Operation Ancient Relic

CPU infiltrating the castle held by Iron Hand

Combatant(s)| Finland* Central Peace Unit
* Ridden brothers

Operation Ancient Relic was the maiden operation of the newly formed Central Peace Unit (Fin. *Keskus Rauha Yksikkö*) that was given the green light in 10. October 2019. It was a medium scale rebellion that was quelled without a single civilian or Finnish deaths. It was a major success for the newly formed CPU and the Emperor of Finland raised the subsidies of the CP unit.

## Background

The Finnish army began their spearhead to Italy at the start of the war. Plunging deep into Southern Italy in just few weeks. By February 2019 however, the war of movement stopped and the Finns and Italians dug in.

Italians began to receive aid from America and China. Not just materiel aid but also troops, even though Italy was not part of the Alliance of Earth. Finns could not pierce through and hence the trench warfare phase began.

The Finns managed to capture many island in northern Italy, one of them being S13-I3. This island was quite small having only a population of 200 people. However, the Finns wanted to deploy the Finnish Peace Association building headquarters there.

### Ridden brothers

The Ridden brothers were Austrian born rebels against the Finnish Empire. They did commit minor sabotage to the Finnish army for over 20 years, until they decided to hijack the FPA building. They ferried themselves to I13 and armed themselves with the help of the A-F Rebellion.

### Iron Hand

Iron Hand was an sub-organization to the large Anti-Finland Rebellion. It was formed quickly by German born Jakob and Norwegian Kristjan, both of whom were rebel generals of the A-F Rebellion.

Jakob used to be a very patient protester of the Finnish government, however, an Finnish military plane accidentally fired an gas missile into the home city of Jakob and killed all of his family. Jakob was now way too disorderly and joined the A-FR.

Kristjan was a Norwegian rebel, who joined a Norwegian rebel cell as soon as he gained contact with them. Kristjan was born in an era which has not seen an independent Norway.

## Siege of the Castle

Immediately after the Iron Hand captured the castle, the Finnish Army reacted with establishing an HQ and a perimeter around the castle. The FA used the local hospital as an HQ from which they were able to see clearly at the castle. FA deployed 4 armored vehicles as well as multiple heavy machine guns. They also replaced the hospital helicopter with an armed military attack helicopter.

They quickly deployed fences and defenses around the castle and deployed around 33 infantry soldiers. They also set up an field commander position near the castle and gave the field commander one cannon and an outdated anti-aircraft gun.

Finnish Air Force tried to scout the castle, however, the rebels managed to sneak in some AA guns and managed to damage the scouting vessels. Not much info was gathered from the air. FAF also did not want to use expensive drones so not much scouting was done.

3. September at the nearby port an explosion was seen. The explosion injured one fisherman and destroyed a military boat. The FA realized that the rebels must have some artillery pieces or launcher with which they committed this act.

The Finnish Army suggested the Air Force to airstrike the fort, however, the Finnish authorities did not permit meaningless destruction, as the city's populace was not on the happiest terms with the army anyways. It was also decided that no armor was going to be used, as the army saw armor traps and obstacles in the entrance. It was also thought that the rebels might have AT guns.

Eventually it was decided that some elite unit would be given the task of eliminating the rebels. At first the FA asked if the Hidden Men or even the FROST unit could take up the task, but they declined as they were planning their new operations. The Army asked if SED would do it, yet SED was fighting in the front lines they could not be counted on.

### Formation of CPU

The Finnish Major in charge of the siege, Koutilainen, formed an new unit with the subsidies of his wife's wealthy family. He formed the Central Peace Unit and recruited soldiers from the SED reserve, which SED accepted. He recruited 17 men and asked around for instructors. An expert in urban warfare and anti-rebellion activities, Professor General Jukka Gorkhin began an brief basic training course for the CPU recruits. Before the formation of CPU, the Finnish Army was usually used to deter rebellion.

Platoon with the most points from the final exam, 5th Platoon was chosen to execute the operation. The platoon gained the nickname 'Italia' due their first mission was to bee done in Italy.

