Battle of Heimdallr (NW)
The Battle of Heimdallr (12 October 2035 - 25 December 2035) was a battle that took place around the Heimdallr Capital Territory. The battle became one of the bloodiest that took place during the Neocon War, which saw a large number of Neocon troops and equipment attempt to overwhelm the Heimdallr defenders at the capital of the Heimdallr Council. For the Neocons, the capture of the council's most important city was to be of great importance and many had hoped that its capture would spell the end for the council and force the Heimdallr Council members to due for peace on Neocon terms.
Codenamed Operation Typhoon, the battle began with use of the Chronodontic Tablet during the eve of the Erebonian Winter, which was deemed by many Neocon planners as Erebonia's only barrier for defence. In a speech prior to the start of the battle, Quenminese President Quyền Phương Anh decreed that:
"We only have to kick the door once, and it will all be the end of it"
Neocon planners have been preparing for the operation that after the Erebonian Winter's effect have been reversed, a massive armoured thrust across the outskirts would penetrate the defenses and ram the gates of Varflame Palace. Infantry would overwhelm the defenders from all sides and those who resisted would be immediately shot. Persons of interest would be captured and executed after questioning. By the start of the battle, the Neocon leaders and planners of the operation were confident that Heimdallr would fall in a matter of days.
But when the tablet was activated, the spell seemed to have worsen the weather. The Deseleni descendants tried again but to no avail. The tablet had worsened the winter for the Neocons, an event which many referred to as the 2035 Scandinavian Frost, in which the weather in Erebonia got worse as temperatures began to plummet as low as −30 °C by December. The Neocons insisted on pushing through with the operation, hoping that the blizzard would help cripple the Allies. This was proven false when Heimdallr troops commenced ambush positions and consistently encircled regiment-sized columns by means of Motti tactics, which were utilised by Balamb during the Balambian War in 1932 and many Heimdallr commanders were surprised that even in modern warfare, such a tactic was pulled with success.
Despite a few successes, the defenders were subsequently forced back further to the capital. The Neocons were less than 15kms from the capital city's limits, in which an army group of Trabians and East Europan Republicans commenced a move further west of the capital, hoping to take Leeves and an army group of Joyongheans and Bethausians moved east to take Trista. The responsibility of taking the capital itself fell to the Quenminese, Concordians, and Selucids. The Heimdallr forces had constructed defensive belts around the three important cities, in a bid to buy time to send in more reinforcements from the North and West. The Neocon offensive was finally halted by 12 December 1935. In a bid to take the capital itself, Ziyaad took personal command and pulled out troops and equipment from the east and west to focus on taking the capital itself. He ordered a mix of Quenminese and Selucid Divisions aimed to take the capital to push further and focus all resources to pushing into the capital, refusing to heed any order of a retreat.
By 18 December, the Neocons were only less than 5kms from the capital itself. In a last bid attempt, General Erwin Neithardt sent in all 5 regiments of the Royal Erebonian Jägers to halt this attack. Although the skirmish around the city limits was ferocious, the Erebonian Jägers carried out their doctrine of getting close to the enemy and destroying it. With conventional Motti tactics of cutting down every Neocon column, the outnumbered Jägers overcame the numerically superior Neocon troops, forcing them to retreat. The retreat of this column enabled Field Marshal Kiriya Kitagawa to finally throw all the units of the LCAE to commence a counteroffensive in 20 December starting in Leeves all the way to the south of the capital city. The ERUAC forces in Trista commenced a counteroffensive to the capital city by 21 December. Subsequent counteroffensives by the Heimdallr forces forced the Neocons to retreat from the capital territory by 25 December.
The loss of the ability to capture the most important Heimdallr Council capital was a major setback for the Neocons, ending in their belief of a swift victory over the Heimdallr Council. More importantly, the victory at Heimdallr was a momentous and important event in the Neocon War; it ended the Neocons belief of defeating the Heimdallr Council, the start of many strategic Heimdallr counteroffensives and the beginning of the end of the Neocons.
