Two on One (Part 3 of 3)
Campaign 5 - The Iberian Conflict
New World Order series
EC2000 NACV battleset
In August 1996, increased Basque terrorism in Spain and a new hardline government in Madrid led to a brutal crackdown on ethnic Basque communities. The conflict spilled over into an international incident when Basque refugees fled to France for safety. Spanish military forces pursued and attacked suspected Basque terrorists in French territory. The French were not at all pleased with the incursions, and dispatched their own troops to shut down the border. Accusing France of harboring terrorists, Spain vowed retaliation.
When a Portuguese fishing vessel was misidentified and destroyed by a French Exocet missile, the Portuguese government, already supporting Spain politically, joined the war against France. By this time the French carrier group, recovering from its engagement with the Spanish task force, had been deployed to the Strait of Gibraltar to prevent a threatened Spanish blockade against French merchant shipping. (Released December 2000).