Seref Games

The fall of the colonial government did not do Uganda well. Years of neglect in the wartime period, alongside general instability as the plague descended upon Africa and the colonial government's inability to rule became clearer with the passing day. Warlords ran rampant, until a democratically-minded warlord enforced his will and spread his ideas across the country. True democracy came to Uganda, and for a while, it seemed like the country would do well even with a lack of sea trade and WWI-era technology.

Narrative
Queen Catharine Victoria Akinyi sat at a large table in the most heavily guarded room within the East African Kingdom. A large map spread across the table, marked with points of interest and the units of both the Kingdom and its rival. Various officials and military officers were seated around the table, each with a clear view of the map. Several smaller maps were laid out for the Generals who had gathered.

“Councilors, it’s long since time that we pacified the rest of our territory. Field Marshal Odara has planned out an advance on Nairobi. Field Marshal,” she gestured to the other woman.

“The majority of the enemy’s forces are located in these places,” Monika Odara said and pointed to several spots on the map, which were marked by blue emblems. “We expect that resistance will focus most heavily around Nairobi. Advances will be made along these roads,” she pointed again, this time to marks in red, “with the goal of encircling Nairobi.” She continued for several minutes, laying out the military’s planned advance and tactics against the Kingdom’s neighbour.

Catharine waited until all was said before leaning forward in her seat again to speak, “this is a pacification operation. I want that clear to you all from the start. The primary objective is to remove the ability of the rebel territories to conduct military operations. Avoiding collateral damage is a luxury, and will only be pursued when doing so does not jeopardize the pacification efforts. We can rebuild Nairobi when we’ve cleansed it. I have no interest in a lengthy or drawn out urban campaign. Is that understood?”

***
Sirens blared across the camp, calling the soldiers of the Pacification Squads to readiness. Alexis Adondi, a sergeant in the Pac Squads, had been playing a game of cards when the call went out. She cursed, pretending to anger, as though she’d had a winning hand, and shoved herself up from the table. “Well, guess you’re saved.” Her playing partners gave her a sour look, but they all scrambled up anyway, one of them packing up the cards.

Alexis shambled out of the room she’d been playing in, hurriedly checking that her vital equipment was still in place as she went. Mask, ammo, compass, knife, and a few small personal items were all in place. Her rifle and entrenching tool were back in her encampment. She jogged down the hall, dodging the other soldiers who were rushing to their own destinations, until she reached the door marked with her squad’s designation.

Pushing through the door she found her unit already gathered, their equipment laid out on their beds. “Well, shit, good to see that y’all are here,” she said by way of greeting. She’d already known they’d have beaten her to the barracks room. Her rifle was leaned against her bunk, and her own supplies set out by her troops. “Sounds like orders have finally come down,” she continued, “time to actually move out and do our jobs. Arm up and let’s get moving.” They responded with affirmatives, and the squad followed its protocol for the long awaited pacification of Victoria.

Military
Ground
The Victoria Offensive consisted of 28 Divisions split into three Army Groups. Army Group Alpha was comprised of 3rd, 7th, 8th, and 9th Infantry Divisions; 13th and 29th Armoured Divisions; 15th, 16th, and 19th Homeguard Divisions stationed at Voi. Attack Group Beta consisted of the 30th and 32nd Armoured Divisions; 10th, 12th, 31st, and 33rd Infantry Divisions; 36th, 41st, 44th, and 45th Homeguard Divisions stationed at Longido. Attack Group Gamma included the 37th and 39th Armoured Divisions; 34th, 35th, 38th, and 42nd Infantry Divisions; 48th, 49th, and 50th Homeguard Divisions based out of the airbase near Lake Amboseli.

Army Group Alpha drove north from Voi, along a route that reconnaissance indicated would provide minimal resistance. The Group passed through the towns of Kibwezi, Ikutha, Ikanga, Kitui, Mwingi, and finally Kangondi before nearing the northern neighbourhoods of Nairobi. Each town saw a small garrison of Home Guard forces left behind, and the East African flag flown. Alpha’s advance was screened by light infantry scouts, and covered by the fighters of the Royal Army Pilot Service. When the advance reached Nairobi, the Army Group’s hundreds of artillery pieces opened fire on known positions of the enemy army, and on those parts of the city that were deemed to be of high strategic or tactical value to defending forces. In the wake of both RAPS and artillery bombardment, the Army Group would advance into the city proper under heavy infantry screening.

