| Victor Radcliff's Winter Campaign | |||||||
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| Part of Atlantean War of Independence | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| United States of Atlantis | Britain | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Victor Radcliff Habbakuk Biddiscombe | William Howe Various unnamed commanders |
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Victor Radcliff's Winter Campaign was a series of battles fought during the first winter of the Atlantean War of Independence. After a summer and autumn of Atlantean military defeats (even though they were costly victories for the British), the Army of the Atlantean Assembly went into winter quarters.[1] Cavalry captain Habakkuk Biddiscombe learned of the vulnerability of British outposts strung out in the countryside leading away from the Atlantic, including Hanover. With some minor prodding from Biddiscombe, Radcliff decided to campaign.[2] After further scouting, Radcliff's army attacked and captured three outposts: Sudbury,[3] Halstead,[4] and Pittman's Ferry. Sudbury and Halstead both fell with relative ease, as the British were completely surprised by this unorthodox campaign.
At Pittman's Ferry British pickets actually saw the Atlanteans approach and reported it to the British captain at the outpost. Amazingly the Atlanteans still managed to take the outpost by surprise, as the angry captain admitted that he assumed no one would dare conduct a campaign in winter.[5]
Radcliff gained enough confidence to march toward the Atlantic, and managed to briefly recapture Weymouth before being shelled by Royal Navy warships and being compelled to evacuate.[6]
The Winter Campaign did much to sustain and even improve Atlantean morale as the war entered its second year. It helped that numerous European military officers such as Baron von Steuben drilled the Atlanteans and turned them into a semi-European force. And while it assured the Europeans that Atlantis was a force to be reckoned with, it didn't come close to firing up Great Britain's natural enemy, France, as General William Howe's invasion of French Atlantis did the following summer.
Notes[]
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