Eighth Battle of Iserlohn
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| Eighth Battle of Iserlohn | |||||
| (First Alliance-Imperial War) | |||||
 Geiersburg firing at Iserlohn | |||||
| Date: | April-May 798 UC (489 IC / 3598 CE) | ||||
| Location: | Iserlohn Fortress | ||||
| Result: | Major Alliance victory | ||||
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The Eighth Battle of Iserlohn (Japanese: 第8次イゼルローン攻防戦) was the first attempt by the Galactic Empire to recapture Iserlohn Fortress after it was taken by the Free Planets Alliance, using another fortress, Geiersburg, equipped with warp engines. It was the first major operation undertaken by the Empire after the Lippstadt War and initially was met with resistance by members of the Imperial government, secretly being brought about by the schemes of Fezzani leader Adrian Rubinsky. The attack failed and resulted in the destruction of Geiersburg, ultimately being remembered as a prelude to the much larger Operation Ragnarök several months later, which led to the successful retaking of Iserlohn by the Empire.
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Background
In May 796 UC (487 IC / 3596 CE), the Alliance 13th Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Yang Wen-li succeeded in capturing Iserlohn Fortress from the Galactic Empire after the Alliance's six previous failed attempts. The victory solidified Yang's reputation in the Alliance as a military genius and hero, while shifting the strategic balance between the Empire and the Alliance immensely, in the Alliance's favor. But over the next two years the failed invasion of the Imperial Territory and the Alliance Civil War led the Alliance to deplete its military resources so severely that by 798 UC (489 IC / 3598 CE) the Fortress was its only defense against an Imperial invasion. (LOGH: 'Iserlohn Captured!', 'The Klopstock Incident', 'The Battle of Amritsar Starzone', 'New Trends', 'Lost Things')
In the spring of 798 UC (489 IC / 3598 CE), the months following the end of the Lippstadt War, Imperial admiral Anton Hilmer von Schaft, Inspector General of the Science and Technology Division, proposed to turn one of the Empire's other space fortresses, Geiersburg, into a mobile fortress by attaching warp engines and thrusters so that it could be moved to the Iserlohn Corridor for an attack. The proposal was approved by Imperial Prime Minister Duke Reinhard von Lohengramm, who appointed Karl Gustav Kempff to lead the operation against Iserlohn Fortress, with Neidhart Müller as second-in-command. Some of the premier's advisors, including Hildegard von Mariendorf and Wolfgang Mittermeyer, believed that they should focus on domestic affairs in the Empire such as the ongoing reforms in the aftermath of the Lippstadt War, and thought there was no reason to attack the Alliance now. But Reinhard was eager to bring about the unification of humanity. (LOGH: 'Portraits', 'Lost Things', 'The Inquiry Committee')
The actual modifications to the fortress did not involve any new technology and was just up-scaling of existing technology with application of tremendous engineering manpower. Large thruster units were installed evenly around the exterior of Geiersburg by a workforce of between 64,000 and 88,000 engineers and synchronized to fire together with perfect timing.
In January 798 UC (489 IC / 3598 CE), there was a brief skirmish between the Iserlohn patrol forces and the Imperial forces which was believed by Cazerne to be preparatory scouting for the planned operation.
On 17 March 798 UC (489 IC / 3598 CE), the first test of the warp engines was successful. On 10 April 798 UC (489 IC / 3598 CE), Geiersburg Fortress warped into the Iserlohn Corridor where it was detected by an Alliance patrol led by the battleship Ulysses. The Imperial force comprised the fortress itself, a docked fleet of 16,000 ships and 2 million soldiers in total. (LOGH: 'Portraits', 'Lost Things', 'The Inquiry Committee')
Opposing forces
Imperial order of battle
- Kempff Fleet, commanded by Admiral Karl Gustav Kempff, flagship Jotunheim (docked aboard Geiersburg Fortress)
- Müller Fleet, commanded by Admiral Neidhart Müller, flagship Lübeck
The Imperial forces had a total of 16,000 ships. The Müller Fleet was the primary mobile offensive component of the Imperial expeditionary force, while Admiral Kempff remained aboard Geiersburg.
