For fans of "Anatomy of a War"

[Steve]

I found this on the private writer's forum of another board I post on. The post was dated in May of 2005, so it was about eight months before I finished Anatomy, and it reflects some of my early planning for how "Anatomy", and the war, was going to go.

And now here it is, for your enjoyment:



20 November - Nuclear detonation destroys Bajoran refugee settlement of Gytep. Cardassian and Federation propaganda claim Gytep was a terrorist training camp and that Bajoran terrorists accidentally set off a nuclear bomb.

ADN goes to DefCon 2.

22 November - Cardassian forces attack Alliance-flagged merchant vessel SS Denmark Vesey in Federation space in an attempt to board and inspect for "Bajoran terrorists".

Alliance Council passes the Bajoran Freedom Act, declaring the Cardassian occupation of Bajor illegal and demanding Cardassian withdrawal. ADN goes to DefCon 1.

President Gao Hi-Yuan of the Federation resigns. Kerlo Tobis, Commissioner of Starfleet Operations, becomes President.

Cardassian forces fight indecisive skirmish with a Federated Commonwealth merchant ship carrying Bajorans.

23 November - The Alliance of Democratic Nations declares war on the Cardassian Union.

ADN carrier strikes called for in Operation: Santorini lead to the defeat of Cardassian 1st Fleet. Battle of Zygola (ADN vs. Cardassia - ADN victory).

24 November - ADN offensive into Cardassia commences.

25 November - ADN forces take Darane in the Bajoran Oversight Authority's zone of control. Daranian Bajorans become first liberated populations. Paradrop supply for the besieged Bajoran city of Dolan begins.

26 November - Construction begins on Darane for airstrips to be used by ADN Aerospace Force.

29 November - The First Battle of Darane. (ADN vs. Cardassia - ADN marginal victory).

1 December - The Federated Commonwealth declares war on the Cardassian Union.

3 December - Bajoran holy city of Ikila (the location of the Great Temple and the residence of the Kai) and environs rise up in a planned revolt. The Kai goes into seclusion to "speak with the Prophets" while the area's secular authorities call out Bajorans to dig trenches along the river banks around Ikila to stop the planned Cardassian assault.

A Corps-sized detachment of Cardassian mechanized troops, 100,000 strong, depart from firebases and facilities about 80 kilometers west and north of Ikila to retake and sack the city for revolt.

4 December - The Second Battle of Darane. (ADN vs. Cardassia - ADN victory).

The first units of the Federated Commonwealth Expeditionary Forces begin arriving in the ADN Colonial Zone.

The Cardassian forces besieging Dolan come under heavy bomber attack by ADN B-202 aerospace (warp-capable) bombers based on Darane. The bombings allow the Resistance in Dolan to evacuate wounded and children from the city.

5 December - The Cardassians punch through the first line of defensive trenches around Ikila. Progress is increasingly slow due to continued supply drops from ADN transports providing the Bajorans with heavy infantry weapons, including mortars, anti-tank rifles, and 120mm plasma shell artillery guns.

6 December - 10 Marine Corps Divisions - 2nd and 3rd Assault Corps - and 40 Army Divisions, divided into 18th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd Armies under 4th Army Group - begin to move into position for the liberation of Bajor.

8 December - Kai Opaka returns from isolation and gives a planetwide address, telling the Bajoran people "the Prophets have given their blessings to resistance and call upon their people to rise up and aid in their deliverance from evil." Meanwhile, the Cardassians break through the second line of defensive trenches of Ikila and begin heavy artillery shelling of the third and final line.

9 December - Cardassian 3rd Fleet arrives at Kurvak for planned counter-attack on ADN invasion of Bajor.

10 December - Operation: Crusader commences with the 10th Aerospace Force launching a major bombing raid on Cardassian defensive positions on Bajor, focusing on their atmospheric attack craft bases. Within hours, the 50 divisions of ADN Marine and Army troops assigned as Wave One begin landing.

A Group of ADN Aerospace Force naval bombers sent to attack 3rd Fleet at Kurvak is annihilated by the prepared Cardassians.

The Cardassians break through the final defensive line on the northwestern quadrant and advance in force on Ikila. Their forward troops reportedly spot the highest spires and domes of the Great Temple of the Prophets before contact is made with elements of III Armored Corps of the ADN 21st Army, which has landed in various spots around the city. III Armored Corps' 2nd Armored Division collapses the spearhead of the Cardassian Corps with a frontal assault while 9th Armored and 410th Infantry (Mechanized) Divisions advance along the Cardassians' flanks; their forward battalions link up in the burned out Bajoran town of Torvel and complete the encirclement of the Cardassians; the loss of nearly 100,000 Cardassian infantry within thirty hours in a pure confrontation of armies is one of the most devastating ground defeats in Cardassia's interstellar history.

