Battle of Kothlis (Cruentusian War)

"Kothlis summed up the war for me. Just death, blood, fire everywhere you looked...it was fight or be killed...my friends dying all around...it was just hell. Pure, bloody hell."

- A Necasian soldier reminiscing on the battle, following the war

The Battle of Kothlis was a large battle that took place during the Cruentusian War. It occured when the Srav Federation, deciding to exploit the turmoil amongst the Necasian Military, launched an attack on the Necasian-controlled world of, which was rich in resources and also a strategically located point. Outnumbered and taken by surprise, the Necasians dug in the Freta Archipelago, where their forces were concentrated. For two days they held out, fighting on land, sea, and air, with the Sravs gradually pushing forward along the Archipelago using island-hopping tactics, until the arrival of the Necasian figher ace Renard Curl, who turned the tide of the battle.

Although the battle was not considered to have been one that massively impacted the course of the war, it came to be remembered as one of the bloodiest battles of the conflict, due to the loss of life on both sides and the brutality enacted by troops of both factions.

Prelude
"Kothlis is a planet we cannot afford to have destroyed, and Vlad, I want it intact. Please refrain from following Gresev's example on Cul-Huq."

- Jasef Yuiln to Vlad Mutin

Following the Skirmish in Ilatas, the Necasian military's upper circles were in turmoil, following the dissolution of the alliance with the Zayre and the panic over the Death's Tongue Militia spreading. Realizing that he had been somewhat over reliant on the Zayre, Askar began reinforcing the Necasian border worlds, and focused especially on. Rich in resources, Kothlis was providing a stable supply of resources and was also a strategic point. Necasian commanders considered it a potential staging ground for attack on key Srav worlds. Therefore, Askar supervised the construction of makeshift construction facilities, and the setup of several new NHD-52577 artillery platforms on each of the islands.

Unbeknownst to Askar, the Srav Federation had its eye on Kothlis, and took advantage of the Necasian turmoil to plan an attack on the tropical ocean world. Srav spies sabotaged Necasian supply convoys heading to Kothlis, weakening the defenses, and Srav infiltrators and Necasian traitors in the employ of the Sravs installed themselves in the key Necasian base, on the Freta Archipelago. Upon learning that Askar himself was on Kothlis, supervising the strengthening of the defenses, Srav Command decided that now was the time to attack, as they could potentially capture the leader of the military as well as capturing an important world. Srav commanders Vlad Mutin, known for his affinity for radiation weaponry, and Boras Magdiyek, reputed for his quality tank designs, were tasked with the assault. Ivran Gresev, the top Srav commander, stressed to both of them that they keep use of heavy-duty nuclear and radiation weaponry to a minimum, as they needed the Necasian resources intact.

Luckily for the Sravs, a tropical storm began brewing around the archipelago, scrambling Necasian sensors. Messages were sent to the Srav infiltrators in the Necasian camp, instructing them to commence with their pre-planned sabotage, which they did. The Necasian early-warning systems were disabled, allowing a Srav fleet of Klasnost-class transports, positioned not far from the planet, to enter the atmosphere, aiming for a landing site on the lightly-defended southernmost island of the archipelago, in a large caldera. However, as they entered the atmosphere, the bad weather passed, and some of the Necasian sensors re-activated.

The Srav landings
"Our position is being overrun, we're outnumbered and outgunned, and our retreat is cut off. I am therefore compelled to state that the situation is essentially hopeless, sir."

- A Necasian soldier to Askar

As they descended, some of the Klasnosts deployed Yukel fighters which performed surgical strikes on the Necasian camp that occupied the landing site. Stunned and confused, the Necasian soldiers in the camp barely had time to grab their weapons as the Klasnosts landed. Drapeznik hovercopter gunships were deployed, which tore into the Necasians. Kurtev and Drakuv tanks mopped up any survivors, and Srav soldiers set about modifying the Necasian workshops and barracks in the caldera landing sites in order to gain resupply facilities for their troops and vehicles. Meanwhile, more transports dropped Ryekin submarines and Zaba hovercraft into the sea around the island. Using information gleaned from maps they found and from interrogating prisoners, the Sravs quickly learned the positions of key Necasian defenses.

