Operation Ravage

Operation: Ravage, also known as the First Battle of Waldreich Mountains, was a stand-off in Sudentor between the Allied Forces's ground troops and Belka's ground troops.

Prelude
The Allied Forces were almost ready to invade north Belka; however, Belkan ground troops refused to give up, and set up a final line of defense along the Waldreich Mountains. They specifically set up inside Sudentor, an industrial city home to the South Belkan Munitions Factory. Thanks to the factory, even though the ground troops were low in number, they were well-outfitted.

Summary
The Galm Team and Crow Team were ordered to head to rendezvous point P-203, partly southwest to Sudentor and right above the left flank of the Allied ground troops, to provide air support in the Belkan airspace.

Along the way, however, their operation was changed when the Allied Forces learned that Belka had launched bombers equipped with nuclear weapons on a direct course to Ustio. The two teams were ordered to intercept the bombers and prevent them from leaving the airspace. There were nine bombers, and the pilots could not visually confirm which bomber had nuclear weapons, so they were ordered to shoot down all of them.

At some point, a squadron of Belkan separatists entered the area and started firing on the bombers. The Allied pilots were not aware of why they were attacking the bombers, but disregarded it and continued attacking. Some say that Cipher shot down the separatists, not knowing their true mission. All of the bombers were eventually destroyed, but none of them were actually carrying any of the bombs.

Seven Pillars of Belka
In fact, the nuclear bombs - seven in total - had gone off regardless of the bomber engagement. Various areas in the Waldreich Mountains were vaporized instantly. Galm Team and Crow Team almost totally lost communications and their gauges were malfunctioning. Crow Team took the blunt, and they immediately fled the area. Cipher and Pixy managed to regain control of their planes.

According to official records, it was at that point that Wizard 1, previously a member of the Osean Air Force, enticed Pixy to fire on Cipher and escape from the battle area. Cipher survived Pixy's hits, and engaged a squadron of enemy reinforcements that had appeared. He was then ordered to return to base.

Communications remained offline for some time due to the electromagnetic waves sent out by the nuclear explosions. The Allied ground troops in Sudentor, after witnessing the explosions, ceased fire and retreated. The Allied Forces ordered a momentary cease-fire while the situation was assessed.

Result
Belka's nuclear attack on its own soil was a devastating blow to the world. Many agree that it was done to show the world that northern Belka was never to be violated, and to show the Allied Forces that they were not allowed past the Waldreich Mountains, later known as "the closed gates to Nord Belka."

After assessing the radio transmissions, it has been since confirmed that the Belkan separatists knew that the bombers were not heading towards Ustio, but rather towards Waldreich. However, their efforts were wasted, since the nuclear bombs went off anyway.

Given the Allied Forces's command to momentarily cease-fire and stop invading Belkan land, this operation is seen as a Belkan victory.

Trivia

 * Official reports say that over 12,000 lives were lost in the nuclear explosions. This number has been chastised by many players as being so low for not one, but seven nuclear explosions; however, Waldreich is not a very populated mountain range, so this number seems very reasonable.
 * This is the only time where Belkan forces are seen firing on other Belkan forces.