D-GTMI (Battle of)

This article documents a battle that took place at the start of the 2010 Providence campaign, between CVA / Holders and a combined group of Against All Authorities / Ushra'Khan and allies

Background

In the weeks leading up to the battle, tension had been growing between the primary occupants of Providence and their neighbours in Catch. LFA had recently decided to expand their territory, and as part of their move had claimed sovereignty over neutral systems within Catch. Until recently, these systems had been fully occupied by AAA, and although sovereignty had been dropped, AAA had not given up their claim to these these systems.

Whilst AAA went through diplomatic channels to try and restore the buffer zone, CVA/Holders, emboldened by their taking of these buffer systems, decided to continue their advance into Catch by attacking HED-GP, an entry point into 0.0 space and regional hub controlled by AAA.

As diplomacy had failed, AAA and Ushra'Khan opted to strike back, with D-GTMI being selected as the primary target.

Involved Parties

Defenders

The defending fleet primarily consisted of members from: CVA, LFA, Paxton, Sev3rance, Cold Steel Alliance, Fidelas Constans, Core Factor and Sylph. This fleet weighed heavily in capital ships and up to battleship class level support vessels.

Attackers

The attacking fleet was composed of members from: Against All Authorities, Ushra'Khan , 0utbreak and Systematic-Chaos. Attacking and defending fleets were roughly of equal size fielding up to 900 vessels on either side but differed greatly in composition of ship classes with the attacking fleet being composed heavily of supercapital combat elements, a factor which would weigh in heavily during the battle itself.

The Battle

Following a series of previous engagements in and around the D-G system, and the earlier rounds of sovereignty warfare being waged on the system the final battle itself began late in the day on 28th January, 2010, with an offensive fleet being raised by AAA/U'K, and SBUs deployed. In response, a defensive fleet was formed by the Providence/Holders, and it prepared to move into D-GTMI to begin the defensive. As part of clear and required doctrine, AAA/U'K entered system and achieved system dominance first, leaving the defenders the daunting task to counter this. Upon jumping into D-GTMI, the defenders got their first sight of the offensive fleet, and skirmish began first with their entry and attempt to set up regrouping positions at a defender friendly POS within the system. Unfortunately defending forces entered the system with great difficulties for communications and command, the following primary battle at this POS resulted in the breaking of the spearhead of the defending forces.

Given that in spite of the use of deep safe entry points their attempt at system entry had encountered great difficulty, following the initial onslaught at the defender POS base in system the capital forces of the defenders left the system in order to regroup and plan. After a brief period, they re-entered D-GTMI, ready to start the defence in earnest focusing on the objectives of SBU's within system at 2 of the main gates. Unfortunately, the presence of such numbers in the same area (over 1700 vessels) combined with several tactical and strategical errors by the defenders in direct relation to system instability, caused considerable disruption, with the majority of the defending forces failing to achieve control over tactical areas within the system as well as both sides facing great difficulty in combat in a system where the fabric of space and time itself had been ripped apart by the sheer mass of so many vessels. With the attackers already in position and able to maneuver due to previous experience in similar battlegrounds, the battle turned into a rout, with heavy losses inflicted upon the defenders, and virtually no losses amongst the attackers.

Notable in retrospect is that the Battle of D-G is one of the clearest in its times to demonstrate the capabilities of controlled and cohesive supercapital combat elements against traditional capital and subcapital forces.

Aftermath

Once the battle was over, it was clear that the fight had become one sided. The attackers had lost a handful of craft, with the largest being battleship class. The defenders had been nowhere near as lucky, with loses of over 100 dreadnaughts, 30 carriers and hundreds of support craft. In addition, sovereignty of D-GTMI had been lost, and was now in the control of the attackers.

Post-war

After the battle, an attempt at peace was made by AAA, offering the return of D-GTMI and a halt in all further territorial advances into Providence in exchange for a cessation of sovereignty warfare in Catch for the immediate future. This offer was immediately rejected by CVA, despite requests from various Holders to give the offer more consideration. With the recent demise of Goonswarm as a functional enemy, AAA were free to focus on carrying out their threats, and the conquest of Providence began in earnest.