The First Great War

The First Great War began in September 1480 of the Galactic Standard calendar.  The First Great War was also marked as being the first conflict where the Dragonian people fought a war against a foreign and superior belligerent.  The War was considered a galactic war, due to there being battles that occured in space.
The war began when the Empire of Lushanea's 3rd Subjugation Fleet began an unprovoked orbital bombardment of the surface of Greater Dragonia in the middle of the night.  Hoping to capture the planet from the inhabitants and enslave as many of them as possible, the 3rd Fleet refrained from using weapons of mass destruction to keep as much of the infrastructure as possible intact for the coming occupation.
The First Great War occured over the course of 3 years with intense fighting all throughout the conflict with little to no respite for either side.  It was characterized by an enormous loss of life, totalling close to 22,000,000 dead between the two sides.  This was the second time the Lushanean Empire attempted to subjugate the planet of Dragonia.
===Theater of Operations:  Greater Dragonia===
The Battle of Greater Dragonia occured from October 1480 to March of 1481.  The first massive concentration of Lushanean ground troops was situated mainly on Greater Dragonia with hopes to cut off the Dragonian leadership quickly and to break the will of the people by capturing not only their capital city of Hirudegarn, but by capturing their main continent and turning their industrial base against them.
The battle began with steady and occasional orbital bombardments of multiple strategic communication and military assets across the continent, with the aim of cutting off the military from their senior leadership and thus turning the Dragonian military into more of a punching bag than anything else.  The orbital bombardments proceeded unhindered until the Dragonians were able to assemble and launch a Starbreaker AM56 Anti-Orbit Missile armed with 45 tons of ultra-high Explosive.  The missile, although hastily assembled managed to not only break orbit, but impact the Orbital Assault Ship, the Nadralanda, just forward of her fusion reactors.  The missile cracked the ship in half and destabilized the fusion reactors onboard the ship, causing an enormous secondary explosion to quickly finish off the ship.  WIthout orbital support, the Lushanean command sent in 3.5 million ground troops to begin the actual physical invasion of the continent.  Gabriel Helmsman assembled and met Moshir Nordenar Selbalada on the field of battle with 6.5 million Dragonian regular troops with 500000 conscripts, totalling 7 million troops.
====Battle For Hirudegarn I====
The first Battle for Hirudegarn began January of 1482 and lasted until April of 1482.  The battle itself was pretty straightforward for the Dragonian defenders who had to repel on numerous occasions massive pushes by the Lushanean 23rd Assault Brigade. Moshir Nordenar Selbalada organized his attacking forces into Probing Spikes, which is a standard Lushanean battle tactic where they send troops into an enemy-held location to test out defenses and weaknesses in the defenders emplacements.  Each Probing Spike was made up of 750 troops and 40 armored personnel carriers.
The Probing Spikes were easily repelled due to the sheer overwhelming number of defenders in Hirudegarn.  President Helmsman realized that it was only a matter of time before Nordenar sent in heavy battle tanks to act as siege breakers and to flush the defenders out of their machine gun nests and anti-tank emplacements.  To combat that potentially devastating scenario, President Helmsman ordered that his troops be issued with Handheld Anti-Tank rockets, enough for one per squad in order to stop any armored advance well before they could penetrate Hirudegarn's outer perimeter.  Combat Engineers were also used extensively, setting up anti-tank mines and razor wire emplacements to stop both tank and infantry advances into the city.  Hirudegarn was set up on a Plateau making it a naturally excellent defenders location as during certain portions of the day the Lushaneans couldn't attack from a given angle due to the sun being in their eyes, which allowed for the Dragonians to better concentrate their defenses in the locations they knew the Lushaneans would most likely use.  Hirudegarn was also surrounded by a perimeter wall, a leftover remnant from the Dragon War which aided in protecting the city in that the Lushaneans couldn't just swarm into the city from every direction and had to either capture and make use of the various gates into the city or take the wall down itself to gain entry.
