Dying New Galasia

[Aerandariel]

11 DOSA, 1584
Battle of Rhine, Third Day
General Belisarius's Command

The third day of the Battle of Rhine moved quietly. Little activity was heard of; Regime commanders could no longer risk more planes on Rhine when an even larger battle was still to come further south. What few ships they had they evacuated to bases in and around Alsace, in an effort to better defend the capital.

In the late morning, General Belisarius ordered his army of 150,000 across the Drazen-Angiris border with a course set for the city of Rhine, finally initiating the ground invasion of Drazen. It took three hours for the Imperial troops to cross the border, reaching the city limits of Rhine by five in the evening. At the same time, 65,000 Regime troops marched into the city itself and some advance units began moving into attack position against Belisarius's center III Corps. Some gunfire was exchanged, but there were no known casualties. Much of the day was spend moving troops into position for what was sure to be the real battle the next day.

11 DOSA, 1584
Southern Aranoch
Emperor Tyrael's Command

With Belisarius preparing to move on Rhine, Emperor Tyrael's force of 60,000 departed Columbiana with its sights set on eastern and southern Drazen. Along the way, the Emperor would survey the damage at the Arcane Sanctuary Base and see if his forces could help rebuild. With that, another 40,000 were on their way to spread themselves between eastern Drazen and western Eastmarch. 15,000 of those troops would join Tyrael's army, while the remaining 25,000 would serve as the guard force.

Mid-afternoon on the 11th, Tyrael's army reached the frontiers of Aranoch with another day or two's worth of movement ahead of them to reach Drazen.