Spoiler
After the return of the army in late 1879 Emperor Maria once again went before the senate and requested the law be changed to allow those not of noble birth to hold the position of senator. This time it was brought to a vote, and in the spring of 1880 ahead of schedule the Senate held the vote knowing that not everyone could attend. (Especially supporters of the change). The vote didn’t pass by three votes.
The Merchants were outraged by the sly tactic and pleaded for a revote, which the Senate avoided and put off again and again.
In 1882 protests began all around Mercia demanding the Senate hold a revote or leave the decision to the Emperor.
During this time anti-noble sentiment stirred throughout Eclenia, the largest concentration being in Mercia where there had (Before the rise of the Merchants) been a very large amount of oppressive noble families which did some rather nasty things to keep power and wealth.
In the dawn of the new year in 1883, a massive protest in Redris occurred. The crowd was so large that the local order of Knights, The Watchers of Redris, came in to try and maintain order, however, they did so armed; This caused an escalation in fear and aggression in the crowd, the Merchants responding by bringing out armed MPA (Merchant Party Auxiliaries) to protect the people and try to keep things orderly. This tension and many armed citizens led to one trigger pull which would ignite a powder keg. A shot was fired and a civilian lay dead. Things descended into chaos from there. Within two months the situation deteriorated into full Civil War, when the Merchant Party, backed by the Eclenian Third Army Corps, founded the Merchant Republic of Eclenia based in Mercia. Their goal, to liberate Eclenia from the oppression of the entrenched nobility, who were holding Eclenia back. Some of the most radical among the Merchants even sought to remove the Emperor from power. But surprisingly the vast majority still saw the Emperor as their sovereign and thought they were not only liberating the people from the iron grip of the nobles but the Emperor as well.
The Emperor, however, while she sympathised with the Merchants could not allow them to achieve their goals by overthrowing the government and spilling the blood of their fellow Eclenians.
The forces of the Second Corps at this time under what was supposed to be the temporary command of General Titus Greene were ordered to find, aggravate, and destroy the rebel army bringing the war to a swift end. Greene was furious when he heard his orders. He had kept track of the Sarvanist War and had heard of the many exploits of the Heroic Third Corps, he sent a telegram to the Emperor asking her if she knew what his orders were. She replied by telling Greene she knew exactly what he was being ordered to do, and that she had total faith in him, within the envelope of the letter she sent were red rose petals a symbol of Eclenian resolve, and a memorial to the blood of the fallen.
Greene knew that there was no choice, this was a battle he had to fight if he tucked his tail and ran the honour and legitimacy of the Eclenian cause would be but a distant memory. Greene would martial as many troops as he could but out of the 500,000 men in the Second Corps, only two legion brigades managed to answer the call in a combat effective state.
Seeing how few regular soldiers had reported for duty in time, one of General Greene’s staff officers Major Artorius Uthred, who was also a Knight of the Red Rose sent word to the local chapter and mustered as many knights and Rose Order Auxiliaries as he could.
100 Rose Lancers and 2,500 Rose Order Auxiliary Infantry answered the call.
At the time Greene’s Army left their encampment on April 27th, 1883, it contained a total of roughly 32,600 men.
24,500 infantry
2,100 cavalry
6,000 artillery (16 guns)/engineers/other noncombatants
The army contained the following units.
First Legion Brigade
Legio IX ‘Victrix Constans’
Legio V ‘Jyris’
Legio XXIV ‘Saevus’
Second Legion Brigade
Legio XLII ‘Antilonica’
Legio XV ‘Fortis Fidelis’
Legio XX ‘Anders Certa Pia’
Red Rose Auxiliaries.
First Antilonica, Auxiliary Infantry
Second Antilonica, Auxiliary Light Infantry
Sir Uthred’s Lancer Company.
General Greene’s Army of Northern Antilonica marched north to seek out the Merchant Army, for they’d heard the few units of the Third Corps which had remained loyal to the crown were now besieged at their garrison posts.
They moved to the fort of Aloclia where they engaged a force of MPA driving them off from their siege positions relieving the garrison.
Short on Staff Officers, General Greene promoted the Captain in command of Fort Aloclia, Rowen Iyra to Major, and Major Uthred to Lieutenant Colonel, as he was in command of the Rose Order’s column.
Major Iyra left his subordinate in charge of the garrison and ordered them to burn any supplies they could not carry, and the fort itself to the ground, before retreating to the heartlands to regroup.
The army continued forward, marching along Jura Road towards the city of Belchor with the intention of drawing out the Merchant Army.
On the scorching hot morning of May 12 1883, Scouts from the Ninth Legion reported massive enemy movement north-west of their position.
The first battle of the Eclenian Civil War was about to commence.
General Greene ordered the whole army to battle order. The Merchant’s were coming and he needed to deploy his forces quickly. The Ninth, who was at the head of the column deployed skirmishers at the base of the row of hills (Now known as Uthred’s Heights) on the western side of the road, providing cover for the rest of the army.
The Battle of Uthred’s Heights.
