I often debate with myself as to whether I should go back to Battle: Actium and give it a third revamp, but ultimately I've come to the conclusion that it's not going to happen. Unfortunately, there were a bunch of ideas and scenes I had wanted to write, so instead of discarding them, I decided just to make them one-shots and post them here.
This chapter, along with the next five chapters will all be revolving around the events outlined in this one. Because of that, this chapter is extremely short.
(For context, these events are taking place two weeks into the invasion of Actium. The events in Chapter 16: "Actium 2545: The Flying Soldiers" are also happening concurrently, just on the other side of the planet.)
Note: a bunch of names and unit numbers get thrown around in this chapter, none of them are hugely important, though there will be a list in the ending notes if anyone is all that interested.
NORTHCOM HQ
Fort Aalen, Raetia Province, Actium
25 May 2545
0507 Local Time
Lieutenant General Robert Fields
Headquarters, Actium Northern Command
D-Day 17
"Give me a sitrep!"
The words were out of his mouth more out of habit than anything because one look at the continental tac-map and he could tell the entire situation was fucked. In terms of physical operating area, NORTHCOM's area of responsibility was far from the greatest, but the continent of Hellas had the largest population density on all of Actium. As such, it had had a corresponding amount of combat strength. If there was one place on Actium where Fields thought the Covenant would have been stopped, it would have been here.
But if the tactical map was anything to go by, then even that wasn't enough to stop the Covenant juggernaut in their tracks.
"Covenant forces have penetrated through the Teutoburg Line and are making an extended armored push towards the Mannerheim River," Naouar-Khelif announced. "They've also launched an all-out offensive into the Haemus Mountains in the west, and are simultaneously attacking into Byzas in the north. Northern and Western Fronts are holding, but the Southern Front is crumbling."
"How did this happen!? How did this happen!?" Fields raged. "The Teutoburg Line was supposed to hold out for at least another week to allow us time to build up our defenses on the Mannerheim River! How did the Covies break through already!?"
Naouar-Khelif's face was grim as she replied, "Since making landfall two weeks ago, Covenant forces had been launched mass attritional attacks against the southwestern front at the boundary between the Western and Southern Fronts. We assumed it was there where the Covenant would attempt to breakout from; tactically, it made the most sense as the mountainous terrain favors the Covenant infantry – specifically the Brutes, Jackals, and Skirmishers – due to their higher physical strength and stamina which would make climbing and fighting in mountains less demanding when compared to our forces. Furthermore, strategically speaking, once they cleared the Haemus Mountain chain, they would have broken out onto open ground. Meanwhile, an attack in the east along the coast would have pressed them against the Euxine Ocean – limiting the number of troops they could deploy at any given time – and exposed them to direct fire from the guns of 2nd Actium Flotilla. Yet, that is exactly what they did."
"And nobody saw it coming!? Nobody predicted this exact scenario!? Not even General Maeker? He has three UNSC Army armored corps under his direct command! Eleven divisions including two armored and six mechanized infantry! Two independent mechanized cavalry groups! The largest concentration of firepower and armor anywhere on the planet! He should have had eyes and ears everywhere! What the fuck is he doing!?"
"It would appear the Covenant were able to take advantage of their Drones' natural burrowing ability to dig massive tunnels, allowing two entire Legions to advance with none the wiser," Naouar-Khelif delicately replied. "That, coupled with the liberal use of holographic decoys and stealth pylons meant…" she gestured helplessly at the tactical map.
"Sack him." The words were out of Fields' mouth before he could even really think of what he was saying, but once they were out, Fields found he had no interest in retracting them.
"Sir?" Naouar-Khelif exclaimed, mouth hanging open in shock.
"If General Maeker wasn't able to see an attack like this coming, with all the intelligence, and surveillance, and recon apparatuses in the world available to him, then what fucking good is he?" Fields snapped. "General Nazan Naouar-Khelif: I am officially relieving Lieutenant General Petros Maeker of his command of the Southern Front. Inform his deputy commander, Lieutenant General Kaito Shinski that he's in charge now. His first task: bring this damn Covenant offensive under control." With that out of the way, Fields took a deep breath to try and bring his anger under control. And his fear. Actium may not have been his home planet, but the colony had always held a special place in his heart as it had been his first duty station as a newly minted officer in the UNSC Army three decades earlier. To see the planet now, ravaged and violated… it was painful, to say the last. Fortunately, he was in a unique position to change that. "Now, what's the situation, and how can NORTHCOM help?"
