Battle of the Augurwald

Lead up to the Offensive

In November of 1949, The Grabbenheim counter offensive into Acentia was in full swing. Millions of men met along the whole front as the shattered Acentian forces fell back in disorder. Many defeats in the autumn mud of southern grabbenheim had ended any hope of a quick end to the war and many in the Acentian army belived that a conditional surrender was the only option and morale was at an all time low. The Acentian army needed a victory to turn their eyes back towards victory. And so in October, Three PRAA armored divisions totaling more than 1,000 Armored vehicles gathered in the plains of the Regeldi Valley. Threir target was the heavily occupied Augurwald forest where they thought a single Grabbenheimer armored division was. What they didnt know is that not one, but three full strength Enemy Armored divisions were waiting. Over 1,600 Grabbenheimer tanks waited in fixed positions for the Acentian assault that they knew was coming.
On the day of the offensive, November the 5th, More than 1,000 Acentian engines awoke in the cold air and three divisions awaited the hour of the advance as 300 howitzers smashed the 12 mile wide front line. The order was given at 4:30am on the 5th to begin the assault and the whole force began to move off into the cold night.

The Opening Act

As the Acentian vanguard approached the edge of the Augurwald, all of the men were on edge as they peered into the blasted trees. Suddenly the quiet was interupted by the whistle of high-velocity AT rounds flying through the air as the deep booms of the guns were heard. Several tanks were knocked out at this time however, the AT guns were soon silenced by the Acentian Infantry. The silence didnt last long however as soon after, a battalion of Grabbenheimer Heavy tanks emerged from the dark woods and slammed into the newly captured trenches, shattering and killing nearly two companies of under equipped Acentian Infantry before being stopped By Acentian D-46 Longbow Tanks. As the Acentians pushed into the edges of the woods they faced scattered resistance from entrenched infantry and AT guns, slowly chipping away at the Acentian force. As the sun set on the first day the Acentian Army had barely made it a half mile into the Augurwald and thickening and increasingly accurate enemy artillery fire began to take its toll. The Acentians dig in for the night, praying for an easier day tomorrow.

Day Two: The Hog Field

In the morning hours of the 6th the Acentian forces made several small advances into weaker parts of the line, attempting to probe the enemy most of which achived little. At around noon, two Battalions of the 73rd Division advanced on a small hamlet known as Borocran. The Village was in a large clearing an was surrounded by low, marshy ground. The Grabbenheimer company guarding the village hadnt been able to dig any trenches because of this and was forced to build above ground defenses instead. Just as the Acentian Armor Moved out of the trees, down the single road to the town, the garrison opened fire with small arms as the Acentian tank riders dumped themselves into the muck for some kind of cover. The Acentian armor opened fire, smashing buildings to splinters and killing many enemy soldiers. suddenly the first acentian tank in line exploded as a shell penetrated its magazine. Frantically the Acentian crews scanned the village and treeline where they saw a Grabbenheimer Tank Battlion Rolling out into the muddy fields, folowed by another battalion shortly after, and another after that. The Acentian tanks scrambled into the mud to attempt to manuver but many got stuck and both sides tanks were knocked out as they lay immobile. The infantry of both sides treked through the muck and engaged in brutal close quarters combat and even hand to hand as the sun set. Trancers and the flames of burning tanks lit the skies. all throughout the night platoon after platoon was destroyed in what would later be refered to as "The Hog Field". By morning more than 60 tanks and 800 men lay dead in the mucky fields, the village totally destroyed. in some places the bodies were tangled together in large heaps from the brutal melees that occured in the dark. The Exausted troops both pulled back after the sun had rose and neither side made any offensives until the 8th.

Photo taken of the Hog Field, the morning of the 7th

Included under Conflict

Twelve Years War

Conflict Type

Battle

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

11/5/1949

Ending Date

11/13/1949

Conflict Result

Phyrric Grabbenheim Victory

Belligerents

Acentian Army

• Peoples Republic of Acentia

Grabenheim Imperial Army

• Grabenheim Empire

Strength

71st Armored Division: 300 Vehicles
3rd Armored Division "Burkas Own": 400 Vehicles
16th Armored Division: 300 Vehicles
99th Mechanized Division "The Rolling Bitches": 10,300 men

1st Armored Division "Paynes Raiders": 500 Vehicles
43rd Armored Division: 500 Vehicles
140th Armored Division: 500 Vehicles
8th Infantry Division: 8,300 men
77th Infantry Division: 11,300 men

Casualties

Most of the armored force destroyed (About 67%)
4,263 Killed or Missing, 7,128 Wounded

Most of the armored force destroyed (About 71%)
8,132 Killed or Missing, 12,864 Wounded

Objectives

Push Grabbenheimers out of the Augurvald

Break the back of the Acentian armored forces.