Battle of Librassen

The Battle of Librassen was a two month long battle that is considered to be the largest battle of the Libran front of the Forman War, alongside Nyaninar in 1958. Librassen involved over two hundred tank divisions, seven hundred infantry regiments, and over nine hundred artillery pieces. The intensity of the fighting however has been considered to be one of the harshest of the entire war, being only 2nd to the Battle of Antar in the Centauran front. Many contemporary historians have also called Librassen the beginning of Orion superiority in Libra, with some even going as far to say the battle was the greatest victory in Orion history.

## Prelude

In 1952 the fighting was some of the most fierce in all of the fronts of the Forman War. But no front had more brutality nor intensity of fighting than the Libran fronts, especially the struggle in the northern front. Tensions were building up near the crucial port city of Librassen, which at that time was under Antarean control. Orion's top brass believed that a powerful and decisive blow at Librassen would leave the Antarean army crippled, due to the city being one of the Imperial Army's largest source of supply and reinforcements. However, standing in the way of the capture of Librassen were the evident logistical issues of the Orion Army, specifically in the Orion Armored Divisions. Antarean tank forces had proved to be significantly more effective than the OAD, having better armament and armor, alongside crucial new doctorines in tank combat, extensively using a tactic called the "Kritzinzo Taktik", named after the titular general who pioneered it, Ugarei Kritzinzo. The tactic involved first pushing with a mix of Light and Heavy tanks, allowing for less armored but more mobile medium tanks to pull through, causing chaos behind enemy lines while spacing out the infantry and tank divisions. Once the front lines were penetrated, a swarm of infantry would push through and follow the slower heavy and medium tanks, while using the light tanks to combat the scattered infantry. If any tank battalion would try to attack the light tanks in the front, they would retreat from the attackers, bringing the more armored Medium and Heavy tanks to combat the main force, while the light tanks would flank from behind. These tactics were extremely successful in use, leading to the crushing Antarean victory at Karkend, and the retreat of Orion forces near the southeast. With the introduction of the AS tank series, containing the AS-1 and AS-2, Antares seemed to have the upper edge in tank combat.

However, in December 1951, Orion's M51 Main Combat Tank entered service, having an unimaginably impressive 95mm gun, containing an innovative and highly effective round. The M51 also featured revolutionary sloped armor, becoming one of the most influential tanks of the war. This was spurred by the Orion Ordnance Bureau's reformation, creating a more unified tank development timeline and changing the armored forces of Orion's effectiveness. Unfortunately for Orion, the M51s were built in limited numbers due to the rather sparse materials and logistics required in order to equip most tank divisions with them. The limited production was combated by making heavy modifications to already existing tanks, such as the MT47 being upgunned and uparmored into the MT47A3G2, and the failing VT2 design getting a large upgrade into the VT2A3U5, featuring a new 90mm gun, and an enlargened APBCDS round. Another way the limited MCT production was fixed with was by not deploying the M51 into the already existing Orion armored divisions, but instead making a new division, named the Advanced Battle Tank Battalion, featuring MT47A3G2s, VT2A3U5s, and the M51. Once these divisions were set up, they were sent across to Libra in January 1952, and arrived in that same year's February. The ABTBs were deployed to some of the most harshest fighting in Libra, being sent to the 2nd Battle of Karkend to rather mediocre result due to the Commander of the division, Lawrence Harpen's poor combat knowledge of the Libran grasslands. Cmdr. Harpen was dismissed from duty in March, and replaced by David Sandusky later in the month.

While the fighting in Karkend raged on, Cmdr. Sandusky sent three ABT Battalions, specifically the 2nd, 9th, and 5th, which was the battalion where he was in, to go help the building tensions in Librassen, keeping only one ABT battalion in the Karkend region. Meanwhile, Antarean strongpoints in Librassen were fortified in late February, gaining six more infantry regiments, the 27th, 12th, 89th, 63rd, 95th, and 72nd Infantry Korps next to their other thirty-nine, and bringing in two heavy tank battalions, three Tank Destroyer units, and five Medium-light tank battalions. General Sigeu Iknos, commander of all forces in Libra, stated that "Librassen must become an impregnable fortress of artillery and soldiers", and brought the entirety of the fifth army into Librassen. The Orion forces however, had a trick up their sleeves. After careful consideration and study of the Kritzinzo attack of the Antarean army, the Orion army generals discovered a crushing weak spot in the entire tactic, which lied in the light tank maneuvers and flanks. While the Light tanks were flanking around the Orion Army, there was a critical few hours where the Antarean rear flank would be exposed to attacks from the left and right, drawing out the Heavy and Medium tank fire into the sides, while a main attack force from the Orion army could theoretically push back the attackers by surprise, while combating the light tank and infantry flanks using the side forces. This maneuver would look like an hourglass shape, squishing in the attacking force until there is either surrender or retreat. These tactics would all culminate on the dawn morning of April 9th, where the morning bird calls were replaced with the earthshattering roar of artillery near the port.

