HOME | DD

Description

(Dispositions of installations and mobile units in the San Luis system on 9th July 2765, when contact was reestablished with Albion Rift Republic remnant guerrilla forces.)

Operation Carpathia- Part 1

In 2769, the hundred and sixteenth year of the long war, and forty-three years after the relief of the Second Siege of Samarkhand, the conflict between humanity and the alien forces known only as the 'Devasids' in the upper reaches of the Sagittarius arm had become an almost static war of attrition. Combat operations were entirely different in character from the first terrifying decades when it had seemed that the Xeno-Armadas were on the verge of breaking through to Humanity's core worlds.

The final victory at Samarkhand and Fleet Admiral Georgy Barbosa's successful defence of the Ingram Traverse had marked a turning point, after which strategic momentum had definitely swung back in the Commonwealth's favour, allowing Human forces to go on the offensive for the first time in half a century.

However the slight numerical superiority of Devasid fleets, and the tactical aptitude with which they were handled by alien commanders, meant that such advances were slow grinding affairs. It had taken a decade after Samarkhand to force the Daedalus Gap, and the battles to reclaim the Mariana Cluster and Pegasus Drift had only been won by the sacrifice of millions of human soldiers and hundreds of burnt out ships.

The significant issue was the same problem that had plagued Commonwealth strategists since the beginning of the conflict. Compared to the distances being covered the strategic mobility of fleets was limited. This had been viciously exploited by the Devasids during their initial advances, when they had possessed sufficient numbers to allow them to attack and conquer systems across a broad front before Human reinforcements could respond. When the the xeno-armadas had been reduced in strength by decades of attrition, and the slow but steady industrial mobilization of the core worlds was placing ever more hulls into the frontline, this inequality had disappeared resulting in the stalemate at Samarkand, and at other key redoubt worlds along the McGriffin Line. However now equally matched Human forces faced the same issues that had stalled their alien adversaries. When attacking into this heavily defended frontier it was difficult to exploit success, as even though hyperlight relays and fast couriers could get news of openings back to reserve fleet groups rapidly, the slow FTL speed of those heavy units meant by the time they entered the combat zone, enemy reinforcements had often nullified the opportunity for breakthrough. This left commanders with the choice of a fighting a hard battle against evenly matched forces or retreating to preserve their formations.

Though some success had been achieved by committing all forces in an offensive operation to the initial push, in a bid to overwhelm defenders in the first engagement, it quickly became clear that this was a preposition too risky for command to bear. Enemy reconnaissance efforts were just as sophisticated as humanity's and when they observed such forces being committed, they were quick to exploit any opening's left ions he defensive line with their own counter-attacks into the lightly secured staging areas and logistics hubs, or on areas of the line that had been thinned to permit such massive force to be concentrated in the first place. After the near disaster of the third battle of Gamma Corina that almost saw the Commonwealth's gains in the Pegasus Drift lost for a second time, such reckless endeavours were prohibited.

The last offensive operations to take the Julian and Vallejo clusters against increasingly determined Devasid resistance had convinced Joint Forces Command to halt any further advances in 2748, hesitant to overextend in the face of an alien counter-attack that they feared must be massing. However such a blow never fell, and the front stabilized into a prolonged period of consolidation, interspersed as it was with frequent raiding actions undertaken by both sides.

It was during this time that the complete reorganisation of the Commonwealth's society and economy to a total war footing, first begun in 2725 after the Admiral's Revolt, began to come to fruition. The worlds that had volunteered themselves to the Selected Conscription program implemented under the 2728 Universal Defence Procurement Act had by this point been transformed into dedicated training camps that were producing whole armies ready to be deployed to the front, and crews for the new ships that were now coming off the slips in a seemingly endless stream. This wholly focused application of the Commonwealth's industrial and human resources to the needs of the war effort, together with the introduction of the next generation in advanced stringdrives is what allowed Commonwealth Joint Forces Command to plan for the next stage in the war.

Not content to slowly grind the enemy back system by system, planners instead wanted to use the Navy's new strategic mobility to rapidly apply overwhelming force at focused locations of the front in a bid to create openings that could be quickly exploited to isolate and destroy Devasid fleet units in place. To this end they devised a sweeping set of offensives under the codename plan 'Pericles' whose authors hoped would see the last of the Commonwealth's occupied worlds reclaimed, and the alien menace driven back into the wilds of frontier space. However such ambitious and innovative tactics would not be approved by a leadership that through painful experience had grown sceptical of such claims, and was doubtful of apparent 'miraculous' war winning strategies. Before the carefully husbanded ships and armies of the Commonwealth could be committed to such endeavour they would require a proof of concept.

The Naval Planning Directorate identified several key regions in both the Sagittarius and Orion fronts where such a demonstration could practiced, with the possibilities of gaining significantly advantageous positions should success be achieved. Initially an effort to open the Medan cluster was heavily favoured, with an eye to pushing through to the Durant Abyss with follow up campaigns. However what finally settled it on the Albion Rift region was unexpected regained contact with stay behind forces on the border worlds of the former Albion Rift Republic.

The Republic had been an independent polity with somewhat cold relations with the United Star Commonwealth prior to the start of the Long War. The Albianese were descendants of factions within the old Federacy of Sol that had dissented the order to stand down during the events that lead to that state's dissolution, and the formation of the Commonwealth. As such co-operation and co-ordination with them during the early years of the war had been highly limited, and though they maintained a large military in comparison to the their population base, they had been unable to stand against armadas of Devasid capital ships once the Yubari Traverse was over-run in 2680. Though the Albianese fought tenaciously, and their pleas for assistance were answered by Commonwealth units, it was too little too late. The Republic's fate was sealed when the notorious Xeno-Armada 11 broke through the defences of their capital world of Gresham in 2682. Remnant Republican military units joined up with their new Commonwealth allies to mount rearguard actions on the border worlds of Orinoco and San Luis, but heavy pressure across the Sagittarius front meant that sufficient resources to hold these positions were never available. It is considered that this failure to properly establish the Albion Rift Republic as a bulwark against Devasid advances earlier in the conflict greatly contributed to the Commonwealth's failure to hold the Muralenko line and the subsequent disasters that lead to humanity's retreat across the Daedalus gap.

Later in 2765 a raiding group of the CSN's 48th Heavy Cruiser Squadron had pushed across the Albion Rift to harass enemy logistics movements through uninhabited systems in the old Republic. Whilst this effort was dubiously successful, with only one minor convoy intercepted, and the group forced to disengage with losses in the face of a division Devasid Heavy Corsairs, their retreat took them through the outer system of San Luis, where as they lay low, recharging their drives amongst the icy planetoids of the system periphery, they unexpectedly received an inbound comms laser burst.

To the surprise of the squadron's commodore this turned out to be from an old in system mining jack that had been converted into a gunboat using salvaged military composites and weapon systems. Claiming to be a vessel of the Albion Home Army, the crew of this erstwhile warship were soundly disappointed when it became apparent that the 48th's cruisers were not the vanguard of an incoming liberation fleet, however they did pass on a great deal of valuable intelligence. To the amazement of the both the Commonwealth crews, and later their superiors at JCOMWEST this 'Albion Home Army' appeared to be a functioning resistance movement to alien occupation of not just San Luis but other nearby worlds in the Former Albion Rift Republic. Founded primarily from a collection of former Rift Republic forces that refused to evacuate with the Commonwealth sixty years prior, and hardy asteroid belt miners, that they had merely survived all those decades being hunted by Devasid hunter killer groups was miraculous enough, but that they had also been actively fighting back and sabotaging Devasid logistics in the region was astounding.

Moreover the Home Army brought news that significant civilian populations throughout the Republic still existed, though under Devasid control, and being employed as labour in harsh resource extraction operations.

News of a resistance movement operating in occupied space was a huge propaganda victory across the Commonwealth, and stories of the valiant guerrilla fighters striking back at the alien invaders gave hope to billions that others would be similarly holding out across the worlds still under Devasid thrall. Joint Forces Command wasted no time in exploiting this new strategic asset, and set up covert supply missions that would give new advanced weapons to the Albion Home Army in the hope that they could become a signifiant drain on the Alien's attentions and resources.

However the general populace and thus political leadership would not allow it to be left at that, it was not enough to merely sustain the valiant resistance fighters who had captured Humanity's imagination and hearts. The imperative was firm, they must be rescued.

So it was that the test case for the Pericles plan was reorganized to focus on the Albion Rift, in what would become known as Operation Carpathia.

Planners aimed to to distract the nearby Devasid fleet units with diversionary attacks across the Rift to Gustloff, Alpha Sidra and Toombs. Once deep reconnaissance assets confirmed that enough enemy strength had been committed towards that section of the front, two heavy strike fleets with accompanying ground assault elements would engage and destroy whatever forces were left within the Orinoco and San Luis systems. The intention was to hold these systems as bridgeheads for further action on the far side of the Albion Rift, but if necessary sufficient transport would be provided to evacuate both the Home Army and the indentured civilians back to Commonwealth space. Meanwhile the distraction force would use their new drives to consolidate into one group and then retreat in good order, hopefully outmanoeuvring the Devasid reactions forces that would be seeking to engage them.

On May 18th 2769 JCOMWEST sent the coded order 'Harlequin' to the forces that had been prepositioned along the border worlds of the Julian Cluster. Operation Carpathia was a go.

Description

(Dispositions of installations and mobile units in the San Luis system on 9th July 2765, when contact was reestablished with Albion Rift Republic remnant guerrilla forces.)

Operation Carpathia- Part 1

In 2769, the hundred and sixteenth year of the long war, and forty-three years after the relief of the Second Siege of Samarkhand, the conflict between humanity and the alien forces known only as the 'Devasids' in the upper reaches of the Sagittarius arm had become an almost static war of attrition. Combat operations were entirely different in character from the first terrifying decades when it had seemed that the Xeno-Armadas were on the verge of breaking through to Humanity's core worlds.

The final victory at Samarkhand and Fleet Admiral Georgy Barbosa's successful defence of the Ingram Traverse had marked a turning point, after which strategic momentum had definitely swung back in the Commonwealth's favour, allowing Human forces to go on the offensive for the first time in half a century.

However the slight numerical superiority of Devasid fleets, and the tactical aptitude with which they were handled by alien commanders, meant that such advances were slow grinding affairs. It had taken a decade after Samarkhand to force the Daedalus Gap, and the battles to reclaim the Mariana Cluster and Pegasus Drift had only been won by the sacrifice of millions of human soldiers and hundreds of burnt out ships.

The significant issue was the same problem that had plagued Commonwealth strategists since the beginning of the conflict. Compared to the distances being covered the strategic mobility of fleets was limited. This had been viciously exploited by the Devasids during their initial advances, when they had possessed sufficient numbers to allow them to attack and conquer systems across a broad front before Human reinforcements could respond. When the the xeno-armadas had been reduced in strength by decades of attrition, and the slow but steady industrial mobilization of the core worlds was placing ever more hulls into the frontline, this inequality had disappeared resulting in the stalemate at Samarkand, and at other key redoubt worlds along the McGriffin Line. However now equally matched Human forces faced the same issues that had stalled their alien adversaries. When attacking into this heavily defended frontier it was difficult to exploit success, as even though hyperlight relays and fast couriers could get news of openings back to reserve fleet groups rapidly, the slow FTL speed of those heavy units meant by the time they entered the combat zone, enemy reinforcements had often nullified the opportunity for breakthrough. This left commanders with the choice of a fighting a hard battle against evenly matched forces or retreating to preserve their formations.

Though some success had been achieved by committing all forces in an offensive operation to the initial push, in a bid to overwhelm defenders in the first engagement, it quickly became clear that this was a preposition too risky for command to bear. Enemy reconnaissance efforts were just as sophisticated as humanity's and when they observed such forces being committed, they were quick to exploit any opening's left ions he defensive line with their own counter-attacks into the lightly secured staging areas and logistics hubs, or on areas of the line that had been thinned to permit such massive force to be concentrated in the first place. After the near disaster of the third battle of Gamma Corina that almost saw the Commonwealth's gains in the Pegasus Drift lost for a second time, such reckless endeavours were prohibited.

The last offensive operations to take the Julian and Vallejo clusters against increasingly determined Devasid resistance had convinced Joint Forces Command to halt any further advances in 2748, hesitant to overextend in the face of an alien counter-attack that they feared must be massing. However such a blow never fell, and the front stabilized into a prolonged period of consolidation, interspersed as it was with frequent raiding actions undertaken by both sides.

It was during this time that the complete reorganisation of the Commonwealth's society and economy to a total war footing, first begun in 2725 after the Admiral's Revolt, began to come to fruition. The worlds that had volunteered themselves to the Selected Conscription program implemented under the 2728 Universal Defence Procurement Act had by this point been transformed into dedicated training camps that were producing whole armies ready to be deployed to the front, and crews for the new ships that were now coming off the slips in a seemingly endless stream. This wholly focused application of the Commonwealth's industrial and human resources to the needs of the war effort, together with the introduction of the next generation in advanced stringdrives is what allowed Commonwealth Joint Forces Command to plan for the next stage in the war.

Not content to slowly grind the enemy back system by system, planners instead wanted to use the Navy's new strategic mobility to rapidly apply overwhelming force at focused locations of the front in a bid to create openings that could be quickly exploited to isolate and destroy Devasid fleet units in place. To this end they devised a sweeping set of offensives under the codename plan 'Pericles' whose authors hoped would see the last of the Commonwealth's occupied worlds reclaimed, and the alien menace driven back into the wilds of frontier space. However such ambitious and innovative tactics would not be approved by a leadership that through painful experience had grown sceptical of such claims, and was doubtful of apparent 'miraculous' war winning strategies. Before the carefully husbanded ships and armies of the Commonwealth could be committed to such endeavour they would require a proof of concept.

