Battle of Mars
| Battle of Mars | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Conflict: | War of Secession | ||
| Date: | April of 2029 - January of 2030 | ||
| Location: | Mars, Sol System | ||
| Outcome: | Initiative Victory | ||
| Aftermath: | Earth fleet forced to retreat to Earth, remaining UN forces isolated & eventually destroyed | ||
| Combatants | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Initiative | United Nations | |
| Commanders | ||
| "Jaeger" (2029) | ||
| Strength | ||
| 3 Battleships 6 Cruisers 11 Destroyers 8 Frigates 1st & 2nd Infantry Regiments Support vessels |
4 Cruisers 3 Destroyers 2 UN Regiments Support vessels | |
| Casualties | ||
| 2 Battleships (damaged) 1 cruiser (damaged) 2 frigates (damaged) 2nd Infantry Regiment partially wiped out |
1 cruiser (damaged) 3 destroyers (damaged) 2 UN Regiments | |
| Civilian Casualties: | 2,000 UN Colonists | |
| Similar Events | ||
|---|---|---|
| Concurrent To: | War of Secession (Various Skirmishes) | |
| Followed By: | Battle of Luna | |
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The Battle of Mars refers to a ten-month long campaign across and around Mars, reaching as far the moons and orbit of Mars. This campaign would result in the isolation, and eventual destruction, of the nascent Mars colony established by the United Nations, preventing it from serving as a staging base for extrasolar campaigns against The Initiative.
Overview
Noticing that many of the Initiative's vessels passed into or near Martian and Lunar orbits, the United Nations opposition to the Initiative sought to establish a garrison force on both solar bodies. While much of the Initiative's fleet was occupied in various skirmishes, the United Nations expeditionary forces rushed a contingent of civilian construction teams and soldiers to guard them to Mars with a small escort. The Initiative countered by establishing an orbital blockade, but not before the United Nations had managed to land over two thousand civilian engineers, scientists, and miners on Mars, and an accompanying two regiments to guard them during their efforts to create a colony to support the fleet's forward deployments.
Unwilling to resort to indiscriminate orbital bombardment, a bluff which the United Nations called fairly early on into the campaign, the Initiative deployed two regiments onto the surface of Mars, with the express orders of digging out the entrenched UN forces, and protecting the refueling depots that had been established several years prior in 2027 CE. Both sides predicted establishing a permanent presence on Mars from their respective initial outposts, leading to an oversized and overengineered infrastructure, oversized for the initial needs, much of which was wrecked to deny it's use to the United Nations at the end of the conflict.
