Operation Balaton

Operation Balaton
Part of the Zemplen War
Ruvelkan HH1 Helicopter Gunships in flight.
Date 8 - 29 September 2009 Location Central Ruvelka Result See Aftermath
Belligerents
Ruvelka	Syara
Commanders and leaders
Eliska Hanáková	Arisdages Koundakjian Marko Kukolja Zlaten Danielov Velikov Valentin Stavrik
Units involved
Army Group Center	Army Group Beta
Strength
1,250,000 troops	800,000 troops
Casualties and losses
20,497 killed 55,860 wounded	14,788 killed 31,763 wounded

Operation Balaton was a stragic offensive carried out by Ruvelka during the Zemplen War. The operation lasted from 8 to 29 September 2009 and was carried out by Army Group Center under General Eliska Hanáková against Army Group Beta under Field Marshal Arisdages Koundakjian.

Following Operation Polyandreion, the Imperial General Staff of the Imperial Armed Forces of Ruvelka was concerned by the progress of the Syaran forces in the central section of the front. While the Syaran advance at halted at the foothills of the Kurilla Mountain Range, the Syaran threat to Debrecen was considered significant, and General Hanáková was ordered to launch a counter-offensive to reverse Syaran gains and remove the strategic threat. Hanáková was reluctant to go on the offensive so soon after the heavy figthing in the Battle of Sagerejo, but developed a plan to exploit the tenuous position of the Syaran forces arrayed across central Ruvelka.

The Ruvelkans began the offensive on 8 September 2009 just six days after the end of Operation Hretha. The primary focus of the attack fell on the Syaran 9th Army, which was strung along an elongated defensive line across a front nearly 300 kilometers long. Secondary attacks aimed to force Syaran forces of 1st Army. The Ruvelkans enjoyed initial success against the 9th Army, but diversionary attacks against 1st Army fell flat, allowing the Syarans to divert reserves from 6th Army to shore up the 9th. After two weeks of heavy fighting the Ruvelkans had driven 9th Army back nearly 50 kilometers in all sectors, but on 19 September the Syarans launched counter-strokes against the increasingly exposed flanks of the 8th Balatonalmádi Front. The Ruvelkans were forced to fall back on the defensive, but Koundakjian's insistence on continuing the attack were denied by Syaran Commonality Armed Forces Chief of Staff Vakhtang Avakian, bringing the fighting to an end on 29 September.

The outcome Operation Balaton remains a point of contention. While the Ruvelkans gained ground in many sectors and overall pushed Army Group Beta back, Army Group Center fell short of its operational objectives. Syaran Central Command's refusal to allow Field Marshal Koundakjian to continue his counter-offensive became a bitter point of contention between himself and his superiors in Zovahr, while General Hanáková summarized the operation in a message to Chief of Staff Áron Surány as "a very bloody draw".