By now, the remaining Necasians on the island were aware of the Srav invaders, and dug in. A NHD-52577 artillery platform on the island's beach began firing on the landing site, but due to the positioning of the caldera few of the shells actually went in, and those that did made only superficial damage. Moving quickly, Srav troops spilled onto the beach, gunning down Necasian soldiers there. Any further dug-in Necasian soldiers on the island were taken out by tactical rockets launched from Okol missile launchers. The Srav soldiers proceeded to seize the artillery platform, with which they began bombarding the Necasian boats in the space between the island and the next one, allowing Srav aquatic forces to consolidate. The Sravs had the clear advantage: they were well-dug in, with good intelligence and superior firepower, but by now they had lost the element of surprise, and Necasian forces on the other islands were preparing for an attack.

The Necasian defence
"How humiliating. The local wildlife is proving to be a bigger threat than the enemy."

- Vlad Setting up their camp, the Sravs began loading forces onto Zaba hovercraft, using the island as a staging around. Necasian artillery platforms on the next island opened fire on the Sravs, who were by now well-entrenched, meaning that the artillery barrage did little damage. In response, Vlad directed Ryekin submarines to launch tactical cruise missiles at the platforms, neutralizing them. Remembering his orders to keep use of heavy-duty ordnance to a minimum, Vlad restrained himself from simply bombarding the islands with his ranged arsenal, and put Boras in command of the Srav landing force, which was by now ready. The Zaba hovercraft flotilla carrying said force began moving. Desperately trying to stop it, a group of Necasian Swordfish hydrofoils intercepted the Zabas and began firing on them, but their weaponry caused little damage, and a wing of Drapezniks covering the Zaba landing force took them out.

The Zabas landed on the beach and deployed their forces, which encountered small but stubborn Necasian resistance. Mines on the beach crippled some of Srav vehicles, but soon mortar fire from Zabas and the sheer size of the landing force made sure that resistance at the beach was cleared out soon. The remaining Necasians on the island holed up at the highest point of the island. Boras suggested using bombardment to clear them out, but Vlad pointed out that this would result in the destruction of the Necasian facilities on the island, which they had to take intact. Reluctantly, Boras began pushing forward through the tropical forest on the island, which bogged down his tanks. Natural hazards and Necaisn booby traps also caused losses to the Srav infantry as they proceeded. Kresquitos also proved an annoyance, driving several Srav soldiers to anger with their incessant bites and causing them to lose their focus.

Despite these obstacles, however, the Sravs reached the Necasian camp. Although small in number, the Necasian troops there were well dug in, and badly damaged the first waves of Sravs before they were overwhelmed. Now in control of the second island, the Sravs again consolidated there, preparing their landing for the next island. By now, however, Askar was planning counterattacks and contingency plans, and was determined to let the Sravs proceed no further. Realizing that the Srav advantage was in ranged firepower, he decided to focus on eliminating that particular asset, starting with their submarines.

The underwater battle
"Get our frogmen to deploy! Let's see how those crim bastards like this!"

- Askar As the Sravs prepared their next wave of landing forces, Askar had specially-trained divers deployed, equipped with limpet mines. Necasian Razorshark boats, from a safe distance, used Geiger sensors to detect a number of Srav Ryekin subs lurking in the coral reef. Askar knew that he could not risk deploying his naval forces on a large scale without them being torpedoed by the subs, so he directed the divers to destroy the subs with their mines. Swimming into the coral reefs, the divers used stealth to approach some of the closest submarines and destroy them with mines.

Almost immediately, Vlad became aware that the Necasians were deploying anti-sub countermeasures, so he had his own divers deployed from the subs. Swimming through the reef, the Srav divers surprised their Necasian counterparts, attacking them with harpoon guns. Using the structures of the reef as cover, the Necasian divers tried to fight back with knives, as only a few of them were equipped with harpoon guns. Nonetheless, they were soon finding themselves being scattered as the Ryekins began torpedoing the parts of the reef where they were hiding. Some of the remaining Necasian divers managed to destroy several more of the subs before they were finally driven away or killed. Askar's underwater sortie had failed, although nevertheless the Srav underwater presence was crippled. Now, he felt that the sub numbers had been reduced sufficiently to his Razorshark boats to commence depth charging.

Beach combat
"Think of it as a day on the seaside, but with bullets."

- A Necasian colonel reassuring his men

Accompanied by Swordfish hydrofoils, Necasian Razorsharks began to move into position, and commenced bombardment of the Srav landing forces on the island beach as they prepared. Using their sensors, the Swordfishes began detecting the remaining hiding Srav subs, and the Razorsharks commenced with depth charging, destroying more of the reef and forcing the subs out of hiding. A few Drapeznik gunships moved to engage, but were driven away by Swordfish anti-air fire.

