Talk:AFOH/@comment-5846899-20150822032249/@comment-14850713-20150905140447

IC:

In the Coral Sea, Millennium naval reinforcements and counter air-strikes deal damage to the advance units of H Force, with several escorts crippled or sunk (the surface screen having taken the brunt of the attack). But because the Cobras and Durandals are aerospace fighters with unlimited endurance (unlike the Vautours and Diables) they loiter over the battle area and subject the enemy fleet to continuous bombing and strafing, with individual flights taking turns rearming in various emergency fields. As the Millennium escorts are whittled down, the Shadow Hawk ultra-fast attack subs move in, sinking or crippling more heavy ships. This ushers in the arrival of the H Force main body of 9 super-warships (2 Redoutable, 4 Reaper, 3 Vindictive), 6 attack carriers (3 Colbert, 3 Malta), 6 Clemenceau heavy battleship hybrids, 3 Charles De Gaulle heavy aviation cruisers, 10 heavy battleships (3 Convalescence 3 Sedition, 2 Fury, 2 Indomptable), 10 battlecruisers (3 Gascogne, 3 Foch, 2 Montcalm, 2 Gambetta), 6 La Motte-Picquet AAW cruisers, 24 heavy cruisers (8 Slayer, 8 Napoleon, 4 Competence, 4 Tourville), 48 destroyers (16 Suffren, 16 Turmensius, 8 Bouvet, 8 Forbin) and 48 attack submarines (12 236, 18 Shadow Wolf II, 18 Shadow Hawk), with 240 Vautours and 624 Diables. In the face of superior numbers and hammered constantly by air and submarine strikes, the Millennium fleet withdraws westward. Some H Force elements are rushed forward to close the Torres Strait, but the bulk moves into the Gulf of Papua to bombard Millennium positions and rear support areas.

In Earth orbit high above New Guinea, the opposing aerospace fleets eyeball each other and observe the events down below like kingpins watching their minions duking it out. Perhaps unwilling to have this fight over a backwater like Papua escalate into an all-out war, the rival commands have chosen to hold back their most powerful weapons. Every now and then, each side moves its battle groups around to confuse targeting systems, but the regatta has so far remained in place. Suddenly, to the south, the AFOH 1st Air Fleet, with 9 aerospace battleships (3 Dismal Regard, 6 Desecration), 12 aerospace carriers (6 Venator with 360 Cobra and 180 Durandal; 6 Devastation with 360 Vautour), 24 Revanche and 36 Themis escorts (with 840 Diable), and 20 Pascal transports emerges from warp. Instead of attacking the Millennium fleet, it dashes over to the port township of Daru. It lands 2 AFOH marine divisions and 6 light infantry divisions of the Southern African Union's 1st Army (a total of 180,000 men with 500 Martel MBTs, 1,400 Jaguar IFVs and 500 towed artillery).

While the marines form a blocking position to the west, the African light infantry attack eastwards. In conjunction with this advance and supported by intense artillery and air strikes, the Rapid Reaction Corps (60,000 troops, 400 Martel MBTs, 800 Jaguar IFVs, 200 towed artillery) breaks through the enemy positions around Port Moresby. The spearheads link north of the town of Kerema. Suffering heavy casualties and in danger of encirclement, the now outnumbered Millennium forces in the south are faced with 3 choices: retreat back across the Owen Stanley (and leave most of their heavy equipment behind), stand and fight, or surrender.