Portsmouth 2015

Portsmouth 2015 was a UTC PvP action against multiple geared premiums in the South who almost maintained constant contact with the enemy over the course of 40 minutes to an hour.
The significance of the battle served to enhance the UTC's reputation as an effective force that can fight against experienced premium clans and as a showcase of the worthiness of Generation Chill members in the Company. Portsmouth 2015 was also the first time in the Company's history where the participants, named the Legion D'Honneur, were given medals for their service in the revived Orders of Merit system.https://www.reddit.com/r/UnknownTradeCo/comments/3xb8nt/the_legion_dhonneur_of_portsmouth_2015/
Despite the UTC's superior numbers and equipment against Sgt Squad, the battle was designated as a battle honour for its intensity, length and the extreme supply difficulties, specifically food, that befell the caravan during the battle where at times the Company was extremely vulnerable to counter-attack, even from leathers.
The battle is also the second battle where all the active UTC regiments earned a Battle Honour, the first being Sahlgutmir's March which took place nine months earlier.
== Battle ==
=== Background ===
Company forces consisting of seven Irons and one Scout heard reports about an iron bandit named xqs in Portsmouth. Irishkaiser(as Avver), the senior officer of the caravan, decided to ambush the iron bandit and secure the town for the Company and Leather Spawn customers. Due to incomplete intelligence, there was more than one iron bandit in Portsmouth, including leather support, which turned out to be a group of friends and some elements of the Sgt Squad clan. It was later learned that the Sgt Squad members had gotten their iron through killing people in Portsmouth before the UTC had arrivedhttps://shotbow.net/forum/threads/portsmouth-battles.333928/#post-2702302.
=== Opening Moves ===
Company forces arriving in Portsmouth proper stationed themselves North of the town along the forests. The caravan waited for the scout to get in position to lure xqs, but a potential customer named K_IsHere entered with the intent of buying iron armor from an earlier advertisement. Some Company members told him to volunteer luring the iron bandit outside, to which he complied. A three-quarter iron named YeetyClaus of Sgt Squad moved near the ambush spot and discovered elements of the UTC hiding in some of the trees. The UTC held their fire as they received no intelligence of YeetyClaus as hostile. After brief hesitation, YeetyClaus charged forward and attacked boogaert but was repulsed back to Portsmouth by superior UTC forces. Company forces moved in to discover three iron-clad players scattering about. Instead of pursuing them individually, Irishkaiser rallied the caravan to target xqs first.
left|thumb|248x248px|A video from boogaert's point of view.
=== Fight in the Desert Border ===
The fighting moved on to the desert as Company members were struggling to maintain cohesion and started breaking into smaller teams with Irishkaiser and Vergath forming the first element; boogaert, shadow5138 and princessdreya forming the second element; Hotkek007 and YakuzaFour formed the third.
Irishkaiser and Vergath took on and chased Voya north in the river border while Hotkek007 and YakuzaFour chased xqs. The third element took on Misa_, RigbySupport and YeetyClaus. The 3rd UTC element was eventually supported by Hotkek007 who was led back to the desert bridge border by a regrouping xqs. All of the bandits were killed during the fighting and Irishkaiser rallied to make sense of the chaos and scattering of Company forces. Irishkaiser was promptly attacked by Voya but killed him thus securing his equipment. After the the 1st, 2nd and 3rd elements regrouped, they proceeded to secure the loot from enemy recovery and retreated North to reorganize and re-asses the situation.
YakuzaFour however, was still lost somewhere in the desert but could not communicate his situation because he had no microphone. Unknown to the rest of the Company, he was currently being chased by four players, half of whom were carrying iron armor pieces and weapons, but he was saved by timely sending of coordinates to a UTC camp across the river North of Bazaar in the desert. YakuzaFour at this point - took heavy damage to his armor, having lost his helmet in the fight - managed to reach the UTC encampment just in time. The Company saw the bandits chasing Yakuza and proceeded to open fire on the attackers to great effect - killing one in the initial volley.
The Company immediately counter-attacked and overwhelmed the attackers - taking all of their loot and gear. The Company then conducted a slow fighting retreat North of Portsmouth to log out and join another server, but were promptly chased by the determined Sgt Squad and friends.
=== Company Supply Issues ===
The UTC forces depleted their food supply exponentially during the fighting and could no longer conduct mobile warfare, which left them especially vulnerable to incoming attacks. Realizing that the enemy were searching for them all around from Portsmouth to Evergreen, the Company foraged food discretely and deployed scouts to nearby towns to bring back food to a UTC encampment at Farmhouse northeast of Portsmouth. It was at this time, that UTC forces were especially vulnerable to an attack but were not engaged until just after they were ready.
=== Sgt Squad Iron Reinforcements ===
Sgt Squad members SgtScorpion and FaZe_Comp, in full iron gear from an SS fight, marched down South after hearing news of fighting from their clan members. The Sgt Irons encountered the UTC stationed in Farmhouse just after they were ready to leave and attacked them. Company Members, who outnumbered and outclassed the Sgts, blunted their attack and proceeded to chase SgtScorpion and FaZe_Comp. The UTC counter-attack was stalled however, when shadow5138 disconnected mid-fight and a considerable detachment was ordered to stay near his body to protect him. FaZe_Comp, seeing the disconnected player, aimed and killed shadow5138 but any attempt to take his gear was met with a sword wall of UTC members.
Lieutenant_Joe who was the scout for the trade run, took shadow5138's place as a Company Iron and the latter became the new Scout. During which, Hotkek007 and boogaert were detached to chase and fight the retreating Sgt Squad Irons and an intense battle took place on the road North of Portsmouth. Both sides were supported by leather allies and teammates and boogaert was almost killed in the fighting, but Company reinforcements eventually forced the Sgt Irons to fall back to Portsmouth town itself.
=== Final Battle and Portsmouth Street-Fighting ===
Company Forces advanced into Portsmouth, using their superior discipline and teamwork to isolate and destroy separated elements of Sgt Squad members. In the confusion of the streetfighting, Lieutenant_Joe killed SgtScorpion and YakuzaFour killed FaZe_Comp. Sgt Squad remnants held the Town Hall, particularly the roof and fighting for the roof was quick but dangerous. As the sun rose, Company members emerged victorious on the roof of the Town Hall. Minor skirmishes were encountered by determined Sgt Squad members and third party bandits as the Company retreated themselves North to sell to other locations, ending the battle.
== Military Legacy and Results ==
The Company forces, though outnumbered and outgeared their Sgt Squad opponents held firmly and won with only relatively minor difficulty against a group that claimed itself to be three-year veterans of the game and has showcased the Company maintaining its effectiveness as a fighting force in MineZ, after there were some doubts by the Directory as to its quality.https://www.reddit.com/r/UnknownTradeCo/comments/3er449/the_empire_the_companys_official_news_source_118/
This was also the first battle in UTC History to granted medals for the participants.
== references ==
Category:Battles