Editing Second Battle of Mombasa

{{Era|HCW}}
{{Not Canon}}
{{battle
|prev=
|conc=[[Battle of Earth]]
|next=
|name= Second Battle of Mombasa
|image= [[File:Time to Believe.jpg|300px]]
|conflict=[[Human-Covenant war]]
|date=November 2552 (seven days)
|place=[[Mombasa]], [[Kenya]], [[Earth]]
|result= Apparent UNSC victory
|side1= United Nations Space Command
|side2= Covenant Empire
|commanders1=Unknown
|commanders2=Unidentified Jiralhanae chieftain
|forces1= *[[UNSC Marine Corps]]
**[[77th Marine Regiment|77<sup>th</sup> Marine Regiment]]
**[[506th Tank Regiment|506<sup>th</sup> Tank Regiment]]
|forces2= *[[Covenant Army]]
**[[Jiralhanae]]
**[[Mgalekgolo]]
**[[Unggoy]]
**[[Kig-yar]]
|casual1=Unknown, probably heavy
|casual2=Unknown, probably heavy
}}

The '''Second Battle of Mombasa''' was a bloody [[List of "seven" references in the Halo series|seven]]-day engagement between [[United Nations Space Command]] and [[Covenant Empire|Covenant]] forces that is depicted in the [[John-117 Monument]] in the [[Museum of Humanity]]; it took place in the weeks immediately after the [[Prophet of Regret]]'s retreat to [[Halo Array|Halo]] [[Installation 05]], lasting until [[SPARTAN-II Program|SPARTAN]] [[John 117]]'s return to Earth aboard the [[Prophet of Truth]]'s [[Forerunner Dreadnought]]. The battle itself, or at least some of the events depicted, never actually occurred, but it serves as a summary of the final days of the [[Human-Covenant War]] and [[SPARTAN-II Program|SPARTAN]] [[John-117]]'s ultimate sacrifice.<ref name="mombasa">[http://halo3.com/believe/test/shell.html '''Halo 3.com:''' ''Belive'']</ref><ref group="note">This battle was portrayed in the ''[[Believe]]'' advertising campaign prior to ''Halo 3''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s release. The fashion in which it is portrayed is considered to be non-canonical. Microsoft was not aware of ''Halo 3''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s story during the development of the ''Believe'' campaign, and the battle is not depicted in ''Halo 3'' or any concurrent or subsequent media, such as ''Halo: Uprising''. The fate of New Mombasa as depicted in the diorama was later contradicted: ''Halo 3: ODST'' reveals that the city sustained relatively minor damage during Regret's escape and was glassed hours later, and that a protracted battle never occurred in the city's ruins. However, the [[Museum of Humanity]] has since been canonized in the ''[[Halo: Reach Limited Edition|Limited]]'' and ''[[Halo: Reach Legendary Edition|Legendary Editions]]'' of ''[[Halo: Reach]]''.</ref>

==Background==
On [[2552#October|October 20, 2552]], the [[Prophet of Regret]], having suffered heavy casualties during his forces' invasion of [[Mombasa]], entered [[Slipstream space|slipspace]] from within the city, unleashing a powerful explosion that caused great damage to the city - heavy enough to sever the city's [[New Mombasa Orbital Elevator|space tether]], causing its catastrophic collapse onto the [[Kenya]]n savanna. The remaining Covenant and UNSC ground forces surged forward into the city to secure whatever tactical advantage the ruins might have held. Elements from both the [[77th Marine Regiment]] and the [[506th Tank Regiment]] battled furiously for the ruins, with snipers from both sides taking a heavy toll upon the enemy. After seven days of battle, the Marines were nearly beaten; however, John-117's arrival turned the tide in the UNSC's favor.

==Timeline==
===Battle for the landing zone===
The battle began on the outskirts of New Mombasa, where UNSC and Covenant forces engaged each other in a bitter fight for control of a landing zone. The UNSC never gained full control of it, always being pushed back by the Covenant whenever they seemed to secure it and vice versa.

===The northern bridge falls===
Despite a valiant defense by the Marines, they had no means to hold the bridge to the north. With [[Jiralhanae]] forces surging over it and hitting the Marines' vulnerable flanks, there was only one option remaining. At 14:00, the order came through to destroy the bridge, thus forcing the enemy down into the valley where UNSC trenches lay to slaughter the enemy with fire from elevated positions. However, this was not the case as the Covenant forces had already begun to surge down the trenches with the destruction of the bridge.

===The hill===
The defense of the hill was the most ferocious and bloody engagement of the battle; two thirds of the defending UNSC forces became casualties at this bottleneck. After the second bridge was destroyed, the trenches at the foot of the hill, despite a last-ditch defensive measure, came under heavy attack, garnering heavy Marine casualties.

===Snipers===
Snipers from both sides battled for control, with UNSC snipers fighting on one end of the destroyed southern bridge and Covenant [[Kig-yar Sniper|Kig-yar snipers]] halting Marines outside the landing zone before being routed by UNSC infantry and tanks.

===The 506th arrive===
Tasked with securing a road to the southern bridge span, the 506th Tank Regiment plowed forward, taking heavy casualties. Though outnumbered, they took their objective, leaving a path for the second wave of Marine infantry to follow.

===John-117's gambit===
At the top of the "hill" bottleneck, SPARTAN John-117 launched a gambit to retake the hill for the UNSC forces, by allowing himself to be captured by Jiralhanae forces there. As he was being held aloft by the [[Jiralhanae Chieftain|chieftain]] in command of the attacking forces, John ignited a [[Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenade|Type-1 plasma grenade]]. This presumably killed the chieftain, but also led to the belief that the Spartan had been killed; decades later, Marine survivors of the battle maintained that John had been killed.