Group Beta advanced north through the town of Ilbisil and to Kijiado, where reconnaissance indicated heavy resistance was to be expected. The advance arrived after the town had been subjected to heavy bombing by the Royal Army Pilot Service, and under the cover of RAPS fighters. Supporting artillery units, numbering 510 pieces, opened fire on the town and any units housed within. The artillery was relayed targets to fire on by infantry reconnaissance units that screened the advance of the Army Group. An additional 170 anti-air artillery pieces shielded the advancing units.

The first of Beta’s forces to arrive at Kijiado were light reconnaissance units, scouting for surviving enemy positions. Heavy units from the 30th and 32nd Divisions, screened by the Pacification Squads of the 10th and 12th Divisions, were the primary frontal force clearing away remaining defensive positions. Positions entrenched in structures were engaged with artillery, or air support, while any hostile efforts toward urban combat and ambush were faced with direct fire from the armoured units and the mobility and fire support of the infantry. The Army Group’s Homeguard units provided a combination of flanking, scouting, and holding forces; where the advance cleared enemy positions, it was the Home Guard that occupied them.

Army Group Beta’s objective was to clear Kijiado and secure the route to Nairobi. If successful in clearing the hostile elements in the town, a Home Guard Division would be left to hold the town while the rest of the Group continued its advance to Nairobi. This advance scheduled Group Beta to rendezvous with Group Gamma at the Althi River, where reconnaissance indicated minor fortifications were present. There the Group’s artillery would bombard Nairobi’s defenders before the armoured and infantry units would encroach upon the city’s streets.

Army Group Gamma drove north between Groups Alpha and Beta. It pushed to the west of the enemy’s position at Mbumbuni, which was suffering under significant aerial bombardment, and instead passed through the towns of Mashuru and Kiu before reaching the Althi River. Both towns were indicated to have a minimal, or non-existent, enemy presence. They would be taken and provided for with a Homeguard garrison before the Group continued toward Nairobi.

Gamma would, if possible, link up with Beta at the Althi River and shell enemy positions within Nairobi. If Group Beta had become bogged down at Kijiado, then Gamma’s orders were to commence with the artillery bombardment on their own. Following significant bombardment of the city, and continuing bombardment of key targets and those areas identified by the advancing forces, Gamma’s troops would enter the city. Gamma, as with the other Army Groups, screened its heavier vehicles with infantry.

Air
The Royal Army Pilot Service was granted the honour of beginning the pacification effort of the Victoria Campaign. RAPS units were given several primary objectives, split between their unit types.

The military’s heavy bombers were sent on missions to bomb the enemy presences at Kajiado, Mbunbuni, Naivasha, and Nairobi. Their mission was to destroy as many of the enemy positions as they could, and to flatten any positions the enemy could use in resisting the advance of the Army Groups. The bombers were, additionally, made available to target specific locations that were signalled by the Army Groups as they advanced. Of utmost priority in the opening strikes were the hostile airbases and aircraft while they remained on the ground, followed by enemy vehicle and supply depots.

The fighters of the RAPS were deployed to escort the bombers in their missions. Any remaining enemy aircraft would be engaged by these forces before they could reach the bombers. A similar operation was undertaken to escort and screen the advancing Royal Army Ground Services forces, in which the RAPS fighters were able to coordinate with the friendly anti-air artillery to provide an umbrella of protection. When the situation called for it, fighters with the appropriate load out were tasked with providing close air support to the army forces, or engaging in SEAD operations.

OOC: In their attacks the EAK rolled a 3 for ground attacks and a 7 for air attacks. This results in 7 points of ground losses, 8 points of ground damages, 2 points of air losses, and 3 points of air damage.
IC:
The East African Kingdom's attack came to a shock in the halls of Nairobi. Militiamen assigned to maintain control of the border region attempted to report the incursion, finding themselves destroyed almost immediately overwhelmed by artillery fire, bombing runs, and effective East African infantry fire. Meanwhile, in Nairobi itself, the government had at least some level of consciousness as to the ongoing situation, but without reports from the forward militia, they remained unaware until the bulk of the Kingdom's forces slammed into Nairobi, sparking a brutal close-quarters battle as the units centered in and around Nairobi attempted to lure the enemy into the city. However, the sheer mass of the East African Kingdom's assault prevented any form of effective resistance, with the regular army stationed here effectively wiped out.

