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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 10, 2024 3:02:23 GMT
Author's Note: Given that I'm doing this kind of semi-canon spinoff of the recent Rogue Generals rewrite, I'll ask the mods to move it to any part where they deemed to be appropriate. Rogue Generals will still be updated, but this is the thing that I had in mind for a while, which is how would a modern invasion of the Philippines would play out.
--- EPISODE 001: INVASION
PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY NAVY YULIN NAVAL BASE
PLA NAVY DESTROYER TYPE 052D HOHHOT
MARCH 17, 2020
Thirty seven year old Lieutenant Commander Xuan Long-wei watched from the deck of the Chinese Type 052D destroyer, the Hohhot as both enlisted sailors and their superiors were conducting their drills on deck. Judging by how loud and frantic the officers overseeing the drills were, it sounded like they were being prepared for a long war, and all of the military personnel present in this bustling naval base in the disputed islands that was the center of the long poisoned relations between the Middle Kingdom and the nation that still clung on to its fascistic tradition of antagonizing China. To the normal eye, Long-wei looked like a typical Chinese patriot, respectful of his country and devoting his life to the teachings of Comrade Bo Xilai, the man who became the father of the Chinese New Left. However, look past the calm gaze of the man in question, and you can see the fading light from his eyes. Having fought back in 2002 at the Korean Peninsula as a naval infantry volunteer assisting the former North Korean military against the invading former South Korean forces and their allies from the West and the formerly militaristic Philippines, Long-wei first saw how brutal, bloodthirsty, and sadistic the enemy that he knew would have to fight someday can be. Criminals released from prisons in the Philippines and the United States were let loose upon the ex-North Korean civilians had done their grisly deed, with the mass graves filled with their corpses. Fast forward to the present time, Long-wei could only hope that the conflict between two Asiatic nations, hostile they may be to each other, would be resolved without the need for further bloodshed.
His thoughts were interrupted by another officer's entrance to the bridge and saluted to him. Long-wei turned around and saluted back and gave a nod.
"Comrade Lieutenant Commander Xuan, the Political Commissar for the Southern Theater Navy Command has arrived, and has requested for all personnel to gather at the harbor immediately," says the junior officer. Judging by the two stars smack dab in the middle of the line, Long-wei deduced that the officer who saluted to him, a female officer to be exact, must be a Junior Lieutenant. "Your presence is needed at once."
Long-wei nodded in agreement. "I understand, Comrade Junior Lieutenant Jie. Lead the way."
"Of course, sir." Junior Lieutenant Jie Dai-lu responded and both officers exited the bridge. Not a second into their foray through the halls of the destroyer, and three other enlisted sailors stood at attention. "You three! You're also needed at the harbor at once! The Political Commissar wants you there!"
"Shi!" the enlisted sailors said in unision and began to follow both Long-wei and Dai-lu.
"I take it that we're about to have a shooting war over the South Seas again?" Long-wei asked curiously, but not a single answer came out of Dai-lu's lips.
An hour later, every single military personnel stationed at the Yulin Naval Base had stood at an attention as its commanding officer had announced that the Political Commissar wanted to speak to all of them. Judging by the presence of several Chinese intelligence officers, as well as secret police personnel, it felt that something horrible was going on, and Long-wei feared that it wouldn't take long before the Political Commissar began to speak.
"Comrades of the People's Liberation Army Navy Southern Theater Navy Command! I have come before you with the message from Comrade President Wang Jiang-ping on the political situation facing our nation and the reactionaries that continue to pester the nation of banana sellers. It appears that the diplomatic impasse has reached a boiling point, and that the conflict between China and the Philippines may be happening. Let me make this clear: this is not a new conflict, but a continuation of the conflict from back when we bombed their wretched homeland to the days of the Han Dynasty, and their deadly retaliation came in the form of the terror attack in Shanghai. By the time you will all hear the speech of Comrade President Wang, that will be the signal to commence the conflict," said the Political Commissar. His tone was rather grave and surprisingly enough, sad. "We now have a chance to settle the score with that eyesore they call a nation, and the only risk that we would take is the possibility of economic sanctions, cyber warfare, and even the threat of nuclear armageddon. All because that eyesore has the diplomatic maturity of a concussed ten year old."
One of the officers raised his hand up. "Comrade Commissar, how do we know when the signal to attack will be given?"
"You'll have that discussion with your officers aboard your vessels. For now, you're all dismissed but there won't be any down time. All personnel are to stay aboard your vessels, as the attack order will be given soon," the Commissar responded in a stern voice. He then raised his hand as the officers in charge of their respective platoons were dismissed.
***
MARCH 19, 2020
03:30 HOURS
The Hohhot, along with several other vessels of the PLA Navy's Southern Theater Navy Command, had been at sea already by the time they reached their intended destination. Several hours before, the Chinese military command stationed in Beijing had relayed the orders for the Southern Theater Command of all branches of the PLA to deploy towards the disputed seas. Long-wei was standing on the bridge as the Helmsman, while an older looking officer assumed to be the Hohhot's commanding officer, watched the other vessels sail alongside them. Although they originally wanted to sail at 03:30 hours, events outside their control had forced the entire Southern Theater Command to deploy several hours earlier, as they were expected to listen to the emergency speech that was to be made by President Wang Jian-ping. By the time they reached the appropriate stop, Dai-lu had turned on the comm as every single sailor, as well as the troops getting ready to go into the landing craft.
"Comrade Lieutenant Commander Xuan, you may step out of the wheel. Have Comrade Ensign Leung relieve you," the commanding officer, whose name was Captain Gui Hui-zhong, spoke. Long-wei nodded in agreement and allowed Ensign Leung to step into the wheel. "Comrade Lieutenant Commander Xuan, please assist the personnel in the missile weapons section. The attack will commence."
"Shi!" Long-wei replied back. Dai-lu also tagged along with him, upon Captain Gui's instructions. Both officers continued to run along the hallway of the destroyer, until they reached a section where the YJ-18 SSMs were located.
Back in the bridge, Captain Gui gave a nod to one of the other officers and she turned on the screen, with President Wang Jian-ping approaching the podium. It was now or never, everyone aboard the Hohhot thought. The man in question is about to give a speech that would forever change the history of the world.
--- "The security, prosperity, and peace in East Asia has never descended into a crisis since the Tadiar fascist dictatorship, when their military junta has not only fought against us in the Nansha Islands conflict, but has also aided and abetted terrorists in the most destructive attack on our civilians in Shanghai. We have also come closer towards a major conflict in Asia, with the exposure of the Philippines' nuclear program and their ambition to become a nuclear power. While the fascists in Kabankalan are aware of our own nuclear arsenal, that has not stopped them from developing their own workable nuclear weapon that could easily be turned into a dirty bomb, and smuggled to any target within China, where they could commit mass murder against our people. As the war between China and the Philippines had never ended, due to the late arch-reactionary former Foreign Minister Arturo Tolentino's refusal to sign the Treaty of Berlin, which recognizes the Nine Dash Line as our final maritime border with SE Asia, their diplomatic uncertainty has allowed them to not only attack our citizens, but has also participated in the conflict against our fraternal Korean brothers. Their conduct during the campaign to reunite the Korean Peninsula has been atrocious, to the point where they fired chemical weapons on our border cities, and even carried out suicidal airstrikes on our naval facilities in Dalian. It is also not a coincidence that both our soldiers and theirs had fought each other to the death, even taking no prisoners in the process. For decades, the Philippines has demonstrated its political immaturity and irrationality when it came to dealing with us. Even after the death of the neo-fascist general, and the fall of the military junta several years after it, the Philippines remained at war with us. It is therefore a necessary for our political and military leadership to conclude that we must put a permanent end to this conflict, by both de-militarization of the Philippines, and de-nuclearization. We must also take into account the kind of society that our military will encounter, as years of fascist propaganda had taken a toll on the youth of the Philippines. Even now, we are seeing symbols of past Japanese militarism flying in various streets of the Philippines, and the new government has remained hostile to China. What is worse however, is that the Philippine government today has given Japan an incentive to strip itself of its pacifist status, and to become a military power once more. The revival of Japanese militarism was the primary reason why the Eurasian Security Treaty Organization was formed, with the admission of a reunited Korea into the alliance. As we are also looking to admit Laos, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Bhutan, and eventually, Thailand and Malaysia, in the future, there will be no peace in the Asia-Pacific, as long as there are fascists in power, whether in Kabankalan, Hanoi, or Tokyo. Therefore, I have authorized and issued a command to all troops of the People's Liberation Army to commence the Special Military Operation against the Philippines. We will not declare war, as there is already a state of war between our two countries. We not only have to put an end to the rabid fascist Filipino dog, but to also settle another unfinished business, this time with the renegade province of Taiwan." Chinese President Wang Jian-ping, on the start of the Second Sino-Philippine War.
--- TUGUEGARAO FALLS TO PLA TROOPS AS ESTO MILITARY REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE FROM PARTICIPANT NATIONS
Asahi Shinbun
March 30, 2020
 Remnants of the Philippine forces defending Tuguegarao pause for a break after being issued an order to retreat from the besieged city of Tuguegarao.(Tuguegarao, CAGAYAN PREFECTURE, PHILIPPINES) - The Philippine government has announced the fall of the important city of Tuguegarao to the invading Chinese forces, as its own military is scrambling to form a defense line to stop any further Chinese advances into central Luzon. The battle for Tuguegarao began back in March 26th, with the outnumbered Filipino forces fighting a delaying battle against over 36,000 Chinese troops for the strategically important city. In the midst of the battle, the Eurasian Security Treaty Organization has announced the arrival and deployment of additional forces from Mongolia, Russia, and the Korean Federal Republic, with possible additional troops coming from the Central Asian member states, upon a referendum to be held in the parliaments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan however, declined to participate, choosing instead to send a large number of non-combat personnel that will be in charge of maintenance of military vehicles, as well as police actions in occupied zones under ESTO military control. Once the city of Tuguegarao had fallen, the Chinese forces spent additional amount of time consolidating control of the region, but so far, no local officials volunteered to help keep the peace, as they feared being shot as collaborators. General Liao Zhengrong, who is the overall commander of the Southern Theater Command, has so far expressed his disappointment and fears that the residents of Tuguegarao had chosen to either flee into the unoccupied parts of central Luzon, or chose to perish in the defense of the city.
"The search for potential auxiliaries within the municipal government of Tuguegarao has proven to be impossible. Many officials had elected to evacuate from the city, along with the entire population, making the management of the city's infrastructure impossible to handle," says General Liao, during a press conference in front of Tuguegarao Airport, which had also been captured by the PLA forces around the time of Tuguegarao's fall. "However, our soldiers had found several bunkers full of corpses that we assumed were there since the beginning of the battle, and we suspected that these are the civilians who chose to die in the defense of the city."
In addition to the fall of Tuguegarao, Aparri had also fallen to the PLA forces a few days prior, and the port city has now emerged as an important naval base for the PLA Navy, plus the additional arrival of several vessels of the Russian Pacific Fleet. As agreed between both Chinese and Russian Defense Ministers, Yang Zhiliang and Sergei Surovikin respectively, western Luzon, western Visayas, and western Mindanao would be under Chinese and Mongolian military zone of operation, while the eastern seaboard of the Philippines will be under Russian and Korean military zone of operation. The defense ministers of Mongolia and the Korean Federal Republic also consented to the agreement, though questions have arisen as to whether the PLA and the Mongolian military could coordinate their efforts together, and the same applies to the coordination between the Russian and Korean militaries. In addition, there is also the question of potential military intervention on the Philippine side by either Vietnam, Japan, or Australia, with the Japan National Defense Force potentially preparing for a limited strike on Korean military facilities, should Japan find itself dragged into the conflict. Vietnam however, has maintained a defensive posture in anticipation of another Chinese ground invasion of the country, a fear that has existed ever since the 2001 Revolution of Dignity.
"We promised to not attack any targets inside Japanese territory, but aren't sure if we can keep that promise. Given that Japan's militaristic resurgence is the primary reason for the ESTO's existence, if things become worse, we may end up in a shooting war with Japan for the first time since 1945," Korean Defense Minister Kim Song-gil spoke during a session in the National Supreme Assembly in the new Korean capital of Kaesong. "Although an open conflict with Japan would be a golden opportunity to enact our revenge upon the Waegu savages for their past crimes against our nation and our people."
--- "On April 3, 2020, my unit was stationed within Maria Aurora National High School by the time the ESTO troops converged on us. It was becoming clear that they were aiming to capture all of Baler within several weeks, but we had no intention of making it easy for them. We knew that two days before they showed up at Maria Aurora, the Russian Army had taken control of Dipaculao and the Chinese PLA had taken Banganan and Poblacion in Nueva Vizcaya. We never knew that the ESTO forces were rather quick in their blitz, despite the fortifications that we built. Yet, we also managed to inflict severe casualties upon the enemy forces but at the cost of our troops, who also died in the attack as well. All of the ESTO forces were rather vicious in their battle strategy and tactics, but we had the advantage in knowledge of the terrain. At night, we launched hit and run raids on exposed enemy positions along the Maria Aurora River, but they quickly adapted to our tactics and responded by increasing their patrols. We also noticed that they started to mix in troops from various different armies: on one night alone, we saw 20 Russian troops accompany over 40 Chinese soldiers, while being reinforced by a platoon of Kazakh and Korean soldiers. Unfortunately, we were becoming more outnumbered in our ambushes, and had to withdraw from our positions in the Magat River, back to Maria Aurora. Now, the high school that we're in was now being pummeled by Russian artillery. We saw Russian naval infantry troops advancing while the artillery barrage was ongoing. They were coming from the north, while the Central Asians were approaching us from the West, and the Mongolians were approaching the deserted tindahan. Shells were coming around us, and within the first 30 minutes, over 10 of our guys defending the school building from inside the classroom were seriously wounded. It was thanks to the female medics that the AIRG had brought along, as well as the medics from the newly formed 4th Scout Ranger Regiment that most of the wounded soldiers were able to live. However, we began to receive orders to pull back from Maria Aurora from our commanding officer, as he realized that our position was fast becoming vulnerable. As a final gesture to the incoming enemy forces, we rigged the building with explosives that would detonate within a certain time period. As the last of us left the school, we heard the explosion come from the school, satisfied that at least we've killed a significant amount of enemy soldiers. We took the road out of Maria Aurora, and into Baler, but just as we thought our nightmare was over, we spotted from far away, a large column of Chinese infantry units, accompanied by tanks, SPGs, and even a large number of unidentified IFVs. Unfortunately, one of the recovered soldiers who was wounded was shaking as we heard a horrifying sound of missiles approaching the outskirts of northern Baler. Another soldier told me that he could not differentiate between rockets launched from the PHL-81 MRL and those coming from the BM-21 Grads, but as soon as the rockets struck the ground, several medium sized fireballs emerged from the explosions and the fireballs became large flames. Five days after the artillery bombardment, our unit began to detect a large wave of ESTO infantry forces converge on northern Baler, with the PLA Marines attacking the first line of defense in northern Baler, followed by a Korean amphibious landing operation along the Damara Beach Resort and a Russian-Mongolian two pronged thrust into Obligacion and Calabuanan. We continued to resist the ESTO offensive for the first six hours, until our ammunition gradually started to run low. Our forces also had to buy enough time for the civilians to leave the combat zone, though the line of refugees rapidly expanded too much, and the crowd was congesting the highways, making it impossible for us to move our reinforcements. By April 7th, the commanding officer of the ESTO Luzon Expeditionary Forces named General Deng Xiaogang issued a ceasefire order in order to allow the orderly departure of the civilians from Baler and many other areas of Aurora Prefecture. The ceasefire only lasted for one whole day, and after the last civilian left, the combat resumed. We didn't know that the Central Asians who were a part of the ESTO Luzon Expeditionary Forces used that time to seize control of Bazal, which they turned into a supply base, and they expanded the town to accommodate a small airfield for helicopters. With Baler falling under ESTO control, they now have enough room to operate some of their smaller vessels from Baler Bay to Casiguran Sound. We are worried about the fate of Fort Magsaysay, because it has constantly come under ESTO aerial and artillery bombardment from longer ranged aircraft and missiles, and even ESTO drones have been spotted to hit fuel depots around the Fort Magsaysay airfield as well. This is hell on earth, and it is being paved by the invading ESTO forces." Private Jethro Kalang, 4th Scout Ranger Regiment, on his viewpoint of the Siege of Baler.
--- BALER, AURORA PREFECTURE
APRIL 11, 2020
Several wounded soldiers lying in stretchers were being hastily carried into Aurora Memorial Hospital, which had been converted into a makeshift infirmary for the defending Philippine Army soldiers, as well as various mercenary groups that volunteered to fight alongside them. Among them was 25 year old Yui Kyogoku, who was helping the other AIRG mercenaries build the defensive lines along the Penaranda River before the Chinese missile attack began, began to place her hand tightly on the gaping wound of a Filipino Marine that got struck with shrapnel. In another hospital bed, 27 year old Nagisa Shimazaki began to issue orders for the surgeons to begin extracting foreign objects out of a wounded AIRG soldier and 22 year old Noa Urahara pointed at an empty hospital bed for the incoming medics to lift another wounded soldier, this time another baby faced Philippine Army private whose knee was blown away.
"Please administer the anesthetic on Private...." Yui squinted at the dog tag of the wounded Marine. "Fortaleza. Give Private Fortaleza the appropriate amount of anesthetics. We'll sedate him after that, so we need the necessary tools for the operation."
"As you command, Head Medic Kyogoku," said one of the Philippine Army medics attached to the 4th Scout Ranger Regiment as she translated Yui's orders in her native Tagalog to the other medics accompanying her.
"Get down! We have incoming missile barrage on its way!" A Philippine Army soldier screamed as everyone started to shield the wounded soldiers with their bodies. Luckily for them, the missiles didn't hit the hospital, but a large fireball erupted from the place where Seacoast Inn was located. "It's getting too dangerous for the medics to stay here. We're also afraid that the ESTO soldiers will simply kill the wounded soldiers in the hospital beds. Some of our guys have already confirmed the news of Korean and Chinese soldiers executing wounded Filipino soldiers when Tuguegarao fell."
"Damn!" Nagisa snarled. She noticed three AIRG mercenaries approaching the hospital rapidly, Yuuichi among them. "Yuuichi-kun! Any major changes?"
25 year old Yuuichi Sato shook his head as his friends did the same. "Sabang Beach and all the other resorts have already fallen under ESTO control. We're seeing lots of Korean soldiers seizing buildings within the vicinity of the beaches."
"Unfortunately, Harunobu's squad had to retreat back to Baler proper when they saw the Mongolians approach Suclayin. At this rate, we would be forced to surrender to the ESTO forces if we can't withdraw from Baler," said another AIRG mercenary. Yui could detect a small Vietnamese accent coming from the guy standing beside Yuuichi. "On top of that, we're seeing Central Asian troops alongside the Koreans storming the beaches over there."
"In that case, we need to evacuate the wounded soldiers at night. There's no telling what will happen if we tried to evacuate them during the day, and we run into more ESTO soldiers," Yui said sternly. She turned to a Filipino Marine Lieutenant, who had just arrived inside the hospital. "Lieutenant Layag, what are our orders? We don't know yet if we'll have time to get the wounded into specially designed trucks for emergency operations."
The skinny Marine who looked more gaunt than usual nodded grimly. "We have no choice but to evacuate all medical staff out of Aurora Memorial Hospital right now. Major General Miranda has ordered all friendly forces to withdraw to Fort Magsaysay, and to reinforce our guys holding Cabanatuan City. Despite the excellent defense of Baguio City, it will not surprise me if it will fall, even by the end of the day."
Noa nodded grimly. "In that case, where are the trucks?"
Her answer came five minutes later when another explosion had rocked the streets in front of the hospital. Even despite the intense heavy shelling, six lightly damaged Maxi-Ambulance vehicles arrived in front of the hospital grounds as the medics and able bodied soldiers began to lift their wounded comrades out of their beds, with the IV still attached to them. None of the troops noticed that a single Aisheng ASN-209 reconaissance drone was hovering well above them at 10,000 feet. Just then, the first batch of wounded soldiers were being loaded into the Maxi-Ambulance vehicles, with the AIRG mercenaries standing guard to make sure no enemy infantry would advance on their position. While the wounded troops were being loaded, Yuuichi grabbed his binocular and started to look up the sky. He slowly dropped the binocular when three rockets were about to land close to their position. Fortunately, the Maxi-Ambulances were not hit, but several low level houses were struck. A small explosion could be heard beside him, prompting Yuuichi to help the medics with the evacuation of the wounded soldiers.
