Second Ludwiggian-Monovian War
| Second Ludwiggian-Monovian War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Sankt Ludwigshafen
|  Monovian militants
|
||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Adam Rettich
| Elonzo XIII
|
||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
|
|
||||||
The Second Ludwiggian-Monovian War was a conflict that was fought out between the Republic of Sankt Ludwigshafen and Monovian militants that sought to re-establish the Kingdom of Monovia, with Sankt Elonzo as its capital. The Monovian militants were lead by Elonzo XIII, a bastard son of Elonzo XII. Besides Sankt Ludwigshafen and Monovia, the war also involved units from Zandt nationalists, Siseranist religious fanatics and Whales colonialists.
Start of the war
The war started when Heinrich aus dem Wald, mayor of Sankt Elonzo was assassinated by three members of the Royal Guard of King Elonzo XIII who shot him down as he cycled from his home to the city council building in the early morning of 10.XIV.1707. A group of 200 hundred militants then assaulted the city council building itself, murdering 4 council members, as well as 15 council workers. The Bezirksbürgerwehr was able to assemble roughly 500 riflemen and tried to capture the council building in the early hours of the evening, but by then the Monovian militants had been able to entrench themselves and the Bezirksbürgerwehr was unable to assault their positions. The Monovian militants declared that they would crown their king, who was not present with the militants that had taken the council building and that they would make Siseranism the official religion of their kingdom.
News of the uprising reached the Nationalversammlung three days later, on 13.XIV.1707. Stadtholder Adam Rettich asked the Nationalversammlung for permission to deploy both the Kriegskorps and the Dragonerkorps and this permission was granted. As the uprising came as a total surprise to the Ludwiggian government, no preparations had been made to wage war and only one division of the Kriegskorps, the 6th division, was ready for combat. On 20.XIV.1707 the 3rd division also reported to be ready for combat and the two divisions were sent towards Sankt Elonzo to build a military base from which the Kriegskorps could operate, including an airstrip for 20 J-1 Lärm fighter planes that would be used by the 3rd division. Both divisions of the Kriegskorps were attached with a division of the Dragonerkorps Ludwigshafen with the same division number, as these had trained together in peace time.
In the meantime the Monovian Royal Army brought more of their troops into Sankt Elonzo and started their work on improving the fortifications of the city. It became clear that besides Monovians, also Siseranist extremists of Ludwiggian descent had joined the insurgency. They burnt down the Ludwiggian Reformed Church of Sankt Elonzo and ransacked houses of church leaders to find Scriptures and theological treatises, which they would tear up. A group of 64 theologians, preachers and other church officials were locked up in the city council building where they were tortured. Thousands of people tried to flee the city, but many were stopped by the insurgents who had forbidden anyone from leaving the city. People that were found fleeing were imprisoned in a warehouse under terrible conditions.
Reports of these terrible conditions in the occupied city reached the 6th and 3rd division of the Kriegskorps, which had set up a base 10 kilometres east of Sankt Elonzo on 8.XV.1707. The news that church leaders were being held by Siseranist extremists was considered especially concerning because of the events in the Ludwigshafener Civil War, in which Siseranist extremists had performed human sacrifices in order to appease their goddess Sisera. Realising that time was of the essence, the 6th and 3rd division of the Kriegskorps decided to begin the assault on Sankt Elonzo on 12.XV.1707, four days before the 7th division was expected to strengthen their numbers. The 6th division took up a position south of Sankt Elonzo, while the 3rd division would attack from the base in the east of the city.
