Generally, a period of progress and momentum during war is matched with a period of suffering and stalling. I had predicted such a reversal before we conducted our extremely productive campaign, though I had hoped the enemy would have completely imploded and would pose us little challenge while we recovered from our numerous offensives. To my dismay, Taneru has managed to reconstitute an effective line of defense from the remnants of her shattered armies and with the assistance of their ally, and prevented a total collapse of morale in the face of their devastating defeats. For the last 12 days, the world has closely watched the resulting ongoing spectacle at Kaleusthes, our planned new home base being subjected to near-ceaseless bombardment from all manner of attack. As Marshal Larien and the units assigned to him carry out their unenviable assignments, senior officers of both alliances ponder whether my decision to seize and establish a base so close to the enemy's main garrison was a sound one.

Up until the 12th, the situation on the Western Front had been eerily placid. The enemy was so severely mauled from our offensives that they weren't in any condition to counterattack aside from intermittent shelling, and we were so exhausted from our drives north that we were similarly ill-suited for any adventures. The rate of progress at Kaleusthes had also slowed dramatically, as everything which could be easily restored had been, and the much more difficult tasks such as construction of heavy buildings and turret emplacements lay ahead. We actually were planning on shifting our focus from fortification to fleet facilities, as we had 40 capital turrets and 70 secondaries operational there, and the navy was rapidly regenerating now that it could be withdrawn from there. The enemy seemed to have learned our position was not worth assaulting any longer.

On 12 March, Kaleusthes was assaulted, and assaulted very ferociously. Kalobol's still-formidable array of howitzers opened up in unison, and bombers with upgraded stealth technology flew overhead in waves numbering in the hundreds. Our static defenses which we so feverishly erected and restored were badly degraded from the series of raids. Worse yet, enemy naval forces took advantage of the mayhem, not only bombarding the base while our own fleets were scrambling northward, but landing 30k marines and 1k panzers onto the main island in a surprise assault. We had withdrawn not only our vessels but also most of the Pathforgers and Commanders to facilitate attacks elsewhere, which meant our garrison lacked substantial panzer support. We abruptly went from being on the verge of shifting our construction focus during a time of tranquility, to questioning whether we would still be in possession of the place at the end of the month. On the morning of the 13th, because troops had landed at our base, I was roused out of bed in my residence at Mirukan and asked for emergency instructions. I had the other senior officers summoned and we had a council of war.

"Kepler, do you believe our marines can hold this base with what we have there and will have there shortly, and also hold the main areas?" I anxiously inquired from our highest ranking marine.

"Oh, without a doubt. 60k marines in underground positions with their regular weapons, on what we have deemed will be our new home base? The enemy will regret landing soon, even if they continue to enjoy firepower superiority." the battle-tested commander almost nonchalantly retorted. "However, they're assaulting the command and primary areas pretty hard and 1/3 of our troops are on other islands. I can't guarantee your burgeoning complex won't be in ruins before we can break the enemy, unless I get more support." he added.

"Larien, are you confident your construction crews can at least keep our defensive structures operational, and continue fortifying the perimeter so that there is enough resiliency?" I inquired from the hapless otter who was now having to mount a defensive on top of his primary duties. "And, can you do this from a very safe place?" I added for good measure, having become very concerned for his welfare.

"Not with what I have so far! They're damaging the turrets faster than we can repair them, and repairing them is extremely frustrating right now since we often have less than 5 minutes' warning of bomber raids, which are almost constant! I need the navy here to cover us, I need more construction supplies, and I need some technical teams here to help us overcome their recent advances." he exclaimed with very genuine frustration and concern.

I sighed loudly and pressed a paw against my forehead and snout, "We're doing the best we can. We still don't understand how they're so combative after suffering so badly over the last few weeks. We very much still need to recuperate and we assumed they needed to do so even more."

"It should be heavily noted that they are not conducting substantial aggression anywhere else, and this is the only place they can give us fits at due to the proximity to Kalbol, and the health of their naval forces." Perredine sagely emphasized. "If I was leading them, I'd do the same thing. They at least feel like they're making progress after so much punishment, and they are."

