Template:Infobox/battle/test
From Gineipaedia, the Legend of Galactic Heroes wiki
This page is about the FPA–Imperial War battle. For the OVA episode, see The Battle of Astarte (episode).
| Battle of Astarte | |||||
| Part of the Test campaign (First Alliance-Imperial War) | |||||
 Ring formation | |||||
| Date: | January 796 UC (487 IC / 3596 CE) | ||||
| Location: | Astarte Starzone | ||||
| Result: | Stalemate | ||||
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The Battle of Astarte (Japanese: アスターテ会戦) was a major battle of the FPA–Imperial War which took place near the planet Astarte in the Boden Starzone in 796 UC (487 IC / 3596 CE). (LOGH: 'The Battle of Astarte')
Battle
In 796 UC (487 IC / 3596 CE), an Alliance fleet attempted to surround and annihilate a much smaller Imperial fleet under the command of newly promoted High Admiral Reinhard von Lohengramm, in orbit around the planet Astarte.[clean-up needed]
The Alliance fleet were nearly twice the size of the Imperial fleet. Instead of attacking directly, however, the Alliance forces broke into three separate fleets of roughly 13,000 warships each. These fleets then attempted to encircle Reinhard's fleet, of only 20,000 warships, and minimise their losses by attacking the Imperial forces from three different angles simultaneously. This was a re-use of the Alliance strategy used at the Battle of Dagon 156 years earlier, which had been a decisive Alliance victory.
Reinhard immediately saw through the rather simple strategy, and ordered his fleet to advance towards the Alliance 4th Fleet, under the command of Vice Admiral Pastoll, before the trap could be executed. Attacking the single fleet whilst the other two were out of range, Reinhard would hold the numerical advantage. At this point, Commodore Yang Wen-li, a strategic advisor to Vice Admiral Paeta of the FPA 2nd Fleet, recommended the 2nd Fleet immediately join up with the 6th, and then move to attack the Imperial forces. Paeta refused, opting instead to move in to support the besieged 4th Fleet.
By the time the 2nd Fleet arrived, however, the 4th Fleet had been all but obliterated, and Reinhard's forces were already engaged with the 6th Fleet. After defeating the 6th Fleet, Reinhard turned to the 2nd. Admiral Paeta was severely injured early in the battle, and Commodore Yang assumed command of the remaining forces. (LOGH: 'In the Eternal Night')
Yang ordered the 2nd Fleet to attack the Imperial forces at their own discretion, and after a bit of steady fighting, Reinhard ordered his fleet to take a spindle formation to break through the enemy's lines. Yang took advantage of this: whilst the Imperial fleet broke through, the Alliance ships pretended to be routed, splitting into two groups, which then assaulted the Imperial fleet from behind. Reinhard was forced to turn to attack, resulting in a massive ring formation between the two fleets — like two snakes devouring each other from their tails. Unwilling to waste time and lives in a pointless battle of attrition, Reinhard retreated from the Boden Starzone, allowing Yang to do the same.
2,450,000 Imperial soldiers survived the Battle of Astarte. The Alliance survivors numbered 4,060,000. However, the number of Imperial casualties came to only 150,000, whilst the Alliance had ten times as many, at 1,500,000 casualties. Though the Battle of Astarte was an enormous loss for the Alliance, Yang's successful retreat allowed the Alliance leadership to portray the battle as a 'victory', and to name Yang, already the 'Hero of El Facil', the 'Hero of Astarte'. (LOGH: 'The Battle of Astarte'; Overture to a New War)
Appendices
Name variations
- Battle of Astarte (Derived from DVD subtitles for Astarte)
- Battle of Astate (English fan sources)
