Prodavan War
| Prodavan War | |||||||||
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 Charge of the King's Own Breem Lancers during the Battle of Ramubad. | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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 Mount Zeon (private volunteers) |
 Prodava | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Calvin Cole |
Rasseed Salahe | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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5,000 (peak) |
900,000 | ||||||||
| A total of a million civillians were displaced or died during the war. Four million more were absorbed into the Ceasian Princedom following the conflict. Thirty-thousand Prodavan labourers died in Imperial service from disease, mistreatment and battle. | |||||||||
The Prodavan War was a conflict in Southern Cornellia between a Vionna-Frankenlisch-led Imperial Coalition and the short-lived Republic of Prodava. The war took place following the death of the last Prodavan Sultan, Abu Taiseer al-Shahid, which led to a succession crisis and the establishment of the Republic. The political instability in Prodava, combined with a wish to recapture parts of the Princedom of Ceasia lost during the Red Decade, led to King Edward III's ministers declaring war on Prodava.
Following the civil unrest of so-called Black February, the Prodavan Sultanate was overthrown in a violent revolution and the Republic was declared on 2nd March 1991. The new Prodavan Government made good use of the Sultanate's military to base a new force around and, at its peak, the Prodavan National Army boasted just under a million troops. When war broke on 14th March, the Republic's first and only President, Aisha Bardour, had half a million soldiers loyal to her government. The initial invasion force of the Imperial Coalition numbered around a quarter of a million soldiers.
Prelude
Death of the Sultan: 20th January 1991
After a period of ill-health which began in Autumn 1990, Sultan Abu Taiseer al-Shahid's condition became critical on New Years Day. He was rushed to hospital and was only released five days later when his condition was stable enough to allow treatment at Aoudin Palace. Al-Shahid had ruled under a regency for four months, led by his consort Radwa bint Tariq al-Taha who had governed with some skill but showed little understanding of the nation's politics. When his condition again became critical on the 18th of January, the Sultan did not recover. At 19:41 on the 20th of January, Sultan al-Shahid passed away in his sleep after two days of unsuccessful treatment. Though the seven daughters of the Sultan inherited much of his vast wealth and property, they were barred by law from inheriting the Prodavan throne and the Sultan had no sons. While Radwa remained as regent, a team of lawyers were employed to search for a suitable heir to the throne.
The news of the Sultan's death was widely met with apathy from the Prodavan people, except in the monarchist north. Under the rule of al-Shahid and his father, the Prodavan monarchy had become more detached from its people as it become more like the Vionna-Frankenlischian monarchy. Royals spent their days in recreation and left governance to corrupt officials. Though the Sultan retained autocratic power, neither al-Shahid or his father exercised it often, preferring to leave the business of government to the civil service. Most of the Sultan's time was spent either in pursuit of leisure or taking part in military exercises and parades.
In spite of Islamic burial norms, the Sultan's funeral took place seven days later and coincided with a week of national mourning. Representatives came from the Empire and the Republic of Adiron, most notaby James, Duke of Grythshead in his first international visit. Abu Taiseer's funeral procession passed through the Mohammedian Gate and along the palatial highway to the Grand Mosque of Pomeron where he was to be buried in the Caliph's Vault. Huge crowds gathered to watch the procession and Chief Comissioner Al-Jafari ordered the placement of undercover police within the crowd. As the procession passed the Caliphate Walls (the inner curtain walls of Pomeron which contained the oldest parts of the city), calls began to come from the crowd to the passing noblemen and the daughters of the Sultan. Though its unknown what began the unrest, most sources suggest that the crowd was angry over the failure of their leaders to announce a successor to the sultanate. The procession sped up but, though Abu Taiseer's body made it unharmed to the Grand Mosque, it was too late to avoid violence. A confrontation between undercover police and a quickly-forming mob ended in disaster when multiple policemen were lynched and the crowd were charged down by soldiers of the Mameluk Guard.
