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The Second Battle of Mombasa was a bloody seven-day engagement between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant in the ruins of the city of New Mombasa, Kenya, on Earth in November 2552. It took place in the weeks immediately after the Prophet of Regret's retreat to Halo Installation 05, lasting until Spartan John 117's return to Earth aboard the Prophet of Truth's Forerunner Dreadnought. The battle is depicted by the John-117 Monument in the Museum of Humanity, completed in 2610.

Background
On October 20, 2552, the Prophet of Regret, having suffered heavy casualties during his forces' invasion of Mombasa, entered slipspace from within the city, unleashing a powerful explosion that caused great damage - heavy enough to sever the city's space tether, causing its catastrophic collapse onto the surrounding savanna.

Overview
The remaining Covenant and UNSC ground forces surged forward into the city to secure whatever tactical advantage the ruins might have held. Elements from the 77th Marine Regiment and the 506th Tank Regiment battled furiously for the ruins, with snipers from both sides taking a heavy toll upon the enemy. After seven days of battle, the Marines were nearly beaten; however, John-117's arrival turned the tide in the UNSC's favor.

Battle for the landing zone
The battle began on the outskirts of New Mombasa, where UNSC and Covenant forces engaged each other in a bitter fight for control of a landing zone. The UNSC never gained full control of it, always being pushed back by the Covenant whenever they seemed to secure it and vice versa.

The northern bridge falls
Despite a valiant defense by the Marines, they had no means to hold the bridge to the north. With Jiralhanae forces surging over it and hitting the Marines' vulnerable flanks, there was only one option remaining. At 14:00, the order came through to destroy the bridge, thus forcing the enemy down into the valley where UNSC trenches lay to slaughter the enemy with fire from elevated positions. However, this was not the case as the Covenant forces had already begun to surge down the trenches with the destruction of the bridge.

The hill
The defense of the hill was the most ferocious and bloody engagement of the battle; two thirds of the defending UNSC forces became casualties at this bottleneck. After the second bridge was destroyed, the trenches at the foot of the hill, despite a last-ditch defensive measure, came under heavy attack, garnering heavy Marine casualties.

Snipers
Snipers from both sides battled for control, with UNSC snipers fighting on one end of the destroyed southern bridge and Covenant Kig-Yar Snipers halting Marines outside the landing zone before being routed by UNSC infantry and tanks.

The 506th arrive
Tasked with securing a road to the southern bridge span, the 506th Tank Regiment plowed forward, taking heavy casualties. Though outnumbered, they took their objective, leaving a path for the second wave of Marine infantry to follow.

John-117's gambit
At the top of the "hill" bottleneck, SPARTAN John-117 launched a gambit to retake the hill for the UNSC forces, by allowing himself to be captured by Jiralhanae forces there. As he was being held aloft by the Jiralhanae Chieftain in command of the attacking forces, John ignited a plasma grenade. This presumably killed the chieftain, but also led to the belief that the Spartan had been killed; decades later, Marine survivors of the battle maintained that John had been killed.

John-117s fate
John-117 was not actually killed during the battle. In reality he was not present at this battle at all being at the Battle of Installation 05 with the, and after returning went missing shortly after the Battle of Voi in November of 2552.

Legacy
This battle would be the subject of numerous interviews in 2595 and 2610, and also the primary subject of the John-117 Monument.

UNSC
The following are UNSC servicemen and civilians who took part in the battle.
 * Ian Callahan
 * Thomas P. Porter
 * Jackson Law
 * Sian Wong
 * Russel Tinnier
 * Thomas C. Meyer
 * Emmanuel "Emmet" Lomax
 * Corporal James Dessen - KIA
 * Sergeant Thomas Chang - KIA via Covenant air assault
 * Private Caio Zanato
 * Major Pawel Czernek
 * Lieutenant John Tippett
 * Lieutenant Niraj Shah
 * Lance Corporal T. B. Williams
 * Master Chief Petty Officer John-117
 * War photographer Jake Courage - KIA via grenade

Covenant
The following Covenant soldiers are using their EC# classifications, this is due to that being the only name they are given.
 * Jiralhanae
 * Chieftain B-010-233 - KIA via SMG fire.
 * Stalker B-021-331 - KIA via sniper fire.
 * War Chieftain B-054-846
 * Minor B-113-421 - KIA via T. B. Williams sniping them.
 * Kig-Yar
 * Sniper J-011-422
 * Unggoy
 * Special Operations G-020-055
 * Mgalekgolo
 * H-133-185

Production notes
The Second Battle of Mombasa was portrayed in the Believe advertising campaign created by Microsoft Studios to promote Halo 3. The game and subsequent media establish that John-117 never returned to Mombasa; instead, the distant city of Voi (around 140 kilometers northwest) serves as the primary battleground for control of the Portal. However, the Museum of Humanity has since been canonized in the Limited and Legendary Editions of Halo: Reach.