The Zautan Slaughter (The Blood Ice)
The Conflict
Prelude
In the very late stages of the Joint Kadar War the Saurian Empire had pushed deep into Kadar Cabal territory, occupying each colonized planet they took. One such planet, Sealia, was being held by Saurian forces when a solar storm hit, blocking communications in and out of the system for several years. And thus the occupying forces were completely unaware when the Walren betrayed the Saurian Empire, taking advantage of their relatively weakened state and starting the Second Saurian-Walren War. They had no way of knowing that an entire fleet of now hostile Walren vessels was en route to Sealia.
Deployment
The newly founded Blue Arrow Battalion, comprised mostly of men who had seen combat only once before when they took the city, was stationed at Zautan, the capitol of Sealia. Not expecting an attack, the battalion was relatively at ease with no hostiles left on the planet, though still on guard against the local Kadar civilians amongst them. 3 main forward operating bases had been set up at equal distances in a triangle near the heart of the city to establish suitable control. When the Walren arrived, they came down in drop ships and pods from every side, closing in around the vastly smaller Saurian force like a fist crushing an egg.
Battlefield
The city of Zautan was a densely populated urban environment spanning several miles, the blocky buildings set in a massive grid in typical Kadar fashion.
Conditions
The slaughter took place as winter was coming to and end, the temperature of the snow planet at the start of the event hovering just below freezing before getting colder each progressive day. This led to the blood running in the streets solidifying into sheets of morbid ice.
The Engagement
The Blue Arrow Battalion detected the incoming Walren fleet well in advance, and attempted to hail it. Their attempts were ignored. The Saurians began to worry when the Walren ships neared the planet without ever returning a single word, the worries heightened by not receiving the last scheduled communications briefing from friendly Saurian forces. That was when the Walren ships began to bombard Zautan from orbit, destroying around a third of the buildings in the entire city. After hours of shelling, the Walren began to land troops from both the Barukar Corpse Grinders and the Nyxian Night Terrors, two of the most brutal and vicious Walren groups. They started at the outskirts of the city and closed in to the heart of the city, systematically clearing every intact building and slaughtering not only the Saurian soldiers they found by also every local Kadar man, woman, and child. Several days passed due just to the sheer time incurred by clearing every building in an entire city, but soon they had closed on the last vestiges of Saurian resistance, all consolidated around their last standing FOB and the surrounding buildings. The rookie Blue Arrow Battalion fought valiantly, but a force 10 times their size would not have lasted agains the onslaught. Only 2 members of the battalion survived, and only because one was trapped underneath rubble from a building destroyed during the bombardment and the other physically burring himself with heaps of bloody snow.
Outcome
Zautan destroyed and almost all the residences killed including Saurian forces, claiming the planet for the Walren, though they left only a day after the slaughter to find more opportunities to enact bloodshed.
Aftermath
In the end, Sealia was reclaimed by the Kadar, but the capitol was moved to a different city to preserve the scene at Zautan as a monument/reminder of Walren cruelty. The Saurians now have a national holiday on the day the slaughter began each year, Acadia being the planet that observes this day the most as the Blue Arrow Battalion was founded on the planet. It is known as Zautan Slaughter Memorial Day.
Historical Significance
Legacy
Zautan Slaughter Memorial Day. Some visit the site to this day to see the gruesome site, the bodies and sheets of blood ice running through streets to this day due to Sealia’s temparture never rising above freezing.
Included under Conflict
Conflict Type
Battle
Battlefield Type
Urban
Start Date
5/10/819 ASD
Ending Date
10/10/819
Conflict Result
The entire Saurian presence as well as all of the civilians in the city were massacred.
Location
Belligerents
Strength
480 men
Casualties
478 killed, 2 men wounded
Objectives
Occupy the city of Zautan and hold positions until solar storm clears up.
Strength
Casualties
409 men killed, 195 men wounded
Objectives
Wipe out everyone in the capitol of Sealia to secure the planet for the Walren Empire.
Strength
~72,000,000 people
Casualties
~71,980,000 people killed and wounded
Objectives
Survive
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