The Delta Land Campaigns
From AWRPedia
The Delta Land Campaigns were a series of proxy wars and local conflicts on the continent of the same name, mostly fought by an joint Green Earth occupying force from both Cosmo Land and Macro Land.
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Delta Land
Delta Land was once a lawless continent of chaos, with no concrete government standing for more than a few years. Politics were dominated by war, and Delta Land became a breeding ground for terrorists, mercenaries, paramilitary groups, and even corporations looking for a place to do business. Under Construction
Pre-Campaigns
The Delta Land Campaigns "officially" began almost 22 years ago when General Donovan Bradley arrived from Cosmo Land to take command the Earthling occupation forces. However, the conflict between native Delta Land factions and Cosmo Land/Macro Land peacekeepers began long before that. Under Construction
The Campaigns Begin
The "Green Zone" - the "safe" area of Delta Land controlled by the Green Earth occupation forces - had dwindled to a small sector in the south of the continent. Arriving with sufficient reinforcements to assemble a proper army, General Donovan Bradley officially began his campaign to purge the continent of dissident forces. Bradley initially moved to cleanse the Green Zone of disruption, so as to serve as a proper base of operations, and cracked down on dissident and rebel activity with such ruthless efficiency that he earned the local nickname of "The Demon." Nevertheless, the most prominent power in southern Delta Land - a huge quasi-national army under the command of native Arvenic Anders - remained confident it could easily crush the foray of the "weak-willed peacekeepers" as they had several times before. Using that overconfidence against his enemy, Don detatched a vanguard force, which was ambushed and feigned defeat, routing the from the field. Pursued by the disorganized rebels, the "fleeing" Earthling troops led them right into Don's own ambush, which crushed the bulk of Anders' forces in a move that shocked warlords all across the continent. Cleaning up the southern cities and securing the oil fields in the east to little resistence, Don had achieved a fantastic success within weeks of his arrival, earning him enough reinforcements from the Homeland to gain the confidence to further expand the Green Zone.
The Jungle War
Leaving a quarter of his forces to police the Green Zone, Don plunged into a hotbed of militia activity - the jungle region in the southwest. As opposed to the quick, decisive victories of before, the Jungle War was a grueling, four-year slog through mud, disease, and endless rains. The terrain promptly took a fierce toll on the numbers and morale of Don's men, and two years into the war, Bradley switched up his tactics. Don utilized "search-and-destroy" tactics, relying on special forces teams to track militia forces to their bases of operations and destroy said bases using extreme prejudice on their part or surgical strikes by aircraft. Because the terran was not suited for tanks and other vehicles, Don had to rely heavily on his infantry and air forces, mostly using helicopters and infantry together as air cavalry, allowing them to be mobile across long distances. Each unit of air cavalry was given much independence of operation, inhabiting firebases that controlled large expanses of the jungle, where the heavy artillery and vehicles were stored for emergency support and helicopters could refuel and rearm. It was during this phase of the Campaigns that Don's affinity with infantry and helicopters began to appear.
Rock Island
The climax of the Jungle War took place almost five years after the Campaigns began. Their resources stretched to the limit and their hiding places being systematically destroyed, the remnants of the region's militias banded together for one final effort to break the back of Bradley's army. Known as the "Tent Offensive" because the militia troops relied almost exclusively on tents for shelter (their advance was initially too rapid to allow for the construction of temporary shelters), several of the isolated firebases were quickly overrun by the oncoming tide. Outnumbered but not outgunned, Don regrouped the bulk of his forces, calling up reserves in the Green Zone, and prepared a decisive blow to shatter the native counteroffensive. However, an unusual wrench was thrown into the plans of both factions when one firebase - codename Bravo - held out against the initial militia attack. The base was besieged for two weeks, its inhabitants sustaining unsustainable casualties and suffering their way through the inhospitable weather, overwhelming attacks, and life-threatening lack of supplies before they were finally relieved by the heavy armor and mechanized infantry of Don's main force. All of their officers being dead, General Bradley was surprised when he relieved the leader of the defense - a sergeant in the Coalition Marines named Jack Foley. Serving as a rock wall to the militia's tidal wave, the siege of "Rock Island," as the firebase came to be called, broke the back of native resistance in southwest Delta Land.
