Battle of Colina de Acônito

The Battle of Colina de Acônito, or the Battle of Wolfsbane Hill, was the largest decisive battle on Tupã Prime during the most violent stages of the Bernauerstad Independence War (a subset of the War on Terror). Fought between the pro-Coalition Isthmus Pact (which is composed of continental member states of the Stellar Republic of Tupã in active conflict) and the pro-independence Organisasie Bernauerstad from August 3rd to August 28th in 2691, it involved over five hundred thousand troops on both sides and led to the current frozen state of the conflict due to a Bernauerstad victory in preventing the Isthmus Pact from breaching into the Martial Bishopric of Eriquirimuênia (a Bernauerstad-aligned rogue state). A portion of the reason for the Bernauerstad victory is due to the Coalition government deliberately restricting the usage of ortillery and other spatial assets, in addition to restricting CBRN munitions, due to the threat of these weapons possibly starting a planetwide inferno or other major humanitarian catastrophe.
The battle mainly centered around the eponymous Colina de Acônito, or Wolfsbane Hill, a spanning but short-elevated terrain located forty kilometers south of the Eriquirimuênian-Rigelian border, in addition to the string of villages and hamlets that rounded the hill's base and nearby flatlands. However, after the battle, all of these settlements were obliterated, and the hill had suffered subsequent loss of elevation from the sheer amount of munitions that had detonated near or upon it.
In the opening stages of the battle, the Isthmus Pact advanced twenty divisions towards the direction of the hill as a means to assert control over the local area, which would in turn fold northern Eriquirimuênia under their control through the construction of an elaborate forward operating base on the hill's topside. However, with interception of their plans by mercenary netrunners hired by the Bernauerstad Organization, the United State of Krieland and the Republic of Csillogó had already amassed their forces deep within the jungles south of the hill with a combined force of ten divisions, in addition to reinforcements of three divisions under Father Érico Azevedo da Cruz, a division's worth of foreign mercenaries and insurgent assistance from the Holy Army, and most importantly over one hundred and fifty thousand tribal warriors assembled from throughout Eriquirimuênia that stood in defiance of Coalition encroachment into their self-perceived native lands. These forces were not spotted by the Isthmus Pact until near the beginning of the battle due to the Krielanders deploying broad-band signal jammers, obfuscating the entire region from orbital satellite and ship imagery. When the offensive began against what seemed like a rag-tag defense, it evolved into an intense dance of offensives and counteroffensives undertaken by both sides to wrest control over the Colina de Acônito.
The battle, being one of the largest land battles within the recent decade across all of the Coalition, involved a clash of nearly one million men, women, children, and battle droids, with both sides fielding child soldiers and stolen or bought synthetic warforms from megacorporations. Due to the Coalition government banning the Isthmus Pact from deploying nuclear, radiological, biological, or chemical weaponry in their war against the Bernauerstad Organization, the battle itself quickly grounded into trench warfare in open plains and asymmetric skirmishing in the jungles. The usage of incendiary weapons to burn the enemy out of trenches and jungles by both sides was mitigated by the arrival of Typhoon Serpent from the Thalassic Sea, forcing both sides to rely on assault tactics and armored offensives. However, since the impetus was on the Isthmus Pact to make a significant salient into Eriquirimuênia, the Bernauerstad Organization fell back onto guerilla warfare and defensive tactics whenever possible, using everything from suicide droids to punji traps. The fielding of a massive native army had ultimately balanced the battle in the defender's favor, with the anti-Coalition tribal warriors taking positions across vegetation and undesirable terrain to ambush Isthmus Pact troops at opportune moments using mixtures of electromagnetic and chemical guns and explosive munitions.
