The War Of 76 BGW

Gruvanian Frigates chasing a Kaphan one after the Battle Of The Straits of Myrefall

## Strength

### Navy

30 Ship of The Lines and 350 Frigates vs 12 Ship of The Lines and 37 Frigates

### Air Force

150 Gruvanian Planes vs 600 Kaphan Planes

## Casualties and Losses

### Civillian Casualties

1.000.000+

The War of 76 BGW or officially known as The Oil War is first ever war pitting Gruvania and Kaphan. By the end of the war, it ensured Gruvanian naval supremacy and Kaphan military dominance.

### Background

Following the Gruvanian-Kaphan alliance of 23 BGW, Kaphan oil exports significantly increased due to the fact that trade convoys was often guarded by the Gruvanian and Kaphan Navies and were rarely subjected to pirate attacks. Kaphan also got its share of naval advancements after Gruvania open its large dockyards to it.

During the Oil Crisis of 65 BGW, the Gruvanians demanded that oil exports be increased even though Kaphan oil stocks have been also reduced following similar demands from Mogdorland too. Finally in 70 BGW, Kaphan began to threaten to Gruvanian of a oil embargo if it didn’t stop demanding for more oil. It did however make Gruvania to stop demanding for a while

In 72 BGW, Gruvania began to demand again more oil exports after its oil refineries have run out of oil in the Northern Islands. The Kaphans won’t respond until in November 28th 75 BGW that they have commence an oil embargo and that no nations should trade with them oil.

### War

#### Early naval engagements

Gruvania declared war on the 3rd of January 76 BGW, but naval squadrons won’t go out of harbors until the very next day. On 7th January 76 BGW, the fleets of Rear Admiral Thomas Polk and Rear Admiral Abdullah Mirza clashed on the straits of Myrefall. Although the Kaphans sent a fleet to bombard Myrefall, they failed to respond to the SOS signals of Rear Admiral Abdullah. It was a disaster, most of the ships of the 2nd Fleet of Kaphan were destroyed, including the valuable 102 gun First Rate Nooh was captured and later renamed the GNS Polk, in honor of the commander who commanded the Gruvanian Fleet in the battle

Naval engagements after the battle significantly decreased as a majority Kaphan’s navy returned to their ports and were left blockaded whilst some escaped into neutral nations like Magdorland and Foranrendt harbors, where they were disarmed. There were still frigate vs frigate battles and even some were won by Kaphan, leading to at least 6 Frigates sunk or captured by Kaphan by the end of the war.

#### The First 2 Years

After the Battle of The Straits Of Myrefall, Gruvanian land army officers began discussing about a possible invasion of the Kaphan mainland. It led into a experiment which made a commando landing on the harbor of Maira on 6th November 77 BGW.

About 2.000 Gruvanian Navy marines and Commandos landed right at the harbor, but it was a catastrophe. 1.376 men were left stranded there until the following morning after the Rear Admiral that was commanding the raid finally realized that winds had blown away the transports into the sea. By the time rescue has arrived, they were able to rescue about 200 men. All men who were left behind was considered KIA because Kaphan likes to torture enemy soldiers and then brutally murdering them.

The experiment was a total failure, and it left Gruvanian Officers believing that invasion of the Kaphan mainland was impossible. After that experiment, it began to tighten up its grips on the Kaphan Navy by blockading it in main harbors while assaulting minor ports with commandos and other specialist troops.

The Kaphan Navy, after recognizing what Commando raids can do drawn up a plan to invade the Northern Islands in early 78 BGW. It called up 15.000 Soldiers with 60 Transport ships to land on the Northern Islands. It successfully managed to slip the Naval Blockade and rendeavous with other escort ships to land in the Northern island. The landings took an unexpected turn, as the Northern Winds blown 1/3 of the transports and subsequently about 4.300 were shipwreaked and never seen again. The Invasion Of The Northern Islands was considered a minor success as the remaining troops landed without fierce resistance as the Gruvanians didn’t know until 3 days later the vanguard of 2nd Corps attacked the beachhead with casualties as high as 2.500 on both sides in the first day of combat.

#### The Last 2 Years

With combat in the Northern Islands crawling into a halt as troops began a new defensive tactic called “Trench Warfare”, Kaphan began to try to supply its troops with reinforcements by sending an additional 20.000 troops but it was delayed by a few months by waiting for Winter to pass.

The Kaphan Navy sailed out again in February 2nd 79 BGW but was intercepted by Captain Clifton in GNS Conqueror. Clifton’s orders were to disturb the Kaphan’s long enough so that the First Fleet could arrive to wreak havoc as Clifton’s ship was the only one in the area. Clifton manage to evade 6 Ship Of The Lines and disturb the escorts, mainly Frigates. It dueled with the 74 gun frigate Abdul and manage to blow it up by a magazine explosion within 3 minutes and manage to board and forcefully scuttle the 45 gun steamship Al Nuha before additional Kaphan Navy Ships began to arrive. Just in time, The First Fleet arrived, The Battle Of The Al Ifnah Sea was a minor Gruvanian success, as only 5 Kaphan Frigates were sunk in exchange for 2 Gruvanian Frigates sunk. But the most important thing the Kaphan succeeded is that the transports have escaped in amidst the confusion.

The transports began landing troops as it became clear that Kaphan will launch a offensive with 27.000 men against the 12.000 man garrison. The Spring Offensive pushed the Gruvanians back into the Island Capital but the speedy arrival of 2 Corps from the main island helped saved the Northern Islands. At the 10th July of 80 BGW, a peace treaty was established by the 2 nations in Magdorland but fighting still broke out until 2 days later when the peace deal arrived in the Northern Islands

#### Aftermath

The war exhausted both nations as it killed 1.000.000+ of both countries. It was even a inconclusive deal with both nations not demanding war reparations. It did however, made sure of Gruvanian Naval Dominance and Kaphan Land Dominance. The peace treaty in Magdorland established a somewhat good relation between Magdorland and both countries, whilst Forandredt just simply acted neutral in the midst of the war.