers and 3000 drones to 10,000 soldiers and 6,000 drones) almost the entire force was destroyed; 5,000 soldiers died and all of the drones destroyed either during the fighting on the beach or during the VNA counter offensive, with a further 4,000 injured, leaving only 1,000 soldiers uninjured (physically). Thanks to an advisor of General Ironwood, we were able to evacuate 5,000 soldiers (injured and uninjured), but the VNA counter offensive prevented the last 1,500 forces on the beaches from evacuating.
As the hunters, it has been silent, and as such, we must assume they are dead; we should've heard something by now from them, but there was no outgoing radio messages indicating the hunters completed their objectives. This raises the casualties by another 50 souls.
As for the losses against the VNA, the early estimates ought to be ignored; they were too blown out of the proportions to be factually accurate given the stiff defenses they had and staggering losses we suffered. From my colleagues and myself's estimates, we only inflicted perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 losses upon the VNA, with no estimates of what the Hunters might've done.
With no gains being made, the leader of the VNA still alive, and being forced off the beaches, Operation Sandstorm has to be considered to be the greatest military failure in Remnant history. We did however gain insight on how the VNA fights;
1: They make use of artillery and the armored vehicles (some are calling them tanks) to create a shock throughout our forces, forcing them to ground while their infantry surge forth and inflict casualties. We need a counter to this so that in future conflicts with the VNA we are not so exposed.
2: They are not afraid to sacrifice themselves to secure an objective. The sudden rush of trucks loaded with explosives caused them to lose their drives and some of their own too close to the explosion, but it ensured that the last line of defense on the beaches were destroyed. To counter this, we should adopt a focus on engaging the enemy before they can get close.
3: The airstrikes against our vessels were well coordinated and devastating, proving our AA defense were inadequate against their bombers. Priority should be given to improving the AA defenses of our ships.
4: Of the largest concern is the use of chemical weapons; they are responsible for over 60% of casualties, as our forces had no effective counter against them. We need to equip our forces against chemical, and possibly biological attacks as soon as possible.
The armies of Vale and Atlas need to improve the standard of our forces, as we have grown complacent in the peace since the Great War. As my colleagues have discussed, we may have grown to dependent on the huntsmen, causing our armies to stagnant. It is therefore my recommendation we begin improving the military, both in training and in equipment, to handle this new form of warfare we are facing from the VNA.
~Report from Major Zero of Valean Army, Intelligence Sector
Author's Note: Took a while, as I wanted to get this chapter and this arc finished, but here it is! A new chapter, one that shows the cruelty on the battlefield that the GLA are willing to use to ensure the deaths of their enemies, along with another new character, one who is, shall we say, a bit off his fucking rocker. Since there wasn't a lot of reviews since the last chapter, I won't be covering them in this chapter, but I hope this sastifies your thirst for new content. Next time, we are going on the Crazy train! See you next time and remember to please review, follow, and favorite the story, and I'll catch you next time.