Second Battle of St Joseph (1903)

Second Battle of St Joseph
Part of First Great War Fale Ocean Front
File:Secondbattlestjoseph.jpg Brytisc marines moving through St Joseph
Date 11 June 1903 - 16 June Location St Joseph, Pepper Atoll Result Brytisc victory St Joseph recaptured by Brytene
Belligerents
Brytene	Template:Country data Zhenya
Commanders and leaders
Admiral Moira Teorell General Towers	Template:Country data Zhenya Colonel Rostislav Bodrov
Strength
Expeditionary Force	Template:Country data Zhenya 1 regiment
Casualties and losses
272 killed, 144 injured, 12 missing TOTAL - 428	Template:Country data Zhenya 401 killed, 27 injured, 98 POW, 360 missing TOTAL - 866
Unknown civilian casualties

The Second Battle of St Joseph took place in June 1903, the month after the capture of St Joseph by Zhenyan forces during the First Battle of St Joseph. The Imperial Lancer Regiment was nearly destroyed during the fighting, with the survivors surrendering on the 16th of June following fierce urban combat that saw heavy losses sustained by both sides.

Background

In the previous month, the Imperial Lancer Regiment had been deployed to St Joseph in response to the sinking of the Otvazhnyy, a shipping vessel that was caught up in the nationalist unrest that swept the city in April of that year. The Zhenyan regiment defeated the garrison of the city, which consisted of the survivors of the original garrison alongside the 2nd battalion of the Nortymba Regiment. In order to recapture the area, Brytisc Fleet Command assembled an Expeditionary Force under the command of Admiral Moira Teorell, tasked with retaking and securing the archipelago.

Order of battle

Brytene

The Brytisc came in force. The ground force mustered almost 2,000 infantry, composed of the Anglaland Prairie Regiment and the Nortymba Regiment, which had been merged with the Blue Dragoons battalion to recoup the loss of its 2nd Battalion during the first battle. The naval squadron that accompanied the landing force was led by the CFS Sæflod, a 'dreadnought' battlecruiser, and included two further battlecruisers, seven light battlecruisers and twenty-three destroyers, as well as support vessels.

Zhenya

The Imperial Lancer Regiment had lost 321 men, killed or wounded, during the First Battle of St Joseph. Most of the regiment's casualties had been incurred on the 1st Battalion during the assault on the beach. During the second battle, the battalion served as a skeleton force that stood guard around the governor's villa.

The battle

The CFS Sæflod firing on Zhenyan positions

The Brytisc fleet arrived early in the evening of the 11th of June. The massive naval force drove off the small squadron of Zhenyan warships and, with their mastery of the shoreline secured, subjected defensive positions in the town to an eight-hour bombardment. Landings were made to the west and east of the city by the Nortymba Regiment and the Anglaland Prairie Regiment, who assaulted the town in the dawn hours of the following day. The fighting was bitter, reduced to house-to-house combat in several areas, but after four days of combat the Imperial Lancer Regiment had been pushed back to the buildings surrounding the suuqa furan-hawada (Market Square). The regiment refused to surrender, fearing retribution for the earlier butchery of 3rd Company. Their location was shelled overnight by the CFS Sæflod, an intentional demonstration of the firepower of the warship intended to quell potential unrest among the native population. On the morning of the 16th, roughly 100 survivors surrendered to General Towers of Brytene.

Aftermath

Shortly after the battle, Tsar Konstantin III personally intervened and sacked Colonel Rostislav Bodrov. Because the Imperial Lancer Regiment had suffered such horrendous casualties, it was formally dissolved on 20 June. It would later be re-raised in 1908.