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Astier Journals (1895 - 1904)

#11

March 17, 1896
Qift, Dominion

We were dispatched nearly the day after I wrote last. Orders came down from Field Marshal Lajoie that we were to proceed under the cover of night to the small village of Qift on the coast. Once there we were to infiltrate it and gather intelligence on the nearby coastal batteries. Apparently the idea was to get the information back to General Snow via courier and then await further orders. Likely being for us to destroy the batteries and allow for more seaborne landings at the village to help Snow and Lajoie get their forces connected along the coastal lines. That was the plan at least.

Unfortunately fate had a different story for us. We made it to Qift no problem, unfortunately the village had been raised by the enemy and the guns moved. No sign of where they went because a couple sandstorms arrived from the interior forcing us to shelter in the smoldering ruins for six days. Never knew sand could get into certain places, but it did. I won’t elaborate on that though.

Ollie and Alistaire continue to bond. They are constantly laughing up a storm when it’s safe to do so. Ollie seems to have taken my brother under my wing, I don’t think he could have a better person to look out for him in battle. We sleep in pairs now, those two requested that they be paired up so I thought might as well. Lucien is my tent buddy, he’s pretty relaxed most of the time and handles combat well enough.

Lawrence sent a recon group to meet up with us, they never arrived. Not sure how to get word to him from here so we’ll be making our way to our secondary position in a few days to see if we can pick up the trail of the big coastal guns. Those could be repurposed into intermediate artillery and that would be devastating for our advancing forces.

#12

April 30, 1896
Arish, Dominion

The last month and a half has been hell. The scouts from Lawrence’ Al-Jarash rebels finally found us at our secondary position. They had been ambushed by Dominion forces on their way to meet us at Qift. There were words exchanged about who’s side might have a mole for the Dominion. I really believed it was them, sadly we found out a few days later that it was Lucien. He had been leaving notes behind detailing what plans he had been able to find out or put together. We executed him by firing squad outside of Qift on the 23rd of March. A small gravestone was put to mark the place along with coordinates logged in my report to General Snow.

Upon the confirmation of our orders and congratulations on handling the mole situation, we were dispatched to the town of Arish. There is a munitious dump here that we are to detonate with haste as it will cause a temporary but strategic munitions shortage among Dominion forces in the area. This will allow our forces to break through and finally link up with one another before going on a large offensive to hopefully take the regional capital of Sais.

The boys back in the 4th seem to think that’ll scare the Dominion enough to come to the table for peace. General Snow definitely has different opinions about it, he think’s we’ll need to continue our march east. He also thinks we should straight up approach the Kadesh about turning against the Dominion and helping us back the Al-Jarash to establish a split in Transnura. He’s got great ideas but he’s but a General, if he was directing this war it might mean the end was in sight, I’m not sure that’s the case.

Word has also reached us that the Sizhouan Empire and the Empire of Wakoku have both officially joined us in our war, answering Archon Saunier’s call for aid. The Sartorian Realms and our other friends back on Arcadia however seem hesitant to help. Grandfather’s last letter to me talked about the politicking on the continent and how many are fearful that should they come to our aid, the Istrian Kingdoms will side with Matorre and honor their alliance formerly by declaring war as well. Last thing our Republic needs is still more enemies to fight. We seem to be beginning to spread our forces thin. Then again we are just volunteers, still no drafting taking place.

#13

May 5, 1896
Shubra El-Kheima, Dominion

The fort here is massive, I mean it puts the one back at Al-Arroun to complete and under disgrace. The mountains that rise up around it are truly a sight to behold. The dunes almost hide this fortress from approaching forces, but thankfully scouts provided by Lawrence were able to guide us into position outside the range of the guns. Those coastal batteries from Qift were moved here. We only learned of that after destroying the munitions depot in Arish. That was a beautiful explosion if I say so myself.

