Prairie War III

The first major operation of the allied war effort would be a subject of significant debate. As the first country to officially declare war, the United Manonan States was also the first to outline a full strategy. Believing it necessary first to rob the Reich of any colonies which it could retreat to, and to slowly wear down the Federation, to prevent it's industry from spinning up enough to actually counter the Allies, it proposed taking colonial possessions or extra-territorial holdings under the Federation's flag before launching a major, all-out invasion of the United Federation through the south. 

The F.W.R., sharing a much longer border with the Reich and at significantly higher risk of being invaded by Madden, favored what was dubbed, perhaps erroneously, "The Southern Strategy," wherein the Allies would land in the seaboard states in the East of the Federation, and then invade through the south into the heartland of the Federation. This, it was hoped, would make Madden surrender more quickly, after a show of significant force.

While Despa did not have an overall strategy, they did prefer to devote their forces to an invasion of the Reich through the north and through the Ruxton Pocket, ostensibly to put pressure on the Reich's heartlands, but also because of their desire to reclaim old Despan territories in the Rust Belt. 

Eventually, the Manonan plan won out, as it was the most detailed and, it was agreed, the most likely to succeed in full. With this, Operation Veritas was drafted, which called for the invasions of the Green Bay Colonies and the Door Peninsula. 2 Marine Units, 3 Armored Divisions, and 7 Infantry Divisions would land at beaches codenamed Juniper, Thistle, and Bluestem. Their landings would be covered by naval gunfire and airstrikes launched from Task Forces 1 and 4, each consisting of ships primarily from the United Manonan Navy. Once the forces landed, they would assault various targets until meeting up in New Franken, the site of a Reich Military Station, before taking the city and pressing into Green Bay and the Suamico Colony, the most economically powerful of the Northern Colonies. 

At the same time, Madden ordered military forces to invade the F.W.R.'s State of Lombardi, south of the Suamico territories. This invasion was largely successful, and prompted the Deutsches Union, which did have a long-standing treaty with the old United Federation, to join Madden's Alliance.

Before Operation Veritas could be launched, however, the Reich launched a military operation of it's own. It was discovered that Ryan Madden had been planning to use an all out nuclear strike against the Federal Wisconsinite Republic in an effort to force them to capitulate, however, he was dissuaded of this notion at the last possible minute, opting instead for a conventional invasion of Wisconsinite Territory. 

At 11:44 on November 29, the Reich's Imperial Military launched Operation Blackbeard, and 19 Tank Divisions and 25 infantry divisions stormed across the border of the State of Waterloo. Almost simultaneously, the Deutsches Union launched an invasion of the Alpine Union.

Allied Counterattack and Operation Carton

On December 12th, the Federal Wisconsinite Army, reinforced with material delivered by the Manonan Sealift and 4 armored divisions from the United Manonan Army, launched coordinated strikes against the Reich's armies across the occupied F.W.R.  While this action was brought about primarily because of miscommunication within the Imperial Army about whether or not they had been ordered to withdraw, Operation Trace's first days ended in the F.W.R. Army retaking key cities, and pushing the Reich out of at least half of it's occupied territory, including all of the State of Milwaukee and finally repelled the Siege of Portland, and culminated in the 2nd Battle of Waterloo, where the former Capital City of the Wisconsinite Republic was re-taken. 

In the Battle of West Allis, the 11th, 12th, and 14th Waubesa Amphibious Armored Divisions retook the city and it's vital shipyard material production from the Reich, and pushed them back to near the old Federation Border. This engagement nearly destroyed the entire 11th WAA, but resulted in the first officially recognized Victory of the United Manonan Armed Forces in the war, and in the whole of the nation's history. 

The United Manonan Navy, in it's attempts to protect evacuation efforts of the Wisconsinite Civilian Population, encountered a southbound Imperial Task Force off Whitefish Bay. The Allied Force consisted of the MNS Vengeance, MNS Agamemnon, and MNS Enterprise, along with the battleship MNS Odana and three destroyers, the MNS Matt Carpenter, MNS Johnston, and MNS Samuel B. Roberts. The Imperial fleet consisted of the aircraft carrier ISS Kearsarge, the heavy cruisers ISS Exeter and ISS Excelsior, the destroyers ISS Fesmeyer and ISS LaBeau. Under the water, the Ballistic Submarines ISS Seth Kosky and ISS Noah Berg accompanied this force, refitted for cruise missile strikes against the evacuation fleet. 

