The Menk Conflict

The Menk Civil war, also known as **Menk Conflict**, was a civil war between Ryaskian defectors in the east and the Menk Government. Menk was a protectorate under the Teutonic Empire so any threat to the country would have been dealt with by the Empire assisting Menk but as this was a civil war, the Empire was not allowed to deal with it as they saw fit, sending a full army if necessary with Airship support. Thus, Teutonic Empire was allowed to send in four divisions to deal with the threat. The 22nd Landswacht, the 10th Marienburg, the 05th Grenzländer and the 47th Lintz. It was thought that it will only take a couple of months to defeat the defectors and secessionists when in truth it took two years.

The civil war ended with the Empire annexing Menk to allow themself to send in whatever number of troops they wanted as this would release them of the treaty. Menk was officialy recognized as part of the Teutonic Empire and was granted great amounts of autonomy as agreed by both sides to allow the annexation.

The conflict lasted from the 3rd of March 1554 to the 26th of December 1555

## Before the War

Menk had always been more a buffer state between the Teutonic Empire and Ryaska, which became the Union of Ryaskian Socialist republics and had been seen by both nations as rightful part of their country. Unlike the URSR, the Teutonic Empire gave them the offer of becoming a protectorate under them, striking the initiative and making it impossible for the URCR to annex the country by any means of war, without having to fight the Teutons themself.

Over the years, in the east of the country the people developed a strong desire to cede into the URSR. This sentiment grew so strong, especially in the military in which many officers believed that Menk is become a puppet of the Teutonic Empire, that they started a rallying people to their cause. This caused the start of the civil war where it was aimed to overthrow the government and force them to sign treaties that will make Menk part of the URSR.

## The Start of the Civil War

On the 3rd of March the civil war in Menk breaks out. Over half of the Menkian army takes side with the rebels and starts capturing important points in Menk, like cities and defensive positions, and makes their way to the capital that was still defended by the loyal part of the army. It took the Teutonic Empire almost a week to gather their divisions, four divisions that volunteered to help, and send them to Menk to aid their protectorate in the civil war. Due to restrictions the Teutons were unable to send an airship to aid the Menkians and drop in their troops where they were immediately needed. Though even as this was the case, the Teutonic Empire believed that the civil war will only take over a couple of months until the rebellious forces have been routed and order restored. The Teutonic forces equipment was vastly superior to the Menkian's and the division send being trained soldiers under strict Teutonic discipline while their enemy's were civilians with weapons and an army that while having the bigger size, was not trained as good as the Teutons were. Or that is what they believed.

In truth it turned out that the Rebels were supported by the URSR and even under the rebels ranks, soldiers of the URSR were fighting alongside their forces to guide them and train the ones who are not actively fighting. The URSR would deny any part in this and claim that these people were there on their own accord, but to the Teutonic Empire it was clear that it was all orchestrated by the Ryaskians. Claiming Menk for themself would be a huge benefit to the URSR as the region was known for its industrial capacity.

The fighting in Menk grew more brutal over the year, especially during winter as the Teutonic forces were not expecting to fight for this long, having to retread from position to position and loosing ground whenever they gained it. Over the first year of war, enough soldiers to say that one whole division was lost and it was at the end of the year where it became clear that they had to change their tactic. As such, they fell back to the capital of Menk, which held the same name as the country did. It was believed that holding the city and trying to defend it over the winter will be the best cause of action. And as they did, there were rewarded with surviving through the harsh weather and endless assaults...but this marked the beginning of the second year.

## The Second Year

During the beginning of the second year of the menk civil war, the Teutonic forces resupplied in the capital of Menk, reorganized and started another wave of offensives. This time aiming more to surprise the enemy, fighting where they did not expect them to be and generally destroy or conquer resources and positions of interest and while this worked out for the first part of the year, it soon turned against the defending forces once again. No matter how many soldiers they captured or killed , the enemy seemed to gain more and more and it became clear that the URSR was assisting the rebels more then just with officers and equipment but now actually sending in troops of their own, disguised as rebels. Of course when confronting the URSR with this, they once again denied it and as there was not sufficient proof they were able to get away with this, though it did have a negative impact on Teutnoic-Ryaskian relations.

Seeing how this Civil-War was not a true civil war the Teutonic Order started negotiations with the Menkian Government, still holding out in the capital, to integrate into the Empire so the rebellion could be defeated with full force. The officials did think about it, but feared that this would mean the end of Menk and debated for far to long over this, giving the rebellions forces the chance to strike a decisive blow to the defenders and Teutonic divisions. Now only two of the initial four divisions left, and almost none of the loyal soldiers of Menk still alive, the Teutonic forces took the Menk Officials to the last place where they thought they could hold out. An old Fort build into a mountains wall on the border of the Empire and Menk. This fort was known as " Mhazik " and would be the last place the remaining forces would be able to try and hold out as long as possible.

Over the next months long battles at Mhazik were fought though the Teutonic soldiers were able to hold out with minimum casualties, due to positioning of anti-tank cannons and heavy weapons. The Fort had a big open field going through a valley that was almost the only way to attack it and due to its position, it could overlook the whole valley. As such, the Teutonic troops knew when an attack was coming and could react.

At the 19th of December the last battle began at the fort. A massive snowstorm blew over the country and gave both sides harsh conditions, though the rebels were confident that if they continued their attacks the Teutonic soldiers would succumb to attrition and surrender soon after realising this fact. In truth, this is what happened and the morale dropped lower every hour but just as the soldiers were to give up, a loud thunder was heard in the sky as the KLKM Eisenheim, the flagship of the Teutonic Empires airship navy, broke through the clouds and aided the defending forces. Now facing an impossible foe, the rebels retreated and over the next days were all captured or killed in battle, as the Eisenheim brought new reinforcements to the civil-war.

Menk officials accepted the demands of the Empire, becoming part of it under the requirements that it was to regain autonomy in all sectors. This allowed the Teutonic Empire to send in whatever size of army as they wanted as now, Menk was part of its country.

## Aftermath

* Over the two years of civil-war, almost every city was destroyed and civilians had to flee or hide in the ruins of their homes. The cruelty shown by the rebel forces, who showed no interest in the civilians made it clear to the population that they cannot be part of the URSR and stayed loyal to the Teutonic Empire. While they may not have been the perfect defenders themself, they did try to evacuate civilians unlike the Ryaskians.

* Of the four Divions send to help Menk, only one Division was left after the war. The 22nd Landswacht, the 10th Marienburg and the 05th Grenzländer were destroyed.Only the 47th Lintz, which took survivors of the other divisions into their ranks came home to be welcomed as heroes. They all were awarded the " The Shield of Menk ", a medal made for all those brave men and women fighting to defend Menk.
* Menk was integrated as full part of the Teutonic Empire with great amounts of autonomy. The Teutons only requested that the new state was following Teutonic standards when it comes to military.
* The border of Menk to the URSR has been heavily fortified after the war and the population bears a strong hate towards the Ryaskians
* Relations between the Teutonic Empire and the URSR broke down completely, making the Empire prepare for the worst and reinforcing their border.