User:Norcandy/Sandbox/Defence of Port Hope
| Defence of Port Hope | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
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 | |||||||||
|
12,644 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 | |||||||||
|
9,281 killed or missing 1,222 wounded 2,141 captured 1 cruiser sunk 1 destroyer sunk |
3,882 killed or missing 7,599 wounded 1 plane destroyed | ||||||||
|
Civilian casualties: 3,500 killed 6,000 wounded | |||||||||
_at_Espiritu_Santo_on_23_July_1943.jpg)
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 on 21 February 1928, 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 - leaving Port Hope relatively undefended, and effectively granting Nuvanian forces naval supremacy over the Van Horn straight. In addition, Satavia's only aerial support - four squadrons of the Royal Air Force - were withdrawn to Estmere in order to defend continental Euclea on 6 March.
On the 1 April 1928 the Satavian destroyer HMSS Macquarie was sunk by four naval bombers dispatched from Nuvanian airbases around Philipsbaai, whilst the light cruiser HMSS Goodwin was damaged and returned to Port Hope for repairs. Two days later, on the morning of the 3 April, a force of some 26,000 Nuvanian troops landed at Missionary Bay, some four kilometers south of King Edward's Mound, which offered a commanding view over the city. The landings were obscured by a thick fog and consequently went unnoticed for some time, and the landings went ahead unopposed. Meanwhile, similar simultaneous strikes occured across the Hope Province, that saw the entire Cape James peninsula fall by 08:00 that morning. Nuvanian forces assaulted isolated Satavian positions at King Edward's Mound at around 09:30; quickly seizing the key positions overlooking the city. As the situation deteriorated further, General Harrison ordered Lt. Col. Richard de Vit to launch a counter-attack and retake the mound. Despite the protestations of Harrison's second-in-command, Lt. General Warwick, who argued that such an assault would be suicidal as not only did the Nuvanians outnumber Satavian forces, but had had time to dig into defensive positions, Harrison nonetheless ordered De Vit to attack. De Vit, despite his own attempts to convince Harrison to delay the attack, carried out his orders regardless, attacking with some seven hundred men; of which forty eight survived. Despite this disastrous attack, and despite Nuvanian forces advancing from Cape James with the goal of surrounding the city, Harrison continued to focus his attentions on King Edward's Mound. At 13:00, the Nuvanian forces, under the command of General Barnard, had manouvered artillery onto the heights of King Edward's Mound and had begun shelling the city from above. Soon, Harrison ordered a second attack on the mound - commonly refered to as the "Bloody Assault", led by Colonel Rose and the entire Estmerish contingent of eight hundred troops, suplemented by two hundred Satavian troops, stormed the mound. Despite overruning several Nuvanian positions at the foot of the mound, the attack soon became a slaughter, leaving all eight hundred Estmerish troops killed or wounded, including Colonel Rose, in addition to most of the Satavians.
By 14:00 that afternoon, it became clear that the city was soon to be encircled - and despite the urging of Lt. Gen. Warwick, Governor-General Goodwin - himself a former member of the Estmerish Army - refused to leave the city. By 15:30 the city had been encircled by Nuvanian forces, and large fires had broken out across Kupier district, which sat directly below Kind Edward's Mound and was a prime target for Nuvanian artillery. Initial plans to evacuate by sea were soon foiled by a Nuvanian air attack; the four Royal Satavian Naval vessels sat out at Breybach Bay came under heavy aerial attack by Nuvanian naval bombers; the HMSS Goodwin, which had only been repaired two days prior, was hit by four torpedos to its starboard side and began taking on water. Meanwhile, HMSS Pienaar was sunk after a bomb exploded directly above its amunition store, killing the whole crew. Despite the ferocious attack, the remaining two destroyers, HMSS Van Vallier and Somerset slipped out of the harbour with minor damage. The captain of the Goodwin, who was by now seriously injured, then gave the order to manouver the ship towards the narrow and shallow mouth of Breybach Bay; where she was scuttled by her crew, acting as an impromptu blockship that prevented Nuvanian naval forces from entering Breybach Bay until the 17 April; a full two weeks after she was scuttled.