==Notable UNSC combatants==
The following are UNSC servicemen who are featured notably in the John-117 Monument. Some of the survivors of the battle were interviewed during the filming of the ''[[Believe]]'' documentary, which details the battle and the sacrifice of John-117.
*'''[[Pawel Czernek]]'''- Now-[[Major]] Pawel Czernek was active for thirty years in the UNSC from [[2551]] to [[2581]]. By [[2610]], he is one of the few living survivors of the battle and Museum of Humanity]]. In the ''Believe'' documentary, he related his role in the battle, and that of John-117, while examining a diorama of the battle, part of which depicts his story.<ref name="Museum">[[Museum]]</ref>
*'''[[Ian Callahan]]'''- Callahan was captured by Kig-yar during the battle. As he was about to be killed, he was rescued by  fellow Marine, whose face he never saw.<ref name="Museum"/>
*'''[[James Dessen]]'''- Corporal James Dessen was posthumously awarded the [[UNSC Legion of Honor]] for his extraordinary bravery during the battle.<ref name="mombasa"/>
*'''[[Thomas P. Porter]]'''- Porter served as [[M808B Main Battle Tank|M808B Scorpion tank]] driver during the battle. In the ''Believe'' documentary, he discussed the experience of driving a tank during combat.<ref name="mombasa"/>
*'''[[Thomas Chang]]'''- Sergeant Chang was a veteran of numerous battles with the Covenant, including the [[Battle of Installation 04]], and successfully completed the task of securing a forward headquarters during the battle. He was killed during a Covenant air assault.<ref name="mombasa"/>   
*'''[[Jackson Law]]'''- Law was the sole survivor of a [[M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle|Warthog]] patrol during the battle. He sustained serious injuries when his Warthog was destroyed by Covenant plasma bombardment, which he describe in the documentary.<ref name="mombasa"/>   
*'''[[Sian Wong]]'''- Wong served as a sniper during the battle. Sustained severe burn injuries from a retaliatory [[Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft|Banshee]] strike, which he discussed in the documentary.<ref name="mombasa"/>   
*'''[[Russel Tinnier]]'''- Tinnier was assigned to the destroy the bridge, which proved critical in the early stages of the battle. He described the experience in ''Believe''.<ref name="mombasa"/>
*'''[[Thomas C. Meyer]]'''- Meyer used his rocket launcher to destroy the bridge alongside Tinnier. He was also interviewed for the documentary.<ref name="mombasa"/>   
*'''[[Emmanuel Lomax|Emmanuel "Emmet" Lomax]]'''- "Emmet" Lomax encountered SPARTAN John-117 after receiving four hours of sleep in a derelict building. He described the experience for the documentary.<ref name="mombasa"/>
*'''[[Caio Zanato]]'''- Zanato was the sole survivor of his squad; He was then promoted to the rank of [[Private First Class]], though he stated, ''"I got the job because I was the only one in my squad still alive."'' He was widely renowned for his driving ability.<ref name="mombasa"/>
*'''[[Niraj Shah]]''' - Shah was a sniper during the battle on the hill. During the filming of the ''Believe'' documentary, he guided the film crew around the spot where John-117 was allegedly killed.<ref name="mombasa"/>

==Theories==
{{Conjecture}}
As the diorama was supposedly made as part of a museum display many years after the war, it may have been an intentional distortion of what actually happened by the [[Office of Naval Intelligence#Section Two|Office of Naval Intelligence's Section Two]], perhaps in order to prevent knowledge of the [[Halo Array]] and [[the Flood]] from being gained by the general public, and/or to enforce John-117's status as a near-mythical heroic figure. This would fit with the fact that there has been no further mention of the battle.

As seen in ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'', the explosion caused by Regret's escape caused relatively superficial damage to the city, rather than razing it, which occurred according to the ''Believe'' campaign. On the morning of October 21st, 2552, the entire city and the surrounding area were [[Glassing|glassed]] by the Covenant in order to unearth the [[The Portal|portal structure]]. When John-117 returned to Earth on November 17, he fought in the [[Tsavo]] region and in the town of [[Voi]], though he never returned to Mombasa.

John-117's capture by a [[Jiralhanae]] [[Jiralhanae Chieftain|chieftain]] and his use of a grenade to escape might have been influenced by similar events inside the [[Forerunner Dreadnought]] before it arrived at Earth, where the SPARTAN was indeed captured by a Brute and interrogated, before sticking his captor with a plasma grenade and escaping.<ref>'''Halo: Uprising''', ''[[Halo: Uprising Issue 2|Issue 2]]''</ref>
{{Conjecture end}}

==Note==
<references group="note"/>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Halo3 panoramaA 001-1-.jpg|Marine fire teams defeat Covenant forces outside the landing zone.
File:Halo3 diorama 1352-1-.jpg|The Covenant advance is halted by the destruction of the northern bridge.
File:Halo3 panoramaC 001-1-.jpg|Marines fall under the relentless advance of the Covenant.
File:Halo3 diorama 0749-2-.jpg|The snipers of the 77th Marines pick off Covenant soldiers from their elevated position.
File:Halo3 panoramaB 006-1-.jpg|The 506th Tank Regiment arrives, relieving the beleaguered UNSC forces.
File:Halo3 panoramaD 001-1-.jpg|John-117 is triumphantly held aloft the Jiralhanae chieftain
File:Halo3 panoramaA 096.jpg|The Marines of the 77th Regiment engage Jiralhanae forces.
</gallery>

==Sources==
<references/>

{{Human-Covenant War}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mombasa}}