Battle of Sankt Elonzo
As planned, the assault on the city started on 12.XV.1707 at 5 hours in the morning, 20 J-1 Lärm fighter planes attacked the city walls in an effort to breach the Monovian defences. The planes tactic was to first strafe the walls with the plane's machine guns, before dropping its bombs on them. The mission proved to be highly dangerous as only 3 planes returned to the airstrip, but they had a devastating effect on the Monovians who lost most of their fortified machine gun nests. At 8 AM the first platoons of the 6th division had made progress towards the southern city walls of Sankt Elonzo and could see the Monovian machine gun nests and riflemen standing upon the walls which were breached in places. The 6th dragoon division first opened fire with the 3 anti-tank cannons and 1 FLAK cannon that it possessed and fire was returned by the Monovian machine gun nests on the walls. With 8 heavy machine guns from the dragoons providing suppression fire against the defenders, the infantrymen of the Kriegskorps 6th division launched their assault on the walls. The Monovians proved to be more resilient than assumed and caused numerous losses to be mourned on the Ludwiggian side. The 6th division was however able to route the defenders from the southern fortifications. In the east, the assault on the city proved to be less successful. When the 3rd division reached the city walls it found that they had remained mostly intact, despite the bombing runs of the J-1 Lärm fighter planes. Artillery strikes by the 3rd dragoon's anti-tank cannons and FLAK cannon proved to be insufficient to breach the eastern fortifications and they remained in Monovian hands during the first day of the battle of Sankt Elonzo as the 3rd division retreated.
On the second day of the battle of Sankt Elonzo 2 companies of the 3rd division connected to the 6th division which had spent the night defending the southern fortification from relentless attacks and was exhausted. The relatively fresh troops from the 3rd division were sent into the southern quarter of the city first, and had to fight for every meter against highly motivated Monovian and Siseranist defenders. From civilians that had been trapped into the city, they collected intelligence about the plans of the insurgents. They told them that the Siseranists had constructed a temple in the city centre and had been abducting hundreds of people who were to be sacrificed to appease the Gods. The Siseranists seemed certain the end times had arrived when they heard the news that Kildare, formally Siseranist Jingdao, had been absorbed into the Imperial Republic of Shireroth. Determined to save these people, the 2 companies fought their way towards the city centre, but made progress very slowly.
As the day of 14.XV.1707 dawned, the 7th division reached Sankt Elonzo, two days ahead of schedule. They brought 20 new J-1 Lärm fighter planes with them, so that there were now 23 planes available to launch a bombing raid on the eastern fortress. At noon, the planes flew towards the city and attacked the eastern fortifications with all their might while the artillery suppressed the Monovian anti-air efforts, dealing heavy damage to the defensive structure. The 3 remaining companies of the 3rd division were connected to the 7th division and together they started a new assault on the eastern quarter of the city. Like in the southern quarter of the city, progress was slow but certain, and the enemy troops were being pushed back towards the city centre.
In the city centre the situation grew tense as the Ludwiggian troops came closer and closer, and the Siseranists and Monovians began to discuss amongst themselves whether they should try to flee the city while they were not yet completely encircled. The Siseranist High Priestess Elijahna, who had been crowned Queen of Sankt Ludwigshafen in XIII.1693 during the Ludwigshafener Civil War opposed the proposal and instead pushed for human sacrifices to the Gods, to gain their favour and turn the tide of the battle. High Priestess Elijahna possessed a great charisma, as well as other charms and was able to convince the other commanders of her plan. On the morning of 15.XV.1707 the Monovians and Siseranists rounded up the church officials who had been locked up in the city council, and the civilians who had tried to flee and were locked up in the warehouse and brought them to the marketplace, which was adorned with colourful ribbons and statues of the Ci Empress. The captives were tied to each other and doused in thousands of litres of gasoline, vapours of which spread over the entire marketplace. After a bizarre chant in traditional Jingdaoese, High Priestess Elijahna lit the first of the captives. As the gasoline ignited, so did the gasoline vapour which had spread over the entire marketplace and even further into the city. The result was a massive thermobaric explosion that destroyed the city centre and created a good deal of damage, as well as massive fires, in the rest of the city. Ludwiggian troops and all remaining civilians tried to flee the city as soon as they could, but thousands of civilians died in the explosion or the flames, as well as 237 Ludwiggian soldiers.
