Battle of Long'shi

Goyanes

Worldbuilder
-
TNP Nation
Goyanes
Discord
goya#6469
The high seas west of Skanda and Ascalon. June 1940. The Fascist Wars were rolling along at their highest efficiency. Everyone and their cousin had someone they knew fighting. Fighting, at least in the Northwest, was a likely free ride to the afterlife. The lucky who left the battles unscathed have it ingrained into their mind, that the war is not over yet. The war was not near to being over yet. Those on the high seas may have had it slightly worse, or slightly better, depending on who you’d’ve asked, but there is probably nothing worse in life than getting chosen from the navy draft for the U service. The U service in the 40s was just as close as a living hell as there was. You were to spend 75 days at a time stuck in a slender metal tube, sometimes over water, sometimes under. It was hot inside, and in the summer, it was particularly bad. It was muggy, it was sweaty, it was closer to a sauna than a high tech war vessel.

The objectives of the U-service in the southern Iterian waters was to disrupt the flow of Fascist Eras Dominion shipping to the small Imperyk dominion of Skanda. Ships were grouped into wolfpacks of three to six submarines, and were strung across trade routes to harass enemy convoys.

The Goyanean submarine U-477 and her wolfpack of 5 other submarines, U-430, U-453, U-476, U-480, and U-478, all of which had already gone to their designated patrol areas, lurked just below the surface, snorkeling air as they cruised at snorkel speed, six knots. Kaptajnløjtnant* Mikel Frongsson, of mixed Goyanean-Ascalonian descent, was in charge of the 477. He had 25 years of submarine experience, and was one of the best commanding officers in the U-service. He was peering through the periscope as he saw far off in the distance, the grey silhouettes of Andrennian ships steaming towards Skanda.

“All Stop!” commanded Mikel. The other officers repeated the message back, turning dials, opening valves, and doing the normal sequence of events as the submarine drifted to a halt.

“Sonar, confirm my visual. Heading 0-1-2 degrees off the ship’s bow.”

“Aye sir. Contact confirmed at 0-1-2 off bow.” responded Veissmann, the sonar operator.

Frongsson ordered the ship to turn to the proper firing heading.

“Ready tubes 1 through 6, heading dead ahead, distance, 6000 meters.”

The ordinance master opened valves, and each one of the six forward tubes flooded with water.

“All forward tubes ready sir.”

“Fire on my mark.”

Frongsson looked through his periscope. The atmosphere was tense inside the sub.

“Fire tubes one, two and three, now!”

The sounds of torpedoes leaving their tubes was heard throughout the ship. Executive Officer Jorgan started his timers.

“6 minutes until impact sir.”

“Thank you”

Approximately 6 minutes later, the sonar chief winced at the loud sound of exploding torpedoes coming through his headset.

The captain spoke out loud, announcing his exploits. “Three confirmed explosions. Jorgan, note this in the log books.”

“Aye sir.”

“Snorkel depth. Snorkel full speed at one hundred and eighty degrees. Let’s get out of here before the depth charges start coming.”
Kaptajnløjtnant = Lieutenant Captain
 
It was 8:30AM - 0830h - in the streets on the east side of Azarsodt, but the normal bustle of one of the largest cities in the world was gone. In its place, the occasional engineer team setting up machinegun nests and artillery posts, sometimes interspersed with a platoon of soldiers or militia. The only sound to be heard was the not-so-distant thunder of artillery and tank treads on hard concrete. This was the battle of Azarsodt, the largest engagement in Sastennic history to date, right in Azarten’s capital. If they had been fighting any other enemy, they’d have gracefully surrendered days ago. But not to Varaten – to fascist Varaten. Their ancient, once-respected rival having given in to an ideology and alliance that made a mockery of everything Sastennic culture stood for, all in their quest for naked power, to reunite Sasten under their twisted version of reality.

But this would not be a battlefield story for Arat Kivi’az to tell his clanmates. He was a Névurzed[1], a cruiser captain, with the Royal Azartennic Navy, and he would be leaving the besieged city with his ship, alongside a sizeable fleet of other cruisers and destroyers – and all six of Azarten’s aircraft carriers. Rather than stay behind to lend their powerful artillery to the defence of Azarsodt, they would be sailing into the Meterran sea, to assist the allied navies in defeating the Dominion forces and cut off the shipping that regimes like Varaten’s relied on.

