Battle of Grunfeld

The Battle of Grunfeld, the first in the Ripuarian Revolution, took place on 8 March 1853 between Lindenholt and the Free Ripuarian Army in the second stage of the revolution after the formation of the Ripuarian National Congress and before the Umber Intervention. Lindian troops commanded by General Alexander Quentemeijer attacked the Ripuarian defense east of the Hove river in an attempt to reach Ripuaria City. The Lindian Army was defeated by an outnumbered Ripuarian army lead by Lauther van Stokfort-Lautherstein

Prelude
After the riots in the province of Ripuaria, the Lindian army was either expelled from Ripuaria or has deserted to join the newly formed Free Ripuarian Army. This has lead to front lines being established in the west in Lerwijk and in the east by the Hove river.

In the western front, the Lindian 1st and 3rd divisions were moving to besiege the poorly defended city of Lerwijk. A siege that has begun on the 6 March and ended with the surrender of the city on 30 March. On the eastern front a much smaller 2nd division of the Lindian army was advancing to set up a perimeter around Ripuaria City. The initial scouting of the region saw a weakened Ripuarian force which made the Lindian commander, Alexander Quentemeijer suggest wrongly that the Ripuarians were greatly outnumbered and outgunned. While he was right that the Ripuarian forces were outnumbered they didn't have a large size disadvantage as expected. Coupled with hidden guns the Ripuarians head the assumption that the Ripuarian forces had no guns proved fatal to Alexander.

Leading up to the battle, the Ripuarian army had devised a plan to entrench in Grunfeld and lure the Lindians into an attack through the Hove river. The Ripuarians relied on the Lindian assumption that they had no guns and that the Lindians could be defeated in a door-to-door battle in the town.

Lindian II Division
On the early morning of 8 March, Alexander Quentemeijer of the 2nd Division began the assault north of Ripuaria City through the Hove river. Lindian artillery torn up the town of Grunfeld. Very quickly the Ripuarian army took positions up the river on the 1st entrenchment line and the 3rd artillery brigade began to fire from Grunfeld. After fours hours of fighting in harsh conditions the Lindian army finally managed to breech the river's entrenchments and push the Ripuarians to their second line of defense in the town of Grunfeld. At this point the battle became bloody for the Lindians as they couldn't retreat safely without taking out the Ripuarian 3rd artillery brigade. What continued was a morally devastated Lindian division rushing to the artillery positions in a bloody struggle. By dusk the Ripuarian artillery had retreated from the town but the infantry brigades continued fighting from the townhouses. The 2nd division of Lindenholt was forced to retreat and take up defensive position on the Hove river.

Grunfeld
The fighting within the town of Grunfeld saw the first usage of the unconventional tactics by the Ripuarian Free Army which had made the battle extremely intense. The Lindians were forced to fight door-to-door battles for survival as attacks from the rooftops and windows took them by surprise. Any Lindian out in the streets and out of cover was quickly found by the Ripuarians and shot. Cavalry saw little use in the battle despite being present in both armies. The only documented uses of cavalry were in the initial crossing of the Hove and the retreat of the Ripuarian artillery.

Aftermath
The battle was won by attrition on the Lindian side. The Ripuarians had engineered a battle landscape that greatly unfavoured the Lindian attack and allowed the Ripuarians tactical superiority that granted low casualties for them. Despite this, the Lindians managed to successfully cross the Hove river and the battle moved to the town. It is estimated by the Ripuarians that as many as 500 civilians died in the door-to-door combat that the Lindians had engaged in. The Free Ripuarian Army relied on the civilian environment to hide their combatants and attack the Lindians at unfavourable positions.

Casualties
While accurate numbers were not counted it is estimated that the Lindians had suffered around 1,600 casualties while the Ripuarians only suffered 900 casualties.