"Yuuichi-kun, make sure that every IV remains attached to the wounded soldiers. We might run out of them if more casualties are coming in, and that includes civilians," Nagisa ordered, to which Yuuichi simply nodded.
Yuuichi didn't have to run back towards the hospital as he spotted a platoon of Central Asian soldiers attempting to cross the small river that divided the coastal area of Baler from the rest of the town with his binoculars after climbing the rooftop of the hospital building. He pointed to the Vietnamese members and gestured them to take up positions inside one of the undamaged buildings while he and Harunobu went into another building, but Nagisa waved her hand at him.
"You're going the wrong way!" Nagisa shouted.
Yuuichi however, waved his hand wildly. "We got incoming enemy troops crossing the river from the east. Hurry up with the loading of the wounded soldiers or they'll be slaughtered!"
"That quick!?" Yui shouted aghastly as she came out of the hospital building with the last patient on the stretcher. She turned to Nagisa and nodded. "That's the last of them."
"All right, get those ambulances out of there!" Noa shouted frantically. The Maxi-Ambulances began to depart from the hospital grounds and into the streets, though there were freshly made potholes that were made because of the missile striles. She, Nagisa, and Yui climbed on the last Maxi-Ambulance and watched as Yuuichi and Harunobu began to fire a pair of AA-52 machine guns that the AIRG purchased from the French government several years ago.
***
28 year old Captain Nurzhan Bayzhanov inspected his platoon of paratroopers after they successfully crossed this small river dividing one part of Baler from the rest of the town. It had been a difficult effort to cross, given the large machine gun fire coming from the opposite end of the river bank, but against all odds, he and the rest of the platoon belonging to the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade of the Kazakh Ground Forces pulled the river crossing without any casualties. To his platoon's left side were a single platoon of Korean special forces that were heavily armed with K2 assault rifles. They were communicating in their language, though Nurzhan noticed the absence of English loanwords in their conversations, meaning that the majority of those troops came from the former North Korean military. Their platoon leader looked stocky as he silently gave orders to set up knee mortar positions to the rest of his subordinates. To his platoon's right were three platoons, one of them an Uzbek platoon from the newly formed 36th Motor Rifle Refiment. The second platoon accompanying the Uzbeks was a Tajik platoon belonging to the 7th Separate Rifle Battalion, and the final platoon was a Kyrgyz platoon belonging to the Machine Gun Battalion. Though all of the troops present were able to speak in Russian to make things easier, Nurzhan was one of the very few non-Korean troops that can actually speak Korean, though he learned Korean from a Koryo-saram instructor that he studied under in Almaty.
"Comrade Sergeant Major Tursynov, any trouble on your end?" Nurzhan asked one of his subordinates.
A bald headed paratrooper rushed up to him and shook his head. "Nothing so far. Captain Geun of the Korean Special Forces has given orders to all the platoons to secure every residential area in this sector."
"That might be a good idea, but at the very least, let me communicate with him," Nurzhan replied back curtly.
However, he didn't have to move from his position at all as the Korean special forces troops began to comb around the first residential block. The stocky looking Captain Geun approached the Kazakh platoon and nudged for Nurzhan and the platoon leaders to come to him.
"There is a brewery that is being used as an observation post by the regular Philippine military. Your orders are to take that post, and report back to me the positions of the enemy forces. I suspect that there are more Philippine troops defending this sector, and I understand why," Captain Geun said in his Seoul-accented Korean.
Nurzhan nodded. "Captain Geun, what of these two 'hotels' in De la Torre Street?"
Captain Geun winced at the unfamiliarity of the accent used in Nurzhan's use of Korean. "Those two hotels are apparently closed, but they're being requisitioned as barracks by the regular forces. At the same time, we suspect them of also doubling as ammunition and fuel depots as well."
"Why the hell would those morons be using hotels to store their ammo and fuel? Wouldn't that endanger the civilians?" Nurzhan asked with horror in his tone.
"You never know with these fanatics. I knew a couple of friends who were killed by a booby trapped house when they tried to secure it back in Tuguegarao alongside Chinese troops. The General Secretary of the ESTO, Ularbek Sharsheyev, has recently introduced a new policy where any civilian who owns a house that waas booby trapped are to be executed. Now, we'll have to send specially trained experts that can defuse those bombs." Captain Geun pointed at another direction, where Aurora Memorial Hospital is located. "I'll send some of my guys to secure that place over there. Intel from the PLA has notified us that the hospital is in the process of being evacuated, and I suspect that there's a lot of wounded soldiers being removed."
"Shall we attack the ambulances?" Nurzhan asked, but Captain Geun shook his head.
"ESTO military doctrine forbids the attack on anything with a Red Cross symbol. If you see anything that has a giant red cross, do not attack it, unless there are no wounded soldiers and the ambulances are being used to transport troops and ammunition instead of medical supplies." Captain Geun suddenly left the Kazakh platoon and rejoined his subordinates.
"Advance!" Nurzhan shouted in his native Kazakh language, before switching to Russian. "Advance!"
The slow advance through the streets of Baler began with a cautious pause as Nurzhan waited for heavy armor to arrive. Sure enough, he spotted with his binoculars the sight of 12 BTR-70s crossing the river atop a bridge, though the missiles flying into the sky and striking the targets definitely came from the TOS-1 thermobaric rocket launcher. He waved his right hand up to stop his platoon from advancing further and looked at one of the few undamaged houses. He pointed at three bomb disposal troops within his platoon to check the house for any IEDs. Seven minutes later, the three bomb disposal troops gave him a short nod, indicating that the house was indeed wired with explosives.
"Sheraliyev, Qasymov, Bolatov. You three accompany the bomb disposal guys as added security," Nurzhan ordered quietly, to which the three chosen Kazakh soldiers nodded in agreement. He squinted at a taller building that he assumed to be the brewery. He pointed his AKM at the targeted building and waited to see if the enemy soldier will appear. To his relief, no one was foolish enough to stick his head out.
Once Nurzhan was confident enough to assume that the place was lightly guarded, he waved his hand forward, indicating that it was safe to move once again. Ten minutes later, they reached the front entrance of the brewery and slowly opened the door, but a loud crack was heard from inside. A moment later, the three soldiers accompanying the bomb disposal troops arrived with the defused explosive in their hand as one of the troops named Sheraliyev threw said defused explosive into the building. Three seconds later, Nurzhan pulled the pin from his grenade and threw it inside and waited. A small explosion rocked the building as he could hear the agonizing cries of the wounded enemy soldiers.
"Into the building! Go, go, go!" Nurzhan yelled. He fired a short burst from his AKM, allowing more of his subordinates to enter the building. Gunfire emerged out of another room, causing another soldier named Qasymov to throw three of his grenade into the room, causing a chain of explosions that resulted in small thuds. Bolatov pointed his assault rifle, a rare AN-94, at the motionless body of what appeared to be a dead Filipino soldier from the 3rd Scout Ranger Regiment, and shot the corpse in the head to make sure he didn't get up.
Nurzhan then continued to lead his platoon into the rest of the building, pointing their guns at the brewery employees as they raised their hands up. Bolatov agreed to take charge of the captive employees along with Qasymov and Sheraliyev, while Nurzhan reached the stairway that led to the rooftop. He aimed his rifle once the platoon was within the reach of the rooftop and squeezed the trigger, giving another short burst as three enemy soldiers turned around to see what was happening, only to fall dead. He pointed at another soldier, who was carrying a short wave radio, to come closer towards him. The soldier with the short wave radio gave him what he needed as Nurzhan placed a head set on his ears.
"This is callsign Tolar to callsign Tiger. Tolar to Tiger, over," Nurzhan said over the radio.
To his enormous relief, it was Captain Geun who answered back. "Captain Bayzhanov, I assume that the building is secure?"
"Affirmative. We've captured it without any casualties on our end, but Sergeant Bolatov had to take charge of civilian captives along the way," Nurzhan replied back. He could also hear a faint sound of gunfire from Captain Geun's end. "Tiger, where is your position right now?"
"Tolar, I can't give away my position. Can you see anything over the rooftop?" Captain Geun asked back. Nurzhan looked over with his binoculars and saw the aforementioned BTR-70s making it safely to the other side of the town.
"Our heavy armor has arrived, though I also faintly see several TOS-1s and PHL-81s from a far distance. Hold on." Nurzhan looked in another direction as he could see several helicopters approaching. "I've spotted Z-10 choppers, as well as Mi-24s and-what the hell is that? Is that Apache even ours!?"
The Mi-24s proceeded to release their missiles out of their missile pods as the approaching Kapre MnBTs attempting to relieve the besieged defenders were struck by those missiles. The Apache-looking helicopter also fired its bullets from the chain guns, hitting the intended targets as well.
"That Apache-looking chopper is ours, and it is the real deal. Don't worry about it; they've been painted with the emblems of the Korean Federal Republic," Captain Geun assured the nervous looking Kazakh platoon. "Now, your next orders are to expand the combat zone from your current position to take full control of De la Torre Street. The Uzbek, Tajik, and Kyrgyz platoons will take control of the southern bridge along T Molina Street. Please ensure that you give the correct coordinates to the artillery brigades in the present combat zone."
Nurzhan nodded. "Will do."
Ten minutes after the helicopters began to fly overhead, Nurzhan's platoon began to set up their own equipment as they set out to transform the brewery into their own communications building. He noticed three other Kazakh troops with drone remote controllers in their hands while a few homemade drones were being activated. Over at the other side of De la Torre Street, several Uzbek soldiers began to fire their Pecheneg machine guns at the approaching Filipino Marines while the Tajik troops loaded the ammunition into the knee mortar. The Kyrgyz troops on the other hand, were engaged in a fire fight with several AIRG mercenaries while they were defending the building hosting the Radyo Natin Baler, though in that sector, the Kyrgyz troops began to suffer some casualties. It didn't take long until Nurzhan spotted a lone T-129 ATAK helicopter in Philippine Air Force colors that he waved for the other troops to get back down from the rooftop.
"Damn, do we have any anti-air weapons?" Nurzhan asked himself, but could not answer it as he jumped back down. The T-129 ATAK helicopter was about to unload its payload when a single shot had struck the side, causing the helicopter to go down. He spotted a lone soldier holding what appeared to be a Strela-3. "Many thanks to you."
"Sir, it's me, Sergeant Major Tursynov. High Command has ordered the rest of our guys to start bringing in the rest of the equipment that we'll need," Tursynov replied back in a serious tone. He later entered the same building where the rest of the Kazakh troops were resting.
--- TRAGEDY STRIKES THE PHILIPPINES AS PRESIDENT LEGARDA AND CABINET STAFF KILLED BY CHINESE MISSILE STRIKE, VP ARCILLA TO BECOME NEW PRESIDENT
The Sun
May 9, 2020
(Kabankalan, PHILIPPINES) - Tragedy of a similar vein has struck the Philippines, as President Loren Legarda and the majority of her cabinet ministers were brutally killed during a Chinese missile barrage attack on the entire country. While addressing the cabinet during their meeting, a Chinese short range ballistic missiled called the DF-11, which was equipped with a fuel air explosive warhead, had struck the Kabankalan Bayanihan Building, triggering a fire that burned half of the building, before a second missile of the same kind as the first missile that struck the building had instantly struck the room where the President was holding the meeting. Even as the ESTO militaries had continued their aerial missile and airstrike campaign against Philippine military and civilian targets, the Philippine Army continued to resist the combined ESTO ground forces advancing towards the strategic stronghold of Abatan, which also served as the supply base for the Philippine military that is operating in the entirety of northern Luzon. In the aftermath of President Legarda's death, as well as the majority of her cabinet ministers, Philippine Vice President Romeo Arcilla had assumed the Presidency, with Minister of Defense Jovito Palparan appointed as the new Vice President, until the end of the war. Palparan's rise to a position below the new President Arcilla had triggered fears in the Philippine public, whose memories of the two dictatorships were still fresh in their minds, especially the junta led by former Major General Artemio Tadiar.
"The cowardly attack launched by the People's Liberation Army on our government ministers and the President had revealed China's path of no return. Loren Legarda has now joined the late Arturo Tolentino as the second Philippine politician to have been killed by the Chinese military," says Vice President Arcilla, during an emergency session in the former Philippine capital of Manila, as the entirety of the Philippine government was evacuated to Davao City. "The death of Loren Legarda, and the blood of many of our Cabinet ministers, is on the hands of not only the Chinese, but those other members of the ESTO who joined them in their war of aggression against our country."
The chances of the Philippines surviving hinges on both the West supplying them with weapons and ammunition, as well as the potential entry of other nations into the conflict on either side, as Australia and Japan have announced their willingness to send ground forces into Philippine soil to support the Philippines. On the other hand, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the Korean Federal Republic have currently deployed most of their troops in accordance with Clause #9 of the ESTO Charter. Meanwhile, the entire ESTO alliance have retooled much of their industrial capabilities on a limited war footing, as China's military needs would now have to be met. Moreover, Russia has increased its exports of oil and gas extracted in Siberia to China as a way of offsetting much of the Chinese military needs, and in return, China has offered to share a few of its military technology with the Russians. As to ensure a smooth communication between all participating members of the so-called 'Special Military Operation', both Russian President Aleksey Zhuravlyov and Chinese President Wang Jianping have decided to form the ESTO's Joint Collective Chiefs of Staff, which would be staffed by officers selected from all of the 12 ESTO member states. ESTO Minister-General Ularbek Sharsheyev has agreed with the decisions made by the Russian and Chinese Presidents, stating the need for a streamlined and centralized command within ESTO.
"The success of our Special Military Operation in accordance with Clause #9 of the ESTO Charter, which states that any hostile power that seeks to threaten any ESTO member state with any potential or actual attack, will be seen as an attack on the entire alliance at hand. Efficiency in command, strategic and tactical planning is crucial in achieving our military and political goals against our common enemy," says Sharsheyev, during the ESTO meeting in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, where the headquarters of ESTO is located. "Moreover, the recent conflict in the wider Asia-Pacific region stems from the corrosive legacies of Philippine fascist militarism and Japanese neo-revanchism, and it would not surprise us if the entire alliance finds itself at war with Japan in the future."
--- BAGUIO CITY FALLS TO JOINT SINO-MONGOLIAN FORCES AS OTHER TOWNS IN NORTHERN LUZON FALL TO COALITION OF RUSSIAN, KOREAN, AND CENTRAL ASIAN FORCES
Sydney Herald
May 18, 2020(Baguio City, PHILIPPINES) - The hotly contested city of Baguio has fallen to a large 50,000 strong Sino-Mongolian force, amidst a bloody siege conducted by the attacking force. The fall of the popular summer capital of the Philippines comes at a time when the Siege of Baler is still ongoing, though ESTO gains in other parts of the Philippines are also increasing. General Zhang Xudong, who was leading the 50,000 strong Sino-Mongolian force attacking Baguio City, had apparently ordered a large missile strike on various targets within the city, before giving the general order to storm the city. Unlike the fall of Tuguegarao, where many Filipino soldiers who surrendered were summarily executed, the fall of Baguio City had been a vicious affair, as the Sino-Mongolian forces had to clear out every single residential area to ensure that no Filipino soldiers would survive. Attacking from the strategically important high ground, Quirino Hill, the Sino-Mongolian forces proceeded to carry out a large artillery barrage that also included cluster munitions, despite the ban on its use. Meanwhile, the Sierra Madre mountain range had come under the control of other ESTO troops, mainly consisting of Russian forces, but also included the Korean Army and the armies of the participating Central Asian nations as well. With the control of the Sierra Madre mountain range, the ESTO forces are now in a position to direct any future offensives in the Luzon Island region.
"The Eurasian Security Treaty Organization has proven itself to be an offensive alliance that is only interested in spreading their reign of terror across the world. We are on the front lines, fighting against this new kind of evil, but we cannot do it alone," says Philippine President Romeo Arcilla, during a speech in the Bayanihan at Kabankalan, which had also been subjected to missile strikes as well. "We need more ammunition to stave off the ESTO offensive, and we also need naval support as well."
The Philippine Navy at this point, had been reduced to conducting seaborne hit and run raids on larger ESTO vessels, mainly the ships from the PLA Navy, such as one of the Type 054 frigate that was sunk off the coast of Aparri. However, a significant kill that the Philippine Navy had made was the sinking of the Udaloy-class vessel, Admiral Kharlamov, while launching another hit and run raid off the coast of Dilasag Bay. Unfortunately, the Philippine Air Force was virtually wiped out in the beginning of the conflict, largely thanks to the huge Chinese missile barrage that destroyed various air bases containing the much needed fighter jets for the Philippine Air Force. As a result, the Philippine Army is mostly conducting defensive operations within the Central Luzon region, though the Chinese occupation of Palawan Island remains a dangerous sore point, as they could use the island to stage additional military operations in the Visayas-Mindanao region. Additionally, mercenary groups like the Akatsuki International Resource Group had deployed much of its personnel into the war torn region, with the Siege of Baler being the main hot spot for the AIRG mercenaries. In response, the ESTO has announced the deployment of the PMC Terminal Defense Group under the leadership of Evgeniy Balitsky to the troubled hot spot as well.
"It is about time that we're testing our battle hardened guys against such a worthy opponent. Yet, since we're at war, we are to show no quarter when it comes to dealing with those who dare to threaten the safety of the entire Asia-Pacific region," says Dmitry Utkin, one of the main commanders of the PMC Terminal Defense Group. "Unlike the AIRG, Terminal has faced far worse enemies and survived the ordeal."
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 14, 2024 4:56:43 GMT
EPISODE 002: OCCUPATION
ESTO-OCCUPIED TUGUEGARAO PREFECTURE
MAY 11, 2020
The bombed out ruins of what had been the city of Tuguegarao had been a depressing sight for 54 year old Brigadier General Anton Gorchakov. Having fought in the Second Russian Civil War on the Ukrainian Front, he participated in that theater, witnessing the carnage that befell upon the cities of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, and even Pavlohrad when he was just a junior lieutenant, though he worked as a tank commander. Fast forward to the present time, the grizzled old military officer was now sitting at an empty room inside the damaged Cagayan State University classroom, alongside the other ESTO generals from the participating nations. He noticed the Chinese officer delegation arriving inside, which included a few PLA Navy officers and an unfamiliar looking man whom he assumed to be the newly chosen figurehead who will manage the parts of the Philippines under ESTO control. Although he was deployed at the Uzbek-Afghan border during the failed 1999-2000 Mujahideen border incursion into Uzbekistan as a commander of the tank platoon attached to the 237th Guards Tank Regiment, he knew the major news story that involved a few of Artemio Tadiar's junior officers studying nuclear physics in Ukraine. His eyes widened as the figurehead that shook the hands of General Liao Zhengrong and General Aleksander Dvornikov, as he berated himself for not realizing who the figurehead really was.
His attention was diverted by the PLA Navy officer, who approached him before saluting each other. He did the same thing to a Korean officer, followed by the junior officers from Mongolia and the Central Asian participant nations. They soon walked out of the empty classroom, and into the deserted hallways, before arriving at what had been an empty cafeteria that was now staffed with various cooks from all over the ESTO member states. He could smell the freshly cooked raengmyon (or naengmyeon, as the anti-Huh exiles called their cold noodles) coming out of the pot, followed by a variety of dishes being cooked as well. To the left of the raengmyon, was a tray full of Dongpo pork that he was unfamiliar with. However, sitting beside the Dongpo pork was a dish that he smiled with fondness. A tray full of kasha was placed beside the Dongpo pork, while another pair of trays, this time a tray of Kazakh Beshbarmak and the local delicacy called the dinakdakan were placed.
"The Dongpo pork is great, but I'm more fond of Min cuisine as well, and this is coming from a man who lives in Heilongjiang Province," said Xuan Long-wei, who lined up for food behind him. "Are you getting anything, Comrade Lieutenant General?"
Anton nodded as he pointed first at the kasha, followed by another cuisine that was placed inside the tray. "I'm having the kasha and this thing that the locals here actually love to enjoy."
Long-wei rubbed his stomach in anticipation. "That one? The locals call that insarabasab. That looks good too."
"Excuse me, sirs. What will you be eating today?" A cook clad in combat fatigues of the Russian Ground forces asked the officers.