The 68th Imperial Dragoons of the Ninth Legion was the first to engage the enemy when their patrols ran into MPA skirmishers. The Dragoons forced the MPA troops to fall back closely pursuing the retreating forces with zeal. It was exactly what the enemy wanted, the over eager cavalry was drawn into the light forest and found themselves ambushed by a regiment sized force of MPA Infantry. The 68th took heavy casualties losing their Colonel and two Captains, soon chaos erupted throughout the encircled Dragoons. It seemed that every dragoon would be slaughtered, but then a junior centurion by the name of Conwyn Jodoc rallied his troopers and led a charge attempting a breakout. They succeeded, taking even more losses, but the regiment had made it out with enough men to remain combat effective and they still had their colours in their possession. The remaining troops of the 68th fell back to the heights to report what they’d run into.
By the time they returned (At noon) the First Legion Brigade and Rose Order Auxiliaries were fully deployed along the heights with the Fifteenth Legion of the Second Brigade deployed on the extreme right in the low woods and onto the road.
At the peak of the heights, 10 of the army’s 16 guns were lined up, with the remaining light horse guns deployed on the extreme right with the fifteenth defending Jura Road.
Soon MPA Line Infantry had started moving in formation to engage the Ninth Legion which was stretched across the whole front.
Both sides were trained in line of battle tactics which proved deadlier than ever as both sides were mostly armed with the standard issue Grigor-Banes breech-loading rifles, though some regiments on both sides were armed with late Banes’ Company rifled muskets.
The Grigor-Banes has an effective range of 500 yards and a maximum range of 2,100 yards. Engagement distances during the Battle of Uthred’s Heights averaged 100 to 250 yards.
The Hardened MPA troops were ferocious fighters with units taking 60 to 80 percent casualties before breaking ranks and retreating.
The soldiers of the Ninth Legion were virgins of battle but well trained nonetheless. They held firm providing enough time for the forces up the heights to dig in.
More and more MPA forces emerged from the forests onto the field in front of the heights, a legion sized force at least. These tightly packed formations were met with the full force of the Loyalist heavy cannons atop the hills.
At 14:00 hours, the pressure on the paper thin line of the Ninth Legion became too great forcing them to fall back. Some units with good order, others in a disorganised panic.
On the extreme left around a place called Sefin’s Farm, one unit of the Ninth having been cut off from communication did not retreat. The 37th Antilonican Rifle Regiment, and what remained of the 68th Dragoons held a defensive position garrisoning the farm buildings and a stone wall. The Merchants hadn’t committed many forces to the farm complex and those that had were completely routed by the elite Sharpshooters of the 37th.
At 16:30 hours, the rearguard units of MPA troops were committed to the fight in a massive flanking manoeuvre striking the Loyalist extreme right on Jura Road.
The MPA force known as the Shield of Mercia was a force of 38,000 men, the vast majority of it infantry with only 100 cavalry, and roughly 3,000 other troops including noncombatants and a total of 50 trained artillery gunners manning 6 24 pounder howitzers. They were commanded by Sarvan War Veteran, the retired General Victor Larfton, nicknamed Zadkiel’s Finest for his unwavering stubbornness in battle.
The force that struck the Fifteenth Legion on the Jura Road was 6,000 men strong including two grenadier regiments who along with their standard infantry equipment had dynamite and other throwing explosive devices.
The assault struck two concentrated points on the right flank, the first charge came through the woods. The Merchant troops yelled and screamed at the top of their lungs as they sprinted through the thick brush. The Loyalist line infantry confused and scared by the poor visibility and chaos of battle panicked when the MPA Grenadiers hurled bombs at the line. The first bomb exploded in the very centre of the 49th Antilonican Fusilier Regiment’s line killing the Colonel and both flag bearers. The 49th subordinate officers young and inexperienced gave whatever orders they saw fit to their men driving the formation into complete disarray. Two Companies, directed by Captain Gelirn Wheadon, rushed to the Colours and retrieved them before trying to reorganise the line. He found the Lieutenant Colonel Willem Hepmann badly wounded having lost an arm. Hepmann officially gave command over to Wheadon before standing using his one arm to grasp the Regimental Colours. The rest of the regiment was in full route. The MPA pressed their advantage flooding the wound in the Eclenian line with as many troops as they could. There’s only so much two companies of wavering infantry can do against 3,000 veteran enemy troops.
The Legate of the Fifteenth legion, Brigadier General Kelar Syon prepared to move troops to plug the enemy breakthrough when the other enemy assault began striking right down Jura Road.
This enemy assault did not go as well when 4 light guns opened fire with canister shot, followed by the well-directed volley fire of the 45th Antilonica Fusilier Regiment.
General Syon sent her aide, Second Lieutenant Garret Jyrison to send for reinforcements.
In the woods things had devolved into a bloody melee, small groups of troops of the 49th led by Junior Officers rallied together and fired volleys at point blank range, before getting wiped out by bombs, bullets, and bayonets.
