Battle of Asleen

Battle of Asleen
Part of Operation Pelican Spanning in the World War
Asleen Steel Bridge seen from a ZDAF plane after the battle, May 1952.
Date May 1st-3rd, 1952 Location Asleen, Vulkaria Result Strategic DSC victory
Belligerents
Zamastan	D.S.C. Drambenburg
Commanders and leaders
Anthony Fox Durham Stark	Dan-Jürgen von Essen Belitimo Vassini
Strength
	60,000 personnel
Casualties and losses
14,031 killed 20,200 wounded	8,113 killed 12,000 wounded

The Battle of Asleen was a battle in the World War which occured from May 1-3, 1952, and saw a successful counterattack by D.S.C. forces led by Drambenburgian general Dan-Jürgen von Essen against the town of Asleen, Vulkaria, which was held by Zamastanian and Caspiaan troops. After having captured the town shortly after the Battle of Sennepal, Zamastanian and other Allied forces were using Asleen as a staging point to continue Operation Pelican Spanning, the Allied operation to liberate Vulkaria. On May 1st, DSC forces attacked the town and caught the Zamastanians off guard, pushing them out of the town for two days before Allied reinforcements were able to recapture Asleen following a strategic retreat.

Over 14,000 Zamastanian troops were killed, making it the deadliest battle ever in the history of the Zamastanian Armed Forces. More than 8,000 DSC troops were killed. Though the battle resulted in the recapture of the city by Allied forces, it was a brief strategic victory for the DSC as they managed to delay the Allied regrouping and were able to recouperate their forces into defensive positions near Murzi.

Background

Only weeks before on April 7th, 1951, Operation Pelican Spanning had begun. It was the largest amphibious military operation in history and saw the forces of Zamastan, Emmiria, Quetana, Ruskayn, Caspiaa, Rio Palito, and Albarine land on the northwest stretch of Vulkaria. From there, they begin a long operation to drive the DSC out of Vulkaria. A day into the operation, Zamastanian forces conducted a landing at Sennepal, and the ensuing battle was also one of the deadliest engagements of the war with over 20,000 casualties, among them 8,231 killed.

The amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault on April 7th. On April 8th, in order to establish an additional beach front for Allied reinforcements, Zamastanian troops under the command of General Anthony Fox landed at Sennepal to intense resistance from the Sanguine defenders. The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches, and the shore was mined and covered with obstacles such as wooden stakes, metal tripods, and barbed wire, making the work of the beach-clearing teams difficult and dangerous. After capturing the beaches, the battle moved into the city of Sennepal itself, where Zamastanians were met with harsher fighting due to close quarters and house-to-house engagements. Eventually, Sanguine defenders were routed, and Zamastanian forces captured the city and were able to land more troops for the continuation of the invasion.

Moving into the largely abandoned village of Asleen several miles inland, Zamastanian forces dug in and began massing their troops for a more extensive push against DSC fighters. In response, DSC troops were trucked in from Murzi, one of the few easily defended areas of the Vulkarian Expanse and only one night's drive from bases in the DSC. This short passage made it very difficult for Allied forces to intercept Axis transports, and air interdiction proved equally difficult, because the nearest Allied airbase at Vessalia, was over 800 mi distant and was under constant Drambenburgian bombardment. Thus, all reinforcements had to come from the south, where the naval landings were still occuring.

Battle

On May 1st, 1952, elements of the DSC 5th Army, headed by substituting Drambenburgian General Dan-Jürgen von Essen, reached the Allied positions on the eastern foot of the Murzi Mountains and, despite excellent use of the Zamastanian 75 mm (2.95 in) guns, which caused heavy casualties among the DSC infantry, the Zamastanian defenders were easily forced back. Zamastanian artillery and tanks of the 1st Armored Division then entered the battle, destroying some enemy tanks and forcing the remainder into what appeared to be a headlong retreat. This was, however, a trap, and when the 1st Armored Division gave chase it was engaged by a screen of DSC anti-tank guns, and sustained heavy casualties. A Zamastanian forward artillery observer whose radio and landlines had been cut by shellfire recalled,

"It was murder. They rolled right into the muzzles of the concealed eighty-eights and all I could do was stand by and watch tank after tank blown to bits or burst into flames or just stop, wrecked. Those in the rear tried to turn back but the eighty-eights seemed to be everywhere."

The 21st DSC Division resumed its advance towards Asleen. Zamastanian infantry casualties were exacerbated by the practice of digging shallow shell scrapes instead of foxholes, as DSC and Drambenburgian tank drivers could easily crush a man inside a scrape by driving into it and simultaneously making a half-turn. Several attempts were made by the 1st Armored Division to stop the DSC advance, but all three combat commands found that each defensive position they tried to occupy had already been overrun, and they were attacked by DSC troops with heavy losses. On May 2nd, the 1st Armored Division was ordered to end its attacks and concentrate to form a reserve. The DSC recaptured most of the area, and the entrances into the coastal lowlands were blocked. The Allies held the interior of the roughly triangular Murzi range, but with the exits blocked this was of little advantage to the Allies. For the next two days, DSC commanders further north debated what to do next.

Defending the town of Asleen was a force consisting of the Zamastanian 1st Battalion, 26th Regimental Combat Team, the Zamastanian 19th Combat Engineer Regiment, the 6th Field Artillery Battalion, a tank destroyer battalion and a battery of Caspiaan artillery. On the hills to their west was General Anthony Fox's Task Force Welvert comprising a Ranger and infantry battalion, three Caspiaan infantry battalions, two field artillery battalions, and engineer and anti-aircraft detachments. The positions in the town had been placed under Colonel Durham Stark, commander of the 26th RCT, on the night of May 2nd and the command named Stark Force.

An attempt to surprise the Asleen defenses by the DSC into the town failed and a battalion of DSC grenadiers was ordered into the town. The tanks of the DSC were committed at noon but little further progress resulted against stubborn defense. Von Essen decided to commit his units to Asleen in a coordinated attack. During the night, the Zamastanian positions on the two shoulders overlooking the pass were overrun and at 8:30 am DSC grenadiers resumed the attack. This action cracked open the allied defenses, opening the road to Sennepal and Tebessa. By midday the accompanying combined DSC-Drambenburgian armored units poured through the pass routing Zamastanian forces with the 1st armored division into one of the worst Zamastanian defeats of the World War. The survivors made a disorganized retreat up the western exit from the town back to Sennepal. On the exit to Tebessa, the Zamastanian tank force slowly leapfrogged back, losing all its tanks in the process, to rejoin the 26th Armored Brigade some 10 miles (16 km) further back.

Casualties

Eventually, reinforced Allied artillery was able to pin down the advancing Drambenburgian and DSC counterattackers, and von Essen was forced to withdraw. However, he counted it as a strategic victory against the allies and Zamastan in particular, which had suffered over 14,000 troops killed and more than 20,000 injured. Losses were so high that an additional 17,000 replacements were needed to recover units to their original strength. Regarding Allied personnel captured, von Essen claimed 3,721 prisoners captured but in a consolidated report they reported 4,026 Allied prisoners of war.

Aftermath

Efforts were made to improve the integration of immediate artillery and air support, which had been poorly coordinated. While Zamastanian artillery response times improved dramatically, coordinating close air support was not achieved until Operation Candy Boot and the invasion of Drambenburg over two years later.