Operation: Eagles Landing

[Republic of Italy]

OOC NOTE: EAGLES LANDING HAS BEEN MOVED FROM CROTIA TO ALBANIA DUE TO MY IGNORANCE, THANK YOU.

Admiral Cesar looked out on the water, in his flagship. He put binoculars to his eyes, seeing the Albanian shoreline, he looked at the beaches, a small enemy force was running along the beach like ants, attempting to construct naval fortifications.

"3/4th ahead 10 degrees left, lets give them a broadside." Cesar removed the binoculars from his eyes as the ship begin to turn and accelerate They were now in range and Cesar opened up the broadcast to his fleet.

"0800 March 8th, Operation Eagles landing is to begin, we're on a strict timeline captains, lets get it done." Cesar closed the broadcast, 20 seconds later the entire fleet opened fire on the Albanian Coast, the roars of Italian Fighters could be heard as the smaller patrols landed and the Italian Airforce begin to make runs against the Albanian Armed Forces. Flashes came from the beachead has frustrated Albanian forces begin firing their small arms hopelessly into the ocean at the large cruisers.

The Bombardment continued for 30 minutes, when over 200 Italian Landing Craft littered the waters. It had begun.

[Republic of Italy]

Operation Eagles Landing

The Strategy for Operation Eagles landing is very simple, it takes place in the area off the Albanian coastline.

First Step

The Italian Navy assembles off the Albanian Coast Line Begining a 12 hour bombardment on the Albanian coastal defences, during the bombardment the Italian Airforce will be in the air taking out key Albanian Facilitys near coast between the citys of Durres and Lezhe

During this air and naval offencive 5 Airborne Regiments begin dropping behind the enemy coastline Each Airborne regiment consists of 400 Italian Parachute Soldiers


15 Regiments will Drop behind Durres in an attempt to cut off the beaches from Albanian Reinforcements. (White)



2nd Step:

The Assigned Beaches will be taken between the hours of 0500 and 1200

Beach A (Blue)
Assigned Forces:
1st Wave:
3,000 Italian Regulars

2nd Wave:
2,000 Italian Regulars
10 Centauro Light Tanks
5 Ariete Main Battle Tanks
10 Dardo Infantry fighting vehicle
10 VCC Armoured personnel carrier

Beach B (Red)
Assigned Forces:
1st Wave:
3,000 Italian Regulars

2nd Wave:
2,000 Italian Regulars
10 Centauro Light Tanks
5 Ariete Main Battle Tanks
10 Dardo Infantry fighting vehicle
10 VCC Armoured personnel carrier

Beach C (Purple)
Assigned Forces:
1st Wave:
3,000 Italian Regulars

2nd Wave:
2,000 Italian Regulars
10 Centauro Light Tanks
5 Ariete Main Battle Tanks
10 Dardo Infantry fighting vehicle
10 VCC Armoured personnel carrier

Beach D (Yellow)
Assigned Forces:
1st Wave:
3,000 Italian Regulars

2nd Wave:
2,000 Italian Regulars
10 Centauro Light Tanks
5 Ariete Main Battle Tanks
10 Dardo Infantry fighting vehicle
10 VCC Armoured personnel carrier

Map

[Fourth Reich of Deutschland]

(OOC: Hungary is invading Croatia. And Croatia surrendered to Hungarian forces before you invaded. So, if you're intervening, that means war. With alot of pissed off Europeans. Unless you want to get into a conflict with him, you should tell me what this is about. He's not coming back until Sunday, and if this is because of that, I find that extremely low. Tell me what this is about over AIM. Name is in profile. If you don't have that, make a topic on the OOC board.)

[Republic of Italy]

OOC: Sick, sorry apologies can we cancel this operation?

[Fourth Reich of Deutschland]

OOC: Yes, you can cancel it.

[Republic of Italy]

Modified as the invasion of Albania, can i get someone to calc it please

[United Balkan Republic]

The United Balkan Republic orders an immediate withdrawl of all Italian forces from the Balkan Peninsula.

[L'empire de la France]

OOC: Ill be Albania, if you be Algeria when we are done.

[L'empire de la France]

Albania Initial Reaction
With a fairly poor intelligence network the attack on Albania came as a suprise. When the naval guns and bombers started to hit the shoreline it was unexpected and furious. Within fifteen minutes of the first artillery shells landing the government was calling up all reserves for all branches and called for a full scale mobilization that would take around fours hours to complete.

The navy was ordered to put to sea their one whiskey-class submarine and was to have their second whiskey-class submarine that was at sea to engage the Italian navy with torpedoes. The 45 missile/torpedo/patrol boats were to be held in the bay to the north (In pink on the map). They would then wait to engage the Italian landing craft and the torpedo craft would proceed to attack the main Italian fleet. The three Albanian mine vessels were ordered to sea immediatly and began to mine the landing zones that the Italian fleet was bombarding. The other thirty support vessels were being outfitted with machineguns, cannons, anything that was possible. If they could not be fitted they were to be scuttled at the enterance of the naval yards to prevent the enemy from coming in.