Northern Campaign
With the southern half of the continent pacified, Bradley shifted his focus to the Aria Mountain Range in the north. A large paramilitary group known as "The Verloren," led by an enigmatic former Earthling named Paul, infested the mountains (which had once been controlled by Orange Star forces), maintaining vast underground bunker complexes and utilizing the rough terrain and narrow passes to ambush peacekeeper forces as they passed through. Due to the terrible condition of mountain roads and lack of open space for mobility, Don was once again forced to rely on his infantry and helicopter forces as the workhorses for his campaign. The Northern Campaign took three years. Special forces units under the command of Don's trusted lieutenant Jack Foley managed to uncover and destroy the two main bases of The Verloren, which had been hidden deep inside some of the largest mountains in the range. The Verloren were forced to retreat through "The Chasm," a deep ravine which bisected the range, cutting off an area of its northernmost reaches from the rest of the range. Safe within their natural fortress, The Verloren dug in and waited, fending off major attacks while systematically destroying all the bridges across The Chasm. Soon enough, only one remained.
Assault on Chasm Bridge
The Chasm Bridge was the largest bridge across The Chasm, and was one of three that could support the weight of War Tanks. However, with the other bridges destroyed, the Chasm Bridge became the single most important piece of real-estate on the continent. Lacking the time to push an overwhelming armored force up the narrow, winding mountain roads, Bradley launched the most daring special forces assault in history. Parachuting large numbers of operators on both sides of the bridge, led by Sergeant Foley and others, the operators launched a blitz attack with limited arms and managed to disarm the demolition charges set on the bridge, buying enough time for the air cavalry to arrive and finish securing the bridge. The operation resulted in very heavy casualties to the paratroopers, many being killed by rough landings, and Don would never repeat such a risky maneuver. However, with the Chasm Bridge secured, the offensive could continue.
Battle of Grebner Pass
While Don and the bulk of his forces were preoccupied with The Verloren north of The Chasm, a huge private army - formed and funded by a conglomerate of rogue corporations - marched to take Don's army from the rear and destroy the threat it posed to their prime retail land. A skeleton force had left to guard the vital supply lines that ran through Grebner Pass in the southwest region of the range, which boxed in a narrow one-land road with sheer cliff faces on either side. After cutting the supply line, the corporate army was forced to funnel into the pass, where the Earthling reaguard made a stand. Digging in at the rear of the pass with armor to prevent the enemy from moving forward, artillery and infantry stationed on the cliffs shelled them day and night. As the days wore on, the battle devolved into an artillery duel, with soldiers on both sides suffering through massive, deadly barrages. After a week of stalemate, the corporate mercenaries attempted one final effort to break through using a large combined air-armor force, and very nearly succeeded, until General Bradley swept in with massive reinforcements, utilizing his Super CO Power for the first time to utterly crush and rout the enemy.
"The West Side Clean-Up"
Unfortunately for the corrupt corporate coordinators, their move against the Earthling forces forced Don to turn his attention to them immediately. His army severely battered from two long campaigns, Bradley called for immediate reinforcements, which arrived en masse, as Field Marshal Sepp Mengele had so far been impressed by his progress against the odds and had taken a personal interest in fully "pacifying" the conquered population to gain a huge industrial and manpower advantage over his Cosmosian rivals. The corporate alliance - led by a formerly Starrian defense and private military contractor Global Securities, Inc. - was based in several large cities in the west, north of the jungle region. Determined to resist the attack, their forces dug in, converting each city block into small fortresses. Pushing forward nevertheless, Don cleared each city block by block, utilizing massed artillery bombardments to destroy whole blocks in order to deny the mercenaries their makeshift bunkers, then securing the area with armor and infantry. These "Meatgrinder Tactics," as they were infamously dubbed by an aide, were steadily effective, but resulted in massive casualties amongst the infantry (as mercenary fire teams hid amongst the rubble and occasionally small tunnel systems, popping out in hit-and-run attacks) and especially the civilians still inhabiting the cities.
