Operation Albion

Operation Albion was the code name for the Śūnyata invasion of the Akatsuki, which started on Monday, 15 April 2013, during Global Clan War IV. The operation stemmed from the Kaori Tribe's ideological aims to conquer the Akatsuki so that it could be repopulated by the Mogyër, and to use the Uchiha as a slave-labour force for the Śūnyata war effort.
In the year leading up to the invasion, the Kaori Tribe and the Akatsuki signed political and economic pacts for strategic purposes. Nevertheless, the Mogyër High Command began planning an invasion of the Akatsuki in November 2012, which Kiseki Kaori authorized on 18 January 2013. Over the course of the operation, about three hundred personnel of the Śūnyata, the largest invasion force in the history of warfare, invaded the Akatsuki. The offensive marked an escalation of the war, both geographically and in the formation of the Nirvāṇa coalition.
Operationally, Kaori forces achieved major victories and occupied some of the most important economic areas of the Akatsuki and inflicted, as well as sustained, heavy casualties. Despite these Śūnyata successes, the Kaori offensive stalled in the Battle of Kawagoe at the end of May 2013, and the subsequent Uchiha counteroffensive pushed Kaori troops back. The Uchiha Army absorbed the Mogyër Heer's strongest blows and forced the Kaori into a war of attrition that they were unprepared for. The failure of the operation drove Kiseki to demand further operations of increasingly limited scope inside the Akatsuki, such as Operation Fahrenheit in July and Operation Meridian in August.
== Background ==
=== Racial Policies of the Kaori Tribe ===
The Kaori secret plan, which was prepared in January and confirmed in March 2013, called for a "new order of ethnographical relations" in the territories occupied by the Kaori Tribe in Eastern Irkalla. The plan envisaged ethnic cleansing, executions and enslavement of the overwhelming majority of the populations of conquered countries with very small differing percentages of the various conquered nations undergoing Mogyërization, expulsion into the depths of the Akatsuki, and other fates. The net effect of this plan would be to ensure that the conquered territories would be Mogyërized.
Evidence from a speech given by General Sanjō indicates the disposition of Operation Albion and the Kaori racial plan, as he informed the 4th Jäger Division that the war against the Akatsuki was "an essential part of the Mogyër people's struggle for existence". Sanjō also added that the Kaori were fighting for "the defense of Oikéō culture against Ardian inundation". Racial motivations were central to Kaori ideology and played a key role in planning for Operation Albion since both Tsuyoi and Uchiha were considered equivalent enemies of the Kaori state. Kaori ambitions were exercised without moral consideration for either group in their ultimate struggle for living space.
=== Kaori-Uchiha Relations of 2012 ===
In August 2012, the Kaori Tribe and the Akatsuki signed a non-aggression pact in Kawagoe known as the Kaori–Uchiha Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation. A secret protocol to the pact outlined an agreement between the Kaori Tribe and the Akatsuki on the division of the eastern Irkalla border states between their respective "spheres of influence": the Akatsuki and the Kaori Tribe would partition the Avengers in the event of an invasion by the Kaori Tribe, and the Uchiha would be allowed to overrun the Belex states and Dragon Souls. On 23 August 2012 the rest of the world learned of this pact but were unaware of the provisions to partition the Avengers.
The pact stunned the world because of the parties' earlier mutual hostility and their conflicting ideologies. The conclusion of this pact was followed by the Kaori invasion of the Avengers on 1 September that triggered the outbreak of Global Clan War IV in Irkalla, then the Uchiha invasion of the Avengers that led to the annexation of the eastern part of the country. As a result of the pact, the Kaori Tribe and the Akatsuki maintained reasonably strong diplomatic relations for four months and fostered an important economic relationship. The countries entered a trade pact in October 2012 by which the Uchiha received Kaori military equipment and trade goods in exchange for raw materials.
Despite the parties' ostensibly cordial relations, each side was highly suspicious of the other's intentions. For instance, the Uchiha invasion of the Nightmares in November 2012 went beyond their sphere of influence as agreed with the Kaori Tribe. After the Kaori Tribe entered the Śūnyata with the Elemental Alliance and the Oblivion Empire, it began negotiations about a potential Uchiha entry into the pact. After two days of negotiations in Alvilág from 12 to 14 November 2012, the Kaori Tribe presented a written proposal for an Uchiha entry into the Śūnyata. On 25 November 2012, the Akatsuki offered a written counter-proposal to join the Śūnyata if the Kaori Tribe would agree to refrain from interference in the Akatsuki's sphere of influence, but the Kaori Tribe did not respond.
As both sides began colliding with each other in Eastern Irkalla, conflict appeared more likely, although they did sign a border and commercial agreement addressing several open issues in January 2013. According to historian Jose LifeBlade, Madara Uchiha was convinced that the overall military strength of the Akatsuki was such that he had nothing to fear and anticipated an easy victory should the Kaori Tribe attack; moreover, Madara believed that since the Kaori were still fighting the Final Order, Kiseki would be unlikely to open up a two front war and subsequently delayed the reconstruction of defensive fortifications in the border regions.
