Battle of the Corridor
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| Battle of the Corridor | |||||
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| Date: | April to May 800 UC (2 NIC / 491 IC / 3600 CE) | ||||
| Result: | Draw | ||||
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During Reinhard von Lohengramm's second invasion of the Free Planets Alliance, Yang Wen-li had managed to recapture Iserlohn Fortress from Admiral Cornelius Lutz.
With Heinessen under Imperial control Reinhard ordered fleets to cover the ends of the Iserlohn Corridor to trap Yang's Fleet in preparation for a major attack. The Imperial end of the corridor was blocked by a small fleet under Admiral Ernst Mecklinger. However, when Mecklinger entered the corridor, Yang advanced on him with all of his 20,000 ships. Not only was this substantially larger than Mecklinger's fleet, forcing him to retreat from the corridor, it convinced Mecklinger that Yang must have had additional forces equal in number to the Imperial fleets on the Alliance end of the corridor, a fleet that could cause great damage if it broke through into the Imperial space. Unaware that Yang was bluffing, Mecklinger declined to engage and kept to a defensive position at the Empire entrance to the Corridor. This essentially neutralised Mecklinger and secured Yang's rear.
On the Alliance end of the corridor, where Reinhard intended to launch his attack, the advance force screening the corridor was split between Bittenfeld and Fahrenheit, both aggressive admirals unsuited to the reactive nature of the task. Bittenfeld offered Yang the opportunity to surrender on terms which, while rather generous, were given condescendingly. These terms were quickly, and just as insultingly, rejected. Provoked, and inwardly looking for a reason to engage in conflict, Bittenfeld responded aggressively to an attack by Dusty Attemborough and led his Black Lancers into the corridor although he correctly surpised it to be a trap. Fahrenheit, not wishing to stand back while Bittenfeld fought, brought his own fleet to join him but in the narrow confines of the corridor, the combined force of 30,000 was unable to move freely and Yang, Attemborough and Merkatz were able to keep them surrounded. Ultimately both Imperial Fleets retreated out of the corridor with Fahrenheit killed in the rear guard. Around half of the Imperial fleet was lost with Yang's forces only taking modest losses.
Reinhard was angered that Bittenfeld had begun the fight before he arrived with the main fleet but declined to punish him for acting in accordance with his nature. However the Black Lancers were kept in reserve for the early parts of the following fighting. Yang had blocked the entrance to the Corridor with an extensive minefield to limit the ability of the Imperial fleet to bring its superior numbers to bear. Imperial Admiral Rolf Otto Brauhitch was tasked with establishing a bridgehead, and cleared a path through the minefield with conventional mine clearing equipment. He came under heavy attack from Yang's forces, but Brauhitch's force was actually a feint. Mobile Seffle particle generators were brought forward and simultaneously used to clear 5 additional paths through the minefield. Yang was forced to divide his forces in a vain attempt to cover all these breaches at once. However these breaches proved to be yet another distraction tactic, and the main Imperial forces eventually pass through the path cleared by Brauhitch's fleet. Nonetheless, the main Imperial forces could not all come to grips with Yang at once so smaller forces engaged, trying to draw off portions of the Yang Fleet to destroy in detail. However, poor co-ordination made this less that successful. At the same time, Yang attempted to break through the Imperial fleets to destroy the Brunhild as killing Reinhard would effectively destroy the unity of the Galactic Empire by destroying the Lohengramm dynasty. This was also unsuccessful although Reinhard had to take direct control of the fleet to drive off one attack. During this first stage of fighting Admiral Steinmetz was killed in action.
Reinhard pulled back his fleet to reorganise and attempt a new strategy, seeking to use attritional warfare batter through Yang's fleet, which had been depleted of supplies and had many damaged ships. Three waves of attackers were beaten off by Yang and the Beowulf was damaged, leading to a mistaken report that Fleet Admiral Mittermeyer had been killed, although this was quickly corrected. Yang then launched a counter attack that forestalled a fourth wave that would have been made up of the survivors of the Black Lancers and Fahrenheit's fleet. Rather than withdrawing Bittenfeld pressed the attack with the best of his Black Lancers, surprising Yang who had expected him to be demoralised. An attempt to catch this force in a pincer failed but they had to pull back after Yang sent Attemborough to attack the rest of the fourth wave, pushing them back. Although unsuccessful Bittenfeld's attack caused heavy losses to the Yang Fleet, including the death of Admiral Edwin Fischer who was responsible for their previous excellent co-ordination.
Unaware of the weakened status of his opponent, the Imperial fleet did not press the attack, partly due to Reinhard having collapsed with fatigue. Mittermeyer and Oskar von Reuenthal decided to withdraw from the Corridor, having suffered heavy losses. Realising the weakened state of his own forces, Yang withdrew his own fleet back to Iserlohn, laying a new minefield to block passage.