Generals Snow and Halphen along with the forces of Field Marshal Lajoie are set to arrive tomorrow. A siege will likely ensue as we attempt to take the fortress and then march into the interior of the El-Kom state. That’ll give us a clear shot at Sais. Once we have that I don’t know what we’ll do. I guess that’ll be discussed when that objective is taken.

Ollie and Alistaire I think are in love. They watch one another’s back, sleep together and quite frankly they seem inseparable. Not sure how that came about but I’m not about to break that up. I’d rather them be as happy here as they can be given the circumstances.

Following the destruction of the depot our forces linked up and the beach head was safe enough to bring in another hundred thousand men. That brings our total to five hundred thousand, nearly all are Republican forces. Wakoku and Sizhou are supposedly still mobilizing and I know I’ve heard rumors that Mattoran Army elements are beginning to land in far east of Transnura now. That won’t be good if we can’t make it to what Lawrence says are the “central mountains” well past Sais to the east. Once there we would have to take a line of fortresses so as to deny the enemy reinforcements into this part of the nation.

The Kingdom forces back west are making good progress. They’ve pushed the Free State and what remains of the Dominion forces back to the start of the war’s borders and seem to be preparing for an advance into the Free State itself. One less front would allow us to focus our forces here. Gods above know that is precisely what we need.

#14

May 5, 1896
Shubra El-Kheima, Dominion

The fort here is massive, I mean it puts the one back at Al-Arroun to complete and under disgrace. The mountains that rise up around it are truly a sight to behold. The dunes almost hide this fortress from approaching forces, but thankfully scouts provided by Lawrence were able to guide us into position outside the range of the guns. Those coastal batteries from Qift were moved here. We only learned of that after destroying the munitions depot in Arish. That was a beautiful explosion if I say so myself.

Generals Snow and Halphen along with the forces of Field Marshal Lajoie are set to arrive tomorrow. A siege will likely ensue as we attempt to take the fortress and then march into the interior of the El-Kom state. That’ll give us a clear shot at Sais. Once we have that I don’t know what we’ll do. I guess that’ll be discussed when that objective is taken.

Ollie and Alistaire I think are in love. They watch one another’s back, sleep together and quite frankly they seem inseparable. Not sure how that came about but I’m not about to break that up. I’d rather them be as happy here as they can be given the circumstances.

Following the destruction of the depot our forces linked up and the beach head was safe enough to bring in another hundred thousand men. That brings our total to five hundred thousand, nearly all are Republican forces. Wakoku and Sizhou are supposedly still mobilizing and I know I’ve heard rumors that Mattoran Army elements are beginning to land in far east of Transnura now. That won’t be good if we can’t make it to what Lawrence says are the “central mountains” well past Sais to the east. Once there we would have to take a line of fortresses so as to deny the enemy reinforcements into this part of the nation.

The Kingdom forces back west are making good progress. They’ve pushed the Free State and what remains of the Dominion forces back to the start of the war’s borders and seem to be preparing for an advance into the Free State itself. One less front would allow us to focus our forces here. Gods above know that is precisely what we need. Generals Brasseur and Gigot are supposed to strike north and go through the Aran Pass to get behind these mountains. Lawrence says that it’s lightly defended due to horrible terrain. Generals Bellegarde and Thevenet are set to strike south and continue swallowing up the coastline to provide additional landing points at larger ports. General Ange is supposed to remain at Port Say’id and protect our rear. I also was promoted to Second Lieutenant in a battlefield commission after Arish. Not sure I like this whole climbing the ranks thing. I’d prefer to not become one of the officers and have to make the calls like that. Snow seems to have taken a liking to me though, he still reminds me of Grandfather.

Charles’ recent letter though was concerning, apparently the strikes in Malass are over but in Lorlast they’ve escalated as more workers joined in. Apparently the state’s transportation network is frozen and crippled during the strike. The military is supposed to be moving in sometime soon though. I hope it doesn’t escalate.




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