Battle of DM-3-1123 b

"Enemy forces lacked basic cohesion but quickly gained numerical superiority."

- Assessment in a Forerunner after-action report

The Battle of DM-3-1123 b was a naval as well as planetary battle in the Forerunner-Flood war.

Overview
The Flood attacked the planet designated DM-3-1123 b with 149 captured non-military (civilian, private, or commercial) Forerunner vessels, and while the Forerunner naval defenses were able to destroy all the Flood vessels with their advanced weaponry, the sole intent of the Flood was not to fight an orbital battle, but rather to land on the surface and disperse their forces to infect the local Forerunner population. While disorganized and lacking unit cohesion, the sheer number of Flood overwhelmed the Forerunner ground forces, and within 32 hours, the Forerunner fleet in orbit evacuated all population centers that had not yet been engaged and infected by the Flood attack, and bombarded the planet from orbit, completely destroying the biosphere of DM-3-1123 b, hence destroying all Flood forces on the ground. The Forerunner evacuation was able to save well over one million people and denizens, but this only amounted to about 0.0006% of the population, which totaled more than 2.25 billion.