Attack on Fort Edward
| Attack on Fort Edward | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Second Imperial-Balionic War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Vionna-Frankenlisch |
 United States of Balion | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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John Pelham |
Gabriel H. Beauchamp | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 134 | 900 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 Killed, 3 Wounded | none | ||||||
The Attack on Fort Edward, also known as the Battle of Fort Edward was the bombardment of Fort Edward in Gestoria Bay, West Oakcliffe by the Balionic Army, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the Imperial Army garrison, that started the Second Imperial-Balionic War. With mounting tensions between the two nations, the Balionic government wished to weaken Vionna-Frankenlisch as much as possible before war was declared. Bradwater, the state capital of West Oakcliffe and a major port in northern Balion, was where a large portion of Imperial trade entered Balion. For forty years, Fort Edward had stood watch over Gestoria Bay under Imperial Army control to protect merchant shipping coming into Bradwater.
As tensions heightened, forces of the West Oakcliffe militia began to take up positions on the banks of Gestoria Bay and the situation began to seem like a siege. Lord Heatheridge in Vionna-Frankenlisch had enjoyed a relatively uneventful term as Prime Minister and the Fort Edward situation was his first challenge. The Imperial Navy tried to resupply the fort in January 1871 with the sloop-of-war HMNS Marienberg but it was fired upon by batteries on the Gestoria Bay banks. Gabriel H. Beauchamp, one of the first generals of the new Balionic Army, reinforced militia around Gestoria Bay and Bradwater with four hundred federal troops.
When Major John Pelham sent a message to Bradwater, explaining that he was expecting a supply ship from Vionna-Frankenlisch as the fort's situation was becoming dire. Upon receiving the message, General Beauchamp sent an ultimatum to Fort Edward, ordering the Fort to be evacuated and handed over to the West Oakcliffe authorities. Pelham refused on the eleventh of April and ordered the Fort's guns prepared. In the early morning of the twelfth, the Balionic forces opened fire on Fort Edward. The Fort's gunners tried to return fire but, severely outmatched, they were unable to cause any casualties, the Fort sustained four casualties when a gun exploded midway through the attack. The barrage was heavy and lasted from 4am to 6pm when the Balionic forces ran out of ammunition. Assuming the attackers were giving him a chance to surrender, Major Pelham ordered the fort's flag ran down and surrendered to General Beauchamp.
Background
Fort Edward, named after King Edward I of Vionna-Frankenlisch, had watched over Gestoria Bay for forty-one years to protect trade coming to and from Europa to Balion. The fort was commanded by Major John Pelham, an artillery officer from Lawrenceville. It usually had a garrison of three hundred men but at the time of the attack it was under half strength.
For two years, tensions had mounted between Vionna-Frankenlisch and Balion and the situation at Fort Edward was similarly tense. Resupply ships had tried to reach the fort but were scared off by Balionic batteries around Gestoria Bay, the sloop HMNS Marienberg being the last ship to attempt to run the gauntlet; she was seen off by heavy cannon fire from the West Oakliffe militia. Following this final attempt, Preston Marbrand, Governor of the Commonwealth of Oakliffe, ordered General Gabriel H. Beauchamp to reinforce the blockade of Fort Edward. Finally, on the 10th of April, Major Pelham sent a message to Bradwater, explaining the dire situation within the walls and that further supply ships were expected.
On the eleventh, General Beauchamp strengthened the blockade with fourteen cannons and four hundred federal soldiers, in addition to the five hundred men of the West Oakliffe Militia already there. He sent an envoy to the fort with an ultimatum, demanding the handover of the fort and promising the well-being of its garrison. It is still unknown whether or not this was sanctioned by Governor Marbrand, either of West Oakcliffe's senators or the president, or even at all. This followed a demand through diplomatic channels, so it is widely believed that General Beauchamp's ultimatum was officially sanctioned.
