The Battle of Herrin Bay

[Amir Shervanis]

What is a Camp of War-Wounded Like?Then the camps of the wounded - O heavens, what scene is this? - is this indeed humanity - these butchers' shambles? There are several of them. There they lie, in the largest, in an open space in the woods, from 200 to 300 poor fellows - the groans and the screams - the odor of blood, mixed with the fresh scent of the night, the grass, the trees - that slaughter-house! O well is it that their mothers, their sisters cannot see them - cannot conceive, and never conveiv'd these things. One man is shot by a shell, both in the arm and leg - both are amputated - there lie the rejected members. Some have their legs blown off - some bullets through breast - some indescribably horrid wounds in the face or head, all mutilated, sickening, torn, gouged out - some in the abdomen - some mere boys - many rebels, badly hurt - they take their regular turns with the rest, just the same as any - the surgeons use them just the same. Such is the camp of the wounded - such a fragment, a reflection afar off of the bloody scene - while all over the clear, large moon comes out at times softly, quietly shining. Amid the woods, that scene of flitting souls - amid the crack and crash and yelling sounds - the impalpable perfume of the woods - and yet the pungent, stifling smoke - the radiance of the moon, looking from heaven at intervals so placid - the sky so heavenly - the clear-obscure up there, those bouyant upper oceans - a few large placid stars beyond, coming silently and languidly out, and then disappearing - the melancholy, draperied night above, around. And there, upon the roads, the fields, and in those woods, that contest, never one more desperate force - masses - no fancy battle, no semi-play, but fierce and savage demons fighting there - courage and scorn of death the rule, exceptions almost none.-Walt WhitmanBattlegroup ShervanisCO: Amir D. ShervanisTotal Unit Personnel: 10,000Force Composition:-Brigade X Rangers 4,750-Brigade IV Support 3,500-Regiment III Commandos 1,000-Regiment V Armoured 500-Regiment II Artillery 250The Battle of Herrin BayDawn on the ocean brought the pleasent sparkle of sunlight to the rippling waves of the quiet bay known as Herrin. The sight of many past battles and even the fury of nature, the bay was now at ease. Peace and serenity dominated the scene as dolphins frolicked in the waters and streams of white foam appeared wherever a whale popped its immense back through the waves. But that was soon about to change.The HMS Báatham, the Báatharzi battleship from Babkha, was perched in the waters waiting like an eagle sits in the treetops scounting its prey. Flanked on both sides by the Admiral's destroyers Guzelhissar and Omar, these massive vessels dominated the waters and fleet around them. The Shervanis Battlegroup had arrived during the night, accompanied by ten-thousand marines and other ships of the line. As the sun arced across the morning sky, rising up like a fireball from the depths of the sea, the fleet began to spread out in a fanning pattern across the bay. The main ships remained in the centre, dominating the field of battle. Destroyers accompanying the battleship and the silent hunter below, the HMS Sheba, ready to deliver her torpedo payloads into any enemy foolish enough to come within range. Further out the frigate scouts accompanied transports to the outer islands of Jaris, while the cruiser Malik made her way to the shore of the mainland. The serenity of the morning was broekn as Malik began to deliver a blistering payload of coastal bombardment to Jaris.Frigates accompanying the amphibious transports began to make their landings on the unsuspecting shores of the outer island. Catching civil defense forces off-guard the frigates managed to deal ample blows to the meagre fortifications that were on these small islands. Landing with the speed and ferocity common to Báatharzi marines, rangers and commandos landed on the beaches of Regis, Moreais, Helis and Norzan in scenes reminiscient of Normandy. Although expected resistance was much smaller than command had anticipated, the Jarisians put up a valiant defense and fought bravely to the last. With infantry forces having secured a beachead, armoured forces quickly followed, allowing our forces to move further inland. Regis was the first to fall to our forces, as the island was secured and prisoners rounded up in the main village therein; Millionia. Moreais then fell next, which became the focal point for Báatharzi regional command, which established a forward HQ at the island capital of Felis. Within several hours of the initial invasion, Helis and Norzan also fell to our forces. Large numbers of prisoners were taken and civilians were treated with care and respect to the conventions of valourous combat which every Babkhan holds true to.The fleet then began the effort of mopping up the remains of the outer islands and establishing the first flank of the offensive. Garrisons and defenses were shored up by infantry and armoured forces were ordered to repair, refuel and get ready for the next step of the invasion - landing on mainland Jaris. The HMS Báatham and her sister destroyers began to move inland, reaching the Malik with ease and assisting her in the coastal bombardment, which was beginning to receive resistance now that the Jarisians had had time to react. In the meantime, frigates began to take up port defensive positions on the captured islands and transports began preperations to re-load. This battle had been won with relative ease, but the war had only just begun.OOC:The islands around Jaris aren't named, and since I need names to use in the battle posts, I took the opportunity to give them names. If they are named, then sorry, but I didn't know and don't have any maps which tell me otherwise. In any event, I at least tried to make them all original names. EDIT: Fixed typo. Added a notation on fleet ownership.And if the battleship is a bit much, just consider it to be a WWII-era battleship, and not anything like the modern AEGIS crap we've got around today. Edited by: Amir Shervanis at: 8/7/05 16:01

