Battle of Balsberg

The battle of Balsberg was the first major battle of the Zoranian Civil War between the forces of the Parten Alliance and the Zoran Union. Balsberg was located in Albassi but a considerable Zoranian Garrison was stationed in and around the city so that the city was de facto controlled by Zoranians at the beginning of the war. The city became the first target of Major General Liam Harper who was sending the Aratzek and Redsburg Army to take the city. The Aratzek Army arrived on the 29th of July 1018 followed by the the Redsburg Army on the 30th of July. The area was defended by 26 000 Zoranian Soldiers under the command of Brigadier General Emerald Bradheart and later reinforced by the Zoranian 2nd Army commanded by Lieutenant General Igor Smeth.

Initial Situation
On the 28th of July 1018 the commander of the Balsberg Garrison Brigadier General Emerald Bradheart was informed by patrols and scouts that a large military formation was approaching the city. Bradheart immediatly informed the supreme commander of the Zoranian Forces General Peter Steward about the situation and was requesting reinforcements. His Garrison with about 26 000 Soldiers wasn´t small but barely had any heavy equipment and almost only included infantry units. Besides that his men weren´t too well equipped with mostly Bolt-Action Rifles and barely any Machine Guns or automatic weapons.

Peter Steward ordered the 2nd Army commanded by Lieutenant General Igor Smeth to support the Balsberg Garrison. Igor Smeth started moving with his troops immediatly however he was so far away that he wouldn´t arrive until the 4th of August. The fact that only the 2nd Army was ordered to move towards the city shows how severly underestimated the Parten Alliance strength was at the beginning of the conflict. Even if the 2nd Army would arrive in time to help out they would still be outnumbered by almost 3 times. The 2nd Army had somewhat better equipment for its infantry at the time having more semi-automatic rifles and a good amount of machine guns and sub-machine guns. Additionally they would bring some Vehicles and Artillery Guns to the field and had 10 planes from the air force assigned to support them.

Both armies of the Parten Alliance were under direct command of Major General Liam Harper. His forces had quite some heavy equipment including APC´s and Tanks as well as Artillery. His infantry was mainly equipped with Bolt-Action Rifles and Semi-Automatic Rifles but was lacking machine guns. He planned on compensating that disadvantage with his vehicles and artillery guns.

First Battles
During the 29th of July 1018 the Aratzek Army arrived at Balsberg. On the 29th of July units at the front of the Aratzek Army were immediatly engaging units of the Balsberg Garrison upon arrival which were located about 15 Kilometers (ca 9 miles) south of Balsberg. At around 10 am local time units of the Balsberg Garrison reported to be attacked by a overwhelming force and that they´re trying their best to hold.

Between 11 am and 1 pm many Zoranian units requested to fallback. Many were under heavy artillery fire and armored vehicles were rolling up while they didn´t have the means to effectively fight them. After delaying his decision for hours Brigadier General Emerald Bradheart finally gave the order to fallback to the second line located about 13 Kilometers (ca 8 miles) south of Balsberg at 1:46 pm. In some areas the troops of the Parten Alliance were less than 50 meters in front of the defenders positions already at this time. Major General Liam Harper who was personally observing this first enagement then gave the order to quickly move forward. He hoped he could force the Zoranians into a chaotic fallback and use the chaos to get close to the second Zoranian line before they could react properly. The Parten Alliance Artillery started firing just in front of the second Zoranian line.

The heavy artillery fire meant that the retreating Zoranian soldiers had to go through a deadly barrage in order to reach their allies. Some of them were now panicking and stuck in between their own and the enemy lines while other groups of soldiers took the risk and got through with heavy casualties. At 2:30 pm the Parten Alliance had fully captured the Zoranian´s first line of defence and some units were already close to the second line. On the western flank of the Zoranian line there was already close combat going on. The distance partially being less than 25 meters, grenades were extensively used causing masses of wounded and killed on both sides. Eventually thanks to their numerical advantage the Parten Alliance troops were able to push into the line itself forcing many Zoranians into a chaotic retreat. At 2:50 pm with their western flank already breaking apart the Zoranian Soldiers of the second line of defence were now forced into close combat along the whole line. At 3:10 pm Brigadier General Emerald Bradheart ordered a full retreat to the third line located just 3 Kilometers (about 1.8 miles) south of the city.

