Novak Chemical attack

The Novak chemical attack also known as the Novak Massacre was an attack on the city of Novak, Straknia that took place on 3rd of September, three days before the formal end of the Granzerian War. The attack occurred immediately after the Gorbatovic defeat and withdrawal from Novak. It was motivated by a desire for reprisal against Granzerian forces and civilians for Gorbatovic military losses during the war, and also to cover the retreat of Gorbatovic forces from Granzery. Under the orders of Marshal Lazar Klimovich, the 5th Guards Army launched TBA Scud missiles tipped with warheads at Grazerian forces in Novak, leading to a large loss of civilian and Republican military personnel in the city

The use of the potent nerve agent left vast swathes of Novak uninhabitable for months afterwards, and resulted in the almost immediate deaths of over 5,000 people, most of them civilians. Of the over 17,000 people who survived the attack, almost 10,000 of them continued to require medical attention for up to twenty years after the attack.

The Granzerian government continues to seek international recognition for the attack, TBA.

Aftermath
Following the 40th anniversary of the event in 2012, the Gorbatovic government declassified several documents which detailed heated exchanges between then-Premier Ivan Kravchenko and Marshal Lazar Klimovich, in regard to the events prior to the chemical attack. It details Marshal Klimovich wholehearted rejection of a OCN-supported peace deal, as the Marshal has drawn up plans to utilize the entire Southern Military District and tactical nuclear weaponry to conduct a full scale invasion of Granzery. In accordance, after being informed that Gorbatov will comply with such peace deal despite his opposition, wanting reprisal for Gorbatov's casualties in Granzery, Marshal Klimovich authorized the use of nerve gas on Granzerian positions in the city to cover a Gorbatovic withdrawal from the conflict.

International Reactions

 * Gorbatov - The Gorbatovic government recognizes the indiscriminate use of weapons on the city of Novak as wholly an unnecessary action, though denounces the idea that its use of chemical weapons as a further notion for Gorbatov to give further reparations to Granzery, given that the international statutes at the time did not consider such use of chemical weaponry as a warcrime, it was only several years later that detailed any use of chemical weapons in any conflict be considered as a warcrime.


 * Granzery - The Granzerian state considers the attacks alongside the Bombing of Véragyőr to be war crimes and crimes against humanity, claiming that the attacks specifically targeted civilian centres and were far in excess of military necessity. Granzery continues to seek international recognition of the attack. The attacks are still seen today as the biggest contributing factor for Granzerian hostility towards the Vastava Pact.


 * Straknia - Despite maintaining independence as a Vastava Pact member after the Granzerian War, Straknia denounced the Gorbatovic attacks and sought greater cooperation with Stasnov as a result during the Stasno-Gorbatovic split. However the Straknian government efforts to receive reparations or recognition for the attacks were lengthy and cut short by the Transkarpatian War and its subsequent annexation into Granzery.


 * Stasnov - The Stasnovan government at the time openly denounced the attacks as indiscriminate and unnecessarily excessive use of military force, and that continues to be the stance of the Stasnovan state today. However, the government never issued an official condemnation in the OCN General Assembly, and Stasnov continues to refuse to recognize the attacks as war crimes.