[Kaiser Los III]

"...a day that will live in infamy for the people of Antica". Nik switched off the radio. He would have felt better if Dinarch Octavius had been referring to the sneak attack on Nafticon that the Anticans had just sustained. But no, it had been something about a political scandal involving his co-Dinarch, Delphi. It raised the spectre that the Anticans, who Shireroth had relied on too often to do their military dirty work, would be out of form for a long time to come.He had reached Norfolk now, the old naval base of Shireroth, and although it had declined since its olden days it was still a formidable port, where busy workers performed last minute maintenance checks on the twenty-two ships sailing with the Revenge with a speed indicative of Raesin's desire to reach the site of the action."What's the battle plan?" he asked Admiral Alasur. Technically he was the commander, he should know, but it was the admiral who understood the finer points of naval tactics while Raesin was content to handle the larger matters. It had been the Audente who insisted on reaching the Jaris Straits as soon as possible to collapse the Babkhan elation at finding an undefended stretch of the Shirerithian Empire. But it was the Sindrakothelin, veteran of thirty-six years with the Navy, who would decide exactly how the engagement would take place."The Babkhan Navy is stuck close to shore," he said. "Smart people stay way out in the water where they have a fair chance of detecting submarines. The Babkhans are smart, but they want to invade Jaris, located in tiny little straits - brown water, green water sort of area. So they're stuck; sitting ducks. They're expecting us to take advantage of that; we don't want to disappoint.""If we go join them in the Jaris Straits, we're as vulnerable as they are. So we're going to sit out east of Karaman, open ocean. Right smack center of Babkhan territorial waters. Damn risky, but that's what wars tend to be. At least we'll have fair warning of any attacks and won't have land to one side when they come for us.""Meantime, Rathmines, Rathgar, and Rathfarnham head for their fleet in the Straits; Ranelagh we keep around in case there's a ship needin' sinking. Too obvious to go for the transports, but those are the goal - orders will just be to cause as much chaos as possible and see if the Babkhans are damnfool enough to leave the transports undefended. We have topo maps of the area from ShireGeoSurvey and can probably evade any destroyers they got over there. If the neo-Babkhan...Karnali...Terre d'Riches...planes find us, we shoot 'em off as best we can. Then we might as well launch missiles at the Babkhan ships for a while. If they don't find us, they don't find us, and no damn use showing them our positions with a missile attack.""Too cautious for my liking," said Raesin, but made no move to suggest a different strategy. "I wish we could get a tie-breaker, but since the people who are no doubt watching us at SHINE right now don't get a vote, I suppose I will go along with your superior wisdom.""Subs will be in attack position in about twenty-four hours," said Alasur. "Do talk to the Kaiser about getting that air support."Summary: Main body of fleet to stay in open water east of TDR in defensive position, attempting to hide but under orders to let loose barrage of missiles if discovered. Three submarines to use shallow water and superior geographic knowledge in order to sink as many Babkhan ships as possible, preferably troop transports.

