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| Next battle: Fourth Battle of Corellia | |
| Battle of Chandrila | |
|---|---|
| Conflict: Galactic Civil War, Imperial Blitzkrieg | |
| Date: 14 ABY | |
| Place: Chandrila | |
| Outcome: Imperial victory | |
| Combatants | |
| Commanders | |
|
Fleet Admiral Drayson Honos |
|
| Strength | |
|
Task Force Hammer |
|
| Casualties | |
|
Unknown |
Unknown |
The Second Battle of Chandrila was a two-stage engagement planned by Admiral Danik Kreldin, as part of his Blitzkrieg plan. Initiated by declaring another Proclamation of Annexation towards the Caspian Democratic Union, and their expected immediate refusal, Warlord Malign declared Caspia to be "in a state of rebellion", and "would have to be dealt with forthwith". Caspia, four years removed from the battles of that campaign, and having learned from the experience, amassed their entire battlefleet and saturated CDU space with ships and defenses. Most of their effort was placed around Yariz, Caspia proper, and Krittain, since they did not want any incursion to come along the Perlemian Trade Route.
This time, though, the New Republic's Ambassador to Caspia alerted the home office of the situation, and the New Republic military swung into a more proactive role. Fearing Caspia's loss to and occupation by the Imperials, thus severing a vital link between the Core Worlds and Mon Calamari, an entire battlefleet was dispatched to Caspia. Coordinating with the Caspians, this fleet was arrayed at the "back door" of Caspia, closer to Mon Calamari, in case the Imperials jumped "over" Caspia and situated themselves between the Caspians and Mon Calamari.
On the eve of battle, Kreldin directed his task forces to execute several "jump cycles", dropping into and out of hyperspace at nearby star systems, and trying to spark interest from what was rumored to be a rather intricate intelligence-gathering network the Caspians had laced into the region after the Caspian Annexation Campaign. At one point, a task force of ten warships ran across recon fighters of Caspia's 101st squadron just outside the Kastolar Sector, and instead of eliminating them, let them get full scans and escape back to Caspia. By all accounts, it was shaping up to be a full-scale invasion of Caspia from several converging routes.
In a exposition de puissance, Kreldin led one of his spearhead task forces, Task Force Crimson Star, into the CDU tributary system of Mikassa. Mikassa, lying on the extreme coreward edge of the CDU's frontier, was only lightly defended by a Caspian flotilla. After a spirited battle, the Caspians were driven off and the Imperials laid to "roughing up the planet". Klaxons blared throughout the Caspian and New Republic battlefleets, and they prepared themselves for an expected invasion throughout their respective zones.
Instead, the main Imperial battlefleet, comprised of the other seven task forces, executed a jump into Chandrila. The coordination was so precise that most means of communication were promptly severed between Chandrila and the rest of the New Republic network, and those alerts that reached New Republic units were dismissed as mistaken reports about where the action was taking place. The New Republic officers were convinced by what was evident before them -- the Imperials were at Mikassa, and would soon be all over Caspia.
Over a dozen sectors away, though, the Imperials were quickly dispatching the defenders of Chandrila. Facing a seemingly monstrous blockade, and no acknowledgement of their panicked appeals for help, the Republican forces surrendered en másse. Task Force Crimson Star drew away from Mikassa, and Kreldin rendevoused with his main force later that following Chandrilan morning, having now cut Coruscant off from both the Perlemian Trade Route and the Hydian Way.
Imperial occupation over Chandrila would be a brutal event, leading to the Chandrilan Massacre and the Chandrilan Suppressions several months after the invasion.