Battle of Port Blacksand

Battle of Port Blacksand (Operation Broken Salvation)
Part of the Terre Azure War
An insurgent stronghold goes up in smoke after a strategic aerial strike during combat operations in Port Blacksand
Date 17 April – 2 July, 2014 Location Port Blacksand, Terre Azure Result EATA victory
Belligerents
Blackhelm Confederacy Polarus Bungussi Jafala Cote d'Cuivre Caprica	Terre Azure Azuran militias
Commanders and leaders
Marcus Thatcher Iosephus Blackarrow Ghaza Kali Brigadier General Jonathan Mathews	Raphael Nargolet

The Battle of Port Blacksand — code-named Operation Broken Salvation — was a joint EATA military offensive from April to July 2014, considered the highest point of conflict in the Terre Azure War. It was led by the Blackhelm Confederate army against the Azuran stronghold in the city of Port Blacksand and was authorized by a unanimous EATA council decision. The Confederate military called it "some of the heaviest urban combat within Astyria in the 21st century."

This operation was the second major operation in Blacksand. Earlier in the year, coalition forces participated in a combined land and sea blockade of the city in order to coerce the government and pro-government forces to step down and surrender the city. When EATA forces (mostly Confederate Marines) fought into the center of the city, they came upon the powerful Citadel, prompting a heavy battle and ending ultimately with the death of Father Raphael Nargolet in his office.

Background

In November 2014, President Raphael Nargolet began instituing a series of escalating laws aimed at oppressing the population and driving out any foreign influence from Terre Azure. In a relatively short time, citizens from both the Dangish Empire and the Blackhelm Confederacy were imprisoned, and video of some Dangish civilians being executed started to service on the web.

An emergency EATA meeting was called, and a two pronged attack was laid out. The Dangish Imperial Army was to push in from the west, while the Hesperidisian members would launch an amphibious invasion on the capital city of Port Blacksand itself, intent to force the current regime to step down. On 23 Februaru 2014, after a series of incidents, coalition soldiers were finally on the ground and began setting out to encircle the city, severing it from any help from the outside.

Over the next months, coalition stength continued to grow as the multi-national force recieved reinforcements from all members, and air strikes and naval artillery bombardments continued to rock Azuran strongpoints. During this time, Nargolet ordered a gas attack to be carried out against EATA soldiers as well as his own civilians, causing a number of casualties and forcing EATA leaders to act immediately, to halt further attacks of this kind.

Preparations

EATA forces

During the weeks and months preceding the final attack, Confederate and allied forces had established checkpoints around the city to prevent anyone from entering the city, and to intercept insurgents attempting to flee.

In addition, overhead imagery was used to prepare maps of the city for use by the attackers. EATA units were augmented by Cuivran interpreters to assist them in the planned fight. Several probes using Confederate TAURUS land drones were also ordered into the city, to probe for possible weak points and clear areas of IED's ahead of the advance.

Confederate, Polarussian, Jafalan, Bungussan, and Cuivran forces totaled just under 64,000. The Blackhelm Confederacy had gathered some 16,000 Marines and 25,000 Army soldiers that would take part in the assault with a number of troops serving in support roles. Forces grouped up by nationality around their respective checkpoints and areas outside the city that wa assigned to their unit, and would pour into the area simultaneously at the designated time of attack.

Azuran forces

In April, Port Blacksand was defended by about 5,000 government troops and 20,000+ militia members loyal to Nargolet. Earlier estimates put the numbers much higher, but allied bombarments had reduced their numbers, and intelligence reports believe that a number of military leaders and groups of soldiers escaped before the coalition cordon was completed.

The Azuran soldiers and militamen present in the city prepared fortified defenses in advance of the anticipated attack, digging tunnels and trenches, as well as preparing spider holes, and building and hiding a wide variety of booby traps and improvised explosive devices. In some locations they filled the interiors of darkened homes with large numbers of propane bottles, large drums of gasoline, and ordnance, all wired to a remote trigger that could be set off by an insurgent when troops entered the building. They blocked streets with road barriers and even emplaced them within homes to create strong points behind which they could attack unsuspecting troops entering the building. The Azuran infantry were equipped with a variety of advanced small arms, and provided the milita with a wide array of weapons, as well as, body armor, uniforms and helmets.

They booby-trapped buildings and vehicles, including wiring doors and windows to grenades and other ordnance. Anticipating EATA tactics to seize the roof of high buildings, they bricked up stairwells to the roofs of many buildings, creating paths into prepared field of fire which they hoped the advancing troops would enter.

Intelligence briefings given prior to battle reported that coalition forces could also encounter hardline Christian fanatics, some even from the Blackhelm Confederacy, and soldiers were briefed on how to handle the situation should they encounter foreign fighters during combat.

Civilian presence

Most of Port Blacksand's civilian population fled the city prior to the EATA entry, which greatly reduced the potential for noncombatant casualties, and CIS estimates believed that between 70-90% of civilians were outside the urban area by the time coalition forces reached the citadel. In a vain attempt to halt this exodus, Azuran forces unleashed a number of attacks against the civilian population trying to flee, accounting for the vast amount of civilian casualties during the battle.