During the Battle, MNS Agamemnon was struck by two torpedoes on the Bow and Amidships by the ISS Noah Allyn Berg, and quickly began to sink by the head. The Captain opted to go down with his ships, while the remaining crew was rescued by the Samuel B. Roberts. Agamemnon had been able to launch some aircraft, and these were later recovered by the MNS Enterprise. Vengeance and Enterprise launched an attack on the enemy fleet which sunk the Fesmeyer and heavily damaged Kearsarge, and on their return, they sighted the two submarines. These were engaged by the Matt Carpenter which depth-charged both subs, and confirming the kill on the ISS Seth Kosky. The Berg remained afloat but was forced to surface, where she was quickly picked off by Enterprise's own fighters. With these losses, the Imperial Navy withdrew from the area, and no further attacks against evacuation convoys occurred during the operation.

However, the victory celebrations were short-lived, as Madden ordered the use of 3 smaller, tactical nuclear weapons against the cities of Waterloo and Portland, the old Capital of the F.W.R. and the Hometown of President Schwartz respectively. These weapons completely wiped out 4 divisions, and left 3 more with barely any surviving forces. In order to save the country from further nuclear bombardment, Allied Leaders convinced Schwartz to withdraw to Milwaukee and evacuate the majority of his armed forces. Operation Carton, essentially a repeat of Operation Emerson, but for Military Forces and Equipment to first the United Manonan States, then later to New Dodge and Belmont. For this operation, the Manonan Navy was forced to deploy it's entire carrier group in the effort to transport Wisconsinite Luftwaffe aircraft, and the Wisconsinite Navy's carriers were placed under the Manonan Navy Command to concentrate efforts. 

The retreat essentially gave Madden control of the majority of the F.W.R., with the exception of the Eastern Seaboard which was playing host to a number of pitched battles even then as the Allies desperately attempted to stem the tide of Madden's engagements. 

At the conference, the Allied Leaders ended up spending the majority of their time debating whether or not to invade the Reich Proper, or to continue the U.M.S.'s Colonies-First strategy. While the Banks-George had expected some resistance, he later admitted he was rather surprised just how much the other allies preferred an invasion of the Reich's mainland.

Because of the longer wartime associated with a Colonies-First Strategy, Banks-George reasoned that the Imperial Navy would be forced into more engagements, allowing the Allied Navies to destroy Madden's Submarines, and thus, eliminate his nuclear launch capability. This would leave the only detonation option to be done in person, on the ground. In addition, it would rob Madden of a foothold to pincer Pyrrhia and Despa, while also making sure he could never flee from the mainland. Further, he believed, backed up by some precedent, that a full-scale invasion would incur "unbelievable casualties, a bloodbath like you've never seen."

Presidents Monday and Schwartz however, disagreed vehemently, believing that it was an unnecessary task to invade the northern colonies, which Madden would likely not defend, and which would divert resources. In the end, Banks-George acquiesced to their 2-1 vote and himself began drawing up plans for the engagement. 

However, by far the most important development of the conference was the Charter of the Allied Powers, formally creating an international military alliance between the United Manonan States, Federal Wisconsinite Republic, and the West Mendotan Republic, an alliance which was already being called The Allies. The Document contained four goals for any nation which officially joined the Allied Powers;

• "The total and complete annihilation of the soul-destroying Tyranny of Mr. Ryan Madden, so-called Fuhrer of the Fourth Riech

• The Liberation of the territories which he and his armies have unlawfully and unjustly conquered for their own beneficiary purposes, 

• The Restoration of a democratic, independent, strong, and free United Federation, and the scheduling of internationally approved and monitored elections in that country,

• And the integrity of the territory of that reestablished Federation Government."

This was backed up by pledges of military and intelligence cooperation, as well as assurances for free trade and merchant protection. It ended with a conclusion written by John Banks-George;

" United we will Fight, United we will win. We will advance to the rescue of civilization. Conquer we must, as conquer we shall."