Most of the remnants of the 49th centred around Captain Wheadon and the Colours who held a fragile circle, Lieutenant Colonel Hepmann was killed by an enemy Sharpshooter, his body fell on the flag nearly knocking it to the ground.
Lieutenant Jyrison returned with troops from the Twentieth Legion. A full regiment of Line Infantry rushed into the woods pushing the MPA troops out from behind the Loyalist line, but bloody melee fighting continued.
Meanwhile, at the centre, the MPA Infantry pressed up the heights attacking the entrenched forces of the Fifth, and Twenty Fourth Legions. Loyalist Officers ordered their men to hold fire until the last possible moment. The MPA Infantry got within 50 yards before eating volleys.
The Merchants, in turn, brought up their 24 pounders within minimum range, hiding guns and gunners in the midst of infantry formations. When the artillery teams reached their desired positions, the infantry that was covering them charged at full tilt forward, drawing fire long enough for the gunners to load and fire before taking cover.
At 16:50 hours, General Larfton dispatched all of his cavalry with a fresh Light Infantry regiment as well as mixed Line infantry to go around the right (The Loyalist left) flank and hit the heights from the rear, attacking whatever baggage, and reserve forces were there.
As the MPA flanking force moved into position, they to their complete surprise began receiving fire from Sefin’s Farm.
The 37th Rifles, and the 68th Dragoons at this point about 600 men strong, had for hours remained in their defensive position, having never received their orders to retreat with the rest of the Ninth Legion, and with the heavy smoke caused by the battle they had no idea what was going on to their right. The Loyalist troops had not remained idle during their long respite from the action, they had dug well into the walled Farmstead, they used wagons and hay bales to make it possible to shoot over the walls, Sharpshooters were posted at every window, and the rest of the soldiers just found whatever crevice they could shoot through, many climbing onto the rooftops of the barn, stables, and main house.
The commanding officer of the MPA troops sent on this flanking manoeuvre was Colonel Colyn Stroffer, with Commissar Aeric Prelin in tow. Neither of them knew that the position in front of them was cut off and even if they did, they couldn’t move past to continue their objective until it was dealt with.
So at 17:45 hours, Colonel Stroffer ordered his 1,800 men to assault the Farmstead.
The forces in Sefin’s Farm, commanded by Colonel Rhys Luwen (Commander of the 37th) and Acting Captain Conwyn Jodoc (In Command of the remnants of the 68th) knew that they couldn’t hold their position forever as they had already expended close to if not a little more than half of their ammunition in the earlier engagement.
The two officers both agreed however that they could be an obstacle and annoyance to the enemy from their strategic position, and so they beckoned the enemy to charge.
A sharpshooter of the 37th, Corporal Jyris Freeman shot Commissar Prelin from off his horse killing him. The enraged Merchant Light Infantry (Prelin was their commanding officer,) charged ahead of the mixed Line Infantry, they were riddled with fire being forced back to the Line Infantry.
Next, the combined infantry force pushed up to the stone wall outside the fortified farm where a close range firefight began.
Colonel Stroffer urged his men to press forward from his horse, quickly drawing the attention of a sharpshooter who shot his horse out from under him. Before the Colonel could even get up from his dead horse another shot hit the Colonel in the arm. His men told him to retreat to a safer position but Stroffer refused and continued to lead his men at the wall.
Soon, the volume of fire from Sefin’s Farm began to wane as men were killed, and ammunition ran lower.
At 18:50 hours, Stroffer ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge the farm. They leapt over the bullet battered stone wall and with a ferocious yell, hurled themselves at the walls.
The first two attacks were repulsed as they couldn’t break down the large wooden doors to the courtyard. Upon the third, however, at 19:20 hours, a dismounted Merchant cavalryman finally hacked through the door’s bar. Stroffer and his men flooded into the courtyard, they were met by Captain Jodoc’s few remaining dismounted cavalry who stormed into the fray swords in hand.
During the ensuing melee, Colonel Stroffer was once again wounded, taking a bayonet to the leg. His men rushed to protect him and pulled him out of the fight.
Taking advantage of the enemy’s moment of weakness, and using everything they had, the Loyalists defending Sefin’s farm pushed the Merchants back out of the courtyard closing the doors and heaping whatever they could in front of it.
Stroffer furiously screamed at his subordinate officers saying, “We’ve almost got them beat damn it! Don’t let up the attack! Give them Remiel’s fury!” They were his last words.
Inside Sefin’s Farm, things weren’t looking much better for the Loyalists, they were almost completely out of ammunition with the few remaining rounds being given over to the Sharpshooters, who used them well. Colonel Luwen was dead, Captain Jodoc was wounded, and as it stood a few more than half of their men were dead or wounded.
Knowing their position was hopeless, Captain Jodoc prepared a small barrel of gunpowder to be used to blow out the back wall of the barn providing an escape route.
Jodoc and the other remaining officers organised their men, they needed at least a handful of men to stay behind and hold the line while the rest of the defenders retreated. Many of the wounded, too badly hurt to retreat fast enough, or at all volunteered, they were joined by three Sharpshooters and a couple other volunteers.