Black February: February 1991
What followed is known as Black February in Prodava: thirty days of violence and unrest. After the mob that had formed on the 27th of January had been broken up, it took two days for the unrest to boil over and another mob to form. The police were unable to contain the unrest and the army had been confined to barracks so the two paramilitary units that served the Prodavan government were ordered into the streets: the monarchist Mameluk Guard and the nationalist Bedouin Guard. In a matter of hours, the situation collapsed into chaos as the Mameluks and Bedouins began to fight each other in the streets of the capital. The Mameluks, long favoured by the sultanate and elevated to the position of royal guards, looked down on the Bedouins who, though once loyal to the sultanate, had become corrupt and owed their loyalty to the civil service.
Once fighting broke out between the guards, there was little hope of confining the violence to the capital. The Regent-Imperial, the sultan's widowed consort, ordered the army to block the routes from the city but news spread by telegraph, dirigible and aeroplane. The Bedouin garrisons in other cities began attacking Mameluk barracks and patrols in royalist regions of the country, most notably Ramubad, Kundaki and the former Caledonia. These attacks came to be known as the Greenshirt Coup, after the rifle green uniforms of the Bedouin Guard. The fighting, bitter and dogged over the course of two weeks, saw the Bedouins victorious and there were heavy crackdowns in royalist cities. Nobles were forced into hiding or killed and there were widespread massacres of Mameluk guardsmen and royalist supporters.
The fighting in Pomeron continued for another week as the mob divided in its support. The army was under strict orders to hold its position unless attacked until the unrest was quelled. Some units disobeyed orders and took sides in the fighting and some barracks were overwhelmed by the fighting. At the end of thirty days of bloody fighting, the strife came to a close when the Bedouins stormed Aoudin Palace and overwhelmed the defences. The Regent-Imperial and three of the Sultan's daughters were killed along with most of the defenders and palace staff.
With the revolution in Pomeron successful, the Bedouin Guard turned over control of the government to the National Republican Party. Members of the movement included Yusri ibn Khalid al-Jafari, commander of the Bedouin Guard; Mohammed Grovsner, commander of the Prodavan First Army; Ebenhard von Eiglitz, one of the late Sultan's foreign advisors; and Aisha Bardour, who was to become Prodava's next leader. Grovsner was appointed Regent by the Party and his influence secured the support of much of the army.
By the first of March, the violence had ended and the country was firmly in the control of the National Republicans and the Bedouin Guard. In the centre of the country, where republican support was strongest, there had been little resistance. Bitter fighting only ended in the north and far south once the army intervened. The ease with which the royalist opposition melted away was unsettling to the new regime and martial law was imposed in Ramubad Province, Kundaki Province, the former Caledonia and Salorka Province.
Proclamation of the Republic: 2nd March 1991
Once the fighting had ended, the National Republican Party moved quickly to consoldiate its power and legalise its takeover. A legislature of 80 seats was hastily formed in the wreckage of Aoudin Palace, in which the National Republicans held 74 seats. Three were held by the National Islamist Party and three were held by the Islamic Communist Party. With a unanimous vote, the old Sultanate was ignominiously dissolved. The National Republicans voted Aisha Bardour to be their leader and she immediately went to the Grand Mosque of Pomeron where a crowd had been arranged. On the steps of the Grand Mosque, Bardour read out the Proclamation of the Prodavan Republic. In vague terms, the proclamation promised free elections, an end to autocratic rule and protection of civil freedoms. It did not elaborate on which civil freedoms.
Satisfied that their rule had been legitimised, the National Republicans moved to form a government. The new National Assembly of the Republic voted to make Aisha Bardour the first President of the Prodavan Republic and she formed her government. Said government consisted mostly of distinguished officials from the previous administration but did also include senior members of the National Republican Party and commanders of the Bedouin Guard who were rewarded for their work with government positions.
Though considerable effort was made to root out the now-undercover royalist movement and to find Sultan Abu Taiseer's three remaining daughters, the new administration had considerable trouble in doing so. Most of the old Prodavan aristocracy had fled north to Vionna-Frankenlisch, two of the Sultan's daughters among them. The third, Hana bint Taiseer al-Shahid had instead fled south to Caledonia, where she was hidden by the Caldeonian underground. Except in the towns along the River Khal, where the Republican movement was strong and locals all too willing to betray disloyal neighbours to the Bedouins, royalists were able to hide easily. Subedar Osman Majiid, who commanded the Mameluk Guard in Ramubad Province, had even managed to withdraw a around 1,500 men of his command across the border to be interned in the Duchy of Grythshead.
