Operation Hippikon
Operation Hippikon, also known as the Syaran October Offensive, or the Kiskőrös Meat-Grinder, was a strategic offensive launched by Syara during the Zemplen War.
The operation was intended to link the two Syaran salients that had formed in September around Sarud in the Kunhegyes District and Borlynska in the Kiskőrös District, entrapping and subsequently annihilating the 5th Zalaegerzeg and 1st Debrecen Fronts in accordance with Syaran doctrine of Force Decimation. Ruvelkan resistance around Malavinsk and Vatuseve prevented the Syarans from linking up, and Ruvelkan counter attacks from the 11th Kiskőrös and 7th Mátészalka Fronts forced the Syarans to abandon their drive. The fighting during Hippikon reached an intensity not yet seen during the war and resulted in heavy losses to both sides. Syaran defeat led to the launching of Operation Kontos in November.
Background
Following the August Offensive, the Imperial Armed Forces of Ruvelka began mobilizing on the border in preparation to retake the disputed border regions and prevent further encroachments by the Syaran Commonality Armed Forces. Syara preempted Ruvelkan intentions by launching Operation Aspis to encircle and annihilate Ruvelkan forces amassed on the border, but with fighting now on Ruvelkan soil and against more prepared Ruvelkan forces the Syarans were unable to complete the encirclement of any major Ruvelkan forces. Despite capturing several major cities along the border, stiff resistance at the fortress cities of Albertirsa, Keszlis, Drahizyorsk, Vatuseve, and Pardukov stymied Syaran forces.
By October Syaran forces were arrayed in a disordered front line stretching from Pardukov in the north to Keszlis in the south. Army Group Alpha under the command of Field Marshal Nikodemos Cvetkov had captured the city of Sarud, but 2nd Army had been halted by Pardukov and 3rd Army faced stiff Ruvelkan resistance west of Malavinsk. The failure to capture the city of Vatuseve meant that there was a division between the forces of Army Group Alpha and Army Group Beta under Field Marshal Aleksandar Čorić. Army Group Beta was strung out along an extensive front line stretching from south of Vatuseve down south to Balatonalmádi. The expanse of the front line, much of it running across hundreds of miles of thick forests and built up urban areas, allowed for frequent Ruvelkan infiltration efforts and raids launched behind Syaran lines.
To Syaran Central Command in Zovahr, the positioning of the Syaran armies was less than desirable. In the north, Army Group Alpha had been constrained to a short, cramped frontage virtue of stiff Ruvelkan defenses around Pardukov and Malavisnk. Army Group Alpha's divisions were now crammed into a small area of operations, clogging roadways with extensive groupings of supply columns that made for tantalizing targets for the Ruvelkan Air Force. The Army Group's logistical issues were only hampered further by the Granika River, who's bridges were repeatedly struck by Ruvelkan air power, inhibiting transfers of troops and supplies from Syara into Ruvelka. With Army Group Gamma largely held up by Ruvelkan forces amid the Matra Mountains it left Army Group Beta in the center to contend with the full strength of Army Group Center largely unsupported.
In Debrecen the mood was mixed. The Ruvelkans had prevented a Syaran breakout into the Koryal Plain, which had been identified by Chief of Staff Áron Surány as a major threat which could upend the entirety of the Ruvelkan defensive stratagem. While the containment of Army Group Alpha by Army Group North was welcome, the situation in the center was more concerning. The Borlynska Salient formed by the Syaran 1st Army put the Syarans in position to strike Sagerejo, which if lost would split off the 1st Debrecen Front form the rest of Army Group Center and threaten to rupture the entire Ruvlekan defense in the Kiskőrös District. Surány was largely convinced that the Syarans of 1st Army would strike south in conjunction with the 4th and 6th Armies, battering and encircling the Székesfehérvár and Kiskőrös Fronts before linking up in Navapoyebsk.
AG Center's commander, Eliska Hanáková, disagreed and expressed the belief the main Syaran effort would fall against the 1st Debrecen Front, coupled with Syaran attacks against the Zalaegerszeg Front to alleviate pressure on Syara's AG Alpha. Surány wanted Hanáková to shift the Kiskőrös Front further south to reinforce the Kromta-Sagerejo-Navapoyebsk triangle, but Hanáková demurred, fearing that it would leave the 1st Debrecen Front unsupported in case of a Syaran attack in the direct of Urzivata. Hanáková's predictions proved accurate.