Battle of Marean Island

Beuranese troops on Marean Island

A map of Sotela, showcasing the location of Marean Island

Kingdom of Sarveikos:
3000

Kingdom of Sarveikos:
1250 killed
1750 captured

The Battle of Marean Island was a minor battle fought between the Federation of Beurane and the Kingdom of Sarveikos during the 6th-18th of June 1918, as a part of the Great War of Bovarne. The battle was the first one to be fought by Beurane without the assistance of their allies, and was a prelude to Beurane's naval invasion of the Sarveikoan homeland itself.

## Background

The Great War of Bovarne had been going on for 3 months, during which Beurane had been assisting its allies by sending small numbers of troops, however, the Beuranese army aimed to up its commitment. Disagreements on shared fronts with Clevorian and Bulayran allies were hampering the Beuranese army, so they aimed to start their own front with a naval invasion of the Sarveikoan homeland.

The Sarveikoan held Marean Island stood as an obstacle to this plan, coastal gun batteries on the island could sink Beuranese merchant ships transporting vital supplies to the front. The island also held a small port which housed 2 destroyers that would be able to act as commerce raiders.

## Prelude

Prior to the battle, a small Beuranese fleet of 2 heavy and a light cruiser as well as 4 destroyers with its auxilliary troop transports had surrounded the island after a minor naval skirmish, resulting in the sinking of the 2 Sarveikoan destroyers held on the island. Unable to get within gun range of the island due to large coastal gun batteries, Sarveikoan positions were not bombarded.

## Battle

On the 6th of June, an initial Beuranese landing force of 4500 troops boarded landing ships and headed for the coast of the south side of the island, which was one of the weakest in terms of coastal gun batteries.

On the way to the beach, the landing craft were unsuccessfully fired upon by a 6 inch gun from the Sarveikoan side. The Sarveikoan defenders had prepared small trench lines overlooking the beach on various sides of the island, but not knowing the exact spot the landing force would come from left them stretched thin, so the first day went favourably for the Beuranese as the Sarveikoans had not yet rerouted their forces. The Beuranese landing force was able to capture an airbase, the 6 inch gun that fired upon them and a few minor structures

WIth a small beachhead now secured, Beuranese reinforcements were poured in to assist in further advances. Sarveikos had begun to reroute their forces to face the Beuranese advance, and were beginning to inflict losses, however they were still significantly outnumbered, and were rapidly losing ground.

On June 15th, a desperate Sarveikoan counterattack was launched, consisting of 1000 troops was launched in the dead of night. The surprise attack was able to catch the Beuranese off guard, and force them into retreat with relatively minimal losses. Boldened by initial success, the officer in charge continued this assault further into enemy lines despite not being the plan, but by that point, warned by the retreating troops from the previous sector, the defenders were prepared and were able to immediately reclaim the lost land and inflict more significant losses on the Sarveikoan forces.

On June 18th, Being very low on morale to the point where some soldiers had deserted in the middle of the night to surrender themselves to Beuranese forces, and with a significant number of wounded, the remainder of the Sarveikoan garrison surrendered.

## Aftermath

On the Sarveikoan side, the loss of Marean Island was unexpected. Sarveikoan leadership falsely predicted that Beurane would send their troops to Clevoria to fight alongside them. The capture of the island was the prelude of the full scale naval invasion of the Sarveikoan homeland that would be launched by Beurane a week after the island's fall.