Siege of Talltown
The Siege of Talltown was a prolonged conflict taking place in a megacity on the planet of Thraka. Talltown had proven notoriously hard for Imperial Forces to establish any permenant operations, as they have been run out by a steady armed insurgency under the guidance of experienced Pacifica Liberation Front fighters. They regularly operate using the long abandoned subterranean logistical pathways, known as the Chandra Singh Metro.
In the year of 236, Imperial Intelligence had become convinced that the majority of weapons and fighters who were conducting terror attacks against Imperial Infrastructure were being trained and armed in Talltown. The Imperial Army had proven incapable of taking control of the situation, and thus the directors of the Imperial Secret Service met with a contingent of Imperial Navy Lord Admirals. A deal was struck, and in December, an expeditionary force at the control of Grand Admiral Stelmane Remos was deployed planet side, with over half a million shock troopers, and a contingent of Imperial Army security forces.
The Conflict
Prelude
Throughout the invasion of Thraka, the Imperial Colonial Forces were regularly plagued by a population that regularly made clear that the Empire is not welcome. In particular, the city sector known to the locals as "Jadotberg" had been a particularly nasty thorn in the side of the Imperial Hegemony. Regular reports of the arrival of Vanguard Revolutionary Force military advisors peaked the interest of the Imperial Intelligence apparatus. The Office of Imperial Security began a espionage campaign of terror. Those known associating with rebellious forces were captured and interogated off-world, regular wetwork squads made their way into Jadotberg, targeting labor organizers and political figures. However, the Imperial Intelligence was unable to capture any Union advisors directly, and only achieved marginal success in trying to supress the growing anti-imperial sentiment in the city sector. As the terror became more regular, the local insurgent forces, supported now by an organized and armed Pacifica Liberation Front, and trained by the continuously illusive Union VRF advisors, began to fight back. This back and forth culminated when rebel forces destroyed a newly constructed Imperial Space Elevator, resulting in the loss of trillions of Imperial credits. This prompted the emperor to allow for a direct intervention by the Imperial Navy.
Deployment
The initial deployment began with the immediate use of localized Army units, part of the Royal Fasaryr Army Regiment, as a means to establish a landing point within Jadotville. The initial deployment targetted Eidu Spaceport, and in the early days of December, 676, the sky was regularly dotted by the Imperial Gunships ferrying supplies, troops and delivering ordinance around the spaceport in preparation for the arrival of an Imperial Shock Trooper Corps.
In the several months leading up to the Siege's begining in 676, the liberation front and the revolutionary guard had begun to setup defensive positions and more sophisticated tactics that could be employed when the Imperial Military would inevitably try to invade Jadotberg. This saw the creation of the infamous "Drop-Tunnels" that would be employed by rebel forces throughout the siege. Anti-Space guns were assembled in secret, and positioned in strategically hidden areas that the Office of Imperial Security completely missed.
Imperial Navy forces consisted almost entirely of a contingent of Shock Troopers under the overarching command of Grand Admiral Stelmane Remos. A small patrol squadron of Imperial vessels was tasked with protecting Thraka, however Remos determined the threat to Imperial troop carriers around Thraka as being minimal, so the defensive craft were regularly deployed as anti-piracy forces in the nearby systems.
Battlefield
Jadotberg was the second most dense population center on all of Thraka, and this was complicated by it being the hub of a complex underground logistics network, that ran miles deep and potentially connected to every corner of the entire planet of Thraka. This sprawling network, combined with the complicated and pre-silence buildings that lacked accurate records made the city sector of Jadotberg a steel urban jungle.
With years of preperation, the local freedom fighters had figured out logistical networks that could keep any part of the sector supplied with food and arms indefinetly and out of the way of Imperial Air patrols. This also left the city sector of Jadotberg littered with liberation front traps, ambush points, and other defensive measures that made every block of the city taken by Imperial Forces, was paid for with the blood of dead imperials.
The Engagement
The actual siege that began in the early weeks of December began the day after the arrival of the first battalion of Imperial Shock Troops made planetfall. No sooner than they had stepped onto Eidu Spaceport's Tarmac did the spaceport come under attack by several thousand PLF forces.
