Battle of Nieuwesel

Battle of Nieuwesel
Part of War of Restoration
A painting of Prince Frederick of Wolfswood with his staff during the battle.
Date 16-22nd March 1980 Location Nieuwesel, Imperial Wolfswood Result Decisive Royalist Victory
Belligerents
Royalists Imperial Wolfswood	Vionna-Frankenlisch Marienberg
Commanders and leaders
Edward, Earl of Westonland Earl of Darlington Duke of Gestoria Charles Woodhouse Frederick Duke of Katzer	James Trevelyan  (POW) Sergey Howell Richard Howleth † Peter Galbraith † Martin Evans  (POW) Emilio Badaro  (POW)
Units involved
Royalist Army of the North Army of East Wolfswood	First Army Group First Infantry Brigade
Strength
120,000 150,000	400,000 7,500
38,000
Casualties and losses
320,000

The Battle of Nieuwesel was a large engagement, often described as the decisive battle of the Vionna-Frankenlischian War of Restoration. It was fought between the 16th and 22nd of March 1980 by Royalist and Wolfswood forces under the overall command of Edward, Earl of Westonland and forces of the Socialist Vionna-Frankenlischian government commanded by General James Trevelyan. In a six-day running battle, Wolfswooder troops repelled constant attacks by Trevelyan's First Army Group and allowed the Earl of Westonland's royalists to accomplish an impressive encircling action which led to the destruction of a huge portion of the Vionna-Frankenlischian Red Army.

Uprisings in the south of Vionna-Frankenlisch had met little success in the face of determined government opposition, most notably at the disastrous Battle of Ershein. The Earl of Westonland, who led the uprisings, narrowly escaped capture and fled north to where the Royalist cause was seeing more success. In Berchtesland, Lopenfort, and Middlebrooke, strong cadres of rebel Royalists had risen and seized government garrisons and the Earl of Westonland arrived to take command. The First Army Group of the Red Army, representing the largest field formation of that army, was stacked up against the eastern border with Wolfswood and recieved the instruction on 14th March to invade before the Prince of Wolfswood could come to the Royalists' aid.

The main field army of Imperial Wolfswood was the Army of East Wolfswood and, headquartered at the village of Nieuwesel, it was well-entrenched and prepared for a Vionna-Frankenlischian offensive. When General James Trevelyan's First Army Group began its offensive on the 16th of March, it found itself resisted stiffly and suddenly taken in flank by the Royalist Army of the North, an irregular formation of 120,000 rebels under the Earl of Westonland. Over the course of six days, the First Army Group was steadily encircled and cut to pieces. In a decisive defeat-in-detail, the Red Army lost 320,000 men killed and captured along with substansial amounts of war equipment. The defeat was softened only slightly by the sucessful break-out of the 40,000 men of 4th Red Army Corps by General Sergey Howell, son of the Vionna-Frankenlischian chairman.

Background

Main article: Vionna-Frankenlischian War of Restoration

Since the overthrow of the Vionna-Frankenlischian monarchy at the end of the Imperial Civil War, the country had been ruled by a Socialist-led totalitarian government under the official leadership of Marshal Howell and under the de-facto leadership of several powerful government figures - notably Anna Tredinik and John Andreson. Much of the old aristocracy and royal family had escaped into exile in other parts of the region: mostly the loyal parts of the Frankenlischian Empire such as Gallandia and Espicuta - though the official Imperial Government-in-Exile was hosted in Balion. Since the formation of the Democratic People's Republic of Vionna-Frankenlisch in 1967, a War of Resistance had been waged throughout the nation. Border conflicts between the DPRVF and Imperial Wolfswood, which remained loyal to the old monarchy, were also common.

A large-scale uprising did not begin until the 1st of March 1980 when anti-government forces under Prince Edward, the Earl of Westonland, rose up across Frankenlisch and eastern Vionna. Following the opening Battle of Orrinshire, a surprise victory for the rebels, anti-government forces in the south were merged into the Royal and Imperial Army of Larkinge and Harrington. Government opposition strengthened immediately, however, and the RIALH was defeated heavily at the Battle of Ershein and lost thirty-thousand men. The Earl of Westonland fled north with a personal bodyguard of 300 cavalry, all knights or nobles. While the remains of the royalist forces in the south harassed and distracted the Red Army's forces in the region, the Earl of Westonland took command of the Royalist Army of the North and combined the 120,000 men of that unit at Middlebrooke-upon-Sea.

Authorisation to invade Imperial Wolfswood reached the headquarters of the Red Army's First Army Group at midday on 14th March. Marshal Howell's government, correctly assuming that the Prince of Wolfswood planned to come to the aid of the rebels, attempted a pre-emptive strike across the border to destroy the Army of East Wolfswood and force Wolfswooder neutrality in the conflict. To the commander of the Army of East Wolfswood, the Duke of Katzer, Prince Edward sent a message asking to combine forces. The Duke of Katzer replied sarcastically that the 400,000 men between them represented something of an obstacle.