International Response
Cornellia, which had widely dismissed Prodava as a heathen backwater and a problem for Vionna-Frankenlisch to deal with, initially ignored the violence. Some interest came from New Regensburg, which had previously planned to liberate Caledonia and place it under Regensburger influence. This plan was shelved following foreign disinterest, internal incompetence and intelligence failure. Mount Zeon, unofficially an ally of Vionna-Frankenlisch, was persuaded by King Edward III's ambassadors to cut what few diplomatic ties they had with Prodava.
In Vionna-Frankenlisch, the situation was viewed with deep interest. Though there was talk of intervention when the initial violence broke out, political strife limited action. Eventually, the only moves made during Black February were deployments of the Imperial Navy to protect Imperial commerce and evacuate limited numbers of royalists. At the Battle of the Abronian River, Imperial Navy sailors and marines fought alongside royalist militia and Mameluks to cover the evacuation of Prodavan nobility and material.
By the time the political situation in Frankenlisch had settled, the revolution was over and the Republic had been proclaimed. King Edward was furious and his Prime Minister, Lord Claudius Cypran pledged the support of the Imperial Government to the family of Sultan al-Shahid. Cabinet minutes from 8th March show that the decision to go to war with Prodava was almost unanimous amongst Lord Cypran's government. A motion in Parliament that day approved the use of military force in dealing with the situation and Lord Cypran and the King agreed to declare war on Thursday 14th of March. Prince Lazzaro of Marienberg, Cypran's Minister of Defence, was forced to resign over his opposition to the war and three other ministers resigned in solidarity. The decision to go to war broke the decade-long Imperial stranglehold in Marienberg and was a large factor in the buildup towards the Marienberg Uprising of 2015, especially after the Marienberg Campaign later in the war.
Imperial Plans
For the first time since the Imperial Civil War, the Frankenlisch Council of War convened on 9th March. The main objective of the war was to take land which formerly belonged to the Ceasian Princedom but had been taken by Prodava during the Red Decade. A secondary objective was to restore the Prodavan monarchy under one of al-Shahid's daughters or by placing a Vionna-Frankenlischian on the throne.
Imperial plans were informed by the overconfidence of the Frankenlisch Council of War and the Cabinet. Two thrusts were anticipated: one from Teutonberg named Operation Teuton and one from Grythshead named Operation Towton. Teuton, the larger of the two operations, was aimed at reaching the city of Ramubad and linking up with the strong royalist underground there. This would require breaking through the defensive Ramulani Line but the Imperial General Staff decided this would not be tricky. Towton's objective was the important industrial city of Loukussa. Taking Loukussa would stop all production of war material in northern Prodava. The Vionna-Frankenlischian government believed that the capture of these two cities, the largest and most important in northern Prodava, would scare the Prodavan government into ceding the demanded territory.
Early Stages
Declaration of War: 14th March 1991
Sir John Gatwick, Imperial Ambassador to Prodava was recalled on the evening of 13th March, leaving Pomeron after handing an ultimatum to Aisha Bardour: Kundaki Province, and the City of Assuria were to be ceded to the Ceasian Princedom or war would be declared. Bardour refused before Gatwick had left the room and he travelled by plane to Westonland where he informed King Edward and Lord Cypran of the refusal. An official declaration of war was sent by telegram at noon on 14th March but miscommunication meant that neither side made any movements until the following day. At dawn on the 15th, Imperial troops crossed the Prodavan frontier.