The Battle

Attack

File:PolarussianSoldierinPBS.jpg

Polarussian Army soldier takes a break from fighting while manning a checkpoint outside Port Blacksand.

Ground operations began on the night of 17 April 2014. Attacking from the north, west and east, the comined EATA forces began to leave their checkpoitns and staging grounds and advance to the city on all points. Many of these columns were lead in by TAURUS drones, to serve both to pick up IED's as well as take the brunt of gunfire away from the advancing soldiers. The attack was supported by round the clock air strikes, coupled with a massive naval artillery bombardment that leveled large portions of the city.

The the coalition forces, moving under the cover of darkness, began gaining ground within the city in the early hours of 18 April, 2014 But soon found themselves held up by intense resistance. When light began to crack over the horizon, a renewed push into the city managed to capture the main train station. Heavy fighting continued as the allies took a number of other buildings in the next several weeks, and EATA forces were solidly in command of the city's suburbs and large swaths of the city before being ordered to halt on June 1, as Nargolet made a request for a ceasefire. In actuality, Azuran forces used this time to further reinforce the central district with no intentions of surrender, but convinced coalition leaders that he was willing to cooperate. Large numbers of prisoners and hostages, taken during the earlier sweeps prior to the EATA invasion, were released, and allied forces felt confident that a resolution was at hand. Despite the futility of the situation, however, Nargolet had no intention of stepping down, and he turned down a 48 hour ultimatum to do so on 15 June, once EATA commanders grew frustrated with is obstruction. On June 17, the allied forces were once again on the move.

After heavy combat, Confederate forces had managed to capture the major highway running through the city, and EATA forces were now able to establish supply lines directly across the city, as well as secure communications and open more efficient paths to remove dead and wounded. With the highway in coalition hands, a significant portion of the resistance seemed to melt away, leading commanders to believe that they had broken the morale of the enemy. As they had seeen time and time again, however, the Azurans were masters of treachery, and they were only readying for a later fight in the citadel.

File:PortBlackSandBomb.jpg

An air strike is called in on a suspected insurgent hideout in Port Blacksand.

As forces closed the noose even tighter, IED's began to become more and more prevalent, causing a number of casualties among coalition troops and slowing them diwn significantly. Nonetheless, by the morning of the third day of this renewed offensive EATA forces had surrounded the citadeal.

A massive combined barrage was set unleashed against the massively fortified Azuran bastion, yet barely a dent was made. A snap decision by commanders was made against delaying an assault in favor of waiting for heavier bunker busting bombs to arrive from the Confederate mainland out of a fear that Azuran leadership might be trying to tunnel out of the city, and a major press was pushed into the structure. Initial attacks were repulsed with heavy losses, but coalition troops were finally able to breach the walls and pour into the government stronghold, wiping out much of what was left of the leadership, with Nargolet himself dying in a gun fight in his office with a team of Confederate marines

While most of the fighting subsided by 21 June 2014, EATA forces to face determined isolated resistance from insurgents hidden throughout the city. By 26 June 2014, after nine days of fighting, the EATA command described the action as mopping up pockets of resistance. Some fighting is still being reported sporadically throughout the city, but combat operations were considered officially over with the swearing in of Andrew Mullins on 2 July 2014.

Aftermath

File:PortBlacksandTraining.jpg

Confederate Conurbii solider watches over the rifle practice of a group of Bungussan soldiers outside Port Blacksand

The battle proved to be far bloodier that EATA commanders had hoped, and showed the leaders of the alliance what they might need to expect in future urban combat within the region. Coalition forces suffered a total of 209 killed and 1,216 wounded during the ground portion of Operation Broken Salvation. Confederate forces had 32 killed and 85 wounded in the final attack on the citadel. Cuivran forces had 4 killed and 10 wounded, and Polarussian troops suffered 47 killed and 230 wounded. Bungussan and Jafalan forces also saw 18 killed and 41 wounded and 38 killed and 156 wounded, respectively. Estimates of insurgent casualties are complicated by a lack of official figures. Most estimates places the number of insurgents killed at around 12,000 to 15,000 with some estimations as high as over 20,000 killed.Coalition forces also captured approximately 1,500 Azuran government members, soldiers, and milita during the operation. The Red Cross estimated directly following the battle that some 800 civilians had been killed during the offensive.

The Confederate Navy fired a total of 5,865 high-explosive rounds during the battle, while the air forces present expended 428 precision bombs, 591 rockets and missiles, and hundreds of thousands of machine gun and cannon rounds.

Port Blacksand suffered extensive damage to residences, mosques, city services, and businesses. Many of the churches in the city had been used as arms caches and weapon strongpoints by Azuran forces, leading to a difficult deicision by many Confederate pilots on whether or not to strike the buildings or not. Of the roughly 50,000 buildings in Port Blacksand, between 7,000 and 10,000 were estimated to have been destroyed in the offensive and from half to two-thirds of the remaining buildings had notable damage.