Battles of the ZOCU War (old)

Major Ground Campaigns

The Kanon Campaign

February 2185 - November 2185
Result: PACT fleet forced out of system,

Forces

Kanonian Militia
Commanding Officer:

??

PACT invasion force
Commanding Officer:

~100,000 ground troops

Losses

Kanonian Militia

PACT invasion force

~70,000 soldiers captured

Description

The adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 11079 on January 30th, 2185 officially marked the start of the war between the ZOCU organization and the major Earth power blocs. While military skirmishing had been ongoing for the previous four years, this was the first time full and unlimited powers were granted to restore peace and security to the Expanse. The first world that 'Resolution 079' forces landed on was Kanon. Identified as a linchpin in the overall ZOCU structure, removing Kanon from the conflict early would deprive ZOCU of one of its primary R&D and production centers along with the majority of the theta dust used in ZOCU warships. To that end, two field corps totalling approximately 100,000 pan-PACT troops supported by the American 3rd, 6th and 7th Fleets arrived in-system on February 14th and immediately began landing operations. These reinforced the roughly 8,000 troops that were holding a number of prepared UN enclaves against intermittent probing and harassment.

While early gains were rapid, by the middle of March the local rainy season had begun, turning much of the lowlands and rainforests into treacherous morasses. Konanian sappers had destroyed vast lengths of road along the PACT's axis of advance with both explosives and landslides, further hindering fast movement and local partisans equipped with everything from small arms to anti-air missiles to aquatic mobile suits soon began to make their presence felt. The USASF still controlled the skies however and kept the Kanonian fleet or any offworld ZOCU reinforcements from moving inwards from the Robe, the vast debris field that filled the outer system.

With its large R&D complex and industries already geared up to produce mobile suits including variants on the OMF-04 Peltast and the locally-developed KMF-055 Marin and KMF-111 Acgal amphibious frames, Kanon had been a natural place to develop ZOCU's next mainline combat frame, the OMF-06 Hoplite. The PACT invasion nearly set ZOCU back years on the development of the new frame and sent shockwaves of panic through the combined militias; even if Kanon could be relieved, any delay in getting new weapons out of the lab and into the field could have serious repercussions. Only the sacrifice of the Kanonian cruiser Margatroid to cripple the American carrier Gerald R. Ford on April 22nd and a daring action by the 16th ZOCU Mobile Volunteer Battalion onboard the assault cruiser Carthage to evacuate the Hoplite prototypes during the confusion saved ZOCU from relying on the increasingly-obselete Peltast for the rest of 2185.

The attack on the Ford was the first time an American carrier had ever been seriously threatened with destruction and shocked the USASF out of its complacency and belief in its invulnerability. It amply demonstrated the ability of skilled ZOCU navigators with advanced FTL drives to put gunships within striking range of lightly-armed carriers. If ZOCU was to move into Kanon in force, the USASF could potentially lose one or more of its capital ships to the enemy's destroyers and cruisers. Even the reactivation and deployment of old MacArthur system control ships could not guarantee their protection. As a consequence, the United States leaned heavily on the European Union to take a more aggressive posture to ensure that ZOCU would not have the opportunity to prepare for a counterattack.

Major Fleet Battles

While the majority of the five-year hot war was characterized by skirmishes and raids, a few major fleet battles occured which had significant effects on the course of the war.

The Battle of Londinium

August 2185
Result: ZOCU forces successfully defended their primary shipbuilding center

Forces

ZOCU Combined Militia
Commanding Officer: Lord Dorington, Londinium Militia

??

EU Deep Space Fleet
Commanding Officer: Admiral Mackenzie, Garun

??

Losses

ZOCU Combined Militia

Spartacus-class Heavy Cruiser Dreadnought

Mixed mobile suits and aerospace

EU Deep Space Fleet

4 Battleships

1 Carrier

Mixed aerospace

Description

The well-regarded Admiral MacKenzie was chosen to lead the offense into ZOCU space. One of the original colonial success stories, he had risen from his birthworld of Garun to high rank in the EU's Deep Space Fleet during the Feral Drone containment operations. The strategy he prepared was simple and very much in keeping with the neo-Mahanian school of the DSF; break open the several ZOCU-held border systems with local fleets and then drive a massed operational fleet right into Londinium where the EU ships would force battle by bombarding the Londinium star yards. The ZOCU fleet would be faced with two choices; offer battle against the superior EU fleet or lose their primary and most modern shipyard, along with the warships under construction there.

The Battle of Aldebaran

September 2187
Result: Indecisive battle; both sides claimed victory

Forces

ZOCU Combined Militia
Commanding Officer: Lord Dorington, Londinium Militia

??

EU Deep Space Fleet
Commanding Officer: Admiral Sarah Ashmore, Earth

??

