The Battle of Artemis
"While I would on the whole prefer that Vaduz's drop onto Artemis didn't happen in the first place, I can't deny that it became instrumental in helping the Third Committee understand the situation at Parime. Not just that the system was in a volatile place, but that both sides of the conflict had been on the verge of committing to oneanother's annihilation for a long time and would have continued to be, had we not intervened. The Vaduz look at Artemis and think of it as deserved recommpense for the innocent lives lost at Bregenz, and the FUC in turn are showing no hesitation in making martyrs out of those killed at Artemis to make their retaliation all the more cathartic for them. I'm hoping that by the time we're done, however, we're all going to see Artemis as the place where peace in Parime was reforged."
"Y'know, up until that day we never took Vaduz's military seriously. We just... we weren't expecting them to do worse than knock out some satellites or take some potshots from orbit, didn't think they'd nut up and do much more, we thought. Then they dropped down... and they kept dropping down, hundreds of 'em, lighting up the night sky, like the stars were falling on us. The mechs that landed, they were... they were so fast, you know, and they moved so human-like, like it weren't like anything we'd seen before. And... they killed everyone, and kept killing them, after they were dead... when one looked my way, I didn't do anything. I threw away my rifle, laid down with my hands over my head. And the Vaduz... they just walked past me, and kept killing, it was like I didn't exist to 'em, 'till some infantry came across me and brought me in."
"THE DEAD OF BREGENZ ROUSE FROM THEIR SLUMBER, AND EVER SHALL THEIR BLADES THIRST FOR THE BLOOD OF THE GUILTY."
The Conflict
Prelude
In response to the FUC's continuing economic pressures and the attack on the Bregenz Agricultural-Habitat, the Vaduz Orbital Collective mobilize military and naval forces into a retaliatory strike against the Falias United Colonies by way of targetting the Artemis Port-City, the FUC's primary port and connection to the rest of the Parime system, utilising new weapons, technologies and mechanical chassis procured through diplomatic contact with the Smith-Shimano Corpro. The FUC were aware of a potential attack on soil but did not reroute significant forces to Artemis, expecting the VSDC to focus exclusively on orbital assets.
Deployment
At aproximately 00:00 (Falias Universal Time), the VSDC 1st Spaceborn Division was transported into proximity of FUC airspace-territory by Vaduz naval elements. The FUC were unable to begin defensive anti-orbital fire upon sighting VSDC spacecraft due to internal sabotage of defensive assets and aero-orbital macrobatteries until deployment was already underway. At 00:59FUT, VSDC 1st Intelligence Cohort succesfully commenced a mass electronic-warfare attack on multiple public and military broadcasting-networks within Artemis, overriding enemy communications with a mixture of pre-recorded propaganda and live-broadcasting of 1st Spaceborn Division soldiers and staff shouting threatening messages in local dialects in an attempt to demoralize and panic enemy forces, before begining preliminary orbital-bombartment and orbital-drop of 1st Spaceborn Division elements. This disruption in communications meant that the FUC were unable to reroute and coordinate nearby military groups to aid in defending Artemis when the scale and imminency of the attack were made apparent.
Battlefield
The VSDC's chosen target was the Artemis Port-City, Falias's major orbital transport center and meeting-point of multiple ice-mining logistical/transport routes. Along with the above mentioned attributes, the VSDC also picked the location due to its weaker geological defences: Due to the constant launching and landing of air/space vehicles, many major parts of Artemis's colony are on the surface, unlike adjacent FUC urban-centers which remain almost entirely underground.
Conditions
Most businesses and operations within Artemis had already been closed and/or evacuated in advance of the battle, due to already rising political/military tension between the FUC and Vaduz. Night-Time visibility was within usual tolerances - light-pollution is deliberately kept low in major areas of Artemis to assist aerospace operations - and sections of the city were hastily fortified in advance, including the self-assembly of local civilians into informal militias.
The Engagement
At aproximately 1:05FUT, VSDC began preliminary kinetic-bombarment of key entry-points into Artemis, shortly followed by deployment of first-wave forces to secure said entry-points and provide reconnaissance, which met little resistence due to succesful acts of sabotage against outer-defences. At 1:30, the main forces of the 1st Spaceborn Division began their main offensive on the city, seeking to secure landing-zones across the outer-walls so as to allow for reinforcements dropping directly on and around Artemis via Orbital/Low-Drag drop systems.
