Battle of Kryplensk

The Gaerian forces are disorganized and low on morale. We only need to fire our cannons and half of them will run away, and once they will see our cavalry charging towards them there won't be a single solider left in the city.
-General Sun Wu the day before the battle

The Battle of Kryplensk was fought between the Jewingaton Empire and the coalition forces and was part of the Jewingaton invasion of Gaeria. It is one of the most important battles in the conflict and was the first coalition victory in a major battle.

The Conflict

Prelude

The Jewingaton Forces

After the Jewingaton Empire successfuly made succesful landing at Ashington Castle it manged to counquer large amounts of land in the east coast. The 3rd army lead by General Sun Wu was tasked with counquering northen Gaeria. The 3rd army counquered most of the land east to the Kryplen river with little resistance. They decided to halt their advance until further reinforcement will arrive and the winter will pass. After the reinforcement arrived in late Peterial Sun Wu marched he's forces through the undefended city of Engennes into a a field north of the city and started to prepare he's assualt.

The Coalition Forces

After the shameful defeat in the Battle of Knai Bael the coalition leaders decided to adopt a defensive strategy. This strategy included a retreat of all coalition forces to good defensive positions instead of the exposed positions they were cerently in. This included a retreat of the coalition forces stationed in Engennes to the Kryplensk the capital of Satsuku. In the following weeks massive amount forces floked in from neighboring Nishi and Kaurmaa. Smaller forces arrived from more or less all of Gaeria.

Deployment

The Coalition forces were divided into 2 parts: The infantry that were located at the gate of the city, they were supported by 20 cannons that were placed on the stone towers near the gate. And the cavalry that sneaked out of the city the night before into the woods east to the northen road in order to suprise and flank the enemy, they were supported by 70 cannons.

The Engagement

On 27 Gedeval 1246 13:00 the 3rd army's cannons began firing the wooden walls of Kryplensk that were close to the gate in order to widen the enemy lines and make the cavalry charge that followed more efficient.
At 14:30 the cannons were ordered to redirect their fire towards the enemy infanry. General Sun Wu ordered a cavalry charge with 3 cavalry brigades (9,000 soliders) into the enemy's postion in the gate and the destroyed woden walls. The Coalition cannons in the stone towers were unable to fire untill the charge due to them having a much shorter range then Jewingaton cannons. The cavalry charge failed and had to be called off. It's faliure is largely attributed to use of bayonets for the first time in battle by a Gaerian army, which General Sun Wu did not expect. The cannons soften the Coalition lines some more the Coalition cavalry that was suppose to flank the enemy's was getting restless as they expected the Jewingaton to make a bigger push. On 15:00 Sun Wu order a second cavalry charge this time he used 5 regular cavalry brigades and one brigade of Lán Sè Kǒngbù cavalry (the elite cavalry of the Jewingaton army). The charge failed again to break the Coalition lines and was called off shortly after.
In 16:00 Sun Wu order a third and last cavalry charge using all the cavalry in the 3rd army. The cavalry charge was a success, pushing the Coalition infantry into the city. At the point Sun Wu ordered his infantry to support the cavalry in the attack inside the city. The Coalition cavalry finally had an opportunity to flank the 3rd army, they rushed down to flank the catch the artillery undefended while there own artillery moved down to shoot on the infantry going to the city. After they dealed with the cavalry tried to charge the enemy infantry, but the Jewingatons used their own bayonets to repel the charge. With the infantry units busy defending against the Coalition cavalry the 3rd army's cavalry was unable to advance through the city and Sun Wu decided to retreat to the city of Engennes. The retreat was made with very little casulties.

Outcome

The 3rd army retreated to Engennes but was unable stop it's retreat due to Coalition forces chasing still chasing it. It stopped only after 2 weeks when it was well into it's own land.

Aftermath

The battle crippled the 3rd army's capablities and stopped any Jewingaton advance in the north of Gaeria. The battle also renewed the dwindling faith it the Coalition's capablties to stop the Jewingatons.

Historical Significance

Technological Advancement

The battle was the first time a Gaerian army used bayonetes. After viewing the faliure of the Coalition armies against the Jewingaton invasion General Martin Carter, one of the best generals of the Coalition forces understood the problem. Not a single army in the Coalition had anything like the weird lance-guns that the Jewingaton infantry used to defend against cavalry charges. After gaining control over the Coalition forces in Kryplensk Martin decided to put his idea to the test by ordering 10,000 knives from diffrent workshops nearby and wrap them around the gun using leather. There weren't engouh knives for all soldiers to get one but the one that got had a tremendous effect on the battlefield and in the end it was the deciding factor in the battle.

Conflict Type

Battle

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

27 Gedeval 1246 13:00

Ending Date

27 Gedeval 1246 18:45

Conflict Result

Coalition tactical victory

Location

Kryplensk

Belligerents

The anti-Jewingaton coalition

The Jewingaton Empire

Strength

Total: 64,000
42,000 foot
22,000 cavalry
90 cannons

Total: 50,000
20,000 foot
30,000 cavalry half of them being Lán Sè Kǒngbù
200 cannons

Casualties

15,000 killed
14,000 wounded

10,000 killed
5,000 wounded

Objectives

Protecting the city of Kryplensk.

Taking the city of Kryplensk

Maps

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  Kryplensk 1246