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The Battle of Loum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Battle of Loum | |||||||
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| Part of the One Week War, One Year War (Mobile Suit Gundam) | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Image:EarthFederationFlag.PNG Earth Federation | Image:Duchy-Zeon.gif Principality of Zeon | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| General Revil Lodney Kaningun |
Dozle Zabi | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 48 Magellan Class battleships 142 Salamis Class cruisers 118 Missile Frigate ships 84 Columbus Class transport ships 60 Toriares aircraft[1] |
4 Gwazine Class battleships 9 Chivvay Class heavy cruisers 69 Musai Class light cruisers 34 Zicco ships 22 Papua Class supply ships 400 Gattle aircraft 2600 MS-06 Zaku II 320 MS-05 Zaku I 1 QXC-76A Jormungand super-large fusion plasma gun[2] |
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| Casualties | |||||||
| 36 Magellan battleships sunk, 139 Salamis cruisers sunk, 114 Missile Frigate ships sunk or heavily damaged, 82 Columbus transport ships sunk 900,000-1 million killed in action, 2.5 billion civilians killed |
2 Gwazine battleships sunk, 22 Chivvays and Musais sunk, 18 Zicco sunk, 4 Papua class ships damaged, 1 QXC-76A Jormungand super-large fusion plasma gun abandoned, about 700 Zaku I and II destroyed 500,000-750,000 killed in action |
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The Battle of Loum was a fictional battle in the Universal Century timeline of the mecha metaseries Mobile Suit Gundam. The battle took place on January 15-16, U.C.0079, was one of the most devastating battles during the war and one of the deadliest in all of mankind's history.
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Following the failure of Operation British just days earlier, the Principality of Zeon still believed it could succeed in a quick ending to the war with colony drops, so it attempted to hijack and utilize colonies at Side 5 (however, it is rumored that this was false information leaked to the Federal forces to draw them away from Luna II), also known as Loum Province. As the nuclear engines were being put into place, the Earth Federation's 1st Combine Fleet arrived and the two forces clashed. Due to Zeon deployment of their mobile suits, the Federation fleet was defeated, and their chief commander captured. During the battle, nuclear, biological and chemical weapons were used indiscriminantly, almost every space colony in Side 5 was destroyed, resulting in over 2.5 billion civilian death. Another combined 500,000 combatants were killed in action.
Zeon forces deployed several new weaponries beside the revolutionary mobile suits, including a large secret long-range artillery, the Jormungand fusion plasma cannon, which was used against Federation battleships during the battle. But because mobile suits were seen as the future of warfare, the huge anti-ship artillery was ignored, unable to receive adequate targeting data and became tactically useless. None of the indirect firing instruction reached the crew of Jormungand and the whole crew withdrew from the battle after firing only their third shot (the last shot managed to sink a kamikaze Magellan battleship). Their entire crew, including the leader Alessandro Hemme, died from injuries after they were bombarded by missiles from a Salamis-class cruiser. The failure of Jormungand marked the end to the "Dreadnaught" era of space warfare.
Several of Zeon's most famous aces earned their wings in the battle. Char Aznable scuttled five of the Federation's top of the line Magellan battleships and earned his nickname the "Red Comet". "Crimson Lightning" Johnny Ridden destroyed three, and "White Wolf" Shin Matsunaga sank six. The Black Tri-Stars team earned their fame capturing Earth Federal Space Forces' General Revil, the highest ranking general in the Federation, from the flagship Ananke.
With the capture of General Revil and destruction of the Federation fleet, the battle was tactically won by the Principality of Zeon. However, the victory turned out to be just as painful to Zeon. Zeon fleet suffered significant losses, and many of the original mobile suit training cadets were killed, leaving very few trainers. This caused repercussions for the Principality for the remainder of the war.
In the end, the EFSF lost approximately 80% of its entire fleet, with military casualties numbered in the millions. 2.5 billion civilian casualties resulted from the complete destruction of Side 5, only the heavily-damaged Texas Colony survived. The debris from Side 5's remains formed what became known as the Shoal Zone.
- Earth Federation Force - Led by the 1st Combined Fleet commander Lt. General Revil. Magellan class ship, Ananke, served as the flagship.