Vlad was losing patience, and despite Boras's reservations he went ahead with the landings onto the next island. Both the Sravs and the Necasians knew that the island after the next one was the central island of the archipelago, where the main Necasian command center was located, and Askar knew that if said central island fell, the entire Necasian defense network for the archipelago would collapse and the Sravs could take over with impunity. He ordered his troops to fight to the death, an order that they did not take to happily.

As the Zabas moved across the water, they came under fire from the Razorsharks, which succeeded in sinking a few. In response, Vlad deployed a wing of Yukel fighters, which used their nuclear-tipped air-ground missiles to sink some of the Razorsharks, their altitude and speed too much for the gunners of the Swordfishes. Desperate to eliminate Srav air supremacy, Askar scrambled the small force of DarkBird fighters he had available, despite the pilots being novices and the fighters themselves in need of maintenance. Taking to the skies, the DarkBirds engaged the Yukels in the air above the archipelago, taking some of them down, but hails of Srav SAM and flak from below began knocking them out of the air. To finish the job, Vlad ordered his subs to move close to the central island and had them launch missiles at the Necasian air field. By now, the Necasian anti-missile laser countermeasure system on the central island was partly online, but it was not enough to intercept the missiles, which devastated the airfield. Deprived of airpower, and his naval forces taking heavy damage, Askar diverted his attention to the Sravs as they commenced their latest beach landings. This time, the Necasian defense was much stronger. Infantry equipped with NWD-KA12 missile launchers, hiding in the jungle tree line along the beach, disabled several landers and tanks as they went onto the beach, and shrapnel mines caused heavy losses to the first wave of infantry. In some parts of the beach, makeshift pillboxes blew down Srav troops as they landed on the beach. Mortar troops in the jungle opened fire, causing further damage. Angered, Vlad launched several precision missiles from his Okols on the other island at the jungle near the beach, clearing several Necasian nests, but the blasts also damaged the Sravs. Nonetheless, the Necasians on the beach were soon overwhelmed, and had to pull back into the jungle, much to Askar's anger. Consolidating on the beach, the Sravs prepared for another jungle push.

Jungle warfare
"Worry not. No jungle can stand up to treads and tons of armor, comrades."

- Boras

After a short consolidation period, the Srav landing force finally began pushing into the jungle covering most of the island. Even though the survivors of the previous jungle push were confident that this time the push would be easy, they soon discovered to their horror that the fauna was infested with hazards, both Necasian and natural. Landmines, both explosive and shrapnel, were hidden in the undergrowth, and the Necasians had also hid camouflaged pillboxes and machinegun nests, with many Srav soldiers being cut down to NWD-JR5 heavy machineguns as they made their way through the dense foliage. Boras, who was in charge of the push, tried to use air strikes from Yukels and Drapezniks to take out the hidden Necasian pockets, but the aircraft sensors had difficulty distinguishing troops from the jungle around them, and the Necasians were using NWD-STI88 anti-air missile launchers to great effect, driving away most of the air support.

Boras had his tanks, in response to this, form the front of the Srav advance, but with the thickness of the jungle and the various anti-tank mines scattered through it, their progress was difficult and slow. Coupled with that, the Sravs, unlike the Necasians, had no idea as to the animals which lurked in the jungle, with a number of Srav infantrymen falling foul of several predatory plants and creatures that lurked amongst the plants. Nonetheless, the Necasians were insufficient in number to halt the Srav advance, and soon they were pulling back to the highest point of the island. The Necasian colonel on the island requested an evacuation from Askar, who refused. With morale low because of this, the Necasian soldiers began a half-hearted defense as the first Srav troops reached their encampment, using grenades to flush them out. A few Necasian tanks and armored vehicles managed to hold back the Srav troops for a matter of minutes, before being taken out by gunships and tanks.