Troops from XCIV Corps' 333rd Division seizes the key high ground of Mount Tevis and silences the Cardassian guns shelling the besieged city of Salmio. The image of the Alliance's torch-and-stars flag being raised on the mountain becomes a symbol of the Liberation. Inspired by the seizing of Mt. Tevis, the Bajorans in Salmio for the first time launch an offensive against the surprised Cardassians. The forward Cardassian infantry companies are overrun and their commander Gul Teve'el - hearing that ADN mechanized troops were trying to seal off the Salmian Valley - orders the siege forces to retreat to more defensible ground.

11 December - The Battle of the Prodigal. (ADN vs. Cardassia - ADN major victory)

A 50,000 strong force of Cardassian mechanized calvary retreating through the Dakhur Plains from the failed siege of Salmio is caught in the flank by the 5th Armored Division and is annihilated in a bloody rout. Footage from the battle is widely used as anti-war and anti-Alliance propaganda in the Federation.

Gul Teve'el and about 30,000 Cardassian infantry are forced to entrench in the town of Idiv after the battle on the Dakhur Plains effectively cuts them off from their home base. They are encircled by the 333rd and 419th Divisions, who begin what will be a three day artillery barrage to weaken the Cardassian defenses.

12 December - A mechanized battalion from the 12th Calvary Division breaks through into Dolan, officially ending the four month siege.

The 10th Aerospace Force's atmospheric craft begin to deploy on Bajor to provide air support for the ground campaigns.

13 December - The Cardassian Central Command orders all troops on Bajor to seize cities or head for the mountains and hold out until relief. All troops on Bajoran-inhabited worlds not yet invaded are ordered out before ADN naval superiority can completely remove the hope of escape. Nevertheless, roughly 700,000 Cardassian troops would either be abandoned to face invasion or would be killed or taken prisoner by ADN warships intercepting their transports.

14 December - A mechanized company of ADN Recon Marines liberate the forced labor camp of Gallitep after a fierce, bloody battle that sees two of it's platoon commanders among 38 Marine fatalities and several dozen more amongst the Bajoran laborers. Camp Commandant Gul Darhe'el is among the prisoners taken.

After suffering sixty-nine hours of bombardment by ADN artillery and air assets, Gul Teve'el surrenders the 22,000 survivors of his unit.

15 December - The ADN 555th Division - composed almost entirely of Bajoran emigres - begins the bloody siege of Dalkyra, where 45,000 Cardassian troops have dug in with extensive supplies to try and hold out until relief.

17 December - After a week of non-stop advancing and fighting, Alliance forces have suffered roughly 5,000 dead and 15,000 wounded, a massive disparity from the extensive dead, wounded, and captured from the Cardassian ranks.

The complete liberation of all Bajoran-inhabited worlds is completed by Marine landings on Tedela 5.

18 December - Operation: Percival commences. The FCEF (Federated Commonwealth Expeditionary Force) and ADN Task Force Percival advance along the Cardassian-Keloan border region toward the planets Dervak and Pelikar.

The Battle of Shervarak. (FedCom vs. Cardassia - FedCom victory)

The ADN military authorizes preparations for Operation: Rolling Thunder, setting D-Day for 1 January 2154.

21 December - While securing the Cardassian-populated world of Velekal, elements of the FedCom 1st Davion Guards RCT discover the remnants of Madred Village 10. Only one quarter of the village's imprisoned population of various Federation races are saved from extermination by Cardassian security forces.

Some of the second wave of Army troops slated to arrive on Bajor are diverted to exploit the Percival Offensive's success or to prepare for Rolling Thunder. Only twenty-two divisions are deployed to Bajor, as 9th, 14th, and 26th Armies under 8th Army Group.

25 December - Dervak is captured by elements of the 10th Lyran Guards and the ADN's 23rd Armored Division. Madred Village 23 is saved from destruction by a daring coordinated effort by ADN armored battalion commander Lt. Colonel Rebecca Miller and FedCom officer Hauptmann Kai Allard-Liao.

28 December - The first attempt at official armistice talks is held in Paris on Earth. They fail due to Cardassian insistance on regaining some authority over Bajor and a refusal to turn over war criminals.

1 January - The ADN commences Operation: Rolling Thunder, starting off with a massive bomber strike on Cardassian industrial and C4ISR targets. Eighty Army divisions are used as the ground component of four distinct spearheads aimed straight at Cardassia Prime.

3 January - The Battle of Pelikar. (FedCom vs. Cardassia - Cardassian victory)

After being routed at Pelikar by the Cardassians' Tsen'kethi Frontier Fleet, the survivors of the FCEF's naval contingent regroup at Dervak and are shielded from further attack by a task force of the ADN 9th Fleet. Nevertheless, the FCEF is no longer capable of waging an independent naval campaign and the ADN is unwilling to divert sufficient naval strength to take Pelikar from the large naval force now defending it. The Cardassians do not attempt to attack the combined FedCom-ADN Fleet at Dervak because of the fear that the loss of the Frontier Fleet would invite Tsen'kethi invasion.

5 January - After three weeks of bloody fighting in the Bajoran winter, the 555th Division - reinforced by the 18th and 192nd Divisions - forces the surrender of the final pocket of 2,300 Cardassian troops in Dalkyra. The Cardassians suffer over 23,000 dead and 20,000 wounded in the siege; the 555th Division's 20,000 troops have suffered 5,394 dead and 8,931 wounded as part of an ADN casualty total of nearly 13,000 dead and over 19,000 wounded for the Siege of Dalkyra.