The battle came to an end when the Stellar Republic of Tupã, of which the member nations of the Isthmus Pact were constituent members of, ordered a retreat from northern Eriquirimuênia due to growing pan-Coalition attention on the war and it subsequently being compared to the beginning of a new Belial War. The United States of America and the People's Republic of China, with the former having spawned the republics of Auriga and Rigelia and the latter having supplied much of their non-corporate equipment, urged the Isthmus Pact to pull back and reconstitute their forces for a future offensive directly onto Krieland. In support of these plans, the US and China both announced their deployment of People's Liberation Army and United States Armed Forces units onto the planet in "peacekeeping roles", bypassing approval from the General Congress of the Coalition or the Coalition Corporate Advisory Committee due to their militaries' membership in the Combined Member National Subcommand and seeing the unfolding conflict as national security threats. Meanwhile, due to being unjustly invaded by the Isthmus Pact due to its Bernauerstad sympathies, Bishop-President Ernesto Guedes of Eriquirimuênia announced the nation's formal entry into the Bernauerstad Organization and denounced the Coalition of Congressional Republics for their sponsorship of the violence.
After this battle, the Isthmus Pact would later attempt a direct invasion of Krieland in 2697 in what would become the ongoing Battle of Admiraalsburg. They would also sack the Rigelian General Neymar Guthrie who had formulated and sponsored the offensive for Wolfsbane Hill, replacing him with the American expatriate officer Morgan MacDonald.
== Background ==
=== Bernauerstad Independence War ===
Prior to the Battle of Colina de Acônito, a state of war existed on the world of Tupã Prime due to the recent announcement of independence from the Coalition of Congressional Republics by the two rogue states of Krieland and Csillogó. Krieland, being a colony of Afrikaners and Germans who had left Earth, Hyperion, and other worlds in the late 2400s due to a combination of factors ranging from overpopulation to sociocultural differences, had by the 2600s grown into an influential colony on the world that espoused cultural supremacist views against other Tupan colonies and that of the Coalition itself, modelling their gripes on the Nibelungenland Rebellion. Due to the corruption of the Tupan government, Csillogó also rose to contend the Coalition's presence; being a humble colony of Hungarians, Peruvians, and Chileans, they had been extorted by megacorporations over their land and charging exorbitant fees for the transport of their goods abroad. In turn, Csillogó moved towards becoming a gradual narco-state, and the ascendance of President Váradi Deimos in 2684 thus ensured that the massive coca and opium plantations that the state grew would solely be used to fund better living conditions in the country.
The mutual attitudes of these two countries led to the formation of the Bernauerstad Organization by 2685, and in turn their announcement of independence from most political functions of the Stellar Republic of Tupã - and therefore the Coalition - enraged the overall stellar government and the pro-Coalition nations on the planet of Tupã Prime. Initially starting with a full embargo of the two countries, the Isthmus Pact would be further transformed into a security and economic alliance between Rigelia, Auriga, and Rhihanoã, as they also perceived the neutrality of the Tratado Continental political bloc on the world as a future threat. 
This bloc, which contained the massive nations of Cemiuá, Kaydunia, and Coaricânia, in addition to the affiliation of Iaquira, had so far stayed neutral in the ongoing problems, and was seen by the Isthmus Pact as a possible ally of the Bernauerstad Organization if the independence movement persisted due to the Tratado Continental's regionalist nature. Thus, as a means to prevent this possibility, the Isthmus Pact nations decided to declare open conflict with the two rogue states in 2690. This initial stage of war led to the deaths of over two million military and civilian personnel due to the usage of intercontinental conventional ballistic missiles and cruise missiles by both alliances, in addition to the beginning of economic warfare that affected the populations of both sides.
With the "cruise missile war" going on for a year by 2691, the commanders of the Isthmus Pact - under pressure from the US and China - sought to begin a direct confrontation with the Bernauerstad Organization. They prepared for an intervention into the Bernauerstad-aligned and unrecognized Catholic theocracy known as Eriquirimuênia, south of Rigelia, where they planned to install a pro-Coalition puppet government and stage a full-fledged assault into Krieland. Thus, Rigelian commander Neymar Guthrie was selected to prepare the initial intervention, and he sought to begin the new stage of the war by a direct invasion into the heart of Eriquirimuênia.
== Prelude ==
=== Topography ===
The region around Wolfsbane Hill was mainly composed of smaller rolling hills filled with jungles, with a southerly open plain that hosted most of the nearby settlements. Near the equator of the world, this portion of Eriquirimuênia received nearly constant rainfall, and by the eve of the battle, the oncoming threat of Typhoon Serpent further inundated the muddy terrain. The Isthmus Pact, despite perceiving this terrain as poor, also theorized that it would be virtually impossible to be used as a defense by any hostile force; this was due to the inability to form trenches or build heavy defensive structures without advanced equipment that Eriquirimuênia lacked.