"Comrade Sergeant, I'll have the kasha and the insarabasab. Comrade Lieutenant Commander Xuan here will have whatever he wants," Anton answered back. A minute later, he leared of Long-wei's selection of the Dongpo pork and some bowls of rice as the two officers sat down on one of the tables that was unoccupied. "Have we gotten some more locals who are willing to work with us?"
"A few, but we had to be careful as to who we select. The locals that chose to work with us don't have any family members left, as they learned of what happens to collaborators who betray their country for pittance," Long-wei answered back. "The entirety of Cagayan Region is teeming with guerrilla fighters, and we had to deploy more of our own soldiers to engage in counterinsurgency operations. Fortunately, our friends in Yugoslavia was able to form a military unit consisting of second generation Filipinos who grew up in political exile alongside their parents, and sent them there. They're called the Makabayan Battalion, though their officer is Milorad Ulemek, a former foreign volunteer who joined Novy Put' when your country was tearing itself apart."
"I see. That explains the Yugoslav combat fatigues used by these former exiles," Gorchakov answered.
An hour later after their lunch was done, Anton and Long-wei soon exited the building, and walked outside where a group of Filipino paramilitary units were conducting their training sessions. Though the other PLA officers started to laugh at the paramilitary units, it was Long-wei who responded.
"Do you gentlemen have time to waste? Get back to your duties at once!" Long-wei snapped, causing the hecklers to stand at attention and began to salute, but he forcefully placed their arms down. "No saluting! Do you want an enemy sniper to know that we're officers?"
"No, Comrade Lieutenant Commander," says a young looking Chinese conscript as he and his friends walked away.
The Filipino paramilitaries conducting their training session did not look like the Filipino soldiers shooting at them, though judging by how rigid they looked, they could either be former soldiers who defected, or former guerrillas who fought against the Tadiar regime and the succeeding regimes that came after. However, it was the insignia that caught Anton's attention, as his eyes were glued to it. Two swords of local origin was seen crossing each other, though hidden beneath a shield with the eight ray sun that was seen in the Phiilippine flag, but it looked like it had a face in it. There were eighteen yellow stars encircling the eight ray sun wiith the face, but what truly impressed Anton and Long-wei was that there were no symbols associated with communism within that patch. His gaze was broken up, as a man who he assumed must be the leader of these paramilitaries had saluted to them.
"Sir, it is a great pleasure to see you and Lieutenant Commander Xuan here," says the Filipino paramilitary commander after shaking hands with them. "I'm Carapali Lualhati, and I've been appointed the new commander of the Filipino State Guard, though there are talks that if the Philippine government collapses and a new government is installed, the name of the country might be changed to Maharlika."
Anton and Long-wei nodded in agreement, though it was Long-wei who spoke first. "Comrade Commander Lualhati, do you have any clue if former General Sobejana will take up the post as the interim leader of the Philippine territories under our occupation?"
"I'm afraid that I have no clue. For all we know, we are nervous at the possibility of being completely integrated into China as an SAR, thanks to Wang Hui's article that we read a while before the war began," Lualhati confessed. Long-wei winced at the unwanted reminder, as he felt that Wang Hui had gone too far with his radical proposal.
Both Anton and Long-wei continued their conversation with the paramilitary commander for a while, asking him about how the paramilitary unit was formed. From what they've learned, Lualhati revealed that the majority of the paramilitary unit were former communist guerrillas who fought against the Tadiar regime, confirming Anton's assumption about them. However, they were also reinforced by a few number of Filipino soldiers who chose to surrender instead of retreating with their units. According to Lualhati himself, the entire ESTO military leadership had opted to form the ESTO Military Transitional Council for the Occupied Territories, which will become the real power in the Philippines, with a Philippine Sovereign Reclamation Government being formed as well. To no one's surprise, the former officer Cirilito Sobejana would be chosen to lead this Sovereign Reclamation Government.
--- ESTO FORCES LAUNCH NEW LANDING OPERATION IN ZAMBALES PREFECTURE AS BATAAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT AND EX-US NAVY BASE BECOMES MAIN OBJECTIVE
Sydney Herald
May 21, 2020
Chinese troops cautiously advance towards the town of Morong.(Morong, PHILIPPINES) - Another ESTO amphibious operation was carried out yesterday, as over 40,000 troops from China, Mongolia, and the Korean Federal Republic had landed in three areas of western Luzon. In addition to the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which had been re-commissioned back in 2013, during the Grace Poe administration, the important Subic Bay Freeport has also become an important objective, as it once hosted the US Navy base there. Accompanying the 40,000 strong force were the bulk of the Chinese and Korean Navies, which provided the necessary artillery bombardment for the infantry and armored advance. In conjunction with the planned military operation in the Zambales-Bataan Zone of Operations, the ESTO forces also launched a series of airstrikes and missile bombardments against key Philippine military positions in southeastern Luzon, as far as Sorsogon City and even struck a residential area in Calbayog City, in Samar island. Although Philippine forces managed to tie down such a large number of enemy troops in the town of Sabang, they feared another landing in the town of Mariveles, as such a successful landing would imperil their positions in Bataan Prefecture. Unfortunately for the defending Philippine forces, Mindoro Island is more likely to become the next target of ESTO amphibious operations, as control of that island can allow them to threaten southern Luzon and even launch punitive strikes deeper into Visayas and Mindanao.
"Approximately over 2,000 Filipino soldiers perished in our military operatin in the Zambales Zone of Operation, though at the cost of over 1,300 of our own soldiers as well in this important mission to secure the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. We feared that the Philippine military was planning to rig the power plant with explosives, and to detonate it while it is fully operational, should we capture it. To this end, Special Forces troops from China, Russia, and the Korean Federal Republic are being dispatched to prevent this nuclear catastrophe from happening," says People's Liberation Army spokesperson Wu Qian, during a televised conference. "In addition, additional advances in the Zambales-Bataan prefectural border have also been made, as we remain committed to securing the entirety of Subic Bay and its coastal towns under our control."
Operating from ESTO-occupied Palawan Island and the Calamian Island chain, the ESTO navies had a free hand in disrupting Philippine naval and maritime activities in the region, though the mini-submarines that the Philippine government purchased from Turkey had proven to be a tough opponent for the larger sized ESTO naval vessels. In particular, the ESTO naval leadership have an eye on taking the strategically important city of Zamboanga City, as its control would allow the ESTO navies to potentially intercept any shipment of arms and ammunition destined for the besieged Philippine forces from outside. However, recent announcement of a joint Australian-New Zealander naval task force arriving on the shores of Mindanao has raised alarms within the ESTO leadership, which feared a wider escalation of conflict into a larger Pacific War, should not only Australia and New Zealand enter the war on the Philippine side, but even the potential entry of Japan and Vietnam as well. For Vietnam, the fears of a renewed Chinese invasion, followed by a potential Cambodian reconquest of its territories lost to Vietnam in the 1997 Vietnamese reconquest of its formerly lost southern territories, is the main reason why it kept its defensive posture. On the other hand, Thailand has recently started to distance itself from the Philippines and Vietnam, due to fears that it would become an ESTO target, should it get involved in the conflict. Moreover, the ESTO is also hopeful of a possible Thai entry into the alliance as well, but anti-Chinese sentiment within the Thai military leadership is an obstacle to such a goal. However, Japanese Prime Minister Toshio Tamogami has not ruled out the possibility of deploying both regular Japan Ground Defense Force personnel and the Concordia Brigade (a multinational force consisting of battalions from Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Thailand, and Myanmar) to the war torn country. His proposal of Japanese troop deployment however, was not received well in Beijing and Kaesong.
"We cannot rule out the possibility of launching strikes at any Japanese soldier who would be deployed into the Philippines, should the warmongering barbarian in Tokyo have his wish. If it comes down to this, we might have to launch a pre-emptive strike against targets inside Japan as well, though we do not intend to so such a thing," says Wang Jianping, during a session in the National People's Congress. "Moreover, the problem in Vietnam has almost forced us to pay attention once again to our southern border and the fear of a Vietnamese military incursion into our territory. We will not hesitate to bring order to those two semi-barbaric states that dared to threaten our sovereignty."
--- 'Hello my friend, how are you?
The spring thaw must be in full swing,
please don't tell my girlfriend that I'm in the Philippines,
the blistering heat is boiling over Cabanatuan,
just don't tell my girlfriend that I'm in the Philippines,
for I'm about to go crazy over mangled corpses.
Three days ago, the jungle rats struck our tank,
too many of our friends are bleeding out,
I want to ask myself what's the point of this war,
please don't tell my girlfriend that I'm in the Philippines,
for I really question my sanity about the point of this war,
just don't tell my girlfriend that I'm in the Philippines.
I bought a ring for my dear girlfriend for when I shall return,
but everything here smells of oil, blood, and body odor,
we thought of surrendering, but don't want to be slaughtered,
please don't tell my girlfriend that I'm in the Philippines,
our friends were butchered like pigs in front of our eyes,
so don't tell my girlfriend that I'm in the Philippines.
We are a long way from Karaganda, our beautiful hometown,
but now we're stuck in this hell called Santa Rosa,
on our way to the meatgrinder the locals call Gapan,
please don't tell my girlfriend that I'm in the Philippines,
we just conquered the other hell called Cabanatuan,
so don't tell my girlfriend that I'm in the Philippines.
This is not goodbye forever, for we surely will return,
but we started to learn why this war isn't pointless,
we all wanted peace, but the bastards won't forgive,
so please tell my girlfriend any lie you can think of,
if she and my mom ask, just give them any excuses,
please never tell them that we went to war.' Kazakh war song about the ESTO-Philippine War.
--- FORT MAGSAYSAY
MAY 14, 2020
It had been several weeks since the AIRG medics and their patients had left the besieged town of Baler that they managed to operate on the wounded soldiers that they've taken charge. Unfortunately, they had to go through a gauntlet of ESTO missile barrages and drone strikes, leading to the deaths of five soldiers that were sent to protect them. For Yui, she last heard of Yuuichi when they were still back in Baler. He told her that they would hold on to the besieged town until the last soldier retreated, and then they'll join them at Fort Magsaysay. For several weeks, Yui and her friends grew worried about the fate of Yuuichi and Harunobu, since they're the ones fighting on the front lines. She thought of contacting Yuuichi's brother Satoshi, who was a naval officer in the Japan Maritime Defense Force aboard the JS Sekiryu, but never had the time to do so, as they were mostly focused on keeping their patients awake. Back on April 30th, the medics and their patients arrived at Fort Magsaysay, amidst another ESTO bombing campaign. They managed to bring their patients to a larger infirmary, where professional surgeons took over the procedure, allowing the AIRG medics to catch a much needed break. Yet, their break proved to be short lived, as they were dragooned into ammunition delivery duty, bringing in much needed ammo to various Philippine units that needed them. Most of their time, they also had to work in the kitchens, as the military cooks were already being deployed to stop a major ESTO advance into the city of Carranglan. It had been a major every day occurrence for not only the AIRG medics, but the AIRG mercenaries that were forced to retreat along with them.
As one cook told Yui to go on a break, she took off her apron and later joined Nagisa and Noa on a separate table as they were watching the news of the ongoing conflict back in Baler. She noticed the food that the other girls chose for their lunch, which consisted mostly of simple plate of rice, some green beans, and three slices of luncheon meat. Ever since the other cooks were sent to Carranglan, the quality of food started to decline. It was understandable, given that the agricultural lands of northern Nueva Ecija is gradually coming under ESTO military occupation, though other parts of Luzon had already come under their control long before that. The famous Banaue Rice Terrace, curiously enough, was left untouched this time around, as the ESTO military leadership realized that they needed to secure their own food supplies as well, instead of relying on shipments of food from their respective homelands.
"....Several sources have confirmed the capture of Aurora Memorial Hospital in Baler, on the corner of San Luis Street and Bitong Street. This capture has spurred other ESTO forces in the area to launch a breakout operation to expand their zone of operations..." the TV announcer said as images of the burning hospital mentioned in the news was shown, followed by other images of ESTO artillery barrage and helicopter flyovers.
"How may I supposed to call Satoshi-kun and tell him that his little brother was killed if that happened?" Yui asked with a whisper, though only Noa was able to hear her.
"Yuuichi-kun said that he'd hold off the enemy forces until the last soldier leaves, though I don't know how he'll survive this battle," Noa replied back. They could hear the distant sound of explosions rock the far distant areas of the city.
Nagisa noticed four Kapre MnBTs drive away from the base, and into the North Gate, to which they would proceed towards the town of Bangad. The three girls continued to eat their lunch, and after they finished, they went back to work in the kitchen. Various soldiers came and went, though occassionally, artillery shells would often land on the airfields, as well as ammunition depots. Their routine would often go on like this for a few days, with their breaks dominated by the watching of the news on the television.
*** THREE DAYS LATER
MAY 17, 2020
"Wait! What do you mean, Baler has fallen!?" Nagisa asked horrifically. She and the other girls were still working in the kitchen when an unexpected visitor arrived at the camp. As it turns out, it was none other than Lieutenant Layag, the man who ordered the evacuation of the patients out of the hospital that fell to the ESTO forces. "Is it that quick?"
Lt. Layag sighed and nodded. "Fortunately, the AIRG guys did a terrific job defending the city while providing our guys with enough time to leave. However, when we finally left Baler, the city was burning so badly that the ESTO forces had to stop bombarding the city, and to allow the local fire department to put out the fire before leaving as well."
Three days had passed, and a large influx of wounded soldiers suddenly arrived at Fort Magsaysay. The three girls were given permission to leave the kitchen as they traded their aprons for medical equipment and supervised the transportation of the wounded soldiers into the infirmary, which was across from the mess hall that they lived in for a few days. In those three days however, the ESTO forces increased the level of their aggression, causing one residental block to fall after another. Though Baler officially fell on the 16th of May, the ESTO forces gave their enemies time to leave the city, as the incoming vessels from the Russian Pacific Fleet arrived at the coast of the city. The Korean Navy also arrived as well, dropping off the much needed supplies and construction materials needed to help rebuild the city, with the inclusion of engineering equipment being among the materials dropped off. To Lt. Layag's surprise, there were no Filipino soldiers that were left behind, as they did not want to surrender to the ESTO forces that converged on the area.
"Baler Airport has also fallen to the ESTO forces, and is now being used to station various kinds of aircraft from the participating nations. We've seen over 50 Shenyang J-11s land on Baler Airport, followed by the F-16s painted in Korean Federal Republic colors and Yak-130s. With Baler Airport under ESTO control, we'll have to brace for constant airstrikes around Cabanatuan City," Lt. Layag explained to the three medics as he walked beside them and directed the other medics on where they need to bring the wounded soldiers. "Unfortunately, the 1st Brigade Combat Team is engaged in the defense of Carranglan, and we're not sure how long until they're forced to retreat. It's worse when we didn't construct defenses in that area."
Just then, Yui's eyes widened when she saw another Maxi-Ambulance arrive and various wounded soldiers were also lifted out of there. She saw the bloodied uniform of the AIRG merc, and the man's name tag on it, though he looked like he was nursing a wound in his arm.
"Yuuichi-kun!" Yui cried out as she ran towards him. "Are you all right?"
The wounded Yuuichi nodded weakly. "I had a shrapnel embedded in my arm, though it didn't go deep."
"Take the AIRG guys into the infirmary as well, and make sure that all anesthetics and pain killers are all accounted for," Lt. Layag ordered sternly. The medics nodded in compliance and they continued to bring in the wounded soldiers into the infirmary. He turned to the three AIRG medics and sighed. "You three need to join the other medics as well, but pay attention to all evacuation orders issued by either me or the other officers. I'll have to send the 71st Infantry Battalion and the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion to reinforce Cabanatuan City. The AEONTown Mega Mall and BilisPazar Store would be used as headquarters for our ground forces when the ESTO armies would launch an offensive into Cabanatuan City."
"Yes, sir!" the three girls said in unision and later joined the other medics.
--- ESTO-OCCUPIED BALER, AURORA PREFECTURE
MAY 17, 2020
It had been a brutal two month battle for the coastal city of Baler before the last enemy soldier left the city that the ESTO forces finally moved in to seize it. The flag of the ESTO flew on the flagpole of the Baler Municipal Hall after ESTO soldiers tore down the Philippine flag and replaced it. Additionally, the flags of all the ESTO member states participating in the military operation could be seen as well, including the flag of Kazakhstan. Nurzhan's heart lept when he saw the flag of his homeland fly above the same municipal hall, though he and many other Central Asian troops were on patrol of the city. Since seizing control of Baler, every single bomb disposal squad was deployed to all the residential and commercial neighborhoods to ensure that all the suspected bombs were defused. Arriving alongside the Central Asians were the pro-collaborator paramilitaries of the new Filipino State Guard, who proved themselves to be surprisingly calm and competent. In front of Mount Carmel College of Baler, Captain Geun and his special forces guided the regular Korean Army personnel that soon arrived to help in the reconstruction of the burning city, while Chinese troops were busy rounding up civilians suspected of being spies and guerrilla fighters. Inside the Baler Multipurpose Hall, several Russian VDV and regular Army soldiers stood guard as their officers led their fellow ESTO colleagues inside.
"How many of our guys have we lost?" Sergeant Major Tursynov asked him as the three conscripts that accompanied the bomb disposal squad were seen helping them carry out the defused bombs.
Nurzhan sighed in sadness. "Over 400 of our troops were confirmed as KIA, and additional 1,400 confirmed as WIA. The Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Kyrgyzes confirmed roughly a similar number of their guys killed as well." He spotted several Filipino State Guard pararmilitary personnel asking one captured civilian some questions. For some reason, the FSG men did not look friendly at all, as the captured civilian was constantly swearing at them. "What's going on here?"
"Putang ina mo! You sold yourselves out to the Chinese and the Russians. Do you not have any shame?" asked the angry captured civilian.
One of the Filipino State Guard paramilitaries stepped forward and looked at Nurzhan. "This civilian here was caught attempting to set off a bomb that was defused. Only after we finished interrogating him, did we learn that he was trying to fix the bomb and rig it once again."
"Is that true?" Nurzhan snarled as he aimed his AKM rifle at the angry civilian before placing it back on his shoulder. He turned to the FSG paramilitaries and nodded. "Please confirm it with Colonel Pao on the fate of the captured saboteur."
"Will do," the FSG paramilitary man said and barked orders in Ilocano and Tagalog for his men to drag the captured saboteur away.
By the time sunset had arrived, Nurzhan spotted a column of ESTO engineering vehicles arrive at the bombed out city, though they were escorted by seven helicopters, which fired their missiles at any enemy infantry attempt to ambush the column of engineering vehicles. He and several other Kazakh soldiers continued their patrol of Baler, until they reached the area where the churches were located. He saw several Russian and Mongolian soldiers carry out the corpses of the Filipino troops that fought to defend the abandoned church, and given the size of the bullet hole in their necks, he assumed that they shot themselves rather than to surrender. He winced rapidly after smelling the stench of rotting flesh mixed with blood as the other soldier called Sheraliyev vomited on the side of the road.
"They fought well, but chose the coward's way out of this difficult situation. May Allah give them the redemption they need," Nurzhan muttered to himself as he held up his hands and rubbed them on his head in a custom Islamic prayer. He turned to the nearest Russian soldier and stood at attention. "Did these morons commit suicide?"
The disgruntled Russian soldier nodded in frustration. "Decades of propaganda have mentally screwed up these guys, and they honestly thought that we were going to execute them all in cold blood. Not that surprising, given how they behaved in Korea back in 2002. Plus, we weren't there when the bastards tried to 'invade' our country, just to kill a bunch of former North Korean soldiers during the Continuation War."
Nurzhan was about to continue speaking to the Russian soldier in charge of taking out the corpses when he heard a commotion from outside an adjacent church. To his shock, three men clad in AIRG fatigues were being dragged out by what appeared to be irate Korean soldiers. Two Korean soldiers began to kick the AIRG captives in the face, yelling out obscenities as the AIRG captives started to yell back at them.
"Kimchi bastards! How dare you treat us that way!?" one of the AIRG captives yelled in his native Japanese, which earned him a kick in the face from another angry Korean soldier.
"Jjokbari assholes! You bastards dared to show your faces in this country, of all places!" the Korean soldier who punched the captive AIRG mercenary yelled back, but they stood silent as a single crack was heard. They all turned to an equally furious Captain Geun, who pointed his gun at his own subordinates. "Sir!"
Captain Geun cocked his pistol at the Korean soldiers who were beating the captured AIRG mercenaries. "Step away from the POWs. Right now."