The ride from his clan’s block[2] to the naval base was long and silent, neither his driver nor himself offering any commentary on the empty streets passing by. He was somewhat shocked though when the car came out into a clearing; five blocks in every direction from the navy yard had been flattened and the rubble pressed into the ground. In their place, a large minefield, backed by heavy concrete fortifications lined with surplus tank and ship turrets. He immediately knew this was a killing field, a wide area where the base’s defenders could fire at any incoming attackers without giving them too much cover. Still, he could only ask himself why his fleet was being sent away when the fighting would be this desperate; but the answer was the same: this was no longer a Sastennic war, this was everyone’s war. Varaten helped the Dominion, and Azarten helped the Allies – and the Allies would help Azarten in return.

As the car drove up to the dockside, he could only marvel at his ship: the AKZ Kuvorten, hull number FK[3]-46. It was an Iriyadt-class heavy cruiser, just a year old and third of its class, armed with twelve 220mm (8.7in) L/60 autoloading main guns, and equipped with the latest technology and secondary weaponry available to Azarten. While the navy’s newest heavy cruisers would certainly be an asset in Azarsodt, the Queen’s High Command thought they could be more useful in the wider Allied war effort, the battleships and frigates providing plenty of artillery and AAA on the mainland coast. And so it would be; Névurzed Arat Kivi’az would be commanding his ship to leave the besieged city behind.



It was 1530h by the time the Kuvorten was under way. In just seven and a half hours, the Varatennic war machine had already pushed into the east side, even sending a few tanks into the navy yard’s minefield and artillery clearing before wisely deciding not to lose more for a while; the last two hours of the ship’s preparations had been punctuated by the base’s artillery turrets firing on any would-be attackers. Névurzed Arat only became even more apprehensive as the hours of dragged on, but the admiralty assured his battlegroup that their orders had not changed, and that they were to continue their mission even if Azarsodt fell. It was no comfort though, seeing the city he’d known for most of his life being shot to pieces and trod over by these…fascists. Nevertheless, he’d left port, left it to the city’s defenders. All he could do was steam ahead, follow orders, and wonder who’s flag would fly in whatever was left of the navy yard when he returned.



[1] Technically, Névurzed translates closer to "Captain, 2nd-grade"; it is approximately equivalent to a "lower half" OF-5 according to IRL NATO ranks; Falvurzed would be the "upper half" of OF-5.
[2] Sastennic culture revolves around a clan system, rather than immediate families. A clan is a very large entity; in cities, clan members will frequently pitch in and buy several large apartment buildings and connect them together to form a larger complex. The word for these complexes is often translated to "block".
[3] FK refers to "Falkruzer", the Sastennic word for 'heavy cruiser' - Fal = large, grand, high, great; Kruzer is a Sastennic-spelled loanword. The Azartennic navy's hull-numbering system is quite similar to that of the US Navy IRL, although there are differences, not least of which is that Sastennic hull designations do not come from Mercanti/English.
 
The Skandans marched, as they had been for a few days now. They marched towards the Ascalonian border, making their way through the treacherous rainforests of their own homeland, and the high mountains that separated the two small nations of Skanda and Ascalon. Skanda, although quite autonomous, was still drawn into the Fascist War by Andrenne who was still technically it’s colonial master. This meant the Allies could attack it at any point.. Though invading Skanda was not an easy task in the slightest. The Allies would have to attempt to advance through deserts, mountains, rainforests, and swamps. All of which may have Skandans hiding in them, preparing to pop out and ambush any potential invaders. Booby traps were everywhere on the paths through the dense rainforests and swamps, and the foliage made it easy to hide for Skandans. Luckily for the Allies, they weren’t on the attack today. Skanda was. They were going to get revenge for the Allies sinking the Andrennian vessels that were on their way to Saito before being blown to hell.

They managed to get through their own mountains, and now found themselves in a large valley between the two warring nations. The colossal mountains stood on both sides of them. A smaller town was nearby. They had barely managed to get their tanks through the paths, and Skandan planes were standing by to provide Close Air Support. Perhaps the small town wouldn’t give much resistance. They marched towards Long’shi, approaching with caution. They stopped shortly before they would be spotted by the town. An officer signaled for a radioman, who came over quickly. He spoke in Skandan. “We’re ready to begin the attack. Start the air raid.” The radio man scattered to cover, and shortly after, Skandan planes zipped over the mountains, some diving down to do strafing runs on the small town. Most flew by towards a nearby Ascalonian airfield. The Skandans needed to knock out the ability for the Allies to quickly respond in the air. The Skandan planes began their air raid on the airfield, as the infantry in the valley quickly rose from their positions and began the charge, bayonets forward as they ran towards Long’shi. They shouted their various battle cries as they took on the small scouting force at Long’shi.