The air battle fared little better, with a hopeless counterattack launched by the Ugandan Air Force's aging biplanes and early monowing fighters, with nearly eighty aircraft lost in short order. With no other options, the remaining fighters, wounded and badly damaged, retreated to Kampala, where the remainder of the shattered and shocked army stood. After the destruction at Nairobi, these forces had learned of the destruction. The commanders, unwilling to sacrifice troops, reluctantly began building defenses, beginning with an extensive trench network and elaborate minefield around the city of Kampala, which now served as the capital. Here was where the rest of Uganda would make its stand, given no other viable options existed.

OOC: Uganda has lost 6 points of artillery, 1 point of mechanized, 1 point of militia, and 3 points of infantry for ground losses. 2 points of Fighters were lost, and 3 points of Fighters were damaged. These 4 points of fighters have moved to Territory 347.

In their counterattacks, Uganda rolled a 5 for ground attacks and a 2 for air attacks, resulting in 1 point each of ground and air losses and damages for the East African Kingdom.

With the crushing East African victory in Nairobi, the Royal Army Ground Service moved its forces to secure the rubble-strewn streets of the city. But that visible swell of activity was not all that was being done by the Kingdom.

A message was sent, through secure channels, to the remaining Ugandan government. It offered amnesty for all Ugandan military personnel, and all surviving Ugandan government members, if they surrendered to the East Africans. The Ugandan politicians would be allowed to integrate into the East African Senate, and Ugandan soldiers would be integrated into the Royal Armed Defense Services.

Behind the scenes, hours-long negotiations in the Ugandan capital of Kampala raged, split between saber-rattling nationalists that sought revenge for the supposedly illegal annexation of the Eastern Province and peace activists that demanded a negotiated surrender. In the end, the nationalists won, and a reply was sent back indicating that so long as the East African Kingdom occupied Nairobi and the former Ugandan Eastern Province, there would be no peace.

Narrative
“They’ve refused our offer of surrender. How rude of them,” Catharine Akinyi said. She was sitting in her situation room, a map of the conflict with the Ugandan rebel state spread across the table before her. Markers for her units, and those of the enemy that her forces had been able to locate, were focused on the two major cities that the rebels had held. Nairobi had been liberated, and engineers were already working to repair the damage left from the battles there. Kampala was the only real enemy stronghold left.

“Well, we didn’t expect anything different,” Monika Odara said with a shrug, “they don’t have enough forces to hold Kampala, but they’ve got the same arrogance as Arlin and his traitors. They all think that declaring themselves to be the will of the people will shield them from retribution.”

“Yes,” Catharine said, gesturing dismissal, “it doesn’t change that we’ll have to rebuild Kampala as well. It’s a nuisance. But. I think we should consider a small change in tactics. Don’t send in the Pacification Squads just yet. Use the RAPS to purify the city first. A warning to the other rebel states that, when I offer surrender, they should take it.”

“Purify?” Odara asked, raising a brow.

“Saturate the city with napalm.”

“That’s. Well. We won’t be rebuilding Kampala so much as replacing it with a new city, if you want that,” Field Marshal Odara answered, her voice questioning the decision her monarch had made.

The council of Generals and advisors to the Queen made the necessary plans and preparations for a saturation bombing of Kampala, and the resulting humanitarian disaster they were about to create. If they had reservations about this course of action, they kept them to themselves.

***
Nairobi’s streets were strewn with rubble. The smell of burning tires, and rotting flesh, still choked the air. Sergeant Adondi was assigned to patrol the streets, and she was glad to have the mask that was standard issue to all Pacification Squad soldiers. It limited the impact of the smoke and the smell, though it limited her field of vision more than she liked. Still, the city had been quiet in the days since it fell to the Kingdom’s advance.

The first few days had been chaos. Fighting in the streets as the remnants of the rebel military realized they were cut off. They had fought desperately,outmatcheden so out matched that they hadn’t lasted for two weeks before organized resistance had collapsed. Still that had left stragglers, those who thought that East African patrols made for easy targets, or who sought to destabilize the rebuilding of the city. Those were the people that Alexis and her squad fought against now. She knew, from her own experience in the Transitional Government’s forces, that putting down the lingering resistance would be a task years in the making.

