Mount Schirm

Mount Schirm
Type	Mining and arms production, nuclear warhead storage
Location	Waldreich Mountains Western Belka
Coordinates	30°16'54" N, 222°04'57" E
Events	Operation Stone Age Operation Silvereye Operation Deepsix
Appearances
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War

Mount Schirm is a mountainous, forested area in present-day western Belka, southwest of the city of Hornstadt. It is one of the taller peaks found at the northern terminus of the Waldreich Mountains, which form the border between Belka and North Osea. Mount Schirm has been the site of several strategic military operations throughout history.

Description

The summit of Mt. Schirm, located on the western bank of the Edelstein River, towers over the surrounding area, which is comprised mostly of rolling hills and flat areas bisected by the winding river. Ore mining around Mt. Schirm once helped fuel the Belkan Federation's industrial might, and many of the low tree-covered hills dotting the landscape were formed by spoil and tailings displaced by decades of extensive mining efforts. The entrance to Yering Mine is located at the foot of Mount Schirm's southern face, perpendicular to a nearby air base, docking facilities, and later, a weapons manufacturing plant.

History

Belkan War

Main article: Operation Stone Age

During the Belkan War, the airfield at Mount Schirm became the construction site of the South Belka Munitions Factory's prototype heavy command cruiser, the XB-0 Hresvelgr. The Belkans also began constructing a hangar large enough to house the experimental gunship. However, the XB-0 would be moved from Mt. Schirm to an undisclosed location sometime before mid-June 1995.

In the week following the devastating nuclear detonations southeast of Mt. Schirm, Belkan forces began massing near the Yering Mine. On June 13, Galm Team—now comprised of Cipher and PJ (formerly Crow 3)—was dispatched to Mt. Schirm to eliminate the remnant Belkan forces. During their attack, the pilots spotted the massive (vacant) domed hangar near the airfield at the base of the mountain.

Unbeknownst to the Allied Forces at the time, however, the mine beneath Mt. Schirm had been converted into a climate-controlled storage bunker for housing Belka's arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons. At the end of the war, the mine was sealed, and the air base was abandoned as part of Belka's postwar disarmament.

Circum-Pacific War

A view of Mount Schirm from the southeast; the Edelstein River is visible in the foreground

Main article: Operation Silvereye, or Operation Deepsix

At some point during the Circum-Pacific War, the secretive Grey Men began efforts to retrieve the nuclear weapons that had remained sealed beneath Mount Schirm for 15 years. To prevent unwanted attention, the Belkans blanketed the area surrounding Mt. Schirm with an early warning radar network.

On December 10, 2010, Blaze, leader of the newly renamed Razgriz Squadron, was tasked with flying solo through the radar network, avoiding the coverage areas that dotted the forests, and retrieving visual confirmation of enemy activity at Mt. Schirm. Blaze navigated through the radar network and quickly took reconnaissance photographs of the facility, its transport aircraft, and the Belkan fighters parked on the runway before hastily withdrawing from the airspace.

The next day, Mount Schirm was attacked by the entire Razgriz Squadron, and the entrance to the mine shaft collapsed after concentrated bombardment from the Osean fighters. The destruction of the Yering Mine entombed the last of Belka's nuclear weapons under thousands of tons of solid rock. Despite the best efforts of the Razgriz pilots, however, Belkan operatives successfully smuggled three warheads out of Mt. Schirm sometime before 1312hrs on December 11.

Trivia

• "Schirm" is the German word for "umbrella".