Hokotae in Stalemate- Korlan Fails to Encircle Hēre in Fourth Month of Invasion
[Federal Kingdom of Vau’sena, Kuwhara, Rangat- 17 November 2053
Annalies Willems, Cosonan News Network]
The war in the Kuata Strait opened quickly- the robust Korlanic Navy wasted no time surrounding, besieging, and bombarding the islands of Hokoihoko and Hokotae off of the coast of Ramisola, Vau’sena’s largest island and home to over 74 million people in the constituencies of Kuwhara and Volios. After capturing Hokoihoko in only four days of conflict, Korlanic forces looked to make quick work of the Kuwharan province of Hokotae to complete its conquest of the Korlanic Isles before advancing into the heart of Kuwharan society on Ramisola.
Uniting the various ethnically Korlanic populations of Ailou has been a long-standing goal of Korlanic Rangatira Ikaroa Storinka, with Kuwhara’s status as a democratic and patriotic constituency of the Federal Kingdom of Vau’sena resting as a particular thorn in Storinka’s side. From its broad ethnic and linguistic diversity to its democratic leadership centered in the Ripieran constituency of Cosona, the very existence of the Vau’senaan state flies in the face of Storinka’s Ilfiatist ideology of control and uniformity. The ideological struggle simmering across the Kuata Strait came to a boil in late June, culminating in the ongoing battle on the Island of Hokotae.
The Battle of Hokotae, however, has proved to be far from the decisive victory that Korlan experienced on the island of Hokoihoko. Zones of control remain static as the battle drags into its 134th day, a fact held as a point of pride by Vau’senaan defenders initially caught encircled flat-footed by the sudden blockade. The beginning of the Korlanic attack employed brutal tactics to bring the island to its knees- a campaign of etymological warfare that employed swarms of locusts to destroy crops and block out targeting systems on the island, the deployment of chemical weapons into population centers, and the assassination of leading logistics directors which sent the island into famine and allowed Korlanic landing parties to make footholds on the south of the island.
The Korlanic blockade was first broken on the 21st day of the battle, however, through the use of new implosion-type precision ordinances by the Royal Vau’senaan Air Force. While the specifics of this new Vau’senaan weapon have remained highly classified, observers have described the missile’s implosive force as sufficient to rip a third of a battleship away in under 30 seconds, blasting away surrounding seawater and slowly falling into the air pocket left behind until losing power about 45 seconds after impact, leaving the battered ship to be crushed by the force of returning seawater. Each of the three times the new weapon has been deployed in significant numbers onto the battlefield it has seen crushing success, breaking blockades on the 21st, 77th, and 115th days of the battle, each time allowing between 6 and 18 days for Vau’senaan forces to bring in supplies, transport casualties and civilians to Ramisola, and even permitting the damaged aircraft carrier CMV Kiti Firine'a to be evacuated to Cosona for repairs. The Vau’senaan access to Hokotae, however punctuated by returning Korlanic ships, has proved crucial in repelling the Korlanic Army from the regional capital and largest city Hēre, which has come near to being encircled on numerous occasions.
The Battle of Hokotae has come at a heavy cost to attacking Korlanic forces. According to a statement given by the Dive’ira’Ministerie Vau’senaan (Vau’senaan Ministry of Defense), Defense Minister Liyet Ts’iyniyn estimates Korlanic casualties on the island to have reached 125,000 since the beginning of the invasion, putting Korlanic casualties suffered on the ground at a higher figure than those sustained in the 28 July nuclear strike which wiped out an estimated 100,000 embarked forces in deep water in the middle of the Kuata Strait. The Vau’senaan defense of Ponder has seen its own successes, succeeding in deterring an invasion at all from being launched from the Korlanic-occupied Hegiite province. However, the unfolding Korlanic invasion of Pylerick threatens to expose the Vau’senaan mainland to danger from Korlanic weaponry.
[In accordance with the Wartime Information Act of 2053, information published by any and all private persons and registered media outlets within the Federal Kingdom of Vau’sena may be subject to censorship with or without notice]