Battle of Hamstadt
As the fires in Sankt Elonzo extinguished themselves, Ludwiggian troops entered the city to find survivors and bury the dead. Without regard for whether a fallen man had belonged to their own troops, to the civilian population, to the Monovians or to the Siseranists, a proper and respectful burial was given to all who had been found. Even the evil High Priestess Elijahna was given a respectful Nazarene burial, and prayers were said for her soul. After most of the fallen had been buried, only the 6th division remained in the ruins of Sankt Elonzo and the other divisions were sent back to Sankt Ludwigshafen. As the soldiers told their relatives and friends about the events that had unfolded in Sankt Elonzo they could do little more than pray together and hope that the fallen were in a better place.
However, while the nation yearned for peace and healing, the pretender king Elonzo XIII had not been caught yet, as he had not been in the city. On 2.I.1708 a courier belonging to the Royal Guard of King Elonzo XIII was apprehended by the Dragonerkorps Ludwigshafen's 1st division in the Lanzerwald, southwest of Oudorp. He was travelling from the south carrying a letter from the pretender king himself, giving instructions to Siseranist insurgents north of the republic to prepare for an attack on Louisville in III.1708, the letter suggested that the Royal Guard of King Elonzo XIII and the Monovian Royal Army would attack Oudorp at the same time, in an attempt to surprise the Ludwiggians.
The Monovian atrocity at Sankt Elonzo meanwhile had won the Ludwiggians a certain measure of international sympathy. The Benacian Union had felt compelled to offer the donation of six Katzenklavier artillery pieces, and the production-run of cadet trainer aircraft it had previously obtained a licence for.
On 12.I.1708 the Dragonerkorps Ludwigshafen's 1st division encountered inhabitants of the ruins of Prins Haven who provided them with information on the location of King Elonzo XIII, who they said had established a dictatorship that ruled over the ruins of Prins Haven, Nieuw Rotterdam and Hamstadt. The latter city was said to act as capital of the rogue kingdom and when the Stadtholder Adam Rettich was informed about these facts he ordered an assault on the former capital of Zandarijn. The 3rd and 4th division of the Dragonerkorps Ludwgishafen were sent to scout the vicinity of Hamstadt. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd division of the Kriegskorps were also sent ahead to establish bases from which an assault could be performed, they brought the J-1 Lärm planes and Katzenklavier artillery with them, to level any defences the Monovians might have constructed. The planes were attached to the 1st division, the Katzenklavier artillery to the 2nd division.
As the 2nd division of the Kriegskorps reached the vicinity of Hamstadt in the north, they made contact with scouts belonging to the Royal Guard of King Elonzo XIII. In skirmishes, twenty scouts were killed and three Ludwiggians lost their lives as well. The 1st division took up a position west of Hamstadt, while the 3rd division established a base in the east. The dragoons which had scouted the city had found that it had been heavily fortified and that an infantry assault would be pointless and would result in the slaughter of any and all Ludwiggian troops that would participate in it. Major Gerhardt Streuß who was the commander of the 1st division and the primus inter pares of the division leaders recognised that a siege would have to be laid around the city. He sent an envoy to Stadt Sankt Ludwigshafen to request an additional division that could seal off Hamstadt in the south, as well as more J-1 Lärm planes, and had the dragoons patrol the woods to prevent supplies from being brought into the city.
At noon 7.II.1708 the city had been completely surrounded and Major Gerhardt Streuß sent one of his couriers to King Elonzo XIII with an offer to surrender to the Ludwiggian troops. The courier carried a white flag, signalling that it did not pose a threat to the Monovians, but was shot in his shoulder as he neared the city walls and returned hastily to Major Streuß. After consultation with the other majors, the bombardment of Hamstadt was started on 9.II.1708, at the sixth hour in the morning. First the Katzenklavier artillery pounded on the city, as well as a few dozen FLAK cannons that were manned by dragoons. After the artillery had shot its supply of ammunition, thirty planes were launched to perform their bombing raids on the city, they had not been given specific targets but were told to attack anything that looked like a threat. Five planes were lost in the first raid on the city that day, and another three were lost in a second raid in the afternoon.