"Sir, they are mercenaries, and are therefore not covered by the Geneva-" a third Korean soldier pleaded, but Captain Geun's pistol was now aimed at him. "Of course. We will obey." He turned to the rest of his comrades and soon walked off.
Nurzhan then walked towards Captain Geun and stood at attention, prompting the other Kazakhs to do the same. The Korean Marine officer looked at the beaten AIRG POWs and sighed in frustration.
"Did the ESTO General Secretary say about what we should do regarding those AIRG mercenaries that we captured?" Nurzhan asked in his Koryo-saram accented Korean.
"Not yet, but I suspect that they're also a treasure trove of military intelligence that our own agents would have to extract out of them. I would supervise the interrogation of these scumbags, but I'm afraid of letting myself loose on them. The troops who were beating the crap out of these jjokbari mercs were not entirely wrong." Captain Geun looked around before turning his attention to a different group of Korean soldiers. "Take these mercs inside that church. We have some questions to ask them, and contact all available military intelligence officers."
The different group of Korean soldiers nodded in agreement as they ran off somewhere. Thirty minutes later, five different men in combat fatigues arrived as Captain Geun pointed at the AIRG mercs before gesturing them to bring the captives inside. He also pointed at Nurzhan and gestured for him and the Kazakhs to come along with him. It was not until they arrived at what appeared to be an old office used by the priest who used to work in there that the AIRG mercs were being separated and one of them was dragged inside. Nurzhan and Sheraliyev tied down the AIRG merc as recommended by Captain Geun, while the intelligence agents were setting up their communications equipment. Only after forty minutes, did Captain Geun notified Nurzhan that he and his group have to stand guard over the church while the intelligence agents entered the interrogation room. One of the intelligence officers, a not so old looking Chinese woman with a gun holster in her hip, looked at the captured AIRG merc with a poker face expression.
"For the purpose of this session, we are to notify you of our identities before we will decide on what to do with you. I am Captain Zhao Mei-qi, and I will lead this interrogation session." The Chinese military intelligence officer turned to her colleagues, who also arrived in the room as well. "Over there is Lieutenant Imrobek Eshonov from the Uzbek military intelligence detachment, while my other female colleague who will take notes is Lieutenant Tatyana Glushkova. Luckily for you, we have one interpreter who knows Japanese." A combat fatigue clad woman of a similar height and build to Mei-qi stepped forward. "My mistake. My second female colleague here is Lieutenant Jeup Seo-yeon. She knows Chinese, Korean and Japanese, and the final colleague who came with me is Lieutenant Khulan Erdenechimeg from Mongolian intelligence. Now, state your name and affiliation."
The Korean intelligence agent translated what Mei-qi had said to the captive AIRG merc and nodded. "My name is Haruhiro Matsuda, and I am affiliated with the Akatsuki International Resource Group."
Seo-yeon nodded as she translated the captive's words to Mei-qi. The Chinese agent then continued to speak.
"What was your position within the AIRG?" The captive was dumbfounded before Seo-yeon translated.
"I was the radio communicator for all the defending forces in Baler, but I was a low level grunt mercenary. I joined the AIRG after serving for five years in the Japan National Ground Forces," the captive said.
"Have you received any orders that were of questionable nature?" Mei-qi asked the captive, prompting Seo-yeon to translate. "For example, has your commander told you to execute any enemy soldier that fell under your captivity?"
"Nothing of the sort. However, my friends were issued cyanide capsules and were ordered to commit suicide to prevent our capture. Obviously, that failed," the captive continued. He looked at Seo-yeon and whimpered. "I thought for a minute that I'm talking to this Zainichi bitch here."
Mei-qi smacked him in the back of the head. "I would advise you to not provoke our agents, lest you value your own worthless life."
"Honestly, you really have to be this stupid to insult me when I'm the one translating for you," Seo-yeon growled in Japanese. "And you are right about one thing: I grew up in Japan, before moving to China, and then back to Korea. You jjokbari assholes have always been prejudicial towards us 'Chosen-seki', though it is understandable if it turned out that your granddaddy was raping my grandmother in a comfort station."
The captive growled before Mei-qi grabbed him by the ear. "That hurt!"
"I would suggest that you cooperate with us and not make things difficult," Seo-yeon sneered before turning her attention to Mei-qi. The captive AIRG merc named Haruhiro gritted his teeth in anticipation at what the interrogators will do next to him.
--- TIMELINE OF THE BATTLES OF BALER AND MARIA AURORA:
April 2, 2020: The first ESTO artillery barrage commenced at 0500 hours, with over 35 Russian BM-21 Grads pummelling eastern Baler. At 0700 hours, the first sighting of Chinese artillery equipment has been sighted over 50 kilometers away from the town of Maria Aurora.
April 3, 2020: The first ESTO airstrikes have been reported over Baler and Maria Aurora. Over 25 sorties were confirmed to have been detected, and resulted in massive losses for the defending Philippine military forces. Philippine military officials also confirmed the ESTO's use of over 36 JH-07s and 21 Chengdu J-10s from the Chinese side, as well as over 17 Su-27s in Mongolian Air Force colors. Additionally, over Russian Su-33s were also reported to have taken part in airstrikes around southern Baler, and 10 MiG-21s in Korean Federal Republic colors have been spotted as well.
April 6, 2020: ESTO reinforcements have arrived via the Tuguegarao Airbase under their control. These reinforcements are primarily soldiers and equipment from the ESTO member states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, and they have been deployed after a national referendum regarding their countries' participation in the Special Military Operation against the Philippines. Also arriving at Tuguegarao is a Yugoslav-trained battalion of Filipino exiles, under the command of Colonel Milorad Ulemek.
April 7, 2020: The first report of Akatsuki International Resource Group personnel's arrival in the Philippines at Cabangbang Air base, though other AIRG personnel had been in the country prior to the ESTO invasion of the Philippines. However, the new arrivals are actually combat mercenaries coming from Japan and Vietnam, though the Vietnamese mercenaries had to fly through Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian airspace, as flying across the disputed seas is impossible.
April 9, 2020: The first engagement of the entire war between the Philippine Navy and the ESTO combined fleet in Baler Bay ends in a Philippine defeat, as all four Bacnotan-class frigates were brutally sunk. By 1800 hours, the ESTO would launch the first amphibious landing operation in the coastal areas of Baler, though the first wave was repulsed with heavy losses for the defending Philippine side.
April 11, 2020: After a successful landing operation launched by the predominantly Central Asian force, in cooperation with Korean Special Forces, the first attempt at a breakthrough is slowed by fierce Filipino resistance.
April 14, 2020: The first ESTO advance into Maria Aurora has been confirmed by both ESTO and Philippine reports. Poblacion and Banganan would later fall to the ESTO forces after only 4 hours of intense combat. Additionally, the airborne brigades from China, Russia, and Mongolia were flown through helicopter, and successfully reinforced their position outside Buenavista and Lipit.
April 17-19, 2020: ESTO forces dug up their positions outside Buenavista and Lipit as they await Chinese reinforcements being rerouted from Banganan, through the Cordon-Diffun-Maddela-Aurora Road, and into the Baler-Casiguran Road. The absurdly long reroute has resulted in ESTO General Secretary Ularbek Sharsheyev's order to build a new road that would directly connect Banganan to Dipaculao. Military engineers and local workers recruited by the Filipino State Guard would work on this project for over a year, leading to the completion of the Banganan-Dipaculao Road.
April 22, 2020: The artillery barrage against Buenavista and Lipit begins with over 36 BM-21 Grads on the Russian side and 47 PHL-81 MLRS, and reinforced by over 60 PLZ-89 SPGs and 44 2S4 Tyulpan SP Heavy Mortar. As a result of the fierce artillery barrage, the Philippine 4th Scout Ranger Regiment was forced to withdraw to Baler proper. Two units would arrive at Baler to bolster its defenses: the 81th and 84th Infantry Battalion, followed by the 1st Tank 'Masikan' Battalion. The Masikan Battalion is one of the few armored divisions to possess the Kapre MnBT (miniature battle tanks).
April 23, 2020: The first ESTO target inside Buenavista is selected to be the abandoned Puangi Goyo Academy. Remnants of the 3rd Scout Ranger Regiment tasked with the defense of Buenavista are stationed there. By 1200 hours, the 3rd Scout Ranger Regiment has engaged both the Chinese 154th Combined Arms Brigade and the Russian 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade. Surprisingly, the defenders of Puangi Goyo Academy managed to repel the first four waves of attack, until 2300 hours when airstrikes launched from the captured Tuguegarao Air Base had rendered the position in Buenavista untenable, resulting in the advances made by the Chinese and Russian forces.
April 25, 2020: The Kazakh 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade, in coordination with the Uzbek 36th Motor Rifle Regiment, the Kyrgyz Machine Gun Battalion, and the Tajik 7th Separate Rifle Battalion, consolidate control over eastern Baler. An attempt to take control of Ermita Hill ends in disaster for the ESTO forces, as the 2nd and 1st Scout Ranger Regiment succeed in repelling their attacks. Additionally, Buenavista would fall to the ESTO forces, prompting the evacuation of the remaining troops stationed in Lipit, which would also fall in the same day.
April 29, 2020: A second amphibious landing operation was mounted by the ESTO forces, this time targeting the Cemento Beach as its primary destination. Accompanied by the Russian Pacific Fleet's warships, the naval bombardment allows the 810th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade to land its troops into Cemento Beach, followed by Korean Marines and the Mongolian 084th Special Task Battalion arriving soon after.
May 1, 2020: A second attempt at taking Ermita Hill ends in failure for the ESTO forces, though by this time the Filipino defenders of said hill are running low on ammunition. Constant airstrikes, and helicopter attacks have reduced the defenses of Ermita Hill.
May 2, 2020: A Filipino counteroffensive aimed at retaking the Sabang Beach Lighthouse ends in defeat for Filipino forces, as the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade manages to repel their attacks. In the same day, the Kazakh 36th Guards Air Assault Brigade arrives in Baler as reinforcements.
May 4, 2020: The first confirmed battle between regular Philippine forces and the ESTO-aligned, Yugoslav-trained Makabayan Battalion takes place in Dipaculao Goyo Academy (now Dipaculao High School). Most significantly, the Battle of Ipil also marks the first participation of the pro-ESTO Filipino collaborator forces in the Filipino State Guard. The performance of the Filipino State Guard is highly praised by the ESTO military leadership, who gave its blessing for its expansion from one single battalion to over seven battalions. FSG soldiers who performed admirably would form the core of the most dreaded pro-ESTO collaborator force in the Philippine Volunteer Corps. Former New People's Army guerrilla fighters and ex-Alex Boncayao Brigade fighters do end up joining the Filipino State Guard, though they remained suspicious of the ESTO occupational authorities' intentions.
May 6, 2020: The Battle of Ipil ends in a victory for the ESTO forces, and the defending forces are now corralled into the rest of unoccupied Baler. Now the remaining command post is moved to Baler Church and the abandoned San Luis Obispo de Tolosa Roman Catholic Church. The Baler Industrial Zone, which contains the Turkish-owned Vestel home appliances factory and the Japanese-owned Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. factory that produces cutting tools in need by other foreign-owned factories established throughout the Philippines. It subsequently becomes a major stronghold that would be subjected to a brutal siege, as the construction of the factories was done with protection from air raids as its priority.
May 9, 2020: The town of Reserva becomes the latest target of ESTO airstrikes and artillery barrages as they transform ESTO-occupied Buenavista and Lipit into a front line base. New defensive positions are built around the two occupied towns and a new airbase is being constructed by ESTO military engineers. Meanwhile, a second lighthouse in Baler quickly falls under ESTO control, this time it is the Chinese 4th Marine Brigade that captures it.
May 10, 2020: ESTO forces, consisting mainly of Chinese and Mongolian forces, launch the first direct assault on the town of Maria Aurora. Thanks to the expanding control of Buenavista and Lipit, it becomes a focal center for the arrival of other ESTO reinforcements. Lipit Air Base is not yet completed, but it's being used to land helicopters and other fighter aircraft arriving from all over the ESTO member states.
May 13, 2020: Mongolian troops take control of Barangay Kadayacan in a pincer movement. Chinese forces on the other hand, reach the Maria Aurora River, but Filipino sappers managed to blow up the Maria Aurora-Baler Provincial Road Bridge, preventing the PLA from crossing the river. However, three other bridges were also blown up as well, though one bridge near Kadayacan was captured intact by the Mongolian forces that captured Barangay Kadayacan.
May 15, 2020: Chinese military engineers begin to construct several pontoon bridges connecting the two banks of the Maria Aurora River, amidst a Filipino artillery barrage and drone strikes. Within just eight hours, the pontoon bridges are completed, and they are built in the same locations where the destroyed bridges were located, allowing the Chinese forces to cross the river.
May 17, 2020: Filipino forces were issued an order to retreat from Baler proper, and to regroup in Maria Aurora, as additional ESTO reinforcements now began to pour into the exposed defensive positions around Baler. The retreat escalates as every residential area now fall under ESTO military occupation. Only the Baler Industrial Zone and Maria Aurora remain unoccupied.
May 18, 2020: Chinese forces reach the Pantabangan-Baler Road as Mongolian forces reach the Maria Aurora National High School. The Battle of Maria Aurora begins with the Sino-Mongolian artillery barrage and airstrikes provided by the Russian Aerospace Forces.
May 21, 2020: Barangay San Jose in Maria Aurora is seized by the Chinese forces, making things even tougher for the defending Filipino forces. To make matters worse, several regiments of the pro-collaborator Filipino State Guard take part in the Battle of Maria Aurora, resulting in war crimes committed by bot the FSG and the Philippine Army forces defending Maria Aurora.
May 24, 2020: A Mongolian attempt to advance into the town of Bazal turns into disaster as they came under heavy Filipino fire. After six hours of intense combat at the abandoned Inglesia ni Cristo, the first recorded surrender of ESTO forces was confirmed as over 40 Mongolian soldiers would surrender to Filipino forces. To their surprise, the Filipino forces would send them to a POW camp in Banton Island, but their surprise turned to horror, as Banton Island was also the site of the infamous Tadiar-era death camps.
May 26, 2020: Filipino reinforcements arriving from Baler help bolster the defense of Maria Aurora as ESTO forces consolidate control of Baler. The general order to retreat also reached the Filipino defenders of Ermita Hill, as they pull out as well, though they opted to retreat south, towards Nueva Ecija Prefecture. As a result, the ESTO forces take full control of Ermita Hill and its surroundings.
May 27, 2020: The Siege of Baler Industrial Zone Begins as Filipino forces and AIRG mercenaries fortify their positions. ESTO airstrikes target enemy positions around Maria Aurora, while the Central Asian contingent forces advance and capture the town of Bazal, which they would turn into another supply base and an important hub for military vehicle repairs.
May 29, 2020: Chinese PLA Navy's Type 055 guided missile destroyers conduct a naval barrage against the Baler Industrial Zone, in cooperation with the Russian Pacific Fleet's Udaloy-class destroyers and the Korean Federal Republic's Daegu-class guided missile frigates. Additionally, Filipino military officials confirmed the reports of the first sightings of the Weishi MLRS and TOS-2s.
May 31, 2020: Though not related to the Siege of Baler Industrial Zone, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Surovikin voluntarily resigns from his position and is replaced by Airat Khairullin. Surovikin is then appointed the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, though answering to Prime Minister Yegor Letov. CEO and President of BAZ (or Baikal Armata Zavod/Baikal Armored Factory) Nikolai Kuryanovich announces the ambitious project to completely overhaul all of the old Soviet tanks recovered from the tank graveyard in Kharkov/Kharkiv. All previous 2GUs would now evolve into 3GUs, or Third Generation Upgrades.
Khairullin was originally a part of the pro-Soviet loyalist paramilitary group Novy Put', until he was wounded in action during the 1994 Battle of Pavlohrad, in which he was wounded by a shrapnel. Though he survived, he was cashiered out of Novy Put' on medical grounds. He and his brother Ishat would enter the business world, mainly by acquiring older UAZ-452s and rebuilding it as a military ambulance vehicle.
June 1, 2020: Filipino defenders of the Sumitomo Electric Industries factory managed to repel a large Russian-Chinese attempt to storm the factory, though in return, their positions are destroyed by TOS-1 thermobaric rocket launchers.
June 2, 2020: An attempt by the Filipino Navy to launch hit and raid attacks on the ESTO vessels in Baler Bay ends in disaster, with the survivors of the sunken patrol boats shooting themselves rather than to surrender. At the same time, a suicide bomber blows up the Museo de Baler, which was being used as an administrative office by the Central Asian contingent forces.
June 4, 2020: Resistance from within the Baler Industrial Zone eventually weakens, allowing a renewed assault to take place. Several regiments of the pro-ESTO collaborator force Filipino State Guard also take part in the assault, though their task is to accompany several bomb disposal squads that are also tasked with finding and defusing any bombs that might be planted inside the Baler Industrial Zone.
June 7, 2020: Buhangin and Suclayin fall to a renewed ESTO offensive, though it is the Mongolians that are doing the bulk of the fighting. Additional Mongolian reinforcements arrive via the Tuguegarao Air Field. Zabali and Pingit have also fallen to ESTO forces, as the Koreans launch their attack from Ermita Hill.
June 9-11, 2020: The battle for the control of the strategic defensive position in the center of Maria Aurora, the SugoiSarap supermarket chain owned by Hiroaki Iwamoto, begins. Fierce battles also take place around the residential areas of Maria Aurora as well, though by this time the Filipino positions are becoming more vulnerable, with Barangay San Jose, Aurora, falling to ESTO forces attacking from Suclayin.
June 12, 2020: Filipino forces retreat from Maria Clara, and make their way to Fort Magsaysay, effectively abandoning the town to the ESTO forces. Additionally, the Filipino defenders of the Baler Industrial Zone surrender to other ESTO forces laying siege to the area.
--- "The United States government has announced a large package of sanctions imposed on several Russian, Chinese, Korean, Mongolian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Tajik companies conducting business with international partners, as well as for their role in fueling ESTO military aggression against the Republic of the Philippines. This also includes the restrictions on the targeted companies' access to international financial institutions and technology transfers, regardless of whether or not it's for civilian or military matters. In addition, we've also identified several ESTO officials that we're now placing on the list of sanctions, and have relayed their personal information to the International Court of Justice. The international community and the Euro-Atlantic alliance will never tolerate the military aggression of the Eurasian bloc towards a country that we once called it a colony. However, we should also make it clear that the Republic of the Philippines cannot be allowed to recover from its post-war malaise unless what's left of its entire government subordinates its national interests to that of the United States. We fully intend to retake the Philippines, and set it straight once and for all. It has been proven, time and time again, that the Filipino people have dared to rebel against their American masters, for whom they owe their lives to because we liberated them from both the Spanish in 1898 and the Japanese in 1944. When we retake the Philippines this time around, we will never give them their sovereignty back." Anne Applebaum, White House Spokesperson, during a press conference, June 12, 2020.
