Meriad during the Endwar
| Machenese Occupation of Meriad | |||||||
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| Part of Endwar | |||||||
 Machenese troops advancing through a village destroyed by artillery fire in southern Meriad. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 MeriadSupported by: |
Template:Country data Machen Supported by: | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 King Frederik
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Template:Country data Machen Choenyi
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The Machenese occupation of Meriad began on 12 August, 1939, after Machenese forces invaded the neutral country of Meriad, sparking the Central Escaric War, a campaign of the Endwar. Armed resistance against Machenese forces continued throughout the war from inland Meriad and Eyjanfjalla, but the majority of the country's inhabited area was continuously occupied by the Machenese Armed Forces. The country was administered by the Machen-backed General Government for the duration of the war, although the legitimate Meriadni government, led by the King and Prime Minister and referred to as the Krigstid Government, directed resistance efforts from Eyjanfjalla. This period of military occupation is generally referred to by Meriadnir as the "war years" or the "great resistance," and is characterized by a massive resurgence in Meriadni nationalism in response to the large-scale war crimes committed by the General Government and the Borsheim Regime.
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Invasion and Immediate Aftermath
On July 16th of 1936, the Kolish government issued an ultimatum to the Meriadni government, claiming sovereignty over most of Sydilströp, and threatening war if the terms were not accepted. King Fredrik, the reigning Meriadni monarch, unconditionally rejected this offer, and publicly condemned the Kolish government for its actions. The Kachanist government took this refusal as a de-facto declaration of war, and early on the morning of August 1st of 1936, the Kolish military launched a massive ground offensive across the southern Meriadni border. No formal declaration of war was given to the Meriadni government until late in the afternoon of August 2nd, when it was hand-delivered to the Meriadni consulate in Lacrima. Kolish ground forces were successful in capturing Súdurfjördur, the largest city in southern Meriad, in under 72 hours. Two amphibious landings followed over the next three days, leading to the Kolish occupation of the Meriadni capital of Járnfjördur, as well as the city of Duvnafjördur, the most populous city in the country. Resistance in these last two cases was sparse, as civilians and military personnel alike were urged by the Meriadni Prime Minister, Gudmund Rendahl, to retreat to the interior of the country and continue resistance against the Kolish occupation from there.
Many of the highest-ranking officials in the Meriadni government, including the Prime Minister, the King and royal family, and a large percentage of the country's legislature, successfully escaped capture by invading Kokish forces. The legitimate government mainly fled to two locations: the city of Høstenpunkt on the island of Eyjanfjalla, a major port for the Royal Navy with an easily defensible coastline, and the city of Skötafell in Hjerteskog, the mountainous terrain and strategic location of which made it excessively difficult to successfully capture. Much of the Royal Navy, which had avoided contact with Kolish amphibious forces as a result of being hopelessly outgunned, also fled to Høstenpunkt, which would serve as a base of naval resistance operations for the remainder of the war. The remaining assets of both the Aerial Forces and the Army, on the other hand, mainly concentrated themselves in Sköntafell, which afforded a well-defended location from which to base further resistance efforts against the Kolish occupation.
The General Government
Immediately after successfully securing the major cities of Járnfjordur and Duvnafjördur, the Kolish government handed control of the country over to the General Government, an authority that would exercise control over all Kolish territory gained in North Escar throughout the course of the war. While nominally a democratic and independent organization, the General Government was supported by the Kolish occupation forces still present in the country, and Meriadni citizens had little to no say in the governance of the occupied country. The General Government immediately placed limits on civil liberties, banned the assembly of large numbers of citizens in private residences and property, instituted a mandatory curfew, and created a secret police force that brutally assaulted anyone suspected of being connected with the resistance or fermenting rebellion. Acts of civil disobedience were commonly committed by Meriadni citizens in occupied areas, such as openly discussing the events of the war in public places and ignoring the curfew laws. Responses to these actions by the General Government were generally very strict, and included incarceration, harsh beatings, and in some rare cases summary execution.
In late September, only two months after the initial occupation of the country's population centers, the General Government began to round up any physically fit Meriadni nationals not already collaborating with the General Government, with ages ranging from 14 to 60, and force them to work as laborers in support of the ongoing Kolish war effort. While the General Government did pay wages for this forced labor, they were usually miniscule and, when combined with the inflation and currency devaluation caused by the Kolish seizure of the national monetary reserves, only barely allowed workers to sustain themselves. There were also several documented cases of Meriadni nationals being deported to Kolintha in order to work in Kolish factories and farms as a part of the Kachanist system of state-sponsored slavery. These deported citizens were subjected to harsh forced labor, and many died as a result of the lack of access to food, clean water, and other basic necessities.