Still, it was worth it. Seeing the first seeds of East Africa’s victory start to flourish here in the ruined streets of the enemy capital. The victory had opened the way for an expansion of the Kingdom’s wealth, and what had been just an idea in Dar es Salaam was becoming a reality in the rubble of Nairobi. East Africans were beginning to be organized by House, and those Houses were moving to lay claim to the new wealth and opportunities that they saw available. The commanding officers had the first pick of the ruins, and the military Houses formed quickly.

Alexis herself had joined a House, under the clientage of Colonel Mboya. Her squad had joined her as well, and House Mboya patrolled the streets of Nairobi’s southern quarter. So long as they did their jobs, and pacified the area, they would all share in the wealth of Uganda’s fall.

Military
Ground
The Army Groups Alpha, Beta, and Gamma sustained minor damages in combat around Nairobi. The 19th, 36th, 44th, and 49th Homeguard Divisions had taken sufficient casualties to be unable to continue combat operations, and their remnants were rotated out to the East African homeland to replenish with new recruits. The 7th, 12th, 31st, and 35th Infantry Divisions had taken significant damage, though the units remained at combat readiness, and were stationed in Nairobi to hold the city. The 14th, 17th, 26th, and 47th Homeguard Divisions were drawn up to replace the lost units, and deployed to join the Army Groups.

The replenished Army Groups advanced from Nairobi to the new border with the Ugandan Rebel State, clearing the roads of what rebel forces might remain, as they moved. With the support of aerial recon, advanced RIP agents, and light infantry scouts, the Army Groups were ordered to cross into Uganda’s remaining territory and advance on Kampala. This was ordered while the Strategic Bomber Squadrons of the RAPS conducted their missions.

RAGS forces were set to arrive at Kampala in the aftermath of bombing missions, wherein they would be joined by RIP agents who had evacuated the city prior. Combat operations were set to clear any surviving local defenders using heavy artillery bombardment, supporting air strikes, and infantry advances into the ruins of Kampala.

Air
The Royal Air Pilot Service was dealt minimal damages by hostile forces. RAPS fighter squadrons were advanced to air strips closer to Uganda’s current territory for launch. Air Superiority fighters were ordered to patrol the skies and destroy any Ugandan aircraft encountered. Air Defense craft, along with Air Superiority squadrons, were assigned to escort the Strategic Bomber squadrons on their missions. Ground Attack squadrons escorted the Army Groups of the RAGS during the advance on Kampala.

The Strategic Bomber Squadrons were given the specific order of saturating Kampala with napalm munitions. This operation was conducted during the measured advance of RAGS forces, and with an eye toward obliteration of the city as a municipality. Bombing operations would cease after the RAGS forces arrived at the designated rendezvous point for the RIP agents.

RAPS Air Superiority and Ground Attack squadrons made a particular point to call upon the Ugandan air base at Masaka. Air Superiority fighters were ordered to escort the Ground Attack fighters, while the Ground Attack Squadrons were tasked with eliminating any Ugandan aircraft still on the ground, and damaging the Ugandan runways when possible.

OOC: In their attacks, the EAK rolled a 5 for ground attacks and a 2 for air attacks. This results in 7 points of ground losses, 8 points of ground damage, 8 points of air losses, and 9 points of air damage.
In their attacks, Uganda rolled a 4 for ground attacks and a 1 for air attacks. This results in 1 point each of ground losses and damages, and 1 point each air losses and damages for the EAK.

As Uganda cannot sustain all casualties against it, the NPN is effectively destroyed.

IC:

The firestorm that consumed Kampala was comparable to Dresden, or Tokyo perhaps. There, the comparisons ended. The majority of the Ugandan military had been stationed in the city, with remnants scattered on the outskirts who stared in anger as the East African air force dropped incendiary weapons on the city. Relief efforts by the city's firefighting brigades resulted in nothing but burned men and trapped civilians caught in a fire that raged across the entire city. Incensed, the soldiers who could still hold weapons lashed out against the East African Kingdom's military with dying numbers. Included in these were men who had been burned by the napalm, giving off the appearance that even as they burned, the Ugandan people stood defiantly at personal risk.

At the end of the week, when the flames finally subsided, the only thing that remained of Kampala was a pile of ashes and dead bodies that couldn't possibly be identified even with the most advanced medical technology. The Ugandan government, believing themselves safe in the city, had been wiped out entirely. The only survivor was the Minister of Finance, who upon hearing of the destruction of Kampala, immediately surrendered Uganda to the East African Kingdom.

Uganda had effectively ceased to exist.