Operation Towton
Main Article: Operation Towton
Major General Phillip Wallman's column of twenty-thousand men marched across the border between the Duchy of Grythshead and Loukussa Province at 0620 on 15th March. His column was headed by the 12th Cavalry Brigade and the 8th Pathfinder Regiment which moved quickly towards the city, encountering no resistance. Major Elias Horke's 8th Pathfinders entrenched themselves at Ladlin, a vital crossroad village along the highway to Loukussa which commanded the heights above the city. Any counterattack from the south or west would come through Ladlin first and Horke was ordered to hold it without concern for loss. Meanwhile, 12th Cavalry Brigade met its first resistance in the form of the Prodavan 11th Division. Solomon Warabe al-Salah's 11th (Loukussa Division) was the main garrison of the city, backed up only by the local Bedouin Guard contingent and the city militia. Without time to entrench, the Prodavans made their defence amongst the buildings on the western outskirts of the city. Commanded by Sir George Montclair, the 12th Brigade engaged al-Salah's forces late on the 15th but were forced back by artillery fire to which they had no answer - their own light guns being of insufficient range.
Major General Wallman and the majority of his column were still a day and a half behind, having been hampered by an excessive supply train and a lack of motor vehicles. Local Prodavan forces, making better use of local infastructure, were able to beat Wallman to Ladlin and, led by Adina Sassin al-Sassini's 28th (Thralkeld) Division, attempted to take the crossroad and cut the Imperial invasion force in two. In nine hours of close bitter fighting, 8th Pathfinder Regiment held its ground and repulsed 28th Division's attack with heavy casualties to both sides. Wallman's infantry column arrived the following day to relieve the exhausted pathfinders.
A second assault by Montclair's 12th Cavalry Brigade had become confused in the night and was called off but on 17th March, Wallman's infantry, engineers and heavy battering train arrived outside Loukussa. Though the delay had given General al-Salah time to consolidate his position, the arrival of heavy Imperial artillery rendered the effort moot. A heavy bombardment battered the Prodavan defence and an assault led by the 1st Guards Grenadier Brigade broke the lines of the 11th Division. Hand-to-hand fighting within the city lasted two days and the well-drilled and physically fit Imperial troops overcame the demoralised defenders with little difficulty. Loukussa was fully in Imperial hands by 21st March. Work began on connecting Loukussa to the Imperial border by rail the following day, making use of military engineers, Vionnan civilian contractors and pressed Prodavan labourers.
Operation Teuton
Main Article: Operation Teuton
Forty-five-thousand strong, the two-pronged thrust of Operation Teuton was commanded by the Duke of Glynmoran. Glynmoran was young for his command but well-educated and viewed with confidence by his superiors, he had succeeded to his late father's duchy six months prior. In order to reach the city of Ramubad, the Imperial Army would have to pass through the Ramulani Line. Named after its chief engineer, the line had been constructed in the 1970s to deter attacks from the socialist north and, despite protests from Vionna-Frankenlisch, had been maintained stubbornly since. Though the Imperial government had spent eleven years negotiating the dismantling of the line, the Imperial General Staff did not consider it a significant threat. As a result, the Duke of Glynmoran's force was not equipped with the same heavy artillery that had been used for Operation Towton. Aerial reconaissance of the line taken on the 15th and 16th reported its forward positions accurately. However, the rear positions, well camouflaged, either avoided detection or were reported unoccupied.
Miscommunication led to the west column of Glynmoran's attack launching its assault the day before the east column. Commanded by Major General Alice Sandoral, the western column moved against the fortified village of el-Fabrir under the support of field guns and bombing by the IAS. The Battle of el-Fabrir began at noon on 17th March. Two days of attacks by infantry and artillery carried several forward positions but failed to break through the Prodavan front line. An offensive against Kassif by Major General Andre St-Etienne's eastern column met a similar failure. The Duke of Glynmoran ordered his forces to dig in opposite the Prodavan lines and await orders.