Stroffer’s highest ranking subordinate Major Frei Jossin, ordered the remaining troops to recommence the attack. The exhausted Merchant troops smashed open the door and broke through the barricade clashing with the few remaining defenders in the courtyard. At the moment the melee re-commenced there was a loud explosion as the gunpowder was detonated. The majority of the defenders left, the wounded first poured out of the newly created door pulling back towards the road and the heights.
Out of the 1,000 men of the 37th Antilonica Rifle Regiment, only 360 survived the battle the rest were killed or captured They lost their Colonel, Major, 6 Captains, and 11 Lieutenants. Out of the 1,000 men of the 68th Imperial Dragoons, only 182 of them survived the battle the rest were killed or captured, they lost Their Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, 8 Captains, and 17 Lieutenants. Out of the 600 men who took part in the main engagement at Sefin’s Farm, only 119 escaped, the rest were killed.
The Merchant flanking force didn’t fare much better, out of 1,800 men, they took 400 killed and more than 600 wounded. Among the dead were Colonel Stroffer, Commissar Prelin, and at least a dozen more officers from the various units. By the time Sefin’s Farm was captured at 20:20 hours their force was under the command of Major Jossin who was wounded and was by all accounts no longer combat effective.
During the three and a half hour struggle for Sefin’s Farm, the fighting across the rest of the line began to peter out with the last shots being fired at about 20:30 on the Loyalist extreme right in the woods.
The Merchant forces pulled back to their encampment five kilometres from Uthred’s Heights.
The first day of the battle proved to be a bloody stalemate. The Merchants had failed to remove the Loyalist troops from the heights.
During the night after the first day of battle, the Loyalists gathered the dead and wounded taking tallies. The field hospitals were overfilled to the brim, with only 32 surgeons supplemented by other support staff, things were so bad by some accounts that some officers had to wait hours before getting proper treatment.
The Loyalist casualties were terrible, with the Ninth Legion facing upwards of 70 percent losses, the Fifteenth took about 20 percent losses, the Twenty Fourth took a little more than 16 percent, and the Fifth Legion lost about 11 percent.
The battle proved most devastating on the Officer Corps particularly due to the Merchant’s use of their artillery in the first engagements bringing the guns up to point blank, the gunners targeting the Colours.
One regiment in the Twenty Fourth Legion, the 52nd Antilonica Fusiliers, lost every officer in its ranks down to the last lieutenant who died on the operating table in the late evening.
The Army of Northern Antilonica lost so many senior officers on the first day, out of the 30 regimental colonels, only 14 lived through the first day (10 were in the reserve and didn’t engage in the fight)
Total casualties on the first day of battle for the Loyalists were as follows.
Ninth Legion, 1,200 killed, 2,300 wounded
Fifth Legion, 127 killed, 440 wounded
Fifteenth Legion, 600 killed, 1,600 wounded
Twenty Fourth Legion, 500 killed, 1,900 wounded
Twenty Second Legion, 160 killed, 400 wounded
Total 2,487 killed, 6,640 wounded
The Merchants too had lost thousands of men, though records were not as well kept, out of the roughly 38,000 men of the MPA forces under General Larfton it is estimated that they took upwards of 5,500 killed, and another 10,000 wounded, losing nearly half of their fighting force.
Luckily for Larfton, at 22:00 hours on the first day, the vanguard of the First Legion Brigade Eclenian Third Corps arrived at their encampment, under Brigadier General Bran Cadwel. His 15,000 men were the head of a 65,000 man column which continued to arrive through the night and into the morning of the second day.
Around the same time, General Cadwel arrived at Larfton’s HQ, General Greene and his staff met to assess the situation, and decide what to do next.
While they had done serious damage to the enemy forces they had engaged, Greene’s forces had taken a good beating as well. It concurred among all of the senior staff as well as battlefield commanders that without reinforcements there wasn’t enough strength or morale to make a push for Belchor. The matter of reinforcements was the real question on the Loyalists’ minds, they weren’t sure if entire legions from the Second were playing catch up, the word had been sent by telegram to both Antilonica and the Heartlands that Greene’s forces were on the Jura Road on their way to Belchor with request for more Second Corps troops to meet him there.
Some officers in Greene’s staff argued that the chance of reinforcements wasn’t enough to continue on for, and as such, they should retreat to preserve the army; officers holding that opinion were a very small vocal minority, however.
Most of Greene’s staff were still determined to carry on the fight, even if there wasn’t a chance that they could reach Belchor, it was sure that they could kill as many enemy troops as possible weakening the Merchant’s military strength.
Greene made a compromise, the army would hold their defensive position for another day to both deal the enemy more damage, as well as wait to see if reinforcements were on the way.
The decision was acceptable to both sides of the argument leaving them at ease.
