Bleckley County Wars

An artist's rendition of the Despaire bombing raids. The Bleckley County courthouse is depicted.

### Combatants

* The United Empire
* The Legion of Despaire

### Death toll

United Empire: 56,000 civilian 16,000 militaryLegion: 4 civilian 9,500 military

### Preceding Conflict

Coalition Confederacy War

So, war in Bleckley County was looming in October of 2019. It all started years ago, before the Great War began or even the Republic and Separatist wars. In fact, it was before Golden City was created.

## Early history

In the many years before the great war, there was a war on the grounds of what is today known as Despaire. The nations fighting these wars fought with horses, cannons, carts, pistols, swords and primitive cars. No one knows just what happened, who won or why they were fighting. All Union scientists know is that there are millions of unmarked graves and bodies from those wars littering the grounds of Despaire, several feet under, covered by the dust of the constantly eroding plains of Middle Georgia.

## Attack on Dodge International Airport

Fast forward several years and the Republic and Separatist wars, the first war, the great war, the Martian clone wars, the Test wars, the Trent resistance war and the war with the United Coalition Confederacy have all concluded. All the United Empire fights anymore are a few isolated cells of Coalition Confederate troop regiments across the galaxy. Bleckley County, known briefly as MGA and now 'Despaire', is an official state that is part of the United Empire. The Legion of Despaire (also known as the Bleckley County Legion) attacks several locations within their state and the neighboring state of Dodge. This begins with the attack on Dodge International airport/airbase by several Legion operatives seen in several black vehicles including an armored personnel carrier and 2  Chevrolet Tahoe Riplines.

This attack eventually ends in failure, with only one operative escaping with his life, presumably escaping to Napola (known to most people as Orlando, Florida).

## Despaire bombing raids

The next action taken by the Legion of Despaire was the bombing raids that took off from Napola, the secret remote operation base of the Legion. The bombing raids were completed utilizing an estimated 2,500 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers which were repurposed and restored great war and rebel war relics. All bombers took off in the dead of night, heading for Despaire, with each aircraft loaded with just enough fuel to make it to 1 of the 25 designated hidden landing sites of which each bomber was given their own. Ground attacks throughout Napola city and Central Florida Union were completed by refurbished and restored antique tanks, small arms weaponry and uniforms issued to Legion soldiers and operatives. They served to create a distraction from the bombers taking off, destroying several United Imperial AA guns, aircraft and ground vehicles. There were somewhere around 900 Legion ground troops, but several guns taped together, remote weaponry, drones and speakers (mounted on Silveradoes and Tahoes) playing gunfire and shouting noises drove the Union intelligence to estimate that there were somewhere around 18,000 soldiers fighting throughout the area. Almost all Legion ground forces were either killed, captured or had dissipated by the early morning light.

In the time between that and takeoff, the Legion bombers, still flying in old Union colors and insignias (some with old-war era nose art), headed toward Despaire. approximately 50% delivered their payload over the states of Despaire, Dodge and surrounding states. Around 15% delivered their bombs in the completely wrong location and got lost, 20% either chickened-out and landed without dropping any bombs as the thought of killing their own former countrymen was too great or for other reasons. The rest of those that crashed before dropping bombs (the remaining 15%) did so due to mechanical failures and fuel leaks on the old bombers, including a few that crashed moments after takeoff and others that didn't lift off at all, exploding in a massive burst at the end of the Napolan runway. There were also a few, perhaps around 0.5% that did not reach their destination for other reasons, some bombers crashed into others, some on purpose in order to stop them from causing any damage (as last minute betrayals). Some also were shot down by United Imperial forces, though not many were, due to the low visibility and lack of intelligence on what was actually going on at the time. There also were a small portion of bombers that simply never attempted to take-off at all, due to several reasons. And even then, of the 50% that did deliver their bombs, even fewer made it to the designated airports. As the last of the bombs fell, the early morning light streaked through the sky and by then, the [The United Empire|Union]] had come to terms about what was happening. Many bombers were shot down between the drop site and their designated airport, others had mechanical problems and others simply ran out of fuel. Only around 20% made it to their designated landing spots and many either crashed or were captured upon landing. Approximately 200 bombers and their crews got away unscathed, dissipating into the Tennessee and Carolina mountain communities.

The death toll was high on both sides, but those killed on the Union side are estimated to be around 56,000 civilian and 16,000 military. On the Legion side, around 9,500 were killed, as each bomber had at least 5 crew members and over half of the Legion ground forces active that night were killed in action. As a result, the entire attacks have been marked as a decisive Legion victory.

