Southern Battle

Southern Battle was a Republican ambush to the Imperial Southern Continent Expeditionary Corps in the desert battlefield nearby Turus Naval Base. The Republican attempted to encircle and annihilate the Imperial Army yet finally failed.

Background
Since the establishment of Free Republic, the Empire needed to deal with them in order to suppress the resistance in Republic mainland while fighting against Commonwealth on the sky.

The Empire
Though the Empire sent an army corps made up of 2 divisions and a support unit to Southern Continent, the Imperial General Staff had a heated debate about whether to send more troops here. Inside the General Staff, the aggressive faction sought to increase war gains while the loss control faction claimed it as a waste of resources that was difficult to accept. The Imperial Army was organized around interior lines strategy, lacking the capability of projecting its power properly in a foreign country. Furthermore, the Empire was a land nation with very little concept of major sea route defense. Even their theoretical knowledge of convoying stopped at a basic awareness because they had only envisioned seaborne transport capabilities as far as shuttling troops to and from the Imperial occupied territory in Norden. On the other hand, the Commonwealth and the Republic were self-sustaining to some extent thanks to a degree of industrial base in the colonies. They also had more ships than they could count. The Imperial Army might rely on supplies from the new areas of Imperial influence such as Ildoa colonies, but they were only connected insomuch as they had common interests since Ildoa was glad to see the decline of the Republic. For Lt. General von Zettour, the deputy director of the Service Corps, the time had come to devote themselves to overhauling the organization of their defensive lines and exercising their influence on other countries behind the scenes. Sending troops to Southern Continent was simply to divide up enemy troops and crumble the foundations of the Free Republic if possible.

The Free Republic
Thanks to Operation Ark, Maj. General de Lugo, the Republic vice minister of both defense and the armed Forces, had brought many heavy armaments, soldiers, and resources, from the common to the scarce, to their colonies in the southern continent. They declared resistance and claimed themselves as the true Republican government, mustering the colonies on the southern continent and calling for continuing the war against the Empire. The Republican forces stationed on the politically tumultuous southern continent were too heavily equipped to be called regional patrol units. The mages stationed here also posed no small threat to the Empire. However, although they were nominally gathered to take back the fatherland, the situation inside the Free Republic was rather chaotic. The colonial commanders reluctantly accepted de Lugo's command, yet showing opposition from their passive, do-nothing colonial bureaucrats. In fact, de Lugo was the youngest general among them, leading the military simply because of his authority of vice minister of both defense and the armed Forces to take command of the army in case of emergency. Nevertheless, de Lugo still needed to rely on the colonial army for their connection to the administration and logistic support. The discontent of the troops who had followed him from the mainland was arising.

The beginning of Southern Front
At the time the Imperial Southern Continent Expeditionary Army Corps was deployed, the Kingdom of Ildoa remained officially neutral yet allowed it stationing as an allied country. Because the Empire had made light of the southern continent, it only sent 2 divisions that even the garrison of the Republican troops usually deployed there could have resisted them. Everyone thought at the time that the Imperial units were dispatched for political reasons (expansion of influence and respect for the Empire's ally) and would work on gathering more fighting power. Most people expected the lull to continue for the foreseeable future, which was betrayed by the Imperial Commander von Romel.

The Empire
The moment the Imperial Southern Continent Expeditionary Army Corps arrived, they jumped into action. Since the Commonwealth Army thought of them as nothing and didn't even really go on guard, every last one of them was nailed by the Imperial units under Commander von Romel. In Barbad Desert, the Commonwealth Army were dealt an early brutal blow and sent scrambling in a disorderly retreat while the Imperial units waged maneuver warfare unparalleled in history against an enemy that outnumbered them several times. As soon as Commander von Romel knew de Lugo put some political moves on the Kingdom of Ildoa, realizing time wouldn't work in his favor, despite having barely any units, he made a feint, hit the Turus Naval Base with a sneak attack, and captured it. While securing a base that didn't depend on the Kingdom of Ildoa, he dealt a serious blow to Republican and Commonwealth logistics.