Losses

ZOCU Combined Militia

Palada-class Battleship Boadacea

Multiple smaller ships

Mixed mobile suits and aerospace

EU Deep Space Fleet

3 Battleships

Multiple smaller ships

Mixed aerospace

Description

After the decisive defeat of the Deep Space Fleet's forward units in the battle of Londinium, two years passed without another major fleet action. While the war continued on the ground and with numerous small scale engagements, neither ZOCU or the European Union were willing to commit significant forces into theaters where they might encounter the enemy's main fleet. More radical voices on both sides grew increasingly loud in their demands that a major offensive operation be undertaken deep into enemy territory.

Pressure on Lord Dorington, nominal commander in chief of the Zodiac naval forces on the European Front, was intense. The more ambitious and zealous of the ZOCU's revolutionary leadership were convinced that the Deep Space Fleet's relative inaction after their defeat indicated a lack of will and was a certain sign that another defeat might shatter the EU's war effort. Having been trained in a EU military academy himself, Dorington rightly believed that this opinion was largely false and argued for extreme caution in risking the main force of the Zodiac navies. The average EU Admiral had held flag rank for longer than ZOCU's military forces had existed, and as veterans of the often slow moving drone wars Europe's commanders were not prone to rash action. Dorington was well aware that if the EU was allowed to bring its crushing numerical superiority into action against his battleships, the entire war could be lost in a day. An offensive into the European Arm would be inviting a monumental defeat.

By the summer of 2187 it was clear that Londinium's political leadership and the Zodiac population at large would no longer be content to let the main fleet remain removed from the front lines. Having received clear orders to carry out an offensive operation into the European Arm, Dorington and his staff reluctantly considered their options and eventually prepared the first plans for Operation Beanstalk, a strike by the main fleet against the vulnerable line of catapults that constituted the main line of communication between the EU's front line bases and the core colonies. While the defenses along the catapult route had proven sufficient to ward off attacks by independent and small groups of Zodiac raiders in the preceding years, only a handful of systems maintained garrisons capable of resisting a full scale assault. By utilizing a number of carefully charted new routes through several UNSO systems along with several dangerous unstable jump points, Dorington hoped to outflank the DSF and strike a blow against the EU's vulnerable jugular before overwhelming forces could be brought against him in response.

Departing from Londinium in as much secrecy as possible with the majority of his available battle divisions, Dorington set out toward his first target, the Aldebaran System, with confidence in that he'd taken every step necessary to ensure that he would be able to conduct his raid without ever actually having to engage a major force from the DSF. Although it was certain the EU would learn of his movement out of Londinium, ZOCU's intelligence establishment had taken cares to plant information suggesting that his destination was another secure anchorage deep in Zodiac space. The enemy would learn of his true intentions only after it was too late to block his escape.

Unknown to Dorington the expected secrecy of his advance through largely empty systems toward the catapult route was compromised, the EU Scout Cruiser Serraville had taken note of his advance a few jumps short of Aldebaran and was able to relay the information back to the Admiralty. While there was not enough time to assemble the full force of the Deep Space Fleet to meet Dorington, a number of front line battle divisions under the command of Admiral Sarah Ashmore were already lurking in wait when the ZOCU fleet arrived in Aldebaran.

Arriving in Aldebaran through an unstable jump point, the Zodiac fleet then made an in-system jump to the outbound catapult. Finding the catapult guarded only by a handful of outdated gunboats, a detachment was moving out to demolish it when the alarm went up that numerous hyper signatures were inbound. A reportedly stunned Dorington could only watch as a numerically superior enemy fleet jumped out on top of his fleet, giving no doubt to the fact that surprise had been lost and he was now confronted with a battle he had hoped to avoid. In spite of this, he quickly ordered his ships into action. The battle of Aldebaran had begun.

While the DSF force under Ashmore did outnumber the Zodiac Fleet, by and large its ships were still the same older models that had proven woefully inadequate at the Battle of Londinium. Although surprise had been lost, Dorington's fleet was fully battle ready and the Lord's surviving staff believe that he thought he might carry out a repeat of his earlier victory even though he had been taken off-guard by the presence of an enemy fleet in Aldebaran. Whatever his reasons, Dorington brought his fleet into a close range gunnery duel against the DSF for several punishing minutes, dealing a considerable amount of damage and destroying two of the enemy's obsolete Drake Class Battleships outright. It quickly became apparent, however, that a repeat of the EU fleet's collapse at Londinium was not happening.

Although Admiral Ashmore's forces were still largely equipped with old model warships, a considerable amount of effort had gone into the work of analyzing the DSF's earlier defeat in the previous pitched battle and a number of important reforms had already been put into place. The well trained crews aboard her ships along with her own careful planning had put Ashmore's soldiers in a position far different than the one faced by the overconfident and often questionably trained ones who had advanced into Londinium two years earlier.