The bombardment of the city was repeated according to the following pattern, the Katzenklavier would shoot its preloaded munitions, and at the same time the FLAK cannons would also fire. When the Katzenklavier had to be reloaded, the J-1 Lärm planes were sent in to continue the bombardment. Only on the first day of the bombardment were the Monovians able to return fire with their artillery, but their capabilities were wiped out by the second Katzenklavier salvo. On the second day the Monovians were only able to respond to the planes with small arms fire and the planes returned damaged, but only a single plane was lost on that day.
On 9.II.1708 a courier waving a white flag emerged from the city, and was brought to Major Gerhardt Streuß. He informed the major that the Monovians were willing to submit their arms to the Ludwiggian troops and requested be granted a safe departure from the city. Streuß accepted the surrender on the condition that King Elonzo XIII would be placed under arrest, only to learn that he had been murdered by his Siseranist accomplices the night before in a bizarre and gruesome ritual the night before. Monovian soldiers were allowed to leave the city in the west, surrendering any weapons they had on their bodies to the Kriegskorps, and were given a loaf of bread, a bottle of water and the blessing of a Ludwiggian Reformed preacher. As the Monovian soldiers had left the city, the 3rd division was sent in to find the remains of King Elonzo XIII and more importantly the Siseranist evil-doers that were suspected to still remain in the city. The 5th company was the first to reach the city hall, which had been decorated with Monovian flags and seemed to have been the palace of the late king. The company stormed the palace and found the dead and heavily mutilated body of the pretender king, but no trace of the Siseranists.
The next day, on the morning of 10.II.1708, the 4th company was instructed to search the marketplace in the ruins of Hamstadt, but got ambushed by Siseranist insurgents that had entrenched themselves in domestic properties formerly belonging to the city's patricians. Five soldiers were killed in the ambush before the rest of the 4th company could escape the trap. The 1st and 2nd company arrived as reinforcements just before noon and surrounded the patrician houses before attacking them with incendiary grenades. None of the Siseranists made an attempt to escape the fire, and thirty-five charred remains were found after the fire had razed the buildings to the ground.
Zandt insurgency in Prins Haven
As news of the death of King Elonzo XIII reached the ruined cities of Nieuw Rotterdam and Prins Haven, the morale of the Monovian soldiers was lowered significantly. The remaining inhabitants of Zandarijn descent saw their opportunity and rose up against their oppressors. In the night of 7.III.1708 violent uprisings resulted in the death of at least forty Monovian soldiers and twenty-three citizens. The next morning the Monovian soldiers did not leave their fortifications to patrol the streets of these cities and the citizens were able to send an envoy out to the Ludwiggian troops that were occupying Hamstadt, asking them for weapons to overthrow the Monovians.
On 12.III.1708, after the fall of dusk, dragoons together with thirty donkeys carrying small arms weapons that had been surrendered by the Monovian soldiers following the Battle of Hamstadt arrived west of Prins Haven. The weapons were handed out to members of the Prins Haven Bevrijdingsleger which had been formed during the occupation of the city, but had not seen much action until now. After an accident with a firearm the dragoons decided that the Prins Haven Bevrijdingsleger was not ready to take on the Monovian occupiers, and they abandoned the initial plan to just provide arms to the citizens. Instead they decided to establish a training base twenty kilometres west of the city. Zandt volunteers were trained in firearm safety, marksmanship and basic tactics in a two-week course before returning to the city with light arms. While initially only volunteers from Prins Haven were enrolling in the course, from 23.III.1708 onwards also inhabitants from Nieuw Rotterdam joined the course. To reflect the pan-Zandt composition of the army, it was renamed as the Bevrijdingsleger van Zandarijn on 14.IV.1708.