Something which is well documented among the ranks of both armies engaged at Uthred’s heights before the battle and then updated after the first day is that both sides were not expecting the other to fight wholeheartedly. The Loyalists thought that with a bit of force the Merchants would lay down their weapons and order could be restored. The Merchants, in turn, thought the Loyalists would see what the Merchant’s cause was righteous and that they would perhaps even switch sides and aid them in overthrowing the oppressive nobles in the senate. Upon the intense bloodbath, their opinions quickly changed.
The tone of most accounts on the subject is almost heartbroken. Major Jossin following the fight at Sefin’s Farm standing in the middle of the body strewn courtyard said to a Colour Sergeant, “I have a terrible premonition that this war will last for years to come."
General Greene too was quoted as saying to his staff, “It is clear to me now that this crimson fire of war will burn bright until it consumes all of the old breed like us. Only then will peace be possible.” By old breed, of course, he is referring to the old Eclenian Army professionals.
On the morning of the second day upon taking position at their defences on the heights were greeted by a terrible sight in the hour before dawn, as they observed thousands more campfires in the wood past the battlefield. By that moment every soldier in the Loyalist force knew that their situation was hopeless. In my honest opinion, they knew their situation was hopeless even before then, but I think even the most naive lads who had been in reserve the whole first day realised this fact.
The Merchants began the day by rolling out their artillery, combining the 4 remaining MPA heavy guns the Third Corps batteries brought that number up to 25 guns lined up at the edge of the forest.
At 06:30 hours the fighting recommenced as the Merchant artillery opened fire lobbing heavy explosive and solid shot at the heights. The first defensive line that on the first day was made up of the Twenty Fourth Legion, and the Fifth Legion, was now made up of the Twenty Fourth, and the Forty Second which had been in reserve on the first day. The Ninth (Which had taken the Vanguard) was completely rotated out and was stationed as a rearguard on Jura Road, while the Fifth was moved to the second line of defence.
The Loyalist guns responded blasting away at the unprotected batteries.
At 08:30 hours the Merchant bombardment ceased as the infantry emerged, Eclenian regulars of the Third Corps, flanked by MPA troops marched out in a line that spanned the entire Loyalist defensive line.
The Loyalist guns pounded the infantry formations all the way across the field, but it didn’t make much difference. The enemy lines were in some places more than a dozen men deep, it was clear that General Larfton wanted to end the fight in one bloody swing. General Greene was determined to make it a hard day, and the Imperial Engineers of the Fifth Legion had done well to aid their commander in his endeavour.
The defensive lines on the Heights were heavily dug in providing excellent cover for the Loyalist troops. At the very front about halfway up the heights was as I mentioned before the Twenty Fourth and Forty Second Legions, the second line maybe a hundred yards further up was defended by the Fifth and half of the Twenty Second, finally just in front of the peak of the Heights was the Red Rose Auxiliaries as well as the Artillery Guard Regiments of the Forty Second Legion, and the Combat Engineers of the Fifth Legion. At the very peak of the Heights were the Loyalist guns and their crews.
On the right flank on the Jura Road was what remained of the Fifteenth Legion, and the other half of the Twenty Second Legion, and in the reserve was the wreckage of the Ninth Legion who held defensive positions around the field hospital and supplies.
At 09:00 hours the Merchant Infantry got within rifle range, around this moment there was a lull in the artillery fire, which is recorded by almost every single source I’ve read. What’s more is the dozens of accounts of Loyalist soldiers officers especially hesitating to give the orders to fire, unlike the MPA officers who were from the previous generation of academy graduates, the officers of the Third Corps Regulars were for the most part classmates of the officers among the Loyalists, some accounts record the officers as having tears visibly rolling down their cheeks as they gave the order to fire. Hundreds if not thousands were cut down in the opening volleys, bodies rolled down the heights and piled up at the base, but never once was the order to retreat given. The Merchants pushed up the Heights shoving their fallen comrades out of the way, picking up the colours if they fell and never faltering in their advance.
The first Eclenian line tried to hold, but they simply couldn’t fire enough bullets fast enough to stop the Merchant advance. The thin Loyalist line was overwhelmed by thousands of Merchant soldiers who showed no mercy or remorse in the brutal hand to hand fighting in the trench where bodies once again piled high. The Legate of the Twenty Fourth Legion, General Jaap Appelo, realised his position was hopeless but instead of retreating, he sent a runner back to the second line with a message for his friend and former rival General Aeron Emerens Legate of the Fifth Legion and commander of the second defensive line, the message was this, “Open fire and show the Merchants the fire of Remiel, friendly fire be damned.”
General Emerens at first refused but the messenger had been prepared for that very situation by General Appelo and gave General Emerens a personal message from Appelo. To this day I don’t know what that message was as General Appelo would die not an hour after this message was sent, and General Emerens refused to tell me what it was.
Whatever that message was though it worked, General Emerens ordered his men to fire into the first defensive line. They poured volley after volley down on the line, this on top of the Loyalist troops in the first line’s refusal to retreat fighting to the near last man slowed down the Merchant advance for three straight hours.
