Battle of Velouria
| Battle of Velouria | |||||||
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| Part of the Liberation War | |||||||
 An unknown PA soldier during the Battle of Velouria, one of the battle's most famous images | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Free Territories |
 Tymzar–Nalo regime | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Raira Sano (commander-in-chief) |
 Daŋe Reskar | ||||||
The Battle of Velouria was the final offensive and battle of the Liberation War. The People's Army attacked Velouria beginning on 23 December 1957, and gradually took the entire city. Fighting ended on 2 January 1958, with the capture and razing of the Royal Palace.
Coming at the end of the 20-year Liberation War, the battle was marked by ferocity on both sides. The Tymzar–Nalo regime had undergone a process of cumulative radicalisation and was aware it would face a reckoning for its war crimes and the Xevdenite Terror. The Free Territories were impatient to end the war and angered by the fierce Xevdenite resistance, leading to brutal tactics in an attempt to break it.
Background
The second phase of the Liberation War had become a straightforward conflict between the Free Territories and Xevden, led by the Tymzar–Nalo regime. The decisive victories at the Battles of Nerazur and Mytin on 14–15 April 1948 turned the tide of war in the Free Territories' favour. For the remainder of the war the Xevdenites were limited to reacting to Free Territories advances, and were never able to regain the initiative or launch a major offensive.
Although the Xevdenites had lost the initiative permanently, the Free Territories' advance was slow but steady over the next decade. They had to contend with several problems that slowed their progress:
- The fundamental problem of having to control and protect a large territory with too little manpower in the People's Army — a problem that the other Gylian factions had faced in the first phase as well,
- The need to integrate, reorganise, and begin reconstruction of newly-liberated territory — and thus clear it of Xevdenite stragglers, saboteurs, and irregulars.
- The need to smooth over tensions and maintain the popular front created by unifying all Gylian factions under the Free Territories' umbrella.
In preparation for the upcoming victory, the anarchists finally broke the hated "alliance of convenience" with statists–authoritarians through the Lucian Purge of April 1956.
By 1956, the Free Territories had liberated all but the Nerveiík peninsula. Ever since Nerazur and Mytin, the Tymzar–Nalo regime had undergone a process of cumulative radicalisation. The Xevdenites put up increasingly fanatical resistance, and the Revolutionary Front for Patriotic Victory and Storm of Steel conducted a campaign of massacres and destruction known as the Xevdenite Terror.
The Xevdenite resistance, motivated by the knowledge that they would face a reckoning for their crimes, angered the Free Territories. Raira Sano, commander-in-chief of the People's Army, wrote in her memoirs that the People's Army "grew increasingly brutalised as the war ground on".
War crimes and reprisals against the especially hated RFPV and Storm of Steel were tolerated: prisoners were summarily executed and their corpses dumped in public squares to be abused by passersby, or hung by lamp-posts with wooden boards attached detailing their crimes.
Combatants
Free Territories
The People's Army had successfully occupied the Nerveiík peninsula by December 1957, and converged on Velouria, the Xevdenite capital.
Leading cadres and political figures traveled to Velouria in anticipation of the imminent victory.
The People's Army enjoyed all the advantages going into the battle: it had liberated the rest of Gylian territory, had air superiority, and had successfully blockaded Velouria by ship.
Lilja Kjellberg, a soldier in the People's Army and future sport minister in the Darnan Cyras government, described the general sentiment in Nation Building:
"Nerves were stretched raw, patience had been ground to dust. We had been at war for two fucking decades. People were sick of fighting and just wanted it to end already. And when the Xevdenites kept fighting and delayed victory … well, fuck 'em, they're subhumans anyway. They killed our own, let's just kill them all and be done with it."
Xevden
The Royal Army had prepared defensive plans long before the final battle, and had devoted much effort to fortifying Velouria. Their forces were severely depleted, and supplemented by police forces and militias, particularly from the Storm of Steel.
Many civilians had fled the city before the final battle, but some had remained trapped. The city suffered from severe shortages.
Tymzar and Nalo Ðari acknowledged there was no hope of victory, and instead focused on making the end as brutal and destructive as possible. Nalo scornfully alluded to the scorched earth tactics of the Glorious Rebellion and Anca Déuréy's famous quote "We may lose, but we'll leave behind a smouldering ruin in revenge."
Battle
The People's Army launched the battle on 23 December 1957, with an artillery barrage at 08:30. The intense bombing, by both artillery and aircraft, reduced much of the city to rubble.
The People's Army was met with heavy fighting and urban warfare. They had to fight house by house to clear the streets.
The Major Julie Legrand Battalion of bicycle infantry, commanded by Julie Legrand, played a key role in the battle, using its mobility to manoeuvre around Xevdenite fortifications and help clear buildings and streets.
The slow pace at which the city was captured frustrated People's Army soldiers, some of whom turned to brutal tactics to force the Xevdenites to submit faster. Raira Sano, present during the battle, publicly scolded and shamed People's Army soldiers who were indiscriminately bombing neighbourhoods and killing combatants and civilians alike.
While the Free Territories made efforts to prevent massacres, there were reports of People's Army units practicing an unofficial no quarter policy. Storm of Steel members who fell into custody were summarily executed.
The People's Army finally reached the former Royal Palace on the night of 1–2 January 1958. A captured Xevdenite soldier informed them that Tymzar and Nalo were there, having both failed to escape, and planned a last stand. The palace was bombed intensely by artillery. Afterwards, the 15th Special Operations Squad was sent to perform a final mop-up of the building, and managed to capture Tymzar and Nalo alive.
With Tymzar and Nalo now in custody, the People's Army resumed bombing the palace until it was completely destroyed. Finally, two volunteers climbed what remained of the building and raised two flags, one black and one red.
By this point, the sun had risen and the remaining residents of Velouria saw the flags above the palace, signifying the Free Territories' victory. Raira Sano climbed on top of the Royal Palace's ruins and gave a victory speech to the soldiers present. This became a famous symbol of the war's end, and yielded some of Raira's most iconic photographs.
Aftermath
The Battle of Velouria marked the end of the Liberation War, and the final destruction of Xevden as a state. It began the process of transition from the Free Territories to Gylias.
After fighting subsided, the Free Territories took measures to start restoring essential services, and made a major effort to feed and house the city's residents. Velouria had suffered some of the most extensive damage of the Liberation War, and thus required an equally massive reconstruction effort. Residents who had fled the city before the final battle began to return to assist with reconstruction.
The end of the battle is commemorated as Rememberance Day every 2 January.