With his fleet taking increasingly heavy damage and casualties mounting amongst his irreplaceable crews Dorington ordered his fleet about in preparation for a retreat from the battlefield and then the system. In the process of disengaging a third Drake was destroyed, but the already badly damaged Zodiac battleship Boadacea was lost with all hands to steady fire from the EU's 5th battleship division. Although wounded, the Zodiac forces had inflicted significant damage to the enemy and destroyed three battleships for the loss of one of their own. It was only in the last seconds before their withdrawal from the catapult that the worst loss of the battle was inflicted. A lucky shot struck the Zodiac flagship, wrecking the flag bridge and mortally wounding Lord Dorington.

After retreating from the catapult the Zodiac fleet was able to quit the Aldebaran System in fairly good order, if shaken by the loss of their commander and the casualties suffered at the hands of an enemy that the rank and file had been led to view as inferior in every respect. The DSF, having suffered heavy losses and secured its own objectives, did not purse. When news of the battle filtered out, both sides quickly claimed victory.

Although Londinium mourned the loss of Lord Dorington, it celebrated his final battle and the destruction of warships equivalent to an entire EU battle division deep within enemy territory at the loss of only a single of their own capital ships. That the DSF's reserves were still much deeper than their own and several ZOCU Battleships would spend months in the shipyards for repair was not information provided to the public. While Dorington had died in battle, his previously sidelined desire for caution was more carefully followed in the future. But in the short term all that mattered was that the proud forces of ZOCU had inflicted another heavy blow on the forces attempting to reconquer their worlds, this time on the doorstep of the EU's heartland.

ZOCU's claim of victory was not unexpectedly largely ignored in the EU. Nearly the full force of the rebel battleline had been engaged and driven back from its planned offensive before it had even completed any of its objectives. Although several Drakes and a number of escorts had been lost, as the European forces held the field the survivors were quickly recovered and would soon go back to the front line aboard the new ships that were beginning to be turned out by the EU's shipyards. New battle doctrines and training had been tested and the inadequacies left in the DSF from the breakdown era were increasingly becoming corrected. Aldebaran might not have been as decisive a result as the Admiralty had hoped for, but it seemed to them that it would only be a matter of time before a more conclusive engagement would be fought. It would come two more years later, in the Haraway System.

The Battle of UNSO-019 (Rapture)

April 2188
Result: ZOCU and aligned forces halt PACT advance

Forces

ZOCU Combined Militia
Commanding Officer: Admiral Aramaki Haruhi, Kanon

??

SIYAN Combat Force
Commanding Officer: Battle Commander Claus Amenthus, Erebus

??

PACT Unified Command
Commanding Officer: Admiral Michael Konde, Earth

??

Losses

ZOCU Combined Militia

??

SIYAN Combat Force

??

PACT Unified Command

1 Carrier

Aftermath

With the capture of several catapult routes early in the war, ZOCU and its ally SIYAN cut off the flow of reinforcements to the attack on Kanon and gained control of a rapid logistics route for further strikes further down the Pac-Am arm. While these attacks never went beyond disruption raids, the seventy thousand PACT soldiers held in Kanon POW camps was a strong incentive for PACT to counterattack. Delayed until 2188, the campaign began to push ZOCU back out of the arm, until the battle in the unincorporated system of UNSO-019, known locally as Rapture. Here, ZOCU lines had been heavily reinforced with new cruisers, Sarissa mobile suits, SIYAN warcraft and concealed fixed weapons. ZOCU also deployed a 'solar ray' system, which while doing no damage provided a distraction at a critical moment, allowing for a rapid strike on the US supercarrier Ronald Reagan, destroying it.

The Battle of Haraway

December 2189
Result: EU victory leading to political settlement

Forces

ZOCU Combined Militia
Commanding Officer: Admiral Saffron Kimmel, Haraway Militia

lots

EU Deep Space Fleet
Commanding Officer: Admiral Anton Zweiker, Earth

lots

Losses

ZOCU Combined Militia

lots

EU Deep Space Fleet

lots

Aftermath

The largest space battle in human history, the Battle of Haraway was a three-day slugging match that ultimately crippled half of the ZOCU fleet and decimated the EU forces. While a victory for the EU and a vindication of the new training and technology that Admiral Zweiker had pushed for, the battle sent ZOCU to be bargaining table before the EU could properly capitalize on their new position.

The Armistice went into effect at 11:59, December 31st, 2189.

Many postwar analysts believe that had ZOCU not called for an armistice after the Battle of Haraway and had the EU continued its offense, they could have forced favorable terms upon ZOCU. However, despite the misgiving of many Core policy-makers, the Treaty of Sirius enabled an 'honorable peace' and is likely to prove more durable over the long term.