Now, the Sravs were in sight of the main island. However, it was now late evening, and the troops of both sides were exhausted. The Srav commanders decided to let their troops spend the night resting, and took the opportunity to repair any damaged vehicles and replenish ammunition. The Necasians also made use of this break in the fighting, consolidating their forces in the central island. Askar formed a naval blockade around the main island with what was left of his aquatic forces, and began dismantling the artillery platforms on the other islands and setting them up on the main one. He had intended to perform a massive shelling of the Srav camp through the night, but was informed that there was insufficient ammunition for such a barrage. Askar improvised; he loaded dud shells and other useless bits of metal into the platforms and began firing throughout the night. No damage was caused to the Sravs, but the constant firing of the artillery kept many Srav soldiers awake throughout the night and traumatized some of them. Askar congratulated himself on this triumph of psychological warfare, but this also backfired; it kept some Necasian troops awake too, and had the same effect on them. Nonetheless, troops of both sides managed to block out the noise by making makeshift earplugs.

The final push
"Gentlemen, there is a possibility that we may not make it. So I want to say that this is all your fault and that I am shamed to have served with men like you."

- Askar to his commanders

By morning, the majority of the Srav troops had rested up, their vehicles were ready for battle, and their commanders had spent the night concocting what they believed would be a foolproof plan for seizing the central island, and thus the rest of the archipelago. The Necasians themselves had dug in, their artillery cannons were fully loaded (with actual shells this time) and Askar felt that his naval blockade would nullify Srav airpower and missile bombardment. He had also set up a basic anti-missile laser countermeasure system on the island just to be sure. The Necasians had also set up countless machinegun nests, bunkers, and pillboxes along the beach. Despite this defense, morale was low amongst the Necasians; the Sravs had taken damage in their advances of the previous day, but they still had a clear numerical advantage. Ammunition for small arms and vehicles was also low amongst the Necasians, with infantry resorting to using bits of old cutlery as makeshift bullets.

For most of the morning, the Sravs prepared for the landings and loaded up infantry and hardware, making sure to stay off the beach until the last minute to avoid ranged fire from Necasian artillery and Razorshark boats. Ryekin subs had tried to perform an abortive missile bombardment of the Necasian defenses, but the laser countermeasures had deflected their barrage. Finally, Zaba hovercraft began to move out of the safety of the jungle and across the water. Vlad prioritized speed to avoid the Necasian ranged fire.

The Srav landing forces took heavy fire during their crossing. Several Zabas were lost to Razorshark fire, and more to the artillery platforms. In response, Vlad commenced with a full air attack, dispatching Yukel fighters to sink the Razorsharks and Drapezniks to bombard the beach defenses. Although a combination of Necasian SAM barrages and their laser countermeasures nullified the Drapeznik assault somewhat, the sheer noise of the battle caused widespread shell-shock and confusion amongst the Necasian troops, meaning that resistance was half-hearted as Zabas finally settled on the beach and disgorged their troops, raking the beach with their machineguns first to clear out any mines. Meanwhile, the Yukel attack was more successful than the Drapezniks, with almost all the Razorsharks sunk, thus stopping some of the bombardment on the Sravs.

By now, Askar was panicking as the Sravs began advancing through the jungle, this time using widespread countermeasures against all the traps the Necasians had employed in their previous jungle defenses. He had consolidated too many of his troops on the beach, which was now being overrun. To his further horror, some of the Srav troops seized two of the artillery platforms, which were close to the beach and lightly defended. The Necasian encampment came under shelling from its own guns, and Askar himself got mild shell-shock. He began an evacuation of key staff, but more Yukel strikes destroyed the Necasian landing platforms, as the advancing Sravs began taking out anti-air emplacements and the laser systems. Askar loaded his personal gun, preparing to commit suicide. However, his hopes suddenly rose when sensors picked up an Elthior-IV class frigate entering orbit, with a familiar communications signature.

Renard turns the tide
"Flight commander Renard Curl, reporting for duty! Are we gonna get this party started or what?" "Just get out there and do your job, you arrogant idiot..."

- Renard and Askar

Fortunately for the Necasians, Askars calls for reinforcements were heard by Renard Curl, and his garrison of DarkBird fighters, stationed on the planet, where they were engaging in training exercises of the fighters, so that the fighter division of the Necasian military would be strong enough to inspire fear in all aerial opponents, such as the Zayre. Renard Curl, leader of the fighters, answered the calls by Askar Invado to help fight off the Sravs, and to keep control of the planet Kothlis in Necasian hands. The fighters arrived at the beach, where they encountered basic Srav guards keeping watch and dispatched them quickly and efficiently, in the eyes of Curl, before making their way to the jungle. The fighters made use of the difficult but effective Renard slipstream maneuver to take out ground forces, turning the nominally dogfight-orientated DarkBird into a deadly ground support weapon.

