First Battle of Zagreb

## Overview

The First Battle of Zagreb was the initial battle that lead to the beginning of the Second Gamerian CIvil War. The battle began with an operation ordered by King Alexandrine the Second to capture Colonel Kyle Speltz, as well as anyone closely involved with him.

## Combatants

* 17th Light Infantry Div.
* Royal Dragoons\*

\*During the battle, Royal Dragoon forces split, and fought on both sides of the battle. Due to Keating's alliance with the King, the Dragoons are listed as Loyalist forces.

## Numbers

* 3 F-15KRs
* 5 F/A-18E/F
* 3 F-16s
 Gamerian Royal Air Force:* 5 Mi-24s
* 2 SU-25Ks

## Background

Upon the return of Gamerian forces to the mainland, Gameria was struggling to remain at peace. Economic downfall, political unrest, and Alexandrine II's iron grip on the nation created riots, high poverty rates, executions of military and political members, and persecution (Often without evidence) of Gamerians. Colonel Kyle Speltz, leader of the Grizzly Corps, had been reported to have not only held a number of anti monarchical tendencies, but had shot and killed a King's Guard Kommandant in Canada. Immediately, Alexandrine deemed the Colonel to be the root of his problems, as not only was he a high ranking officer of an important unit, but had sufficient evidence to be persecuted for treason. Speltz frequently surrounded himself with close friends he had made in his time in the unit, and thus leading Alexandrine II to draw the conclusion that Speltz and his men were plotting against the monarchy.

## The Battle

At 6:25pm, March 3rd, select soldiers were selected from Grizzly Corps to participate in sentry duty, being placed at seperate distinctive positions in Zagreb. Orders were given to intercept and shoot anyone who passed their zone. Colonel Kyle Speltz was positioned in King's square, with his close ally CCT David Rodriquez being positioned two streets to the west. Sergeant Major Bonney stood south of the square, Private Austin Mayfield was positioned at the bank, Corporal Bobkovich was near the eastern fire station, and several tanks of Lieutenant Colonel James Keating's dragoons formed a line slightly south of the group, supported by infantry from the Guard and Grizzly Corps.

At 6:30pm, King's Guard T-72s rolled near the dragoons. Several guards nearby the dragoons moved forward, suddenly forming positions nearby each of the soldiers. At this point in time, Colonel Speltz was seen turning to face the square, only for an image of himself to appear on display screens in the square, listed as Public Enemy #1.

At 6:32, King's Guard Commissar Stjepan Berislavic, the direct commissar under the command of General Alberta, attempted to apprehend the Colonel. Aiming his handgun at Speltz, the Colonel drew his own sidearm, and killed Berislavic before he could return fire. Immediately after, chaos erupted in the square. Machine gun fire from guardsmen peppered the streets, missing the newly proclaimed traitors. Guardsmen, Mercenary, and loyalist Grizzly corps forces rushed the armored column. Deploying smoke and exiting BTRs, they began to secure soldiers and fire small arms towards the tanks. Attempting to negotiate, Keating accepted apprehension from an unmarked guardsman, who was presumed to be a Russian mercenary. After this point in time, Speltz was seen running from the scene. He was not seen during the escape. At 6:35, T-72's from the king's guard fired anti tank rounds at close range towards Keating's dragoons, who were deploying smoke and pulling back from the battlefield. Given the extremely close proximity of the shots, an M1A1 Abrams was destroyed.

By 7:00, darkness had fallen in the area. Loyalist forces quickly began working in the city, firing on civilians, infrastructure, and military resistance. MIL Mi-24 "Hinds", operated by Gamerian pilots and Russian Mercenaries began destroying resistance from the air. Several vehicles and buildings were destroyed in the combat, with no losses of aircraft. Air Supremacy in the city continued to hinder resistance on the ground, and likewise only two tanks escaped to the outskirts.

In the following hours, Speltz and what was left of the rebellious Grizzly Corps group had retreated to a wheat field outside the city. Corporal Parker Issenman, a rifleman in the Corps, suffered radio malfunctions, and stayed in hiding inside Zagreb. It was here that the rebellion came extremely close to destruction all together, as a pair of Gamerian SU-25Ks nearly released ordinance on the field.

## Free Gamerian Air Force involvement

At 6:40pm, word reached pilots at Rijeka airport that they were expected to deliver strikes against the Grizzly Corps. Pilots Col. Toeman, Capt. Bly, and Lt. Marshall, members of the elite "Mortifer Squadron" had all served alongside members of the Corps before, and were reluctant to engage their friends. It was soon realized that Loyalist forces knew this just as well, and had formed a plan to destroy the runway with mortars, and capture the pilots in the airport. Soon, Lt. Jack Marshall and Col. Toeman formed plans to escape the airport before the airfield was destroyed. Limited craft at the location created a struggle, and thus some pilots were ordered to take control of craft with little experience. It was ordered F-18 pilots with more than one kill were directed to F/A-18E Super Hornets. Any F-18 pilots with no kils were directed into Dassault Rafales, F-16 pilots who were able to get to one fast enough took up the few F-16s on the field, and Mortifer Squadron took control of the F-15C Eagles. Remaining pilots were directed to Legacy Hornets. An exception is the one F/A-18F on station, crewed by Brett Pointer and Jordan Torres.

Managing to exit the airport before guards arrived, the way down to the hangar was unhindered. As aircraft took off from the airport, pilots bid farewell to their ground crews and began to escape. By the time Lieutenant Jack Marshall began to take off, mortars from the 17th Light Infantry Division began to fire on the airfield. It’s said Marshall “Flew through clouds of mortar fire” in his escape.

At 7:00, the pilots, trying to reserve fuel, had Zagreb in their sights. As they approached, they soon noticed the SU-25Ks on their radars. Taking the lead, Colonel Toeman fired an AIM-120 AMRAAM at the lead SU-25, followed by Pointer and Marshall both firing at the second Frogfoot, detaching the wings from the fuselage and splitting the mid section in half.

After the strike, the aircraft departed for Tuzla Airbase in upper Bosnia.

## Aftermath

In the days following the initial combat, Corporal Issenman of the Grizzly corps mistakenly believed Keating to be following Rebel forces, and made an attempt to get him out of the city. In the ensuing fight, 6 Gamerian soldiers and Issenman himself were killed. Loyalist Gameria soon secured complete control of the city, and the majority of Grizzly Corps served as Loyalists, although not present during the fight. Roughly 190 soldiers of Grizzly Corps are unaccounted for. While Gameria did secure Zagreb, they were not able to capture Speltz or any of the other notable high value targets. Along with this, roughly 207 soldiers from the group were lost in combat, a significant loss. Through this expanse of time, Speltz’s soldiers were ambushed by Loyalist reconnaissance after Private Mayfield sold out their position. In this combat, both of the unit’s tanks were abandoned, and the group retreated further away. Speltz led a rescue operation to retrieve Sergeant Major Bonney, who had become separated. In the operation, a reconnaissance patrol of Loyalist soldiers were killed by the colonel with the aid of Bonney. On March 5th, the reconnaissance unit chased down Speltz's corps to Ovcedin, a town on the outsides of the fields. Having been betrayed by the civilian population, the squad were chased out of the area, followed by the recon unit and an infantry fighting vehicle. The battle continued until the unit reached a nearby rock outcropping in the woods, luring the recon team and tank in, and inflicting heavy casualties.