In V.1708 almost a thousand members of the Bevrijdingsleger had taken up positions within Prins Haven, mostly unknown to the Monovian occupiers who were once again patrolling the streets after a period of almost no open resistance. Together with the Kriegskorps' Major Streuß a plan had been drafted to take the city from the Monovians. The Ludwiggians were supposed to attack the city's port, luring the Monovians from their defensive positions in the city centre. As the city centre would be less well defended by the Monovians, the Bevrijdingsleger would attack their positions and take over the city from within. The plan was executed on 20.V.1708 and turned into a bloodbath, when the Monovians were locked in a square where they were sitting ducks to machine gun fire from positions they had considered to be under their own control. The Monovian Royal Army lost almost a thousand soldiers, while the Bevrijdingsleger mourned a hundred souls and the Ludwiggians less than ten.
After the Battle of Prins Haven, the Republic of Sankt Ludwigshafen claimed to have a right to the city but this was disputed by members of the Bevrijdingsleger. Realising that they still needed each other in the war against the Monovians and Siseranists, the two parties decided not to determine the final fate of the city. It was agreed that a final resolution would be sought after the war had ended.
Battle of Nieuw Rotterdam
After the Bevrijdingsleger van Zandarijn proved to be victorious in the Battle of Prins Haven, it turned its attention to Nieuw Rotterdam. This city had not just the Monovians to worry about, but also the exploitation by Whales through the 1706 Decree in Whales on the Plantation of Nieuw Rotterdam. Not only did the Natopians exploit the native population by letting them work as serfs, ten inhabitants were abducted each year and presented to the Prince of Whales so he could do unto them as he pleased. The Bevrijdingsleger asked for help from the Ludwiggians to assault the city and drive the Natopians out, but this request was rejected by the Stadtparlement as the republic was not at war with Natopia. News of the refusal created an uproar in Oudorp and led to protests in the streets. Several hundred inhabitants of Oudorp decided to join the Bevrijdingsleger van Zandarijn, as did two thousand inhabitants of the Lanzerwald that were of Zandarijn descent.
After the Battle of Prins Haven, the organisation of the Bevrijdingsleger van Zandarijn was modelled after the Kriegskorps. It consisted of 6 divisions, totalling just over 3,000 man personnel. The army was armed with weapons and ammunitions that had been looted from the stockpiles and dead bodies of the Monovians and trained by Ludwiggian officers. On 20.XIII.1708 the army was trained to a level sufficient to have some confidence in facing the occupiers of Nieuw Rotterdam and left Prins Haven to march towards the aforementioned city.
On 22.XIII.1708 an alert notice was circulated to the military district of Asara Eliana and the Honourable Company's station at Chur. On the same day the settlers at Nieuw Rotterdam were directed to secure hostages and provisions from the native population and to prepare a defensible landing pad within their present cantonment.
The Bevrijdingsleger van Zandarijn arrived three kilometres north of the Plantation of Nieuw Rotterdam on 24.XIII.1708. The same day a platoon was sent out to observe the defences that were put in place by the Monovians and Whaler. Expecting the kind of heavy concrete fortifications that the Monovians had constructed in Hamstadt and Prins Haven, they were pleasantly surprised to learn that such defensive works were absent in Nieuw Rotterdam and reported this to their leader, General Van der Venne. The Bevrijdingsleger took two days to prepare themselves for the assault on the plantation, which started on 2.XIV.1708. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd division would attack the plantation from the north, while the 4th division would block the Whaler forces from escaping into the Lanzerwald in the west and the fifth division would block them in the east. The 6th division was not immediately deployed, partly because it was not expected to be necessary, partly to be used as backup in case there would be surprises.
As the Bevrijdingsleger divisions came into the open the formations were engaged by the Whaler Jackal-class Gravimetric gun-cutter flying regular patrol sorties over the settlement. The settlers meanwhile had taken up their posts along their defensive firing lines, with hostages tied to posts at regular intervals along the line. Marksmen from concealed positions focused their efforts on picking off any person with the bearing of an officer marshalling the assembled forces forward. After a short while a hostage was sent forward under a white flag. The message was for the attacking force to hold off or Whales would be obliged to fully engage in the conflict.
