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Around midday the main column broke camp and began to move forward again. The other armoured/mech battlegroup headed northeast and began a river crossing several kilometres upstream of the previous day's battle, while the main mechanised and artillery group headed south, around a bend in the river. The advance GF forced shadowed, and during the day directed several artillery strikes onto New Farringdon columns, although pressure of ammunition meant that their number and duration were limited.

3207.227
As dawn broke, the New Farringdon artillery bombarded the city of Arushage, aiming at the militia headquarters, although it was heavily dug in and casualties were light. There was some accurate counter-battery fire by the AMC8 self-propelled guns. See defences of the City of Arushage
By about 9am the New Farringdon forces had advanced to within 10km of the city of Arushage on both sides of the river. Their artillery stopped to deploy, protected by one mechanised battalion. 50 IFU GF troopers mounted a spoiling attack, which managed to destroy 30 or more artillery pieces and disrupt many of the others, but accurate return artillery fire caused a dozen casualties and the GF withdrew, pursued by harrassing barrages.
An IFU airstrike hit New Farringdon rear areas, where a transport and mechanised column was forming up.
The New Farringdon advance resumed. A mech battalion crossed to the north of the river, so that the northern attack now comprised 1 armoured and 1 1/2 mechanised battalions, while the central attack was a full mechanised brigade.
AMC8 detached its armoured squadron of 13 tanks, plus some GF troopers in support, to hold a position around the village of Wainwright Falls and delay the New Farringdon advance. The AMC8 flyer gunships strafed the column as it approached, knocking out two tanks.
In return, heavy New Farringdon airstrikes destroyed eight of the 10 self-propelled guns positioned east of Arushage.

Around midday, the AMC8 force at Wainwright Falls was engaged by the northern New Farringdon attack, in the only tank vs tank action Insider III has ever seen. Seven AMC8 tanks were knocked out, but accurate return fire, especially by anti-tank guided weapons held by the GF troopers, destroyed 10 Few Farringdon tanks and caused two more crews to abandon their vehicles. Several APCs full of infantry were also hit, and when the New Farringdon infantry deployed to storm the position, it was hit by a heavy mortar barrage from support weapons in Arushage. The result was devastating, and the New Farringdon forces suffered over 300 casualties, with the rest of an entire battalion simply giving up. The northern attack had failed to break through, and 13 tanks and 8 GF troopers had turned back a brigade-level attack. The New Farringdon forces withdrew to dig in and lick their wounds. The other, mechanised brigade halted its advance outside mortar range, 5km short of the objective.
The New Farringdon attack had been halted, but not stopped, and news was arriving of New Farringdon marine forces landing near the southern city of Hussagen. The armoured battlegroup detached two days ago was linking up with them for an attack on the fortified city, and the last two companies of regular AMC8 forces were airlifted in to stiffen the defences.

At about 2pm, Frank Buck led the entire remaining GF force in an attack on the New Farringdon artillery park at Lake Regonels, 10km west of Arushage, supported by air and gunship flyer strikes. Although some GF casualties were sustained, the entire artilery group and supporting infantry battalion were routed with heavy casualties.

Later in the afternoon, a New Farringdon assault on Hussagen by 1 armoured, 1 mechanised and 3 marine battalions (against a defending force of 1 milita and 2/3 infantry battalion) was repulsed with heavy casualties.

New Farringdon forces retreated to a picket line and dug in. They had failed to capture their two key objectives, and the New Farringdon government was persuaded to enter into negotiations with the AMC8 government. A ceasefire will be arranged within days, leaving Masumi for one very disappointed that she never got to fly a hovertank in anger.

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While arrangements for a withdrawal of New Farringdon forces are made, AMC8 will ask IFU to complete its training mission. It is quite likely that there will be a bonus payment. IFU have done what was asked of them - which was to blunt a New Farringdon mechanised thrust and make them unable to dictate a peace on their terms.

The final arrangement is that New Farringdon will be allowed to develop a forward base/town 150km or so west of Arushage as a face saving compromise in return for withdrawing its forces from AMC8 territory.

The casualties:
IFU took 14 GF casualties during the engagement (22 actually, but Jim indicated some would likely be just troopers out of action due to getting wounded etc to safety). Rolling these randomly, that ends up as 8 'just a scratch', 4 wounded and 2 dead. None of the casualties were IFU directors. Of the permanent staff, Ray Fullalove and Thundering Mountain (aka Thunderbox) were among the 'scratched'

.That's a win, people!