Battle of Jafnhár
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| Battle of Jafnhár | |||||
| Part of the Invasion of the Imperial Territory campaign (Alliance-Imperial War) | |||||
 13th Fleet fires on the Kempff Fleet | |||||
| Date: | 796 UC | ||||
| Location: | Jafnhár Starzone | ||||
| Result: | Alliance victory | ||||
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The Battle of Jafnhár Starzone (Japanese: ヤヴァンハール星域会戦) was a battle of the Alliance–Imperial War which took place in the Jafnhár Starzone in 796 UC (487 IC / 3596 CE). The battle occurred within the scope of a larger campaign which included the Battle of Bilrost, the Battle of Dverger, the Battle of Alviss, and culminating in the Battle of Amritsar. (LOGH: 'The Battle of Amritsar Starzone')
History
The battle occurred as part of the Imperial counterattack against the invading Alliance fleets. With the Alliance supply line severed, the Alliance forces were short of supplies. Attempts to forage triggered revolts in the local population, further sapping the strength of the Alliance forces. Yang Wen-li had already anticipated this and had already prepared the 13th Fleet to withdraw at short notice.
The 13th Fleet was in the Jafnhár starzone when engaged by the Kempff Fleet, which opened the battle with a swarm of long range missiles. The 13th Fleet launched decoys that successfully diverted the swarm of missiles to detonate harmlessly away from the fleet. As the opposing sides closed, both fleets launched fighters. The Alliance fighters gained the upper hand, prompting Kempff to order his Walküre fighters to drive the Alliance Spartanian fighters into close range of his ships' main cannons.
As the battle progressed, the 13th Fleet adopted a semi-circular formation and attacked Kempff's right flank. Kempff shifted his forces to meet this attack, only for the 13th Fleet to shift to attack his left flank. Again Kempff shifted his defences, but the 13th Fleet shifted again to attack his right flank and remained one step ahead of the Imperial response. The 13th Fleet was superior in the speed of its fleet movements due to the efforts of Edwin Fischer, and Kempff's fleet became spread out as it responded to these alternating attacks. Faced with the prospect of his defences being eroded away due to his fleet's more dispersed formation, Kempff decided for a tactical withdrawal to reorganise his formation even while acknowledging this gave Yang an opportunity to attack.
To Kempff's surprise, Yang did not pursue his advantage and instead also withdrew his fleet. Yang had concluded that attacking and destroying the Kempff Fleet would not alter the strategic outcome of the larger campaign (and would put the 13th Fleet at increasing risk of being isolated and trapped in Imperial territory) so further fighting was meaningless. Wary of Yang's reputation after the capture of Iserlohn Fortress, Kempff believed Yang's withdrawal was to lure the Kempff Fleet into a trap and therefore did not pursue too closely, allowing the 13th Fleet to disengage intact. Of all the Alliance fleets attacked during the Imperial counterattack, the 13th Fleet was the only one that gained the advantage over its attacker and preserved its strength for the later battle at Amritsar. ('The Battle of Amritsar Starzone')
Appendices
Name variations
- Battle of Jafnhár Starzone (Derived from DVD subtitles for Jafnhár)
- Battle of Jawanhahr Starzone (English fan sources)