The Albanian Airfroce was ordered into the air and was to attack any Italian aircraft that came into Albanian airspace. Albania had a total of 90 fighter aircraft that ranged from J/F-2,J/ F-5,J/F-6, and F-7 fighters. They were old 1980s fighters but they had experience over Serbia and Bosnia.

Albanian Army personal were called to their bases and quickly briefed on the situation. In total Albania had 35,000 combat personal with an additional 55,000 non-combat personal. Albania was broken into four regional commands, you had your northern sector, mid-north center, mid-south sector, and southern sector. The north sector had 9,000 troops, five T-34, 20 T-54/55s, ten BTR-40s, thirty Type 531. They also had twenty-five SU-76, two Type 63 MLRS, they also had twenty-five Type 56, Type 66, M-1931, M-1937, M-1942.
The mid-north sector, were Italian troops were, had 15,000 troops, twenty-five T-54s, ten T-59s and ten T-63s. They had forty BDRM-1s and 40 Type 531 infantry combat vehicles. For artillery they had 50 SU-76 Self-Proppelled Artillery, two Type 63 MLRS, they also had twenty-five Type 56, Type 66, M-1931, M-1937, M-1942 towed artillery. There was also A/A Artillery, A/T Weapons and countless mortars within the ranks.

OOC:Not done yet...


Albanian Tirana Regional control was running around like a chicken with its head cut-off. No one knew what was happening or who was doing it. All they knew was that the beaches at Durres were being bombarded. All regional commands were put on high alert and troops mobilized.
Albanian troops were then assembled and pushed to the west as the shelling still happened. They would take the main road towards Durres. No troops would move into Durres however but they would cut off all the main routes for the Italian advance. Seeing that much of the area around the city was marsh it woul be hard for the Italians to move into the open countryside without moving down the roads into fortified Albanian positions are straight into ambushes. As for the airborne troops they would be slaughtered before they even hit ground seeing that they were outnumbered almost 40:1. The troop transports would also have to make it through the Albanian Airforce and the countless AA that was scattered throughout the hills and countryside of Albania. Any troops coming into the are would stop and fortify their positions, no Italians would make it any farther. (Positions are in orange on the map.)



OOC: I also need how many aircraft you are using, what type, and where your fleet is located exactly.

[Republic of Italy]

The Italian Navy already had its planes in the air, quickly spotting the smaller croatian navy heading to directly engage them, But the small Italian Airforce stayed close to the navy with its AA Cover it would be a match for the now airborne Albanian Airforce, The Paratroopers had already begin landings all over the countryside behind Durres, 2 Regiments begin to rig the rail ways with explosives in wait for the Albanian military to attempt to reinforce the beaches at Durres or attempt to pull out of Durres. The key here was finess, the paratroopers had gone relativly undetected as it seemed amongst the confusion of air raids and the naval bombardment from the Italian Navy.

But now with word of the Albanian Navy heading their way the bombardment ceased. and the transports were mixed in in the back of the fleet with the larger more dangerous italian craft. Quickly the following ships opened up with Surface to Surface missiles wich outranged the smaller and obsolete Albanian Craft.

2 VITTORIO VENETO Cruiser
5 AUDACE Destroyer Class
5 DURAND DE LA PENNE Superdestroyer Class
10 LUPO Frigate Class
20 MAESTRALE Frigate Class
20 MINERVA Corvette Class

50 TESEO Missiles fired from these ships. (Anti Ship Missiles) their targets were picked before launch on the albanian anti ship crafts. Though the entire albanian fleet was made up of small ships the Italian Navy used precaution, engaging them at a range to confuse them.

Immedietly after the TESEO missiles were let lose, the 1st Wave begin landing on the Albanian Beach heads The landing craft were screened as the Italian fleet moved its submarines and smaller missile and torpedo frigates to engage what was left of the hopefuly confused Albanian Navy.

Ships used for this assault:

20 MAESTRALE Frigate Class
50 ARTIGLIERE Patrol Frigate Class
20 MINERVA Corvette Class
15 ENRICO TOTI Submarine Class
10 NAZARIO SAURO Submarine Class

After the landings begin the airforce begin to hit the albanian military on the beaches attempting to fortify the large port city of Durres.

Casualtys:
2 SU-39 Flankers (AA Fire)
1 ARTIGLIERE Patrol Class Frigate (Submarine Fire)

Due to enemy submarine and torpedo activity, the remaining patrol boats without orders begin running screens for the larger cruisers and carriers.

[Republic of Italy]

france said:

OOC: Ill be Albania, if you be Algeria when we are done.

Yeah i'll be Algeria, just PM me when you want me to be a country i'll do it for yah.

[empireofspain]

OOC:Guess I got drafted to be Albania.


"Ta qifsha tokën tënde!" A loud voice rang out spitting a curse as an explosion rocked his foxhole. The hole was positioned on a particulary muddy boggy hill by Durres as another explosion rocked nearby.

"Nënë-qim!'! Another voice rang out on a hole 10 feet away from the first. Inside borwn BDU clad soldiers were busy loading there AK-47's and inspecting them. Top brass had mandated to make sure the Italian's never reached Tirana and it was the Albanian's plan to stick to the dense bogs and forest of the Italian landing, if you knew the land you could win a war, thus following the rule was various teams of painted and camo'ed sniper teams along the bogs. SLow moving soldiers in bogs would make easy targets and could and most likely panic.

