Battle of Francisburg

The Battle of Francisburg is the major remnant of the story Archian Wars, an aborted story related to the Forton Tetralogy, specifically Doujat Three. The following story has been edited grammatically by Rando himself.

Much time had passed between when Rando had first developed the story to when he recovered it, so he did not know much about it. As it turns out, there is no reference to the main character of Archian Wars, Le Bronk, in this story and little in relation to Archia itself. The story was itself inspired instantly by an interest in the video game Famicom Wars. If Archian Wars was further developed, the battle would likely have been reworked, with the character of Fisloff being replaced by Le Bronk.

The Story
The old town of Francisburg overlooked the Okinhee River with the townspeople conversing everyday. Each day, people from north and south go through the town on its many roads.

In Francisburg, two roads directly go through it. in the south, these roads were one, divided near the point where they meet the Okinhee River. More south is a intersection of five roads, one of these make the two that go through. Three other roads go to the west and east and one goes to the south. One road going north east goes across the Okinhee, then meets another intersection. Here, the road divides, on one road it continues to the north. On the other, it goes west towards one of the two roads that pass through Francisburg. They collide and continue north.

During 2016, the United Confederation was looking for a way to spread across the border with the enemy the Communist Federation. General Ford discovered the town of Francisburg, where C.F forces are located nearby, provides a network of roads that can take the armies northward, towards Uzington, the C.F capitol.

He wanted his troops to split at the 5-road intersection. There would be 3 regiments that would split. Two regiments would go on the northwest road, approaching Francisburg’s city. In Francisburg, they may further split apart, one going the west route and the other going the east route. The other, larger than either one regiment, would go northeast to cross the Okinhee to get to the 4 road-intersection, one of them allowed them to get to one of two routes that go through Francisburg. If his armies took these intersections, it would give him the ability to travel to Uzington in 4 ways, one going northwest from the west route from Francisburg, another going north from the east route to Francisburg. From the intersection east of Francisburg, he had three roads, one that went west towards the north route from Francisburg, another that continued north, and one that went west. With the capture of these routes, he could lead the armies around the whole area.

Francisburg, at war time, was located few miles from the C.F-U.C border. In the city, they had an independent county. Before the war, they had a friendly relationship with the United Confederation. However, unlike other counties, it enforced slave labor, used to help work on the cities’ surrounding farms. These farms were huge that they were 5 times the city itself.

Francisburg had a 5138 population at the time of the battle. 453 of these were slaves, working on the large, fertile farms irrigated by the Okinhee river. Because of this irrigation, the river’s course was slightly changed. Francisburg was a developing town with a large birth rate and low death rate.

The slaves in Francisburg arrived in 1618, twelve years after colonists landed in Francisburg. The lands brought large amounts of food and farming possibilities, but these plants needed heavy labor to harvest. Slaves from Eurica were taken and worked here. As farming’s technology changed with new inventions, slave labor was reduced but slaves continued work. And with their work were cruelty. Slaves were cared for once every two months. All doctors, of whom there were 9, in Francisburg have seen cases of bad hygiene, malnutrition and heavy wear in slaves. Many slaves suffered punishments such as lashing. Despite the decreased need of slavery in Francisburg with new technologies, slavery was still enforced as the new inventions needed operators.

When the Communist Federation appeared, Francisburg’s relation with the U.C continued as the C.F  heightened prices on wheat, the major cash crop in Francisburg, through out the country, meaning that Francisburg would make much money from farming, but little as they needed food from the wheat to feed themselves. In 2016, the C.F wanted to spread influence and power to the southern areas, where the U.C was. That year, they broke through the border and claimed areas. Their goals were take all land above the Okinhee river. They headed south and planned go across the Okinhee, defeat U.C troops they encounter and take the 5-road intersection, allowing them to move around in the U.C.

Of the two armies that would meet, the C.F had 35,000 infantry, 10,000 artillery, and 5,000 people in armored vehicles such as tanks. The U.C had 45,000 infantry, 10,000 artillery, and 15,000 people in vehicles.

Ford’s plan was for the two regiments to move up the road to Francisburg. There, they divide and take the two roads up to the C.F’s army, whose commander Ford didn’t know, and attack. A third regiment would go north east

The C.F moved into the area north of Francisburg. Here, they build defenses on a large road. This road connected two northbound roads up to the C.F. It also marked the borders of Francisburg, meaning the city could be in siege. A 3 foot tall stone wall was built along the road. The defense force made up of 9000 artillery and 15,000 infantry. The artillery was close to the borders so that the town could be destroyed by cannons firing miles away.

To the south, hours later, Ford arrived at Watchout Ridge. Here, he got good view of the areas surrounding Francisburg, and the stone wall the C.F was making. One of Ford’s men, Col. Melford, told Ford that the wall would make their offense very difficult and they must move in immediately before the C.F could be ready to fire. Ford noticed it would be too late to attack now, but they had to attack if they wanted the roads, and if they left, than the C.F could take Francisburg and the surrounding roads and “destroy the United Confederation in days!”

Ford ordered that the three brigades move. The two brigades going northwest of the five-road intersection moved toward Francisburg, but they were too late. Tanks and cannons soon bombarded Francisburg when the U.C brigades made up of tanks and infantry had left the roads.

The C.F general, Ford’s C.F counterpart, General Fisloff had ordered the artillery to bombard Francisburg immediately when the U.C brigades moved towards the Okinhee River, not the town itself. He was slightly worried they would go west or east to attack was more when he saw a large group go east. That group he saw was the 3rd brigade, which was assigned to attack the C.F right flank. He expected for the U.C to attack on the two roads around Francisburg because of how they surrounded the town. When the 1st and 2nd brigades moved out and appeared in C.F sight, artillery fired at Francisburg. They were really aiming at the grounds, sighting that the destruction of the town’s crop would devastate the town’s food supply. In this bombardment, slaves and farmers abandoned work to seek shelter in the city. Farmers made their slaves go to quarters and not the city. Because the C.F believed quarters to be farmers’ houses, they bombed the quarters, killing the slaves inside.

Fisloff soon wanted action. He ordered for the armored vehicles and 10,000 infantry men to move towards Francisburg to invade. In few minutes, they arrived in Francisburg. The inhabitants at first thought that the armies, not knowing which side of the army, wanted to take the roads, not the city. But soon, they realized they came to raze the city. Inhabitants tried to escape across the Okinhee river, but soon discovered the C.F army surrounded their town. The C.F troops were ordered to destroy buildings, kill all men, capture all children and attack women with force.

The U.C was shocked and angered by the attack. From miles away, they heard the screams and explosions coming from the city. They watched the buildings blow up and the ground around the city explode from artillery. The C.F’s attack was sudden and too quick for the U.C to come in. Col. Melford lead the two brigades toward the razed town. They got to the Okinhee river but were surprise attacked by C.F artillery.

Melford assumed all of Fisloff’s artillery were at the wall, firing at long range targets. It turned out Fisloff brought 500 artillery with him to attack the U.C’s forces across the river. Fisloff expected the brigades moves and ordered the artillery to fire when the U.C got into sight near the river. For the second time, Fisloff surprised Ford’s forces with a sudden, brutal attack.

Infantry and artillery fired at the U.C forces near the river; cannon balls and shrapnel killed and wounded many soldiers. Melford was leading the first brigade when the attack occurred. He was wounded by an explosion on his left arm. He was brought back and the brigades were forced to make a decision. The brigades moved back and waited till night.

At night, the C.F assumed the United Confederation either retreated and, if still there, were all dead. They went into houses and businesses and made the night.

When the brigades sneaked to the river in spying condition, they discover the Okinhee Bridge was still standing, meaning they could enter the city. Melford was replaced by Col. Frederick. Frederick ordered the artillery in the U.C back to fire, at the same time the infantry crossed the bridge.

When the U.C crossed, the C.F were actually prepared, but not for long. Instantly artillery blasted buildings into fireballs and debris. C.F soldiers were killed and wounded, many receiving permanent injuries. However, the C.F on the northernmost side of the town were not injured and they attacked soon. The two forces fired within town corners, with heavy gunfire and occasional tank fire, until the C.F decided to retreat back to the wall.

The two U.C brigades looked through Francisburg. Only 18 out of 34 buildings were standing, 3 were intact. Of the city’s population now, about 4543 of the city’s 5138 were casualties. There were only 595 survivors in Francisburg when the U.C arrived. Most of them were children, who were too afraid and traumatized to tell how it happened. Few adults that were found were tortured and almost dead. The U.C brigades apologized for the battle taking place as near to the town and rested outside the town.

During the same day, the third brigade moved up the northeast route to the right flank of the C.F’s forces. They got to the river faster than the other brigades as the battle was focused on the city, not one the east side. They crossed the river till they were in a position similar to that of the two other brigades at the same time. They had few casualties, the few was caused by occasional artillery but most were wounds.

The second day began when C.F artillery opened on the town. U.C forces ordered the remaining residents of Francisburg to go south for food and supplies. The U.C forces hurried in two parts, one brigade focusing on the left flank and other on the middle flank, towards the stone wall. Artillery was shot on long distance towards the troops. Soon, the U.C couldn’t advance because the area was too rocky. They stood at the area waiting for artillery to run out to attack. But when the cannons stopped, the infantry charged down at the forces. The infantry, prepared for charge but not attack, tried a counter attack but failed. Many of the soldiers were killed and wounded, including Frederick, whose hand was shot off. Both brigades had heavy fighting on the left side.

On the right, the third brigade got to the wall because the area wasn’t steep. They managed to flank the C.F’s right flank and get to the rear. They went towards the right flank but were soon attacked too. The U.N realized the flanking maneuver was too weak because the C.F was firing at them from the wall, they simply got to the other side of the wall and attacked. Because of the wall, the U.N could only go east than south.

All brigades retreated southward until they got across the Okinhee river. The Battle of Francisburg was a decisive Communist Federation victory as the forces got the three brigades southward and therefore got control of the roads around Francisburg. Of casualties, the C.F lost 20,000 and the U.C lost 30,000 infantry, they lost 4000 and 3000 artillery(the U.C artillery was on the other side of Okinhee river so infantry attacks didn’t kill, they rather died from blast from other artillery.) and they lost 500 and 700 men in armored vehicles.

After the battle ended, the C.F reached the Okinhee river as the U.N retreated south. The U.C believed the C.F would stop fighting onwards, but an attack a week later would change their thoughts of what happened after Francisburg.

Francisburg was the first major battle in the Dillusian War as large numbers of C.F and U.C forces were lost and fought.