Battle of Volgograd

-Battle of Nigeria

-Battle of California

-Battle of Australia

-Battle of Tehran

-Battle of New York

-Battle of Vladivostok

Strength| Terran Alliance-Soviet Army* 100,000 to 150,000 soldiers
* 5,000 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery pieces
	+ T-55M
	+ T-64A/B
	+ T-72 Ural
	+ T-80U/UK
		- 2S19 Msta howitzer variant
	+ 2S1 Gvozdika howitzer
	+ BM-21 Grad
	+ BM-30 Smerch
* BMP-1 IFVs
* BMP-2 IFVs
* BTR-60 APCs
* BTR-70 APCs
* BTR-80 APCs
* 200+ attack helicopters
	+ Mi-24 Hind
	+ Mi-8 Hip

-Soviet Air Force* MiG-21 Fishbed
* MiG-23 Flogger
* MiG-25 Foxbat
* MiG-27 Flogger-D/J
* MiG-29 Fulcrum
* MiG-31 Foxhound
* Su-22 Fitter-B
* Su-24 Fencer
* Su-25 Frogfoot
* Su-27 Flanker
* 20 Tu-16s Badger
* 12 Tu-22s Blinder
* 40 Tu-22Ms Backfire
* 50 Tu-95s Bear

-Naval Infantry* 3,000 marines
* BMP-1 IFVs
* BMP-2 IFVs
* BTR-80 APCs
* BTR-70 APCs
* PT-76 Amphibious light tanks
* T-80U Tanks

-Polish Air Force* MiG-29 Fulcrum
* Su-22 Fitter-B

Galactic Republic-6,000 clones-40 LAATs | -CIS* 360,000 battle droids
* 3,200 heavy droid units
	+ 1,000 Vulture droids, Tri-fighters, and Hyenas

Casualties| Terran Alliance* 80,000 soldiers
* 3,000+ tanks and artillery pieces
* several hundred fighters
* 100+ attack helicopters
* 50 bombers

Galactic Republic* 3,000 clones
* all LAATs

The **Battle of Volgograd** also known as the **Second Battle of Stalingrad** was one of the nine battles fought on Earth during the Terran campaign. It was primarily fought between the Soviet Union and the CIS, with a small Republic force and Polish aircraft reinforcing the Soviets. It was one of the most damaging battles of the Terran campaign.

The Battle of Volgograd was one of the bloodiest battles in Soviet-Russian history since the First Battle of Stalingrad in 1941 during the Great Patriotic War of Eastern Front, it also resulted to the dissolution of the USSR in the aftermath of the battle against the CIS after the invasion of Earth.

## Prelude

The Galactic Republic first arrived on Terra on October 5, 1991. After establishing first contact with the government of the United States, the Republic established contact with the world through the United Nations, and issued a warning to the whole planet that the Separatists had been attempting to find Terra.

On November 30, 1991, the United Nations voted on a resolution to declare an alliance with the Republic in the face of the expected invasion by the Separatists. Of the 169 member nations of the United Nations, 128 voted in favor of the alliance, 38 had voted to remain neutral, and 3 (Libya, Iraq, and North Korea), abstained from the vote.

Days after the vote, the Anti-Sith Assault Team was officially formed as a Terran unit to defend Terra against the Sith. It officially began its training under Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker.

In the following month, the nations of Terra who had voted in favor began to heavily militarize. Most of the countries in question instituted drafts to build up their armies.

On Christmas, a Separatist scout ship arrived in the Terran system. It was quickly destroyed, but not before it was able to transmit its location to the main Separatist fleet.

On January 8, the United Nations and the Republic launched Operation Thunderstrike, an operation to capture Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, and Kim Il-Sung, who intended to ally with the Separatists. The operation was successful, and all three rulers and much of their government were captured and imprisoned.

The night of the 8th, the Separatist armada arrived in the Terran system. Hours later, early the morning of the 9th, the Separatists fleet engaged the Republic fleet protecting Earth. The battle lasted for several hours before the Republic fleet, which was down to just 8 ships, retreated at the order of Anakin Skywalker.