The Fall of Milwaukee

By the 17th of December, Whitefish Bay and Grafton, the only remaining holdouts outside Milwaukee Proper, had fallen the the advance of the Reich, and it was becoming increasingly clear to allied planners that there would be no way to save the city without time to rearm and damage Madden elsewhere. The United Manonan States was the first to remove it's troops, with Operation Carton being launched with 10 aircraft carriers and the Manonan Merchant Fleet involved in the evacuation of all the Manonan Army divisions in the Milwaukee area, along with their military equipment. When President Schwartz finally agreed with West Mendotan and Manonan planners to evacuate, Carton II, began, this time with 2 supercarriers and 9 light carriers of the West Mendotan Navy, along with almost the full surface force of the United Manonan Navy and the Wisconsinite Navy carried out the largest military sealift in the history of the Sun Prairie Nations. By December 19th, the Sealift was complete and Milwaukee had been evacuated. 

During this evacuation on the 18th of December, the Manonan Navy engaged a superior force of Imperial Supercarriers, and, despite heavy losses to their aircraft and more ships than the Reich, the battle resulted in an Allied Victory and the destruction 2 Supercarriers and an Imperial Destroyer. 

Despan Sea campaign and the Western Shift

At first, the Allies believed it was most likely that Ryan would target Despa and Pyrrhia, the two countries which sat between his two major territorial holdings. Despa, while not possessing a large Navy, was vital to the Allied War Efforts - it's large airfleet and army would be necessary for any major counterattack, not to mention it's deepwater ports would prove invaluable for the gigantic forces of the United Manonan and West Mendotan Navies. 

In an attempt to counterstrike the victories at Whitefish Bay, the Imperial Navy began assembling large fleets for engagements along the coast of Despa, and secretly, to scout for potential invasion sites. In the Battle of the Sheboygan Sea, the Manonan Navy once again held it's own in a pitched engagement, defeating the Imperial Navy again, but with heavier losses. 

The Battle of Port Washington would be the first major surface engagement of the war, during which the United Manonan Navy would turn back another Imperial Fleet, forcing them to reinforce the area again, culminating in the Battle of the Dune Sea.

The Battle of the Dune Sea was decisive for the Allies, and crippling to the Reich. A combined fleet of the United Manonan and Federal Wisconsinite Navies would engage a massive supercarrier force of the Reichsmarine, losing 5 carriers in exchange for 3 Supercarriers destroyed (including two Anderson-class) and 6 light carriers lost, along with 3 Missile Submarines. 

Subsequent battles would see the Allied Navies steadily beat back the Imperial Navy, as the theatre of operations largely shifted from the Far East towards New Dodge and eventually, it was believed, a major offensive by the Reich into that state. However, the strong offensive potential of the West Mendotan Navy, along with continued pushback from the Wisconsinite and Manonan Navies prevented supremacy from being achieved on either the Northern Yahara Seas nor the Wisconsin River. Eventually, Madden opted for a more increased Mass Casualties strategy, beginning to send massive aerial bombing raids over the West Mendotan Republic and United Manonan States' major cities. Using Starfleet cruisers for this, he effectively sacrificed his own means of repelling invasion by air, all with little effect overall, since the respective nation's air forces were largely able to halt the strikes after the first few. 

      Of note is the Air Battle of Allianta City, during which a force of the Manonan Airfleet led by MSS Northumbria, a large single-class Destroyer, successfully defended the city from the largest bombing raid yet launched, with Northumbria itself destroying 5 ex-Federation Arizona-class Destroyers and 2 smaller Frigates. 

Seeing that the end was nigh, Ryan Madden, apparently fled his compound in the capital, and the Allies would later mount a major manhunt. On January 25th, Andrew Anderson contacted John Banks-George, who was likewise acting in command on the ground, having arrived just before the Marines landed on Isla Rando on a ferry plane from the carrier Enterprise. The communique was just three words, and seemed to be influenced by the two men's previous friendship during the Second Great War; A friendship which had, for rather obvious reasons, deteriorated, and very nearly eliminated all of the goodwill the two men had for each other. The cable simply read, "I'm calling it."

A major series of diplomatic communications were immediately launched across the whole SPN, most specifically between the West Mendotan Republic, Federal Wisconsinite Republic, the Federation Government-in-exile, and the United Manonan States, the four of which did not expect the Reich to surrender before the large offensive into the rust belt. It was eventually determined to halt any offensive actions into the Reich, but to fully defend their positions and continue to surge troops into the area of operations, just in case the communique was a ploy. However, sustained communication between Banks-George and Anderson affirmed that he was, in fact, fully prepared to surrender.

List of Major Battles