Operation Morning Star[2] was a joint British-American military operation which saw the liberation of the United Kingdom from the Chimera. The campaign began on July 11, 1951 and ended in the Battle of London on July 14. The destruction of the central Chimeran tower resulted in the en masse deaths of all Chimera on British soil and marked the first human victory against the Chimera in the Chimeran War.
Background[]
- Main article: Chimeran invasion of the United Kingdom
Mainland Europe was conquered by the Chimera within less than a few months after their sudden invasion in December 1949. The United Kingdom became the last European nation opposed to the Chimera. Despite having established an impregnable defense network from behind the English Channel, Britain was invaded by the Chimera in October 1950 after the aliens dug underneath the channel and directly attacked London.[3] Within less than three months, the cities fell to Crawler infestations and British military forces were nearly decimated and forced to retreat to scattered military bases and outposts in northern England. Britain was effectively conquered and the Chimera began excavating Chimeran towers on British soil while remnants of the British military were reduced to conducting a guerrilla war against the invaders.[4]
Since the outbreak of the Chimeran War, the United States government had provided limited support to the United European Defence until Europe's downfall. Thereafter, the U.S. government turned even further inward in protecting its mainland, closing its borders to refugees and censoring all knowledge of the Chimera's existence from the American public.[5]
In July 1951, the British managed to capture a Angel, a high-ranking Chimera that controlled the lesser Chimera strains. In desperation, the British contacted the U.S. government and offered the Angel to them in exchange for supplies and reinforcements. The Americans agreed to the exchange in which a task force and 12,000 men from the 1st Ranger Regiment and 3rd Ranger Regiment under General R. Hadley was sent to York to rendezvous with a British convoy carrying the Angel during Operation Deliverance.[5] The location was selected due to the presence of sparse Chimeran forces.
Operation Deliverance[]
- Main article: Operation Deliverance
On July 11, American forces arrived off the coast of York and flew to the city to secure a landing site. However, the Americans were ambushed by heavy Chimeran forces that led to the deaths or infections of all 5,000 men.[5] The disaster was due to the actions of the Cloven, who, for reasons unknown, lured the Chimera to York before the Americans even arrived.[6] Nonetheless, only one man survived: Sergeant Nathan Hale, a test subject of Project Abraham, who developed superhuman abilities similar to the Chimera's.
The British convoy was ambushed in Manchester while en route to York, and many of the convoy's escorts were killed or captured. However, the British, with the help of Nathan Hale, regained control of the convoy and transported the Angel to Northern Command in Cheshire.[7] The British delayed their exchange with the Americans and focused on sealing a Chimeran tunnel nexus in Nottingham in Operation Shear. Hale again supported the British with his adapted Chimeran abilities in foiling the Chimera's operations and unintentionally stopping their attempts to excavate a tower, which goes against the British's knowledge that the towers in Britain were built.
Shortly thereafter, the Chimera launched a surprise attack on Northern Command in another attempt to rescue the Angel. However, the Angel was killed by Hale after it tried to control his mind and Northern Command was left abandoned.[8]
Southern Command, the last British command post in Bristol, was soon attacked and destroyed by the Chimera, forcing the British to flee to Cardiff.[9] Hale chose not to evacuate with the British and instead follow the conduits of the Chimeran towers to London, where he concluded that destroying the hub tower in the city would somehow defeat the Chimera in Britain.[10] Hale relayed this information to British intelligence officer Captain Rachel Parker, who saw no other choice but to follow Hale's plans. The American task force regrouped with the British at Cardiff and were convinced by Parker to join in the assault on London. With 20,000 soldiers, along with tanks and air support, the combined British-American forces marched to London.[11]
Battle of London[]
The Battle of London.
The Allied forces entered London almost unscathed and were given a short amount of time to attack the tower and its defenders before Chimeran reinforcements would later arrive. Allied ground forces crossed Tower Bridge before Goliaths, which situated near the inner defenses of the hub tower on the side of the Thames River opposite to the advancing human forces, were on the move in destroying the Allied forces.[12]
Several task forces were sent to prevent the Goliaths' advances by destroying several major bridges on the Thames. Task Force Five, led by Lieutenant Stephen Cartwright, attempted to destroy the last bridge, Southwark Bridge, but were wiped out by a Spire missile. Hale carried out Task Force Five's mission in which he detonated Southwark Bridge, destroying the Goliaths that were crossing the bridge. Only one Goliath crossed the bridge but was destroyed in battle by Hale and Cartwright in a commandeered Stalker.[12]
While the Allied forces faced heavy resistance from the Chimeran horde, infiltrated the tower but the latter was injured by a Widowmaker that was guarding the entrance, forcing him to stay behind.[13] Hale journeyed alone and fought his way up to the tower where he was joined by U.S. soldiers. They reached the tower's central power core and destroyed its reactor by shooting its power rods, which resulted in a massive explosion that demolished the tower. This in turn ignited a chain reaction throughout the tower network in Britain, destroying the other towers and killing the Angels dwelling inside of them. Without the Angels, every Chimeran creature on British soil quickly died out en masse within minutes.[13]
Aftermath[]
Britain was freed from the Chimera and the victory in London marked a turning point for humanity's war against the Chimera. With combat subsided, British soldiers were sent to find survivors throughout the country in which they found a total of 921 people, including 78 children, hidden in bunkers and basements.[13] The ruined towers were investigated and its technologies salvaged to be reverse engineered.[13]
The outcome of the Battle of London exposed the Chimera's dependency on the Angels and the towers' weakness which would later be implemented in the liberation of Western Europe in Operation Overstrike.
All American soldiers that survived in Britain were recalled back to the United States after the Battle of London.[14] Nathan Hale, the man responsible for Britain's liberation, was never found and the U.S. Army officially listed him as killed in action. In reality, Hale survived his ordeal and was extracted by the Special Research Projects Administration, who were responsible for Hale's superhuman condition, and recruited him into the Sentinel Program.[13]
References[]
- ^ Nathan Hale is officially listed as K.I.A. as part of SRPA's coverup.
- ^ "Resistance: Fall of Man" story trailer
- ^ Timeline retrieved from the official Resistance website.
- ^ Timeline retrieved from the official Resistance website.
- ^ a b c Resistance: Fall of Man, campaign level York
- ^ York Set Up
- ^ Resistance: Fall of Man, campaign level Manchester
- ^ Resistance: Fall of Man, campaign level Cheshire
- ^ Resistance: Fall of Man, campaign level Bristol
- ^ Resistance: Fall of Man, campaign level Bracknell
- ^ Resistance: Fall of Man, campaign level London
- ^ a b Resistance: Fall of Man, campaign level Thames
- ^ a b c d e Resistance: Fall of Man, campaign level Tower
- ^ Seen on the newspaper in the cinematic intro of Resistance: Retribution
| Operation Morning Star | |
|---|---|
| Operation Deliverance · Battle of Manchester · Operation Shear · Siege of Northern Command · Siege of Southern Command · Battle of London | |