Informed the Republican were advancing separately to take Turus Naval Base back, Commander von Romel decided to strike the Republican units while securing local numerical superiority and achieve a mobile defense. Due to time limitations, they hadn't done anywhere near enough recon, focusing on advancing quickly and efficiently. Their air force units in Turus performed recon at both day and night while the army advanced, handling the situation with cooperative efforts between the air and the ground.

The Free Republic
The frictions between de Lugo and the colonial commanders kept holding the Free Republic Army back. Once when the Commonwealth requested reinforcements to the Republican units which were supposed to support their defense, de Lugo was informed by the chief of logistics that they didn't know where to get fuel and shamefully had to tell the Commonwealth they couldn't move the troops. On top of that, de Lugo found some of units had been assigned to protect the generals' own interests. The generals had interests in so many colonial assets that the troops could no longer move freely. Their relationship had been awkward, and rather than engaging in combat as an organization, they were more or less acting independently.

Maj. General de Lugo decided to replace the command structure of the colonial army and unify the command chain. With time, he turned the non-commissioned officers and lower-ranking commissioned officers on his side and won the loyalty of colonies staff officers. The units the colonial generals commanded were already under his control de facto. Furthermore, colonial service was a one- to two-year rotation, so he could expect most of the colonial soldiers to follow orders from Central. Moreover, while some of the troops he had brought with him were lacking in actual combat experience, some who been on the Rhine lines, and others had been in the middle of getting their equipment upgraded at Central, so overall they were quite powerful. And since the command structure had been built around de Lugo from the beginning, the forces were cohesive and well disciplined. Among them, Armored Division 3 was a precious asset, a tank division, and Strategic Mobile Army 7 was equipped with the latest operation orbs and the newest capital tank model.

September 22, 1925, the colonial generals opposed the advance of the army de Lugo had gathered to take back Turus, claiming it vital to defend key locations. After confirming their opinions, de Lugo used his authority of personnel to reassign them as councilors in the colonial government on the southern continent, which were sinecure and had no actual authority.

After cutting inept generals from the chain of command, he replaced them with the staff made up of the combat commanders from mainland plus the ones from the colonies. In order to spread false information, he had made many claims for retaking their lost land toward the former unfaithful colonial generals, gathered a lot of supplies and simultaneously, and taken a look at the various routes. As informed by the Commonwealth Intelligence that the Imperial units had left Turus, the Republican Army concentrated and waited in ambush to draw them into a minefield and hit them with a fierce attack. They planned to catch them in a cross fire from the light, quick units and thoroughly obliterate them with the heavy units, and the troops of two flanks were trained specifically for counter-land attacks to target the enemy flanks.

Battle
At the night October 12, 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion performed the reconnaissance, finding the Republican Army about to ambush the Imperial Army. The Imperial Command received the urgent report before their main forces encountered the Republican forces and prepared for escaping from the encirclement. As the Republican Army almost completed the encirclement and sent their mages to engage with the Imperial ones, the Republican right flank was attacked by 203rd Mage Battalion. Division 7 of Republican right flank asked the Central for urgent reinforcement since they almost got broken through by a regiment of mages.

The Republican Central sent 1st Composite Mage Regiment and 2nd Mage Battalion to right flank, which were the major mage forces of Central, and soon Imperial 203rd Mage Battalion decided to go through the enemy with full speed. Ignoring the chasing Republican mages, Imperial 203rd Mage Battalion arrived the Republican Central and raided their Headquarter with an aerial bombardment. The Imperial Army also attacked the Republican left flank at the same time. Their 5th Light Division defended the position and armored forces stormed the Republican left flank. Finally, they broke out the encirclement while their artillery units had taken up their position and supported 5th Light Division by bombarding the Republican in the center. Republican Commander de Lugo ordered the Republican Army to withdraw and reposition themselves.

Aftermath
The Imperial Southern Continent Expeditionary Corps avoided getting destroyed from encirclement and defeated the Republican's plan to retake the Turus Naval Base. As Republican Army had withdrawn from the battlefield, the Imperial Army got a firm foothold on the southern continent.

Reference
The Finest Hour - Chapter V Internal affairs The Finest Hour - Chapter VI The Southern Campaign Anime Episode 12