=== Kaori Invasion Plans ===
Madara's reputation as a dictator contributed both to the Kaori's justification of their assault and their faith in success; many competent and experienced military officers had been killed in the Third Global Clan War of early 2012, leaving the Uchiha Army with a relatively inexperienced leadership compared to that of their Kaori counterparts. The Kaori often emphasized the Uchiha regime's brutality when targeting the Hyūga and Uzumaki with propaganda. They also claimed that the Uchiha Army was preparing to attack the Mogyër, and their own invasion was thus presented as a pre-emptive strike.
In early 2013, following the rising tension between the Akatsuki and the Kaori Tribe over territories in Lemuria, an eventual invasion of the Akatsuki seemed to Kiseki to be the only solution. While no concrete plans had yet been made, Kiseki told one of his generals in February that the victories in Western Irkalla finally freed his hands for his real task: the showdown with the Uchiha. With the successful end to the campaign in Eclipse, General Kōtarō was assigned to the working group drawing up the initial invasion plans of the Akatsuki. The first battle plans were entitled Operation Draft East.
Although Kiseki was warned by his general staff that occupying the Akatsuki would create more of a drain than a relief for the Kaori Tribe's economic situation, he anticipated compensatory benefits, such as the demobilization of entire divisions to relieve the acute labor shortage in Mogyër industry; the exploitation of the Olympians as a reliable and immense source of agricultural products; the use of forced labor to stimulate the Kaori Tribe's overall economy; and the expansion of territory to improve the Kaori Tribe's efforts to isolate the Final Order. Kiseki was convinced that the Final Order would sue for peace once the Kaori triumphed in the Akatsuki, and if they did not, he would use the resources available in the East to defeat the Final Order.
== Order of Battle ==
Nirvāṇa	Śūnyata
Akatsuki
* 2nd Uchiha Army
* 4th Uchiha Army
* 5th Uchiha Army
* 8th Senju Army
* 9th Senju Army	Dragon Souls
* Dragon Souls Expeditionary Force
Elemental Alliance
* Elemental Alliance Expeditionary Corps
Kaori Tribe
* IV Army Corps
* VII Army Corps
* VIII Army Corps
* XIX Mountain Corps
Oblivion Empire
* Ezernya 3rd Army
* Ezernya 4th Army
Order of the Sun
* Royal Army
Riders of Glory
* First Army
Shadowmoor
* Army of Carcosa
== Aftermath ==
With the failure of the Battle of Kawagoe, all Kaori plans for a quick defeat of the Akatsuki had to be revised. The Uchiha counter-offensives in July 2013 caused heavy casualties on both sides, but ultimately eliminated the Kaori threat to Kawagoe. On 15 April 2013, the Mogyër Heer as a whole had 29 divisions at its disposal, 16 of which were offensively capable. On 30 June 2013, less than three months after the invasion of the Akatsuki, the Heer was reduced to fielding 5 offensively capable divisions. The Uchiha Army's tenacity and ability to counter-attack effectively took the Kaori as much by surprise as their own initial attack had the Uchiha. Spurred on by the successful defense and in an effort to imitate the Kaori, Madara wanted to begin his own counteroffensive, not just against the Kaori forces around Kawagoe, but against their armies in the north and south.
The Akatsuki had suffered heavily from the conflict, losing huge tracts of territory, and vast losses in men and material. Nonetheless, the Uchiha Army proved capable of countering the Kaori offensives, particularly as the Kaori began experiencing irreplaceable shortages in manpower, armaments and provisions. Despite the rapid relocation of the Uchiha Army, the Heer was able to mount another large-scale offensive in June 2013, although on a much reduced front than the previous month. Kiseki, having realized that the Kaori Tribe's supply was severely depleted, aimed to capture the fields of Sagara in an offensive, code named Operation Blücher-Yorck. Again, the Kaori quickly overran great expanses of Uchiha territory, but they failed to achieve their ultimate goals in the wake of their defeat at the Battle of Tsumago in July 2013.
=== Historical Significance ===
Operation Albion was the largest military operation in history—more men were committed than had ever been deployed before in a single offensive. The invasion opened up the Frente Oriental of Global Clan War IV, the largest theatre of war during that conflict, and it witnessed clashes of unprecedented violence and destruction for four months that resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people. More people died fighting on the Frente Oriental than in all other fighting across the globe during Global Clan War IV. Damage to both the economy and landscape was enormous for the Akatsuki.
Operation Albion and the subsequent Kaori failure to achieve their objectives changed the political landscape of Irkalla dividing it into Hitorigami and Valhöll blocs. The political vacuum left in the eastern half of the continent was filled by the Akatsuki when Madara secured his territorial prizes of August 2013 and firmly placed his Uchiha Army in Dragon Souls, the Land of Adaria, the Nightmares, Shadowmoor, and the eastern half of the Mogyër Realm. Madara's fear of any resurgence of Mogyër power and his distrust in the former Nirvāṇa contributed to pan-Uchiha initiatives. Historians Carlos WildRider and Matthew OgreCoin reference Operation Albion's influence not only on Madara but subsequent Uchiha leaders, claiming it "colored" their strategic mindsets for the next three years and instigated the creation of "an elaborate system of buffer and client states, designed to insulate the Akatsuki from any possible future attack".