"Operation Battle-Axe" - May 28th

OPERATION BATTLE-AXE
The last battle of the Round Table in the Belkan war

Combatants:

Allied Forces ---------------------- VS. ---------------- Belkan Federation
Osea -------------------------------------------------------------- Belka
Osean Airforce ------------------------------------------- Belkan Airforce

Ustio:
Ustian 6th Air Division

Mission Objectives:

Allied Objectives:
-Secure Air Superiority over B7R

Belkan Objectives:
-Maintain Air Superiority over B7R

Background:
As the war dragged on, attention was refocused on B7R. After the destruction of it's chemical laser tower, Excaliber, it was on of the few things of Belkan might belka was able to hold on to.

The Round Table had more tangible value as well. Underneath it's surface lay a vein of natural resources, the resources that Belka had gone to war for in the first place. In addition, whoever controlled B7R had control of a direct air route into eachothers country.

With Belka on it's knees, this was an oppurtunity too good to pass up. Operation Battle-Axe went into the planning stages. It was to be a grand aerial battle, without equal.

Mayhem:
On May 28th, infront of a special meeting of the Assembly of Nations, Osea announced it was permanently withdrawing from the nonagression treaty. With that, Osea, along with the Ustian 6th Air Division, launched a massive suprise sortie on B7R, the likes of which had never been seen before.

Although the Allies initially caught Belka off, the shock quickly wore off, and the battle seemed to turn against the Allies. These were trained Round Table fighters, not draftee's like many of the Osean pilots. The fight devolved into madness, as captains lost control of thier own squadrons, and any semblance had been thrown to the wayside.

Then, Galm team arrived. By the time they got there, 40% of the Allied fighters in the Round table had been shot down. It was an uphill battle, but a winnable one.

As Galm team did their work, luck swung back into the Allies favor. For every plane they downed, their odds got better. The Allied fighters became more organized, while the Belkans, on the other hand, became more and more shattered and desperate. One Belkan pilot said that "The Demon Lord had come to drag them all down to Hell."

Even with the appearance of an elite Belkan Round Table squadron, it wasn't enough for the Belkans to mantain air Superiority over B7R. Any sane Belkan pilot left alive quickly egressed from the area. The Round Table belonged to the Allies.

Outcome:
The concequences Belka faced after lossing the Round Table were crushing. Without control of B7R, Belka had just given the Allies a direct path into their homeland. The concequences of this would become apparent three days later.

Another, larger, casuality of the battle was South Belka itself. Already, half of it had fallen to the Allies, but the North Belkans continued to tear up and use there land as a deffence line to protect the Fatherland in the North. By the end of May, South Belka had had enough. Most of it surrendered and disarmed peacefully, the lone exceptions being a few cities in the northeast South Belka, which had major North Belkan influences.

Unable to defend itself in South Belka, the Belkan army retreated farther north, to the border of the Belkas. The end of the war was fast approaching.

SOURCE:
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War (The Game itself)

ACCREDITATION:
Original article by Ribbon-Yellow