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 Syaran Victory
Belligerents
Ruvelka	Syara
Commanders and leaders
Eliska Hanáková Alexander Somogy Krisztina Lakatos Dávid Halász Luca Novák Arkina Mkrtchyan Vanda Fekete Katalin Török Varos Saroyan	Arisdages Koundakjian Marko Kukolja Zlaten Danielov Velikov Dimitar Gorgievski Senko Penkov Spasov Toni Brajdić Libarid Zentuntsian Vojco Zibrecki Miladin Kamenov Karavelov
Units involved
Army Group Center 11th Kiskőrös Front 1st Debrecen Front	Army Group Beta 1st Army 6th Army
Strength
875,000 troops	660,000 troops
Casualties and losses
43,289 killed 132,491 wounded 36,000 captured	35,782 killed 102,450 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 through the Sagerejo Resevoir until it ends in the Sundering Sea, effectively bisecting north-central Ruvelka. Sagerejo was a major source of logistical support and resupply for the Imperial Army's Army Group Center under the command of General Eliska Hanáková owing to its significant rail and roadway infrastructure.

Field Marhsal Arisdages Koundakjian, commander of Syara's Army Group Beta, was tasked with destroying Ruvelka's Army Group Center as part of the Syaran Spring Offensives and developed Operation Polyandreion in response. Polyandreion called for a massive pincer movement by Army Group Beta's three field armies; 1st Army in the North, 6th Army in the Center, and 9th Army in the South. 1st and 9th Armies would swing south and north respectively to press into the flanks of Army Group Center while 6th Army would then push forward, with all three armies coalescing the Ruvelkans into a massive battle of annihilation where the Ruvelkan Army Group would be destroyed, leaving the road to Debrecen unprotected. This operation, coupled with Syaran efforts in the Kunhegyes and Kenderes Districts, would bring about the collapse of the Imperial Armed Forces of Ruvelka and convince Chancellor Edviná Molnár to sue for peace.

Lying in the path of 1st Army was Sagerejo, which had to either be captured or bypassed in order to complete the northern pincer movement. Having expected the Syaran offensive after the launch of Operation Sagaris in the south, General Hanáková had dug in Ruvelkan forces in-depth across the entire front. When the Syaran offensive began on 20 April the Syarans ran into heavy resistance from the defending Ruvelkans. After ten days of heavy fighting the Syaran corps of 1st Army, X, VI, and XXVIII Corps, had broken through Ruvelkan lines north-west of Sagerejo and began advancing on a frontage over 200 kilometers long.

Planning

General Kukolja, commander of 1st Army, wanted to avoid a pitched urban battle against entrenched Ruvelkan forces and initially hoped to bypass the city. X Corps would move north of the Sagerejo Resevior north of the city and capture Sládkodov 120 kilometers north of the city, while XXVIII Corps would move through Pabiawa through Strálíč. Once crossings across the Enguri River were secure VI Corps could encircle the cities and its defenders while X and XXVIII Corps could proceed to push through the strategic depths of the 11th Kiskőrös and 1st Debrecen Fronts. Kukolja intended for the X and XXVIII Corps to strike simultaneously against the 13th and 1st Armies respectively to prevent the reserve 22nd Army from diverting all of its forces to reinforcing either flank.

Alexander Somogyi, commander of the 11th Kiskőrös Front, had deployed the 32nd Army under Arkina Mkrtchyan directly west of Sagerejo, holding its western most position near Telak. In the north 13th Army under Luca Novák had been forced to postiions north of Droria but had lost Lengyeli to the Syarans on 26 April. In the south 1st Army under Dávid Halász held a thin defensive line from Kežno along the main Dzivyen-Sagerejo Highway, through Liulmita and Călimăsna to Avto in the south.

Having been forced back and losing the cities of Dzivyen and Truperk to the Syarans the previous week, Somogyi wanted to launch a counter attack against the Syaran XXVIII Corps utilizing the 32nd and 1st Armies. He attempted to convince General Krisztina Lakatos, commander of the 1st Debrecen Front, to dispatch the 22nd Army to shore up Ruvelkan positions along Sagerejo to prevent a Syaran counterstroke with VI Corps, but Lakatos was concerned that the still-reeling Ruvelkan forces would be unable to carry out a succesful attack. She instead urged Somogyi to hold off until she could dispatch the 9th Army under Katalin Török to reinforce the Front, which was still disengaging from supporting the fight against the rest of Army Group Beta further south in the Balatonalmádi District.