[OctaviusMe]

"Here we are, sir," the helicopter pilot shouted above the chop. The helicopter hit the pad and the engines began to rev down. After a couple of seconds, a petty officer on the landing pad reached the helicopter and opened the door. Out stepped the Admiral of the Navy, Octavius Me. Behind him stepped out Lieutenant Lee, his adjutant. Both looked weary but ready to face what was ahead. They had just managed to get themselves out of Aquilaria, where domestic issues were taking higher precedent than the security of the region. War between Grand Commonwealth and Shireroth was second page news only a couple days after it was first announced.While Octavius was one of the leaders of the constantly radicalizing reform movement and very quickly becoming Delphi's most unfavorite man, he still needed to address international security. He wouldn't abandon the movement, of course, but understood the seriousness of the situation. War between two superpowers was big news, especially when the combatants were lining up only hundreds of miles away.The PO stood at attention and saluted the Admiral, then the Lieutenant. And then the two officers had to rebalance themselves on deck, having been accustomed to land-based duty for a while. The Battlegroup was already out to sea, and was moving through a small storm on its way south from Nafticon toward the coast of Terre d'Riches. "Carry on..." Octavius took a quick glance at the nametag on the PO's utilities in the middle of his sentence,"...Petty Officer Hadrian. Take us to the Bridge." She nodded, and then led the two officers into the AIS Dauntless. Other personnel secured the helicopter to the landing pad as its pilot made its way out of the craft."Admiral on the Bridge" Lt. Lee announced immediately before Octavius entered. The bridge crew saluted him. Captain Bobritzky stood in the middle right along with them. Octavius nodded then said "As you were. Captain, our location if you please.""Aye, Sir." The Admiral, Captain, and Lieutenant made their way to Navigation, where a regional map was spread out. "We are currently 4 degrees south, 17 degrees west of Nafticon CIC. Course 119, holding steady at 29 knots." One of the bridge officers called for the Captain, and he excused himself. Octavius nodded to Captain Bobritzky and stood back in order to allow him to pass. Elsewhere on the map was a plot of all friendly and hostile mobilized forces in the region. Mainland Antica was completely free except for 3 battalions of the Naval Infantry Regiment near the edge of Mesoun. Octavius had some good connections with the local Army commanders in Phedodah. He had better make some calls, to see if he can get them to mobilize and enter the fray without Central Army Command's orders.And then he saw something. Shirerithian First Fleet. He turned to Communications, and said to the petty officer on duty, "Comm, get me Commander, First Shirerithian Fleet on scrambled channel."The PO nodded, and after working her controls, spoke into her headset, "Erkinpoika's Revenge. Erkinpoika's Revenge. Dauntless actual wishes to speak with Commander, First Shirerithian Fleet. Repeat. Dauntless actual wishes to speak with Commander, First Shirerithian Fleet. Please respond."The First Antican Battlegroup is west of Nafticon moving Southeast, en route to Herrin Bay, attempting direct communication with the Shirerithian First Fleet's commander on his flagship.

[Kaiser Los III]