Bombardment
Major Pelham treated the envoy to dinner but made it quite clear that he could not accept the ultimatum under any circumstances and that the only way that he could abandon the fort would be if orders from a superior sanctioned it. The envoy returned to General Beauchamp with Pelham's reply at midnight and the next several hours were spent preparing for a bombardment.
The first guns began firing at 0400 on the 12th of April. A steady barrage of solid shot and shrapnel shells began raining against the fort's walls from the west bank of Gestoria Bay. Three batteries, under the command of Colonel Walter T. Sheridan, fired a thirty-minute barrage of five hundred shells. This caused some damage to the fort but nobody was killed and the defenders were woken up, Major Pelham ordered the men to their guns but, with less than half the paper garrison, not all of the fort's guns could be tended. The Vionna-Frankenlischian flag was joined by the flag of the Imperial Navy Corps of Marines, whose men made up the garrison, thus declaring the fort's intention to defend itself. After another half hour had passed without firing, the bombardment began in earnest.
Sheridan's three batteries were joined by another battery under Lieutenant Veld and began firing solid shot at a rate of 2 per minute. Two batteries on the east bank of Gestoria Bay began firing explosive shells from long range but they fell short or exploded before they could reach the walls. The old construction of the shells meant they did not explode on impact. It took Beauchamp four hours to bring up modern shells from the Bradwater Arsenal. The strong walls of the fort, combined with the flat angle at which they were fired, rendered the shrapnel shells fired by the Balionic guns essentially useless. Only the solid shot was able to damage the fort, battering chunks of masonry away from its walls.
The return fire was also mostly ineffectual. Due to the lack of manpower, only 18 of Fort Edward's 40 large-caliber guns could be used. Poor accuracy was compounded by a lack of gunnery training, poor sighting and smoke. One Balionic cannon was unseated at some point during the attack and several Balionic positions came under very heavy fire but nobody was killed and the performance of the Imperial gunners was generally lacklustre. Major Pelham showed bravery and tenacity in command of the fort, earning him the King's Cross on his return to Frankenlisch.
When modern explosive shells finally arrived from Bradwater, the engagement was decided. Two additional batteries of guns were brought up and the arrival of 10-inch siege mortars allowed the Balionicans to arc explosive shells into the interior of the fort, causing fires amongst the garrison buildings and making the transit of men and ammunition tricky. The firing lasted until 1800 on the same day with over five-thousand shells being fired by the Union side and 900 by the Imperial defenders.
Surrender
The bombardment lasted for fourteen hours. Pelham's men were exhausted, his ammunition was depleted and the heavy guns were begining to overheat. There was no evidence that the counterbattery fire had achieved anything and, during the later stages of the day, a gun had exploded and killed a man. As night began to fall and the bombardment showed little signs of wavering, he ordered the flags run down. Ensign Laura Fitz-Walker-Douglas hauled down the two standards and presented them to Pelham, he ordered them burned to avoid giving them up.
A delegation, comprising General Beauchamp and some of his staff, were rowed over to the fort and Pelham met them outside its gates. In recognition of their resistance in the face of such overwhelming firepower, especially as the two countries were not at war, Beauchamp offered Pelham generous terms, including the safe transit of his troops back to Frankenlisch. Pelham, for the sake of his men, agreed and the fort was turned over to the West Oakcliffe Militia. The Balionic Navy frigate UNS Grand Union carried Pelham and his men to Frankenlisch. By the time the Grand Union arrived, war had been declared and there was significant pressure on the government to intern the ship and take it as a prize, Major Pelham interceded on behalf of the ship and it was allowed to return to Balion.
The attack was the final straw amongst building tensions and Vionna-Frankenlisch officially declared war on Balion on the night of 12th April 1871. Even in Vionna-Frankenlisch the maintainance of the fort was a controversial political issue, but the sudden and violent attack blunted all debate. Lord Heatheride's government demanded full reparation, the return of the fort to Imperial hands and a full inquiry into the the incident. Upon the Balionic refusal, Lord Fallenver, the Imperial ambassador, gave the official declaration to President Larkinge at 5 minutes to midnight on the 12th.