Volgan Invasion of Justenia

The Volgan invasion of Justenia began on 8 February 1950, when the Udarnyy Otryad divisions of Vologda Sosnogorsk invaded Justenia. When little progress had been made after the initial attacks, Volga eventually called off the invasion and after peace talks had been made, an peace treaty between the two nations was signed.

Vologda's heavy industrialization and militarization ensured their growing dependence upon oil and metal industries. This heavy consumption of resources required Vologda to forcefully further their territorial expansion towards the West and South, and Justenia happened to be in the way.

This invasion was one of the most notable ones in both Justenian and Volgan history, for being the invasion to utilize the largest number of tanks: numbering for more than 10,000 tanks lost in the invasion.

The Volgan Conquering
Most of the major countries around Vologda had been annexed into its domain, but the Communist war machine was still hungering for a longer reach. In the distance, a while to the west of Vologda, lay Justenia, a land with numerous ports, perfect for expanding the size of their Navy; exactly what Vologda needed. Volga cranes the neck of his armed forces towards the western nation. Vologda is about to descend upon Justenia. No need for an official declaration of war. "Let's crush them while we have the element of surprise".

Caution
The Justenian government were well aware of the conquering frenzy the Volgans were on, and had been buffing up their national border defenses as much as they can, mobilizing every man possible.

Battle
On the 8th of February 1950, the 1st and 2nd Otryads came crashing down upon the minor city of Aerion without warning, on the outskirts of the Justenian lands. Alarmed by this, the Justenian government started preparing for a full-scale war. The Otryads easily decimated the unprepared city, reducing the once beautiful city into a stone husk, leaving thousands dead, and turning the city effectively under Volgan control. A few hours after the surprise attack, the Justenian president, Joseph Baxter, made a speech aimed at Vologda's dictator, Friedrüch Volga: "'Friedruch Volga. You have stepped into our soil, leaving death and destruction in your wake. You have threatened the people of this fine nation with war and violence, and I will not let this pass. Justenia believes in peace and unity, but you have forced our hand. Mark these words, Volga: our retribution will not be so merciful.'""- Joseph Baxter, President of Justenia"

Battle of Athelin
12 hours later, the Otryads launched another surprise attack upon Athelin, but this time the Justenians were fully prepared, and had evacuated the city beforehand. At around 11 am, the 1st Otryad, led by Boris Vlasikov, butted heads with the 21st Infantry Division and 32nd Armored Division, both led by General Scott Wolfgang. Despite the Volgans having the clear numerical and armor advantage, the Justenians had better knowledge of their surroundings, and used this to their advantage. And it was also in this battle that their armored forces were really put to the test. Vicious street fighting commenced throughout Athelin, soldiers fighting door to door, and tanks clashing at practical point-blank range. Despite the Volgan armies' reputation as vicious street fighters, the Justenians were better suited to the surroundings.

Boris Vlasikov had made a fatal error in judgement of the Justenian military prowess, and had underestimated the tactical aptitude of Scott Wolfgang, who had been on duty during the Great Regional War. This led to most of the 1st Otryad forces within Athelin getting pinned down badly. Volga sent the 2nd Otryad and 1st Shock Tank Army, under the command of Dieter Horst Sieghart and Oleg Rostyslav respectively, to relieve the forces at Athelin. However, in an attempt to encircle Athelin, Oleg had to ram through the city of Varan, Dieter stayed with Boris to batter the Athelin defenders, while Volga sent the 2nd Shock Tank Army, under the command of Yevhen Blyznyuk, to participate in the encirclement movement by crushing the defenses at (insert Justenian city). "Ferocious fighting ensued in Athelin for the remainder of the invasion, lasting a painstaking 7 months."

Battle of Varan
Oleg had orders to encircle the city of Athelin, but first he had to conquer the city adjacent to it, and one of them happened to be Varan, a large metropolitan city. Having witnessed urban brawling during his active duty first-hand, Oleg planned to have his heavy tanks spearhead the attack and have his grenadiers clean up any resistance. However, the heavy tanks, particularly the 1st Heavy Tank Regiment, were met with Justenia's own armored force: their brand new Sentinel heavy assault guns. The steel giants clashed brutally in close quarters combat; both were slow, very heavily armored frontally, and had enormous heavy guns. The great clash between the Sentinels and Kaijus here would be known throughout the world as one of the largest and most intense tank versus tank battles, and the largest tank v tank battle in Justenian history.

One of the most, if not the most notable tank versus tank skirmishes happened in the area surrounding the (insert monument here) in the heart of Varan.

A column of 4 Ekrans with a Kaiju behind them advanced through Varan, towards the (insert monument here). As the tank column rolled forwards and passed an seemingly empty street, a Sentinel on the other end of the street shot the leading Ekran, destroying it. The Ekran behind it took a shot at the Sentinel, but the shell bounced off harmlessly. The Kaiju took the lead, slowly trundling towards the monument, with the remaining Ekrans diverting to scout for the Sentinel. The second Ekran ran into a platoon of Peacekeepers, which immediately opened fire on the approaching Ekran. The Ekran destroyed two of them, but the third tank managed to damage the gun. In retribution, the Ekran swung its gun at the Peacekeeper's gun like a club, crashing into it and disabling it as well. The Ekran's commander also rammed off the tracks of the Peacekeeper, then left it to it's own devices.

The third and fourth Ekrans managed to find the Sentinel, who had by then regrouped with a platoon of three more Peacekeepers; these were the last tanks defending the Varan city square. The Sentinel managed to knock off the tracks of the third Ekran, immbolizing it. Afterwards, the Ekran fired at the Peacekeeper's gun mantlet, which deflected the shot down onto the turret ring and jammed the turret traverse mechanism, while the fourth Ekran destroyed the second and third Peacekeepers on the move. However, this Ekran's driver got clumsy and rammed the tank straight into a building, damaging the tracks and bending the gun. The Sentinel fired at the immobilized Ekran, which fired a shot of retribution at the LPG of the Sentinel, damaging its engine.

Now with it's engine damaged, the Sentinel reversed itself into a building to make a last stand against the approaching invaders, firing at anything coming in front of it's gun. All this time, the Ekrans have been reporting their positions to the Kaiju, and the Kaiju had been slowly making its way to the Sentinel's position. At last, the two giants meet head to head. Despite the Sentinel being known for it's powerful penetration power, the Kaiju had armor surpassing the penetration of the Sentinel's gun, rendering the Sentinel's gun useless head-on against the Kaiju. The Sentinel fired a shot at the Kaiju's hull, and the shot bounced off harmlessly. The Kaiju fired in return at the Sentinel's superstructure, which penetrated and killed the gunner. The shockwave of the 14 cm shell was so powerful it knocked out the engine too. The crew, except for the gunner, eventually escaped with their lives.

In the end, Varan was overrun by Oleg's forces, though small pockets of heavy resistance remained within isolated areas of Varan, harrassing the Volgan troops in the area. These little acts of resistance will develop into something bigger.