Dracheufer

One of the worst Confederation military disasters of the Grand War was the failed assault on New Prussia. It should be remembered that New Prussia had been conquered by the Franks 10 years before the start of the Great War. Confederation Intelligence stated that the civilian population of New Prussia was unhappy with the empire and either would be indifferent to the invasion or would welcome the Confederation Military as liberators. It was based on this Intelligence that such a small invasion force was sent.

Yet most military historians agree that it was not the size of the force that caused the failure of the assault but the botched landing. In an attempt to render ineffective the Frankish mobile surface to air missile batteries, It was that while armor would go down on traditional landing craft, that the infantry would use the new I.A.D.P. or Individual Assault Drop Pods. The I.A.D.P.s were nearly invisible to radar and as each one only contained one soldier the use of Surface-to-Air missiles would be cost prohibitive to the Frankish defenders.

Unfortunately not all the kinks had been worked out of the guidance system so they would land anywhere within a kilometer of their landing target. So when the landing zone was picked many believe that deciding on Dracheufer could be a mistake and they were correct. While Dracheufer was only 20 kilometer from New Berlin and appeared on the map to be flat it turned into a disaster. For the Appearance on the map was correct except for a massive cliff, which separated the beaches from the fields above. So while many drop pods only missed their target-landing zone by a few meters, they landed on the beach. This trapped over half of the infantry troops whom had dropped, as they faced a 200-meter cliff, which they had to climb to be able to link up with the rest of the assault force.

When Frankish reconnaissance drones discovered this, the Franks were quick to dispatch every naval vessel they had in New Berlin and these ships chewed up the Confederation troops trapped on the beach. Over 30,000 died in a matter of hours.While The Confederation troops found themselves tangled up in this combat and unable to make the rapid assault on New Berlin. The Frankish defenders put into action a new mine laying machine which in short order turned every field between New Berlin and the Confederation Invasion force into a mine field.The light Confederation force found itself engaged in heavy combat and moving forward through mine fields that soon decimated its ability to fight. General Mustafa Abdulqadir was forced to offer surrender after only 120 hours of landing on the planet or face complete annihilation.

After the War a monument to those who died at the battle of Dracheufer was erected.