- Principality of Zeon - Led by the Space Attack Force commander Lt. General Dozle Zabi. Musai class ship, Falmel, later given to Char, served as the flagship of Zeon's 1st Combined Fleet. (*Another theory suggests Gwaran, a Gwazine Class ship, served as the flagship during the battle.)
- Pre-dawn - Departing from 70%-completed space fortress Solomon, Zeon's 2nd Mobile Fleet heads for Side 5 (Loum).
- 19:20 - Zeon's 1st Combined Fleet departs to rendezvous with Granada's fleet.
- 20:00 - EFF detects Zeon Force's movement and determines the destination as Side 5. EFF determines the attack plan as a colony drop, with Zeon Force's ETA as January 15th. Lt. General Revil, the commander of the 3rd Fleet, orders the gathering of all EFF at Luna II. Creation of the 1st Combined Fleet from EFF's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Fleet takes place.
- 09:00 - The incomplete First Combined Fleet, built around Revil's 3rd Fleet, departs Luna II to intercept Zeon's fleet. Revil ordered the immediate departure in order to intercept Zeon Force on time. Tianem is left behind in charge of Luna II's reserve fleet.
- 09:00 - The formation of EFF's 1st Combined Fleet is complete. Revil's Ananke (Magellan class) serves as the flagship of this fleet. Revil is the commander while Brig. General Lodney Kaningun, captain of Nereid (Magellan class), is the second-in-command (XO) of the 1st Combined Fleet.
- 11:20 - Zeon Force begin the attack on Side 5. Watohoat (Side 5 Bunch 11) colony is chosen as "the one" for the second Operation British. Zeon Force begin the attachment of a nuclear pulse engine on Watohoat.
- 22:14 - EFF's 1st Combined Fleet arrives at Side 5. EFF visually confirms Zeon's attack. EFF could not detect Zeon Force by radar due to the dense Minovsky particles in Side 5. General Revil orders all forces to attack. Revil said, "The Earth's fate lies in this battle. I'm counting on you. Good luck!"
- EFF ships open fire. The distance between both sides are 28000m.
- Dozle Zabi orders the launch of mobile suits and recognizes his foe as Revil. At the same time he orders his men to continue with the colony drop operation. His decision to continue with the colony drop led to loss of many of Zeon's ships & MSs.
- 22:40 - Dozle Zabi cancels the colony drop operation. He orders the forces that were escorting the colony to engage the EFF.
- Zeon Force 6th Mobile Fleet's Lt. Char Aznable is credited with 5 ship kills. This action earned him the nickname "The Red Comet" and a 2-rank promotion along with Dozle Zabi's trust.
- 01:00 - EFF suffers 50% loss.
- 03:10 - EFF's flagship, Ananke, is sunk. Revil attempts to escape, but his escape vessel is captured by the Zeon Special Force, Black Tri-Stars (Gaia, Oretega, and Mash). The Black Tri-Stars were using MS-06C in this battle.
- 04:10 - Brig. General Lodney Kaningun orders the full retreat from Side 5. EFF is not aware of Revil being captured at this point.
- 04:24 - EFF retreats in 3 directions. 1st, 3rd, and 4th Fleet head towards L4 (Side 2 & 6 area). 2nd and 5th Fleet, which included Nereid (Kaningun's ship), head towards Earth. 6th Fleet heads toward L5 (Side 1 & 4 area). Kaningun went with this idea hoping to disperse Zeon Force during the retreat.
- Dozle Zabi detects the retreat and orders the pursuit of EFF's 2nd and 5th Fleet.
- 04:55 - Kaningun orders the Nereid to change course and act as a shield for the retreating fleet. Nereid opens fire on the Zeon Forces. Kaningun goes with this decision thinking Revil (who is assumed to be KIA) would have done the same.
- 05:14 - Nereid is sunk after being hit with 8 mega-particle beams and 4 large missiles. Kaningun is KIA. His sacrifice leads to minimal losses by the retreating EFF.
- 06:00 - Dozle Zabi calls off the attack which ends the battle. Zeon Force return to Solomon and Side 3.
- After the battle, Side 5 lays in ruins with most of the civilians dead. Texas Colony is the only colony to remain intact, though no longer inhabitable due to solar reflector damages.
- Zeon televise across the Earth sphere showing Revil as POW.