--- * The Baler Industrial Zone ITTL is in place of the OTL Baler Conventional Center. * SugoiSarap is TTL's version of the supermarket chain Puregold. Hiroaki Iwamoto ITTL becomes one of the few businessmen who thrived from Artemio Tadiar's patronage. * AEON Town Mall is TTL's version of SM shopping malls, but 100% owned by the Japan-based AEON Group.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Jun 6, 2024 5:14:01 GMT
EPISODE 003: COLLABORATORS AND GUERRILLAS
"The first formation of a new Philippine military unit after the ESTO invasion of the Philippines had taken place had been done without much fanfare. Dubbed as the Minokawa Special Operations Battalion, it was formed from the veterans of the Berdugo and Bato Brigades who fought in the Second Korean War, though the Aswang Group, which was a subsidiary of the Japanese Akatsuki International Resource Group, had much of its members inserted into the ranks of the Minokawa Spec-Ops Battalion. Known for their harsh training regimen, the Minokawa Spec-Ops Battalion appointed Camilo Cascolan as its first battalion commander, commissioning him formally into the Philippine Army as a Major, though his background as a PMA Graduate of 1986 certainly helped him as well. The Minokawa Spec-Ops Battalion played a pivotal role in the first few weeks of the ESTO invasion, most notably with the defenses of both Samtoy, Ilocos Norte, and the port of Aparri, before they were ordered to pull back to higher ground. However, most of its members of said battalion consisted of ex-convicts that were recruited to fight in Korea back in 2002, and the younger members fought within both the Aswang Group and AIRG. Named after a Filipino mythological creature, the Minokawa Spec-Ops Battalion also became popular with ex-Alsa Masa fighters who trained the group in the art of guerrilla warfare, and especially jungle warfare as well. Unlike the other regular units of the Philippine Army, the Minokawa Spec-Ops Battalion was equipped with Steyr AUG bullpup assault rifles and other equipment that was entirely manufactured by Japan and Turkey, such as ballistic vests purchased from the Turkish government back in 2018. In sharp contrast to the Minokawa Spec-Ops Battalion, there were two Filipino units that were formed after the ESTO invasion of the Philippines. However, these two units were actually collaborationist forces that were tasked with helping the ESTO occupation forces patrol the territories they've occupied. First, the formation of the Filipino State Guard was formed in late April of 2020, and its recruits consisted of both surrendered soldiers who chose to defect to the ESTO side, as well as ex-guerrillas from both the New People's Army and the Alex Boncayao Brigade. The FSG, or Bansang Guardia ng Pilipinas, only consisted of one regiment in its early stage, but eventually grew to three battalions. Its counterpart, the Filipino Volunteer Corps, was formed from the best performing troops of the FSG/BGP, and staffed it with the same surrendering soldiers and ex-guerrilla fighters. As the war against the Philippines continued to drag on however, there was one underlying issue facing one of the old military factions that had been in existence since the fall of the Marcos regime in 1986, and had also been sidelined or co-opted by the succeeding Tadiar regime. The Reform the Armed Forces Movement, or RAM, had undergone the first schism when Cirilito Sobejana had defected to Russia in 1999, in response to the fears that the Filipino officers sent to study nuclear engineering in Ukraine were going to apply what they've learned and make an attempt to build a working nuclear weapon, in defiance of the nuclear-free zone implemented on SE Asia as a whole. His exposure of the Philippine nuclear progream had garnered outrage from the international community, but it also caused widespread fury in China, as the memories of the notorious Shanghai Radio and Pearl Tower terrorist attack were still fresh at that time. Ten years later, when Hector Tarrazona was already in power, another shocking scandal erupted. According to Victor Dayrit Rodriguez, who was attached to Philippine intelligence at that time, a scandal emerged in the last stages of the Tarrazona government when it was revealed that General Danilo Lim had attempted to defect to the Korean Federal Republic in secret after he learned of the Berdugo and Bato Brigades' role in the massacre of the Pyeonghwa motor factory workers who went on strike. However, his failed attempt to defect would end badly for Lim, as he was assassinated by a Bato Brigade assassin on orders from Tarrazona himself. The RAM eventually returned in 2015, this time as a military faction pledging their allegiance to then-President Loren Legarda, but had been ideologically split into four factions. The first faction, dubbed as the Tomasita Faction, named after the 600 American teachers sent to the Philippines to educate the Filipino population. The Tomasitas advocated for restoring Filipino-American ties damaged during the Tadiar era. Yet, these officers who belonged to the Tomasita Faction were only a tiny minority, as anti-Western sentiment was still a moderating force. Second, the Magdalo Faction, was a radical military faction that gravitated around both Nicanor Faeldon and the new Vice President of the Philippines, Jovito Palparan. The Magdalo Group advocated the re-introduction of the Tadiar-era military policies that served the Philippines well during the military junta. They were mostly known for attracting the descendants of the pro-Japanese collaborators who worked for them during WWII. Third, the Bagong Magdiwang Faction, was the faction that advocated for scaling down the Philippines' relationship with Japan in favor of improving ties to the rest of the ASEAN nations, plus advocating for closer military cooperation with ESTO. Finally, the Loyalist Pambansa Faction was the group that remained loyal to the current government fighting a war against the ESTO. The Bagong Magdiwang Faction would gain notoriety for their collaboration with the occupying ESTO forces, with many of its officers staffing positions within both the BGP and the Filipino Volunteer Corps. Both Cirilito Sobejana and Gilbert Gapay would emerge as the two faces of Filipino collaboration with the occupying ESTO forces during the war." From 'Collaborators and Guerrillas: The Two Sides of the Philippines During the ESTO Invasion'.
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OUTSKIRTS OF BARANGAY DIKAPINISAN, DINGALAN, AURORA PROVINCE
JUNE 13, 2020
The sounds of a missile barrage launching from somewhere in China or Russia had terrified Nurzhan and his platoon, though they managed to keep themselves safe. Several weeks ago, they've finally managed to complete the defusing of the bombs hidden beneath the abandoned houses vacated by Baler's residents and declared the city safe from IEDs, though several ESTO soldiers were already killed by undiscovered bombs forgotten by the bomb defusion squads. Fast forward to now, he and several of his troops now departed from a Russian landing ship, along with several other Central Asians, Koreans, and Mongolians that also landed on the beaches that the locals called the Fishport. Enemy gunfire erupted from within the fortified bunkers as Tursynov aimed an RPO-A Schmel flamethrower at another bunker and fired its contents. The bunker erupted in flames as Nurzhan fired a short burst into the emerging enemy soldiers engulfed in flames. Five BTR-80s arrived five minutes later, alongside over 20 K-21s from the Korean military and BMP-3s in Mongolian colors emerged from the other landing ships. Nurzhan ran towards one of the BTR-80s in Kazakh Ground Forces colors and took cover, prompting the other Kazakh soldiers to do the same.
"Sheraliyev! Anything from the Russians?" Nurzhan said loudly, despite the gunfire constantly erupting.
Sheraliyev nodded. He pointed at one part of the map and traced it towards another part, which indicated their present position. "Chinese and Russian airborne units will eventually join us, but the Chinese have their hands full with the operation in Zambales Prefecture, while the Russians are still mopping up in Maria Aurora."
"ETA on the arrival of the airborne units?" Nurzhan asked, but an explosion had rocked their position. He winced for a minute, before his eyes widened as one of the BTR-80s erupted in a fireball. "Damn! Where the hell are the enemy anti-tank forces?"
"I'm guessing that they're in the residential buildings!" Sheraliyev replied back loudly.
"Relay the coordinates to the artillery units to destroy them," Nurzhan ordered as Sheraliyev nodded in compliance.
Twenty minutes later, the all familiar sight of a missile launched from the PHL-81s and TOS-1s had caused a loud thud as several fireballs erupted from within the barangay itself. Nurzhan observed the Korean contingent travel in a different direction as his unit continued on forward. In the far distance, Nurzhan could hear Bolatov yell in surprise as several Mi-28s and Changhe Z-10s started to fire their payloads on to the residential houses where gunfire is coming from. He gestured his arm to his platoon, indicating the direction in which they'll go, prompting Bolatov, Sheraliyev and Qasymov to do the same. The Kazakhs then started to slowly move in another direction, with a small road within their sights. Sheraliyev then turned his head towards the sea as another landing ship arrived and opened its hatches, revealing 5 T-80 battle tanks in Kazakh colors, followed by 4 T-80s in Korean Federal Republic colors. The tanks began to aim their guns at the remaining pillboxes, though Nurzhan was lucky to fire two shots at the enemy soldier attempting to destroy the tanks with a Javelin anti-tank missile. The remaining pillboxes were struck with the tank shells, prompting Sheraliyev to point at the pillboxes for the platoon to destroy. Nurzhan paused for a bit, waiting for the enemy forces to run out of bullets before making a decision. Suddenly, the pillboxes went silent as rifle fire now emerged from the pillboxes.
"Incoming barrage!" Nurzhan yelled as the Kazakhs huddled behind the BTR-80s. He noticed that the missiles were then hitting the pillboxes. "Phew! Friendlies."
"Sir! What's our target?" Qasymov asked loudly, prompting Nurzhan to drag him to the side as rifle fire started to stream towards them. "Thanks."
"Be careful out there, or you would have been dead," Nurzhan said sternly. He noticed other rifle fire coming from the houses along the street. "There must be something that we can capture."
The combat continued on for several more hours, until the sky began to turn dark. At one point, Nurzhan had spotted four Tu-22s and H-6Ms dropping their bombs on various targets around the barangay, triggering several fires in the area. By this time, the Central Asians, Mongolians and Koreans began to position the vehicles in three areas after the landing ships constantly arrived with new equipment being unloaded. Over 8 K136 Kooryoung MLRS emerged from a Korean Navy landing ship, prompting the rest of the APCs that have followed suit and drove through the beaches. To his relief, Nurzhan spotted a familiar figure directing the rest of the Korean Marines and regular Army infantry into whichever area he wanted them to go to. The all familiar figure of Captain Geun turned to see Nurzhan approach him.
"It's a major relief to see you here, Captain Bayzhanov. As you can see, we're expanding the zone of operations around the beaches near this small town here," Captain Geun replied in an exhausted voice. He grumbled as the Kooryoung MLRS was driving in a different direction than the location he ordered. "Not there! Enemy anti-tank missiles can destroy you guys if you come too close."
"Any targets that we need to capture?" Nurzhan asked his Korean counterpart.
Captain Geun nodded as he pointed in the northward direction. "There is a small school in the area that's being used by the Philippine military to store their weapons, ammunition, and fuel. However, the municipal hall in this area is being used as their HQ, and the basketball court is their assembly area. Capture the school first, which I will assign that to you and your Central Asian troops. The Mongolians, led by Major Tögöldör Jargal, will be assigned to capture the basketball court."
"Understood. Who's the overall commander of this joint Central Asian-Korean-Mongolian force then?" Nurzhan asked back.
"That would be Major General Jong Kyong-thaek. He's a veteran of the Reunification War of 2002, but was a former North Korean general. We're lucky that Prime Minister Huh decided to integrate more of those former KPA officers when he rose to power." Captain Geun looked at his binoculars and whistled as another PHL-81 rocket had struck the area close to the elementary school. "Well, that objective isn't going to capture itself. You'd better get going, Lieutenant."
"Understood." Nurzhan began to run back towards his position.
***
00:00 HOURS
"Short burst, Qasymov! Just short burst and move on! Sheraliyev and Bolatov will do the rest!" Nurzhan barked at Sheraliyev as both soldiers fired their AN-94s at a small house where three Filipino Army machine gunners continued to fire their weapon at them.
By the time the Kazakh contingent had reached the first residential block of Dinapikisan, they were ambushed by a hail of bullets, as Nurzhan saw a few of his own soldiers cut down by the Filipino bullets. One of the other troops attempted to retrieve the corpse from the spot where it was killed, but a sniper fire struck the unlucky soldier in the chest. For a minute, Nurzhan paused as he slowly crawled through the ground, just managing to avoid putting himself and his platoon within the firing range of the enemy sniper. Right beside him, Sheraliyev held a walkie talkie while Bolatov and Qasymov pulled the pins from their grenades abd flung it far, before hitting their intended target, causing a small explosion.
"Enemy fire is fierce on residental sector Yolka. Requesting artillery support and suppressive fire," said Sheraliyev, even as machine gun fore continued to erupt. "Sector Yolka, area Galina!"
The radio went silent at first, until a voice spoke back from the other line. "Artillery support is on the way. Additionally, five attack helicopters are also inbound, so please wait for their arrival."
"Understood." Sheraliyev noticed three Filipino soldiers attempting to shoot at Nurzhan, but he first a moderate burst from his AN-94, striking them dead. "Lieutenant! Artillery barrage incoming. We need to pull back for a bit!"
Nurzhan turned to Sheraliyev and nodded. "All right, guys. Let's pull back."
Only four minutes after the radio communication went silent, did Nurzhan's platoon arrive at another abandoned house. To their relief, the house was apparently occupied by the Uzbek and Kyrgyz contingent as they laughed lightly and shook hands.
"Captain Bayzhanov! You look like a complete eyesore!" an Uzbek officer grinned as his Kyrgyz counterparts gladly gave their Kazakh guests some food they've taken from a shelf. "We got some fish and Sergeant Nurmatov is cooking some fresh rice that we've liberated."
Nurzhan nodded in agreement, but had to pause as the Uzbek officer was speaking in his native language. Sheraliyev looked at the other parts of the shelves for any canned foods, but was annoyed at the sight of the numerous amounts of luncheon meat. Finally, he spotted a small can of fish labeled Ligo and searched for a can openeer.
"Sorry for the lack of manners. I'm Captain Sarboz Musayev, of the 36th Motor Rifle Regiment. Or at least, that is what we were, until all of the soldiers who took part in the Battle of Baler received decorations and earned the designation of the Guards unit," Sarboz explained to Nurzhan. "And you're a captain in the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade." He paused for a bit as three Kyrgyz soldiers finished reloading the assault rifle cartridges with bullets and handed them to their comrades. "Our friends from the mountains belong to the new unit, the Kyrgyz 24th Guards Motor Rifle 'Subanov' Regiment. Zhunusov!"
A pleasant faced Kyrgyz officer emerged from the kitchen where he was supervising the cooking of the new meal. He shook hands with Nurzhan and gave him a glass of water that he poured.
"Alkaline water, sir," the Kyrgyz officer said as he also shook his hand. "I'm Captain Samat Zhunusov of the Subanov Motor Rifle Regiment."
Nurzhan smiled though an explosion had rocked one area close to the house where they were staying. He tapped Bolatov's shoulder and pointed at another house where five enemy soldiers were holed up.
"I wish I could stay over for dinner, but the bastards over there are still going at it. We've lost over 7 of our guys from enemy fire," Nurzhan grumbled. He looked around the house and sighed in annoyance. "Every single house in this moronic nation is far too small, and somehow these Filipinos are able to cram them all into here?"
Sarboz laughed grimly. "Yeah. This place is more of a vacation spot for the locals and foreign backpackers alike. It's a good thing that there are no tourists in here."
"Helicopter approaching!" Sergeant Nurmatov yelled after putting away his binoculars. "It's ours! We're saved!"
Nurmatov pointed at the sky where five Mi-24s in Kazakh Air Defense Forces colors have launched their missiles and bullets from the autocannons as the house occupying the Filipino troops were blown up. Not long after the helicopters flew away, the expected artillery barrage arrived as the missiles began to hit one house after another, though Nurzhan could see the missiles destroying the residential areas close to the elementary school that they intend to capture.
"So what's next after this village?" Sarboz asked Nurzhan. "Do we continue to go along the coast?"
"I don't think so. We do need to encircle and entrap the enemy forces within Central and Northern Luzon. My best guess is that we would have to take control of the entire Aurora Prefecture, before moving towards Nueva Ecija Prefecture. The Chinese and Russian forces are busy trying to take the northern part of that province, so I suspect that we would be needed when we're about to take the important supply and logistics hub of Gapan, which is also the most heavily fortified city in all of Nueva Ecija," Nurzhan explained to Sarboz and Samat. "In other words, while the heavy fighting is taking place, we'll be working as engineers and attempt to build new roads as part of our advance."
"I don't mind the extra work, as long as we're also building something new as well. I think that when we take control of this village, we should turn it into another naval base, as well as a supply hub. It's really shocking that these Filipinos are not exploiting their country's potential regarding logistics," Sarboz complained. He pointed at the other, albeit undamaged, houses across from where they are. "These homes will end up destroyed, and then we'll be the ones to rebuild the village and lure the refugees back to rebuild it."
---
DINAPIKISAN FALLS TO ESTO FORCES AS BATAAN OPERATION ENCOUNTERS RESISTANCE FROM PHILIPPINE FORCES
Sydney Herald
June 16, 2020
(Dinapikisan, ESTO-OCCUPIED AURORA PREFECTURE) - Another village within Aurora Prefecture has fallen to ESTO forces operating in the region. The village called Dinapikisan, which the locals and foreign backpackers often frequent as a popular tourist spot, had become the scene of a major battle between the defending Philippine forces and ESTO troops, mainly from the Central Asian republics, Mongolia, and the Korean Federal Republic. In a surprise blitz attack, the Central Asian ESTO troops led the breakthrough as three of their intended targets fell in one quick swoop: the local elementary school, in which the Philippine military was using to store weapons, fuel, and ammunition, the basketball court where the troops assembled, and the municipal hall where the local commander was using as his headquarters. Unlike the other Philippine forces that retreated from the cities now occupied by ESTO forces, the 800 strong Philippine Army soldiers were forced to surrender only after their only escape route was blocked by a strong ESTO advance. Out of the 800 Filipino soldiers who were surrounded, only 30 men opted to blow themselves up with a grenade, while the remaining 770 soldiers were too weak to do anything else. In response to circulating reports of alleged abuse of prisoners of war, the ESTO General Secretary issued a decree, punishing any ESTO soldier for violating the Geneva Convention with a court martial and a possible transfer to a penal unit. Yet, the fear of a court martial did not prevent a few Chinese or Korean soldiers from outright killing the surrendering Filipino soldiers in earlier battles, prompting the Philippine military to not only fight the ESTO forces to the death, but even massacre surrendering ESTO soldiers as well, though they spared the POWs that hailed from Mongolia or the Central Asian republics.
"This conflict has brought out the worst in all of our soldiers, and it is because of such actions that I have decided to tackle the problem of prisoner abuse. Any soldier caught abusing or even murdering an unarmed POW will be sent to penal units," says ESTO General Secretary Ularbek Sharsheyev, during a press conference. "The last thing we need is for our enemies to create a propaganda campaign that undermines our mission in the Philippines."
Approximately 2,500 Filipino soldiers are currently incarcerated in ESTO-controlled POW camps throughout northern Luzon, although they are heavily guarded by military police personnel and reserve soldiers from all over the ESTO participant nations. Although some of them made the decision to defect towards either the Filipino State Guard or the Philippine Volunteer Corps, the majority of them remained under guard. Drone operators were also brought over from the Asian mainland to help prevent prisoner escapes, though various escape schemes were always planned by ambitious POWs. Weekly inspections by the delegates from the International Red Cross revealed that the Filipino POWs were more fearful of being labeled as traitors to their nation and mostly kept to themselves. Furthermore, one Red Cross official found an emaciated corpse of what appeared to be a Filipino POW who died of starvation. When it was revealed that the emaciated POW refused to eat any rations given to him because of fears that it contained poison, the ESTO military authorities had to bring in both military and civilian psychologists and psychiatrists to help deprogram the numerous amounts of POWs that belonged to the generation that grew up under the Tadiar regime.
"It is a huge undertaking for the large number of psychologists and psychiatrists to deprogram a large number of POWs that grew up being brainwashed under the military dictatorship, and it's far worse when that fanaticism leads to incidents where POWs would charge towards the barbed wire, in hopes of getting cut down by machine gun fire. It is really tragic," comments Major Polina Orlova, who works as a military psychiatrist with the 810th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade, when asked by Russian and Chinese reporters during a tour of the POW camp in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. "It doesn't help that some of the military police and reserve soldiers guarding the POW camp are Chinese and Korean soldiers with a grudge against the Filipinos. I would recommend replacing them with either Mongolians or Central Asians."
---
AEONTOWN PACIFIC MALL
CABANATUAN CITY
June 13, 2020
The sounds of Filipino soldiers and AIRG mercenaries running through the corridors of the deserted mall had not frightened Noa Urahara, who was now helping Yui carry a stretcher containing a wounded AIRG mercenary whose arm was blown off. Since the fall of Maria Aurora to the ESTO forces and the ongoing siege of Fort Magsaysay, the ESTO forces had increased their airstrikes around the border regions of both Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya Prefectures. Artillery barrages were also reported to have decimated the border town of Carranglan and Munoz, but the worst part for them was that the ESTO forces now began to use cluster munitions dropped from the Chinese and Russian bombers. To make matters worse, several MiG-23s in Korean Federal Republic colors also began to carry out airstrikes in the vicinity of the neighboring city of Mayapyap. Finally, what made the defense of Cabanatuan City extremely difficult was the Chinese usage of their CJ-10 cruise missiles, targeting the infrastructure around the city.
By the time Noa and Yui arrived at a makeshift infirmary, the wounded AIRG mercenary breathed his last and passed away. Nagisa noticed her two colleagues attempting to wake the dead mercenary up, but she placed her hands on their shoulder and gave a gentle shake in her head. Several more medics arrived while carrying stretchers containing wounded soldiers and mercenaries alike, prompting her to issue orders to the regular military medics while Yui and Noa began to assemble the next set of medical equipment for the next operation. Three Filipino soldiers from the Army stood guard while other AIRG mercenaries, mainly the ones from Thailand, began to carry a large, heavy box full of assault rifles. Fifteen minutes later, Yuuichi arrived at the makeshift infirmary, carrying a bag full of medications on his backpack.