Outcome
The VSDC's speed of deployment and attack, combined with its overwhelming technological advantage, enabled the 1st Spaceborn division to rapidly overwhelm local defences and push remaining enemy forces into retreat. Captured footage quickly circulated public and military communications of VSDC forces demonstrating remarkable brutality in their engagement of enemy combatants, utilising weapons and tactics with deliberate intent to maximize psychological impact and cause unnecesarry suffering in an effort to demoralize remaining defenders. Despite this and a not-insubstantial degree of collateral damage, remaining defensive forces that surrendered or rendered unable to fight were taken prisoner without further harm. Most of the civilian population were allowed to evacuate to neighboring settlements, while those that stayed behind were given protection and monetary compensation in exchange for assisting in the continued operation of ground-to-orbit logistical systems.
Aftermath
Photographs of the Vaduz flags being raised over the remains of Artemis's central-command by VSDC VEX units became symbolic of the decisive start to open warfare between Vaduz and the FUC, and of the end of its isolation from the rest of humanity as Union DOJ/HR considered it to be the breaking-point that necessitated more direct intervention. Though Vaduz posessed insufficient logistical systems for Artemis to hold against a sufficiently strong counterattack, the FUC's reluctance to re-engage an enemy using advanced technology from outside of Parime meant that the port-city remained in the hands of Vaduz until 5006u, when Union forces compelled a ceasefire and declared portions of Artemis a demilitarized zone.
While most of the civilian populace that hadn't already evacuated were allowed to leave Artemis and travel to neighboring settlements without incident or impediment, those that stayed behind were given protection and monetary compensation by the VSDC in exchange for assisting in the continued operation of ground-to-orbit logistical systems. Of those that remained, 14% applied for provisional-citizenship/refugee status in the Vaduz Orbital Collective and 49% returned to FUC-held territory after being promised amnesty, whilst the remaining 37% would eventually apply for citizenship/refugee status within Union-held space.
Historical Significance
Technological Advancement
The battle for Artemis was the first major offensive within Parime to utilise weapons and equipment fabricated from designs originating outside of the Parime system: Prior to contact with Union-space and the Smith-Shimano Corpro, local counterparts to Union military chassis were primarily used in support and logistics roles and only used sparingly in combat, due still being in their technological infancy. Through communication and transfer of information with currently-unknown SSC elements, the VSDC's research-divisions were able to produce substantial numbers of SSC-designed mechs and powersuits (albeit initially of lesser capability, due to inferior manufacturing systems) and quickly adapt them for use with local MMI/Cybernetic interfaces, drawing large quantities of pilots from established spacecraft and VEP personel, along with many other elements of contemporary Union and SSC technological information, which ensured an overwhelming technological edge over both the FUC and Helium Co-Operatives until they themselves could catch up years later.
Conflict Type
Siege
Battlefield Type
Urban
Start Date
1/6/4999
Ending Date
2/11/4999
Conflict Result
VSDC Strategic Victory
Location
Belligerents
Vaduz Self-Defence Corps, 1st Spaceborn Division
Strength
- 1st Cohort 5th Espatiers
- 2nd Cohort 1st Espatiers
- 2nd Cohort 2nd Espatiers
- 2nd Cohort 7th Espatiers
- 2nd Cohort 8th Espatiers
- 2nd Cohort 9th Espatiers
- 1st VEX-Infantry Squadron
- 1st VEX-Cohort
- 2nd VEX-Cohort
- 3rd VEX-Cohort
- 4th VEX-Cohort
- 1st Cohort 11th Espatiers (Alpha Battery)
- EspatierWing Support Squadron 2
- 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Cohort
- 1st Combat Engineer Cohort
- 2nd Combat Engineer Cohort
- Naval Mobile Construction Cohort-12
- 1st Intelligence Cohort
- Combat Service Support Battery 2
- Combat Service Support Battery 3
- Artemis Colonial Garrison
- 2nd Colonial Marine Division
- 2nd Colonial Marine Aircraft Wing
- 2nd Colonial Marine Logistics Group
- 2nd Colonial Marine Expeditionary Brigade
- 8th Colonial Marine Expeditionary Unit
- 12th Colonial Marine Expeditionary Unit
Casualties
- Aproximately 227 Killed
- Aproximately 346 Wounded
- Aproximately 8,734 Killed
- Aproximately 1,136 Wounded
Objectives
Occupation of Artemis, destruction/routing of local defences and continuity of water/breathing-mixture supply lines.
Defence of Artemis from VSDC forces
Comments