=== Isthmus Pact plans ===
The Isthmus Pact planned to invade Eriquirimuênia and bring the north to heel, starting with taking Wolfsbane Hill and constructing a fortress upon its top that would aid in future aerial and terrestrial operations into the rest of the Bishopric. This involved the fielding of twenty divisions in the "central theater", with forty other divisions being held in reserve due to the inability to efficiently pierce Eriquirimuênia along the western coast; this problem was itself due to rugged terrain and the threat of Krielander naval or missile strikes. The Rigelians took to the center of the operations, with four Aurigan divisions being held in reserve, four Aurigan divisions constituting the left flank of the invasion, and four Rhihanoãn divisions constituting the right flank. A twenty-five thousand strong tribal force was organized to provide recon and emergency support to the Isthmus Pact forces, while a force of fifty thousand mercenaries were sourced from PMC outfits such as Idyllia Defense Solutions to garrison captured towns and assist in the offensive through ground and air support, alongside being held in reserve.
Rigelia, Auriga, and Rhihanoã augmented their forces with equipment donated to them by the People's Republic of China and the United States of America (to a lesser degree), with several Chinese and American advisors being present on the side of the Isthmus Pact. This significant investment was due to the economic interests of America and China in Tupã Prime since the illegalization of mining and environmentally abusive practices within the Solar System in 2660, as they saw the planet as a profitable frontier world for their planned mass-plantation procedures under American and Chinese agri-corporations.
The Isthmus Pact expected only nominal resistance from the enemy, as they had been able to deduce the entry of Krielander and Csillogoan forces into Eriquirimuênia as a result of their own buildup on the Eriquirimuênian border. However, due to the unforseen deployment of broadband signal jammers, they were unable to use Coalition space surveillance or their own satellites to accurately deduce troop movements and fortifications near Wolfsbane Hill. However, since these jammers also massively affected communications between units, Isthmus Pact commanders believed that this double-edged sword could be used to further harm the Eriquirimuênians and any other hostile force by sudden, vicious strikes. This would culminate in the preliminary Battle of the Equador Road, where Eriquirimuênian militiamen feigned retreat and opened up the Isthmus Pact to the full force of the Battle of Wolfsbane Hill days later.
=== Bernauerstad Organization defenses and intelligence interception ===
As the Isthmus Pact assembled their forces on the Rigelian-Eriquirimuênian border in late September, the Bernauerstad Organization was already aware of the size and scope of the incoming enemy operation. A large network of mercenary netrunners from Hyperion were hired by the war-invested drug lords of Csillogó to infiltrate Coalition and Isthmus Pact communications networks and military databanks, revealing their plan to wrest control over Wolfsbane Hill. General Louw Van Der Westhuizen, commander of the Expeditionary Army of Krieland and future commander of defensive operations for the defense of the Wolfsbane Hill region, saw it as necessary to bleed out the Isthmus Pact war machine in the mud and jungles. A failure to do this meant that over a million men were to be able to spill into central Eriquirimuênia, which would lead to inevitable disaster. With Eriquirimuênia already rallying several native tribes to war on the auspices of the Coalition's threat, van der Westhuizen was issued control of nearly half a million men, with half of the force comprised of tribals and the rest composed of regulars, mercenaries, Catholic insurgents, and militiamen. This difference in veterancy between the Bernauerstad Organization and the Isthmus Pact was quite clear, but van der Westhuizen knew of their capabilities if used in a defense role.
The deployment of broadband signal jammers allowed van der Westhuizen, General Endre Lukács, and Father Érico Azevedo da Cruz (in addition to hundreds of tribal chieftans) time to disperse their forces in front of, behind, and around Wolfsbane Hill, in addition to constructing hundreds of thousands of traps, minefields, and fortification objects. The local villages were emptied, with all men conscripted to combat operations and the women and children sent south for their survival. Father Cruz was instructed by van der Westhuizen to probe the enemy force as they began their invasion, and as a result, the march of several militia battalions north towards the Equador Road begun the skirmish known as the Battle of Equador Road as the rest of the army finished their defensive preparations.
