Battle of Dayr Hafir

Battle of Dayr Hafir
Part of the Western Theater
A Mansuri machine gun team observes Syaran movements.
Date 12 April - 3 May 1936 Location Dayr Hafir, Mansuriyyah Result Common Axis Victory
Belligerents
Mansuriyyah Ruvelka Cacertian Empire	Republic of Syara
Commanders and leaders
Abdul Hamid Asqalani Hassan Jabri Mahmud Qarabajaq Sadiq Khozestani Harun Aziz	Vladislav Penkov Glavchev Aramazt Sevhonkian Vladimir Damjanovski
Units involved
Western Region Military Command 1st Field Army 4th Field Army 7th Field Army 7th Corps	Army Group Rho 2nd Army 17th Army
Strength
675,000 troops 1,300 tanks 2,200 artillery pieces 1,115 aircraft	515,000 troops 1,700 tanks 2,800 artillery pieces 1,200 aircraft
Casualties and losses
55,000 killed 113,000 wounded	48,500 killed 99,180 wounded 12,000 captured

The Battle of Dayr Hafir (known to the Syarans as Operation Akinakes) was fought between the Republic of Syara and Common Axis forces of Mansuriyyah, Ruvelka, and the Cacertian Empire during the Siduri War. The battle took place in the Western Theater between 12 April and 3 May 1936.

Syaran forces of Army Group Rho, under the command of Field Marshal Vladislav Penkov Glavchev and fielding more than half a million troops, attempted a pincer movement against the Mansuri city of Dayr Hafir. They were resisted by the forces of the Mansuri Western Region Military Command under Abdul Hamid Asqalani. Common Axis forces totalling three field armies and a reserve corps, most of them Mansuri troops backed up by several battalions of Ruvelkan infantry and Cacertian armor, dug in along the Dayr Hafir Plateau in a series of defensive lines to halt the Syaran offensive.

The Syarans attacked on 12 April 1936, with 2nd Army under Colonel General Aramazt Sevhonkian in the west and 17th Army under Vladimir Damjanovski in the west. After two weeks of fighting the Syarans saw limited gains but on 24 April the Syaran 17th Army broke through in the west, forcing the commitment of the 4th Field Army. After heavy fighting the Mansuri forces succesfully halted the Syaran advance, and on 1 May the Mansuri 7th Corps under Lieutenant General Harun Aziz counter-attacked against the flank of the Syaran 2nd Army, forcing the Syarans to call off their drive on Dayr Hafir. Unable to make further progress, the Syarans called off any further action and withdrew on 3 May, ending the battle.

The battle represented the farthest gains made by the Inner Sphere in western Mansuriyyah. Subsequent Syaran efforts to outflank Mansuri forces in the west, such as the Battle of Qalaat al-Janaq, failed to reverse the situation and by the end of 1936 Syaran forces would be unable to launch further offensives in the Western Theater.