Background
In the eve of 2033, the year marked the beginning of the peak of the Neocon influence across Eordis. Many civilians and personalities in Neocon countries were influenced and inspired by committing their cause to the war effort. The Neocons drove up propaganda against the Heimdallr Council following its complete take over of the Democratic East Europan Union. The leaders drew up ideas of potentially invading the Erebonian Empire as the final objective of defeating the Heimdallr forces for good. Concordian President Robert Starkweather suggested that only by the take over of key Heimdallr nations of Basel-Ebel, Rhodeia, and the Holy Galbadian Empire could they ever proceed in commencing the ambitious invasion. As such, by the following year, the corresponding nations were invaded but much to the Neocons shock, the three nations stood firm and held defensive lines. Although the Neocons saw some success, they largely failed in their most important objective for Africanna, to reach the Cape of Blessed Hope. As with various Neocon propaganda, they covered up the losses in order to maintain the momentum of the recruitment drive.
At about the same year, the Gneisenau Partisans intensified its guerrilla campaign against the Neocons as surviving rabbles of DEEU forces united and formed formations that often harassed Neocon lines. This heavily caused much problems for the Neocons and continuous use of Selucid artifacts was seen as the solution to putting down the partisans for good but even with its use, the Partisans grew stronger. Later that year, the Meeting at Hanoi was launched in an attempt to convince the now-neutral nations of Ingelmia and the Guadosalam Federation to join the war on the side of the Neocons. Despite the Neocons best offers to persuade its leaders, the two nations refused thanks to the information sent by Field Marshal Kiriya Kitagawa to the two nations, which largely robbed the Neocons of its opportunity to finish the Heimdallr forces in South Amerigonna, Oceania, and Africanna for good. Although several Neocon leaders suggested the invasion of the two nations to install puppet governments, this was largely seen as unfeasible, given the Neocons were already having problems in Scandinavia, Europa, Africanna, and Asianna.
In late 2034. the late trace of Pro-Neocon movements in Heimdallr nations had been completely wiped out as key leaders surrendered. Although these leaders appealed for aid, it was to never materialise. The political groups were dissolved and its members arrested and trialled for treason. This ended the only opportunity for the Neocon leaders to incite various pro-Neocon rebellions behind Heimdallr lines. As a result, they moved to the phase of invading the root of all the Neocon's problems, the Erebonian Empire itself. The Neocon leaders and commanders meticulously prepared every detail for an invasion of the country. The leaders were aware already of the infamous Erebonian Winter but Ziyaad had prepared the Chronodotic Tablet as means of reversing the weather. They prepared it in case their forces were to be too late to arrive in the vicinity of the capital. The Neocons pulled out certain formations from other fronts to participate in the upcoming invasion.
In the spring of 2035. the invasion finally began with over 2 million amassed, this was to be the second largest invasion force in history as Erebonia was invaded from the south from Liberl and East Europa, and to the east from Calvard. The Neocons rolled across the Erebonian countryside, hoping to take the capital in the summer or autumn. However, the Necon planners had overlooked an ability that the Allies had, the Erebonians knew how to defend their land. The defenders had been preparing for the invasion for more than 5 years. A mix of counteroffensives and guerrilla tactics were conducted to slow the Neocon advance. The key planner of this defense was Lucian Field Marshal Kitagawa, who had advised key Erebonian leaders for a preparation in case Erebonia was to be invaded. He was strongly aided by his close friend Marshal Phùng Minh Thiệu who had experience in waging guerrilla warfare. The two strategies of the two Heimdallr commanders greatly slowed the Neocon advance. However, Kitagawa knew that the best way to bog down the push was in Heimdallr itself, since the provincial capital had the terrain to halt any possible invasion in Erebonia. Slowly, the Allies pulled back further up north towards the safety of the capital while civilians fled to the west or north. A martial law had been declared across Erebonia in response to the invasion. The Erebonian Home Guard was activated and recruitments rose within the Heimdallr forces. The recruitment drive only gave the Heimdallr forces a total of 1.2 million amassed, largely dwarfing what the Neocons had. Despite these setback in numbers, the Heimdallr forces conducted and intensified raids on Neocon columns through the use of Motti tactics. This greatly slowed the Neocon advance just in time for winter to arrive by October 2035.
When the winter began, the Neocons immediately deployed the Chronodotic Tablet to reverse the effects of the Erebonian Winter. Had it been reversed, the Heimdallr forces would have lost its only natural defense against the Neocons. But fate intervened, the descendants activating the tablet had wrongly recited the enchantment. They repeated the procedure and got it right but unfortunately, it had been too late. The wrong recitation of the tablet's powers had already worsened the winter and unfortunately for the Neocons, this was irreversible. Upon hearing the news, Ziyaad threw a loud tantrum and realised that now all the plans spent preparing for the invasion was now in vain. But regardless, he requested the Neocon leaders to push ahead with marching to the capital, hoping that the winter would help cripple the Heimdallr forces. But unfortunately for them, this was to mark the beginning of the end for their plans in Erebonia, as the situation now heavily favoured the defenders as the 2035 Scandinavian Frost began.
