Operation Machaira

Operation Machaira
Part of Zemplen War
A Syaran machinegunner displaces during the battle.
Date 7 - 18 March 2010 Location Northern Ruvelka Result Syaran victory
Belligerents
Ruvelka	Syara
Commanders and leaders
Péter Novák	Vladislav Ivov Kochanov
Units involved
5th Zalaegerszeg Front	3rd Army
Strength
240,000	160,000
Casualties and losses
8,328 killed 20,256 wounded	6,153 killed 14,675 wounded

Operation Machaira was the last offensive launched by Syara during the Zemplen War.

Having been heavily battered during the Ruvelkan Autumn Counter-Offensive, 3rd Army had been relegated to protecting the flank of Army Group Alpha as it held position along the frontline. An attacker by nature, 3rd Army's commander Colonel General Vladislav Ivov Kochanov began organizing an offensive aimed at seizing control of several passes through the Kurilla Mountains towards Polgardi. Despite resistance from his commanding officer Field Marshal Nikodemos Cvetkov, Kochanov pursued the offensive anyway. Employing lighter, more mobile independent forces rather than the large mechanized armies the Syaran National Army preferred, the Syarans made good progress, but after five days of relative success faced repeated counterattacks by the Ruvelkan 5th Zalaegerszeg Front. By 18 March the Syarans had exhausted their drive and Kochanov called off the operation. The offensive infuriated Cvetkov, who was worried that the operation had placed 3rd Army in a poor position to repel a major Ruvelkan counter-offensive, which Cvetkov feared was coming. The Field Marshal's fears proved well founded, as the Ruvelkans unleashed Operation Homefront just a month later, which shattered 3rd Army and sent Army Group Alpha reeling. By the time 3rd Army reconstituted on the border with Makedon, the war was over.