At the same time, a joint effort, made by the infamous Dagger Squadron began strafing runs against orbital imperial ships, which were left almost entirely unguarded. The attacking PLF forces managed to destroy two troop carriers, and an Imperial destroyer, with only minimal losses of their own forces.
Planetside, the PLF forces had deployed not only surface-to-orbit weapons, crippling an Imperial Cruiser, but also HORUS mechanized chassis. Within hours, the defending forces of Eidu Airfield had mostly been forced to scatter to various Imperial Army fallback points, where over the span of eight hours, the PLF hunted down retreating Imperial Forces. When the defensive flotilla of Imperial vessels was able to regain control of the orbit around Thraka, the PLF fighters had already scattered to the wind.
Remos responded with fury, and in the weeks following, Jadotberg was subject to a ruthless bombing campaign. The civilian casualties were in the hundreds of thousands. Instead of breaking the will of the people, the PLF saw the numbers of volunteers for active combat units grew exponentially. When the bombing campaign ended, a second landfall was made by the Imperial Shock Troopers. The first wave of troopers that had arrived in December were aboard comfortable and unarmed troop ferries.
The second wave of Shock Troopers would not make the same mistake, and made a combat jump directly onto the planet, aggressively moving on strategic points, as well as crippling hospitals, schools and other culturally important locations. The Fasaryr Rifles rode in among armored gunships, providing regular air support to the rapidly deploying shock troopers in a symphony of violence and carnage. However, the PLF was nowhere to be found, and the outposts and bases that the Imperial Forces assumed them to be occupying were left empty and abandoned.
The PLF had gone deep underground, anticipating the bombing campaign. While the bombs shook the city sectors above, the liberation forces continued to build out and organize their robust smuggling network which became known as the Changra Singh Metro after the rebel was killed during the orbital bombing campaign.
The Imperials were quick to declare victory, and began to "govern" the sector of Jadotberg. However, in the following weeks the Liberation Front proved this victory to be false, and they regularly targeted Imperial checkpoints, outposts, and landing zones.
For more than two months, Imperial Forces found themselves the regular target of ambush by rebels and insurgents. Oftentimes, the resistance forces would melt away before the Imperials could mount a proper counter attack. When the Imperial Forces tried to push deeper into the Undercity of Jadotberg, they were averaging 3000 casualties per day. The political backlash alone among the Core Systems caused a direct intervention by the Emperor, forcing an Imperial withdrawl.
Outcome
The Imperial Forces were forced to withdraw with such a high casualty rate. The Navy was forced to retreat back into orbit, and a severe re-organization of Pacifica forces was conducted. The PLF saw control over Jadotberg, however the devestation to Jadotberg would set them back in progress significantly.
Included under Conflict
Conflict Type
Siege
Battlefield Type
Urban
Start Date
December 17th, 236 Post Silence
Ending Date
March 13th, 237 Post Silence
Conflict Result
Pacifica Liberation Front Victory
Location
Belligerents
The Imperial Forces
Led by
Strength
- 565,000 Imperial Navy Personnel
- 50,000 Royal Flower Dragoons
- 55,000 Army Troopers from the House of Stars
- 25,000 Royal Fasaryr Rifles
- 15,000 Private Security Forces provided by Harrison Armory
- 80,000 Militia Fighters
- 30,000 Pacifica Liberation Front Fighters
- 1500 Vanguard Revolutionary Force Advisors
- 65 Pilots from the Rebel Fleet
Casualties
- 60,000 Dead
- 180,000 Wounded
- 25,000 Militia Fighters
- 100,000 Civilian Casualties
- 5,000 Pacifica Liberation Front Fighters
- 7 Pilots from the Rebel Fleet
Objectives
Security Control over Jadotberg
Destruction of the Singh Metro
Capture / Elimination of Vanguard Revolutionary Forces
Destruction of Spaceport Eidu
Targeted Destruction of Economically Important Targets
Elimination of Imperial Nobility on Thraka
Continued Control over the Sector of Jadotberg
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