Alliance order of battle
- The Iserlohn Garrison Fleet, temporarily commanded by Admiral Wilibald Joachim von Merkatz, flagship Hyperion
- The reinforcement squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Sandle Alarcon, flagship Marduk
The fleet garrisoned at Iserlohn had 10,000 ships, and the reinforcements brought by Yang Wen-li towards the end of the battle had about 5,000 ships. During the garrison fleet's sortie outside Iserlohn it was commanded by Admiral Merkatz temporarily, while Vice Admiral Alex Cazerne had overall command inside Iserlohn. Admiral Yang took overall command of the Alliance forces after arriving back at Iserlohn.
Battle
On April 10th 798 UC (489 IC / 3598 CE), a patrol group of sixteen warships (including the battleship Hispaniola and the cruiser Cordoba) under the command of Captain J. Gibson discovered a warp distortion field 300 light seconds ahead which projected a mass of 40 trillion tons and had a diameter between 40 and 65 kilometers. All ships fell back and reported the disturbance and subsequent emergence of Geiersberg Fortress to Iserlohn fortress.
The command group of Iserlohn was put into a difficult spot because Yang Wen-li was on Heinessen at the board of inquiry. They determined that they would have to hold off the Imperial attack for at least four weeks without the enemy learning that their famously capable commander was not there. In addition, apart from the First Fleet, most of the forces consisted of new recruits or planetary security forces and patrol forces with inferior capabilities. They intended to adopt a defensive posture as a result and sent a message requesting immediate reinforcement.
...
Yang's 5,000 ships dispersed into a torus formation, letting the Imperial forces through and encircling them. At the same time, the Iserlohn Garrison Fleet had re-sortied and attacked the Imperial forces from the rear causing further losses. Rear Admiral Patricken was killed when his flagship, Langenberg, was destroyed. Kempff was unable to expand and deploy his forces due to being enicrcled by Yang's torus formation. Instead he resolved to escape by moving through the torus. Yang had prepared for such a course of action however and extended his forces to close off the torus, forming a closed off funnel enveloping most of Kempff's forces, which took heavy casualties in the crossfire including the death of Rear Admiral Eihendorf.
With his fleet heavily damaged, the increasingly desperate Admiral Kempff attempted to ram Geiersburg into Iserlohn, hoping to destroy both fortresses and thereby achieve his objective of neutralizing Iserlohn. This plan failed when Yang focused the fire of all Alliance ships upon one of Geiersburg's thruster units, destroying it. As the movement of Geiersburg relied on the even firing of all its thrusters, the sudden loss of one thruster on one side resulted in the fortress turning away from its collision course with Iserlohn. The out of control fortress careened through the Müller Fleet, inflicting casualties, and exposed itself to a shot from Iserlohn's Thor Hammer. The shot penetrated deep into the fortress, causing loss of power to its remaining thrusters. Runaway internal explosions ultimately led to the entire fortress breaking apart. The fortress's final death throes destroyed the docked Kempff Fleet, killed Admiral Kempff, and inflicted heavy losses upon the Müller Fleet. Admiral Müller was wounded when his flagship collided with an out of control battleship. Only 700 ships returned to Odin and total casulaties, including wounded, were 1.8 million. (LOGH: 'The Return')
The Alliance victory was marred however by the insubordination of Sandle Alarcon and Nguyen Van Huu, who were both aggressive commanders. They ignored orders from Yang to not pursue, and led 5,000 ships into Imperial territory in an attempt to finish off the remaining 700 ships under Müller. Their force was completely destroyed by Imperial relief forces led by Wolfgang Mittermeyer and Oskar von Reuenthal. Having extracted some token measure of vengeance for the Imperial defeat, they retreated upon the arrival of Yang's main forces, thus concluding the battle. (LOGH: 'Determination and Ambition')
