Naval Battles of the Great War, Volume III
Naval Battles of the Great War, Volume III
by Captain Arsenius Silvanus, Vice Commodore of the Imperial Naval Institute
Chapter 3: The Battle of Anvil Harbor
The aftermath of the Battle of the Chain left the coastlines of western Cyrodiil and southern Hammerfell completely vulnerable to the amphibious Aldmeri invasions. While Commodore Orelius was fighting the corsairs in Cespar and Herne, the Altmer commanders split the army and assaulted the Empire from three fronts. On the 4th of Sun’s Dusk, 4E 171, Lady Arannelya crossed into West Colovia and marched towards Anvil. The Imperial Legion was aware of the Aldmeri presence in Valenwood through Penitus Oculatus contacts with anti-Thalmor Bosmer resistance groups, and as soon as General Darius Pontus received the intelligence, he immediately fortified Anvil for an assault. When the scouts reported a large troop movement across Strid River, General Pontus and his Legion prepared to meet the Aldmeri army. While most of the officers in the Imperial Legion expected to easily defeat the Old Mary, General Pontus was a cautious man. In addition to the force coming out of Valenwood, he expected an amphibious invasion on the city of Anvil itself. If the Legion met the Aldmeri troops outside Anvil, the city would be left vulnerable. Further, he could not underestimate the combined power of infamous Altmer mages and the legendary Bosmer rangers of Valenwood. Direct engagement in open battle would decimate the Legion before they could even get close. General Pontus decided instead to defend and hold Anvil through a siege and buy time for the rest of the Imperial Legion to consolidate its forces and coordinate a proper counter-offensive.
While General Pontus was certainly not wrong in his assessment and strategy, his wariness would prove to be disastrous for the Empire. When the Aldmeri forces actually assaulted Anvil, it was by sea and not by land. In preparation for a siege, the every Imperial Navy ship in Anvil was moored in the harbor. Instead of landing the troops to assault the city itself, the Altmeri ships simply sailed along the harbor and bombarded the moored Imperial vessels from a safe distance from Imperial archers and battlemages. When all the ships in the harbor were destroyed, the Aldmeri Navy bombarded Anvil all night before leaving as suddenly as they had arrived. By the time General Pontus realized what was going on, he received a message from scouts reporting that the Aldmeri army from Valenwood was now preparing to cross Brena River. Lady Arannelya had completely bypassed Anvil and Kvatch, and having been played for a fool and lost the entire Gold Coast Fleet, infuriated General Pontus took all his troops from Anvil and pursued the Aldmeri army hoping to defeat them before they could cross into Hammerfell. But once he reached the river, the Aldmeri army was nowhere to be found except a large number of Altmeri ships sailing out into the Abecean Sea.
Chapter 4: The Battle of Lainebon Beach
Meanwhile, a smaller Aldmeri force under the command of Lord Tyrandil landed at the eastern bank of Irk River. The Imperial Legion in Gilane was quickly alerted, and General Edwyn Baro of the Imperial Legion sent envoys to Sentinel and Taneth to coordinate a defense from a town east of Alik’r Desert called Riverview. The armies in Taneth will hold the city while the Imperial Legion and Redguard armies attacked the Aldmeri army from the north. To their surprise, however, the Aldmeri army crossed over to the western bank and began to march towards Lainebon. The sudden turn of events drew out the armies from Gilane and Taneth into pursuit. The Forebears of Taneth and the Crowns of Gilane raced between themselves expecting to win an easy victory against the Aldmeri Dominion despite the warnings from General Baro. If the Forebears defeated the elves, they would have the upper hand in the politics of Hammerfell over the Crowns, and vice-versa. The army from Sentinel was only crossing through Dak’fron when the disunited armies from Taneth and Gilane engaged the Aldmeri force under Lord Tyrandil just outside the city of Lainebon along Hew’s Bay.
The Redguard commanders ordered a direct assault on the Aldmeri army that was waiting at Lainebon Beach, and despite suffering heavy casualties, the soldiers of Hammerfell pushed through forcing Lord Tyrandil to move his troops out of the beach. When the soldiers saw the Aldmeri troops retreating, they began to pursue the elves. Suddenly, Lord Tyrandil ordered his troops to turn around and hold position at the beachfront. Though the Redguards did not understand his tactics at first, they quickly realized a large fleet of Aldmeri ships approaching the beach. The fleet was under the command of Lady Arannelya, and it was carrying the troops that had escaped General Pontus in Colovia. The magickal bombardment from both sides of the beach quickly threw the Redguard army into chaos and some of the Forebears and the Crowns even resorted to fighting amongst themselves to escape the inferno. Only General Baro was able to rally the legionnaires and safely retreat to Riverview in order to reinforce the Imperial Legion from Sentinel. In a matter of few hours, the Redguard army was defeated and completely scattered, and Lord Tyrandil and Lady Arannelya consolidated their armies to meet the Empire at the eastern edge of Alik’r Desert in another battle that would result in the now-famous March of Thirst.
Taking full advantage of their naval superiority over Abecean Sea, the Aldmeri Dominion was able to effectively maneuver its troops across the entire western coastline of Tamriel. Although the Aldmeri armies were both outnumbered and outmatched on land, the clever strategies of Lady Arannelya and Lord Tyrandil allowed the Dominion to divide and defeat one-by-one the larger and more powerful armies of the Imperial Legion. The Imperial defeat at the eastern edge of Alik’r Desert following the Battle of Lainebon Beach shocked the Empire and forced the Imperial Legion to commit more troops to the Colovian Highlands to defend Cyrodiil from the Aldmeri army in Hammerfell. But it only ended up dividing and overextending the Imperial Legion across Cyrodiil allowing the main Aldmeri army under Lord Naarifin waiting in Elsweyr to capture Leyawiin at the long and bloody Battle of Topal Bay where the fate of the Empire would be sealed.