"Good thing you've arrived, Yuuichi-kun," Nagisa told him curtly as Yui and Noa grabbed the contents from Yuuichi's backpack. "Anything happened?"
Yuuichi shook his head. "I was ordered to help with the defense of Cabanatuan City. Harunobu should recover from his wounds, but they're transporting him to Kabankalan for a return trip back home." He paused for a minute and unpocketed his cell phone. "I had a rare chance to talk to Satoshi-nii-san. He's worried about me, while being stationed inside the JS Sekiryu. He's on active duty in the Tsushima Strait, keeping an eye on the Korean Navy. On the other hand, Keiichi-nii-san is aboard the JS Shiranui, and he's on patrol in the Kunashiri Island, watching the Russian warships."
"Satoshi-kun and Keiichi-kun?" Nagisa said shockingly. "They're okay though, right?"
Yuuichi nodded. "Yeah, but I'm scared that the Chinese, Koreans, and Russians will invade our home, and we'd have to go back."
"Of course, we do have to go back. Our families will be in danger if we don't come back," Yui said while inspecting the completed box full of medical supplpies. She turned to a Philippine Marine medic, who gave her a nod. "Please take this to that hospital bed over there."
"Yes, ma'am," the Marine medic replied back. She later joined the other medics, who began to administer the anesthetic on a screaming soldier who had a shrapnel embedded in his face.
Yuuichi and several other AIRG mercenaries calmly walked out of the makeshift infirmary and stepped into the corridor of the mall, where the other mercenaries and regular military soldiers pointed in various directions while carrying crates full of ammunition and weapons. He inspected the Howa Type 89 assault rifle that he's been carrying ever since he and many of his friends stepped foot inside the Philippines, to ensure that it was in working condition. Another AIRG mercenary inspected the IWI Tavor bullpup that he carried, while a regular Philippine Marine soldier reloaded his IWI Galil assault rifle before walking towards the exit. Yuuichi was about to explore more of what had been Cabanatuan City when an air raid siren went off. He saw several soldiers rushing towards the anti-aircraft weaponry as the second AIRG mercenary started to curse in his native Thai language. Luckily, one other AIRG mercenary managed to translate what the swearing mercenary was saying.
"He's saying that the airstrikes are coming," the other mercenary said to Yuuichi.
He didn't have to wait for what was coming, for 9 T-50 Golden Eagle fighter planes started to fire their payload towards the anti-aircraft units. The missiles struck their targets, causing an explosion. Yuuichi and the other mercenaries started to go back, but several more explosions started to rock around them. He was suddenly rocked to the side and his eyes slowly closed as the sound of 3 Tu-22Ms started to close in before he felt being dragged back inside by the other mercenaries. The last thing he heard was several large explosions being so close.
***
THREE HOURS LATER
"Yuuichi-kun! Yuuichi-kun! Please don't die on me!" Yuuichi heard a sobbing voice and slowly opened his eyes. He soon blinked as Yui gently pushed him up while Noa and Nagisa examined the bruise that appeared on his head.
"You seemed to have struck your head as a result of that explosion," Nagisa commented while also checking Yuuichi's pulse on his wrists. "Thank goodness you didn't suffer from a brain aneurysm or a brain hemorrhage, or you would have bled internally."
Yuuichi winced. "Wait, where are the others?" He suddenly realized that the infirmary that he was at was not the same as the infirmary that he visited when he was still on his feet. "Are we still at that mall?"
Noa moved towards him with a tray of food. She placed it on the small table, allowing Yuuichi to start eating. He noticed the luncheon meat, beans, and rice on the plate, while a smaller plate full of sliced pineapples sat beside it. Yuuichi grabbed the beans and shoved it into his mouth, startling the three girls.
"Not so fast, Yuuichi-kun!" Yui warned. Thankfully, Yuuichi was slow to chew the beans, before swallowing it. "To satisfy your curiosity, we've moved ourselves and the entire medical team to a bunker beneath the mall. The bunker was built back in 2001, so at least we're safe from the bombing."
Noa nodded in agreement. "One of the Thai guys said that several enemy aircraft launched their attacks on us, and one of the explosions that knocked you out cold was from one of the missiles. I had to spend almost an hour trying to retrieve the corpses in the street, and I almost died as well."
"I see. Did I also miss something else as well?" Yuuichi asked the girls. He sooner got his answer when Lt. Layag arrived at the underground bunker. "Sir."
Lt. Layag gave them a small nod, but he looked like he lost some weight. His cheeckbones started to appear, though slightly. Nagisa beckoned for Yui to give the officer some food, but Lt. Layag simply held up his hand.
"Carranglan has fallen. We are not sure when the ESTO forces will arrive at Cabanatuan City, but we need to evacuate now. Even the AIRG forces are being instructed to evacuate, although I would have preferred to carry out a delaying action in order to allow the evacuation of the wounded to proceed," Lt. Layag explained sadly. He grabbed his phone and showed the three girls an online map. "Over 32,000 Chinese troops have converged on Carranglan, followed by 19,000 Russian soldiers. Some of them had already seized control of the Nueva Vizcaya-Pangasinan Road, resulting in opening up another front there. The PLA is mostly concentrated on western Luzon, but Russian airstrikes are helping the PLA troops with the storming of various towns within Pangasinan Prefecture. As a result, most of eastern Pangasinan is under ESTO control."
"So where will we evacuate then, sir?" Noa asked sadly. She could hear one wounded patient moan in agony while a Philippine Army medic approached his bed and asked him what was wrong. "How about going further south?"
Lt. Layag shook his head. "There is still time. The ESTO forces would have to storm San Jose City, and it has been fortified with lots of bunkers, pillboxes, and anti-tank obstacles. Unfortunately, the ESTO forces are going to deploy more of their artillery units, as well as launching missile strikes. The DF-17s are being used more often now, and there's even reports that I received that confirmed the usage of those missiles, as well as Kinzhals and Iskanders against pillboxes as far as the Penaranda River."
"That far?" Yuuichi asked shakily. "Does that mean we may have to retreat to Bulacan Prefecture?" Lt. Layag nodded sadly. "I guess I need to recover soon."
"Of course, but you'll all be evacuated to Gapan. There's a medical center in the town of San Leonardo. However, it's deserted, as we've ordered all the medical staff to converge on the Good Samaritan Hospital. Plus, we've already placed a lot of dragon's teeth and rigged the bridges going to Gapan, making it a fortress," Lt. Layag answered back, before turning towards the door. "The evacuation will begin in four hours."
"Yes, sir," the three girls said in unision and went straight back to work.
---
NAGUILIAN, ESTO-OCCUPIED LA UNION PREFECTURE
JUNE 15, 2020
For 29 year old Lieutenant Isagani Abayon, his life had been a complete set of twists. Initially a soldier within the Philippine Marines since 2009, the ex-Marine had found himself facing captivity inside a POW camp just outside Aparri, along with many other Filipino soldiers who fought in the defense of Aparri. When several ESTO military officers began to interview the individual Filipino soldiers who were incarcerated, many of them had mixed feelings about being under ESTO captivity. It was understandable that they assumed that the ESTO soldiers would execute them for no good reason other than they were simply Filipinos. When his turn for interrogation came, Isagani gave his honest answers in the best non-propagandized form. Like the other former Goyo Academy alumni that made up the majority of the Philippine military, Isagani grew up idolizing Artemio Tadiar and wanted to become like him. Yet, ever since the downfall of his regime and the rise of Hector Tarrazona, Isagani had been a loyal soldier, though he started to study the various religions of the world. It was not until he came across the books on all three schools of Buddhism that his curiosity grew. He thought of becoming a monk after his mandatory service was over, but fate had other plans. He did rise up in the ranks of the Philippine Marines, eventually becoming a commissioned officer only in 2018. He went to the appropriate schools in Japan, Thailand, and even Turkey for advanced training, and came back a changed man. However, what no one in the entire Phiippine military knew, not even his closest comrades within his same unit, was that Isagani was reading books that was banned under the previous Tadiar regime. Books written by Franco Freda, Karl Marx, and even Julius Evola were his preferred choices for reading, as well as novels written by Dan Brown that was smuggled into the country. Just how did a former Marine would end up joining the ranks of the Philippine Volunteer Corps was something that Isagani never understood, but from his reading time, he gradually developed a nuanced viewpoint of the world.
"Keep an eye out for guerrillas. They can easily blend in the jungle," Isagani warned six of his other comrades who were using a pick up truck to transport their weapons. Unlike the regular Philippine Army or even the infamous Minokawa Spec-Ops Battalion, the Philippine Volunteer Corps was adequately armed with just a few assault rifles and anti-tank weapons. They often had to rely on weapons picked up from dead enemy soldiers to sustain themselves.
One of the other FVC soldiers looked at the binoculars and pointed at another soldier to get close to the machine gun. The machine gun mounted on the pickup truck, a rare STK 50MG that was acquired from a dead Philippine Army machine gunner, was pointed at a random bush. Four other FVC riflemen pointed their weapons in anticipation of an ambush.
"Sergeant Agpalo, have you spotted something there?" Isagani asked Agpalo, who had the machine gun aimed at the bush.
"No, sir. However, we're not sure if there are-" he was interrupted by rifle fire, prompting him and the other FVC troops to fire back. A few minutes later, an explosion rocked the road beside them. "Grenade launcher! I think it's either the guerrillas or the Minokawas!"
"Hold your position, and fire at will!" Isagani shouted. He soon started to squeeze the trigger on the SAR-21 that he also acquired, this time from a dead AIRG mercenary. He then tapped on the shoulder of a FVC rifleman. "Mahusay! Drive us out of there! We'll report to ESTO headquarters that guerrilla activity is rife in this area. Back to Sudipen!"
"Yes, sir!" the FVC soldier named Mahusay nodded and climbed into the driver's seat. Agpalo gave a short burst from his preferred assault rifle, a QBZ-95 that he was issued from the Chinese, despite the Chinese officers protesting against issuing such a weapon. Four guerrillas in civilian clothing emerged from the bushes, but fell to the ground when the bullets struck them.
Two hours later, the FVC squad arrived inside Sudipen, which had also been heavily damaged by the fighting during the first phase of the ESTO invasion. Stopping at a makeshift barracks that had once been a small hostel, it had been requisitioned for use by both the Filipino State Guard and the Philippine Volunteer Corps. Isagani and his squad walked quickly, passing by the other collaborator troops and the civilian informers, before arriving at a small room, which was being used as an office. A 42 year old man, clad in a fatigue that resembled that of the former pro-Russian militia unit called Novy Put', and a field cap on his head, looked at the group before putting his pen down.
"I assume that you have something to report. Your squad was just on a reconaissance mission, right?" the officer called Colonel Alon Saique looked up to Isagani. "Well?"
Isagani stood rigidly. "Sir, we were ambushed by the Minokawa Spec-Ops unit, but managed to find a few guerrillas before taking them out. Our observation reveals that the Minokawa Spec-Ops unit is being used to create chaos behind enemy lines."
"As I suspected. I didn't like the way those thieves and criminals had conducted themselves during the war in Korea back in 2002, and to hear that the Minokawas now consist of those criminal veterans that once massacred innocent people? I'm glad that I made the choice to surrender this time around," muttered Colonel Saique before nodding. "The Philippine Volunteer Corps is the best unit to have ever graced our country. Though it may look like we're collaborating with our enemies, in reality we are cleaning up the mess that the two dictatorships had made, plus those corrupt politicians that are trying to bring back the old days of political corruption. Unlike our former comrades in the Philippine military, I don't care much at all what you read, as long as you concentrate on your work while on duty. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir," Isagani replied back curtly.
"Dismissed," Colonel Saique replied sharply as Isagani and his squad left.
Sudipen under ESTO military occupation looked like it lost its soul, though there were signs of reconstruction going on. Everyday civilians were heading off to work, while traffic was becoming more restricted. Isagani and his squad could see several PLA Type 15 tanks heading in the southern direction, accompanied by a large column of ZBD-04s and older looking BTR-60s in Mongolian military colors. Flying overhead, he also spotted over 9 H-6K bombers being accompanied by 5 Russian Tu-22Ms his daydreaming and skywatching was suddenly interrupted by Mahusay, who tapped him on his shoulder.
"Feeling better already? It's much better than when we fought in Baler and managed to capture that would-be saboteur," Mahusay told Isagani, who simply nodded.
"Yeah, it was thanks to that Captain Bayzhanov that they were able to help us deal with the fate of that saboteur. The last time I heard from him and Captain Geun, they were fighting in Dikapinisan. I'm sure that they've captured it by now," Isagani spoke back. He spotted one of the drivers that helped them escape from the guerrillas. "Sergeant Agpalo, ready to resume the reconaissance trip?"
Agpalo nodded and pointed at the corner, where five BMP-1Ps that were used by the Philippine military before they were captured by the ESTO forces during the first few hours of the invasion. He and the rest of his squad got on top of the APCs, as the driver inside started to press on the pedal and the BMP-1Ps went off in a different direction. Isagani kept his hands on the binocular that hung on his neck, to ensure that he could keep an eye on the side of the road in case they run into ambushes. Though the coast looked deserted, he could easily see a sillhouette of a warship from the distance. A while later, the five BMP-1Ps in PVC colors were later joined by 12 Sheridan IIs in FSG colors. Isagani suspected that the FSG somehow managed to acquire the Sheridan IIs when their previous owners surrendered to the ESTO soldiers in one of the earlier battles, though it was hard for the rest of the Philippine forces to stomach when the end of the Battle of Tuguegarao had resulted in a massacre of surrendering Filipino soldiers by angry Chinese and Korean soldiers. Though the perpetrators were eventually court martialed and executed, it also led to the Philippine military's mass executions of captured Chinese and Korean POWs in return.
"I also heard that the Minokawas had captured and executed over 13 Russian soldiers just outside Tabuk in retaliation for what happened to Tuguegarao," said Agpalo, who slowly moved to the right side of the BMP-1P. "Did you hear back from Gilang yet?"
Isagani shook his head. "We haven't heard back from Gilang since the Battle of Baler. From what I heard, he and a few of his guys deserted their units and surrendered to a surprised group of ESTO soldiers from Kazakhstan. Sergeant Major Tursynov told me that those guys who surrendered were expecting to be executed, but Captain Bayzhanov simply sent them to a POW camp in the outskirts of Pagudpud. I was surprised to hear that Gilang joined the Filipino State Guard."
"Yeah," Mahusay said as he looked around. He spotted something in the sky that made him uneasy, until he sighed in relief. "Three Changhe Z-10s are accompanying us on the left." He turned his head to the other direction to see another set of helicopters. "AH-1 Cobras in Korean Federal Republic colors are flying alongside Mi-24s in the same KFR colors."
"I guess that the guerrillas and Minokawas are still a threat in this region." Isagani grabbed a small map that he kept in his pocket. "It looks like the Minokawas are trying to cause chaos inside ESTO territory. Bacnotan is most likely going to be their target, so it's a good thing that the ESTO military occupational authorities are entrusting us with the mission to wipe out the guerrillas in the area."
Though they haven't reached the intended destination, Isagani had already spotted several billboards that were torn down. An older looking billboard containing the picture of a random woman with a beauty product looked damaged, with her face being marked with a red X across it. On the opposite side of the road, another billboard was being fixed by civilian workers. Unlike the damaged billboard on the same side of the road the BMP-1Ps were driving on, the one across from it had the picture of a downtrodden Filipino peasant man and woman being helped by what appeared to be 8 different looking ESTO soldiers, representing the 8 participating ESTO nations. The caption on the bottom reads 'Stronger Together with Asia' in English, Tagalog, Ilocano, and the national languages of the ESTO participant nations. When they arrived inside Bacnotan, they were greeted with an unexpected surprise. Several soldiers in what appeared to be fatigues of a nation that Isagani did not expect to see appeared before them. Though they saw the familiar yellow colored multi rayed sun with 5 stars encircling it, it was the balaclava, helmets, and the Zastava M21 that they carried had indicated that these unknown soldiers were in fact members of the Makabayan Battalion.
"How are you guys?" one of the Makabayan Battalion volunteers said as he shook hands with Isagani after they got off the BMP-1P. "Welcome to Bacnotan. As you can see, the town looks awful."
"We got here in time, and safe as well." Isagani looked around the town as several fire rescue crews constantly dragged the hoses out of the fire trucks. "Any signs of the Minokawas?"
The Makabayan Battalion squad leader shook his head. "They are mostly operating in the jungles and rivers, but I wouldn't be surprised if they could operate in urban areas. Luckily, we're experts when it comes to guerrilla warfare."
"We have our our orders. We're to screen the entire area for any sign of enemy guerrillas, especially Minokawas. Unfortunately, our equipment may not be enough to deal with the Minokawas, so we'll probably need drones to cover the aerial surveillance," Isagani responded. "We only have pick up trucks, IFVs and APCs that we've captured from the Philippine military."
"Your group still has to prove their loyalty before the ESTO forces can send you the necessary tanks, artillery pieces, and other things," the Makabayan Battalion squad leader answered back. He spotted the rest of the MBs as they formed up. "Okay, our mission right now is to patrol the entirety of La Union Prefecture, and to aid our friends in the Filipino State Guard and Philippine Volunteer Corps in taking out the Minokawas. At the same time, we're also gathering information on possible enemy positions and relaying it back to ESTO headquarters in Tuguegarao. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir!" The Makabayan Battalion volunteers responded, though in Serbo-Croatian instead of Tagalog.
"We're back in the Philippines, not in Yugoslavia anymore, so we can speak Tagalog, Ilocano, or whichever language you're more comfortable with." The Makabayan Battalion squad leader shook hands once again with Isagani. "You'll be working under us for the time being. Is that okay?"
Isagani nodded as he prepared his assault rifle. "Yes, sir."
---
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
JUNE 14, 2020
The atmosphere inside this undisclosed location that 26 year old Heinrich Seidel felt was rather unnerving. Since joining the relatively obscured movement called The Atlantic Imperium, Heinrich had gradually changed from an apolitical college student, to one of the rising stars within the movement. Of course, the young man from Bavaria has traveled to the Austrian capital to attend the speech that will be presented by the former Federal President of Austria. When he first heard of the man in question, Heinrich was amused and stunned at the man's eccentric proposals. From his relatively controversial decision to end Austria's neutrality status in favor of joining NATO (which he accomplished in 2019 in response to the expansion of the ESTO that allowed the Korean Federal Republic to join), to his openly fascistic ideas of breaking apart what he viewed as 'undesirable' nations that stood in the way of his dream of a unified Trans-Atlantic 'Reich' that would dominate the world, as they had done in the 1800s, though now with a fresh determination to wage total war upon the Third World. He also paid attention to that former Federal President's rather discriminatory remarks that he made towards certain peoples in the Balkans and SE Asia, and has even bragged about cleaning up Austria of the Filipino political exile population, which the government he presided from 2007 until 2017. Of course, the young man from Bavaria also paid attention to the idiot ex-Federal President's tendency to put his foot in his mouth, as evident by the constant shouting of 'Serbien Muss Sterben' during the anniversary of the outbreak of WWI. Now, the ex-Federal President has an even bigger prize that he aimed his eye on: the position as the President of the Council of the European Continental Association. Yet, the pan-European movement, the Atlantic Imperium, has strongly favored the abolition of the rotating presidency in favor of a two-term Chancellorship that most of the ECA citizens will elect for.
Heinrich's attention was suddenly diverted by the approaching delegates of the Atlantic Imperium as they showed him the way inside the auditorium. To his surprise, Heinrich had entered a room that looked a bit too full for his comfort, but at the same time, they were there to listen to the man speak. He found an empty seat on the left side of the auditorium and waited for a while until the speech could begin. Not a minute later and Heinrich stood up as three more guests slowly moved across the seats and sat down in the seat they've chosen. A bulky looking man suddenly sat beside him and they shook hands after.
"I'm Olaf. What's your name?" the newcomer named Olaf said.
"Heinrich Seidel, and I'm from Munich," Heinrich replied back.
Olaf whistled in response. "Munich? You're much closer to here than I am. I'm from Lubeck."
"Are you here to hear the ex-Federal President speak?" Heinrich asked, and Olaf nodded in response.
"Ja. I just wanted to know if he's the same eccentric person as the media pictured him as," Olaf scoffed. "Although you should know better than to trust our idiotic media outlets."
"I am aware of that. Yet, some people in my family have not spoken well about him," Henrich confessed, but they were suddenly interrupted by one of the MCs that approached the podium.