Prodavan Counteroffensive
Main Article: Oliv Offensive
See Also: Battle of Hill 451, Battle of Oliv
Though initially shocked by the Imperial offensives, the Prodavan leadership began to react decisively after the fighting on the frontier had lasted a week. Loukussa had fallen into the hands of the Imperial forces, preventing the offensive against Teutonberg and Grythshead which the Prodavan General Staff wished to make. Instead, a counter-offensive was planned in the west, against the Vionna-Frankenlischian region of Agrea and the Imperial Princedom of Ceasia. The bulk of the Republican Army was moving to the Ramulani Line to blunt the Duke of Glynmoran's offensive so the new plan was staffed by whatever spare units could be found. By the time the offensive began on 27th March, forty-thousand men had been amassed, the force consisted of Republican Army brigades, squadrons of the Bedouin Guard and Republican militia. The units were moved to the front under cover of darkness and began their advance at 0700 on 27th March. The offensive was commanded by General Rasseed Salahe.
Salahe's plan involved the splitting of his already disorganised force (labelled 2 Corps) into two parts. Most of the Imperial forces in the area were encamped within a salient, the tip of which was the heights known as Hill 451 which were bristling with listening stations. The two segments of Salahe's Corps were to attack from both sides of the salient and cut off Hill 451 from the Ceasian town of Oliv. Oliv was to be the meeting-point for the offensive. Unknown to Prodavan commanders, Imperial reinforcements were gathering swiftly in the Agrean capital of Octan under the command of Sir Charles Woodhouse to reinforce the Duke of Glynmoran and protect his right flank. Two Imperial divisions plus support units were hastily organised into the Second Corps under Woodhouse and the First Army was formed under the Duke of Cunaris to control Glynmoran and Woodhouse's corps'. Though additional Imperial troops were arriving in Agrea every day, the strategically-important Hill 451 was occupied only by the single battalion of the Royal Fishersfield Regiment under the command of Colonel Martin Rutherford.
The Prodavan offensive began on the morning of 27th March, striking to north and west of Salahe's headquarters at Harawi. The northern thrust was led by General Idrees el-Akram and the western thrust by General Wolfgang Necker, one of Prodava's foreign advisors. The goal was for both groups to have reached Oliv and encircled Hill 451 by 30th March. Incorrect intelligence suggested that Hill 451 was occupied by at least a brigade of Imperial infantry with guns and cavalry in support, prompting the plan for encirclement rather than direct assault. Nonetheless, a force of 800 troops drawn from the Kundakçı Bedouin Guard and the Prodavan 11th Brigade conducted a reconnaissance-in-force of Imperial positions on Hill 451. A furious counterattack by the Royal Fishersfield Regiment drove back this force with heavy losses and took prisoners who revealed details on the encircling movement. This information was carried back to Oliv and Octan, prompting the Duke of Cunaris to rush up 2nd Corps to Hill 451 with instructions to hold the hill and keep a channel to Oliv open. Woodhouse's 16,000 infantry entrenched themselves on the hill and his cavalry reserve of 4,000 troopers were tasked with holding the road to Oliv.
A furious Prodavan bombardment on the morning of 29th March preceeded an action known as the Battle of Elerio. The Prodavan 14th Brigade assaulted and seized the fortified village of Elerio which was held by the Royal Kingsbridge Light Horse. Prodavan forces attacked in a two-pronged movement which overran the Imperial position and severed their lines of communication and supply. A counter-attack from the market town of Kavarres by the Agrea Yeomanry and the King's Agrean Lancers was repulsed. By 1800 on 29th March, the two prongs of the Prodavan offensive had met and two hours later General Necker had established his headquarters at Elerio. Word of the linkup reached General Salahe at the same time as reinforcements arrived from Barara Province in the form of the 20th and 23rd Brigades and Colonel MacEllem's 1st Armoured Car Detachment. The encirclement of Hill 451 had trapped 19,000 Imperial troops on or around the position and the victory was celebrated in Prodava. Efforts by the Prodavan government to broker a peace or ceasefire using the trapped Imperials as a bargaining chip failed, King Edward and Lord Cypran were convinced that they could be rescued and the occupation of Loukussa was a more significant victory. Orders reached General Salahe that the Hill was to be taken by force and a heavy bombardment began on 30th March.