Naouar-Khelif immediately turned to the tactical display. "The Covenant breakthrough took place in X Armored Corps' sector on their left flank near the seaboard: two entire Legions were thrown into battle and were able to smash through the single infantry division – the 112th – holding the line there; early reports suggest one brigade has been encircled along the coast near the town of Cavtat, one brigade has been totally destroyed, while the third is in full retreat. At the moment, the Covies are making a southwest rush through X Corps' rear toward the Mannerheim River; we've identified upwards of four separate Legions involved in the push. If they get to the river first, they could potentially cut off the 17th Infantry Division's retreat path, as well as that of V Corps' 14th ID, leaving both divisions cut off."
"What's Southern Front doing to prevent that?"
"X Corps' reserves, the 34th AD and the 110th MCG is launching a local counterattack up the seaboard aimed directly for the base of the Covenant's penetration, with the objective of relieving the encircled brigade from the 112th while simultaneously sealing off the breach. Concurrently, V Corps' MCG – the 105 – is attacking the Covies' left shoulder, hoping to limit the width of their penetration."
Fields raised an eyebrow. "Just the 105th? What's their armored division doing?"
"9th Armored is moving up to reinforce the line," Naouar-Khelif said, pointing. "Covies have also launched an attack across V Corps' line, no doubt to keep the forces there pinned down and unable to reinforce X Corps. Unfortunately for us, the Covies timed their attack to occur at the same time the 91st ID was in the process of replacing the 44th on the line, causing mass confusion among both divisions and maximizing the effect their attack normally would have had. Major General Abu ibn Lyad, V Corps, is attempting to sort the situation out."
Fields gritted his teeth. "What about reserves? Who does the Southern Front have in reserve?"
"That would be the XIV Armored Corps, sir. On paper, they have five divisions, but only two of them are intact: the 23rd ID – who were originally slated to replace the 14th on the line – and the 16th Amphibious Division from the Actium Colonial Militia. Unfortunately, the 16th is responsible for the defense of the entire Mannerheim River, leaving the 23rd as realistically the only division capable of an immediate counterattack. Everyone else – 53rd Armored Brigade, 80th and 101st Rifle - have all suffered from heavy attrition and had been withdrawn from the frontline for rest and refit, and had also been responsible for preparing our defenses on the river. Defenses, I might add, are only a quarter of the way started."
"We need reinforcements and need them now," Fields declared. "Have we reached out to General Jason Langley, UNICOM-Actium HQ? Can we draw from the strategic reserves?"
"XXVII Airborne Corps is in orbit and responsible for all strategic reserves, but unfortunately, sir, we're not the only unified combat command under attack. Both CENTCOM and WESTCOM are reporting landings in their AORs, and seeing as how in the last couple of weeks we have been stripping them of their support units, they're also in dire need of reinforcements. Not only that, FLEETCOM itself is under attack; concurrent with a ground offensive, the Covenant Navy seems to have decided to resume combat operations against Fleet Admiral Azouz Amarchih's Sixth Fleet."
As Naouar-Khelif was speaking, Fields had been pouring over data pad displaying a list of available units, but as Naouar-Khelif finished, he looked up. "What about Western and Northern Fronts? What's their situation?"
"Both Fronts are reporting Covenant attacks all across their sectors, but not to the extent we're seeing in the south. Neither Fronts have committed their reserves yet: XXX Infantry Corps in the west has the 181st ID waiting to counter any potential breakthrough, while 9 MEF in the north has 6th Marine Expeditionary Brigade."
Fields studied the tactical map, taking note of what unit was where, who needed help, as well as the estimated combat strength of the Covenant penetration. A strength that would undoubtedly grow, now that Sixth Fleet was distracted and no longer in a position to interdict the transfer of Covenant reinforcements from orbit to the surface. All the while, he was conscious of the fact that every single eye in the command center was focused on him as his troops anxiously waited for a solution to the disaster that was unfolding in real time in front of them. Fields tried not to let that added pressure get to him as he pulled up the topography layer of the map to study the terrain. In the end, there was only one conclusion he could draw.