Like President Helmsman predicted, the Lushanean ground forces eventually began using their tanks as siege breakers to flush the defenders out of their defensive positions by firing white phosphorous shells and tear gas tank rounds.  The displaced defenders allowed for the Lushaneans to advance across the relatively undefended and open low ground to set up a forward position closer to the plateau.  While President Helmsman was planning his next move with his military leaders, he received a telepathic transmission from Elder Farseer Galbrath.  The Dragons were engaging a large Lushanean assault force on the otherside of the planet in Lower Dragonia and they would hold the line as long as they could.  He also alerted Gabriel that there would be a large thunderstorm approaching their area within the next couple of days and to use it to their advantage.  Helmsman had an idea on how to turn the battle in the favor of the Dragonians but it would have to be carried out with expert precision.  Setting up Snipers at various locations in and around the city, while they harassed the Lushanean troops, the Dragonian Combat Engineers would set up explosives and destroy the roads and pathways leading up to the top of the Plateau and ultimately to Hirudegarn.  The plan worked and near the end of the day, the first large explosions rang out with the destruction of every road and pathway leading up the to the top of the plateau destroyed.  Moshir Selbalada contacted President Helmsman via a shortrange video frequency and mocked their use of desperation tactics but that they would not save the Dragonians from their ultimate fate.  Just when President Helmsman was beginning to lose his composure, one of his military leaders informed him that they were able to get communications back up with their military apparatus all around Dragonia.  He informed the President that the Dragonian forces were engaged in practically every location they were stationed on the planet but they were holding out with acceptable losses, while inflicting as much damage as they could, but they would need more supplies.  President Helmsman knew that most of their industrial base was located currently in Hirudegarn and that if they didn't break out of their predicament, they would doom not only themselves but the rest of their troops around the planet.  President Helmsman asked for any good news and he got it, they also were able to re-establish communication with the Dragonian Airforce, which had been relatively unscathed during the orbital bombardments of military targets.  That's when his General, Jason Terwilliger had an idea.  He proposed to President Helmsman that during the coming thunderstorm, when the enemy troops were bogged down with the water and mud while attempting to storm Hirudegarn they could use the airforce to pound the enemy into submission while they couldn't react.  He also informed Gabriel that he would be unable to get artillery support due to the delay in communications up until this point and that it wouldn't be plausible due to all of their military installations being hit at once.  He also suggested that President Helmsman allow him to take over battle operations in Greater Dragonia and that he get to safety while he could. President Helmsman acquiesced, and allowed General Terwilliger to take over defensive operations in Greater Dragonia.
General Terwilliger commissioned several squads to act as decoys for the coming plan.  The squads were to feign an attack on the troops basing at the bottom of the plateau with anti-tank weapons and machine guns.  After several minutes of fighting, they were to pull back and lure the enemy troops after them as to trick them into thinking that the enemy was cut off.  The Dragonian Sec-Ops was going to use false radio traffic to help sell the plan.  When the thunderstorm was beginning and the rain was falling, the plan was carried out.  The platoon sent down to lure the enemy in, designated Alpha Platoon performed as planned, taking out dozens of armored vehicles and several main battle tanks before falling back.  After taking losses to a quarter of their platoon, they reached the top of the plateau where Sec-Ops gave retreat orders with the most desperation they could muster.  Alpha Platoon also noted to the General that the hill was difficult to traverse even on foot, much less an armored vehicle.  The enemy took the bait.  The Lushanean 23rd Assault Brigade moved toward the plateau and started their way up toward Hirudegarn.  The Dragonian defenders lying in wait nearby opened up on the bogged down troops with machine guns, anti-tank rockets and grenades.  The resulting bloodbath and confusion, mixed with the strewn about vehicles unable to move from the mud all the while being pinned in between themselves threw the Lushanean Brigade into panic.  The remaining troops not on the plateau climb provided fire support with other armored vehicles and snipers, but were matched with equally effective sniper fire.  General Terwilliger contacted the Dragonian Airforce and ordered several Truncheon runs.  Within the hour, fifteen Truncheon Atmospheric fortresses unleashed carpet bombing onto the enemy occupied hillside and the field below them.  Each equipped with 150 tons of high-explosives, the resulting 2 and a quarter kilotons of bombs absolutely decimated the 23rd Assault Brigade, turning them and the field into a smoking wasteland of twisted vehicles, vaporized bodies and craters.  The remnants of the 23rd fell back to regroup.  Dragonia had won the day.
===Theater of Operations: Lower Dragonia===
Hot on the heels of the victory at Hirudegarn, General Terwilliger wasted no time in coordinating the defense efforts on the other side of the planet in Lower Dragonia.  The General got in contract with Lieutenant General Sylvia Kylie, who was the second highest ranked member of the Dragonian Armed Forces up to that day and they began a strategy conference and information session about her current manpower and assets in comparison to the enemies.  As predicted, she was outnumbered and outgunned, but holding out in common Dragonian fashion.