## Prior Fighting in Despaire

After the initial Despaire bombing raids, the Legion began to slowly ramp up their pressure on the area. Most of the Napolan Legion forces had either been wiped out or dissipated so the attacks primarily came from forces operating out of Despaire itself. The legion attacked Despaire locals using small-arms weaponry and Chevy Tahoe Riplines, the Legion's vehicle of choice. This is due to the fact that a decommissioned Chevrolet co-military Union factory was raided by the Legion in the Blakeland area before these attacks took place. Several ww2-era vehicles were also utilized by the Legion in their attacks.

These attacks included shooting and robbing stores, banks, restaurants and other establishments (at one point a hospital), runnings cars off the road, destroying United Imperial military roadblocks and shooting down commercial, private and military aircraft. The Union has slowly began to fight back, but they are still hesitant to do so as the policies and the recognition of the Legion by the Union is still quite shady. The Union is also hesitant to admit that a rebel cell has once more arisen within the country (and on the Union home planet of all places) and to declare war on its own soil. As a result, police, Departments of countryland and military roadblocks and patrols have begun in the area and evacuations in several places have begun. This was only the beginning though, as war loomed over the horizon as the Legion began increasing its attacks and slowly using more and more ww2-era armored vehicles in place of Chevrolet Tahoes. After October 31st, 2019, the Bleckley County war was given a new name, The War of Despaire. On the date that the name was created, the war had not actually started yet, but the war looming over the horizon was enough for Union officials to create a name for it. As a result, the dubbed "Bleckley County wars" is used to describe the bombing raids and the events that led-up to and followed them.

## Reasons for the Legion's attacks

* The primary reason for the Legion existing and attacking, is the low standard of living in Despaire which has led to many of the locals being unhappy. The reasons for this unhappiness stem from Despaire being a logging state, a college state and a prison state. Despaire is home to one of the most ruthless correctional institutions on the Union's home planet and also home to one of the larger logging industries on the home planet. The loggers, college students and prisoners simply wanted a better life and many have been exposed to that state of mind for long enough that they have begun to believe in a curse upon the land. This curse not only gave the state its current name but also is said to come from the many dead soldiers that litter the land from the afformentioned wars of years past. The locals who believe in this curse say that it follows them wherever they go. In order to liberate themselves from the curse, they must set the spirits of the dead soldiers free and in the process please those spirits, redeeming those who are cursed. The Legion developed a plan to wage war on the Union by bombing due to the very destructive and chaotic nature of bombing and the fact it uncovers massive amounts of dirt in the form of craters. The craters and bomb explosions were meant to set the spirits free and destroy the people (The citizens, police and military of the United Empire living in Despaire) who had populated the land that was once dominated by the nations that fought those ancient wars. So it was a win/win for the Legion and their beliefs. This belief system of the Legion has been burned into their minds by folk tails and local legends enough that it has become watered down into truth for some and has become more of a background element rather than the main reason for fighting that they identify behind on a daily basis, sort of like the USA's belief in freedom or death.

* The second reason is that many of those fighting and serving on the Legion bombers were actually former enemies of the Union including; Great war enemies, the Test, the Rebels, Trent resistance soldiers, Martian clones, Coalition Confederate troops, etc etc. banding together with the Despaire prisoners and locals to unite under the one cause of freeing themselves from their own curse. These curses came in many forms, including the shame of losing the war they fought in, the loss of a loved one to war or other reasons or that they just felt they had plain bad luck. Some even became believers of the actual Legion's curse.

* The third reason some people joined the Legion and fought was through association or boredom. Many of the troops within the Legion including those on the bombers are countryfolk. Men and boys that do not have much to do in their place of living. As a result, many heard a friend was joining and wanted in because it sounded fun. There are many other circumstances as well. Including frustration over the Despaire state's (allegedly) corrupt cops, drug use and many others. As for association, many of the pilots and soldiers that joined the Legion, fought on both sides of the many previous wars. As a result, they had military experience. Many of these veterans living in Despaire did not want their families to perish, so they brought them into the Legion to serve alongside them instead of being accidentally killed in the crossfire for nothing. Because of these few that were enlisted on the basis of reasons far less serious than the others, many of the bomber crews and ground squads composed entirely of these people, simply never went into combat at all. Reasons include, fear of battle, arguments with those who truly believed in the Legion's cause and little experience with operating warfare machinery and weaponry.

## Trivia

* In the real-world conflict of World War 2, B-17s were almost never used for night bombing raids, the task was generally given to the British and their bomber squadrons.

* Many of the Legion B-17 pilots flew actual Union B-17 missions in the great war and others flew B-52s and B-747s in the Clone war.