Around 13:45 the Merchants advanced past the first line and by 14:20 they reached the second line in hand to hand fighting. The fighting here proved to be even more lethal for the Merchant Forces as the speciality of the Fifth Legion was its discipline with the bayonet.
On the right flank of the Loyalist lines, the forces of the Fifteenth and the other half of the Twenty Second fought in another deadly bloodbath in the woods against the lightest of the Merchant attacks. The battle there would last most of the day until around 16:00 hours when the brush caught fire and spread lighting the whole wood ablaze forcing both sides to retreat from the battle.
Around that same time, the Second Defensive line was given the order to retreat by General Greene, the retreat was, for the most part, a disorganised mess but the forces under General Emeren managed to survive falling back to the rearguard positions with the Ninth.
Following the retreat of General Emeren’s forces, there was a lull in the fighting as the Merchants took some time to recover having fought for eight straight hours without stopping. At the same time Lieutenant Colonel Uthred prepared for what would become one the most iconic moments in the early Eclenian Civil War, he gathered his Knights and the riders of the 12th Antilonica Carabiner Regiment and lined up at the peak of the Heights. The Carabiners’ armour shined in the red light of the setting sun. From what I’ve heard and read from first-hand accounts of the battle is that the exhausted and badly bloodied troops of the Merchant forces took one look at the heavily armed and armoured cavalry and some just dropped their weapons and stood there, others dropped to their knees and prayed, and most of the others braced themselves for what was to come.
At 17:30 hours the Bugler of the 12th sounded the charge and 1,100 cavalrymen and horses thundered down the Heights. Cheers erupted from the third and final Loyalist Defensive line where the artillery gunners were rolling the guns down to the trenches aiming straight down at the Merchant lines, loading canister shot ready for when the next assault would come.
Uthred’s charge smashed into the Merchant forces like a hammer hitting glass. They pushed the Merchants back to the first defensive line before they were finally halted by a wall of bayonets. The heroic cavalrymen provided much needed time for the majority of Loyalist forces, now behind the heights, to rally. The Charge would prove the brave Cavalry's end as the Merchants brought the riders down from their horses and returned the slaughter. Those who survived retreated back to the third line of defence where they took position along their infantry compatriots. General Greene prepared to stand by his men and lead the last line himself, but a blood covered Lieutenant Colonel Uthred arrived back at the line in time to stop the General. One record from General Greene’s Aide puts their conversation somewhere along the lines of Uthred observing what a beautiful day it was, and that if Greene was going to die in the field it would be holding the last line of Eclenia’s defence, and this certainly wasn’t Eclenia’s last line of defence. I’m paraphrasing of course because records vary on Uthred’s exact words.
General Greene reluctantly agreed and pulled back to organise a retreat while Uthred would lead a rearguard action.
At 19:40 hours the Merchants rallied their strength and charged back up the hill, the final fight for Uthred’s Heights began. The Merchants soon found themselves under the worst hail of lead they’d experience the whole day when every Loyalist heavy gun on top of the hill blasted down at them with canister shot. As they got closer reaching a hundred yards the Infantry opened fire. The front of the Merchant lines was torn to shreds with some records saying men in the front ranks would be hit so many times that there was nothing left but a pile of steaming red flesh and bone. Eventually, through the very fires of Remiel those brave and heroic Merchant boys reached the final line and gave them the bayonet, they were met by the equally brave Soldiers of the Red Rose, as well as some volunteers from the Loyalist Artillery, both gunners and guard. It is described even to this day as being one of the bloodiest melee fights in the entire Civil War, and that is saying something. Records show Loyalist soldiers fighting with supernatural strength and determination, taking multiple bullets and bayonet wounds and still trying to stick the enemy with their bayonet or bash their brains in with a rock. I read one report from a Merchant Officer who took part in the cleanup of the battlefield; He said that he could easily tell the difference between the regular Loyalist defenders and the Red Rose troops as the Red Rose troopers were the most drenched in blood and had more fatal wounds to them than most of the other bodies combined.
The few thousand men of the Loyalist rearguard would buy the rest of the army four hours before finally the last of them were cut down. Not one soldier of the rearguard was captured, they fought to the very last man.
Upon cresting the Heights the Merchants found the skeletal remains of the Loyalist camp and field hospital lanterns still burning. General Larfton was particularly angry that the Loyalist army which he had been so eager to destroy had slipped through his fingers all because of the Knights of the Red Rose, who he would hold a well-known hatred for through the rest of the war. The Merchant Regular Commanders, couldn’t help but be impressed that General Greene had managed to evacuate his army in a matter of only four hours with a heavy load of wounded in tow.
The battle was declared a Merchant Victory and began the panicked retreat of all Loyalist Forces to the Heartland passes.
Though by the number of dead Eclenian boys I would call it a defeat for all involved.
By the end of the second day, the Merchant forces suffered 8,600 killed, and more than 25,000 wounded. In total out of the total 103,000 Merchant soldiers at the Battle of Uthred’s Heights, a little more than 14,100 were killed, and more than 35,000 were wounded.