At this point the campaigns began to have a very noticeable effect on the psychology of the Earthling forces, from army high command to the rifle fire teams. Don's formerly by-the-book attitude had become steadily more ruthless and hardened throughout the campaigns, culminating during the final battle for the city of Petroviche, when he made an offhand, disturbing joke to his aides about the civilians caught in the crossfire. The attitude passed down to his aides, who began to take on a view of the war as a game. On the frontline, the long-term veterans were no longer even blinking at accidental "incidenents" involving surrendering enemies or civilians. However, on a more positive note, these veterans - especially Don's special forces units - began to bond together through their experiences.
Macrosian Intervention
When the city of Petroviche, the last bastion of GSI, fell, the leadership of that company fled, hiding amongst the population. However, their bank accounts in far-off continents remained active to the end of the campaigns, funding and supplying the various guerilla bands and paramilitary groups that continued to oppose the relentless Earthling tide. However, while the Delta Land Campaigns remained a backwater to the Cosmosian Earthling leadership (except for Marshal Mengele), other nations were beginning to take notice. For decades, Delta Land had served as a battlefield for various proxy wars between Orange Star and Blue Moon, even after the schism that split the Cosmosian nations from their Macrosian counterparts. Still, the Macrosian Orange Star took an interest in regaining lost territory after the West Side Clean-Up, sending a sizeable expeditionary force to secure the western cities. Showing a rare instance of true fury, Don immediately ordered his army to launch an a counteroffensive against the "invaders," which took the Macrosians by surprise and nearly pushed them into the sea. Digging into extensive trench networks surrounding their beachheads, the Macrosians suffered Don's Meatgrinder Tactics, and were slowly pushed back even as they steadily received reinforcements. The civilian leadership of the CDF was furious with Don for provoking a war with Macro Land, and disavowed responsiblity for his actions, cutting off further reinforcements for Don's army (although Marshal Mengele managed to slip in one final surge of reinforcements before the transport ships were recalled). Taking heavy casualties from the relentless Earthling assault, Macrosian high command finally recalled their forces after four months of stalemate, engaging in a daring nighttime evacuation. Satisfied, Don turned his eyes to the former center of Earthling occupation in the east.
The Battle of Ouranberg
The city of Ouranberg, in eastern Delta Land, was the bastion of The Delta Syndicate, an alliance of organized crime groups that conducted operations across the continent, large enough to afford its own private army. Knowing they couldn't defeat Don's veteran army toe-to-toe, the leadership of the Syndicate lay a trap for Don. Expressing a desire to negotiate a peaceful settlement to end the war all across the continent, they invited Don and much of his senior staff to a diplomatic gala, where the leaders of the Syndicate as well as leaders of the other remaining, rival, groups in Delta Land would attend. Predictably, the Syndicate leaders arrived "late," and the meeting was attacked and attendees, including Don himself, taken hostage by a team of mercenaries led by Syndicate assassin Tanya Chernekov. Hoping to either fore Don to back off or kill him, the Syndicate's plan had one flaw - Don's face had never actually been shown to the public. Don managed to pass himself off to the mercenaries as his own second-in-command, taunting his captors that they had made a crucial mistake and that "Bradley" would be coming to destroy them. In order to get word out to the army, two of Don's staff members sacrificed themselves to distract the mercenaries long enough for Don to phone his confidant Jack Foley about the situation and that his identity had not been revealed.
As soon as the Earthling army received word of the hostage situation, the remaining senior staff that had not attended began to panic. Luckily for them, Foley had a plan. Disguising himself by wearing one of Don's uniforms, Foley agreed to meet Chernekov for "negotiations" with a small escort of guards in an empty warehouse district of the city. Seeing through the obvious trap, Foley had two other helicopters trail his, which dropped off a pair of special forces squads a ways away from the ambush site. Foley's helicopter circled the area long enough for the teams to stealthily get in position. Meeting Chernekov face-to-face on an open plaza, she attempted to spring to trap, but the Earthling special forces squads had already disarmed or killed her rooftop sniper teams. With Chernekov in custody, Foley forced her to tell her second-in-command to expect reinforcements by helicopter. However, those reinforcements were Earthling special forces rather than Syndicate mercenaries. Once rescued, Don immediately ordered an all-out assault on the Syndicate headquarters, managing to take them by surprise and capture much of its leadership. The spectacular backfire of their plan resulted in the eastern regions of Delta Land submitting with little resistance.