A scout sniper prepared to take on a headshot of a young looking Italian soldier moving slowly off the coast but was destracted as his spotter slapped him on the back and pointed off to his rear as the sounds of a battle were heard...paratroopers.

"Qim!" the sniper replied as he took aim once more, fired seeing the pink mist, then retreated back closer to Durres to stop the paratrooping Division.

---

Along the coast, the Albanians were experiencing a tough time making a dent in the invading Italian as most of there defenses and equipment had been destroyed during enemy bombing runs. The few safing graces there were was that the Albanians aere rigid and a few scattered Howitzers that happened to survive along the rocky hills of the nearby marshes which shelled the beach in loud volleys. The hills also gave lovely cover from invading forces from the west where it was rumored paratroopers had landed.

---

The main roads behind Durres were occupied by Albanian soldiers as various cargo trucks and outdated tanks and vehicles scittered along the streets delivering soldiers and equipment. Up above the Albanian Airforce was doing a brilliant job thus far of getting a blanket over the area which was also helped by the various small AA gun batterys along the routes from Durres to Tirana. Explosives and the occasional IED's from clever soldiers were scatted behind Durres but before the contigent of soldiers hoping to hamper forces that broke through Durres whihc at this time seemed likely.

---

The 2 whisky class submarines were quick to attack the Italian fleet as torpedoes where fired at the enemy battlefleet. 1 out at sea attacking the outskirts of the enemy fleet while the other hampered landing craft which also had tough times from the barrage of howitzer shells off the coast. Before the italians also was the amassed small fleet of improvised Albanian ships. Flames spewed from the port where various fishing boats, smaller boats, and ships that in all could not be outfitted where burned in an attemot to block of the port from the enemy as well as providing smoke curtains for the defenders inside the city.

[Republic of Italy]

OOC: Uhh, you do notice that my battleships are being screened by smaller craft. Also, the area around Durres is cut off, see the map and the white spray paint on it is the paratroopers, on the railroad and the smaller citys around durres, basicaly the area behind durres is covered with italian paratroop regiments and the beaches are literaly crawling with men see first wave.

[empireofspain]

italia said:

OOC: Uhh, you do notice that my battleships are being screened by smaller craft. Also, the area around Durres is cut off, see the map and the white spray paint on it is the paratroopers, on the railroad and the smaller citys around durres, basicaly the area behind durres is covered with italian paratroop regiments and the beaches are literaly crawling with men see first wave.

OOC:So your meaning to tell me that ina s small nation such as Albanian there are not defender inside and deployed from the city?

Yeah I caught everything else homes, I merely said my sub is engaging your fleet, this includes the small ship sas well holmes.

[United Balkan Republic]

OOC: Need someone to RP Albania since Spain left.

The UBR finds it necessary to intervene in the Italy-Albanian war, and has declared war on Albania.

UBR ORDER OF BATTLE
- - -

Ground Forces

[Infantry]
- 15,000 Men in 22nd Infantry Division
- 15,000 Men in 23rd Infantry Division
- 15,000 Men in 24th Infantry Division
- 15,000 Men in 25th Infantry Division
- 15,000 Men in 26th Infantry Division
- 15,000 Men in 27th Infantry Division
- 15,000 Men in 28th Infantry Division
- 15,000 Men in 29th Infantry Division
- 15,000 Men in 30th Infantry Division

[Cavalry]
- 15,000 Men in 9th Cavalry Division
- 15,000 Men in 10th Cavalry Division
- 15,000 Men in 11th Cavalry Division

[Armored]
- 15,000 Men manning 500 T-01 Budapest MBTs in 6th Armored Division
- 15,000 Men manning 500 T-01 Budapest MBTs in 7th Armored Division

[Guards]
- 15,000 Men in 1st Guards Infantry Division *

[Artillery]
- 15,000 Men manning 100 ART-01 Unicorn Artillery Pieces in 4th Artillery Division
- 15,000 Men manning 100 ART-01 Unicorn Artillery Pieces in 5th Artillery Division

[ABM/Anti-Air]
- 4,000 Men manning 100 SAM-01 Missile Launchers in 5th Air Artillery Division
- 4,000 Men manning 100 SAM-01 Missile Launchers in 6th Air Artillery Division

Air Forces

[Fighter]
- 20,000 Men manning 100 F-01 Partridge Fighter Aircraft in 4th Air Wing
- 20,000 Men manning 100 F-01 Partridge Fighter Aircraft in 5th Air Wing
- 20,000 Men manning 100 F-01 Partridge Fighter Aircraft in 6th Air Wing
- 20,000 Men manning 100 F-01 Partridge Fighter Aircraft in 7th Air Wing

[Bomber]
- 20,000 Men manning 100 B-01 Bomber Aircraft in 1st Bomber Air Wing
- 20,000 Men manning 100 B-01 Bomber Aircraft in 2nd Bomber Air Wing
- 20,000 Men manning 100 B-01 Bomber Aircraft in 3rd Bomber Air Wing