After the initial battle had been won, they began raiding the town itself. They took whatever supplies they could, and left the civilians alone unless they attempted to stop the Skandans, in which case they “silenced” them. They began fortifying the town, preparing for an Ascalonian counterattack. They made cover from sandbags, and due to the mountainous terrain the new “Type 40 ‘Nusa’” medium tanks were set up as a form of artillery, loading HE and waiting in set positions. They could also easily load AP should the Ascalonians bring tanks. Their air support waited at their own nearby airfield. Skandans waited in small buildings and foliage, setting booby traps on the perilous mountain road to Long’shi. Any counterattack would be met with a lot more force than Long’shi had been defended with.
 
The telephones at Ascalon's emergency information center were ringing like crazy with reports of the recent Skandan invasion of Long'shi. The Ascalonian authorities would have to mobilize quickly to prevent any further advance of the Skandan army. Available resources were to come from the northeast and southeast. However, due to the remoteness of Long'shi's location, resources that were not troops were going to take about a week to make it.

The road through the mountains was long and windy. A rather arduous trek. The pass named after a mystical red dragon revealed a sight about 7 miles away down onto the town. The flag of Skanda was waving in the flagpost placed in the roundabout at the center of town.

They decided to wait there, until the heavy armor arrived a couple days later. They'd have to be quiet and stealthy to avoid detection.
 
ENCRYPTED RADIO MESSAGE

FROM: ROYAL ADMIRALTY OF AZARTEN EASTERN COMMAND, ROYAL NAVY DEPOT AZARSODT - SURROUNDED BUT STILL FIGHTING
TO: AKZ KUVORTEN KF-46, AND ACCOMPANYING ESCORTS
INFO: CARRIER BATTLEGROUP ZEG[1]-TWO

SUBJECT: NEW ORDERS

Following increased aggression by Dominion-aligned Skanda in the Iteriyaten region, we are diverting fleet carriers AKZ Sudarten, PF-5, AKZ Kraveridt, PF-6, AKZ Zu?broyidt, PF-8, southeast to that region of the sea.

It has been reported that the region of ocean north of Varaten and Demescia has seen a heightened number of attacks on Allied shipping and naval forces by Skandan and Varatennic surface vessels and submarines. Timely diversion of battlegroup Zeg-2 will require passage through that region.

AKZ Kuvorten, and its accompanying vessels, are hereby ordered to rendezvous with Zeg-2 and reinforce its escort group while transiting the central Meterran sea. You will receive further orders once you have arrived at the attached coordinates beyond the Lanseriyaten-Plembobriya line.

END ENCRYPTED RADIO MESSAGE



“Surrounded but still fighting”. The words rang in Névurzed Arat’s mind. Not 36 hours ago had his ship left port with the Varatennic Army only at the edge of the navy port, and now, the entire colossal complex had been surrounded. He remembered his last orders – “Report to Goyanean Imperial Navy Command in the event of Azartennic capitulation. Do not surrender.” Do not surrender. For thousands of years of Sastennic history, the defeated would surrender and be allowed to go on living. Never would they continue fighting and destroying even without hope, let alone be transferred to an enemy’s enemy just to keep killing. Just what has this war become?

No. He couldn’t occupy his mind with the situation back home. As long as the Silver Sun flew above Varaten, as they wiped away thousands of years of culture and history and all that created the Sastennic people, there could be no surrender. He could only play his part, and right now, that meant making sure the bloodthirsty packs of Dominion submarines wouldn’t go back to port with three aircraft carriers on their patrol records.

The carrier force was still a couple hundred kilometers away, previously assigned to help protect the critical Allied merchant shipping lanes and sink any Dominion warships in the seas to Azarten’s north. Still, he estimated that the rendezvous would be finished in just over six hours, well within his watch. “At least the sun’s out” he thought to himself. Not that it mattered much, in fact its searing heat could be a curse in this part of the world, but at least it made the atmosphere seem slightly less depressing. Perhaps, when the rendezvous was complete, he could relax somewhat…

“Radar contact, bearing one-zero-four, range approximately four-two kilometers!” Of course, this was war, an environment in which relaxation was a wistful dream, careful plans rarely lasted long, and hope never seemed to matter one way or the other. Arat glanced at the radar operator on the bridge. “Details?”

