A typical Griffonese landing craft had a machine-gunner, a driver, and space for about two squads.

A typical Griffonese Attack Airship had a small crew and space for about a platoon.

A typical Griffonese Transport/Gunship helicopter had two pilots, a side gunner, and space for a squad.

And an Atypical Griffonese landing craft had a tank in it.

Almost 5000 landing craft were used by the army to land on the beaches. About 3,200 Helicopters were used by the army to act as airborne troopers. And exactly 182 Airships were in use to maneuver at high altitudes, far behind enemy lines.

Almost All ten-million of Gryphgen's troops would be in the invasion. Not all would land at During the initial invasion. Only about 400,000. But this would hopefully be enough to clear the beaches. Battleships would bombard from offshore. Aircraft would drop ordnance and bunker-busters on bunkers and "Special Targets", which were highly classified, even to the Bombardiers and Crew.

Early in the morning, the men climbed down nets on the side of ships, and into the boats that sat short above the water. Rifles were loaded, prayers were said, and the ships set off into the horizon.

The landing waves at Horseshoe Bay came in three groups, and each of those was subdivided in turn. The first two waves were on the "Toes" of the Horseshoe, which stuck out. They would attempt to clear the North and south sides of the actual bay itself, in order to prevent deadly enfilade fire from artillery on the shores. First would come the sappers. With mine-clearing tanks and combat engineers, they would clear the beaches of mines and barricades. Next would come the shock troopers. With body armor and advanced training, they would see if they could breach the bunkers before the main wave arrived. Should they not, the third wave will come in hot, with whole boats of men being cut down at the hooves of the Equestrian Machine-gunners. First, the attack began at the north. With the largest shoreline, it had the most risk for artillery and the highest chance for an Equestrian Counterattack. Immediately, when the Engineers arrived within a few Kilometers of the shore, the fight was fierce. Planes twirled and overhead, and on occasion, one would explode like a gruesome firework. Artillery rained down upon bunkers and more inland targets. And if one was lucky, but no too, a boat would explode in a fireball of men and HE shell, and one would reflect on who they knew that was on that ship. And when the boats finally reached the shore, the tanks would roll out first. Immediately, before they could activate their mine-flails, they would be hit with artillery and AP bullets, and would implode violently, scattering shrapnel and pieces of their comrades over the Engineers. Then, the Sappers were free to take the beach. As soon as the door opened, guns would open up, and the unlucky ones in the front would be cut down in a salvo of bullets and the flesh of their comrades. The ones in the middle would rush out, only to dive down behind any cover they could find, assuming they didn't step on a mine that they were meant to clear, accomplishing their goal with their last step. The [Only slightly so] more lucky ones in the back would jump over the side, and be cut down by stray bullets. They would drown as they bled out, and by mid-afternoon, the beaches were washed in the blood of the combat-engineers. But, they had done their job. Whether by their death or by crawling beside tanks and cover, grabbing and disabling mines as they did so, they had gotten the beaches clear of mines.

Then, the Shock Corp sailed in. With body armor across the chests and Kevlar helmets on their heads, they could take three bullets to the chest [Or one bullet to the head] before the armor gave and they were pumped with holes. This, combined with experience and training, made the survival rate much higher. Not by much, but enough so that by the time the second wave died down, the beaches were flooded with enough shock troopers to take the whole Northern Peninsula, and maybe storm Baltimare. But with the bunkers still live, this was a no-go. So, the third wave rolled in.

Much of this previous section was Adapted from Karl Hoofden's EXCELLENT history of wars in Equestria, and as such, it's on the required reading. Write a reminder to get it down in you planner, and make sure that you took down the previous section in your copybooks. Much of this next section was adapted from Sergetov Talovich's Memiors. This is not on required reading, but it is recommended. As always, take notes.

Private Sergetov Talovich was in LC 508, on the attack on the Northern Peninsula, and wrote a detailed account of the Third wave.

As I stood in the boat, I looked up. I saw our landing support flying overhead. The fly-boys would cover our approach from enemy Aircraft. I smiled, and tried to wave. Suddenly, AA fire ripped across the formation, and one went down, crashing in second into a ship a few down from us. "SHIT! FRITZ WAS IN THERE! THAT BASTARD OWED ME, THE SONSOFBITCHES." said nobody in particular. I was too mesmerized with the ship, as it smoked and burned. How can fire burn over the water? I saw fellow griffons jump out, and watched as they fought to stay afloat, and slowly drowned as nobody stopped their boats to help. The smart few flew up, and were again cut down by AA fire. Suddenly, the driver cried out "OPENING STOCK IN THIRTY SECONDS! PREPARE FOR TRADING TO BEGIN!" Afterwards, he turned to McLean, saying "Can I have a light?" Gesturing to the cigarette hanging from his beak. Just as McLean got out his lighter out, A stray bullet struck the side of the ship. Then, another. Then, three more. Then, the bastards crossed the line from unintentionally hitting the ship to Trying To Kill Us. A ship beside out exploded. Before I could become mesmerized with this, as before, the ship ran aground. "OPEN ER' UP!" A Sergeant opens the door. As the door lowered, the Driver scarcely said "TRADING HAS BEGUN! WE'RE IN BUSINESS!" Before a hail of bullets descended upon hit. It happens like it was in slow motion. The bullets first hit in his head, killing, then they ripped flesh from his bones, and plunged into his stomach, spilling it's contents as they ripped through, and as blood splattered over the back of the ship, I wondered what his name was. Too late now. I thought, and rushed out to fall behind a Czech hedgehog. Orsons was there. Hiding behind some pieces of metal hoping not to die was bad enough, but about an hour in, John arrived, and right where he sat down was a landmine, and we had to wait for a sapper to come over to disable it. And the worst part was, right afterwards, a bullet cracked his skull. Anyways, we pushed on. After about two hours, we had finally made it to the seawall. As we waited for engineers to arrive with Bangalore torpedoes, we attempted to snipe the bunkers. Two minutes later, we had to stop, as Orsons was dead with a bullet through the neck, and I didn't want the same to happen to me. After what seemed like an eternity, crouching under that little hill of sand, engineers managed to blow through. as we rushed up the cliffs, we were stopped dead in our tracks. The enemy had dug trenches, and nobody was too eager to run through them. So there I was, sitting behind a rock with some men from a whole other division, and somebody mentioned how it was a but a "Stones Throw Away" from the bunker. I think it was a Griffon with green plumage who said "Well, why the hell not?" and started throwing grenades into a bag. After about half an hour, we had thrown our bullet's gunpowder into a handkerchief, tied it up, and thrown it into a bag of explosives. When all was set, we threw a lit match in, then threw it at the bunker. It worked pretty damn well, all said and done. But even though there was a sizable hole in the side of the bunker, we all cursed ourselves for how stupid we had been. That was all of our bullets!

After a half a day of fighting, the Griffonese troops had finally taken the Northern Peninsula. On that same day, the southern peninsula had to be taken, and things went a little less swimmingly there.

Author's Note

Horseshoe bay and the Southern peninsula, next time on the Equestrian History channel.