As the hostage safely reached the positions of the 6th division he gave the letter to a Hauptmann, who dismissed it as something he would have to read after the battle. Crying the hostage explained all that had happened in the days before the assault on Nieuw Rotterdam and the atrocities committed by the Natopians. As he was asked whether he would like to be evacuated to safety, or join the Bevrijdingsleger he asked for a rifle and joined the 6th division. Realising the other divisions could be taking heavy losses, General van Venne sent the 6th division into battle as well. The general also sent a courier with a letter to Stadt Sankt Ludwigshafen, detailing the inhumane actions performed by the Bovic Empire that he considered to be on par with the war crimes committed by the Siseranists in Sankt Elonzo.
Despite their heavy losses, the Bevrijdingsleger was able to gain the upper hand in Nieuw Rotterdam and forced the troops from Whales to retreat back to their own territories.
Of the plantation itself, at the onset of the assault there were present forty factors under the governance of the captain-general for the settlement. Assisting them was a garrison of one hundred-and-twenty locally raised askaris, native domestics and hirlings not thought to exceed three hundred-and-sixty in total, ninety-six wives, concubines, and catamites, and seventy-nine hostages recently brought into the stockade. All told therefore, the Whalers and their dependents were six-hundred and seventeen souls in number. Of these there were recorded as crossing the frontier into Whales sixty-two askaris, thirty-one factors, two-hundred and seventy-six native servants, thirteen companions, and a single Zandt hostage. The captain-general was reported to have become separated from the main party and subsequently vanished during the retreat - the suggestion that he was murdered by his despondent followers on account of the perilous circumstances into which he had led them was unproven. Two-hundred and thirteen souls therefore remained unaccounted for and were, as of 1709 AN, presumed to have perished.
Diplomatic row between Whales and Ludwigshafen
In reply to this assault, the Prince of Whales authorised the wronged investors of the Nieuw Rotterdam venture to recoup their losses by taking cargoes from the maritime trade of Stadt Sankt Ludwigshafen, Louisville, and Oudorp. The Prince also gave orders for a razzia to be conducted against the Zandt communities of the border region and the Green. To Frederik Anders the Younger was given the task of ensuring that satisfactory restitution would be made, as matters in Chryse would require the attention of Daniyal ibn Daniyal for the greater part of 1709 AN.
Envoys were duly dispatched to Sankt Ludwigshafen and the Viceroy of Western Natopia to denounce the treacherous attack upon a trading post that had previously set aside stores of provisions for those engaged in fighting against the Monovians.
In order to negate the risk of pirate attacks on the Ludwiggian merchant fleet, all ships were ordered to stay in port in the weeks after the Battle of Nieuw Rotterdam. Xaiville Convention partners such as Hurmu and Cisamarra were asked to provide additional cargo capacity, and the Hurmese fleet especially sailed the route Oudorp - Daocheng.
When the envoy from Whales finally arrived in Start Sankt Ludwigshafen he was invited to a meeting with a delegation from the Stadtparlement. He was presented with an offer for Sankt Ludwigshafen to buy the plantation, along with all associated rights and duties for according to the value it had before the assault. In addition Sankt Ludwigshafen would pay a premium to compensate for the unfortunate circumstances and it would organise and pay for the funeral services for all that had perished, and would provide widow and orphan pensions to family members left behind. After a bit of haggling on the price, an agreement was signed and Whales and Sankt Ludwigshafen returned to cordial relations.
