Battle of Santillian Atoll

Battle of Santillian Atoll
Part of González Archipelago Dispute
Torisakian soldiers advance through the jungle, searching for FEMOINGOLS soldiers.
Date 19-20 May 2016 Location Santillian Atoll, Gonzalez Isle Result Decisive Torisakian victory
Belligerents
Torisakia	FEMOINGOLS
Commanders and leaders
Lanny Fitzroy Derrick Flannigan	Nicolás Núñez
Units involved
31st Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division 16th Armored Division, 4th Battlion	Unknown Infantry Regiment
Strength
5,220 soldiers 150 tanks	2,765 soldiers
Casualties and losses
35 dead 230+ wounded 3 missing 2 tanks lost	400+ dead 300+ wounded 100+ missing 22 captured

The Battle of Santillian Atoll, codenamed Operation Aquarius, was a campaign launched by Torisakia on the jungle island of Santillian Atoll on the southeastern coast of Gonzalez Isle, to drive out the FEMOINGOLS presence in the area and weaken their manpower. Aquarius was the first contact between Torisakia and FEMOINGOLS since March 2015 during the Siege of Carlitos, and the first event of the Gonzalez Isle dispute since the assassination of León Ureña two months prior. The engagement started at 6:43 P.M. TST and lasted until 7:13 A.M. TST the next morning, where the FEMOINGOLS resistance had finally been weakened enough to allow Torisakian tanks to reach the shores and causing them to surrender.

Background

During the 2016 Torisakian elections, New Democratic Party candidate and now current president Doug McDowell expressed his opposition to the independence movement being carried out by the Gonzalez Islean guerilla militia, Federation for the Movement of Independence of Gonzalez Isle, or FEMOINGOLS for short. With this, McDowell stated that he wanted to increase Torisakian military presence in Gonzalez Isle, and that if he were to win presidency, would begind mobilizing troops and equipment to the Gonzalez Islean mainland immediately. While he was met with heavy criticism at first, many supporters of the NDP as well as those of other parties warmed up to the idea of mobilization, realizing the long-term damage to the Torisakian economy that would occur if they were to lose the island, which is a heavy resource for the Tourism industry. McDowell won presidency in a close vote. And, keeping true to his word, mobilized 200,000 members of the Torisakia Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as 3.2 billion Torisakian dollars (roughly $1.665 billion USD) of military equipment and supplies, to mainland Gonzalez Isle.

The FEMOINGOLS became aware of the military mobilization being carried out by Torisakia. They do not normally have access to this type of information. However, in April of 2016 the FEMOINGOLS set up a spy network across Torisakia and other nearby regions as a way to communicate vital intel from within the country back to Gonzalez Isle. The FEMOINGOLS even created their own secret code, so no messages could be read if they were to be intercepted. They placed many of these spies within the city of Tokai, Torisakia's capital. Due to this, they were able to get the message of Torisakian military mobilization quickly back to homeland and allow the FEMOINGOLS forces to act appropriately. After learning of this militarization, FEMOINGOLS leader Nicolás Núñez ordered an increase in soldier presence along the coastal areas of Gonzalez Isle in order to slow down the arrival of the Torisakian military and possibly force them to turn back. A large portion of this resistance was stationed on Santillian Atoll, a small uninhabited island in the southeastern coast of Gonzalez Isle, as they knew the Torisakian would take this route to the mainland, since it was the quickest.

A ciphered message by FEMOINGOLS spies that was intercepted by the NOSC. It has yet to be decoded.

Commander of the Air Force Landon Brant ordered reconnaissance of the mainland of Gonzalez Isle before air forces were to move out, in order to locate anti-air position the FEMOINGOLS might have set up ahead of time. Dreyer Air Base in Ogino, Torisakia scrambled two Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircrafts in the early morning hours on May 16th. One would survey along the coastal lines of the country, while the other would survey the mainland. The two planes were nicknamed "Jackal" and "Dandy", and carried out the aforementioned roles respectively. Jackal arrived at the southeastern coastline of Gonzalez Isle at 5:44 A.M. TST. From here, it followed the line going north, in a counter-clockwise path. About 15 minutes into its flight along the coast, Jackal flew overhead Santillian Atoll. It subsequently snapped multiple pictures of the island, at least twenty photos. FEMOINGOLS had already begun to set up there the day prior, but they were unaware of Jackal flying overhead due to it's high-altitude. The reconnaissance photos were sent back to the Torisakia Center of Aviation and Radar Defense (TCARD) in real-time. There, operators were able to see the photos taken of Santillian Atoll, and in effect saw the FEMOINGOLS setup.

Santillian Atoll had been looked at by the Torisakia military before. They had originally planned to use it as an airfield for transporting goods to and from Gonzalez Isle, due to it's short distance away from the mainland and location to major trading cities. This was intended to be done in early 2014, but a shut-down in the Gonzalez Islean Commerce industry led to there being no use for it at the time, and was subsequently abandoned. They still kept the plan for the airfield in the shelves, hoping that the commerce industry would start back up, and if not turn it into a military airfield in the event the Gonzalez Isle dispute goes full-scale. With FEMOINGOLS presence on it, the Torisakia military feared that not having control of the island would cause them to lose access to the southern portion of Gonzalez Isle, making it almost impossible to provide aid there in the event of a full-scale conflict. After learning this, Torisakia Minister of Defense Martin Elroy ordered a military invasion of Santillian Atoll. Elroy demanded that they siege the island by no later than the 21st of May and to do so with very few casualties. The first military resources were sent to Santillian Atoll on May 19th at 4:26 P.M. TST.

Battle

Torisakian landings