At 4:30 pm most Zoranian soldiers had finally retreated to the third line and were preparing to aid its defense. Meanwhile Major General Liam Harper already ordered his units to assault and take the next Zoranian line. The third and last line in front of Balsberg was heavily fortified and had well positioned machine guns with even some concrete bunkers. At 5:15 pm an entire Company of Parten Alliance Soldiers tried to break a hole into the center of the enemy line but two machine guns caused trouble. The Captain who was in command of this Company later wrote: "We wanted to take the line and we were ready to give it everything we had. But when I saw my men jumping over that fence all I could hear was the loud sounds of Zoranian machine guns alongside the screams of my dying men. They jumped over the fence and didn´t even land on their feet. They landed in their own blood some dead and some screaming in pain as they tried to move their own intestines back inside their bodies. I realised it was a terrible decision to order that charge and when I jumped over that fence myself I didn´t feel pain. It felt as someone kicked against my knee and punched me in my chest as I fell to the ground unable to move. My company was lost and we didn´t even get close to their line".

At 6:30 pm after hours of combat there was still no breakthrough achieved. Major General Liam Harper gave the order to cease the attacks for moment. He wanted to wait for the Redsburg Army to arrive before he would continue his attack.

Flanking manuever and breakthrough
On the 30th of July 1018 a day after the first battles the Redsburg Army of the Parten Alliance arrived. Major General Liam Harper sent the entire Redsburg Army to the eastern flank. His plan was to attempt to surround Balsberg from the east to north-east. He hoped that by cutting off the Zoranian troops from their own lines that he could force them to surrender without having to suffer many more casualties. Meanwhile the Aratzek Army launched small attacks against certain weak points of the Zoranian 3rd line of defence in order to keep them busy and make them believe that their main attack would still come from the south. The Redsburg Army was moving quickly as they faced little resistance when they encircled the city. By 3:30 pm the Redsburg Army was already close to the coast north-east of Balsberg and about to cut the Garrison off their supply and friendly lines. They were suddenly stopped when they faced a large attack involving more than 1 500 Soldiers of the Balsberg Garrison which were pushing into the small gap left between the Redsburg Army and the coast. The Zoranians took heavy casualties but were able to stop the advancing Redsburg Army. Despite several attempts with artillery support the Redsburg Army wasn´t able to break through to the coast and ceased it´s attacks at 9 pm.

On the next day the 31st of July 1018 the Redsburg Army continued it´s attacks with the first daylight. During the night Brigadier General Emerald Bradheart moved more of his men into the gap between the coast and the Redsburg Army and was personally overseeing the battle. Throughout the day the Redsburg Army was still not able to push the Zoranians back but managed to inflict heavy casualties with its artillery. Around 2 pm the Zoranian soldiers started to struggle as their morale was nearly depleted and the Parten Alliance soldiers were about to reach their positions. Emerald Bradheart ran up front to the first line of his men yelling at them to fight to the end. He knew if the last land connection would be cut that Balsberg would fall regardless of if and when the 2nd Army of the Zoranians would arrive. At 3:30 pm while still trying to convince his men to hold the line Emerald Bradheart got hit by shrapnel caused by an artillery explosion cutting into his left arm and breaking several bones. He managed to stand up again and continued motivating his men but was shortly after hit in the chest by a bullet most likely fired from a Parten Alliance Bolt-Action Rifle. He collapsed and was carried off the field by his men. At 4 pm the Zoranian line collapsed and the Zoranian soldiers started to rush back into the city. The Redsburg Army was able to breakthrough and to push the the coast cutting off the last land connection of Balsberg. Aside from a small Zoranian Counterattack around 7 pm there weren´t any attempts by the Zoranians to reestablish the land connection. The city of Balsberg was now besieged.