=== Battle of the Equador Road ===
The opening skirmish begun on the second of August, where Eriquirimuênian militiamen were attacked by scout battle droids while laying anti-personnel and anti-tank mines along the Equador Road, which was the only paved road in the area. Several militiamen were killed as the Isthmus Pact pressed this advantage, sending forth a vanguard of Rigelian soldiers to chase the militia towards the hill. However, they did not entirely take the bait that van der Westhuizen and Father Cruz laid, as they stopped only a kilometer short of the first front line manned by Eriquirimuênian regulars and Krielander fusiliers. However, a day later, the Isthmus Pact - under constant harassment of its aerial units by anti-air missiles and guns further south - began the invasion through the formation of multiple salients of vanguard brigades. This would formally begin the battle for the entire region.
== Battles ==
=== August 3: Battle of Northern Wolfsbane Hill ===
The third of August began with a large-scale guided and unguided munitions artillery barrage by the Isthmus Pact over the Equador Road and onto the regions near the north of Wolfsbane Hill, as visual reconnaissance confirmed the presence of basic fortifications. This was followed by forward pioneers and light infantry forces supported by hexapodal tank droids advancing into the jungle north of the hill, where fierce resistance was encountered by Eriquirimuênian regulars and militia forces. Several tank droids were disabled by anti-materiel rifles, and the presence of trenches and pillboxes alarmed Isthmus commanders due to the previous notions of the terrain being unfavorable for such. Nevertheless, light armored units eventually replaced the broken tank droid formations as flamethrower troops and armor were used to clear out these lines. Even so, these pioneer forces also received casualties from rocket launchers and launched mines, bleeding the vanguard forces as the Eriquirimuênians retreated to the base of the hill under artillery fire.
By the time night fell, the Rigelian formations claimed the forward defensive lines of the Eriquirimuênians, and the Aurigan and Rhihanoãn flanks steadily advanced behind. As the battle in the day raged, however, Eriquirimuênian irregulars and tribals had readied themselves in defensive positions at the foot of the hill, within recently dug tunnels, trench lines, and within the tree canopies.
=== August 4 ===
Rigelian troops begun the assault on the base of the Wolfsbane Hill by the dawn, with several light infantry battalions supported by tribal formations navigating the rough terrain. They were beset upon by hidden Eriquirimuênian irregulars and tribesmen, with ambushes cutting the beginning salients into individual pieces that would be swarmed upon. Seeing this in action, General Guthrie ordered the deployment of air support through CAS drones and aircraft, which were subsequently whittled down by unexpected Krielander "crack gun" squads and hidden SAM sites. The Isthmus Pact renewed their artillery barrages, cutting down swathes of jungle in front of their advance with high explosive and incendiary munitions. However, by noon, Typhoon Serpent began to arrive in earnest over the region, dumping torrents of wind and water that rendered incendiary munitions mostly redundant and turning any navigable passes into churning beds of mud.
Mercenary troops were called to the front to create safe zones for engineers to construct impromptu infrastructure for infantry, light tanks and other vehicles to pass over, but these parties were themselves beset upon by more raiding parties of tribals and Eriquirimuênians. Any found were eventually gassed out with a mixture of chlorine and phosgene, in clear violation of Coalition protocols - however, due to the chaos of the communication from nearby jammers and the implicit nature of the corporate PMC hires, this was not found out about until much after.
By the night of August 4th, the advance had stopped north of Wolfsbane Hill due to the hurricane and inability of navigation for all but the lightest of units. As a result, the Aurigan and Rhihanoãn flanks were ordered to advance as a means to envelop the hill from at least three sides.
=== August 5 ===
Aurigan and Rhihanoãn batteries opened all along the flanks and upon the hill itself during the early hours of the fifth of August as several light infantry brigades advanced to form a continuous front line with the Rigelian troops in the center. However, these flanks were beset upon by combined arms counteroffensives from Krielander infantry with tribal support, who had been positioned flankward to prevent possible encirclements or flank piercings. An enormous use of explosives by both sides were employed, ranging from artillery to handheld grenades and satchel charges, as infantry were fighting often over small hills, between craters, and along treelines. However, Krielanders and allied tribal troops also suffered damage from close air support strikes that managed to survive anti-air emplacements and crack guns, with even the deployment of massive conventional ordinance bombs clearing entire sections of jungle and collapsing nearby tunnels. Even so, the Aurigans and Rhihanoãns were unable to gain significant ground or air coverage due to the hurricane. Thus, the entire front stalled and weathered the storm until Typhoon Serpent dissipated.
