Battle of Acre
| Battle of Acre | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Part of the Almaris Coalition War | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Acre also known as the Rout of Acre was a large-scale pitched battle between the opposing sides of the Almaris Coalition War. Whilst skirmishes had taken place prior to this battle, it was the first major engagement of the war between the two sides. The Battle took place when E.A.T.O forces primarily made up of Haeseni and Urguani soldiers met the opposing U.S.S.A forces on the Orenian-Haeseni border, in the lands of the Barony of Acre, located north of the Orenian Capital city of Vienne.
Prelude
During the early morning hours of 11th of the First Seed, 84 S.A. a group in the service of the Kingdom of Haense, comprised of members of House Romstun, entered Orenian territory and took a captive, the elderly peer Cesar Komnenos, the Baronet of Westfall. A ransom letter was hastily sent to the Orenian government [1], yet no response came. Seeking battle, the forces of E.A.T.O, numbering around 6,700 rallied in Karosgrad, the capital of Haense and made their way south. Orenian scouts reported this movement to their commanders, and around 5,500 soldiers from the U.S.S.A coalition marched to the Barony of Acre to meet the E.A.T.O forces.
Battle
A short light cavalry skirmish on the outskirts of Acre came to a swift end with little to no casualties, and the main bodies of the armies met within the village of Acre. The Orenian-aligned army fared worse, as their cavalry charge was mostly ineffective and the superior numbers and organisation of the E.A.T.O forces threw the melee firmly in their favour. As casualties mounted the resistance of the U.S.S.A began to collapse, and the battle turned into a rout. Of the 5,500 soldiers of the U.S.S.A coalition, just 300 managed to escape. On the other hand, the 6,700 soldiers of the E.A.T.O coalition lost just 800.
Aftermath
The Baronet of Westfall paid a ransom of an unknown sum for his release. The Lord Commander of the Kingdom of Oren Baron Hannes de Vilain and his son Gustaf de Vilain were captured. Following fruitful discussion between King Karl III of Haense and the two captives, they came to an agreement that in return for his son Gustaf's release, Hannes de Vilain would remain a captive in Karosgrad for the rest of the conflict [2]. The battle dented not just Orenian pride but their ability to wage war, having lost both a commander to captivity and a substantial amount of morale. Indeed, they would not be able to raise as large an army again, a fact that led to the conclusion of the conflict via negotiation [3] and likely contributed to the fall of the Kingdom of Oren to the Acre Rebellion a short time later.
