Bruuma and the Serevan War, a first analysis: part I, warfare



The Bruuman regime celebrated in the past its involvement in Sereva as a victory: the official propaganda tells the ordinary citizens that Bruuma had to invade the island to safeguard the local communist militants, that the peace deal with Erinor was struck to spare the local population from further sufferings and that the terms amounted to a political victory. While the preposterous views of the events is expected from the totalitarian propaganda machine, it does raise a question: how did Bruuma fare in the Serevan War?


A military band during the "victory" celebrations in Bayougrad.
 
The answer is complex and must take into account both the purposes and the means of the Bruuman regime. Our experts have prepared a comprehensive analysis covering the main topics, based on the data available up to now. We begin today with the military field.
 
The Ground Forces gave a good proof of themselves, with veteran troops and Special Forces demonstrating discipline and adequate training, aided also by the terrain much similar to the one to their island. Conscripts instead proved effectively mostly as numbers, as the ruthless human wave attacks that took place on different fronts demonstrated. Bafuto Serevai, both due to the lack of time for training and the paranoia of the regime, have been used more effectively as a police and patrol force in conquered area than in guerrilla operations in enemy territory, which proved successful only in the short term.

The highly trained and partially modernized Air Force played a key role, especially in making up for the inferiority of the Bruuman Navy. The inadequacy of its fleet is going to be the issue Bruuma will need to address in the future if it wants to retain any power projections outside its home


It is estimated that about 100,000 -120,000 troops served in Sereva, with a peak of 80,000 present at the end of the war. Losses have been important: the regime did not give any figures yet – and they would be unreliable anyway – but most estimates poses them at 3,500 dead and 8,800 wounded, including a few hundred pertaining to the auxiliary forces. Prisoners have been instead extremely low, less than 500, with many captured at sea or shot down from air: indoctrination made many soldiers fight to death or commit suicide to avoid capture. The Air Force and the mechanized divisions have felt the loss of experienced troops more, while regular infantry less so since many of the casualties were fresh recruits.


A Bruuman soldier  The Ground Forces proved itself with veterans and Special Forces, but also used conscripts as cannon fodder.

Material losses have also been significant: the Ground Forces lost close to a thousand of military and utility vehicles, with an especially dire loss of tanks, almost two hundred, mostly in the North. Assorted artillery losses are also probably at four digits, including mortars. The Air Force lost a couple dozen planes and more than thirty helicopters, while the Navy suffered the loss of dozens of small and cargo boats, five or more submarines and one of its corvette.


A destroyed Bruuman tank in Northern Sereva. The big, conventional armored offensives proved disastrous, suffering dire casualties against the more advanced enemy counterparts and antitank weapons.

On a strategic level, the generals proved themselves rational, if a little predictable, despite suffering from the obsolescence of the military intelligence apparatus, which at times did not allowed a view of the situation as fast or detailed as needed. The only real core and controversial decision has been the one not to keep pushing the initial advance to Ramica, even at a high cost. Some points out that, by capturing the capital, Bruuma could have turned the war in its favor a force Erinor to a much more onerous deal. Others underline that with the imminent Ryccian landings it was a too great risk to overstretch their lines and also pointed out that the hilly terrain of central Sereva slowed down the mechanized advance.


The Bruuman Ground Forces used for the first technicals on the battlefield, a sign that it is adapting to a more contemporary warfare. 

The performance of the BPDF and its auxiliary forces has been valid overall, considering it was fighting not only the Erinoran army but also the expeditionary forces of some of the most advanced and powerful nations in the South Pacific. The Bruuman war apparatus however did show its limit and appeared as still transitioning from its past-century, conventional asset to a new one aligned with contemporary warfare. This has been evident for example in the successes of mixed and mobile forces of helicopters, rocket artillery trucks and infantry compared to the costly and ineffective open field armored offensives.