Operation Polyandreion
Operation Polyandreion was a Syaran strategic offensive during the Zemplen War in central Ruvelka. Syara's Army Group Beta aimed to destroy Ruvelka's Army Group Center in a mass encirclement to force Debrecen to sue for peace. The Polyandreion began on 20 April and ended on 11 June 2009.
Devised by Field Marshal Arisdages Koundakjian, Polyandreion involved a mass encirclement by 1st Army under Colonel General Marko Kukolja sweeping through Sagerejo from the north, while 9th Army under Valentin Stavrik would sweep in from the south, all while 6th Army under Zlaten Danielov Velikov pinned Army Group Center in place. Along with Operation Sagaris and Operation Harpe, Polyandreion was to destroy the Imperial Armed Forces of Ruvelka as a fighting force in its entirety. After the success of Operation Synaspismos Koundakjian was eager to begin and initially set the operation to begin on 30 March 2009, but was talked down after his army commanders insisted they needed more time to recover from the Ruvelkan Winter Counter-Offensive.
Polyandreion ran into difficulty almost as soon as it began. General Eliska Hanáková, having suspected a major offensive in her area of responsibility, had significantly increased the defensive fortifications of Army Group Center, resulting in the Syarans assaulting directly into well prepared and entrenched Ruvelkan troops. 6th Army's efforts to tie down Ruvelkan reserves fell flat, allowing the Ruvelkans to shift their forces up and down the line to critical sectors. In mid-May 1st Army became bogged down in fighting around Sagerejo, resulting in a protracted battle that Kukolja was unable to break through. The 9th Army under Stavrik quickly became unravelled attempting to uproot the Ruvelkans from their defenses along where the Kurillas and Matra Mountain ranges meet. Koundakjian's insistence on continuing the operation eventually had to be halted and Velikov was ordered to divert 6th Army to help secure Sagerejo, which it eventually did on 27 May. Syaran hopes that they could continue the offensive were dashed when Ruvelkan forces unleashed their own counter-offensive, diminishing the gains of 9th Army and forcing the Syarans on the defensive. The fighting gradually died down in June, and Koundakjian officially declared the operation over on 11 June.
Polyandreion proved to be a major failure for the Syarans. Despite inflicting nearly 300,000 casualties on Ruvelka, the Syarans suffered over 180,000 killed, wounded, and missing. Much of Army Group Beta's armored and mechanized forces were decimated in the fighting, and the offensive had revealed the shortcomings of the Syaran National Army in fighting on Ruvelka's own soil. The heavy losses suffered by Syara contributed to Central Command's decision to halt strategic offensives for the rest of the war.