"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for coming today to this special event. I have the honor of presenting to the audience on behalf of the Atlantic Imperium movement, His Excellency, the former Federal President of Austria." A gray haired man who was grinning at the audience soon walked into the stage, prompting the audience to clap with excitement. "Gunther Fehlinger!"
"Jawohl! Jawohl! Jawohl!" the audience started chanting as the applause continued and the grinning man soon waved his hand for the audience to calm down.
"I would like to say to all the delegates of the Austrian branch of the Atlantic Imperium, thank you for inviting me to speak in front of you. However, I am not here to speak of the past nostalgias, for they are gone," ex-Federal President Fehlinger began to speak.
Heinrich and Olaf soon glued their eyes towards the man in the podium as the flag of the European Continental Association was unfolded. There were twelve white stars that made a circle, which covered a golden sun with multiple rays. Yet, what really caught Heinrich's eye was a second flag that looked similar to the flag of the ECA, but it had a gigantic blood red cross imposed upon a golden circle and a black smaller background. It looked more like a Nordic cross flag than the actual ECA flag, which gave it a seductive allure.
"For too long, Western civilization has come under attack from the usual suspects in the Asiatic hordes of the east, as well as the population of the African continent. We have tried so hard to limit the intake of the immigrants that are coming here, but our weak willed sellouts in all the various European governments have surrendered their guts to these leftists. However, I am not here to complain about the immigrants. No, I have come here because of a dire warning that even you all have to hear," Fehlinger said in a tone that did not detect any hint of a sinister intent. "The land powers of Asia have already united in their hatred of their cultural and moral superiors, who have always insisted that the unipolar world order is the one, true path. We are seeing more undesirable nations who are rebelling against our right to impose our will upon them. Latin America will soon be brought to heel under the boot of the United States military, just as long as their President has the courage to reduce the former National Syndicalist junta to a smouldering ruin, as they deserve. I have dreamed of days when all the enemies of Western civilization can be broken into several, 'manageable', pieces that we can control. I do not hide my contempt for the Serbian nation, which had continued to keep its grip upon Yugoslavia, as they are also responsible for the destruction of our beloved Hapsburg empire. I am also open with my open hatred towards the likes of Russia, China, Iran, and India, as they are Eastern powers with a defiant government that does not obey the commands of the White ruling class. Finally, we have the jungle rats whose nation is ironically enough, being bombed to ruins by these very same Eastern fiends. It was the same bleeding hearts who allowed them and their kind to settle inside Europe, while we would have been better off sending them back home, to their certain deaths."
"Expel the <slur>!" one of the audience members shouted, to which the rest of them started chanting, though Fehlinger managed to calm them down.
"When the Euro-Atlantic alliance will truly form into a new kind of empire that will stand up to the likes of the Eastern hordes, we shall not rest until they are truly broken and their 'peoples' deservedly killed as punishment for daring to stand up against us. There can only be one Kaiser or one Fuhrer that shall rule over the Euro-Atlantic alliance, and eventually, the world!" Fehlinger shouted as his hands were raised in wild gestures.
Heinrich exhaled and laughed lightly. "He really is a master orator."
"Agreed," Olaf spoke back softly.
"We shall let the hordes from the Third World know what we are capable of, when our backs are against the wall. Now, repeat after me," Fehlinger spoke up. "EIN WELT!"
"EIN WELT!"
Fehlinger grinned maliciously. "EIN BESTELLUNG!"
"EIN BESTELLUNG!"
Finally, Heinrich and Olaf would join in the shouting. "EIN KAISER!"
"EIN KAISER!" the audience started to clap wildly after the chanting was over. Heinrich and Olaf could feel the jubilation emitting from among the audience, though one of the more loudmouthed audience members stood up and did something that no one anticipated.
"HEIL FEHLINGER!" the loudmouth shouted as he gave a fascist salute. Suddenly, the audience was silenced abruptly and no one spoke after that. Five minutes later, the audience erupted in massive cheers as they too, began to give fascist salutes despite not caring whether or not the entire Austrian branch of the Atlantic Imperium would be fined for giving a fascist salute in public.
"HEIL FEHLINGER! HEIL FEHLINGER! HEIL FEHLINGER!" Fehlinger quietly chuckled as he gave a wave to the audience, even though they didn't stop chanting the slogans and continued to clap.
---
ESTO FORMALLY ACCEPTS THREE NEW MEMBERS IN RESPONSE TO ONGOING CONFLICT IN THE PHILIPPINES AS NATO RESPONDS BY ANNOUNCING THE AMENDMENT OF ARTICLE TEN
Sydney Herald
June 15, 2020
(Shymkent, KAZAKHSTAN) - The Eurasian Security Treaty Organization has announced the formal acceptance of Iran, Turkmenistan, and Bangladesh into the group, with Bhutan, Nepal, Belarus, Afghanistan, Iraq, Assyria, Kurdistan, and Syria being granted candidate status. Of those new candidates for ESTO membership, Iraq only agreed to recognize the independence of Assyria and Kurdistan in exchange for the withdrawal of Iranian occupation forces during the last days of the Iran-Iraq War. Although Lebanon also wanted to join ESTO, one of its political factions, the extremely pro-Western Lebanese Kataeb Party, had opposed such a move, fearing that an ESTO-aligned Lebanon would only make things worse for regional security, in light of Israel's growing partnership with NATO. Additionally, Pakistan refused to join the ESTO due to their territorial disputes with India, and Pakistan's insistence on the return to the pre-1986 borders plus the cessation of Jammu and Kashmir to them from India is a prerequisite for a possible Pakistani membership, though India rejected this demand. However, the three new members are not required to send their troops to the conflict zone in the Philippines, as there are still a large number of requirements that they have to meet before being allowed to send troops to any conflict zone as declared by the ESTO military organization.
"The ascension of the Federal States of Iran, the Republic of Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Bangladesh has improved the security of the entire eastern half of the Asian continent, but the fact remains that our western flank remains volatile as ever," says ESTO General Secretary Ularbek Sharsheyev, during a press conference in Shymkent. "We are also looking to extend our invitation to nations like the Maldives, Yemen, and even possibly Oman as well. Although we are aware of the Gulf States' relationship with the United States, we are also open to the possibility of extending our invitation to them."
In response to the growth of the ESTO, their rivals in NATO had been mulling about the possibility of amending Article 10, which only restricted the membership to the European nations, as a means of extending their reach beyond Europe. The United States is keen on inviting Mexico and Central America, as well as Colombia, into NATO, though because of Article 10, they are not qualified to join. Morocco on the other hand, has been interested in joining the alliance, and back in March of 2020, a few days before the ESTO invasion of the Philippines, US President Tim Kaine traveled to Morocco with Secretary of State Michael Gottlieb for a meeting with Moroccan Sultan Muhammad VI for a discussion regarding closer Moroccan-American ties. Additionally, Secretary of State Gottlieb even pitched the idea of amending Article 10 to NATO General Secretary Radoslaw Sikorski, who was open to such a thing, as he felt that it could not only enhance European and North American security, but can even prevent the ESTO from gaining more influence in Europe. As it stands, only the Sovereign Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has refused to join either NATO or ESTO, but has sent second-generation Filipino volunteers serving in the Yugoslav Army to fight in the Philippines as volunteers. Yet, NATO has also announced that it is planning to grant Ireland and Malta candidate status as a means of expanding the current alliance.
"When the states that made up of the Intermarium Allilance had voluntarily joined NATO in 2014, only Ukraine was unable to join and Belarus was not a part of the Intermarium Allliance at that time," comments Sikorski, during an interview with a Dutch reporter in Warsaw. "Now that our ESTO rivals are mired in a war in SE Asia, we can finally seize this moment to help Ukraine retake its lost territories that Russia continues to occupy to this day. The New World Order cannot take shape unless the Eastern savages are destroyed and exterminated for sure."
---
"We have reached a point in our history when even the mainstream politicians are now openly talking about the Asian nations in such a blatantly racist tone, and echoing the Nazis to boot. It's not just a rebirth of fascism in the West that we're witnessing. We are seeing the institutionalization of White supremacist ideology as official policy in certain areas of the world, such as that insane ex-Austrian President who got his own country into NATO and is itching to break Yugoslavia up, just because he viewed the Serbs and Montenegrins as vermin. Or how about the current General Secretary of NATO Radoslaw Sikorski describing the Asian nations as straight up savages that needed to be killed off? Hell, even I was shocked when Secretary of State Gottlieb was happily chatting with President Kaine about completely nuking the Philippines, just to screw around with the ESTO forces that are illegally invading that country. Tuck, we have no sane politicians who are decent folk in office today. The neocons are extremely bloodthirsty at this point, openly calling on our government to literally destroy nations that have a grudge against us, just because they didn't want us to meddle in their affairs!? We are still suffering from the Ghost of Brzezinski, when that idiot had taken the gamble and asked a former Klansman to send volunteers to fight the Soviets in 1990 to 1995. Are we sleepwalking towards a nuclear war, so that the neocons can rule over the radiated ashes after!?" Senator Alex Jones, during his interview with Tucker Carlson, June 11, 2020
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Aug 20, 2024 2:04:07 GMT
EPISODE 004: PERMANENT SUNSET
"The downfall of Japan's private security group, the Akatsuki International Resource Group, had been shocking, to say the least. However, they initially started off with good intentions, until it gradually loosened up its requirements in order to attract more people into the security group. Unfortunately, that opened the doors to certain bad elements from Japan's underworld, as well as various unfaithful husbands who either cheated on their wives, or other kinds of husbands who were deep in debt due to their financial problems. The horrific news of a gruesome murder of a 31 year old woman with three children, the oldest around 12, the middle child around 9, and the youngest child only 4, and their discovery at the mouth of the Naka River in May of 2020, reached the world media. The discovery of their corpses at the Nakaminato Fishery Port was initially seen as a violent custodial battle gone wrong, but when it became apparent that the way they were killed, it looked like a summary execution. Local police investigators noticed the way the victims were tied up: a noose was wrapped around their necks, while tying their hands back with the same rope, and a single shot struck them in the back of the head. Just as when the investigations were going to proceed, a major outbreak of sudden discoveries were being revealed within the timespan from April 3rd to May 2nd alone. Those sudden discoveries, as it turned out, became even worse. Similar cases of family members tied up and shot as if they were executed arose as a result. Yet, the Nakaminato Fishery Port Murder of May 30, 2020 was not the first case that revolved around the deaths of family members, but it became more prominent in the sophisticated way that they were killed. Back in March of 2016, a gruesome discovery of an executed 24 year old pregnant woman was made in the small, sleepy town of Noshiro. Unlike the murders at the Nakaminato Fishery Port, the murder of the 24 year old pregnant woman was done in a manner that stunned all of Japan, though whoever killed her, they made sure that they didn't leave any traces of DNA that could be traced back to them. Two months later, an izakaya run by the family of another murder victim was bombed and the family owners, along with their customers, were found with several bullet holes in their bodies. Every single law enforcement agency throughout Japan had great difficulties trying to solve the mystery of how these women and their families were murdered. It was not until January of 2020, a few months before the ESTO launched their invasion of the Philippines, that a former AIRG whistleblower had exposed his own organization's role in training and equipping professional criminals and deadbeat husbands or ex-husbands while seeking asylum in the Korean Embassy in Tokyo. The unnamed whistleblower would become the source of information regarding the activities of the AIRG in the Korean Federal Republic, though his assassination by AIRG agents in February 14, 2020 by a parcel bomb disguised as a Valentine's Day chocolate gift in Daegu, had exposed the AIRG's growing ties to criminal groups. Additionally, the AIRG also attracted another kind of dangerous group to its organization: social misfits without a future at all. They saw the AIRG as a means of getting revenge on the society that shunned them, by any means necessary. Yet, the social misfits were actually sent on dangerous missions around the world, to prevent them from carrying out acts of domestic terrorism at home.
The most tragic part of these murders were that the perpetrators all belonged to the AIRG. The aforementioned deadbeat husbands or men with large financial debts joined the group, primarily to earn enough cash to repay their creditors, though they refused to pay alimony and child support. Things eventually got worse when certain AIRG mercenaries offered their services to disgruntled parties involved in nasty divorce proceedings and child custody battles. The hired guns would often break into the homes of the targeted parties, rob their belongings, and drag the targeted parties into a pre-built ditch, where the perpetrator would order the hired guns to tie the targeted parties up, before proceeding to execute them with rifle fire. Their atrocities on the domestic front had gotten out of control to the point where they were even hired to liquidate rival yakuza gangs. The Nakaminato Fishery Port murder would become the last straw for the Japanese government, as both Prime Minister Toshio Tamogami and Japanese Minister of Defense Yoshihiro Murai would officially announce on April 18, 2021, the dissolution of the Akatsuki International Resource Group, and the formation of a new unit called the Special Assault Group that will replace them. The new SAG would have a much stricter criteria for recruitment, barring men with outstanding debts or significant parental irresponsibilities from joining. However, several AIRG mercenaries that would theoretically be disqualified from joining the SAG would corral around the ringleader, whose notoriety would reach the international media. For it was 34 year old Toru Katsuragi, the man connected to the murder of the 24 year old pregnant woman from Noshiro, had began to clamor for a coup against the Japanese government. However, Katsuragi in reality, was only the second in command of the AIRG renegades, for it was Toshiro Hirano, who became the real man behind the renegades. Unfortunately, the AIRG could wouldn't be launched until May of 2021, by which time the Philippine military managed to repel and retake lost territories that the ESTO forces occupied, and the November 2020 Selurong Counteroffensive that completely cleared ESTO forces out of Selurong Prefecture, until the start of the infamous Battle of Gapan, which started on November 22nd. It was the so-called Children's Day Coup of May 2021 that nearly topped the Tamogami government, until an intervention by the founder of the AIRG, Shinichiro Moroboshi, a former then-Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces officer who left the military back in 1995 because of his frustrations at not being able to gain combat experience, along with the deployment of several vessels from the Japan Maritime Defense Forces with the sole intention to use lethal force to quash the coup. Luckily, the coup fizzled out, though both Katsuragi and Yamagami smuggled their followers out of Japan, and right back into the Philippines to resume their combat operations." From 'Criminals and Deadbeats with Guns', courtesy of VidTube.
--- ESTO-OCCUPIED DIKAPINISAN, DINGALAN, AURORA PROVINCE
JUNE 15, 2020
Since the fall of the tiny fishing village to the combined ESTO forces a few days earlier, there were more engineering vehicles arriving than usual, and given the complaints that various military officers from the participating ESTO nations regarding the horrible infrastructure around the eastern part of Luzon, especially the roads, the emphasis was now shifted towards the construction of new roads that would link up the city of Baler, which they captured last month, to Dikapinisan. Yet, most of the combat engineers were also focused on demolition missions in other parts of the Philippines, and the last time that Nurzhan heard about the other fronts, there was an imminent ESTO amphibious landing in Pollilo Island. Civilian construction vehicles also joined in the fray as well, providing the necessary support for the demolition of damaged houses that the other Central Asian ESTO soldiers complained that it was too small, in order to make room for the construction of temporary barracks that will house both the ESTO military personnel, as well as civilian construction workers recruited from within the occupied territories of the Philippines under ESTO control. His new friends, Sarboz and Samat, were also eager to help out with the reconstruction of Dikapinisan, though Captain Geun politely told them that their job is to continue with the mission, and to leave the reconstruction efforts to both the civilians and the military engineers.
Nurzhan awoke to a new morning that was interrupted by the sound of a rooster calling out with its squak, as he slowly got up from the bed that was delivered last night, courtesy of Captain Geun and his unit. The gradual arrival of more Korean troops into the sleepy fishing village was also accompanied by the appearance of more Russian soldiers. However, what prompted Nurzhan to approach closer towards the new arrivals, were the badges and insignia they wore. Several of the Russian soldiers had the insignias that revealed their place of origin, including the flags of the various autonomous republics within Russia, while others had a symbol that Nurzhan did not encounter before. Four arrows going in a diagonal direction had imposed itself over a four rayed star, before he realized that the other arrivals were the famous (or infamous) Terminal Defense Group mercenaries. He looked over at the Terminalians (the official nickname for the TDG guys) and saw the stark differences between them and the regular Russian soldiers. For some odd reason, the Terminalians were rather indifferent to the presence of the other soldiers, but one of them approached him and saluted.
"Comrade Captain Bayzhanov, we've arrived from Khabarovsk on orders of our High Command. I understand that you've all been pushing hard against these bastards, so we're here as additional support," said one of the Terminalians. "My name is Colonel Aleksandr Yuryevich Dolmatov, and I lead one of the platoons within the TDC."
Nurzhan nodded. "Am I to assume that some of your subordinates may not be comfortable working with Central Asians and other Asiatic peoples around here? I see various volunteers from Kalmykia, Tatarstan, Chuvashia, and even Yakutia as well."
Dolmatov shook his head. "No, we've vetted every single Terminalian to ensure that he does not have any ties to racist organizations. I fought alongside Novy Put', and we have no tolerance for actual fascist larpers in our mercenary group. We've also made sure that we do not accept idiots with outstanding financial debts, deadbeat fathers who abuse their wives and children, or alcoholics."
"So you've heard of the disturbing stories that involved the Japanese mercenary group that has been on the news lately?" Nurzhan asked first, though Captain Geun's arrival had thankfully paused the conversation. "Sir. Will the new arrivals be assigned to help us advance towards the next target?"
Captain Geun shook his head. "For now, General Dvornikov has issued an order for an operational pause. We are to consolidate control of the territories we've captured, as well as to entice the refugees to return to their homes. I would have to contact the military intelligence officers again if we ever end up with another Japanese mercenary under our custody, now that the news of the fishery port's discovery of the corpses have been leaked. To think that a custodial battle would end with an execution, and it looked like it was the work of professional killers."
"I agree." Nurzhan and Colonel Dolmatov gazed at another area of the captured village as another ship arrived, this time carrying several construction materials needed to help rebuild the damaged place. "Building a harbor should be the top priority before building the damaged houses, since we'll need a place to service the vessels in a timely manner."
Five hours later, the rest of the other ESTO forces from the Central Asian nations arrived at the occupied fishing village, along with their heavy weaponry and engineering vehicles. Nurzhan spotted Sarboz giving instructions to the newly arrived troops from the recently formed 24th Air Assault Brigade that was based in Bukhara, while the Kyrgyz contingent was busy giving directions to the incoming military trucks carrying food and medical supplies. Several civilians started to form a single line as they waited for the military trucks to stop before the soldiers would begin to hand out the rations to the civilians. Nurzhan spotted Sheraliyev, Bolatov, and Qasymov talking to the bomb disposal squad as they nodded and inspected their equipment. He soon approached them, who in turn, simply stood at attention.
"Sergeant Majors, a word?" Nurzhan asked the three soldiers as the bomb disposal squad soon went off to do their work.
"Captain?" Sheraliyev asked first.
"I never got around to address you three by your ranks, but I will make this official in a parade meeting. The entire platoon that I've commanded will receive one rank promotions for their efforts in the last few weeks, and I'm going to be assigned command of three regiments," Nurzhan explained. He gazed at the sea, as several more vessels continued to arrive. "My only advice to you three is to make sure that you all stay alive. Our country might not have any quarrels with this country here, but we must secure the peace for our children and grandchildren. Is that understood?"
The three soldiers nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Good. Back to your duties," Nurzhan said curtly. He later joined the three soldiers in directing the traffic for all the military vehicles arriving and departing Dikapinisan.
--- Portions from the Interview with Former Leader and Founder of Akatsuki International Resource Group Shinichiro Moroboshi
NHK International, released on July 15, 2021
Discussing the Events Leading to the Children's Day Failed Coup Attempt of May 2021
Interviewer: Many of the higher ups within the former AIRG had stated that you were reluctant at having to make such a difficult decision to disband the mercenary group that you founded back in 1995. Yet, you also gave a credible reason as to why you had to do it. Can you please elaborate on that?
Moroboshi: I honestly think that loosening up the recruitment prerequisites had been a mistake on my part, mostly because I've seen far too many men throw their lives away for such fruitless reasons. I didn't realize that the AIRG had become a magnet for deadbeats, men with outstanding debts, and known spousal and child abusers to join. I only needed to remind myself of that tragic incident in Noshiro back in 2016, when I learned that Katsuragi Toru, who had been one of the few competent mercenaries under my employ, had murdered his pregnant wife, over a nasty divorce setting. When it became apparent that he didn't want to part with the wages that he's earned while risking his own life to pay alimony, he simply recruited likeminded goons to help carry out his dirty work.