The Loyalists in turn also took absolutely terrible losses, on the second day taking the following casualties.
Twenty Fourth Legion (2,600 engaged on day two) 930 killed, 1,400 wounded
Forty Second Legion(5,000 engaged on day two) 1,150 killed, 2,000 wounded
Fifth Legion (4,433 engaged on day two) 679 killed, 1,650 wounded
Twenty Second Legion (4,440 engaged on day two) 1,890 killed, 2,260 wounded
Fifteenth Legion (2,800 engaged on day two) 767 killed, 1250 wounded
Knightly Order of the Red Rose (2,600 engaged on day two) 2,581 killed, 19 wounded (7 Knights, 12 Auxiliary Infantry)
Total 7,997 killed, 8,579 wounded.
In total during the battle of Uthred’s Heights the Loyalist Army suffered, 10,484 killed, 15,219 wounded.
Once again the Loyalist Officer Corps proved to take some of the worst hits, out of the 14 Colonels who lived through the first day 6 of them made it out of day two, only 1 of them unhurt. Out of the 6 Legates of the Army only 2 of them made it out alive, out of lower Officers the Centurion (Or Junior Corps) especially, casualties were disproportionately bad, leaving entire companies under the command of hastily promoted serjeants. Among the glorious dead of the Loyalist Officer Corps was Major Uthred who while sources differ is said to have died holding onto the Imperial Standard before being stabbed and shot to death by more than a dozen MRE soldiers. During the retreat from the battle General Greene’s army had more wounded than healthy soldiers, out of the 32,600 soldiers who marched out on this campaign, only 27,516 of them survived, and out of those only 12,297 were in fighting condition.
And so the Battle of Uthred’s Heights ended; News soon spread of the defeat, Emperor Maria would send out the order for all Loyalist forces in the west to fall back to the Western Heartland pass, and for forces in the north to send forces to the northern pass. This along with the aforementioned news of the defeat of Greene’s army caused the now infamous panicked retreat to the western pass. During this time the Second Corps lost even more of its strength when thirty percent of the entire Corps mutinied and decided to stay and defend their garrisons from the Merchants. Those that didn’t mutiny led their forces and civilians on a desperate run for the pass as the Merchant army though bloodied swept into Antilonica seeking vengeance. The Provincial Capital fell in days, and the whole province was conquered in weeks with only a handful of strongholds of Loyalist forces remaining on the outskirts.
During the disorganised retreat to the pass, the Second Corps would lose half of its total fighting force. Some died on the rearguard actions to buy time for their comrades and civilians, and the previously mentioned thirty percent refused to abandon Antilonica holding their garrisons as long as possible.
The Fourth Corps was far luckier in sending their forces to the passes, as the Merchant Army was occupied conquering Antilonica. The Fourth Corps devoted seventy-five percent of its forces to the northern pass and used the remaining quarter to strategically garrison the Capital of Haragladia, as well as the hugely important industrial centres. They would also organise a force to meet the Merchants head on, and this force wasn’t quite as lucky as General Greene’s with the entire army being destroyed.
The fighting in these first months was defined by brutal old school tactics like those used at the battle of Uthred’s Heights which proved absolutely deadly.
By the summer of 1883, the Eclenian Loyalist forces had ground the MRE advance to a halt at the two major passes into the Heartlands, in the north and west. The war had devolved into trench warfare, much like what had been developing in Orliend in the Eternal Fangese-Aspyian War.
Now before I continue I must address something, it is a question asked by the vast majority of people who weren’t around during the war. That question being, “Why wasn’t the Fifth Corps brought in,”
And to answer that question in my next post I’ll go over the organisation of the Eclenian Army as a whole and some other details, but for the sake of time basically the Eclenian Fifth Corps, the largest and most combat experienced Corps aside from the Third, was and still is the Colonial Corps, and at this time and through the first part of the war it was seen as a mainland affair and as such the Fifth Corps didn’t belong on those battlefields. People often ask why the Emperor who was the Commander and Chief of all Eclenian Armed Forces would let such a petty BS reason like that fly, well this is somewhat because she agreed with that sentiment but it had more to do with other outside problems which the Fifth Corps could handle while the mainlanders dealt with their internal strife.
Now back on track. The War had as I previously mentioned devolved into trench warfare, something which would prove deadly to the old guard of the Eclenian army used to honourable open warfare, fortunately for the MRE they also had the MPA in the early days who had no qualms with the dirty tactics needed to gain a few meters of ground at a time.
By 1884 the vast majority of the MRE’s Hero Corps, the old Eclenian Third Corps had been so badly reduced in numbers that they were pulled entirely off the front lines and placed in the honorary role of guarding Redris, replacing the oppressor Watchers of Redris, many of whom were imprisoned, and those who refused to give up their title as knights were executed.
Indeed one of the things that began to emerge in 1884 was the beginnings of the MRE’s crusade to purge Eclenia of nobility, with the birth of the MRE Commissariat, who would gain notoriety through many actions throughout the war, such things I will discuss later.