The Naval Planning Directorate identified several key regions in both the Sagittarius and Orion fronts where such a demonstration could practiced, with the possibilities of gaining significantly advantageous positions should success be achieved. Initially an effort to open the Medan cluster was heavily favoured, with an eye to pushing through to the Durant Abyss with follow up campaigns. However what finally settled it on the Albion Rift region was unexpected regained contact with stay behind forces on the border worlds of the former Albion Rift Republic.

The Republic had been an independent polity with somewhat cold relations with the United Star Commonwealth prior to the start of the Long War. The Albianese were descendants of factions within the old Federacy of Sol that had dissented the order to stand down during the events that lead to that state's dissolution, and the formation of the Commonwealth. As such co-operation and co-ordination with them during the early years of the war had been highly limited, and though they maintained a large military in comparison to the their population base, they had been unable to stand against armadas of Devasid capital ships once the Yubari Traverse was over-run in 2680. Though the Albianese fought tenaciously, and their pleas for assistance were answered by Commonwealth units, it was too little too late. The Republic's fate was sealed when the notorious Xeno-Armada 11 broke through the defences of their capital world of Gresham in 2682. Remnant Republican military units joined up with their new Commonwealth allies to mount rearguard actions on the border worlds of Orinoco and San Luis, but heavy pressure across the Sagittarius front meant that sufficient resources to hold these positions were never available. It is considered that this failure to properly establish the Albion Rift Republic as a bulwark against Devasid advances earlier in the conflict greatly contributed to the Commonwealth's failure to hold the Muralenko line and the subsequent disasters that lead to humanity's retreat across the Daedalus gap.

Later in 2765 a raiding group of the CSN's 48th Heavy Cruiser Squadron had pushed across the Albion Rift to harass enemy logistics movements through uninhabited systems in the old Republic. Whilst this effort was dubiously successful, with only one minor convoy intercepted, and the group forced to disengage with losses in the face of a division Devasid Heavy Corsairs, their retreat took them through the outer system of San Luis, where as they lay low, recharging their drives amongst the icy planetoids of the system periphery, they unexpectedly received an inbound comms laser burst.

To the surprise of the squadron's commodore this turned out to be from an old in system mining jack that had been converted into a gunboat using salvaged military composites and weapon systems. Claiming to be a vessel of the Albion Home Army, the crew of this erstwhile warship were soundly disappointed when it became apparent that the 48th's cruisers were not the vanguard of an incoming liberation fleet, however they did pass on a great deal of valuable intelligence. To the amazement of the both the Commonwealth crews, and later their superiors at JCOMWEST this 'Albion Home Army' appeared to be a functioning resistance movement to alien occupation of not just San Luis but other nearby worlds in the Former Albion Rift Republic. Founded primarily from a collection of former Rift Republic forces that refused to evacuate with the Commonwealth sixty years prior, and hardy asteroid belt miners, that they had merely survived all those decades being hunted by Devasid hunter killer groups was miraculous enough, but that they had also been actively fighting back and sabotaging Devasid logistics in the region was astounding.

Moreover the Home Army brought news that significant civilian populations throughout the Republic still existed, though under Devasid control, and being employed as labour in harsh resource extraction operations.

News of a resistance movement operating in occupied space was a huge propaganda victory across the Commonwealth, and stories of the valiant guerrilla fighters striking back at the alien invaders gave hope to billions that others would be similarly holding out across the worlds still under Devasid thrall. Joint Forces Command wasted no time in exploiting this new strategic asset, and set up covert supply missions that would give new advanced weapons to the Albion Home Army in the hope that they could become a signifiant drain on the Alien's attentions and resources.

However the general populace and thus political leadership would not allow it to be left at that, it was not enough to merely sustain the valiant resistance fighters who had captured Humanity's imagination and hearts. The imperative was firm, they must be rescued.

So it was that the test case for the Pericles plan was reorganized to focus on the Albion Rift, in what would become known as Operation Carpathia.

Planners aimed to to distract the nearby Devasid fleet units with diversionary attacks across the Rift to Gustloff, Alpha Sidra and Toombs. Once deep reconnaissance assets confirmed that enough enemy strength had been committed towards that section of the front, two heavy strike fleets with accompanying ground assault elements would engage and destroy whatever forces were left within the Orinoco and San Luis systems. The intention was to hold these systems as bridgeheads for further action on the far side of the Albion Rift, but if necessary sufficient transport would be provided to evacuate both the Home Army and the indentured civilians back to Commonwealth space. Meanwhile the distraction force would use their new drives to consolidate into one group and then retreat in good order, hopefully outmanoeuvring the Devasid reactions forces that would be seeking to engage them.

On May 18th 2769 JCOMWEST sent the coded order 'Harlequin' to the forces that had been prepositioned along the border worlds of the Julian Cluster. Operation Carpathia was a go.