“Federalist breakthrough contained! Approximately eighteen Federalist brigades attempted a localized winter offensive in the Westlauren Defense Line. OAF forces contained the advance in two days, with the Federalists blunted after a meager two kilometers breakthrough in the Free Confederation’s frozen trench lines. Hundreds of Federal Army tanks and mechs were reportedly destroyed, with casualties estimated to around fourteen thousand Federalists and eight thousand Royalists within a span of two days from the start and end of the battle. This would appear to be nothing more than a failed attempt of the Federal Republic to disrupt Her Majesty’s efforts at unifying the Mandate of Nations in the ongoing conference at Pez.”

- ROCN News

+++

United Confederation of Pez

Brewich

“Well, it seems that their attempts are over,” William said, after reading the reports from the OHC. Amelie herself merely massaged her temples. President Rimpler and Minister Heindhöff certainly wouldn’t give her any chance to have a peace of mind. Even when she was an ocean away from North Opellia, they really had to give her a message that they wouldn’t just allow her to get away from the war.

Of course, it’s nothing anyway. They failed. She’d probably need to give the men of the Westlauren Defense Command a good speech once she came back to Orland. They were, quite honestly, one of the most valiant defenders of the Royalist cause, considering the likelihood of the Free Confederation of Westlauren’s encirclement since day one of the war. Instead of folding however, the men of the WDC stubbornly defended the wealthiest Principality of the Kingdom for a year now.

While Rebenslof and many coastal cities suffered severe port strikes for example, the Free Confederation’s illustrious cities themselves remained unbombed, courtesy of the eight hundred aircraft tasked at guarding the skies of Northeastern Orland, and the quite frankly overbuilt air defense systems of the Free Confederation.

Unfortunately, due to the port bombings, and the devastation of the infrastructure in the Grand Duchy of Ludendorf after…well, that year-long siege of Halia, Amelie had always treated the Free Confederation as a sort of self-sufficient, autonomous country of Orland. They had to mostly supply themselves, defend themselves, and rule themselves, being metaphorically cut-off from the rest of the country outside of the remaining critical shipments and communication lines that could still traverse through the devastated Grand Duchy to reach them.

That, and…well, the Free Confederation was now nothing but a junta under Amelie. The Westlauren Defense Command had long taken over the duties of the civilian government in that Principality, similar early on to her Principalities’ “Join Task Force Ludendorf”. Over there, however, instead of William acting as a sort of Military-Governor, the WDF acted as a de facto military government under the control of ever changing Army and Navy officers that completely baffled her central government.

At the very least, the control of the NID, AFI, and the RIU in the WDC was high, and almost all those who were in charge were screened and vetted by Marie herself, so Amelie wasn’t that worried that the WDC would suddenly turncoat and straight up surrender the Free Confederation to the Federalists, but, she still had to make an effort to reward them for their actions. Make sure that they knew the Queen appreciated them, and keep them loyal to the cause.

“General Max Reichen should definitely get medals for it,” Amelie said. “He’s the new one in charge, isn’t he?”

“Yep,” William said. “They booted off the previous one three weeks ago. Seems like General Reichen was the right guy for now, considering how he apparently anticipated the attack before he was even placed as head of the WDC.”

“He knew?”

“Well, the AFI knew of the plans a month ago,” William said. “Most just didn’t trust their intel. Or well, it was sketchy. But then again, it must have made sense to General Reichen. Westlauren is partially isolated, so it looks like an easier target than the rest.”

“Quite stupid of the Federalists then. They know that the WDC can support themselves with the industrial production of Westlauren alone.”

“On that note, that’s probably running out,” William said. “The raw materials available for Westlauren’s war production are rapidly plummeting, which is why shipping must be rapidly restored within the next few months. Either by repairing the railway lines in the Grand Duchy or by shipment from the Allas if the ports and skies are secured. Otherwise, those heavy industries will slump and it’s game over for them.”

“I know,” Amelie said. “That’s why I’m slightly kowtowing to the Lorathians even if I dislike their intervention in Asturia. They have the second largest merchant marine force after us. I need that shipment capacity once the East Coast’s port cities reopen.”

“Well, that’s good,” William said. “Can’t have any delays after all.”

“That’s why I hope Minister Adelaide succeeds in this,” Amelie said. “Getting everyone on the same page at last will really give us such a massive boost. The cohesion of the world at resisting the revolution’s violence as one is already in the dumpster. Well, I suppose everything is already in the dumpster.”

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“But we have to pull it out one by one.”

“And one of those deepest in the dumpster fire is the goddess damned conflict down south of Gallia,” Amelie sighed. “Say, William. If you’ll speak to Queen Clericia, what would you say?”

“Well, I’d say she’s riding her way into demise fairly well,” William chuckled. “Having almost half of his Armed Forces stuck in Asturia while the Confederacy, Poznekis, and Lombardians form up on her eastern borders is some prime ingenuity. One wonders how someone can screw so badly that she managed to surround herself with hostile states all because of one southern adventure. I still cannot believe we screwed up so bad we lost Lombardia like that to the Confederacy because Queen Clericia was stupid enough to divert most Ivory Alliance assets against Asturia instead of the Confederacy.”

