History Fanfic / OperationEclipse

* CoolGuns: Plenty to choose from, from Bedford's Browning Automatic Rifle and Carwell's scoped Springfield M1903 to Ryan's Thompson and the M1 carbine which Ralston adopts after her Lee-Enfield runs dry. The AEU also issues the Kyoshi Warriors M1 Garand rifles and M3 submachine guns.

* DramaPreservingHandicap: The AEU has only three thousand personnel and no means of resupply. While they have plenty of ammunition, they don't have enough to simply bomb and shoot the Fire Nation into submission.

* AfterActionReport: Bedford types out a report for the Battle of Kyoshi Island in Chapter 14.
* AmazonBrigade: The Kyoshi Warriors, as in the original show. The AEU originally tries to recruit them for the planned invasion of the continental Earth Kingdom, but when that plan falls through, they're used as a training pool for Bedford's proposal to assassinate the Fire Nation royal family.

* BigBadWannabe: Lieutenant Commander Zhang Min, a Fire Navy officer with ambitions of becoming a great conqueror. He tries to start off with Kyoshi Island, arriving only a few hours after Bedford does, but gets unceremoniously dispatched ten seconds into the ensuing fight, and his troops are subsequently torn a new one by the combined AEU/Kyoshi Warrior force.
* BoomHeadshot: Zhang Min has his brains homogenized by Carwell and his sniper rifle in pretty graphic detail.
* ChristmasEpisode: Chapter 16. The garrison at Kyoshi Island enjoys a Christmas party with the locals, while the Americans and German infantrymen sing carols together while dug in around the Laghima Island airfield.
* CleanupCrew: Ralston's engineers are tasked with fixing the mess caused by the battle for Kyoshi Island. They plow through the manmade landslide with bulldozers to reopen the pass through the valley, dismantle the burnt-out wreckage of an FN troopship, and even dig a mass grave to bury the three hundred or so recovered corpses.

* DemotedToExtra: The series' main cast (with the exception of Suki) don't even appear until Chapter 17.

** Averted, though, with the rest of the AEU. The German contingent is made up of standard (though quite experienced) former Wehrmacht infantrymen, the British are split between reservists, military policemen, and RAF personnel, while the only other Americans are Navy men aboard the destroyers and transports.

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The first nine chapters take place over a period of about ten hours, with Chapter 1 beginning at precisely 8:37am and Chapter 9 ending with a dinnertime conversation between Bedford and village headman Oyaji.

* GeneralFailure: Subverted with Zhang Min. While his attack on Kyoshi Island is a miserable failure, he actually does employ a reasonable strategy based on the information at hand. He accurately anticipates the warriors' threat. deploying his fast-moving cavalry to overwhelm any prospective defensive line, with solid infantry ranks following close behind to sweep aside any remaining resistance and a force kept in reserve for contingencies. Unfortunately for him, the cavalry and infantry run straight into Bedford's ambush and are trapped in the valley. Carwell picks off Zhang and the reserve company commander with his rifle, throwing the reinforcements into chaos and pinning them down on the beach to be pounded by machine gun fire and air support.

* LostRomanLegion: Rome's XVII Legion, believed to have been completely lost during the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, were actually the first documented victims of the break of the barriers between the worlds. One thousand, three hundred and thirty-six years before the beginning of this story, they appeared on Laghima Island. By quelling the civil unrest in the Earth Kingdom under Avatar Li Han, they managed to earn their passage home.
* MercyKill: While providing covering fire during the last stages of the engagement at Kyoshi Island, Ralston shoots an FN soldier in the leg, severing his femoral artery. With no other humane option available, Carwell puts the mortally wounded man out of his misery with a bullet to the chest.

* NoKillLikeOverkill: USS ''Langley'' absolutely ''shreds'' the unagi in Chapter 2, using no less than ten anti-aircraft cannons against it and blasting the giant eel so hard that it disintegrates into LudicrousGibs.

* TimeSkip: The fic jumps ahead from Christmas Day 1945 to February 1946 in between Chapters 16 and 17 to signal the end of the first act.
* ToWinWithoutFighting: The titular operation's ultimate goal. With Sozin's Comet on the horizon, fighting a more methodical campaign is off the table for the AEU. Instead, they plan to hit the Fire Nation with one overwhelming strike designed to smash their warfighting capability by crippling their leadership and capturing their capital.

* RealityEnsues: Although plentiful, the AEU's stockpiled ammunition and fuel isn't infinite. Without the ability to resupply, the only viable plan with Sozin's Comet on the horizon is to gamble on their ability to knock the Fire Nation out of the war with a single, carefully-prepared blow.

* AmbiguousSituation:
Bedford tells a story to Team Avatar about being ordered to capture a heavily defended German town, in which he was forced to choose between launching a direct assault and taking heavy casualties, or softening up the town up with an artillery barrage and risking civilian lives. Aang is aghast to learn that he chose the latter option, but Sokka is suspicious and demands to know how much truth there is in the tale.

* CleanupCrew: Ralston's engineers are tasked with fixing the mess caused by the battle for Kyoshi Island. They plow through the manmade landslide with bulldozers to make the valley passable again, dismantle the burnt-out wreckage of an FN troopship, and even dig a mass grave to bury the three hundred or so recovered corpses.

