Invasion of Willow Island (Grand War)

The Invasion of Willow Island was a Grand War minor engagement between Ivory and Grand Alliances in order to project power over the Ospray Sea. It resulted in the capture of Willow Island to further make an airfield, thus gaining minor air superiority over the Ospray Sea even though it played a minor role in the war.

#### Background

The invasion of Kaphan was undergoing and tying down millions of Ivory soldiers. At that point, Airpower was the key factor during the invasion and the Shadow Ospray island of Willow was the key component in the Grand War, serving as a large airfield that could threaten Roozterlandie and Kaphan coastal cities. A small force under Rear Admiral Thomas was formed to transport the 12th Gruvanian Infantry Division (10.000 men) and the 43rd Kaphan Marine Division (10.000 men) together with the 3rd Roozterlandie Armored Brigade (4.000 men) and the 6th Gruvanian Parachute Brigade (1.000 men).

#### First Day

The first day marked the first parachute assault in Gruvanian history, 1.000 men from the Gruvanian 6th Parachute Brigade descended from 12 C-17s under heavy AAA fire. Landing drops Myrefall and Graycott had a 80% percent bullseye while the Landing Drop Polk had a 30% percent bullseye due to the heavy AAA fire from the airfield. The landing took around 347 Paratrooper lives as some paratroopers landed near Shadow Ospray outposts and shot on the spot.

Around 1 PM, the force under Thomas landed troops in the northern part of the islands without resistance as Shadow Ospray and Forarenian forces were tied down in the south. Townspeople loyal to Shadow Ospray reported the sightings of surface warships near the coast 7 hours after the force landed.

#### 4 GW

After Thomas Force (as it was called) landed, it encountered heavy fighting near the island capital, Willow City. The Force was able to move its way in the outskirts of the town before being repulsed by Forarenian Troops garrisoning the city. Soon after being repulsed, it saw retreat after retreat when superior Forarenian equipment and supply problems arose. It faced a major setback as the 6th Gruvanian Parachute Brigade was forced to evacuate the southern part of the island to Shadow Ospray soldiers, of the 1.000 men who were paradropped into the southern part of the island, 584 were killed, 152 were MIA, and remaining surviving paratroopers were wounded but managed to move into the northern part.

After some serious fighting on Willow City, the Grand Alliance Navy came up with a plan to supply Willow Island with another 3.000 men, The Task Force was led by nonother by Grand Admiral Indev of the Forarenian Navy. After breaking the blockade, Grand Admiral Indev in his aircraft carrier flagship Zinkrieg encountered a cruiser force under Rear Admiral Charles, the cruiser force was annihilated by carrier-borne aircraft in what was to be called as the first defeat of Gruvanian Navy history. But it was located by the Kaphan 2nd Fleet under Tariq Musa while crossing the Straits of Chaves and in the Battle of Chaves, the Forarenian Fleet was repulsed with heavy losses toward the transports.

After some planning, the Ivory Alliance decided to land in another division, the 23rd Gruvanian Armored Division, into the island. In 5 GW, the divisions of the Grand Alliance was soon in complete rout after the Gruvanian armor flanked them in the left. They were soon forced to surrender after their food ran out in Willow City and the island became part of the Ivory Alliance after the invasion.