The previous 50 hours have been exceptionally eventful for multiple reasons. We have gathered some useful intelligence on the enemy's capabilities and intentions through a series of daring raids, and the Western Front is once again ablaze in conventional and nuclear weapons fire. The planet is becoming increasingly transfixed on the expected great campaign by the enemy, and it has reached a point where the people on both sides are demanding this contest take place so that a clear victor is decided, providing an overwhelming impetus to proceed with it even if victory is far from assured.

Immediately after Midnight on 27 December, both sides started going after each other once again after satisfying their legal and moral obligations to refrain from such the preceding 72 hours. The majority of the violence was on the Western Continent and the Western Front, and overwhelmingly favored neither side in both cases. A series of major assaults designed to cause damage rather than take territory (in line with our strategy of causing attrition if normal offensive operations would be too risky) on the Western Front were carried out on the 27th and the 28th, and at first we caused the enemy more damage than we incurred. Several points in the Wesitarian defensive line were seized and the equivalent of 3 divisions were encircled and destroyed, and immediately after the destruction to units and positions our forces retreated to the Narenda Line. Our superior mobility and unit quality allows us to utilize this tactic to at least mediocre effect, and we were unquestionably winning in terms of casualties, though on the grand strategic level this is inconsequential.

Our fortunes were reversed on the following day through a series of nuclear impacts. A tactical nuclear weapon struck each a heavy cavalry and infantry division in the open, causing the loss of a couple hundred panzers and several thousand soldiers. This abruptly ended our attempts on that segment. However, further east in the evening, we continued our destructive operations and managed to badly maul another division. Those forces in the evening had already returned to the Narenda Line when a strategic nuclear weapon went off over their heads. As that line is extensively fortified, casualties were only about a thousand and physical damage moderate, but it was still a jarring development. Another attack of ours was successfully countered soon afterwards, and thus ended our attrition offensive for that region. 

Developments such as these have caused many to question the soundness of such attacks on highly fortified zones. The rationale is, while we are so heavily extended due to periodic offensive operations on the Central Front and the impending contest near our own base, we cannot safely take territory anywhere else but can nevertheless cause disparate casualties in our favor on the Western Front. We also benefit somewhat psychologically by giving the people the impression we're effectively attacking on most places. At worst no one gains from these series of smaller raids, at best it exacerbates the enemy's problems somewhat and forces some industrial capacity to be shifted towards replenishment there. At times like this, however, that benefit is not apparent, and it does also cause a drain on our own capacity regardless. 

We had more success on the coast on that front. On the morning of the 28th, the 1st and 3rd Fleets departed to harass the enemy warships and various inland and coastal targets, and also to facilitate the success of a marine special operations raid on Kalobol. Our flagship suffered moderate damage and the fleet in general incurred minor damage, but we inflicted more damage in general than we incurred. The marine platoons meanwhile gathered substantial intelligence on the base and its defenses through direct observation and cyber-attack. A cyber-assault team well to the rear meanwhile forced their way into Wesitaria's systems and managed to seize information on their intentions for the anticipated naval battle. Both specialized attacks were very useful, because we ascertained Kalobol's capabilities are not quite as strong as we expected, and that they are looking to launch their combined naval offensive within a month, probably closer to half that. This gives us additional time to make preparations that we feared we didn't have.

On the topic of the grand battle all sides generally now demand and demand soon, I have also been criticized for diverting resources to ground attacks and for effectively delaying this battle by destroying their naval infrastructure. I have repeatedly stated that while this battle will be extremely important and we need to win it, we should not simply suspend the rest of the war while we prepare and maneuver. It would be foolhardy to divert all artillery and defensive platforms to the Western Front. That would be an excessive concentration of force that largely wouldn't even be usable even if the enemy did win, because most of the fighting would be outside the range of field artillery and almost certainly they would be too damaged to send in ground troops and transports. We need to be seen as capable of winning this AND hurting the enemy in other regions simultaneously. Physically and psychologically, remaining completely defensive everywhere else would seriously injure us. Most agree with me, but a sizable minority don't concur. 

Much of my time has been spent passionately speaking to our citizenry in both the civilian and military categories. I as well as the majority of people with knowledge deem I am an excellent orator who conveys abject genuineness and confidence, and thus I have been addressing massive numbers of people at a time to inform them and motivate them. Marshal Taneru is evidently doing the same thing with her people, though I am probably slightly more effective at this than she. Our people need to be made aware of what is at stake here and made to feel I am actively involved in their welfare. Everyone in both sectors I have exhorted to contribute as much as they can so that perhaps in the next month or two we can overwhelm the Kalobol Line. These efforts by both nations' leaders also have the effect of causing popular demand for this battle, particularly since the war seems to have reached a stalemate at least between her nation and mine. This also is reinforcing our personal desire to fight this battle because it won't be nearly a battle between navies, but a contest between two great marshals. Everyone expects the matter to be decided with our fleets, and they expect she and I to personally direct those fleets from our respective flagships. The conflict for multiple reasons is nigh-inexorable now. Takomen demands it be waged.

My staff and I have repeatedly discussed our capabilities and planned maneuvers and deployments once we sense they're making their attempt. There is a distinct possibility the promised Likurian naval reinforcements might not arrive in time, and conceivably none may arrive at all, which means we have planned with the expectation we will face severe numerical superiority. The only way we could win such a battle would be to utilize a very complex battle plan with carefully choreographed maneuvers, raining down as much firepower as possible on segments of their force while the rest tries to catch up and evading before they do arrive. Any substantial deviations from our envisioned conflict would have major negative ramifications for us most likely. We also have discussed the idea of being the aggressors instead, and the majority agreed that attacking Kalobol would put us at a severe disadvantage given their preponderance of weapons there relative to letting them charge after us here. We did decide we should continue degrading their naval capabilities, with an ideal situation of crippling their repair capacity on or by the day of the battle. 

Additionally, more than once, the subject of my presence on an extremely dangerous and volatile battlefield has arisen. With so many ships in the field on both sides at one time, the potential for damage to our flagship from incoming and even collisions is sharply increased. How can we guarantee the Procyonidae won't sustain critical or even mortal damage before we can react with sufficient force? While the bridge has its own armored belt and generator, and lots of internal structure between it and the exterior armored belt, there is no method of us evacuating from a sinking warship in an acute combat zone that is even close to assured. What will they do if I perish in battle? I really didn't want to hear people speaking of my mortality and the damage it would do to our nation if that happened, but their concerns were valid. I assured them there were multiple factors that would virtually guarantee the flagship would at least make it back to a base, and also reiterated in such a battle there were far more things for them to need to shoot at. I also emphasized that as I am predominately a naval officer and the one most actively motivating the naval forces, it was imperative I be there to personally lead and direct. 

Well, time to conclude this entry. We're about to have another council of war on our planned actions at this grand and terrifying affair.