While the Hutorians had officially declared war on Deltaria two years ago and Trigunia had followed suit declaring war on the Federal Republic a month later no combat had actually occurred between the two northern military powers. The interlude had gone on between both being known jokingly as the "Frozen War", as it had been able as active as a glacier. While some believed this to be fear on the part of the Hutorians and inability on part of the Trigunians, with the bulk of their attention to the deep south, nothing could be further the truth.
Hutori's Defence Staff has purposefully not struck, waiting to see just how many forces the Trigunian military would re-direct to the south, and with the bulk of the Trigunian Imperial Navy, and the entirety of their Southern Military District all south, and Anatonese Ocean Fleet heavily dedicated in the east the word had come down directly from the mouth of the President "
Winter Lion." The snowy lion of Bekenial was ready to strike... and finally time to show not only Trigunia but the entire world that Hutori would not be cowed by the Bear and that Hutori could not only stand on her own two legs, but put the presumptive northern hegemony in her place.
With the Mad Dog Ocean and Green Sea Fleets now deployed in the Majatran Sea, and attempting to deal with Vanuku it was actually the Hutorians that had the single largest naval force sailing the northern waves... and none more powerful then their newly formed Northern Operations Fleet. Consisting of the best ships of Hutori's 2nd and 3rd Fleets, it was lead by the HNS-
Jameson and HNS-
King William III, with the
Jameson serving as its flagship and was directly backed up by 13
Bekenial class Frigates, 8
Mashacara class Destroyers and 3
Sentinel class Submarines... and they were all barreling now down on Trigunia's vulnerable western flank.
The Sea of Deliverance Flotilla was supposed to be the force that could protect Trigunia's west from any Hutorian aggression with the Green Sea and Mad Dog Ocean Fleets gone... but that was the issue; It was in fact simply a flotilla which had forced it to spread out considerably over hundreds of miles of open water. The Hutorians had been taking no chances and had been carefully keeping track of the single biggest threats to the Northern Operations Fleet; the TKVM-
Ozerov, their mighty Raduga class Battlecruiser and the two Bezrukov class Cruisers and all three were fortuitously currently engaged watching the arctic. The rest of the Fleet was spread out either in the south or safe in their harbour back in Petrovgrad... this would be the only opening the Hutorians would need.
At 1:00 am local time, on December 23rd, 3992, what would ultimately become known as the Northern War began. HF-35C Cyclones had been taking off from the HNS-
Jameson and HNS-
King William III bringing the full might of the Aircraft Carriers against Trigunia's west coast. The
Jameson's 4th, 5th and 6th Carrier Fighter Squadrons had taken off and were head for the southwestern edge of Radin while the
King William III's 7th, 8th and 9th Carrier Fighter Squadrons were screaming towards Brakav Island. Each Squadron had been turned into a mixed composition wing of 9 HF-35C Cyclones and 3 HF-19 Twister ECR (Electronic Counter Response) Fighters... and this initial Fighter strike's goal was simple; make a window. The time chosen, in the height of winter, in the middle of a frigid night, just after the night watch would be coming on the Hutorian Fighter Force unleashed a wave of air to surface missiles, onto Trigunia's western air defences and radar stations, carving open a small corridor of blindness before a swarm of cruise missiles launched from the fleet to finish the job the Hutorian Naval Air Forces had began, and to take the small corridor and rip it wide open and completely blind western Trigunia to the real threat that was inbound from eastern Hutori; HF-35 of both other variants and HF-20 Hurricanes of the 3rd and 4th Fighter Wings which would open up the main air assault while behind that in bound was the initial wave of the ground invasion.
Being transported by the 9th Air Mobility Wing were the fighting forces of Hutori's elite 9th Airborne Division, who would be aimed at Brakav island, while against the Trigunian mainland, the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions began their trek to the coast as soon as the Air Force finished blinding the Trigunians... and then the real fighting would begin.