The Separatist fleet took up a position in orbit, and launched two massive airstrikes against Terra. American and Soviet fighters successfully shot down most of the strike forces, but the two forces successfully distracted Terran air defenses long enough for Separatist ground forces to begin landing across the world.

## Battle

The Battle of Volgograd began on January 9, 1992, when the CIS landed 280,000 battle droids and 2,700 heavy droid units just 40 miles from the outskirts of Volgograd.

As the droids were landing, the Separatists launched hundreds of Vulture droids and Hyena bombers to conduct and airstrike against Volgograd. Soviet SAM sites shot down over a hundred of them, but many were destroyed, allowing Hyenas to bomb the city in several waves, killing or wounding a quarter of the Soviet troops, destroying a third of their tanks and artillery, and killing or wounding tens of thousands of civilians, as well as causing massive structural damage to the city.

The ground battle began 4 hours after the airstrikes began. Initially, Soviet troops developed a strong defensive line 20 miles outside Volgograd, and held the line for several hours thanks to heavy close air support from Soviet fighter bombers and attack helicopters.

Three hours after the ground battle began, the Separatists were able to lock down the location of the bases the Soviet aircraft were launching from and launched air strikes against the bases. Despite sustaining heavy losses from base air defenses, the Separatists crippled the Soviet Air Force's ability to provide close air support to the Army. The strikes also destroyed a large number of the fighters that were tasked with keeping Separatist air units at bay.

Without close air support, the Soviet Army's defensive line began to crack and be forced back towards Volgograd. The odds grew worse 12 hours into the battle when the Separatists landed an additional 80,000 battle droids and 500 heavy droid units to reinforce their units already outside Volgograd.

Separatist fighters and bombers continued airstrikes against both the city and the defending troops, causing heavy damage and casualties. Finally, a few hours after the Separatist landed reinforcements, the Soviet leadership in Moscow ordered the armies placed to defend Moscow and St. Petersburg be sent south to reinforce Volgograd. Within an hour of the order being given, 175,000 men and 8,000 tanks began making their way south towards Volgograd.

At the same time, recognizing that the troop reinforcements would take hours to reach Volgograd, Soviet commanders ordered that the Air Force use their bombers to launch an air strike against the Separatist army. In response, the Air Force launched 122 strategic bombers from Engels AB to launch the strike. The bombers took off 23 hours into the battle. Tu-95 and Tu-22M bombers opened the attack by firing hundreds of cruise missiles, as Tu-16s and T-22s launched carpet bombing attacks against the droids. Together the bombers destroyed over 60,000 battle droids and about 800 heavy droid units, while losing 17 bombers. Unfortunately, Hyena bombers tracked them back to Engels AB, and destroyed 33 more once they landed.

The Soviets took advantage of the Separatist fighters and bombers being distracted to deploy 100 Mi-24 Hinds to attack the droids. The hinds were able to destroy about 9,000 droids before more Vulture droids appeared and began to shoot them down. However, the Polish Air Force then arrived with MiG-29s and Su-22s. The Fulcrums began to engage Vultures and Hyenas, as Su-22s began providing close air support.

Emboldened by the Hind attack and the Polish support, the Soviet troops in Volgograd counterattacked against the droids, halting their advance and beginning to push them back bit by bit. As this happened, the Soviet reinforcements coming down from the north were detected by the Separatists, and the Separatists decided to pull their forces out of Volgograd. About 160,000 droids were pulled out before newly arrived Soviet fighters destroyed the remaining drop ships, preventing the Separatists from evacuating the last 36,000 droids, which were sandwiched between the army in Volgograd and the northern reinforcements and wiped out.

## Aftermath

The Battle of Volgograd was a devastating blow to the Soviet Union. Much of Volgograd suffered damage in the battle, and over 200,000 civilians were killed or wounded. At the same time, several Soviet oil facilities in the Caucusus were bombed. The Soviet military also suffered heavy casualties. It is considered as one of the bloodiest battles in Russian history since World War II after Operation Barbarossa.

The battle, although a victory, was a heavy blow to the stability of the Soviet Union, and, along with the Battle of Vladivostok, was considered the final catalyst to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.