Pro Patria (Valkyria Chronicles)

3.19
[X] South East: Launch a surprise attack straight towards the Federation base. Cut them off from supplies.

The orders are given.

It is a risk. A gamble you don't think you have ever taken before. A throw of the dice that could end this battle phase quickly or end in disaster. But you have few good options left.

Leaving half a company behind at the cantonment to direct Raeder's battalion, you take all your forces and drive southeast.

There is some surprise at first though Giraud soon jumps on board with the plan. Surena offers no opinion.

Through the afternoon your forces trek through the grasslands.

There is little here in this area, just farmhouses and one isolated village.

You avoid Nilden, your scouts inform you it is a sleepy little town of no consequence. It appears virtually undefended and will be little threat to your back.

The village falls without a fight. It has nothing of value. Apart from taking some food from terrified farmfolk nothing notable occurs. After making sure they have no radios or motor vehicles you leave.

You thought of stopping there to spend the night, but decide against it. Electing to push forward for as long as possible.

You fear getting lost in the darkness. There is no way of identifying landmarks. A few hours after nightfall you let the troops halt and get some rest. It is barely an encampment. You don't sleep.

Some time before dawn, your force prepares to move out again.

***
Soon after first light you see the Federation base in the distance. The tops of buildings peek out on the skyline.

You order Giraud to take his unit on the vanguard, holding Surena's in reserve. Time to see what the Federation response will be.

Allied Interference
Roll = 57

The first firefight begins when several squads of riflemen positioned on a bluff open fire on your forward elements. Soldiers crouch low and take cover behind armour. More shots ring out as the rest of the battalion manoeuvres around. Attempts are made to suppress the higher position with small arms and tank shells.

From the front a couple of damaged enemy tanks roll out. Supported by scores of heavy infantry they attack around the ridge. There is little cover out on the plains and troops on both sides crouch down on a knee or lie flat on the ground. As they are locked in battle you decide you have seen enough and commit Surena's veteran battalion. You haven't noticed it before but now that you are alone in their midst you see they act a cut above the green troops you originally started out with. They haven't improved like your other formations.

Under a hail of tank fire the federation defence collapses. The armour stood no chance outnumbered and the troops little more. No defensive positions had been made and their anti-armour weapons were barely effective due to the terrain and range. By noon the defenders were done.

You consider demanding surrender but elect to storm the base instead. Giving as little time to react as possible, a medium tank crashes through the gate and the decent sized base falls quickly. Soon after, the riflemen on the ridge capitulate. You see many empty barracks and quietly thank the almighty for the good fortune so far.


***​

The supplies and equipment you gain from this gamble make it worth it. Denying it to enemy will only magnify the effect. From the captured personnel and documents comes a treasure trove of information on the current situation.

The Federation force in this region is locked in a battle with an Imperial fighting force numbering somewhere between six to nine thousand strong. That is good, as it means most of the landing force survived.

Furthermore, after heavy fighting the Federals have lost control of the town of Escoral and are regrouping on the outskirts. Reports indicate they have taken some losses.

This is not surprising as you now have hard figures that locally the Feds only number around three and a half thousand - before the recent losses. You assume they are trying to pin the landing force for as long as possible before reinforcements arrive. Effectively a large holding action to buy time. A shame that they were too distracted to notice your force.

You are in a conundrum right now. There is a much larger enemy force in front of you. Your instincts tell you to defend, but behind that is a much larger imperial force likely putting on pressure. The Feds might be demoralised from the loss, but they might not. The report is half a day old after all. You could get support from the other imperials but they might have tired themselves out from the earlier engagement. Your troops are not fresh themselves.

In any case you'll wait for Raeder to arrive before acting. Give the troops a well earned rest. But when he does come...

[] Wait here, set up defensive positions
[] Assault north, catch Feds in a pincer
 
[X] Wait here, set up defensive positions

They are likely to return to base, so when they do we will be here, stuck without an easily defendable position and being pursued, they can surrender, attack US until reinforcements arrive, Run further past us so to speak and we link up with the suspected troops that are pressuring them,

But that brings up a good point. We don't know for sure if they have any more Imperials to be fighting in the first place, we might have just gotten lucky or there was a smaller force that made them pay, we don't have good (Read: Any) intel on what they are fighting if they are. We just are not sure what we will be getting ourselves into if we attack now.
 
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Defend and lose the momentum or attack until we are in a position where we can actually win a defensive battle. Because right now, we lack the numbers, the infrastructure and even the supplies to wait for our allies to reach us. Our only advantage is we are moving faster than the enemy can react.
 