## The Battle

### Naval combat

At approximately 2:28am, Orion naval forces Henken 11 and 7 began a heavy artillery barrage of the port side of Librassen, with the main goal being to knock out key military targets and storage facilities. Some important ships were the ORS Alnilam and ORS Mintaka, which were the flagships of Henken 11 and 7 respectively. Others included the ORS Tyngon, which was the lead ship of the Tyngon-class heavy cruiser, and the "Kappin' Kapper" itself, the heavy cruiser ORS Kappa. Coastal Battery 9 of the 17th Koastal Artillery Korps responded by opening fire on two Tyngon class cruisers and four destroyers to no effect. Several Antarean cruisers of Task Force Khi engaged ORS Kappa and Mintaka, with Kappa suffering heavy damage to it's superstructure, and Mintaka becoming dead in the water after fires broke out on the deck. This caused a slight disturbance in the artillery barrage, with multiple ships pulling out to combat the cruisers, which appearances were somehow unexpected due to the rather poor knowledge of Antarean ship codes in the early '50s. By 4:45am however, most of the positions which were being targeted had been shelled into the ground, effectively eliminating them. By 5:30am, Orion forces on the mainland started the attack on Librassen's southeast side, incurring an artillery barrage from both Orion and Antares. Back in the sea, Orion Marine Corps landing crafts made their way onto Librassen's beaches, which were located about a mile left of the port, resulting in fierce defence from Antarean makeshift pillboxes which were set up quickly after the originals were shelled away. Several destroyers from Henken 11 were called in to assist in the combat near the beaches, while a few tanks were launched from LSTs arriving on the beach. The 1st and 9th marine divisions eventually pushed through the Antarean defences, and broke up the combat near the beaches.

### Combat in the south

Meanwhile on land, the Orion army was facing difficulty attempting to penetrate the strong defences at Librassen's southern part, seeing some of the harshest fighting of the war. The 2nd Infantry Division of the Fourth Army went up against the 63rd and 95th infantry korps near Hinager creek, resulting in a four hour brawl involving tanks, artillery and infantry. The Antarean defences were actually the strongest at the creek, surprassing over 20,000 soldiers fighting at once. Orion however had brought up multiple new doctorines and army supply, bringing the 8th combined arms battalion, which brought in over seventy artillery pieces, while the tank battalions present provided anti tank/infantry support, which also consisted of two ABT battalions, the 9th and 5th. At 8:56, these colossal forces collided in the Battle of Hinager Creek. The 8th CAB sent in fourty salvos of artillery fire every minute, causing rampant destruction upon the defending forces. The commander of all these forces was none other than ABTB cmdr. David Sandusky. Sandusky relied upon previously unknown tactics, which at the time were considered radical and not a viable option. He led half of the 5th ABT battalion on a recon mission right into a wooded part of the creek to scout for the main tank divisions in the center, not knowing that the entire 6th Tank Korps were located right across the water from them. Sandusky's forces, once spotted by an Antarean tank, were struck with volley after volley of gunfire, which led to one MT47A3G2 being knocked out in the process of retreating. But once the 6th Tank Korps finally crossed the creek and rushed forward onto the Orion attackers, they were ambushed mercilessly by the 5th ABT Battalion in a field near the creek. An excerpt from Commander Sandusky's journal detailing the decisive Orion counterattack reads:

*"Four AS-2s [second Generation Antarean heavy tanks] attempted to punch through my M51 line near the field. I'm pretty sure they're the same AS-2s that took out Johni's MT47, In return, Jacobasky's [Noah Jacobasky, commander of M51 tank no. 127] M51 sent an ADDSAT round right through one of them and blew the fucking turret off of its drive. I mean, it penetrated like a knife through butter. Only it was the hottest butter knife you would ever see. I feel very sad for the crew of that fateful AS-2. getting turned into strawberry-pudding does not seem like an ideal nor pleasant way to die. Jacobasky also took out two RM-IIIs, each one being a more violent death than the last. The frisky son of a bitch even used his .50 cal MG on the fleeing commander of the last RM-III. He didn't crumple to the ground like most bullets to a man, he fell to the ground in four pieces. In FOUR PIECES. Shortly after doing such a gruesome display, Noah quite literally screamed "Fuck you, stupid Ant!" to the already dead man. Three tanks knocked out within five minutes of their attack was enough to scare of the remaining tanks back across the river. Tomorrow, once I get the reinforcements I need, I will flank the enemy near the creek and show them what real tankery looks like. I'm starting to really like these M51s."*