THE POPE’S WOLVES Year 3 - January - April PAe87 – Northern Theater, Eastern Mediterranean Papal States forces have erupted across all fronts from the Sudan in Africa to the Black Sea in the Northern Theater. The ferocious push has thrown the Ottomans back and stunned other Allied Nations in its savagery and resolve. In January, the Vanguard that had been bereft of horses, vehicles and much of their equipment during their withdrawal to Bucharest, struck out from the fortress city in a series of devastating raids that took Russian Nightmen and their Ottoman leaders in the region by surprise, leaving the enemy disorganized, trying to adapt to this new threat. The shock of these raids came as a result of how they were executed – from the air. Attacking from Order of St. Gabriel airships, Legionaries of the Fulmene Ferri, soldiers of the Frontier Corps and King’s Rangers, Panzer Grenadiers and Papal States Crusaders struck far and wide across the region. Using tactics adapted from the famous British American Air Lancers, formerly adversaries of the Fulmene Ferri, the Vanguard moved rapidly, striking command and control areas, logistical lines and isolated troop concentrations. In the north, thousands of Crusaders and King’s Rangers descended from the sky in Rumania – cutting off the Nightmen’s line of retreat and cutting their way south, driving the disorganized nightmen ahead of them. In February, the port city of Varna was taken, threatening the northern border of Turkey. Varna has long been considered a stepping stone to taking the Ottoman capital in Constantinople. By the end of April the Ottomans have given the Vanguard’s airborne forces a nickname, “Gabriel’s Vultures”. Ottoman air and aester forces move north from the Balkans to try and gain control of the situation. Home guard troops from Turkey mass in the east in preparation to retake Varna. With the situation north of the Balkans spinning out of control for the Ottomans, the Pope finally orders the generalized attack. On St. Valentine’s Day, forces that have been massing through the winter are unleashed in what has been described by some allied commanders as “A tide of destruction”. The Ottoman front in Greece, weakened by resources being diverted to guard the east, collapses in less than two months. By the end of March, Crusader heavy mechanized forces storm across the border into Turkey for the first time. At the beginning of April, the Allies control the Danube and the river becomes the primary logistical pipeline for the region. The first allied attack boats move into the Black Sea in the second week of April. Order of St. Michael aesterships surge down from the Carpathian’s, tearing into the Ottoman aester navy guarding the Balkans, breeching the northern Turkish defense line. Ottoman air and aester forces trapped north of the Order of St. Michael battle line attempt to flee east over the Black Sea, but are met by British hybrid ships, Forgers and Raiders. Having landed along the coast and gone dark during the chaos in January, they reveal themselves and attack the escaping Ottoman ships. Large numbers of airships are shot down and many aesterships are crippled. Ottoman ships trapped between the hybrids and the St. Michael aesterships are hunted down and destroyed. The island of Crete comes under all-out assault by Papal States forces by air, land and sea. At the end of March, the island is taken. Losses among the Ottoman defenders at the hands of Crusaders are said to be “extreme”. Crete becomes the forward operating base of Papal States and Allied naval forces.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 20:11:09 +0000
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