Ruvelkan Winter Counter-Offensive

Ruvelkan Winter Counter-Offensive
Part of Zemplen War
Ruvelkan armor conducts a water crossing
Date 13 November - 23 December 2008 Location Ruvelka Result Ruvelkan Operational Failure
Belligerents
Ruvelka	Syara
Commanders and leaders
Edviná Molnár	Samoil Boseovski Nikolai Balkanski
Units involved
Imperial Armed Forces of Ruvelka	Syaran Commonality Armed Forces
Strength
1,600,000 personnel 3,300 tanks 1,200 aircraft	1,200,000 personnel 4,800 tanks 870 aircraft
Casualties and losses
26,488 killed 56,821 wounded	23,871 killed 45,945 wounded 8,500 captured

The Ruvelkan Winter Counter-Offensive, known as Operation: Szablya to Ruvelka, was a series of major military offensives launched by the Imperial Armed Forces of Ruvelka during the Zemplen War. Launched during the winter months of late 2008, the operation was a combined arms strategic operation carried out by the whole of the Ruvelkan military with the aim of repulsing the Syaran Commonality Armed Forces from Ruvelkan soil. It lasted from 13 November to 23 December.

Following the escalation of the 2008 Zemplen Crisis, the Syaran military invaded Ruvelka and drove Ruvelkan forces back across the entire border after major battles in the summer, seizing the disputed territory of Zemplen along the way. They Syaran government had assumed the rapid defeat and heavy losses suffered would force Ruvelka to accept a ceasefire, but Chancellor Edviná Molnár staunchly refused to accept terms while Ruvelkan soil was still occupied and ordered the Ruvelkan military to begin drawing up plans for a counter-attack. Following the cessation of major Syaran offensive operations in September, Ruvelka began massing strategic reserves in order to launch a general offensive against the entire front. Code-named Szablya (Saber), the operational objectives of the offensive were to destroy the Syaran 3rd and 6th Armies, which would destabilize the Syaran front lines by de-anchoring the defensive positions of both Army Group Alpha and Army Group Gamma. The offensive began on 13 November following a two week air campaign aimed at softening up Syaran defenses.

Ruvelkan forces made good progress in some areas of the front, scoring victories like the Battle of Sárkeszi, but elsewhere Syaran resistance stiffened and forced the Ruvelkans into pitched battles. In these instances superior Syaran command and control, combined with copious levels of firepower, allowed Syaran forces to blunt the Ruvelkan offensive. By mid-December the Syarans had largely halted the Ruvelkan advance, and in some areas were able to launch counter-strokes to repel Ruvelkan forces. The operation was officially declared over by the Ruvelkan General Staff on 23 December, and was followed by a Christmas Ceasefire. Although Ruvelkan forces had made impressive gains in some sectors, Szablya overall was deemed a failure by Ruvelka as Syaran forces still occupied significant tracts of Ruvelkan soil by the end of the fighting. The counter offensive however did provide valuable learning experience for the Ruvelkan General Staff, who would use the lessons learned to far greater effect in the Ruvelkan Autumn Offensive.