"Admiral Octavius." Nikolas Raesin felt just a tad uncomfortable. Only a few days before, he had been in a meeting with Kaiser Los and several of his top advisors, at which he had spoken rather forcefully about the need to support Dinarch Delphi Augustus against Octavius' reform movement. Octavius couldn't know about that, could he? That would be more than a little embarrassing. He gave a sigh of relief as the Admiral indicated that it was a routine business call.Octavius: ...defense of Nafticon. Of course it's difficult, I've been calling Aquilaria three, four times a day coordinating things over there, but this is my duty. Whatever else we may disagree on, I am hoping Delphi feels the same way considering the army's still loyal to him. In the meantime, yes, of course we have to defend Nafticon.Raesin: It is good that you feel that way, but I am afraid I cannot offer as much help as I would like. The fact is that I am stretched thin. Jaris is lightly defended and hard to reach, and I can perhaps hold off the Babkhans there but not deliver a crippling blow or cause them more than irritating delays.Octavius: What are you saying? You're not going to let the Babkhans...Raesin: No one is going to let the Babkhans do anything. But my strategies must by neccessity be long-term. I intend to concentrate on the Norfolk area for now, where we can bring the full extent of Shirerithian power to bear on the far-flung Babkhans. But I am pleased to see you, for with your help I can prevent the Babkhans from having it easy in Jaris.Octavius: Not making things easy for the Babkhans was our plan.Raesin: All right. Right now the only bogeys we have to deal with are the ships under Admiral Shervanis. My submarines should be taking bites out of him, although unfortunately the need for secrecy prevents them from sending me transmissions that could confirm my hopes. I can send a cruiser, two destroyers, and a mining ship to rendevouz with you. Your end of the deal is to prevent Amir from moving north. If you can sink him in the process, all the better.Octavius: And you?Raesin: I and the rest of my fleet are headed south. I intend to meet King Nathan and do something about this Dugobert Wurmser fellow who thinks he's got a blockade. Deal?

[extreme007]

"Sir, Mother Goose JStars reports two of the mines sending the alert. It's now near Regis. Awaiting orders."Extreme007 looked over at his AWACs officer. 11th Air Force's first mission in this war involved inserting mines into the waters of the Nafticon port. By his counts, five of the ten mines were dropped that day. It was the first mission, and Babkhan pilots were in charge, thus accounting for only five mines being dropped. Extreme007 went to the his book shelf filled with brown files - all Karnalian Intelligence files that were being sent to him on a constant basis. Extreme007 took out the recent file and opened the pages on Antican navy fleet at Nafticon. He wondered which of the ships had set sail, and more importantly, which two, or one, of them had the mines attached to. That was the speciality of the mines he had sent. Being magnetic they would stick to the hull or any other metallic part of the ship or submarine. Then, it would begin transmitting at regular intervals a signal that any friendly force, especially the JStar system aboard the Karnalian AWACS, could pick up and easily identify its position. Now two of the mines had started transmitting, indicating that they were hooked on to their targets."Blow them up", ordered Extreme007. The mine was powerful enough to damage and sink a destroyer or a frigate. It would seriously damage a cruiser even, requiring the cruiser to head back to its base for repairs which could take about three to four weeks of repair work. But a battleship - Extreme007 suddenly remembered that the Anticans had three of these at Nafticon - could easily take on the mine. All extreme007 could now hope is that if it was a battleship, then both the mines should have attached to it. That would have caused enough damage to the battlecruiser to rethink about staying in the war zone. The mines would have brought the effectiveness of the battlecruiser down a lot, and even threaten to sink should the mines be attached close together in a vital part of the ship. The only question was if the mines were on one ship."Sir, good news. Mother Goose JStars replies that the co-ordinates of the two mines are close enough to be on one ship." It was as if his AWACS officer had read the question in his mind."Can they say if the mines are close enough to seriously sink the ship?"The AWACS officer repeated the question into the microphone, and waited for the answer."No. Sir. That's the best they could do," he then continued to listen to the headphones, "If they flew closer to the mines, then they could say Sir, but that will take them into the ship's and its convoy's outer air defense range.""Alright. Just blow those mines up. And the next time any of the remaining three mines show an alert sign, blow them up immediately. Do not wait for confirmation. Send the message.""Yes Sir.""Commodore," extreme007 called on to his officer in charge of the anti-surface missions, "send the two remaining Ashavans to the strait. Give them a load out of mines, and Anti-ship missiles. Also two AAMs just incase. Their mission is to mine the strait (primary). Were they to face any ship threat, or air threat, that will be there secondary. But dont let them go searching for one. And if they want to avoid them, fine by me."11th Air Force was going to block any remaining ships of the Nafticon base using the mines. Further, should any of the already moved out ships head back, they wouldn't know about the newly placed mines now!"And Commodore. You are in charge of our maintainence are you not? I want your crew to work hard on that damaged Ashavan. I am running out of planes here."Extreme007 looked at the time in his watch. It was nearly time."Officer. Secure me a channel to Phoenix.""Done. Its secured.""Phoenix? This is Thunderbird. You have green light. You are a GO on objective FireFox."Summary: just responding because it seems octavius forgot about the mines..... one of octavius's ship had two mines attached to it, which are given the signal to blow..it should not sink the ship... but it should damage it considerably to force it to reconsider its presence in the war zone..i have dispatched my last two planes with mines, anti-ship and anti-air missiles.... their task is to mine the strait between Jaris and TDR.. also, i have green lighted the secret mission.... (which unfortunately is in the other thread! oh well.) Discover, Invent, Theories, Experiment,Advance Science,Advance Extremism,(in Karnali, Republic of)