Flying above the jungle, the fighters under Curl discovered the large areas of destruction caused in the battle, allowing a view into the jungle through the holes created by the battle. This meant that Curl and his fighters were able to see the missile launchers being transported through the jungle towards the encampment, and Curl ordered his fighters to attack the missile launchers, the attack being quick and devastating in the eyes of Curl and the Srav officer in charge of transport, one of the few to escape the attack on the missile launchers. With the threat of the missile launchers attacking the base being neutralized now, this meant that the encampment would be able to hold off the siege until Curl arrived.

From nearby, Curl contacted the Necasians in the encampment, alerting Askar Invado to the fact that they were approaching, and the Necasians inside would have to break out and assail the forces as soon as Curl and his fighters had distracted them. Arriving at the base, Curl’s fighters swooped down to the under canopy and attacked the heavier vehicles first, destroying numerous Srav heavy weaponry in one move. Distracted by this new threat, the Sravs turned their attention on this, allowing the Necasians in the compound to break out and attack the Srav forces once more, meaning the Sravs were now under attack from both sides. The Sravs soon became overpowered, and fled back to the beach, in attempts to be airlifted, however Curl pursued them with his fighter squadrons, meaning that many Sravs were killed, keeping Kothlis in Necasian hands.

Aftermath
"If this is what a victory is supposed to be like, then give me a defeat any day."

- A Necasian soldier following the battle

After the last hiding Srav troops were rooted out, hours after their retreat, Askar finally announced that victory belonged to the Necasians, and allowed his troops to celebrate. However, he was unable turn a blind eye to the damage and casualties the Necasians had suffered in the battle. Half their facilities in the archipelago were destroyed, their original garrison had nearly been decimated, and the Sravs had also sabotaged many of their mines in their retreat. As a result, Kothlis's resource output was greatly hampered.

A few days later, Renard and his reinforcements were forced to leave to replenish Necasian forces elsewhere. Askar spent a few more days rebuilding the defenses on the island, designing the network himself, to compensate for the lessening of the garrison. Meanwhile, he made sure that Necasian news reports painted him as the one who had won the battle, downplaying Renard's role. Renard did not complain, as Necasian propaganda had already glorified his exploits elsewhere.

As for the Sravs, Vlad was held mostly responsible for the defeat, although he protested that the Necasians had more or less lost their tactical hold on Kothlis, and the only reason for the defeat was a factor he could not have predicted. Nevertheless, the battle was still a damning logistical and propaganda defeat for the Sravs, and they decided it was not worth trying to launch a second attack.

Meanwhile, leaking radiation from Srav vehicle wrecks prevented the Necasians from retrieving them, and caused mild mutations in the ecosystem around them. These mutations would baffle biologists of the millennia later. Also, the Necasian base would eventually be abandoned after the war, and would crumble, leaving iron dust-infested patches on the islands of the Freta Archipelago that would likewise baffle future visitors to Kothlis.

Behind the scenes
This article was created as part of Project Cruentus, in a collaboration between Unit 8311 and Darth tom. Originally, it was meant to be little more than an average battle article, similar to others such as the Battle of Raxus Prime and other articles, before 8311 proposed that they should raise it to good article status, making it, if it was successful, the second Project Cruentus good and by extension featured article. 8311 had no exact reason for focusing on this particular article, as he simply felt that the Project was due for another GA. Originally, it had been little more than an introduction section before the two had decided to do major work upon it, and raised it by a large amount.

Parts of the battle written by Unit 8311 were inspired by real-life conflicts, such as the Island hopping tactics employed by the US during WW2, and the Battle of Iwo Jima. This reflected by the Srav strategy used in the article, which was focusing forces on a single island before moving on to the next, thereby pushing the enemy forward, which is an analogy of said US-employed tactics in real life. 8311 also aimed to emulate what he felt was the gritty atmosphere of the battle of Iwo Jima, where US troops slugged across the island while facing stubborn Japanese resistance and defence implacements, and likewise put elements of this battle into the article. The parts written by Darth tom were pure imagination, inspired by the piece of music Requiem of a Dream, which Darth tom listened to in order to gain inspiration for the battle article, and which he felt helped him a lot. Unit 8311 merely wrote with inspiration from written sources, rather than musical.