"The Teutoburg Line has been lost," he finally declared. "Our objective now is to fall back to secondary defenses on the Mannerheim River with as much combat strength intact. First order: delay the Covenant penetration. Send a message to General Kiki Boutkira, XIV Corps, have her transfer the 23rd ID over to General Dwi Ajit Rudra at X Corps and then immediately have them reinforce 34th AD's counterattack. Their primary objective is to sever the Covenant penetration at the base, with a secondary objective of relieving that trapped brigade on the coast. Contact Vice Admiral Jale Darvish and have her 2nd Flotilla provide fire support."
"On the opposite shoulder, 9th Armor is to join the 105th on their counterattack against the Covenant flank, with the objective of trying to cut across the Covenant line of advance; forget trying to stabilize the line. Stabilization will instead be provided by two brigades from the 181st ID, who will be transferred from Western to Southern Front control."
"That will leave Western Front with only one brigade in reserve, sir," Naouar-Khelif immediately pointed out.
"They'll just have to deal; it's the mountains, those armored vehicles aren't very useful up there to begin with," Fields immediately retorted. "Second order: accelerate the buildup of our defenses on the river. I want the river between us and the Covenant but V Corps and X Corps need to cross before we blow the bridges. Set up strongpoints at the two cities sitting astride the river at both ends: Syracuse in the west, Port Trieste in the east. Deploy the 80th Rifle to Syracuse and have them hold the city while the 101st will deploy to Port Trieste and do the same there. Every bridge and major crossing between those two points, have the 16th begin to demolish. 53rd Armored will be held in ready reserve and BPT to counter any Covenant crossings that may occur before V and X Corps can retreat."
"Sir, we're getting reports that Covenant recon units have already reached the outskirts of Syracuse," a nearby technician reported. "XIV Corps is requesting reinforcements as they're concerned 80th Rifle doesn't have enough combat strength to clear the city by themselves, especially if the Covenant have started digging in."
"What do they need? Specifically?"
"More infantry, sir, as always," Naouar-Khelif reported, causing Fields to grimace. Historically speaking, the infantry arm was always the service branch to suffer the most casualties out of any other career, and this war was proving to be no exception.
"General, reach out to UNICOM HQ and see if they will release an airborne division to us," Fields ordered. "Preferably an entire division, and preferably the 3rd Airborne 'Shock' Division, but at this point I'll take a battalion tactical group if that's all they can spare."
"Sir, yes, sir."
"Alright people! You got your marching orders! Let's get this done!" Fields barked and the room immediately exploded into action, leaving Fields to stare at the tactical map.
And the growing red dagger stabbing through his troops.
Order of Battle
A bunch of units and names getting thrown around, which gets confusing, so here's an order of battle of everything that got mentioned for anyone that's curious (there would be more units involved in the fight, but they didn't show up in this chapter, so I'm not going to list them.)
Northern Command (Commanded by: LTG Robert Fields; Deputy Commander: MG Nazan Naouar-Khelif)
Southern Front – Teutoburg Line (LTG Petros Maeker; replacement: LTG Kaito Shinski)
- V Armored Corps (MG Abu ibn Lynd – western flank)
105th Mechanized Cavalry Group
9th Armored Division
14th Infantry Division
44th Infantry Division
91st Infantry Division (replacing 44th)
- X Armored Corps (LTG Dwi Ajit Rudra - eastern flank)
110th Mechanized Cavalry Group
17th Infantry Division
34th Armored Division (canon unit that did fight on Actium)
112th Infantry Division (encircled)
- XIV Armored Corps (LTG Kiki Boutkira – Front reserve)
53rd Armored Brigade (formerly 2/53rd Armored Division)
16th Amphibious Division
80th Rifle Division
101st Rifle Division
23rd Infantry Division (supposed to replace 14th ID on line)
Western Front (Haemus Mountains)
- XXX Infantry Corps
181st Infantry Division
Northern Front – City of Byzas
- 9th Marine Expeditionary Force (canon unit, though no indication it fought on Actium)
6th Marine Expeditionary Brigade
"Eastern Front" - Euxine Ocean (VADM Jale Darvish)
- 2nd Flotilla
Higher Commands
All ground forces on the planet of Actium fall under the command of Unified Ground Command – Actium, General Jason Langley. They control the strategic reserves which are
- XXVII Airborne Corps
3rd Airborne Division
Actium is the headquarters for and protected by UNSC Navy Sixth Fleet, Fleet Admiral Azouz Amarchih
The plant of Actium is also the headquarters of and falls under UNSC Naval Command FLEETCOM Sector TWELVE.