“Course estimated at 3-2-4 degrees, moving at approximately 4-5 kilometers per hour. Looks like three large ships surrounded by…eleven smaller ones. They’re at the limit of our radar range, so I can’t quite identify them exactly yet.” came the reply, somewhat disconcertingly.

Arat felt a wave of discomfort come over him. 45 kilometers per hour was much faster than any known merchant ships travelled; these had to be warships. “Any idea who’s they are?”

“They’re not responding on Allied frequencies,” said his radio operator. “Likely Dominion-affiliated.”

Arat knew this would be his first true test not just as captain of the Kuvorten, but also commander of the three destroyers accompanying his heavy cruiser. He knew he had to act quickly, and fourteen ships against his four were not odds he was comfortable fighting with.

“Raise the alert, all hands to battlestations, prepare ship for possible combat. Prepare the observation plane for launch. Helm, ahead flank.” His orders were quick and methodical, well-practised even if he wasn’t the most experienced cruiser captain. Glancing over at his radio operator, he ordered him to contact the carrier group and request air support. All that done, he glanced at the engine telegraph – instead of increasing, it had dropped to ahead 2/3. “Not good” he thought, running for the engineering room intercom, its call light illuminating as he picked up the phone. “Bridge to engineering, this is the captain speaking. What is going on down there?!”

“Sir, chief engineer responding. Turbine two has suffered a pressure valve failure in the main inflow pipe. We can’t increase the pressure without blowing it and possibly destroying the turbine. It's hard to tell, but it'll probably take at least fifty minutes to repair.”

That settled it, the Kuvorten would not be outrunning the Dominion fleet; instead, they would have to fight, and hope the carriers’ air support arrived before they were all halfway to the seafloor. Arat quickly ordered his bridge crew into the conning tower; it was somewhat cramped and had almost no outside view, but it was thickly-armoured enough to resist a 350mm battleship gun, unlike the bridge, which could be put out of action by a machinegun. It would be rather nice if he could come out of this engagement alive.



By the time the conning tower control room was active, the scout plane was already in the air. The pilot confirmed what Arat suspected: the radar contact was a group of Varatennic ships. Among them, two light cruisers, three destroyers, eight light frigates – and a Varatennic battlecruiser; this was confirmed by the radar operator in short order, the ships now clearly in range. This battlecruiser was confirmed as the VKZ Dtezar, an aging ship from 900 (1918), but still armed with nine 320mm guns. It was very fast and very powerful, but very weakly armoured – its main belt was just 80mm thick, lighter even than the Kuvorten’s. The other ships were a pair of light cruisers dating from around 915 (1933), relatively modern, but still far behind Azarten’s newest ships; the destroyers were from the 910-class, older but still useful; and the frigates were a fairly modern design, all built between 917 (1935) and 921 (1939) – some were less than a year old, although they were only armed with two 88mm guns, four torpedoes and a handful of 20mm AA weapons. Despite their lack of age however, Varaten had been far behind technologically, and not a single one of the ships had any radar or automatic gun loaders.

This contrasted to Arat’s single heavy cruiser and three destroyers. His cruiser was equipped with twelve 220mm guns that effectively outranged every weapon Varaten had, even the larger battlecruiser’s guns; his ship was also equipped with a highly-advanced radar and fire-control computer which together allowed the ship to throw shells with superb accuracy up to 35km away; he also had a secondary battery of 130mm guns in single-mount turrets that could supplement the destroyers’ firepower. As for the rest of the group, two of the destroyers were quite modern, equipped with sonars and radars of their own and carrying eight autoloading 130mm guns in twin mounts as well as a dozen torpedoes in swivel launchers, but his third destroyer was a very old design, dating from 896 (1914) and armed only with three unprotected deck guns and four torpedo tubes, having been pulled out of mothball due to the navy’s desperate need for more escorts – little more than a liability for anything more than lobbing depth bombs, fending off lone aircraft and making the fleet look bigger than it effectively was. These were not good odds. But he could not escape now, his engines stuck at ahead 2/3's until engineering could fix the turbine. He had to stay and fight.

“Fire control, load AP-HE in the 220’s. Calculate a firing solution for target Master-2 (the battlecruiser). Hold fire until my command.” Now came the hardest part, waiting for the firing solution, and for the enemy ships to come in range. And as luck would have it, they appeared to have evaded the Varatennic ships so far...



[1] 'Zeg' is a Sastennic word for 'defend' or 'patrol'. In this context, battlegroup Zeg-2 is a large fleet of ships patrolling the ocean for dominion vessels and protecting Allied shipping. It will be split-up and re-designated once it arrives off the Iterian coast and switches roles from purely a defensive fleet to attacking the Skandan navy.
 