"This is a site that extensively involves both the navy and the marines, both of which are supposed to be the best on Takomen. If all of our progress there is undone by an enemy that was supposed to have been critically injured, that would be horrible to our morale. This cannot be allowed." I sternly remarked after looking down at and stroking the stuffed namesake of our new home base. "Whatever is necessary to adequately support Larien and Kepler must be done, short of destroying our navy."

"Kantaria is known for being on the offensive and exerting itself severely to outclass the enemy. Kepler and I have discussed this privately, and we feel this plan will be feasible. We feel we should launch another assault on the enemy forces on the continent, with marines and naval support." Perredine offered, as if to outdo his superior.

Their vision was to conduct a short but very violent assault on the Western Front on a coastal section south of Kalobol. The presence of such a formidable base and its accompanying naval forces had caused our progress to be greatly diminished on the westernmost section of the front, causing there to be a long salient along the coast of increasing width to the north. The plan was to cut off about 50 km at the southern end in combined marine-regular attacks at a time we found opportune, with the potential for further advances should resistance unexpectedly disintegrate. While 60k of our marines were already engaged and fighting with insufficient support defensively, we were entertaining the idea of sending more elsewhere and having to cover them AND the Kaleusthes garrison.

"It's a plan reckless enough to be worthy of the MAC!" Kepler blithely endorsed. Well, if he was supportive of it, who were we to argue otherwise, I reasoned.

Of course, the priority was Kaleusthes, and what we had sent there initially was not sufficient to stem the tide. Most disheartening to us was our flagship being struck by multiple nuclear weapons for its trouble during the first 36 hours. Larien's chosen replacement for Marietta was tasked with an awesome number of repair orders in a short while, though there weren't that many ships there since we again had to resort to risky deployment thresholds and repair prioritizations. As Larien is the base commander and the marines were assigned to his base, he ultimately was also the marine garrison commander and was tasked with conducting the ground contingent of the response. Over the 12th and 13th the marines were primarily on the defensive, and had lost ground in a few areas of substantial importance. As the date changed to 14 March, our nation was utterly fixated on the welfare of our beleaguered MAC divisions at Kaleusthes, an island I had deemed it imperative to not only capture but to rename. I felt very uncomfortable with this additional scrutiny and attention, and I of course damn well should have!

After receiving extensive repairs from the target practice it was subjected to the previous two days, I went aboard the Procyonidae and prepared to lead the fleet sortie north. I would have engaged Larien's replacement in perverse and ludicrous conversation, but there was just too much to attend to and I wasn't feeling particularly mischievous anyway. We were going to attempt something highly audacious even by Kantarian maritime standards. We were first going to provide bombardment support to facilitate the landing of 40k marines and 700 panzers (including the few Pathforgers we had; Kepler insisted they would be better used here), while their hurriedly assembled regular counterparts of 35k mounted infantry and 120k regular infantry and 1,000 panzers attacked in concert. While we attempted to destroy another field army or two over the afternoon, the fleet would cruise to Kaleusthes to provide the base the surface-based cover they badly needed. While the combined enemy fleet forced us to engage them south of Kaleusthes rather than provide cover directly, we accomplished the second objective indirectly by forcing them to respond to us. There was patriotic cheering from Kaleusthes to the bridge of the Procyonidae to Mirukan at news our marines and warships had achieved a destabilizing victory even as they were assailing the planned site of our fleet base with good effect.

However, we kept running into the same problem that had plagued us for many months before: we have to travel a substantial distance to the rear to replenish ammunition and repair damage, while the enemy does not. While we do have specialized anti-air vessels equipped primarily with energy weapons, and we have very extensively deployed them, they are generally useless against surface objects and still require a base for repairs. Additionally, while it is standard practice to rush in field artillery and ground-based point-defense to bolster the defenses of a coastal location under threat, there is only so much room for everything on Kaleusthes Archipelago, and the presence of enemy panzers further complicates such endeavors. Most of the incoming has been from long ranges and thus the artillery has rarely been used offensively, anyway. Combined with incomplete recovery from our previous adventures, our naval forces suffered greatly to accommodate the new demands placed upon it. It will not be well situated to carry out a planned naval offensive at the end of the month, nor will the MAC.