Battle of Louisville
On 23.V.1708, just a few days after the Monovians had lost control over Prins Haven, the 3rd patrol of the 2nd company of the 6th division of the Dragonerkorps Ludwigshafen was ambushed in the vicinity of Louisville as it patrolled the northern Lanzerwald. When they did not report back to their company by 4.VI.1708 a search was launched into the Lanzerwald, in which both the 1st and 2nd company of the 6th division participated. The heavily mutilated bodies of the dragoons and donkeys of the 3rd patrol were found by 17.VI.1708. Recognising that the area was likely infiltrated by Siseranists, Stadtholder Adam Rettich ordered the Kriegskorps to defend the city. With six out of ten divisions active in the south, the Kriegskorps was only able to send the 10th division to Louisville, to assist the Bezirkbürgerwehr. The 10th division arrived in the city on 6.VI.1708, and took up defensive positions. At the same time, the 5th and 6th division of the dragoons were conducting searches in the Lanzerwald between Louisville and the Natopian border, to hunt down the Siseranists.
On 17.VI.1708 a large army was detected to be moving towards Louisville, 40 kilometres to the east of the city. Dragoons that spotted the army were unable to make accurate estimations of the size of the army at the time, but as of IX.1709 the army is estimated to count among 4,000 Siseranist soldiers. As the 10th division prepared to defend the city, couriers were sent to Sankt Ludwigshafen to desperately ask for more reinforcements. Over 10,000 citizens fled the city towards Stadt Sankt Ludwigshafen, were they were received in tents on the marketplace. On the 19th day of the seventh month, the Siseranist Temple Guard reached the city walls of Louisville and started an assault almost immediately, before any reinforcements had arrived.
The first wave of the assault took place in the north, Siseranist troops, according to rough estimations 1,800 men and women, assaulted two fortified towers that had been armed with FLAK cannons and Gatling guns. The cannon fire from the towers and carbine fire by infantry on the city walls took out many Siseranist troops, but there were almost six times as many Siseranists, as there were Ludwiggian soldiers. The city walls were heavily damaged by stick hand grenades, thrown by the Siseranists, especially where they hit munition stockpiles. While the first wave of Siseranists did not succeed in climbing the city walls and entering the city, another group of roughly the same size feinted an attack on the western walls. Because of this threat, the Ludwiggians were unable to send more troops to the north to fight the Siseranists there. However, more and more Siseranist troops were quietly moved towards the northern group, to replenish the troop that was assaulting the walls there. At the start of dawn, as the Ludwiggians became tired of the assault, a group of 700 Siseranists, who had not been previously been committed to the fight, joined the assault. They were able to climb the city walls, and blow them, and themselves, up with explosives they carried on their bodies. After the Siseranists had entered the city, they ransacked it and murdered everyone they came across, setting fire to many buildings in the city.
On 23.VI.1708 five divisions from the Kriegskorps arrived at Louisville, a city that had been turned into a ruin but that was still infested by the Siseranist Temple Guard that was performing gruesome rituals on civilians they had captured. Appalled and enraged by the atrocities, the Kriegskorps launched an immediate assault on the city with the intent not to take any Siseranist prisoners, but removing their stain on Micras for good. The Ludwiggians entered the city through the destroyed city walls in the north and fights broke out in the narrow streets of the city. While most Siseranist soldiers in the city fought to the death, some begged for mercy and depending on the hardness of heart of the Ludwiggian patrol they encountered they were still slain, or taken captive against orders. In the end, 78 Siseranist soldiers were taken as prisoners of war, over 3,000 were killed, amongst them a high priestess that had styled herself a daughter of Sisera. The Kriegskorps also faced heavy losses, mourning 1,538 soldiers. Of the nine thousand citizens that had remained in the city as the assaults began, more than half had lost their lives.
Aftermath
After the war had ended, Stadtholder Adam Rettich called for a month of mourning. The republic had to come to terms with the fact that thousands of civilians and soldiers had lost their lives, people who could not be replaced and would be missed dearly. The Zandarijnse Bevrijdingsleger that had been armed by the Kriegskorps during the Battle of Prins Haven had become a stronger military force than the Kriegskorps itself after the latter lost so many soldiers in the Battle of Louisville. Negotiations between the Zant and the Ludwiggians after the war would transform the state, and end the dominance of Stadt Sankt Ludwigshafen. A new republic would emerge, the Union of Oudorp.