The General Government continued the campaigns of "ethnic cleansing" employed by the Kolish government prior to the Second Endwar, and systematically murdered thousands of Vioskans, Slavs, and Meriadnir who were intered as a result of civil disobedience or suspected collaboration with the resistance movement. Throughout the occupation, the General Government also ordered the forced eviction of thousands of Meriadni citizens from their homes in order to construct factories and other projects the promote the Kolish war effort. Individuals subject to these evictions were given little to no prior notice, and were forcibly marched to internment camps that were frequently dozens of miles away.
While the Meriadni government maintained control over a sizeable geographic portion of the country, the fact that the Kolish occupied most of the main population centers meant that refugees fleeing from Kolish-controlled areas frequently overwhelmed the ability of Meriadni resistance fighters to provide humanitarian aid. In some cases, Meriadni citizens who successfully traversed the Uinkaret Mountains in order to reach the free areas of Hjerteskog were given assistance, temporary shelter, and training, and then sent back to the occupied areas of the country in order to operate and guerrilla fighters and members of the armed resistance. This constant flow of armed partisan into the coastal areas of the country further encouraged the General Government to react harshly to civil disobedience, and towns found to be supporting or harboring resistance fighters were frequently burned to the ground and subjected to mass executions or internment.
The Borsheim Regime
While the General Government was under the direct influence of the Kolish government, many of its actions were dictated by a high-level Meriadni sympathizer with the General Government, Mikkel Borsheim. Borsheim was a captain in the Meriandi Army prior to the Kolish invasion, but ordered his command to surrender to Kolish invasion forces south of Duvnafjördur without firing a shot. He guided Kolish invasion forces around army defense emplacement surrounding Duvnafjördur, and likely contributed to the capture of several hundred Meriadni troops by the Kolish occupation force. This assistance merited him a position high up in the General Government, which he used to take revenge upon people around the country who he viewed to be unsatisfactory through his policies of harsh sentencing for petty crime and approval of the summary execution of dissidents. Borsheim, an avowed atheist, also cracked down on public expression of religion, and ordered the systematic destruction of places of worship around the country. Borsheim was generally despised by his countrymen, and was a frequent target of propaganda by the Meriandi government. He also survived four consecutive assassination attempts by Meriandi partisans, which only increased his hatred of many of his countrymen.
The Krigstid Government
The legitimate government of Meriad, operating in exile from Eyjanfjalla, continued to head resistance efforts throughout the Second Endwar, despite numerous attempts by Kolish forces at crushing the island's defenses. The government, referred to as the Krigstid (Meriadni: "Wartime") Government, was led jointly by Meriadni King Fredrik and Prime Minister Gudmund Rendahl. In addition to the executive portion of the government, 149 of the 183 sitting representatives in the Hall of Jarls and seven of the eleven justices of the High Court of Justice also continued to meet in Høstenpunkt.
Resistance Efforts
Propaganda
Immediately after fleeing to Høstenpunkt, King Frederik broadcasted a nationwide radio message encouraging Meriadni citizens to continue to resist Kolish forces. The Kolish government's inability to destroy Meriadni radio establishments in Eyjanfjalla meant that the government-run radio stations would continue to play a massive role in the resistance by broadcasting nationalist propaganda, publically reporting on the progress of the war and movements by the General Government, and boosting public morale. The General Government responded by banning the use of radios by private citizens, and order that was generally ignored like many actions by the occupation forces.
The collaboration of some Meriadni citizens with the General Government also brought about a campaign of violence between Meriadnir during the occupation. The term "Skittenforræder" (Meriadni: "filthy traitors") was extensively used in government propaganda, and nationalist radio broadcasts and propaganda encouraged Meriadni citizens to report instances of collaboration with the General Government to the resistance for "appropriate action."
Armed Resistance
Throughout the war, resistance against the General Government was manifested in both acts of civil disobedience and other nonviolent acts and armed attacks on Kolish occupation forces. The majority of these armed actions were undertaken by unorganized Meriadni citizens on a relatively small scale, such as the destruction of warehouses, raids on trains and convoys, and the assassination of high-ranking officials and collaborators within the General Government. The Meriadni Army assisted in many of these small-scale raids only indirectly, primarily by providing materiel such as explosives and firearms and training in weapon-handling and covert communication.
