Chapter XXXVIII: Developments along the Northwestern, Central and South Fronts

April 1112 to Early June 1112

As the main fights were taking place along the Northern and Vesta Fronts, other smaller fights were taking place in all sectors.

Pomuranus had set out this year to conquer Diamond City, come hell or high water and had prepared well for the coming operation. The City of Lights had been fortified during the winter thanks to the efforts of its garrison commander, Sigfried Köller .He was able to fix a lot of the issues with the previous defenses, and with the reinforcements, the City should be able to hold for at least 6 months if besieged. This did not escape Pomuranus' spy network, who told the Duke that taking the city would require more effort than previously. Hearing about the disaster his rival was facing in the North and knowing the King would soon join the war, he gladly set out in Early April and started to siege the city that same month.

Just further to south around the same time, the Lucanian Prince Otto von Lindenberg recieved his reinforcements ahead of schedule, which swell his territorial force to 27,000, making it officially the Army of Central Eliria. Otto was one of Pomerlane's rapidly promoted young officers and this was his opportunity for glory and the pleasure of the fight, which all Lucanians longed for. Setting out for Långshyttan on May 2nd, he would rapidly close to the city by the 12th and lay siege to it. Dragoonian Forces in this region were sparse, with many being locked in the fight for Syrenia but the Duke of Drachin, Johan IV, wasn't about to let one of his most important cities fall to the enemy and raised an army of 20,000 to meet the Lucanian, soon the two would lock horns in a series of battles that would begin in early June.

All the way on the Southern Front, "Old Cranky" was not happy with his men's craven attitude that had befell much of his army thanks to the actions of the Gebirgsjäger. But to him, the best solution was to press on to Neapolis instead of letting his army's morale sink further. He set out for the important city on April 6th. While he did not run into the same level of problems he did last year on the approach to Bellona, stiff resistance from the locals did slow his march down quite a bit but he finally reached the important port on April 29th and began to lay siege. Neapolis was heavily defended, but Karl was confident in taking the city by the time July came.

He heard about the defeat of Cato at Populonium not long after the fact, which reassured him that he would be able to settle into this siege without interference from what was left of the Army of Aquileia. Yet, the Gebirgsjägers would not make life easy for the Old Palatine Lord, with attacks on foraging parties and supplies being raiding by them. Before he could do anything however, Karl was reassigned to Pomerania in Early-May and in his place came Jens von Reis. Reis was a much crueler and more ruthless commander than his predecessor was. Unlike Karl who believe treating the civilian population fairly was the morally correct way to conduct war, Jens had no such care for simply morality or silly virtues.

After diagnosing what the situation was in his eyes patiently over a weeks' time, he took measures that he believed would crush these "bandits" that dared to cause him such great troubles.

First, he went as far as to remove by force the locals within 10 km of his siege camp. Those that resisted or were under the suspicion of being sympathetic to the bandits were to be executed on the spot and their bodies gibbeted along the road to remind everyone what would happen if they did not comply. Those who didn't resist and were clean of bandits were given 10 hours to evacuate their property, which would set on fire and destroyed to prevent any safehouses. Dozens of peasants were killed, and hundreds more were now refugees. A decree was furthermore issued to areas as far as 25km from the siege camp that put bounties on the heads of the Gebirgsjäger's and any sympathizes. It also explained that if it were found out than anyone was harboring them, they would be rounded up and executed like a common criminal

Secondly, he set up more patrols, more watchtowers, and attached men to defend foraging parties. Any man that was found to have shown cowardice in the face of these bandits was furthermore to be made to run the gauntlet, a brutal fate. There would be no cowardice in the face of these savages, Reis believed.

Kungliga Fältjägarbataljonen, otherwise known as the Royal Field Jäger Battalion or by their nickname "The Green Devils", are Selenium's Elite light infantry force dedicated to warfare in the woods and hills. They have a high reputation coming from their fights at home against insurgents and abroad during the famous punitive raid against the Plant Cannibals known as "Rosebutas". Outside of their Pomeranian Equivalent, there are no better light infantry in the known world

But most crucially of all, he sent out the Kungliga Fältjägarbataljonen, Selenium's elite light infantry force that had recently arrived to help deal with the situation. These men were experts at counter-insurgence warfare, having much experience in it both at home and abroad. Before their transfer was requested in March, they had crushed a series of Religious Zealots that had been causing great issues for the militia back home. Now with their renowned leader Bengt Kjell Rosendahl, "The Green Devils" were ready to crush these savages that had been causing such problems for the Army of Venusia. One of the most legendary fights of the whole war was about to unfold in the forests and hills of Western Syrenia that would have epics, songs and plays written about for many years to come.