[X] Assault north, catch Feds in a pincer

If our troops are shaken, imagine the Federation position. Reserve troops that expected an easy fight have just lost their HQ to a lightning assault by the mere vanguard of an Imperial landing. We cannot give them a chance to recover or retreat. Push onward until total victory or crushing defeat.
 
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[X] Assault north, catch Feds in a pincer
Remember we might outnumber the enemy right now but as soon as they can mobilise some more troops that will change drastically, we need to regroup and them keep moving while damaging their backlines in order to prevent them concentrating forces against us.
 
[X] Assault north, catch Feds in a pincer
I concur, the only thing between us (Fed Base) and the other Imperials (Escoral) is a military depot.

@Emdeman How close is the frontline on this map to Rudolfs best understanding of the situation?
 
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[X] Assault north, catch Feds in a pincer

If our troops are shaken, imagine the Federation position. Reserve troops that expected an easy fight have just lost their HQ to a lightening assault by the mere vanguard of an Imperial landing. We cannot give them a chance to recover or retreat. Push onward until total victory or crushing defeat.
They probably don' know we took the base yet.
 
@Emdeman How close is the frontline on this map to Rudolfs best understanding of the situation?
Its a pretty good summary. Though the lines aren't anything concrete. There aren't enough troops on either side present to be a solid front. Think of it in terms of islands, with lots of gaps in supposed zones of control.
Adhoc vote count started by Emdeman on Nov 7, 2017 at 11:43 AM, finished with 21 posts and 9 votes.
Emdeman threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: Retreat disruption - South Total: 12
12 12
Emdeman threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: Retreat disruption - North Total: 68
68 68
 
I worry about enveloping the Federation forces. While encirclement is a great way to remove an enemy army from the field, it's really only valuable if you have the strategic situation to back up such an action.

What I mean to say is, destroying or or forcing an encircled enemy army to surrender can take a lot of time and will cost a lot of lives. We can't really afford to lose either.
 
[X] Assault north, catch Feds in a pincer
I'm actually getting nervous about all this attacking, but, as others have said, we have the momentum and surprise. We must press on.
 
I worry about enveloping the Federation forces. While encirclement is a great way to remove an enemy army from the field, it's really only valuable if you have the strategic situation to back up such an action.

What I mean to say is, destroying or or forcing an encircled enemy army to surrender can take a lot of time and will cost a lot of lives. We can't really afford to lose either.
A successful encirclement would rely on bluffs and assumptions.
 
I worry about enveloping the Federation forces. While encirclement is a great way to remove an enemy army from the field, it's really only valuable if you have the strategic situation to back up such an action.

What I mean to say is, destroying or or forcing an encircled enemy army to surrender can take a lot of time and will cost a lot of lives. We can't really afford to lose either.

Allowing them to face us head on in combat will take even more time and casualties than forcing them to surrender. Allowing them to withdraw will only be an even greater threat in the long term if we don't eliminate them as a problem now. They would be able to follow us wherever we go and constantly harass our every move while we attempt to escape back into Imperial territory. We have to take them down now or face the consequences later.
 
We don't know anything about the situation other than they might have started to be pushed back. Without information we could easily Die or lose too much to recoup from.
 
The real question is: how are our troops?. They aren't fresh, but will they still be in fighting shape by the time we arrive at the battle?.

Can we consult our officers on what they think?.


My gut says to pincer, but we risk losing a lot of troops if we arrive to the battle to weary to fight.
 
The real question is: how are our troops?. They aren't fresh, but will they still be in fighting shape by the time we arrive at the battle?.

Can we consult our officers on what they think?.


My gut says to pincer, but we risk losing a lot of troops if we arrive to the battle to weary to fight.
For the "freshness" of our troops:
In any case you'll wait for Raeder to arrive before acting. Give the troops a well earned rest. But when he does come...
I agree that a full encirclement and subsquent capture of all federation forces in the area is quite unlikely. But, a powerful flanking attack should allow us to hurt the enemy's position even more. If we stay on the defensive we allow the federation forces to...
  • fight on only one front
  • retreat unopposed
  • bring in more reinforcements
While we can't stop the last one. We should make sure that any reinforcements that arrive won't find an intact federation army to link up with.
 
[X] Assault north, catch Feds in a pincer

This is the kind of strategic opportunity generals salivate over. Too good to pass up. We will want to be careful in doing this, but we pretty much have to do it.
 
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