User:Norcandy/Sandbox/Defence of Port Hope
| Defence of Port Hope | |||||||||
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| Part of the Asterian Theatre of the Great War | |||||||||
Clockwise from top left: Troops of the Satavian 4th Division disembark at Port Hope Harbour • Generals Harrison and Warwick surrender to Nuvanian forces • Estmerish forces defend Crayes Knoll • Damage to the starboard side of HMSS Goodwin | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Template:Country data Estmere Estmerish Empire |
 Nuvania | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Template:Country data Estmere Jonty Goodwin † Oscar Harrison  James Warwick Template:Country data Estmere Edgar William Rose † Richard de Vit † |
Schalk Barnard Pieter van der Merwe | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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11,422 troops 1 cruiser 3 destroyers |
26,100 troops 66 planes 1 battleship 1 cruiser 4 destroyers 2 torpedo boats 1 minelayer 2 submarines | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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9,281 killed or missing 1,22 wounded 2,141 captured 1 cruiser sunk 1 destroyer sunk |
3,882 killed or missing 7,599 wounded 1 plane destroyed | ||||||||
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Civilian casualties: 3,500 killed 6,000 wounded | |||||||||
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The Defence of Port Hope (3-9 April 1928), also known as the Fall of Port Hope and sometimes in Satavia as the Last Stand, was a week-long military engagement that took place in and around Port Hope, the capital of the Dominion of Satavia. The fighting around Port Hope was especially fierce, and saw the near-complete annihilation of the Satavian 4th Division as well as the Estmerish forces in the city - some 81% of the city's defenders were reported killed or missing after the end of the fighting. The Fall of Port Hope saw the collapse of the Grand Alliance defence of Satavia, and much of the country was swiftly occupied by Nuvanian forces in the following days - with the exception of Victoriaburg in the Western Freestate, where forces under the command of Thaddeus Crace resisted repeated Nuvanian attempts to take the city for a further four months. The fighting destroyed much of Port Hope's historic settlment, paticularly Port Hope Castle a 17th-century fortress that was left in ruins after its shelling by Nuvanian forces - in addition to some 3,500 civilian deaths as a result of fierce urban combat.
Satavia had been a dominion of Estmere since the federation of the Satavian colonies in 1816, and consequently when Estmere entered into the Great War, Satavia was compelled to declare war on the Entente powers. Soon, the historically and culturally linked nations of Nuvania and Satavia found themselves at war. Despite concerns levied by the Governor-General of Satavia Jonty Goodwin, 3rd Baron Ashgrove of a naval invasion across the Van Horn straight, these were largely ignored by Estmerish planners who felt that the Nuvanian Navy lacked the capability to both defeat the Royal Estmerish and Satavian Navies and then stage a successful naval invasion. Furthermore, Estmerish military commanders also required large quantaties of manpower and material to defend Estmere itself, and were hesitant to divert resources to the Empire.
However, the Nuvanian Navy was able to engage the Royal Satavian Navy off the coast of Cape Devon, inflicting heavy damage upon the Satavian fleet. Whilst the Battle is generally regarded as having ended in a stalemate, it saw much of the Satavian fleet withdraw to Victoriaburg and the main Vehemens naval base at Port Arthur.