Chapter XIV: Battle of Fort Pappenheim
May 21st, 1106 VTE
As dawn rose on a Sunny day, an ominous feeling of dread seemed to make its way to everyone on both sides of the conflict. For the Ryuguards, they all understood that it was do or die at this point. Everyone of them understood that their families and Republic were at stake. For the Pomerlanians, there had been reports of a battle for a week or so now from spies and they also understood the gravity of the situation. Pomerlane himself put his cousin, Pomerlius in command of his new fleet just up the river waiting for an attack and had himself stationed near the Dam itself, ready to personally lead its defense if needed.
Lookouts from the Northern bank of the river reported that a large fleet was making its way out of the Grand Harbor, seemingly in two directions. Pomerlane, rightfully believing that any attack coming from the south side of Atalanta was likely a feign, ordered a signal to be lit for his cousin to prepare to attack when he felt the time was right. All guns were man and ready for action and Pomerlane had ordered his reserve to move up to Forts Jascke and Appuelius, ready to be thrown in when necessary. At 7 am, the first shot would be fired by cannons at Atalanta on Fort Greifswald, which opened fired back soon the entire South bank was blazing from gun fire.
In the meantime, Donabella had decided to commit fully to his feign, bringing his galleys into firing range and dispatching his marines to land at Greifswald and Mannerheim. As the marines approaches land, Grape shot torn them to pieces and many would perish in their boats or the water. The few that did get on land were pinned down under a hail of musketry and cannonade.
At the same time, Labienus decided to go all in with his attack. Unlike the feigns, he flat out beach the galleys used to transport his men and got stuck in immediately. His attack was so sudden that it surprise Pomerlane himself, who was distracted with the developing problem approaching the dam by the sea. Pomerlane saw Labienus's attack as a true threat and felt his personal presence was needed quickly the Battlements and Fort Aquileanus had nearly fallen to his strike. It was now 10:30 am and Pomerlane rode to Jacke and Appuelius to gather his reserves for a counter strike. He put Sergius Cato in command of the rest of the forces at the Dam.
As the chaos on land had just become under way, the Naval Battle was developing rapidly. The cannon fire from the central forced Aurelius Cursor to concentrate fire on the positions to silence the guns. He put his big ships in a protective sphere, using Atalanta as cover as well for his demolition ships. At the same time, Afranius was met with horrific fire from Dam #2 and the Northern batteries. It was now 9:45 and as Afranius committed fully, the Pomerlanian fleet emerged and dashed towards him with great zeal. Afranius panicked and broke formation, leaving his small force to be annihilated. Afranius himself would be thrown overboard by his second in command, who turned the ship around to fight shortly there after.
Destruction of Afranius' Squadron
Now at 10:25 am, the main fleet was approaching the Dam. Cursor ordered concentration of fire on Fort Pappenheim. He did not yet know the fate of Afranius, believing he had 15 minutes at hand. He would only realize the fate of Afranius when his attention was brought to his starboard flank, where he saw Pomerlius fleet approaching him. Thinking fast, he ordered his ships into a battleline, with the Demolition ships protected and hidden by the hulls of the Men O' War. Pomerlius saw this, and launched a flare shortly after around 10:55 to signal the Fire ships to attack.
The Fireships, which had been hiding behind the dam, were quickly thrown forward, racing towards Cursor. Their goal was to break up the formation. In the meantime, Pomerlius also approached with rapid speed, ordering his cannons loaded with Grape and for his ships to pull up to point blank range to unleash hell on the Ryuguardian fleet as they were scattered. Cursor, realizing the danger the Fireships posed was only great if the formation broke up, ordered his ships to remain steady but several captains panicked and broke ranks. This would be the fatal blow for Cursor's fleet.
Fireships under way
On land at the same time, Pomerlane gathered his reserves and personally lead a charge into the chaos that was ensuing on the artificial islands. The arrival of his men on the flank of Labienus ensure defeat for Labienus, who had managed to take Battlements #2 and blow them up but had not done so with Fort Aquileanus or Pappenheim. Labienus, knowing it was all for not but in great courage, rallied his men and fought Pomerlane hard. Pomerlane during the chaos would be hit by an arrow in his left eye, dropping him to the ground and causing the battle to seem to halt as his men wondered if their beloved leader had been slain. But quickly, Pomerlane regained his composure, pulled the arrow out of his eye and instead of following his companions advice of leaving the field, stood up and shouted "It will take more than that to kill the child of the Goddess herself, MEN CHARGE!"
Later picture of Pomerlane being hit, completely inaccurate to timeframe or events, perhaps was made of another event but mislabeled
With renewed passion from their leader, the reserves quickly pushed the Ryuguards back to the beach where a bloody struggle took place. Both commanders seemingly sought each other out and would fight a duel on the beach. Labienus was a much taller man than Pomerlane and a skilled warrior but he simply could not match the passion of Pomerlane, who broke his spear, shield butted him to the ground and then thrust his sword into the neck of Labienus. He then cut the brave man's head off and showed it to the Ryuguards, who were so disheartened by the death of their commander that they tried to flee back across the river or surrendered. Many would drown as the land battle came to an end.
On the sea, the broken Ryuguard fleet was now in deep trouble. Fireships came rushing in, and one in particular struck a demolition ship, causing a massive explosion that sent two other ships to the bottom. Pomerlius' strategy of Grapeshot was proving to be deadly for the crewmen of the Ryuguards, who were being torn to pieces by the Grape. Cursor himself would be cut down in the chaos but Pomerlius' brilliance would turn him into a legend when shortly before the battle was truly once, a cannonball torn off his legs, killing him instantly. Nearly all of the main Ryuguard fleet had either surrendered, was sunk or burning by noon. It was at this time that Donabella was recalled, by a grief stricken Opimius and the battle would ended shortly there after.
Fireships set ablaze a Ship of the Line
Romanticized image of the death of Pomerlius
Ryuguard Fleet destroyed
Ignition of the Demolition ship
It was all over. Pomerlane lost perhaps 8,500 men that day on both land and sea and many guns as well. Pomerlane himself had lost an eye, and would be bed ridden for a week in recovery and lost his best friend, Pomerlius. But he had suffered lightly compare to his opponent. 75+ Ryuguard ships had been destroyed, and ten thousand sailors had killed during the days actions. It's hard to quantify losses but it is known that little of the 15,000 who landed made in back alive, perhaps less than a dozen. All but one of the commanders had been killed, that being Donabella. Many junior commanders were dead too and the great Ryuguard navy was a smoldering and broken wreck washed up on the shores of Atalanta. The captured vessels mainly came from Afranius' ill-fated squadron, with any ships from Cursor's squadron being destroyed even if they had struck colors simply because it was impossible to bring them back. Opimius was in great mourning, as he had lost his lifelong friend, Labienus. Pomerlane would send Labienus' corpse to Opimius in the aftermath writing "This man was truly amongst the bravest of the brave and deserves respect." Afranius's cowardice was widely blamed for the events of that day, but in truth, it was unlikely that the battle would have went Opimius's way and he knew that. Too many outside factors beyond his control and not enough men and ships to win. It was a gambit that backfired. Now he had to live with the consequences of it.