* TheEngineer: A whole company of them, Ralston being the most prominent, but none have actually seen combat before.
* EverybodySmokes: It ''is'' the 1940s, after all. Carwell and Ryan in particular are shown to be very heavy smokers. Bedford is a [[AvertedTrope notable exception]], though, having given up the habit during the war in order to physically keep up with his younger subordinates.

* FishOutOfTemporalWater: The AEU personnel, who are trapped in a world of benders, strange hybridized creatures, and steam-era techology.
* GeneralFailure: Subverted with Zhang Min. While his assault on Kyoshi Island is a miserable failure, he actually does employ a reasonable strategy based on the intel at hand. He anticipates the warriors' trheat, planning to overwhelm their line with fast-moving cavalry, then to sweep aside any remaining resistance with solid infantry ranks, while keeping a force at the rear in reserve. Unfortunately, the cavalry and infantry run straight into Bedford's ambush and are trapped in the valley. Carwell picks off Zhang and the reserve force commander with his rifle, throwing the reserves into chaos and pinning them down on the beach to be pounded by machine gun fire and air support.
* ItsRainingMen: 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry.

* MercyKill: While providing covering fire during the last stages of the engagement at Kyoshi Island, Ralston shoots an FN soldier in the leg, blowing through his femoral artery. With no more humane option available, Carwell puts the mortally wounded man out of his misery with a bullet to the chest.
* MookHorrorShow: At Kyoshi Island, we get points of view from an unnamed company commander (picked off by Carwell after witnessing Zhang Min's head explode out of the blue), a firebender sergeant (pinned down on the beach and killed by Ryan's men during the final sweep of the battlefield), and a navy ensign (who runs to get help from the landing ships and is presumably killed by the RAF air strike).

* RecklessGunUsage: Happens a couple times with the warriors, first in Chapter 3 when Suki and Akiko mess around with Bedford's weapon, then again in Chapter 13 when Rena accidentally points a rifle in Carwell's direction during the first day of training. Their weapons handling does get better over time, though.

* ShutUpGunshot: During the freak storm at Norden, Bedford fires off a BAR burst into the air to get the attention of the soldiers fleeing the tornado. It works, and he's able to get the men to reorganize and drag each other to safety.

* WinterWarfare: Very briefly, at Kyoshi Island. Both sides are well equipped for fighting in the snow, though, and the conditions very quickly develop into a secondary concern for the Fire Nation troops.

* DiceRollDeath: [[spoiler:Squadron Leader Jakob Patryk dies in the convoy airstrike when a rocket fired by his wingman strays off target and hits the next ship in the line. It penetrates the ship's storage, lighting off its stores of blasting jelly just as Patryk's aircraft is passing overhead.]]

* GeneralFailure: Subverted with Zhang Min. While his assault on Kyoshi Island is a miserable failure, he actually doe employ a reasonable strategy based on the intel at hand. He anticipates the warriors' trheat, planning to overwhelm their line with fast-moving cavalry, then to sweep aside any remaining resistance with solid infantry ranks, while keeping a force at the rear in reserve. Unfortunately, the cavalry and infantry run straight into Bedford's ambush and are trapped in the valley. Carwell picks off Zhang and the reserve force commander with his rifle, throwing the reserves into chaos and pinning them down on the beach to be pounded by machine gun fire and air support.

* ShutUpGunshot: In a flashback, Bedford fires off a BAR burst into the air during the freak storm at Norden to get the attention of the soldiers fleeing the tornado. It works, and he's able to get the men to reorganize and drag each other to safety.

* BigFancyGun: A RealLife example in Bedford's service weapon, the four-foot, twenty-pound [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1918_Browning_Automatic_Rifle Browning Automatic Rifle]].

* CoolGuns: Plenty to choose from, from Bedford's Browning Automatic Rifle and Carwell's scoped Springfield M1903A4 to Ryan's Thompson and the M1A1 carbine which Ralston adopts after her Lee-Enfield runs dry. The AEU also issues the Kyoshi Warriors M1 Garand rifles and M3 submachine guns.

* TheLostRomanLegion: Rome's XVII Legion, believed to have been completely lost during the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, were actually the first documented victims of the break of the barriers between the worlds. One thousand, three hundred and thirty-six years before the beginning of this story, they appeared on Laghima Island. By quelling the civil unrest in the Earth Kingdom under Avatar Li Han, they managed to earn their passage home.

* MookHorrorShow: At Kyoshi Island, we get the POVs of an unnamed company commander (picked off by Carwell after witnessing Zhang Min's head explode out of the blue), a firebender sergeant (pinned down on the beach and killed by Ryan's men during the final sweep of the battlefield), and a navy ensign (who runs to get help from the landing ships and is presumably killed by the RAF air strike).

* ShoutOut: The ending of Chapter 16, with [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/BandOfBrothers the Germans singing "Silent Night" while dug in on the airfield perimeter]].

* [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BFG BFG]]: A RealLife example in Bedford's service weapon, the four-foot, twenty-pound [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1918_Browning_Automatic_Rifle Browning Automatic Rifle]].

* BFG: A RealLife example in Bedford's service weapon, the four-foot, twenty-pound [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1918_Browning_Automatic_Rifle Browning Automatic Rifle]].

Their only way home is a return to battle. They must find a way to defeat the Fire Nation, end a brutal hundred-year conflict, and bring peace to a war-torn world.

''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13096303/1/Operation-Eclipse Operation Eclipse]]'' (also on [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/17086814/chapters/40181531 Archive of Our Own]]) is an ongoing FanFic of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' by rodsantos.