Battles of Hill 451 and Oliv
Imperial forces on Hill 451 were heavily dug in and the network of entrenchments and fortifications stood the test of the Prodavan artillery, which was mostly of smaller caliber. General Woodhouse was trapped in the pocket with his men. The encirclement prevented the arrival of supplies and reinforcments and communication was possible only by a semaphore at the peak of the hill which was put out of action by artillery fire early in the battle. From the airfield at Kavarres, IAS pilots flew over the beseiged hill to drop supplies via parachute, braving heavy fire from the ground. Lieutenant James Barrow of No. 11 (Attack) Squadron was postumously awarded the DFC when he was shot down attempting to drop medical supplies into the Imperial positions. These supply runs, organised by Colonel Nicholas Hunter were the first of their kind. Significant support was provided by engineers of the Imperial Ceasia and Agrea Railway who helped modify the aircraft using equipment from mail trains which was used to drop heavier loads automatically.
General Salahe considered his main task to be the capture of Oliv, which would drive the Imperial forces back to Octan, the capital of Agrea. With this goal in mind, he left General Necker in command of the encirclement of Hill 451 while he led the rest of his forces against Oliv. The 20th, 23rd, and 25th brigades of the Republican Army and the Armoured Car Detachment were grouped together as Operation-Group Oliv. Before moving against Oliv, Salahe decided to take Kavarres to deny the Vionna-Frankenlischians use of the airfield and to protect his right flank as he advanced on Oliv. The Battle of Kavarres began on 1st April, spearheaded by the Armoured Car Detachment. Without support from infantry or artillery, Colonel MacEllem's armoured cars were unable to break through the Imperial positions around Kavarres. This gave the IAS airfield there time to evacuate: the aircraft flew north to safety while a daring escape under cover of night carried the two regiments of cavalry and the IAS ground crews to the safety of Oliv where news of the advancing Prodavans was relayed to the Duke of Cunaris.
On 2nd April, Imperial Third Corps was formed in Octan under the command of the Viscount Rachdale. The Third Corps was a ramshackle force made up of four cavalry regiments, a division of Imperial Army infantry, three brigades (legions) of the Imperial Ceasian army and two batteries of heavy mortars. Oliv was defended by only 4,000 men, mostly cavalry and rear echelon troops. Lord Rachdale's 27,000 men represented a significant reinforcement and Third Corps marched out of Octan only a few hours after it was formed.
With Kavarres taken, Salahe's forces had no obstacles in the way of Oliv. Operation-Group Oliv numbered 19,000 and moved swiftly against their objective, taking up positions on the east bank of the River Achola early on 3rd April. At the time, the city was fully on the west side of the Achola and several bridges leading into the city were destroyed in the face of the Prodavan advance. While several minor bridges remained, all of the major bridges were destroyed or mined with the exception of the Vinicius Severus Memorial Bridge which was heavily defended by snipers, machine-guns and infantry behind barricades. An attack over the bridge by the Prodavan 1st Armoured Car Detachment was unable to break through and Salahe ordered the bombardment of the city. The Prodavan 17th and 18th Artillery Regiments were brought up to batter the Imperial defences and, in their first ever wartime deployment, the Prodavan Air Force flew ground attack missions against the Vinicius Severus Bridge. After a day of bombardment, instead of launching an immediate follow-up attack, the Prodavan forces halted for a day of prayer and preparation. Imperial positions around the Vinicius Severus Bridge had been battered into submission and an attack may have taken the city, or at least a large portion of it. This caution would be the decision which doomed the Prodavan campaign.
At Hill 451, the Imperial forces were suffering heavily under the bombardement and lack of supplies. The resupply missions flown by the IAS had been badly hampered by the loss of Kavarres as the aircraft now had to fly about twice the distance from IAS Octan. Two planes were lost on 2nd April and their cargoes and pilots fell into the hands of the Prodavans. General Necker, from his headquarters at the village of Chastaris had received no orders from Salahe since the fall of Kavarres and his subordinate commanders were pressing him to launch an assault on the hill. By the morning of 3rd April, Imperial casualties had reached 2,000 - most of these sick from lack of supplies or injured by the bombardment. General Woodhouse was taken ill following a nervous episode and the commander of the Imperial 5th Infantry Division, Major General Richard Smith, was in temporary command. It was under Smith's direction that Imperial forces began to plan a breakout. From the peak of the hill, using high-powered binoculars and telescopes, the Prodavan advance on Oliv was visible and a council of war was held around General Woodhouse's sickbed to discuss the situation. The decision was eventually made to attempt a breakout under cover of darkness and attack the Prodavan forces outside Oliv from behind, a plan inspired by the Battle of Nieuwesel of which Woodhouse, Smith, and several of the other Imperial commanders had present at. The date of the breakout was set for the night of 6th April.