With the exodus of the Hero Corps from the frontline of the war the MRE’s army changed as well, the hardened veterans of the Sarvanist War were replaced by Party fanatics (and eventually large numbers of mercenaries), something which sent waves of deja-vu through the minds of any Loyalist Officer versed in history.
The Loyalist army began to change as well, first the early waves of volunteers from the Heartlands who joined in 1883 were still being trained to the same standards of pre-war Eclenia and as such didn’t get rotated into action until mid 1884, so when the vastly depleted Second and Fourth Corps were in need of replacement they were supplemented at first by Auxiliaries of the Knightly Orders, the level of training and discipline among these forces proved to vary greatly.
And once the volunteers were sent into action they were subjected to the horrors of a war they were not trained to fight, casualties proved devastating at every engagement.
The Western Front was bloody enough as it was with ground moving but a few meters with every offensive on either side.
The North, however, proved to be more successful for the Loyalists through most of the war but at a far higher cost. General Grant Hadley, would take command of the Fourth Corps after his superior and the former commander of the Fourth stayed behind to defend the Capital of Haragladia. Hadley was an ambitious man who would accept nothing but victory and had little patience for defence, which still makes me wonder why he was placed in command of the forces sent to defend the north. In the early stages of the war he launched a counterattack on the MRE forces, he lost ten thousand men doing it, two entire legions whittled to nothing in a matter of two weeks, but victory was achieved. This made Hadley even more arrogant than he already was, and solidified his lust for attacking the enemy. His preferred method of doing so being full frontal assaults with massed infantry. Something which I speculate he picked up in Orliend.
The Northern Front was not only a war in the trenches, as I said before a quarter of the Fourth Corps, stayed behind to defend Haragladia. Unlike the mutinous forces of the Second Corps, however, the Fourth did so in an organised fashion, every unit in the beginning at least was in communication with one another, and there were contingency plans put in place for each garrison. The objective of these forces was to hold the capital city of Felmoor, as well as the two major industrial centres of Bayfare, and Ilmarn and the Fourth did very well to harass supply lines and reinforcements on their way to the northern front. It was bloody and messy for the MRE forces, and made the Fourth Corps very good as they helped mould more modern infantry tactics, at least those behind the lines, those under Hadley learned very little but to show no value for their lives.
The War dragged on in a bloody stalemate for years, during that time many great and terrible battles were fought, and within both sides, things began to change. On the Loyalist side, the war proved to be rather unpopular among the common people from the very beginning and the pool of recruits dried up very quickly once the horror stories of the western front reached the ears of the people. The Merchant side saw an increasingly more brutal policy on nobility under the guise of the Commissariat, they would put the brutal noble recompense program which would earn horrendous infamy starting in 1885. The program was designed to punish nobles for the oppressive damage they and their ancestors caused to the common folk of Eclenia. It was in truth a thinly veiled method of acquiring noble’s wealth and possessions, and unleashing pent up hatred against them in the form of rape and murder.
In the late summer of 1886, a massive offensive would finally break the fragile Eclenian Western Front. For three months the war turned into a series of holding and delaying actions to protect the civilians and soldiers who were running for their lives from the oncoming Merchant horde. During one of the first of these desperate holding actions, General Greene would heroically give his life leading the last line of defence.
Eventually, the fight reached the Capital of Fenrock where after two weeks the Emperor gave the order for all Loyalist forces to withdraw from the Heartlands and regroup in the colonial province of Al-Lat. Emperor Maria would stay behind and lead the rearguard action with the Knights of the Imperial Retinue and the Praetorian Guard Legions.
During the heat of the battle of Fenrock one company of Imperial Fusiliers led by Captain Thomas Karlton were secretly dispatched to escort the Crowned Princess Koralia to the sea, but they were pursued by Merchant Forces. Karlton and his company would make the ultimate sacrifice and stay behind to delay the enemy giving Koralia a chance to escape. They would succeed buying Koralia more than enough time to get to the overwhelmed southern coast on a ship bound for Al-Lat.
Karlton’s men would last five days in their makeshift redoubt which they named Fort Invictus eventually being wiped out to the last man. It was the last official battle of the first phase of the Eclenian Civil War, and at the time was hailed as the Republic’s final victory before the end of the war, how very wrong they were.
This war would set the stage for a Princess who had no interest in ruling the Eclenian Empire to go on a journey that would forge her into one of Eclenia’s greatest and most tragic leaders. But that is a story to be told later, it is a tale far too long and full of great details for me to summarise here.
I hope you’ve all enjoyed the History of Eclenia up to the end of the first act of my main story (Though most of the said first act isn’t really relevant to a broad history and thus hasn’t been mentioned) I will be moving on to other lore of Mithra to share with you all, as well as continuing to work on the story itself. I would finally just like to thank you all for reading, and give just as big of thanks to those who took the time out of their day to respond and leave their thoughts and comments I really appreciate it and I look forward to hearing your response to this part as well as just in general in the future. Once again thank you, and I hope you all have an awesome day! :wave: