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[[File:REB lower decks.jpg|thumb|A mortar team from the Royal Easthampton Borderers pose for a photo during the evening of 16 October, 1986 while waiting to board helicopters to conduct an air assault on Gramsby.]] | [[File:REB lower decks.jpg|thumb|A mortar team from the Royal Easthampton Borderers pose for a photo during the evening of 16 October, 1986 while waiting to board helicopters to conduct an air assault on Gramsby.]] | ||
At daybreak, 1st Battalion had already marched inland, liberating a number of small villages and having engaged numerous Kelekonan rear-area units. Kelekonan forces dug in on the beach were flanked and fixed against the Malentine Sea by the 2nd Battalion, REB supported by mortars from the Royal Moorden Regiment. Mass surrenders occurred, as most of these troops were conscripts and had limited resupply due to interdiction by Arcer ships and aircraft. The remainder of 7 Rifle Brigade was landed along with 11 Parachute Brigade, and the pair in tandem conducted an advance to contact until they reached Gramsby, placing two thousand Kelekonan troops into a cauldron, with the bluffs around the town's outskirts occupied by Arco forces and the Kelekonans unable to evacuate due to marauding Arcer fighter bombers. Reports that the Kelekonans were attempting to destroy the port facilities quickly forced action and General van der Berg ordered the Arcerion Parachute Regiment to fight into the town to secure the port facilities. By 19 October, the town was secured and the remaining Kelekonan troops had surrendered. | At daybreak, 1st Battalion had already marched inland, liberating a number of small villages and having engaged numerous Kelekonan rear-area units. Kelekonan forces dug in on the beach were flanked and fixed against the Malentine Sea by the 2nd Battalion, REB supported by mortars from the Royal Moorden Regiment. Mass surrenders occurred, as most of these troops were conscripts and had limited resupply due to interdiction by Arcer ships and aircraft. The remainder of 7 Rifle Brigade was landed along with 11 Parachute Brigade, and the pair in tandem conducted an advance to contact until they reached Gramsby, placing two thousand Kelekonan troops into a cauldron, with the bluffs around the town's outskirts occupied by Arco forces and the Kelekonans unable to evacuate due to marauding Arcer fighter bombers. Reports that the Kelekonans were attempting to destroy the port facilities quickly forced action and General van der Berg ordered the Arcerion Parachute Regiment to fight into the town to secure the port facilities. By 19 October, the town was secured and the remaining Kelekonan troops had surrendered. | ||
Kelekonan high command, now having lost two islands and struggling to maintain their grip on the Gibson Gap began plans to conduct an offensive on Dunborough. Concurrently, the Arcer General Staff prepard plans for Larton, the largest of the occupied islands, and garrisoned by high quality troops of the 98th Naval Infantry Brigade. | Kelekonan high command, now having lost two islands and struggling to maintain their grip on the Gibson Gap began plans to conduct an offensive on Dunborough. Concurrently, the Arcer General Staff prepard plans for Larton, the largest of the occupied islands, and garrisoned by high quality troops of the 98th Naval Infantry Brigade. | ||
=== Long March at Larton === | === Long March at Larton === | ||
Kelekonan troops on Larton had dug in multiple defensive fighting positions, laid minefield and concertina wire, and forcibly evicted Arcer families so they could turn the farmhouses into pillboxes and bunkers owing to the small basements hewn into the island's rock. Kelekonan Brigade staff of the 91st used the remnants of the 71st (two understrength battalions) to reinforce the town of Larton. On October 25th, Task Force 86 moved into the Gibson Gap from its staging area near Farnsworth. Kelekonan reconnaissance and naval intelligence had identified this and sent a mass wave of fighters and fighter bombers in an attempt to sink as many troop carrying vessels, supply ships, and if possible the ACS ''Kurst''. The Arcer Air Force responded, and the resulting Battle of Larton Shore saw the destruction of fourteen Kelekonan planes, with eight more damaged, for a loss of six Arcer aircraft and eleven damaged. Ships within the Task Force did incur some damage, with the civilian-hired freight vessel the ''SS Yuletide'' struck by bombs and set ablaze, and the ACS ''Reacher'', a destroyer also damaged by both Anti-ship missiles and bombs, but was able to limp back to Farnsworth's port facilities for emergency repairs, and then eventually to Port Gibson. | |||
With the air and sea secured, General van der Berg ordered a landing in the cove on Larton's Southeastern shore. Reconnaissance showed it did not have any Kelekonan troops defending it, and the intelligence estimates were confident that a landing could be conducted uninhibited. | |||
On October 27th, the Royal Moorden Regiment led 7 Rifle Brigade ashore as they landed on Larton. With no enemy contact, reconnaissance patrols and screens were established as the rest of the Brigade landed, setting up light artillery pieces and air defense systems. Reconnaissance patrols determined the Kelekonese had primarily garrisoned the Southern Cape of Larton, and van der Berg quickly moved the Arcerion Fusilier Regiment Southwest to engage them. There, two battalions of the Fusiliers encountered an entire regimental group dug into the beach. It was the first documented use of bayonets in modern Arcer history, as the Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Jerry Sherwick, ordered the battalion to close with the Kelekonan positions as they were outnumbered and relied on violence of action and surprise. | |||
With large elements of the 98th fixed in the South, van der Berg ordered the remainder of 7 Rifle Brigade to march to Larton overland, where they conducted a long ruck march that was dubbed 'Long March at Larton.' Poor weather conditions and harsh terrain meant that the soldiers were both fighting Kelekonan forces as well as the elements, with a number of Kelekonan and Arcer troops succumbing to the cold and becoming exposure casualties. Arriving at Larton, the Royal Easthampton Borderers and the Royal Moorden Regiment worked to clear the town, which by October 31st was liberated. Remaining Naval infantry from the Kelekonan Army, which had inflicted serious casualties on both the RMR and APR during the fighting withdrew in good order to the North, delaying as they prepared to be evacuated to mainland Kelekona or Sharnwick. Arcer troops in the town, once reasonably certain that the last Kelekonan troops had been mopped up or taken prisoner, pooled what little sweets, candies, and chocolate they had in their rations and held a small Halloween event in Larton's Catholic Chuch, doling out the goods to children in the town. | |||
=== Surrender of Sharnwick === | === Surrender of Sharnwick === | ||
== Casualties == | == Casualties == | ||