Note
Front: for clarification, I am using this term in the Russian/Soviet military formation sense, as opposed to a "battlefront" sense. In the Russian military, a "Front" is roughly equivalent to a Western "army group." This does mean I have skipped one of the echelons of field formations as generally, it goes: corps field army front/army group.
General Notes
I am, once again, attempting to write a strategic planning scene and make it interesting.
The reason why I keep trying is because the biggest impetus for me to write a story revolving around the Battle of Actium was because I desperately wanted to see a large-scale conventional ground campaign similar to that of the European Theater (both Western and Eastern Fronts) where millions of soldiers and hundreds of thousands of vehicles battled each other on a near daily basis. Unfortunately, the Halo-universe isn't quite the fandom to accomplish such a thing because lore-wise, massive ground campaigns weren't very common during the war; the majority of battles consisted of the Covenant showing up to a colony, brushing aside any human resistance with relative ease, sending a small strike team down to the surface to accomplish whatever objectives they wanted, and then proceeding to glass the planet.
There are only a few canon instances where a large-scale, conventional, ground campaign seemed plausible based on the information available and while it's not outright stated, Actium appeared to me to be one of them; the only canon information we have regarding that battle is that it was the location of "…three of the largest Covenant staging areas on record…" (Halopedia, Battle of Actium.) To me, that implies a landing force of a certain size and strength, which would necessitate a UNSC response force of a similar or equal size and strength. And once that size was met, it would set the conditions for the massive ground campaign I wanted. But not quite in the way I had wanted.
When I was younger, I had actually originally envisioned this battle consisting of several army groups battling it out, i.e., millions of soldiers. But as I got older and a bit more knowledgeable, I realized that wasn't feasible for several reasons:
- Army sizes: the size of an army is not just based on the needs of a nation, but also how much it can support. The country of Liechtenstein, for example, will never be able to field an armored division of 10,000 soldiers: not only do they not need it (the only countries capable of invading it are also the ones who would mostly likely defend it,) attempting to put that many people in uniform would basically cause the country to cease working.
In the Halo-universe, the population density per colony is actually pretty small; outside of Earth, I don't believe any colony had a population that reached one billion. Which makes sense as, unlike the real-world, humans are no long confined to living on one celestial body.
- Logistics: if a sizable army isn't already present on a colony, then a military has to figure out how to transport not just the soldiers, but their weapons and equipment, as well as all the supplies needed to sustain them. Trying to transport an entire armored division across a single planet already proves so difficult in real-life, to the point only one nation in the world is really capable of doing it (the United States,) and even then, a large part has to do with the massive infrastructure the US military already has in place. Trying to transport an equal size force across the galaxy to a besieged colony? With the technology available to the UNSC, such a feat is far from impossible, but I imagine it's still very limiting.
- Need: anyone who has even a cursory knowledge of military wars and tactics since the end of WW2 has probably noticed that troop density has decreased even while the area of conflict has remained the same or in some case, increased. The reason for that is twofold: better technology means the same amount of ground during, say, the First Gulf War, can be covered with far less men than would have been needed during WW2. Conversely, better technology also means it's harder for armies to rapidly grow and expand in the event of an emergency; it's no longer really possible for countries to just hand out rifles to conscripts who've only had a few weeks of training and expect them to stand up against a professional army (if that was ever even truly possible in the first place.) Nowadays, it's generally accepted by most modern militaries that a minimal amount of technical acuity is needed even among their infantry forces. That in turn necessitates slightly longer training, which in turn limits the growth of a military.
Because of these factors, I ultimately decided that instead of looking towards the European Theater of WW2 for inspiration, it was probably better to look towards the Pacific Theater where, while there were large ground campaigns/battles like the Philippine campaign, the Burma campaign, and the Battle of Okinawa, none of them ever really got to the size of the average campaign on the Western Front, much less the Eastern Front.
Next chapter, NORTHCOM's orders start to take effect.