On the morning of 5th April, Salahe began his assault on Oliv. Troops mounted on horses or in trucks sped ahead to seize a series of smaller bridges across the Achola. Many of these were only footbridges but Salahe was keen to secure as many entrances into the city as possible and spread the defenders thin. Eight bridges were captured in dawn raids and two more were successfuly defended by Imperial troops. While reinforcements were moved to capitalise on these early successes, the main assault on the Vinicius Severus Memorial Bridge began at 0730. Again spearheaded by the 1st Armoured Car Detachment (down to 60% strength from breakdowns and casualties), the attack was supported by two battalions of infantry and was met with heavy defensive fire. The assaulting group was pulled back, reformed, and sent back in after a brief bombardment by 17th Artillery Regiment. This second assault was successful and the Imperial defenders around the Vinicius Severus Bridge were pushed away and 150 prisoners were taken, mostly from the Agrea Yeomanry and 6th Field Regiment, Royal Engineers. With the bridge taken, significant forces could begin to enter the city. While skirmishes continued over the other river crossings, five additional battalions of Prodavan infantry crossed the Vinicius Severus Bridge and began to battle their way into the city. General Idrees el-Akram made his headquarters amongst the captured Imperial positions on Maria Perchowska Square (on the city side of the Vinicius Severus Bridge) and, from there, directed the movements of companies into the city.
By noon of 5th April, a quarter of Oliv was in Prodavan hands and the defenders had taken 15% losses already. Brigadier Colum McManaman, commander of the defenders in the city, ordered the remaining Imperial forces to fall back in the direction of the Plaza of the Faiths (a large market square containing a mosque, an Andyist church, and a Christian church) where he planned to form a new defensive line. Unlike other Imperial strong-points, the Plaza was spared from the Prodavan bombardment for fear of damaging the mosque. By 1400, 40% of the city (almost the entire eastern half) had been taken. At 1430, after a swift march, the advance guard of Lord Rachdale's 3rd Corps entered Oliv from the west. By delaying his assault on the city by a day, Salahe had unknowing given the 27,000 men of Rachdale's corps time to force a march to reinforce Oliv and save the city. Led by an ad-hoc brigade of grenadiers, 3rd Corps joined McManaman's line and began to push back into the Prodavan-held parts of the city. The grenadiers, commanded by the Margrave of Grunicza carved a path to Maria Perchowska Square. By midnight, half of the Prodavan gains in the city had already been retaken by furious counterattacks. On the morning of 6th April as Maria Perchowska Square was fully retaken by the Margrave of Grunicza's grenadiers and III Legion of the Ceasian Army, placing the western side of the Vinicius Severus Bridge back in Imperial hands. The situation worsened for the Prodavans when four regiments of Imperial cavalry swept through the city streets to retake the minor bridges over the Achola, this cut off three battalions of Prodavan infantry within the city and the situation was rapidly deteriorating. The trapped forces were pressed against the riverbank by Imperial forces and 101st Siege (Mortar) Battery, Royal Artillery was brought up in support. An attempt was made to break the encirclement but the reinforcements did not even manage to cross the bridges before being pushed back. Salahe, furious, ordered the complete withdrawal from the city.
Whilst the arrival of 3rd Corps had saved Oliv from falling, the 19,000 men on Hill 451 were still under heavy pressure. Casualties were mounting hourly and Major General Williams, commanding 3rd Infantry Division had lost a hand. General Woodhouse, however, had recovered from his malady and, shrugging off concerns about his health, resolved to lead the breakout attempt. During the afternoon of 5th April, small parties made reconnaissance patrols on all sides of the hill.