The Mabuting Betrayal

The Mabuting Betrayal was the short campaign towards the end of the Great War, where the Dominion Ally of Mabuting turned on the Shirudo forces that was using the islands as a supply base and otherthrew them with the help of Arcean Military aid.

Prelude:
After the negotiations were complete, the plan for the conversion was put into action. A low profile was kept to deceive the Shurido forces, with little military movement and no orders given to the population. Brigade and Regimental commanders were informed over secure radio, while the final preparations were made.

A day later, the Queen and her family were quietly removed from the capital and flown to a secure location where the battle would be conducted. Once she was secure, she met with Generals Temerua and Woo where the finalised plans were laid out.

The Marine corps overall strategy was to isolate and overrun individual pockets of Shurido forces, while letting the heat and conditions of those trapped in the north to wear them down. Bases would be besieged in the hopes of overrunning the defences, but the incoming Arcean strike force was to be the main hammer upon which they would strike at the heavier resistance.

At 11:04 the order was broadcasted over the nation wide network. It simply read “Enact Order 46”: the code word for the operation.

Across Mabuting, Marine units armed themselves and engaged their former allies. Initially they were met with success. Lone patrols were easily wiped out across the rice paddies or scrubland. Examples of successful actions include the taking of the Kourraba radio tower to the west, the successful attack on the lightly defender ed Phein airfield which was subject to a swift armoured and infantry assault upon the unsuspecting airmen, or the attack on the rural dockyard at Tugon where a few small merchant craft were successfully captured or destroyed.

Praya

In the capital, hostilities opened when a group of Mabuting Military Police and a number of Praya police officers marched into a high end restaurant, where a group of Shurido officers were dining that night. The armed police arrived and burst in on the dinner and demanded the officers surrender themselves. The Shurido responded by pulling out handguns and a short but brutal gun battle erupted, killing thirteen officers before more arrived to apprehend the surviving Shurido.

With this, violence broke out. The Shirudo forces in the city were few and far between, many being rear echelon units or command staff for the island. They barricaded themselves in their barracks or any available buildings as mobs of Mabutingers started to build outside. These small islands were to hold out for most of the night, beating back the rioters who gradually lost control and began to attack the Praya Police force. Riots continued on through the rest of the night.

On the city's outskirts, a force of marines was sent to capture or kill prince Hyrro Shurido, who was staying the village of Chukwo. However the assassination failed when all twenty four of the marines were killed by the prince’s royal guards in a one-sided gunfight. Now aware of the betrayal, Hyrro and his contingent boarded their cars and set off down the road to Churri airforce base to link up with friendly forces, having ordered the homes at Chukwo to be set alight and the inhabitants cast out into the night.

By now the lower half of mainland Mabuting was secured by goverment forces, while the Shurido had retreated to isolated outposts, such as their naval resupply yards at Mangcha and Shiuri. Here they had stockpiled ammunition and food to outlast an attack, and began to prepare their defences, while a steady stream of Shurido troops made their way in after suffering guerrilla attacks in the countryside.

In the north, the 88th and 37th Infantry regiments had been camping out in temporary barracks out on the plains when they received news of the betrayal. Their commanding officer, colonel Sheri Kojiama, ordered the entire 5,000 man group to board their transports and head for the closest Shirudo controlled base: Mangchaka Naval Resupply. So three days into the battle, all 5,000 men set off on a course west. Armed with soft skinned trucks, light reocnissance vehicles, APCs, and due to a waylaid transport, a platoon of MBTs. This hastily assembled force united under colonel Kojiama and began a thrust southwards, hoping to link up with the forces at Mangcha.

The prelude to the Arcean strike force would arrive another four days later, as running skirmishes erupted across the country. A squadron of Raven fighters and an accompanying Pitbull squadron landed at Phein airfield, where they were met personally by Queen Raina in an event that was heavily propagandised. These two Arcean units would make up the majority of the Union air power in Mabuting, providing potent ground attack and air intercept capability.

The battle of Nakamura
The 88th and 37th Infnatry regiments made progress in their thrust across Mabuting over the week in which they were travelling. Restricted access to roads prevented rapid movements as the long convoys were forced into narrow lanes and sunken rural paths through the rice paddies and jungle. Sporadic attacks by militia and Marine units added to the confusion, while the battleground was forced to disperse its forces along the path for fear of air attacks from Arcean planes.

Food supplies ran low, leading to confiscation of grain and other foodstuffs from rural homesteads and villages. The efforts to keep the Shirudo fed would lead to large amounts of Mabuting refugees fleeing further south as their food was confiscated.

However, on the path to Mangchaka, lay the town of Nakamura. There the Shirudo hoped to quickly punch through the defenders, taking rice from the large silos and drying houses in the towns centre and leaving an open path to their naval base.

The towns occupants fled into the countryside, fearing for Shirudo human shield tactics. The 1st, 3rd and 4th Marine regiments took up positions in the town centre, setting up anti-tank guns and mortars at road junctions while marines turned shops and homes into blockhouses.

Colonel Kojiama ordered his attack at 07:00, sending a main thrust right through the centre of the city. His troops became bogged down in the main road, which was hastily barricaded with supply trucks and tank traps to try and halt progress. Casualties were initially heavy as the soft skinned trucks and dismounted infantry were hit from two sides, machineguns mounted on roofs giving clear fields of fire onto the enemy below.

However, due to Shirudan armoured cars and the platoon of medium tanks, the initial resistance was beaten back, high explosive rounds being used to clear blockhouses. The main road was sealed with burning Shirudo trucks but the tanks bulldozed through allowing the rest of the convoy to follow. The Shirudo didn’t stray far from the main road, the strategy focused on quickly moving their forces through the city. However several districts were set alight, the resulting fires causing fleeing civilians and congestion issues for both sides.

Outside the town centre, Marine light tanks engaged Shirudo APCs and armoured cars, leading to a

One Shirudo medium tank was disabled by anti tank guns firing at point blank range, while rifle grenades and projectile launchers had caused a great deal of damage amid the tightly packed trucks. However, Marine and Mabuting Milita casualties far surpassed the Shirudo attackers. Many putting the superior weaponry and training of the Shirudo to the cause.

The rice drying houses were stripped but the narrow time window meant that most of the grain remained behind it was hurriedly set alight. The burning clouds from Nakamura could be seen for miles around, as the food stores and homes went up in flames.