Queen Maud landings

The Queen Maud landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations throughout 2 - 5 September 2024 of the Allied invasion of Antarctica in Operation Homecoming during World War III. Codenamed Operation White Vengeance and often referred to as the “Day of Death”, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history, succeeding the Normandy invasion of France during World War II. The operation began the fall of Russia on the Southern Front and their garrison in Antarctica. The engagement was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies and target Russian-backed satellite stations and bases that were benefiting the Axis Powers in other fronts. Despite the fact the operation itself secondary as it was far from the main offensive, the battle was marked by extensive brutality on both sides, including use of Russian “storm“ tactics, illegal mustard, chlorine, and anthrax gases and agents, and artillery and battery weapon systems, making it figuratively the bloodiest battle in human history.

The European Union, along with its allies, had committed themselves to a separate offensive in Antarctica during Allied discussions at Chantilly, Oise, in March 2023. The Allies agreed upon a strategy of combined offensives against the Central Powers by the European armies. A draft strategy, referred to as Plan Aida, was presented to Allied High Command at the Tehran Conference in late August and approved on 6 April. The order for the invasion was put forward in "Directive No. 25", which the Trump Administration issued on 12 May, following the Ukrainian coup d’etat. Vladimir Putin placed Field Marshal Misha Dementyev in command of Russian and Cossack forces and of developing fortifications along the Arctic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion.

Initial plans called for the American and British armies to undertake the main part of the Antarctic offensive in support of Norway. The American troops on the Queen Maud comprised a mixture of the remains of the pre-war regular army; the Territorial Army; and the American Expeditionary Force, a group of volunteer recruits. The amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 American, British, Norwegian, French, and Belgian airborne troops shortly after 2:00AM. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of Antarctica at 04:30. The target 2.3 million mile stretch of the Queen Maud coast was divided into seven sectors: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, and Theta.

To be continued...