The “wolf pack” of Skandan subs moved through the water, near silently in their silent running mode, at a speed of just 5 knots per hour. Two of the five were at the rather shallow depth of just 40-50 meters, the other 3 were further below at roughly 125 meters-200 meters. The one at the most shallow depth had its periscope rise above the water. They did a thorough scan of their surroundings, reporting what they found to their nearby allies. Multiple large ships spotted, yet to be identified as a specific ship class.It had been reported by their Varatennic allies in the Dominion that multiple submarines had been sunk in this area very recently. They lowered their periscope, lowering their depth as well by about 5 meters. The three subs at lower depths moved closer to the surface, now between 60-50 meters. The were fairly spread out, horizontally. The “lead” sub, i.e. the one that had spotted the ships, gave a quick Morse message to the others in the wolf pack, giving bearing and range of the ships, also giving them permission to adjust as needed. Roughly half an hour later, they were ready to attack. The ‘lead’ submarine launched a torpedo towards one of the few destroyers. Two other submarines did the same towards other destroyers. The three submarines that had launched their torpedoes changed course, one going right, the other two going left. They glided through the water, hopefully their surprise attack paying off- well, if it hadn’t already been detected that is. There was a chance that they picked up the Morse message that they had sent our, regardless of how short it was.

Meanwhile in the town of Long’shi itself, the fortifications had been made much beefier, the traps more numerous, and so on and so forth. “Dragon’s Teeth” had been erected, with rows and rows of barbed wire in between and in front of the teeth, and sandbags had been thrown in places that lacked cover. Small ditches and holes had been made in small hills and mounds of dirt, where machine guns and snipers sat in waiting for the enemy, their “hidey-holes” covered in vegetation in an attempt to hide them. Landmines lie past the newly set up defenses (also in between the dragon’s teeth), creating a small minefield. Machine guns were also set up in taller buildings to attempt and give them a better view of the battlefield. Specialized soldiers ran back and forth, delivering ammo to machine gunners before the battle even started. They had attempted to tow anti-air guns up, but had only been successful in bringing around 4 “Triple-25” anti-air guns (though they could also be used against light armor). A single artillery piece had been set up, quite far behind the town. The new occupants of Long’shi we’re ready to defend the town at all costs.

Soldiers stood in line, facing their officers and standing at arms with their various guns, ranging from bolt action rifles to submachine guns. They barked orders at various soldiers, assigning them jobs to help prepare a few more defenses, scout for enemies, check ammo and food stores, etc. The officer got to Hideo, who held his Type 38 ‘Usai’ submachine gun closely to his body as the officer gave him his orders in Skandan. “Nakamoto! Go around the machine gun emplacements, make sure they have ammo stockpiled. Afterwards, go ahead and scout ahead of our fortifications, bring Ishida with you.” He said gesturing to another soldier, roughly Hideo’s age. “Report any enemy positions, units, and armor. That’s all, you’re dismissed.” Hideo saluted and gave a quick “Hae’sau!” (“Yes sir!”) He was dismissed and slung his Type 38 over his shoulder, moving with Ishida to the many machine gun emplacements and confirming that they had ammo stockpiled and ready. Hideo looked towards what might be a nice place to scout from, a small ridge jutting out from one of the mountains on either side of the town. A little bit difficult to clamber up to, but eventually they both made it. There was little room to spare, but it was a great position to scout from. They could see past their defenses with binoculars, so they did. Well, Hideo did- Ishida was waiting to write down anything that Hideo saw with his binoculars.
 
(I have been given permission to post for Ascalon by Goy until he has time to post again.)

The artillery boomed like thunder, shells raining down upon the town from the ridge nearby. The Ascalonians could do nothing but wait. Occasionally, small skirmishes between Skandan and Ascalonian patrols would result in a few dead or injured, but nothing major over the next week. Not only were the Ascalonians waiting supplies, but the Skandans were as well. The mountains made it difficult to get supplies to both armies. Aside from supplies, reinforcements from both side had arrived. The Skandans had waited for some lighter armor to arrive as well as anti-tank guns and a few more anti-air guns. The Ascalonians had waited for their heavy armor on the other hand. Both armies were anxious for the oncoming fight. Everyone could sense the impending doom coming to both sides, and an overarching sense of dread had washed over them. Still, morale was high for both armies. The upcoming battle would be long, difficult, and bloody, and both sides knew it.
 
Back
Top