[MOD] Operation Drencflód

[Josephus I]

Minesca þæs Helm

Operation Drencflód

MOD Notice – Restricted Access – 09052017

Operational Units Activated;
1st, 3rd and 4th Brigades of the Nova English Light Infantry
2nd Brigade Redoubt Armoured Car Regiment
1st Brigade Nova English Artillery Regiment
2nd Battalion Steðeheard Regiment
5th Squadron Nova English Airforce
10th Fryd Engineers – Railway Auxiliary Unit
2 Platoon Spittle’s Scouts

Objective:
The objective of Operation Drencflód is to establish a safe corridor to ‘Port Neil’. Civilian engineers alongside the RAU will repair and replace rail en route to ensure logistical support to the recaptured territory.

Intelligence:
Recent reports gathered by Spittle’s Scouts have provided us with the following;

• Newcastle-Upon-Eastmoor to Port Neil Railway Line to be reutilised – Extensive repairs will be required to clear tracks, replace tracks, and repair collapsed bridges and tunnels.
• Throughout the route there are a number of settlements and communities that will pledge allegiance to the Nova English crown. These are identified in appendix B. Approx population gain from these settlements would be circa 50,000.
• Scattered around these settlements are a number of rogue groups undertaking bandit operations. These are formed from a mixture of criminal gangs and terrorist groups. Their areas of operations and suspected headquarters are identified in appendix C.
• Port Neil has remained an ongoing battleground between warring factions following the great disaster. With various groups attempting to gain control of the port facilities. The largest faction located within the city is of Ergonian origin and currently holds the port. Resisting them is the remnants of the Port Neil People’s Militia under the command of Thomas Blaec. He has confirmed with our operatives that his forces will join the Kingdom subject to aiding in the expulsion of the other factions within the city. Approx population gain from Port Neil and its surrounding settlements would be circa 65,000. Ergonian forces are believed to be numbered at around 7500. Without immediate support it is likely that the Port Neil People’s Militia will begin to weaken as their main logistical source from the port facilities has been cut off.

Operational Plan:

Phase 1;

• 2nd Battalion Steðeheard Regiment will be airlifted into Port Neil’s former airport. The PNPM will capture and secure the airfield whilst the 5th Squadron will provide air support.
• Remaining forces will push south from the National Redoubt Region and secure the railway line and settlements.

Phase 2;

• 2nd Battalion Steðeheard Regiment and the PNPM will work in unison to force hostile factions towards the port. Friendly civilians will be evacuated where possible.
• Remaining forces will continue to push along the railway line and seek and destroy hostile bandit groups.

Phase 3;

• Once hostile units have been encircled within the port facilities of Port Neil, the 5th Squadron will utilise WM-12 munitions. The 2nd Battalion and the PNPM will retained a fixed line and block any attempts made from hostile forces trying to break out of the area.
• Remaining forces will continue to push towards Port Neil, establishing Forward Operating Bases along the repaired railway. Army Fryd battalions will then man these locations to secure the track and the local population.

Phase 4;

• 2nd Battalion and the PNPM will hold their position for four days to allow sufficient time for the gas to disperse. Following this period they will proceed with caution into the port facilities and eliminate any remaining resistance. Following this they will secure the remainder of the city and await the arrival of the battlegroup.
• The battlegroup will complete the railway and reinforce the Port Neil Forces.

Updates will be provided through the chain of command to the Nova English Armed Forces Head-Quarters and the Ministry of Defence. Timelines have been removed from this document and will be provided to individual commanders as part of their briefing pack.

Glory to the Faedertellus!

Thernou! Faedertellus! Ecghete!

Signed,

Colonel (Ret.) Alfwaerd Killer
Strecuminesca of Defence

[Josephus I]

Operation Drencflód

0510 – Port Neil Airport;

Colman Blaec watched as the Buldocga aircraft strafed the Terrorist Technicals at the gated entrance of the airport. 20mm rounds tore apart the converted pickup trucks, reducing them to a burning mass of metal and body parts. Hours before Colman and several others in his cell had manned a small observation post overlooking the airport. Through their binoculars they observed the disused terminal and the rotting carcasses of abandoned Nova English Airways passenger jets. Amongst them sat a small number of working light aircraft that the Ergonian faction used to smuggle drugs and weapons across the Badlands and into Mercury. Armed men patrolled the perimeter and pickup trucks with heavy machine guns controlled the weak spots in the chain-link perimeter fence.

The Port Neil People’s Militia had been engaged in a vicious war of attrition with the faction over the control of the city’s airport and port facilities. Colman had lost count of his fallen comrades and the lives he had taken since the Evacuations and the Great Disaster. His former job in the National Police Force seemed like a lifetime ago, however when he was briefed by their cell commander his hope was reignited. The Faedertellus had risen once again in Eastmoorland and it was gradually moving south. But for it to reach its full potential and regain its former glory it needed the port facilities in Colman’s home city. His cell had quickly organised to undertake their part of the operation in aiding government troops capturing the airport.

His team stalked the dark countryside between Port Neil and its airport, skirting around checkpoints and cutting the throats of hostiles that couldn’t be avoided. Eventually they had found a small rocky outcrop that offered a tactical overview of the airport. He had been briefed to expect action at 0500 and was to report all hostile movements within the airport and targets of opportunity for the air support that would be protecting the transport helicopters.

At 0500 a low buzzing began to break the silence of the airport, a few confused and half-asleep guards within the airfield tried to locate the source of the sound. But within a few short seconds the early dawn silence was torn apart as the aircraft unleashed a torrent of 20mm gunfire and rockets into the positions reported by Colman’s cell. Panicked men within the airport began to run between cover and fire ineffectually at the strafing aircraft. However with their attention taken by the death and destruction around them, they failed to notice the thumping rotors that marked the arrival of the 2nd Battalion Steðeheard Regiment. As the helicopters began to land, tracer fire from their crew mounted weapons poured covering fire. Whilst battle hardened soldiers poured from the helicopters and advanced on the remaining hostiles.

The defenders attempted to resist in pockets across the airfield, whilst some attempted to surrender only to be executed on the spot for terrorist activities. Within forty minutes the Steðeheard Regiment had secured the airport, defences were quickly re-established as supplies began to steam through the now secured air bridge. Meanwhile Colman sat relaxed on the ridge as he lit himself a cigar that he’d liberated off a dead checkpoint guard…. The Faedertellus had finally arrived in Port Neil.