The Meriadni government also used surviving military units in large-scale resistance operations, such as air raids on docks and factories by Aerial Forces fighter aircraft and limited operations against Kolish armored units by surviving Meriadni armored vehicles in the mountains of the country. Meriadni Army personnel also used their knowledge of mountain warfare to move cross-country from location to location, preventing Kolish forces from successfully determining centers of resistance. Prior to the Kolish annexation of Allidron in early December, Meriadni forces frequently cross the Allid-Meriadni border in order to access remote areas of the country without being observed.
The ability of the Royal Navy to prevent the destruction of the majority of its vessels also afforded the Meriadni government a broad range of tactical operations for actively resisting the Kolish occupation forces. Throughout the course of the war, the Royal Navy would use its frigates and destroyers to conduct attacks of Kolish naval vessels and merchant shipping in the Noideaic Sea and North Neptic Ocean. The Royal Navy also renewed development of the Undersjøiske Krefter, or the Undersea Forces, which had proved invaluable in preserving Meriadni neutrality during the First Endwar. The Royal Navy commenced construction of six new submarines, the last of which was launched on February 10th, 1939. These submarines went into action as a group within a month, and began to conduct ambush-style attacks on Kolish shipping, supported by long-range maritime patrol aircraft providing reconnaissance.
The Duvnafjördur Blockade
In June of 1942, a small number of Meriadni Royal Navy vessels and submarines, in conjunction with numerous aircraft, successfully managed to blockade the Kolish-occupied Duvnafjördur Sound for a period of twenty-eight days, stretching between June 3rd to July 1st. While this blockade led to the destruction of three Royal Navy surface vessels and the eventual destruction of much of the Aerial Forces' remaining aircraft, it caused a massive boost in the morale of the Meriadni resistance, and proved to be a major embarrassment for the Kolish occupation force. This embarrassment was worsened by the fact that the Kolish navy made three consecutive attempts at breaching the blockade, all unsuccessful, before managing to destroy the majority of the Meriadni surface vessels. This action led to the destruction of nine Kolish naval vessels and significant damage to four more, and marked the first major strategic victory for the Meriandi resistance. Following the end of the blockade, the stalled Kolish advances on the front would sap enough forces from Meriad that the resistance would be able to win strategic victory in an increasing number of engagements, both on land and in the Noideaic Sea.
Expulsion of Kolish Forces
The stagnation of Kolish offensives in 1943 and the impending surrender of the allied New Spanishland to Comintern and Thelassic Sphere forces in 1944 caused a major shift in policy by the General Government. As Kolish occupation forces were transferred to the front lines in order to combat the threat of attacks by Comintern and Sphere forces, the General Government began to more ruthlessly exercise Borsheim's policies of religious discrimination, as well as drastically increasing the rate at which interned Meriadnir were executed. The lack of armed forces enforcing law and order caused a massive increase in public support for the resistance movement, and Meriadni partisans and Army personnel gradually expanded their influence into the areas previously held by the Kolish occupation forces. In January of 1944, Meriadni forces comprised of surviving Army and Aerial Forces units, individually-armed citizens, and several Naval vessels blockaded all access to the city of Járnfjördur, both by preventing access by land by destroying bridges and railroads and by interdicting merchant and naval vessels attempting to enter Járnfjördur harbor. Over the course of the next two months, the relatively small number of Kolish forces holding the city ran low on supplies, and frequently conducted raids on Meriadni nationals in the city. The General Government occupying forces of the city surrendered in March. While the General Government had remained headquartered in Duvnafjördur, not Járnfjördur, throughout the war, the capitulation of the occupying forces marked a major victory for Meriadni partisans, and spurred numerous people to join the effort to expel the Kolish occupation force.
After the capitulation of Járnfjördur, Meriadni resistance forces began coordinated attacks by naval and air units in the north of the country, organized by near-legendary resistance general Asben Bakken, and successfully brought about the end of the blockade on the northern half of the country, thus allowing it to be resupplied by several allied states. As Kolish forces continued to move southwards along the coastal rail corridor in order to reinforce Kolintha against the impending invasion by Nerotysia, Meriadni resistance forces began to fill the void left behind them, gradually moving south and reclaiming captured areas. Partisan forces in the south of the country also began to conduct raids on rail lines, derailing troop trains and destroying locomotives in an effort to cut down on the number of soldiers who would be able to take part in the defense of Kolintha. Kolish forces largely halted the retreat just to the north of Duvnafjördur, affording the Meriadni partisan forces an opportunity to use their superior geographical knowledge of the region to circumvent the main battle line and strike and several supply depots with armored forces. After two weeks of attempting to stave off attacks with a undermanned force, the occupation forces ordered a full retreat, and began to transport the remaining troops southwards towards the Kolish border.