Interviewer: And yet, we're also seeing a lot of these men still in the combat zone in the Philippines, fighting alongside the Philippine military. Yet, the ones who were barred from joining the Special Assault Group of the Japan Ground Defense Force had opted to form their own unit, the PMC Tasogare, which eventually absorbed most of the former AIRG that didn't join the SAG. Have you spotted any disturbing trends within this successor group?
Moroboshi: Well, I've begun to see the same kind of deadbeats, spousal and child abusers, and men with debts flocking to join Tasogare, but now it's foreigners with those same problems as our local men joining. Incels and other social misfits from both Japan and foreign nations have also joined as well, making it more like a criminal organization. I wasn't surprised to see the Tasogare mercenares get along with the Minokawa Spec-Ops Force, since both of them consisted of professional criminals at this point.
Interviewer: Do you think both the SAG men and the Tasogare criminals would be of great use if ESTO launched a military invasion of Japan? We've seen a lot of naval exercises conducted by Russia, China, and Korea, both off the coast of Hokkaido and even within the vicinity of Okinawa. Are they reliable enough to not attempt another coup?
Moroboshi: In the end, they're still patriots, even if their moral character is rather rotten. Yet, they'd also become more fanatical in their resistance, as the ESTO forces are merciless towards their enemies. The last thing we need is another Yukio Mishima arising from within the disgraced ex-AIRG guys and leading another coup, if it might turn out to be successful.
--- ESTO SECRETARY GENERAL ANNOUNCES SIGNIFICANT GAINS MADE BY PARTICIPANT MILITARIES AS FILIPINO TROOPS BUILD NEW DEFENSIVE FORTIFICATIONS ON THE SANTA MARIA-FAMY LINE
Sydney Herald
June 23, 2020
 Former guerrilla fighters of the New People's Army swear allegiance to the ESTO Military Transitional Council for the Occupied Territories and the Philippine Sovereign Reclamation Government as they are formally inducted into the Filipino Volunteer Corps.(Cabanatuan City, NUEVA ECIJA PREFECTURE) - Another setback has been confirmed by both Philippine military officials and ESTO Secretary General Ularbek Sharsheyev, with the successful amphibious landing on a few set of islands off the coast of Eastern Luzon. Polillo, Palasan, and Patnanongan Islands, as well as Jomalig Island, had fell to a combined ESTO force mainly consisting of Russian naval infantry, backed by Korean and Central Asian troops. Although the Filipino garrison there were fully prepared to resist, a mutiny had broken out from within the defending garrison, as many of its troops started to disobey orders. In addition, the presence of a tiny platoon of Minokawa Spec-Ops infantry had been a source of tension between regular forces and the aforementioned Spec-Ops, along with the additional arrival of other AIRG mercenaries. Luckily, the AIRG mercenaries who showed up in the four recently captured islands were ordered to retreat to the Santa Maria-Famy line, where they're tasked with building fortifications to help bolster the defense of eastern Luzon, as well as to deter the ESTO forces from attempting to capture the former Philippine capital. It is also worth noting that among the AIRG mercenaries that arrived at the captured islands before their retreat was the infamous murderer Toru Katsuragi, known for his connection to the murder of 24 year old Fumika Matsuda from Noshiro in northern Japan. Though the case was solved, with the discovery of Katsuragi's role in Matsuda's death, the Japanese government was unable to formally request their Philippine counterpart to extradite him, as he and his unit were diverted from the Santa Maria-Famy line to help bolster the defenses of Gapan in southern Nueva Ecija. Consequently, and as a result of the AIRG's presence in the Philippines, the ESTO authorities reluctantly allowed the deployment of Russia's PMC unit, Terminal Defense Group.
"We could not call out the AIRG for their recruitment of prisoners that are incarcerated, for we have also done the same thing. Yet, even we are strict when it comes to the recruitment standards. Terminal Defense Group forbids the enlistment of prisoners who are incarcerated for child and spousal abuse, as well as other kinds of heinous crimes," said Terminal Defense Group founder and Minister of Regional Development Yevgeniy Balitskiy. "We also forbid the enlistment of criminals that are charged with hate crimes, as their actions against the civilian population of the occupied territories could undermine our mandate."
As early as June 7th, 2020, several unconfirmed reports of the Terminal Defense Group's arrival on Philippine soil had circulated both ESTO and Philippine government official sources, but it was not until June 11th that the Philippine government had in fact, confirmed the arrival of the Terminal Defense Group personnel. Many of the TDG mercenaries are in fact veterans of the Second Russian Civil War and the Russo-Ukrainian border clashes, and are now arriving in the Philippines to participate in the combat. Alongside the TDG mercenaries, Rosgvardiya units and volunteer battalions formed from all over Russia's oblasts have also arrived in the Philippines, though in thousands. The most notable units that arrived in the Philippines are the Volga-Caspian Brigade, consisting of volunteers from Russia's autonomous republics located in the Volga River-Caspian Sea region, and the Gorodovnikov Brigade, named after the Red Army officer Oka Gorodovnikov, of Kalmyk heritage. Additionally, both Philippine and ESTO officials also confirmed the reports of the arrival of over 12,000 Belarusian soldiers that signed up for combat duty as part of the TDG, though three quarters of them are active soldiers in the Belarusian Army and the remaining quarter are reservists. In response, there were discussions within the PMC Logos Group to dispatch its own soldiers to the Philippine conflict, but given the long standing racism that most of the Logos Group mercenaries displayed towards the Filipino diaspora settled in Eastern Europe, there is a high chance of President Arcilla's refusal to accept the Logos Group's offer. At the same time though, the Vietnamese government has also talked of possibly opening up a new front against the ESTO by attacking the Sino-Vietnamese border crossings as a prelude to a possible Vietnamese invasion of southern China, though this action would only force the Chinese government to station more troops to the border with Vietnam as a measured act of self-defense.
"We are also looking at the possibility of expanding the Special Military Operation to include Vietnam as well, since the post-communist government had constantly undermined the security of the wider SE Asian region," says ESTO Secretary General Ularbek Sharsheyev, while he was holding a press conference in Shymkent. "Unlike the Philippines however, we still host the former Vietnamese communist government, and has never wavered in their commitment to peace in the Asian continent. We call upon the incumbent Vietnamese authorities to cease and desist with their aggressive activities."
--- MATAWE, AURORA PREFECTURE
JUNE 24, 2020
Exhaustion and thirst had kicked in brutally by the time 34 year old Toru Katsuragi and over 200 of his fellow AIRG mercenaries had arrived at the small town of Matawe. Since a couple of days ago, one of his friends who was still in Japan had alerted him to a potential police raid on his home in Noshiro in connection to a murder case from 2016. As a result, Toru and his friends were able to fly away from northern Japan aboard a transport plane. The flight eventually took them to Manila, and then rode alongside the regular Philippine military to the town of Matawe in a couple of hours. They were lucky too, since the local police force in Noshiro was starting to cooperate with both the prefectural police and the National Police Agency in tracking down the AIRG mercenaries that were being used as hired hands in settling custodial disputes and divorce proceedings. Additionally, Toru was also accompanied by one of his faithful sidekicks, a bulky looking sly faced man Kojiro Matsuda. Unlike Toru though, Kojiro was better known as the man who played a role in the infamous Nakaminato Fishery Port, when in a fit of rage and pure hate, Kojiro and three other hired guns dragged his estranged wife and kids and simply shot them. Like Toru, the mastermind of the Nakaminato mass murder was given a warning by a sympathetic but corrupt cop who was in need of cash of an impending arrest, allowing him to leave. The corrupt cop in turn, would also quit his job abruptly and also join the AIRG as well.
The town of Matawe was a lot smaller than Dinapikisan, but it also had its shares of enemy bombardment as well. Toru and Kojiro spotted an abandoned elementary school that had been subjected to what appeared to be a massive aerial bombardment, most likely from either a PLAAF bomber plane, or a Russian Aerospace Force Tu-22 bomber. What truly disturbed them was the lack of civilians in the area, indicating that they've already left the village before the ESTO began to bomb it. Taking advantage of the lack of civilians, Toru and Kojiro spotted the nearest undamaged house and began to enter it as quickly as possible, prompting the other mercenaries to do the same. Another mercenary, who looked just as sinister as the other two, aimed his Howa Type 89 rifle at another house, presumably empty and without any residents. As soon as the rest of the mercenaries arrived at the deserted town, Toru and Kojiro started to scout the area for abandoned supplies.
"Jiro! Found any canned meat yet?" Kojiro asked as he and Toru laughed.
Jiro Tokuda arrived back from the house he was searching for with not only the captured canned foods, but he was also carrying a jerry can full of gasoline.
"There's some tricycles that looked like it hasn't been used in a while, but it'll be hard to fix. On top of that, you can't even fit in your whole body inside the side car," Jiro Tokuda complaied. He pointed at a derelict tricycle that looked neglected. "We got plenty of time until those bastards from the mainland show up."
"You're right, but at the same time, we'd better select one of these houses to store our ammo. How about that one?" Toru said. He and the other mercenaries began to walk along the empty street, though they remained cautious. "How many are we in here?"
Kojiro grunted. "Around three companies' worth of troops here. Unfortunately, the softies are in Cabanatuan City, including that Yuiichi prick. Too bad we can't frag that pansy."
"All right, less whining and more hunting," Toru said lightly. To their enormous relief, there was no one else who arrived at the sleepy village. It seemed that luck was on their side for once.
Night time had fallen upon Matawe, as Toru and Kojiro began to cook the dinner for the entire mercenary group. Earlier on, Jiro told the other mercenaries that he came across an abandoned open air market that contained a stall where the rice was being sold. He managed to get ten of the other mercenaries to take all the rice, vegetables, and fruit from the open air market and returned to their positions
***
JUNE 28, 2020
Four days since the mercenaries had arrived in the deserted town of Matawe, and much of the mercenaries had mostly kept to themselves. Within that time period, Toru and many of his friends spent time fortifying much of the deserted town, mainly by digging trenches around the village and taking control of the empty houses. Although there were no airstrikes that were carried out on their positions, the mercenaries remained paranoid for a good reason. It was around this time that Kojiro started to notice several reconaissance drones that were flying in the air as he and many of the other mercenaries made sure that they remained unnoticed, so the drones couldn't pick up their traces around the village. Five hours later, four more trucks started to approach the deserted town as Toru grinned at the sight of the other mercenaries that started to climb down from the truck. He ran up to one of the newcomers and hugged him tightly.
"Sano, you mangy little bastard! I didn't know you are coming to this hellhole! Should have told us beforehand!" Toru yelled happily before waving Kojiro and Jiro over towards him. "Boys! Look what the cat dragged in!"
"Takuma!" Kojiro and Jiro yelled as well. They waved at the other mercenaries before leading them into an undamaged house that still maintained a workable kitchen.
Jiro grinned at Takuma as he clapped his back. "I take it that you've managed to get your ass down here in a hurry. The cops back home are starting to get more skittish over the damn corpses."
Takuma Sano nodded grimly. "Yeah. I heard from that cop who quit that we're all wanted back home. Jiro is especially being hunted down for what happened to that loony bin that he shot up."
Jiro sneered. "Those defects were being a drain on our resources, so I did some spring cleaning then and there. At least Jinguji-san was level headed enough to lower the standards to let us join."
"Yeah, but now the goody two shoed piece of crap Moroboshi is even planning to dissolve our group. Like we didn't work hard and leak out blood, sweat, and tears while getting shot at in some war zone," Toru growled.
The group suddenly paused for a minute, prompting the mercenaries who were busy fixing much of the damaged houses to drop what they were doing and started to look up in the sky. One of the other mercenaries started to swear as two Mi-24 helicopters could be seen from the air. Almost immediately, Jiro ran back towards the undamaged house and returned outside with two Stinger anti-air MANPADS. He threw one at Toru, while Takuma and Kojiro quickly grabbed an older Sumitomo Type 62 machine from the supply truck that accompanied them. By the time the mercenaries positioned themselves inside the houses that they were fixing, the Mi-24 helicopters started to fire their payload before flying away. Explosions had rocked some of the houses, but Toru quickly peeked outside before leaving the house. He aimed his anti-air MANPAD at the fleeing Mi-24, and fired his shot. Five minutes later, Toru gave out a scream of joy as the helicopter was struck by the ammo from the MANPAD.
"We got ourselves a man hunt. Let's get us some meat!" Toru shouted happily as some of the other mercenaries shouted in unision.
***
Thirty minutes later, Toru and his squad arrived at what appeared to be a crash site where the helicopter landed. Though Jiro began to inspect the remains of the downed Mi-24, Toru aimed his rifle at the bushes to ensure that there were no nasty surprises hidden inside. Takuma held up his hand as he paused for a while to see if he could hear any agonizing moans. He gestured to Toru and Jiro, and slowly walked towards the source of the moans. Their grins widened after they uncovered the debris from the downed helicopter to see three wounded soldiers wearing an Uzbek Ground Force uniform.
"Please. Help us. We're wounded," said an unnamed Uzbek soldier as Toru noticed a large gash on his arm. As soon as Jiro and Takuma approached him, they started to hit him in the head with the butt of their rifle.
"Stop this, please!" another Uzbek soldier shouted, but Toru punched him in the face.
"You want mercy, you little shit!?" Toru snarled. He unsheated his combat knife, grabbed the wounded soldier's fingers, and began to cut it off, causing the wounded soldier to scream. "Jiro!"
Jiro turned towards Toru with a sadistic grin. "Yeah, what is it?"
"Let's just kill these bastards. Feeding them will be a pain in the neck," Toru replied back. A minute later, Kojiro and Jiro tied up the three wounded soldiers and force marched them into another part of the forest, where the rest of the AIRG mercenaries had finished digging up what appeared to be an empty plot of land. He kicked the three soldiers in the knees, raised his hand, and brought them down. Gunfire suddenly erupted from the rifles of the AIRG mercenaries as the three Uzbek soldiers fell into the plot of land. "Good riddance."
--- *TRIGGER WARNING: This segment contains references to physical violence of any sort, and the OP does not endorse such activities written here.*
Portions from the Interview with an Unnamed Anonymous Ex-AIRG Mercenary and Deserter
Sky News AU, released on August 17, 2022
Discussing the Formation of PMC Tasogare
Narrator: This interview was made on condition that we do not disclose his identity, for fear of reprisals back home. Due to the sensitive nature of this interview, the anonymous former AIRG deserter only agreed to the interview in exchange for protective custody in an unnamed country yet to be announced.
Interviewer: (pauses) From what I can tell with your legitimate fear of reprisal, your background within the former AIRG allowed you to vet each potential new recruit when it comes to enlistment. Did your job also compel you to ask the potential new recruit of what their background were and why did they want to enlist?
Anonymous Former Mercenary: (voice distorted) Initially in the beginning, the AIRG only accepted former Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel because we needed people with military experience. Our boss formed the AIRG as a means of allowing these former JSDF personnel to experience live combat that they never got to experience while serving with the actual military.
Interviewer: So how did the AIRG went from a PMC group to what is essentially an over glorified criminal gang dressed up in military garb?
Anonymous Former Mercenary: (voice distorted) It was that fellow Jinguji who wanted to use the AIRG as a means of refuge for scorned husbands and ex-husbands. About Jinguji though, he was also a former JSDF personnel that was in the same unit as Moroboshi, but unlike the latter, Jinguji had gotten a nasty divorce with his ex-wife when he learned of her infidelity. He also began to seek out other like minded men who felt that they didn't want to take responsibility for their failed marriage, and thus approached Moroboshi with the idea of allowing the scorned husbands and ex-husbands to join the AIRG, an in return, the AIRG would pay out a lump sum of money to their divorced spouses in exchange for an agreement to not pursue claims of alimony and child support. This proposal had a lot of merit, as anyone working for the AIRG would inevitably be killed in their line of work. The basic training was brutal, but none of the enlistees complained, as getting kicked out of the AIRG would mean that their exes would now be allowed to legally pursue claims of alimony and child support.
Interviewer: Did Moroboshi agreed to Jinguji's proposal?
Anonymous Former Mercenary: He reluctantly did, mostly because he had trouble trying to attract new recruits, and the majority of the JSDF personnel still subscribed to the pacifist nature of post-war Japan. We had no trouble with those bad apples being a part of the AIRG, until after the Second Korean war, when three AIRG personnel traveled to Korea and participated in the brutal crackdown of the Pyeonghwa Motor Company strike, though they were hired as 'civilian consultants' by the unlamented former owner of that company. Of course, the AIRG was also a natural habitat for the Japanese far-right, as they viewed their experience with the AIRG as a unique way of cultivating combat experience so they could form paramilitary units of their own and one day challenge the government if they're starting to moderate some of their stances.
Interviewer: All right. (pauses) Let's move on towards the first case of an AIRG personnel who used his training for criminal purposes.
Anonymous Former Mercenary: If you're talking about Toru Katsuragi, I'm afraid that he isn't the first mercenary to have used his training for criminal purposes. The actual start of these gruesome execution style murders wasn't in 2016, but rather in 2015. It wasn't a major headline around the world, but in the city of Hachinohe, it was an event that would never be forgotten.
Interviewer: You are of course, referring to the infamous Hachinohe Mabechi River Murder Case, where the body of a 42 year old woman and a 6 year old boy was found with clear signs of physical torture.
Anonymous Former Mercenary: Correct.
Interviewer: Did you suspect that the AIRG was getting involved in any criminal activity when the news of the murdered ex-wife and son reached all the media outlets around Japan?
Anonymous Former Mercenary: I initially thought that the murder was somehow motivated by a criminal act gone horribly wrong. However, when I was told of how the murder happened, I was stunned. You see, what happened was that the official version of that murder was presented as a case of a divorce custody battle gone wrong. However, as I continued to study the investigation of the murdered ex-wife and son, I was stunned at the methods that were used.
Interviewer: How so?
Anonymous Former Mercenary: The method of which the ex-wife and son were bound and gagged. First, their necks would be slung with a noose, and their hands would be tied with the same rope that the noose belonged to. Next, their heads were covered with an empty sack, and were transported to an empty ditch beside the river. The perpetrator would order his hired guns to take off the sacks, so that the ex-wife and son would know instantly that it was the estranged ex-husband who was responsible. But the worst part of it was that he decided to torture his ex-wife psychologically by forcing her to watch as her son was being water boarded and kicked around by the hired guns.
Interviewer: That's terrifying and disgusting!
Anonymous Former Mercenary: Oh, but I'm not done yet. He would personally pour gasoline on the son's body before setting it on fire, and his screams were so loud that the ex-wife became mentally damaged from that trauma. Finally, the ex-husband would douse his own ex-wife with gasoline, and then set her on fire as well. The investigators and criminal forensics were having a difficult time attempting to identify them. It was not until the Noshiro Case when I learned of Toru Katsuragi's role in killing his pregnant ex-wife that I came up with an equally kind of horrific hypothesis: what if the AIRG mercenaries that we recruited had started to use their skills to settle scores with their estranged former spouses?
Interviewer: I assume that the hypothesis that you came up with must have been true, because after the Noshiro Case broke out, there were several confirmed cases in which the legal battles involving spouses devolved into physical violence. The Nakaminato Fishery Port Murder Case that took place a few months before the ESTO launched their full scale invasion of the Philippines was the last straw, right?
Anonymous Former Mercenary: Yes, and it was because of that very same reason that my colleague who emerged as the whistleblower fled to the Korean Embassy in Tokyo. Unfortunately, the AIRG knew who the whistleblower was and killed him with a bomb hidden beneath the Valentine's Day chocolates. That's also the reason why I wanted to maintain my anonymity.
Interviewer: And what of the formation of this PMC Tasogare? I assume that it was formed out of disqualified ex-AIRG mercenaries who are barred from signing a contract with the Japanese Ministry of Defense on grounds of their criminal records, right?
Anonymous Former Mercenary: Yes, and Jinguji and Toshiro Hirano both control PMC Tasogare, but since Prime Minister Tamogami had banned the PMC Tasogare from operating on Japanese soil, they now had to operate out of Thailand. Initially, they wanted to operate from the Philippines, but given that ESTO forces are on the verge of storming into the former National Capital Region of Manila, as well as launching an amphibious operation around the island of Mindanao, Thailand was a much safer option to operate. It also helped that they could also give access to impoverished Thai men who are facing their same societal problems as their Japanese counterparts, and are now openly recruiting professional criminals and thugs to join.
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