The stance of the Kaleusthes garrison became rapidly more offensive after the 14th due to a variety of factors. While the general popular perception of the situation was our marines and base were under severe and constant assault, our troops were doing more of the assaulting after that point. Since the fortifications were far from complete, infantry with their anti-panzer weapons (which are substantial in MAC units) were having to take on the cavalry on many occasions. We were able to dissuade the enemy from further landings, and many of the units which had landed were evacuated within a week. Our technical and scientific teams over a series of days extracted what data they could from the innumerable bombing runs and made numerous adjustments, and this helped increase the warning the base had before being struck considerably.

Being a highly stubborn and patriotic otter, Larien did not leave the base from the 12th to today, spending his entire existence deep underground and coordinating the repair and combat responses. I made it very clear to him I did not want him above ground for even one minute until we've regained some semblance of order and tranquility there, to which he responded in his usual sardonic fashion I did not pay him enough or allow his son enough time with his parents for him to even consider exposing himself to combat conditions. He also complained of the hundreds of destroyed panzers from both sides which will have to be cleared after the enemy offensive abates. Of course, adorable and sensitive Lucien has been very concerned during this entire ordeal, and remained with me or his mother during this nearly incessant bombardment.

As if to demonstrate to us that their evacuation of the beaches will bring us no peace at all over there, right after the remnants were withdrawn, perhaps the largest array of bombardment assets of the entire offensive was brought to bear on the base on the 19th. Sprinkled in the torrent of falling ordnance were high-yield atomic weapons, and several of them penetrated our defenses and detonated on the base. Casualties were marginal, but the damage was quite extensive and the ground highly radioactive for days. Several naval contingents were also struck and decimated. This had a significant demoralizing effect on us, not just because of the massive damage it did but because it seemed we were barely keeping ahead of an enemy we had caused ruinous harm to just weeks previous. The day this happened was particularly regrettable because was our Crossing Day, the day we invaded Bengaria. Of course, we had to send even more naval support and various assets to keep the base from being totally leveled, causing major vulnerabilities on other fronts and worsening exhaustion. Nearly the entirety of our ground-based and ship-based aerial forces were sent to protect the base and our assisting fleets from further destruction over the following two days, as they continued to throw a seemingly inexhaustible supply of weapons at the base.

I was due to address our military and general population on this day, and I addressed them after Kaleusthes was struck. Two years ago we were surging across the mighty Nansing River and repulsed all the Bengarian counteroffensives. Now, it at least seemed to the average person we might not be able to hold or build upon ground we paid so much in materiel and blood to acquire. This was psychologically the worst day for this to transpire on, and it was not long after we were driven from another great river. One of my roles as the Supreme Strategist is to reassure the populace when the situation is unpleasant, whether or not it actually is as bad as it seems. As I had to do not long ago, I emphasized various mitigating factors and conveyed my confidence we would hold and repair and expand the complex. As this nuclear assault punctuated the end of a nearly uninterrupted week of pounding, my words didn't have the level of impact I had hoped and that they usually have.

A month ago there was an overwhelming sensation of irresistible offensive momentum as gargantuan formations of panzers punched their way through the defensive line and repulsed the enemy counterparts. Now we are on the defensive everywhere despite the enemy being reduced by well over half a million personnel and over 50% panzer strength. This period has proved to be a mercilessly sobering reminder of our limitations and of the nature of warfare. We aspire to at least partially dispel this unpleasant feeling with new offensives on the western coast and near the Kotorei River during the first month of spring (which is proving to be unusually warm, which is bad for Kantarian infantry), but this will be very difficult if Kaleusthes remains nothing more than a forward naval outpost which is being almost constantly shelled. We are reasonably sure they are firing off far more things than they can produce and eventually they won't be capable of sustaining such bombardment. Yesterday and today are strong indications this has already happened and there will be relative peace again until the 31st, but we cannot be sure. 