=== August 6 to August 8 ===
For two days, as the Isthmus Pact hastily constructed waterproof fortifications on the front that they occupied under the deluge of the storm, they also sustained damage from harassment parties consisting of Krielander and Csillogoan special forces operating alongside tribal pathfinders and Eriquirimuênian irregulars. The pro-Coalition tribal forces and mercenary outfits under Isthmus Pact control were ordered to protect the construction projects. This lasted from the sixth to the eighth of August, when the Typhoon Serpent finally dissipated. However, since the terrain was still tremendously overencumbered by rainfall, Guthrie decided to keep his forces stationary until at least a portion of the water evaporated. This angered the high command of the Isthmus Pact, who wanted the gates to Eriquirimuênia wrenched open within the week. The increasing pressure from command would force Guthrie to only wait three days.
=== August 9 to August 12 ===
For three days, the Isthmus Pact line received increasing harassment in the form of artillery strikes from Bernauerstad MLRS and howitzer positions, in addition to an increase in suicide drones. Van der Westhuizen was willing to bide his time, however, and kept the bulk of his force in their mandated positions, with only a token force being requisitioned to probe the enemy lines and assess field intelligence. His plan to bleed the Isthmus Pact was working, but he was not prepared for what they had strategized next.
=== August 13 ===
Using what intelligence existed from orbital satellites using basic visual observation in addition to aerial surveillance data, Guthrie was allowed to launch several cruise missiles from the Rigelian side of the border and strike suspected SAM, AA gun, and other fortification sites throughout the Wolfsbane Hill region. Due to a lack of instant communication because of the jammers and bad terrain from the hurricane and natural environment, these emplacements had taken time to reposition themselves, and thus a bulk of the Bernauerstad Organization's air defense capabilities were wiped out on the dawn of the thirteenth of August. Taken by surprise, van der Westhuizen knew that the enemy would capitalize on this by scrambling all possible air support in a new offensive, and so he ordered all MANPAD and crack gun teams to disperse and ready for interception. He also ordered the token Eriquirimuênian air force on standby, and requisitioned several air-to-air attack drones from Krieland in preparation of the upcoming rage of the Isthmus Pact. 
The first bombers from Rigelia crested over the horizon by noon, and rained thousands of tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs over purported Bernauerstad lines throughout the day and into the night. Most of the infantry sought cover in fortifications and in whatever hovel they could, and morale was quickly draining from the constant bombardments by air and by artillery. Counterartillery was not possible due to the vulnerabilities to air attacks, and so van der Westhuizen and his allied generals did nothing but weather the storm.
=== August 14 ===
The entirety of the Eriquirimuênian Air Force landed nearby at the city of Odiveria, in addition to components of the Krielander and Csillogoan air forces. Due to the jammers still being online, communication between themselves and between command was not possible; thus, the plan formulated by air commander Dávid Fekete of Csillogó was to have a number of enemy targets per allied aircraft allotted prior to a "return to base" order being executed. In addition to this, long range anti-aircraft cannons and missiles were being brought to Eriquirimuênia by Csillogoan naval convoys, and would arrive within a week. Thus, van der Westhuizen and his forces would have to survive until the 21st of August before full air defense was re-established. These seven days would be the most devastating for the Bernauerstad Organization, as the Isthmus Pact exploited this weakness to gain the most ground.
An offensive...
== Aftermath ==
== Trivia ==
* Jideofor Okafo participated in the battle under contract by Idyllia Defense Solutions as a mercenary. It would be the last battle that he would fight in before officially "retiring" from being a soldier. During the battle, he would fight and ultimately come to a draw with the Holy Army operative Nicolette Brunelle.
Category:Battles
Category:War on Terror
Category:Work in progress