Battle of Leziquk

"When the Seps came in, they rained down hard and beat us back. We ran back to our comfortable fort and watched the mechanical monsters come upon us. Then we had to get out there to escape. That may have been the worst my regiment was through. But still more disturbing, maybe it wasn't."

- Commander CT-42/13-8038

The Battle of Leziquk was a very violent battle in the Clone Wars. Even with the help of the 237th Guard Battalion and the 52nd Republic Fighter Wing, Republic defenses were quickly overrun. Only about 1/9 of the Republic forces retreated. It also saw some of the most diverse usage of vehicles and droids in the War.

Arrival
The Confederate fleet came out of hyperspace on the other side of the planet as most of the Republic fleet. Before engaging with most of the Star Destroyers, the CIS managed to get most of their transports to the atmosphere.

The tactically best landing zone was decided to be an area several kilometers offshore from the continent containing the Republic base. Leziquk was approximately 76% ocean, but the media's images and description accidentally misled many into believing the planet only had about as much land as Kamino or Manaan.

Battle
When the Republic saw the ships stream down, they pressed their aquatic ships farther out. Anti-air fire posed a hazard to the droids, but the bulk of the attack force soon managed to get below the flak and missiles' line of fire and touched down into the water.

A relief force of ARC-170s and Eta-2s broke through the clouds, but were soon overwhelmed by the droid starfighter escorts. Albatross droids made use of their manueverability and explosive weapons to cut through the slower Republic frigates. Manta droids were also used extremely well.

Preperation
The Confederate attackers progressed to the land. Their land vehicles could only operate in shallow water, so a small, maneuverable aquatic force was used to destroy the beach's turrets. Then tanks were released from their aquatic transports or airdropped into the shallow area.

Meanwhile, the orbiting Star Destroyers were also being overrun. A detachment of the 52nd Wing led an attack on the command ship, but most were killed by swarms of droid starfighters. The Jedi commanders in space soon retreated to the air in their starfighters.

On the shore, part of the 237th was sent foward, primarily their heavy vehicles. A smaller group of infantry set small mines, loaded Plex rocket launchers, and took cover behind rocks. The droid onslaught came quickly.

Formation
The attackers formed into a rectancular strip formation, deep enough to be formidible and prevent penetration, yet wide enough to make flanking impractical. They came in patterns, with a group of infantry in front of slow, tough vehicles. When in the right position, fast vehicles like tank droids and speeders advanced through gaps in the front line. They were sent in first. The tanks penetrated the advancing Republic formation, evaded turret fire and pierced the clone ranks to weaken the defensive structure.

The aforementioned frontal infantry could provide quick, flexible fire, and were supported by the heavy vehicles. Behind the line of armor was another line of infantry. They took cover behind the vehicles, especially bulky Trade Federation tanks, and came out for additional flexible fire. There was a total of 32 rows. Behind each four rows of these pattern advanced the medium artillery, and behind each 16 rows lumbered the heavy artillery. All this was covered by air support consisting of both fighters and gunships.

To Land
Several minutes after the rapid tank droid division rolled onto dry ground, the forces met in 1-meter deep water in one of the most violent parts of the battle.

Droidekas and spider droids destroyed. B-1 snipers and Octuptarra droids quickly found and destroyed