Battle of Sagerejo

Battle of Sagerejo
Part of the Zemplen War
Sagerejo burns on the banks of the Enguri River
Date 30 April - 27 May 2009 Location Sagerejo, Ruvelka Result Pyrrhic Syaran Victory
Belligerents
Ruvelka	Syara
Commanders and leaders
Eliska Hanáková	Arisdages Koundakjian
Units involved
Army Group Center	Army Group Beta
Strength
500,000 troops 8,670 AFVs 2,100 artillery pieces	350,000 troops 15,000 AFVs 4,700 artillery pieces
Casualties and losses
35,000 killed 83,000 wounded	37,500 killed 112,000 wounded

The Battle of Sagerejo was assault and subsequent occupation of the city of Sagerejo by the Syaran Commonality Armed Forces during the Zemplen War. The bloodiest battle of the entire war, the battle saw extensive urban combat and artillery usage with heavy casualties on both sides. The battle started on 30 April 2009 and concluded on 27 May.

Background

Sagerejo is a strategically important city located in central Ruvelka. Most of Ruvelka's western road network runs through the city, and it offers the most direct route to the vital citides of Polgardi and the capital Debrecen. The city is split in half by the Enguri River, which flows north into the Koryal Plain and ends into the Sundering Sea, effectivelly bisecting north-west Ruvelka. Home to over a million inhabitants, Sagerejo had been identified by Syaran strategists as a major obstacle to any push eastward towards the Kurilla Mountains.

By early 2009 the Syaran Commonality Armed Forces were under significant pressure from the Government of Syara to produce a decisive battlefield victory by destroying the ability of the Imperial Armed Forces of Ruvelka to wage war. This had culminated in the Syaran Spring Offensives, three major thrusts in the south, center, and northern sections of the front line. The Syarans had begun the offensives with Operation Sagaris in the south in the Kenderes Steppe, and in the center the forces of Army Group Beta under Field Marshal Arisdages Koundakjian were tasked with carrying out Operation Polandreion, which was to culminate in the destruction of Ruvelka's Army Group Center under Eliska Hanáková.

The Ruvelkans however had been expecting the Syaran offenisve and Army Group Beta had been forced to break through multiple successive defensive lines, which bogged down the Syaran spearheads and resulted in heavy fighting amid Ruvelkan trenches and fortifications.

Planning

Sagerejo laid in the path of the Syaran advance and was supposed to be captured by 1st Army under Colonel General Marko Kukolja. The intention behind the Syaran offensive was for 1st Army to capture Sagerejo in the northern sector while 9th Army would push in from the south, seizing the highway between Székesfehérvár and Hajdúböszörmény. This would draw away Ruvelkan reserves and allow 6th Army to punch through straight towards Debrecen.

Ruvelkan forces had deduced Syaran intentions, partially based on the limited routes of advance the Syarans had to deal with. General Hanáková, commanding Ruvelka's Army Group Center, had arrayed her four Fronts (Debrecen, Kiskőrös, Balatonalmádi, and Székesfehérvár) in an elaborate defense in depth that extended from the front lines east against the Kurillas for almost 400 kilometers in depth. The front line, extending from 1st Army in the north to 9th Army in the south, was nearly 700 kilometers in length. The Syaran armies were awkwardly and unevenly strung out along the front owing to their rapid deployment during the earlier stages in the war; 9th Army had to cover over 300 kilometers of the Balatonalmádi District.