The siege of Balsberg
In the early morning hours of the 1st of August 1018 both the Aratzek and the Redsburg Army used their heavy artillery against the city of Balsberg. They were firing at both military and civilian structures. This caused huge damages to the structures but barely inflicted any military or civilians casualties. Around 10:35 am Brigadier General Emerald Bradheart died in the field hospital. The injuries were to severe to be treated in that field hospital but due to the ongoing siege there was no transportation to a specialized hospital available. At 11:30 am the artillery fire ceased and both the Aretzek and the Redsburg Army launched a massive attack with more than 45 000 Infantrymen involved from West, South and East. The Zoranian third line of defence collapsed in less than 10 minutes after the attack started and the battle would now shift towards the urban areas of Balsberg. The consequence was the beginning of brutal CQC engagements.

The Parten Alliance soldiers had a very high spirit compared to the Zoranian Soldiers who just lost their commander and were hopelessly outnumbered. A Lieutenant who was commanding a Platoon of the Parten Alliance forces describes a situation where him and his men were fighting a Zoranian Infantry Group and got so close up with them that it became a battle were knives, grenades and bayonets were the weapons that made the difference.

"Me and my Platoon we were still pretty fresh. It was our first time being the first unit to move up. Before me and my Platoon were mostly just following other units and did not see too much action. But now it was our turn. I was in command of 46 men including myself. We went down a road while going from cover to cover. We did not have a machine gun and most of my men only had Bolt-Action Rifles. I was one of the few of us who had an automatic weapon. At about 2:30 pm we came under heavy fire from a machine gun. He was in a building down the street on in the second floor right window. Even though most of my men were doing their best to stay protected prior to this the machine gun caught three of my men out in the open. I knew as I took a look at them from a far that all three of them were dead and there was nothing that we could do for them. I called one of my Sergeants and ordered him to take 9 other men with him and go on a flanking maneuver. When he went off we were 33 men including myself left. We tried to keep that machine gun busy mostly blind firing into the direction while staying in cover. But then we also started taking rifle fire. Some of it was coming from the building that the machine gun was occupying. But I realized that they also occupied a lot of other buildings around us. We were lucky that they were not behind us but now we were getting shot at from 3 sides. A Sergeant tried to grab a few men that were in a very bad spot and tried to get them move to a more protected position. But after he went over there before he could get up himself to move again a bullet went right through his head. This picture is something I can´t forget. He was older than me and served longer than me. He taught me a lot of good things. And now I see how single bullet entering his skull at one side and exiting on the other ends his life in a moments notice. The machine gun keept firing it just did not stop. It shot down two more of us. Just 29 left besides me. I felt the urge to move back. To get out of this hell. But I sent one my Sergeants on a flanking maneuver if we moved back at this moment we would have left them for death.

Minutes felt like days. It was like slow motion. The Machine Gun seemingly never ran out of ammo. We could not move an inch or it would be the last time we would have moved. A Corporal ran over to me through all that ongoing fire. He yelled at me "We´re sitting ducks here Lieutenant! We need to get the men moving or this will be the last place we have been to!" But I did not do nothing. I was betting all my money on that Sergeant to flank that machine gun successfully. But the Corporal insisted on making a move. He would not leave me alone with it. In the end I stopped being a good leader for a moment and told him "Corporal just do whatever you want we´re staying here!" It appears that he took me by my word. He took 5 men and told them to follow him. As they were standing up two of them were hit right way. The Corporal and the other 3 men kept moving. But then I saw that a grenade was flying down to them from a window above. The Corporal and his men jumped on the floor. But the grenade still hit them all. But none of them were dead. They were just screaming there in agony. During a few peaks I took out of my position I could see that they had dismembered limbs. So it was myself and 24 other men left. And now I knew I had to act. I don´t know if the Sergeant and the men he took with him even made it. Maybe they were dying in the alleyways and we were hoping for help that will never arrive.