[OctaviusMe]

OOC: whoa whoa whoa... what's this about mines?Edit: Oh. I didn't see your post in that other thread mentioning mines near Nafticon until now. Edited by: OctaviusMe  at: 8/15/05 13:36

[Amir Shervanis]

OOC:Scott's decision to sink two of my frigates and two of my transports is acceptable as per the long delay in this theatre of the battle. For reference purposes, the frigates Ataturk and Teke have been sunk, eliminating all my frigates from the fleet detachment. Of transports, the Juniper and Pasha have both been sunk.IC:The HMS Ataturk sinks into the depths after her defeat. A local tug stands by ready to aid survivors.The stench of death hung about the waters between Jaris and her outer islands. Following the capture of those same outer islands by Commonwealth forces, the small bay area had become a fierce fighting zone as the fleet moved in to attack the mainland and prepare for a direct assault. Two transports had been hit before they could reach the beachead, leaving hundreds of dead soldiers in the water, staining the ocean red and bringing a new meaning to the term "crimson tide". Further out to sea, two frigates had also been sunk by enemy submarines. The noble HMS Ataturk had put up a valiant fight against the enemy, using makeshift depth charges to try and attack the sub before being sunk.Assault on the mainland began with a coastal volley from the HMS Malik whilst the Báatham and her cruiser escorts moved inland to give assistance. In a stunning underwater battle, the Sheba faced off against three Shirerithian subs, sinking one and wounding the other two before being forced to retreat to the protection of our destroyers. The Shirerithian subs were damaged enough that the Guzelhissar and Omar were able to track them with radar ping and land depth charges on both, sinking one and wounding the other enough where, leaking oil, she withdrew northward towards Melangia.With the bay relatively secure, coastal bombardment commenced with a rage exacerbated by the deaths of so many of our soldiers killed in transit. By the time our remaining marines did land on the shore, the stretch of Jaris' coast between Regis and Moreais was little more than a smoking mass of dead, wounded and in some areas still-burning landscape. Our boys landed with relative ease, encountering light resistance but more heavily-armed forces further inland which had been able to avoid the reach of our naval guns.The small village of Vedrun, mostly abandoned by the locals, was comandeered by our soldiers as a base point for the mainland invasion. With transports having landed the bulk of our troops, efforts at once began to unload armoured units on Jaris. Moving the vehicles from their primary base on Regis to Vedrun was a relative simple task, keeping a minimal time on the water where they could be exposed to enemy fire. Within the space of one day, Vedrun had been transformed from a picturesque seaside village to a bustling depot of the Commonwealthian military. Tanks lined the streets as soldiers marched in order alongside them. Whilst at the same time other soldiers gathered around the local pub, enjoying a brief moment of relaxation before the march northward.But it was to be a short-lived time of rest and resupply. Vedrun was only the beginning and had been relatively unprotected. Within a day the armoured units would begin the long march north to Civitium, another small Jarisian village where the tanks would be able to re-fuel and troops resupply before the main assault on Philban.Summary-The village of Vedrun and the coast between Regis and Moreais has been taken by Commonwealthian forces. Marines have secured Vedrun as the forward mainland base of operations and have begun to garrison the position as a de-facto fort.-Armoured units accompanied by the rest of the Marine taskforce have begun to advance northward out of Vedrun onto the village of Civitium, which will be covered in the next battle post.