Right then! To simplify the map, following the principal highway:
Perunu (port) - river - Svarozic (industry, 1 AA) - river - Numitorem (airfield, 1 AA) - river - Svantevit (capital, 1 AA nearby?)
Here is what I can gather of a working plan:
Intelligence/Propaganda to suggest that Perunu is the principal target
land a large force near Svantevit
land a smaller force south of Svarozic to advance overland
put one defensive AA unit at each of Enki, Mardux and Asher, leaving Tiamat exposed
I’m not convinced by the idea of an initial airfield landing: we don’t know about the status of AA at the airfield (though it seems likely that there is some).
I’m concerned about the possibility of a seaborne counterattack from Perunu to Tiamat.
Pleased to see the President has prioritised the economy. The chair and I will make sure we keep our country running and help the Silvanians back on their feet when we’ve got a proper government in place there.
I’ve done a bit of work trying to sort through the information and opinions we have so far. Here it is in bullet points by committee member.
Naval Transport:
Aim to sink submarines
Attack less well-defended targets from the air
Do not attack the port
Intelligence:
Beware of Silvanian offensives
Has critical intel that can’t be shared
Concerned about abductions
Concerned that the Silvanians might attack our factories
Defensive forces are central and Western
Svatevit (capital) is less defended [but see recent radio broadcast]
Naval chief:
We should not fear their subs
Priority to use aerial bombardment to destroy bridges
Then use a naval convoy to attack the capital on land
Treasury:
Keep the war short. Win fast.
Economic warfare:
Priority target is Svarozic (manufacturing town), to isolate the port and reduce communications
Svarozic has one AA unit
Resistance and Propaganda:
The capital (Svantevit) is the ultimate target, with a land invasion
Beaches south of Svarozic (manufacturing town) are clear of enemy forces
One AA unit is in Numitorem (defending the airfield)
Can only fly on half of the days due to the weather
Enemy AA can’t be bombed, and can protect a 15km range
Keen to take an airport (Numitorem) to land troops
Radio in the corner:
AA unit at the coast south of Svantevit (capital)
We currently have no information about the whereabouts of 3 out of 6 of their AA brigades, but here’s a map showing roughly the ones we know about (though I’ve had to improvise what ‘south of Svantevit’ means):
I don’t want to get too involved in the detailed military planning, but I will reiterate what I said earlier about keeping it short. We don’t have the supplies to support a months- or years-long occupation or siege.
One thing that I’ve been thinking about, and that map makes clearer, is that the way to approach Svantevit is not to land on the south coast and slog through the mountains but to go round to the east, land in that bay, and take the much shorter overland route.
Does it make sense to move one of our AA units from Ashur to Tiamat? Ashur is a longer flight, and while our AA coverage is quite limited, it seems like a tougher target with that overland segment.
Me too, it is a longer way, but it is either that or just east of the river and advance through the road to the capital. We cannot risk them blowing that bridge and cutting us off.
Regarding the submarine threat, our superiority with destroyers should suffice, provided we can have air support against their destroyers. 8 destroyers working in tandem should be sufficient to keep the transport convoy safe from submarine attacks.
Intelligence/Propaganda to suggest that Perunu is the principal target
destroyers concentrate on ASW in the Gulf between about Perunu and the southern tip of the Svantevit mountains, attempting to sink enemy submarines and transports
5 transport flotillas land 5 infantry divisions on the coast east of Svantevit
3 transport flotillas land 3 infantry south of Svarozic to advance overland
once those two targets are suppressed, remaining forces move towards each other by road to attack Numitorem in a pincer
bomber wings attack ships (if capable), support beach landings, and support troops where possible given enemy AA coverage; leave bridges intact as far as possible but attack enemy troops if spotted, especially if on the move.
put one defensive AA unit at each of Enki, Mardux and Tiamat, leaving Ashur exposed
As I see it: the western attack is effectively escorted by the ASW destroyer patrols in that area. The eastern attack might need some escort during the final run round the coast.
Good. I think that can definitely work. Bombers scouting for enemy destroyers and submarines when on the surface would be a great complement to the plan.
You can’t, but you can spot them when on the surface, and tell our destroyers where to look for.
Your planes are better at scouting, and that let’s our destroyers know where to hunt combining tandem work of active sonar to flush them out and give them help with our depth charges. Team work is key on ASW.
I may be able to persuade insurgents to attack a relatively static position such as a bridge, the artillery protecting the port, or an air defence battery which we know the position of. I mention this now as I didn’t want people to suggest blowing up bridges we might want later, and no-one wanted to risk an attack on their port.