7 January - The Battle of the Four Stars. (ADN vs. Cardassia - ADN major victory)

The Cardassians attempt to stop the ADN offensive toward Cardassia Prime despite the increasing defeatism of their demoralized naval crews. They send out every ship they can muster to four star systems - Itarak, Muvara, Kivap, and Tesevek - to halt the ADN's advance, encountering the task forces of the ADN 5th and 14th Fleets. The ADN fleets, supported by eight carrier task forces, prevail in this battle, to be the last naval engagement of the war. The remnants of the Cardassians' Home Fleet, 4th Fleet, and Federation Frontier Fleet are shattered in the battle. The Four Stars is the decisive battle of the war itself; Cardassia's reserves are gone and her fleets have been reduced to the extent that her other borders cannot be adequately defended.

Immediately after the retreat of the Cardassian fleets, the Cardassians order their Ambassador to the Federation to do "whatever is necessary" to resume peace talks and secure a ceasefire.

8 January - As a concession to start armistice negotiations, the ADN agrees to halt it's interstellar advance for a week. In truth, the Joint Command Staff was already planning such a halt to establish new naval supply stations. However, it does not agree to a general ceasefire.

9 January - Basing from Muvara, the 52nd Strategic Bomber Group launches another wave of bombing raids on the Cardassians; one flight of the 66th Squadron - under Squadron Leader Ryan Sheppard - makes a twenty three hour flight to bomb industrial targets on Cardassia Prime.

10 January - The last pocket of Cardassian soldiers on Bajor surrenders. After a month of fighting, Bajor is finally declared liberated. Alliance casualties are estimated at about 70,000 dead - mostly from the bloody urban fighting and the final operations against Cardassians that had holed up in various cave networks - and 165,000 wounded. Out of the five million man occupation force, the Cardassians have suffered over 1.5 million dead and over 2.5 million wounded.

11 January - Upon confirming the end of their forces' resistance on Bajor, the Cardassians finally drop their insistance on maintaining any authority over Bajor. They still refuse to turn over high officials implicated in one way or another for war crimes.

1st Rank Gul Relim Torcet commits suicide in his office after being covertly informed of an impending trial for incompetence.

12 January - President Mamatmas gives the first public address about the liberation of Bajor. He reminds the public that the war won't be over until they can bring justice to the perpetrators of the many atrocities uncovered by advancing Allied armies.

A bombing sortie is launched as a preliminary to the resumed naval advance. Five major industrial systems are attacked.

The Tsen'kethi begin probing attacks on their Cardassian border, unhindered by the Tsen'kethi Frontier Fleet, which is still positioned in force at Pelikar to keep the FedCom and ADN from continuing their advance in that corner.

13 January - With the resumption of the ADN advance only two days away and the Cardassian Union's other neighbors beginning to show signs of aggression, the Cardassian Home Guard launches a coup d'etat and seizes Legate Aamin Kelataza and Gul Yatar Hergata amongst other high-ranking officials. Uvil Keve is appointed as Legate.

14 January - The Cardassian Union agrees to all of the armistice terms insisted on by the Alliance of Democratic Nations and the Federated Commonwealth.

15 January - The last fighting on disputed planets ends as news of the armistice spreads. The ADN begins to withdraw to the agreed-upon ceasefire line, running from Utiva (a system occupied by the FedCom, on the border with the Sphere and Kelos) to Martil (thirty-five light years from what will become the Coreward extent of Bajoran space).

18 January - ADN President Nicolas Mamatmas and FedCom co-sovereign Archon Melissa Steiner-Davion announce the formal end of the war in a joint press conference.

[Vehrec]

The most notable change would seem to be the Battle of Four Stars beind switched out for a minor Cardassian victory in the line raids by the Home Fleet. And some slight changes to the Madred village events as well. But overall, this was all as it happened.

[Steve]

The most notable change would seem to be the Battle of Four Stars beind switched out for a minor Cardassian victory in the line raids by the Home Fleet. And some slight changes to the Madred village events as well. But overall, this was all as it happened.

Also the timing of Torcet's death, the length of time in taking Dalkyra, and the war in general, which was shortened by about two weeks. Also you'll notice the absence of the partial ceasefire and then armistice when it was about to expire, in favor of the whole thing coming at once after the Cardassian coup.

Changing the pace of the war was, admittedly, out of impatience in some respects, wanting to get the story over with, but I also realized I couldn't do the Cardassians too much damage, and I needed to give them something credible in terms of success, hence the elimination of the Battle of the Four Stars in favor of Dukat's spoiling attack on the ADN's New Year's Offensive. This makes the Cardassian Dolchstoßlegende more believable if they can say they ended the war on successes (the victory over the FedCom and the losses inflicted on the Alliance ground forces by Dukat).

I was always planning on Luvar's fate, though, and on his men fighting the Royal Black Watch.