“What’s your assessment?”

“Well, we’ll need to mainly get the damned OAF down there,” William nodded. “Get the Air Force to fully hold air superiority in the skies of Gallia. Should they try to sweep through the Liebnich peninsula, in another attempt of encircling our forces there before, of course, driving straight into Toldoi with armored forces, well, we can blunt such a tank rush using air power. Would also need a lot of anti-tank capable forces.”

“The GAF already lost a lot of their AT capabilities throughout the intervention,” Amelie sighed. “She’s actually asking for a quarter of our production capacity in handheld MPATs to be redirected to her. Just to reinforce her more infantry-centric forces manning the Gallia–Poznek border.”

“Why not use that as leverage?” William asked. “Orlish military deliveries should always come with a cost. Give her more strings attached.”

“Well, Minister Adelaide already did that. The agreement is that we’ll give them the weapons, in exchange they’ll shift most of their forces to their borders. Of course, that, and the fact that they’d stay in the Ivory Alliance, and vouch for whatever moves I take. The downside, again, is that I cannot pursue diplomatic policies contrary to their interests. That’d destroy the soul of the deal.”

“Well, screw that,” William laughed. “That lady’s squirming in her throne at this rate with the Confederacy hot on her arse. What she’s gonna do, throw a tantrum, leave us, and die alone? She already boxed herself into a clown corner. Who the hell cares? Force her into a damned ceasefire in Asturia. Make her withdraw back into the border. It’s damned mountains. Mountains! Do they seriously think Asturia will keep chasing them there? I bet the only reason she cannot accept a withdrawal is the fact that she’s saving face in her gigantic screw-up.”

“The Lorathians are planning something about that,” Amelie said. “There’s talk that Queen Eliette is in secret negotiations with the ARDF for a ceasefire and peaceful pullout.”

“And thus the end of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’. Not so much of a united front, aren’t they? Well, it’s their fault for going straight into a stupid intervention without the approval of Orland. Absolute morons of allies do we have. Yeah, that’s the good thing. Make Clericia cave in. Toast her. Push her to the edge. All while saber-rattling about defending Gallia from ‘unspecified eastern aggression’ to make sure she can’t pull out the argument of ‘Orland is abandoning us’. Oh, she’ll be angry at you, but she’ll shut up about it. Plus she’s an old woman. She’ll kick the bucket soon anyway.”

Amelie groaned. “You’re such a brutal man. Gee, I get that she sucks, but we don’t have to speak of her that way.”

“Come on, she’s compromising our long-term strategic interests,” William turned angry. “And she sent stupid amounts of my fellow men, Asturian, Gallian, and Lorathian into a dumb, frenzied fight with each other, with casualties now probably a few hundred thousand combined. Imagine that stupidity. They were our damned brothers against the Order Pact. Lorathian, Lieplatzans, Gallian, Lombardian, Asturian, and us, all of us, we fought side by side in those damned fields under the banner of the Ivory Alliance. Now we’re in a clown fest.”

“You have a point,” Amelie said. “I get it, Queen Clericia isn’t…the brightest tool—”

“She never was. Absolute fool of a woman. I still remember fighting with them Gallians. So much of their frontline stupidity came from Queen Clericia’s micromanagement. That, and the fact that Gallian Officers can’t even conduct any proper field meeting without the threat of metaphorical castration by their women handlers. How are you going to conduct a proper combined arms assault to encircle a salient when the guy in charge who knows how to do it found himself removed two days before the goddamned operation because of ‘traitorous and seditious activities against the Queen’. Then it’d be up to us Orlish soldiers to pick up the slack because the Gallians would inevitably screw up said assault by losing two hundred tanks since the new guy leading it was some newbie puppet of the Gallian Royal Guard.”

“Your rant sounds oddly specific.”

“Battle of Lein, 2022, Northeastern Gallia. Seventy-two thousand GAF casualties against fifty-thousand combined Pozneki and Larissan casualties in the span of two weeks. Only salvaged when an III Armored Corps by then General Heindhöff reinforced the battle. Damned morons almost wasted a hundred thousand young men in their stupidity.”

Amelie now fully understood why William seemed to have a special hatred of the Gallian Queen. It really seemed like she was one of a kind at screwing things up at the expense of men on the ground.

“Alright, I’ll take what you say in mind,” Amelie said. “This is so difficult. Why are my traditional allies the most painful ones…”

“That’s why you gotta guide them,” William said. “We’re Orland, Amelie. Orland. The only reason these countries and their economies exist is because of us. They’re nothing without us. Bend them. Make them follow your rules so things go smoothly. If there’s any good thing that should be done, it’s a fully unified command structure for the Mandate of Nations. Led by the OHC, as much as possible. Some Gallian Royal Guard officers should never interfere with battleplans and order of battle already developed by a centralized coalition authority. Call me drunk on temporary power, but I found euphoria in the Royal Guard’s tears when they had to bend to my rules in JTF-Ludendorf.”

Amelie laughed. “I suppose you have a point. Those behind the frontlines shouldn’t interfere in the job and decision making of the officers in charge of the actual fighting.”

“Exactly,” William said. He looked at the map. “Well, screw them up tomorrow. I’ll place my trust in you.”