## Elimination of the Riddens

At 12:00, 5. CPU platoon 'Italia' arrived at the hijacked FPA building. Sgt. Jiri began to contrive up a plan. The plan was very simple and consisted of the platoon just cautiously clear each floor one by one.

Yet, before the platoon even managed to get inside the building, the medic, Pvt. Samuel suddenly went missing. They could not rely on medical help.

The Ridden brothers were located on the third floor of the building. The troopers guessed so and also saw one of the Ridden brothers' foot from the second floor. They neutralized him and quickly but cautiously advanced to check if the second brother was there too. He was not. He was indeed hiding behind a door that led to the roof. Pvt. Henry managed to shoot him as Cpl. Miro opened the door behind which the brother was hiding.

## Assault on the Castle

CPU began their assault of the castle by regrouping with Pvt. Samuel who had vanished. Some 20 minutes after some searching, Samuel was found and Sgt. Jiri began to execute their assault. 5th Platoon began by flanking the castle from the left, as Jiri suspected the front entrance to mean death. The left flank was not defended by any patrols, other than an offroad based on top of an cliff, which 5th Platoon just went around.

They went around the castle all the way to the back to find an entrance. At the very back of the castle they found an opening which they exploited. They cautiously climbed over the edge and went prone. They began to spy on their environment for hostiles. They slowly crawled away from the ledge from which they climbed, towards an quoin in the castle walls.

### First Skirmish

Pvt. Henry searched behind the angle to see any hostiles, but was surprised by light enemy fire coming from an unknown position. Henry was shot, but managed to retreat behind the others. A brief firefight took place and was quickly and decisively won by Jiri. After that, Jiri commanded Henry to go and scout an area near an tower, which could have sharpshooters inside. After Henry began to crawl towards the tower, from where the hostiles began to fire during the last firefight, an hostile vehicle, armed with an heavy machine gun showed up. Henry was pinned behind the tower while the rest of the troops were at the quoin.

Some hostile troops began emerging from the left flank of Henry and he was suppressed. Jiri ordered Pvt. Miro to fire an rocket at the AFV, while he himself and Samuel would give covering fire to Henry. They began firing at the flanking hostile troops. Miro prepared his rocket launcher and fired an round at the AFV. The shot connected and the vehicle exploded. However, Henry was wounded as he was shot by the hostile troops. Cpl. Samuel, the medic, quickly went to revive Henry. Jiri and Miro finished the hostile troops and the operation continued.

### Second Skirmish

The 5th continued cautiously near an ruined wall which lead from the tower to the entrance. Soon they clashed with hostiles again. This time Henry, Miro and Samuel were injured, but all were healed and revived. The hostiles were eliminated with coordinated heavy machine gun fire.

    5th platoon reached the HQ of the rebels, and they eliminated Jakob, one of the Iron Hand commanders. It is unknown who was credited with this kill. Kristjan fled to the hospital tent. Pvt. Miro cleared the tent, killing 3 injured rebels and Kristjan.

After this, a mortar was found and the mortar man captured. The mortar man was executed not soon after, by the 5th platoon. The 5th then proceeded to clear the entrance. Resistance was quite light. Sgt. Jiri sniped one of the guards from above the battlements, whilst Miro spearheaded the assault from behind. After the entrance was cleared all that was left was the castle turret.

### Castle Turret

The assault on the castle turret was quite brief. it began with crawling under an crack in a wall the rebels had planted. After crawling under two rebels attacked them. They were repulsed and killed. All that remained was the turret itself and anything that was on top of it.

The unit decided that Sgt. Jiri and Pvt. Henry would be the ones to spearhead the attack on the turret. They moved in slowly and spotted an heavy machine gunner atop the tower. Henry shot the gunner and then they quickly secured the tower.

The 5th platoon then threw the body of the gunner down from the tower. During this Cpl. Miro also fell down from the tower suffering minor injuries. The castle was pacified and the island remained in Finnish hands.

## Aftermath

This operation witnessed the power a dedicated Anti-Rebellion unit can have. The CPU was still in its infancy, but the Finnish Army saw that with little more grinding the unit could be very valuable. An unit that is professional not only in pacifying rebels but also in urban warfare would be critical in conquering new lands.