Littorean War

Littorean War
Part of the Long War
Date 28 Ediface 1939 – 11 Conservene 1941 Location Joriscian Lowlands, Kesruba desert Result Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Zemay Supported by: Terophan Agamar	Azophin Sixth Chotarian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Zaikonis II Visvaldis Gailas
Strength
350,000 men 2,100 guns 500 tanks 300 aircraft	300,000 men 1,400 guns 100,000 men
Casualties and losses
~20,000 killed ~100,000 wounded	~30,000 killed ~120,000 wounded

The Littorean War was the Zemayan invasion of Azophin's eastern borderlands in Bazad and Littorea from 1939 to 1941. On the prostatist pretext of expanding the territory of Prysostea southwards to the purported "fit and proper boundary enjoyed by the Prophets as of old", Zemay attempted to expel the Azophines from the coast of the Gulf of Joriscia. Despite opposing Azophin in the contemporaneous Second Dekoral War and the Varudine Incitations further south, Lacre cast its lot against Zemay in Littorea, viewing the northern power's potential emergence as a contender in the Starroz Krai as an imminent threat to its interests.

Zemay's manoeuvre was a political embarrassment for the Prysostaia, and when its cautious Interrex, Svitlo Lyakh, died in 1940, the Prysostaic Council early in the following year elected an Azophine candidate, Houb shelKhmus, who expressly repudiated the grant of land promised by the Zemayans. The Littorean War ultimately remained relatively limited, and faced by another of the stalemates so common in the Joriscian Long War, the Zemayans consented to the peace negotiations that resulted in the 1942 Pasila Awards. shelKhmus himself, however, would die on the way to Pasila in a mistaken naval attack—the responsible party was never publicly determined.

Course of the war

2:167 of the Vaestic calendar happened to be a leap year, and the Zemayan declaration of war was thus issued on the Day of the Transcension, incidentally in a time late in the year when the rainy season in the Joriscian Lowlands had ended. Conditions were thus highly favourable to a mechanised Zemayan offensive, while in early Nollonger Zemayan ships and aircraft moved in to bombard Starigrad, Kish, and other cities. By Nollonger 13 Azophine forces were expelled from Argah, and by Conservene Zemayan forces captured most of Bazad, cutting off important logistic routes to the Azophine army in North Seter. The lightning war struck Littorea on Conservene 2 when Zemayan troops landed on its coast and seemed poised to capture Starigrad. The rapid escalation of events alarmed Lacre, which decided to intervene against Zemay in spite of hostilities with Azophin elsewhere; a large army awkwardly entered Azophine Argotea on Conservene 14. This intervention saved the Azophine garrison in Littorea, relieving the encirclement of Starigrad and forcing the Zemayan landing force to withdraw by the beginning of 1940.

In Seter, the Azophine army was able to fold less quickly to the Zemayans, and by Petrial 1940 they were joined by a number of Lacrean troops. However, even then territory was steadily lost and the Zemayans seemed about to reach the Lacrean border. The outbreak of the Great Ephgil Campaign also started informal cooperation between Zemay and Agamar, the latter ensuring the occupation of the Lacrean navy away from the northern theatre. But joined by the Lacrean army in Littorea the line was held, and in Metrial a major Azophine counteroffensive reopened the Bazad road. In retaliation, Zemay invaded Azophine interests in Domradovid Joriscia's Kesrub Commandery, hoping to both divert Azophine troops and strike a crippling blow on Azophine war economy by denying it the local oil wells. The Battle of the Veweesh raged until Sation; an Azophine expedition returned the Zemayans to the pre-war boundaries by the end. But in the meantime, the Zemayans used the rain season to their own favour, fortifying their Seter positions and using aircraft to strike at Azophine-Lacrean troops in transit far behind frontlines, while the coalition could not do the same due to the proximity of the Zemayans to Prysostaic territory; in Fabricad an edict that declared Argotea a bombing-free area provoked much controversy, as it did not affect Zemayan bombers flying from air-bases within the Banner-State. But regardless of the situation, a growing anxiety boiled in the Prysostaia as Svitlo Lyakh's neutrality made it unable to bring itself to repudiate the Zemayan claims.

By the time the rain season of 1940 ended Zemay considered the Kesruba campaign to have diverted Azophine attention and poured more troops into Argotea, launching a new offensive, bringing Zemayan troops to the Kishmish, although this brought little strategic result in the face of fresh and better-equipped Azophine troops, and by Nollonger there was only sluggish fighting over the Cleft of Bazad. The situation allowed anti-Zemayan elements in the Prysostaia and elsewhere to gain popularity and momentum for their positions. In Conservene Zemayan forces forced Azophines off the Cleft for a second time, and seemed poised to ford the Kishmish and conquer Littorea, but the death of Lyakh later in the month caused a series of frantic diplomatic maneuvers as both sides tried to sway the Prysostaic Debates to elect a new Interrex in their own favour. For the sake of its own image, already shamed by the heavy fighting on the doorsteps of the Prysostaia, Zemay elected to pause fighting until a new Interrex was chosen. However, Houb shelKhmus was elected in the end, and as an Azophine his stance on the war was obvious. In the days preceding the announcement of shelKhmus's investiture in Animare 1941, the offensive was frantically resumed, and Zemayan troops attempted a second landing in Littorea.

On Metrial 10 shelKhmus formally repudiated Zemay's prostatism in a solemn declaration. By this time Zemayan troops occupied a firm beachhead in Littorea, and a force on land was approaching Starigrad; with such successes eminent the Zemayans were obviously reluctant to comply. The capture of Starigrad later in the month proved to be a reputational disaster, and public opinion across Outer Joriscia condemned the revealed cynicism of the Zemayan war effort. A dash for Littorea's eastern border in Floridy was stopped by Lacreans, and a sudden major Azophine offensive not only retook the Cleft but cut into Argah, cutting off the huge Zemayan army. The Azophine air force in the north was now able to focus on interdicting Zemayan air raids, denying them the ability to repeat the strategy in 1940. A three-pronged offensive closed in on the 200,000 Zemayans left in Seter and Littorea in Estion, but the Zemayans' tough resistance bought them enough time for the rains later in the year to halt serious fighting, and a corridor was able to be reopened to sustain this army. In the meantime a second battle in the Kesruba began, with Zemayans seeking to not just capture Azophine oil fields but also air bases to relieve the Seter situation. Large parts of what is now Lause and the Kesruba province were captured by Empery, although by Ediface Azophines recovered much of the Kesruba losses.

A major flare-up in late Sation saw allied forces pushing towards Starigrad while Zemayan troops desperately tried to secure and widen the corridor to the Banner-State. The Prysostaia made another intervention in Ediface, this time demanding the outright cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of troops. An attempt to create a local government in Littorea seeking independence to justify the war was again rebuffed by the Prysostaia; on Nollonger 17 Zemay finally relented, and began pulling its army out of Argotea.

Irregular and sporadic fighting in the Kesruba continued, and the Zemayan navy continued to harass Azophine ships off Littorea. Results from these were indecisive, although overall Kesruba oil production for both Zemay and Azophin was heavily disrupted. Emperor Zaikonis II of Zemay grew ashamed of his involvement in the war, however, and was persuaded on Conservene 11 to agree to a complete armistice with Azophin, and attend negotiations at the Pasila Awards. Fighting stopped, although armies remained mobilised and on alert until the full promulgation of the Awards later in 1942.