Fall of Cana

The Fall of Cana was a battle and siege in the Red Interregnum, described by many as the turning point of the conflict. Following the election of 1900, Caphiria's Imperial Naval Fleet began a general withdrawal from the Julia Bay, allowing for allied amphibious operations. The failure in the Overland Campaign at the end of 1900 convinced the Army of Burgundie that operating in a blue water environment was the best use of Burgundie's resources, leading to planning of a joint operation between Legitimists and Burgundie in the spring of 1901. The Battle of Abylf Steppe between the Navy of Burgundie and Imperial Naval Fleet cleared the coast off of Canaery, allowing the Burgundian navy to land large numbers of Legitimist and Burgundian troops. The city of Cana, a key port on the western coast of Urcea, was caught largely unprepared, and the relatively small 67,000 man garrison was soon surrounded by allied armies on land and naval forces at sea. Despite their numerical advantage, allied forces settled into a siege. The siege saw a major use of trench warfare and the employment of machine guns on a wide scale for the first time during the war. Cana held out for nearly four months before it was stormed towards the end of June 1901, at which time most of the defenders surrendered. The loss of the garrison at Cana remains the single largest loss of manpower in a single day in the history of the Urcean army.

The capture of the western port city continued the general decline of the Regal Navy's ability to interdict allied forces in the Julia Bay region, and opened the western coast to raiding and small scale amphibious assaults by allied troops. It also opened the Urcean plain to attacks from the southwest, as Canaery had little separating it from the Archduchy of Urceopolis save unguarded river crossings. The capture of Cana fundamentally undermined the Regal Army's defensive perimeter it had established in the northern part of the country, and by the end of 1901 the Regency had been reduced to a territory roughly corresponding to the Archduchy. Additionally, Cana's possession by the allies allowed for a strong base of operations from which the remaining Regal territory could be blockaded.