The Battle
Early Movements
Winter gets worse
Neocon Advance stalled
Battle of the Southern Point
| Battle of the Southern Point | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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1 Brigade: 1 Armoured Division: 2 Artillery Regiments: 1 Reinforcing Divisions: (Late in the battle) |
2 infantry divisions 3 mixed brigades 2 Selucid divisions | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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aprox. 1,479 dead or wounded at least 35 tanks |
12,549 wounded or killed 7,500 died from diseases 75 tanks at least 100 tanks lost to fuel scarcity | ||||||
The Battle of the Southern Point took place on Heimdallr's southern gates. It was the location of one of the most bloodiest battles of the Neocon War, in which outnumbered elements of the Heimdallr forces faced off against a massive Neocon thrust in an attempt to breakthrough Heimdallr defences around the capital. The previous days saw both sides depleted and were exhausted. But Ziyaad still believed in the faith of a final victory. By 18 December, he took personal command and pulled out several formations that saw barely any combat and ordered them to shift their focus to the central flank and target the southern gates of the capital. He believed that the Heimdallr forces were already too tired and exhausted to carry out the fight and the opportunity was ripe to take the capital and end the Heimdallr Council once and for all.
Unknown to Ziyaad, the Heimdallr forces still had enough forces to blunt the advance to the capital. General Erwin Neithardt was able to save one of Erebonia's most important formations in its army, the Royal Erebonian Jägers. Although the Jägers were wholly outnumbered, the brigade of skiing light infantrymen were motivated and driven to defend the capital of their country to the last man. The Jägers only had around 5,000 men compared to nearly 75,000 men that Ziyaad had amassed for the grand push to the capital.
The engagement began in the morning of 19 December. The Neocon forces made their way to gates and the Jägers hid along the forested path to the city. When the defenders were close enough, the columns were ambushed and true to their tactics, the first wave of Neocons were overwhelmed by the Motti tactics that the Jägers had carried out. The second wave was sent in before 12 noon and this slightly forced the Jägers to retreat but the latter were able to halt their progress some 3.5kms from the city limits. The third wave was sent in and this time, the Jägers were driven out of the area and were forced just 2kms away from the city limits. At this time, the Jägers had already suffered casualties and were on the brink of collapse but the stubborn Jägers continued to hold the line to prevent Neocon push into the city limits. Ziyaad called for a massive armoured thrust towards the city limits. Much to their relief, the elements of the 6th Erebonian Armoured Division arrived from the capital city's centre to reinforce the Jägers. But even with this, the Neocons kept on attacking.
The Jägers, famed for its rich history were now on the verge of being routed for the first time in their historical service. Ziyaad had possessed more troops and equipment than them. But regardless, they reorganised again and with support of the Erebonian tanks, they were able to inflict heavy casualties on advancing Neocon columns. By 4pm, the Jägers still had maintained their foothold. Ziyaad, infuriated, ordered another massive push to the city limits. This time, everything was used against the defenders. Just 30 minutes after they pushed, a stroke of luck came for the Heimdallr forces as 2 artillery regiments had deployed on the Dreichels Reize Arnor City Park just 8 kms away from the city limits and had the attacking Neocon forces in range. The Jägers immediately reported key coordinates of Neocon thrusts and positions near the city limits. What followed was a heavy barrage of artillery raining down on the Neocons. Slowly, the latter forces started to retreat as the Jägers mounted a small counteroffensive aided by Erebonian armour. Just an hour later, armoured reinforcements arrived on the city limits that helped drove the Neocons back by some 15kms from the city limits.
Against overwhelming odds, the Jägers successfully prevented the only opportunity that the Neocons had against the Allies. The former had held the line long enough for reinforcements and support to arrive. The Neocon retreat from the city limits was in chaos as many Neocon troops were lost, some had lost their way around the area and subsequently succumbed to hypothermia. Ziyaad would not know of the retreat until the following morning, when the Heimdallr forces had commenced a counteroffensive to push the Neocons out of the capital territory. Infuriated, he several ground commanders for the failure of the attack and subsequently ordered a retreat.