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 (both in the public political arena with CVA Leaders as via backchannels up to and including Hardin), 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, light skirmishes ocurred as the defending forces attempted to set up regrouping positions at a defender friendly POS within system. The following initial engagement at this POS resulted in the breaking of this intial spearhead of defending forces.

Despite the use of deep safe entry points, their attempt at system entry had encountered great difficulty, following the initial onslaught at the defender POS the capital forces of the defenders made a tactical withdrawl in order to regroup and plan. After a brief period, they re-entered D-GTMI, ready to drive away the invading forces, focusing on the two major strategic objectives, the SBUs at the F9E-KX and T-RPFU gates. Unfortunately, the presence of such numbers in the same area (over 1700 vessels) combined with several tactical and strategic errors by the defenders in direct relation to system instability, caused considerable disruption to the counterattack, with the majority of the defending forces failing to achieve control over tactical areas within the system. With the attackers already in position and able to maneuver due to previous experience in similar unstable battlegrounds, the battle quickly turned into a rout, with heavy losses inflicted upon the defenders, and negligible losses amongst the attackers.

The Battle of D-G is notable because it was one of the first battles to demonstrate the clear capabilities of controlled and cohesive supercapital combat elements against traditional capital and subcapital forces common prior to the engagement.

Aftermath

Once the second engagement was over, it was clear that the fight had become one sided. The attackers had lost a handful of craft, with the largest being of battleship class. The defenders had been not as fortunate, with loses totalling 103 dreadnaughts, 28 carriers and hundreds of support craft. In addition, sovereignty of D-GTMI had been lost, and was now in the control of the attackers. The door into Providence was wide open.

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 was free to focus on continuing their offensive, and the conquest of Providence began in earnest.

D-GTMI in media

Not a lot of media footage of the Battle of D-GTMI or the general conflict has survived to this date, with most of it being lost in subsequent wars and conflicts that have raged through both Providence and Catch, but some survives.

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYY1s_VEa3M

Recorded footage from the perspective of the defenders showing various events during the intial engagement.

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cNGKoxnodg

Recorded footage from the perspective of the attacking forces, during this time.

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCYm988Ne1w

A short piece of footage giving insight into the atmosphere among attacking forces after the initial brutal confrontations earlier on displaying cleanup operations following the final defeat and withdrawal of defending forces.

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1819Bn58DY

Part one of a video production showing the initial invasion of D-GTMI the Battle for D-GTMI, this footage being from an earlier subcapital vs capital / supercapital skrimish. The event itself was considered an escalation by both sides on the road that would soon lead to all out conflict following the failure of diplomacy.

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-p6SLhWEVQ

The second part of that video production.

6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o510uWDa80

The same skirmish preceding the final battle for D-GTMI from a different defender perspective, detailing confusion over the massed offensive assault.

7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQkyx1QNPVY

A surviving piece of propaganda targeted at the time at the effective leader of CVA. Keep in mind the "propaganda" value at the time and place.