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- "I know we're losing. I want to know if we've lost"
- — Catherine-B320
The Siege of New Alexandria was a major engagement between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant within the city of New Alexandria on Reach that occurred from August 18th to August 23rd, 2552. Major evacuations of civilians took place during the battle. The raid ended with the glassing of the city. More than 5,000 civilians and soldiers were successfully evacuated out of the city; however, hundreds more were killed as they tried to escape.[1][2]
Battle
Though the supercarrier Long Night of Solace had been destroyed by UNSC forces, the arrival of Covenant reinforcements in the Epsilon Eridani System ensured the initiative remained with the Covenant. On August 18, they dispatched a large Jiralhanae-led raiding force to the city of New Alexandria. Heavy fighting raged on the ground and many civilians were killed. By August 23, at least three corvettes had arrived to support the Covenant forces, causing the UNSC Naval support in the area to scatter.[1]
Evacuation effort
By August 23, the situation in New Alexandria had reached crisis point. The battle had raged for five days, as the human defenders fought fiercely against the Covenant advance. However, the fight in orbit was going badly, and the Covenant managed to punch through the UNSC's orbital line and support the assault on New Alexandria with three Corvettes, which dominated the sky over the city, turning the battle in the Covenant's favor. On the morning of August 23rd, SPARTAN-B312 entered the city after surviving the destruction of Long Night of Solace. The UNSC was attempting to evacuate civilians from Traxus Tower to the starport, but Covenant forces had blocked their efforts. UNSC troopers escorting a group of civilians were engaged by Jiralhanae forces when Noble Six intervened. Led by the Spartan, the troopers managed to overcome the Covenant opposition to secure an elevator leading to the cargo port and Traxus Tower. Before Noble Six could arrive, however, one of the Corvettes demolished the tower. A local executive landing pad provided the only accessible evacuation point, but the structure of the city made it difficult to reach. ODST specialists, the "Bullfrogs", equipped with jet packs, were preparing to secure the executive landing pad when Noble Six arrived at the cargo port. The ODST's accepted the help of the Spartan immediately, and the group began battling their way across the city. The elite team cut their way through the Covenant forces in possession of the landing pad and cleared the way for Pelicans to pick up evacuating civilians.
A Falcon picked up Noble Six, and took off toward New Alexandria's harbor, with Noble Six providing fire support for engaged UNSC ground forces as they flew. Civilian evacuations were directed to the New Alexandria Starport, where several large civilian transports were conducting a large scale evacuation of 5,000 civilians. The Covenant, however, anticipated the move and deployed ground forces to capture the starport while a Corvette took position overhead. One panicked transport pilot lifted off to avoid the Covenant ground troops, and the Corvette immediately shot the defenseless ship down. Drastic action was needed. If the UNSC forces could not drive off the Corvette, the Covenant ground forces would eventually breach the starport landing bay and slaughter the refugees. If they ordered the transports to attempt escape, the Corvette would simply destroy them. The UNSC's only chance of driving off the Covenant warship were two anti-aircraft missile batteries in Caracalla Park, but Covenant troops had captured the area. SPARTAN-B312 was deployed at the park to lead a counterattack.
Sergeant Major Duvall, in charge of the evacuation efforts at the starport and the commander of troops at Caracalla park, ordered SPARTAN-B312 to reactivate two missile batteries placed around Caracalla Park. With the missiles, Duvall hoped to distract the corvette for long enough so that the civilian transports could slip past and escape the city. The batteries were reactivated successfully, and the barrage of missiles badly damaged the corvette and forced it to retreat. With this threat removed, the transports launched immediately resulting in thousands of civilians escaping the besieged city.[1]
Nightfall
By nightfall on August 23rd, the situation had deteriorated further for the UNSC forces, as the Covenant had placed communication jammers on numerous buildings throughout the city, severing communications between the surviving UNSC troops and Command. SPARTAN-B312, having rejoined Noble Team, was tasked with destroying the jammers in spite of the now-overwhelming Covenant air superiority. Noble Six eliminated all three jammers and aided other UNSC troops trapped in the ruined city. However, multiple CCS-class Battlecruisers arrived during this time and began glassing sections of the city. SPARTAN-B312 assisted in the evacuation of the Office of Naval Intelligence's headquarters, the Olympic Tower, by providing air support against numerous anti-aircraft Shade turrets, and rejoined Noble Team inside the building. As the group received new orders from Colonel Urban Holland, the Covenant evacuated their remaining ground forces and began full glassing of the area, forcing Noble Team to flee. Catherine-B320 was killed by a Sangheili sniper, though the rest of the team were able to escape into a radiation bunker beneath the building and survived the subsequent destruction of the city. The survivors of Noble Team were airlifted from the city three days later.[2]
UNSC forces
Military units
Army
Marine Corps
Airborne assets
- UNSC Stalwart Dawn
- Delta 15 (Destroyed)
- 6 Echo 2 (Destroyed)
- 7 Echo 3
Personnel
Army
Marine Corps
List of appearances
- Halo: Reach (First appearance)
Sources