First Battle of Mombasa

The First Battle of Mombasa was a sub-battle of the First Battle of Earth, taking place in late October 2552. Over the course of the battle, Covenant forces captured the city of Mombasa, Kenya and it was quickly retaken in a matter of hours by the UNSC. .

Background
After decrypting Forerunner artifacts, the Covenant had been given Slipspace coordinates to a Forerunner facility highly important in their concept of the Great Journey. Unknown to them, this facility was on the human homeworld, Earth.

During the Battle of Reach, the human AI, Cortana, intercepted the Covenant's plans to move a large fleet to Earth. Unaware of the intentions of the Covenant's plan, the UNSC interpreted it as an attack against their homeworld and implemented Operation: FIRST STRIKE, destroying the invasion force that was intended for securing Earth.

The High Prophet of Regret, wishing to proceed with securing the facility despite the losses, took a force of 15 warships to Earth. Though surprised to find not only a human presence on the planet, but a planet more fortified than any previously encountered human-held world, the Prophet deemed his mission important enough to proceed and utilized many tactics to ensure his safe arrival on the surface. The coordinates provided by the Forerunner information indicated that his quarry was around the area of Mombasa.

Covenant Invasion
During the First Battle of Earth, a single Covenant Carrier (the High Prophet of Regrets' flagship) broke through UNSC Home Fleet defensive lines and landed on Earth. The ship landed at Mombasa in Kenya. The city was lightly defended, with only elements of the 77th Marine Regiment scattered around the city.

The UNSC activated the city's Colonial Militia to fight the Covenant invaders. The Covenant forces proved to be far superior and the Militia was eliminated. However, this allowed for almost all of the citizens of Mombasa to evacuate from the city using boats destined for other surrounding cities.

More UNSC Marine Corps units later poured into the region after the initial attack, including the 405th Marine Infantry Division and the rest of the 77th Marine Regiment.

UNSC Insertion
Three Pelicans were deployed by the In Amber Clad to board the Assault Carrier hovering near the New Mombasa Orbital Elevator. Intercepted transmission from the Covenant forces lead the UNSC to (correctly) believe that it was the High Prophet of Regret in command of the opposing force, making his capture their highest objective. However, before they could get near the the Carrier, the formation ran across a Scarab which shot down two of the Pelicans, one carrying Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson and the Master Chief and the other carrying Gunnery Sergeant Pete Stacker and an ODST squad.

Both teams suffered few casualties from their respective crashes. The Spartan's team moved into a nearby bunker while Stacker's team moved up the beach to the Hotel Zanzibar and set up a command post, eliminating several Covenant units in the process. Both teams then waited in their respective locations for extraction.

Outskirts


After the Covenant made several attempts to eliminate Spartan-117's group including sending in a pair of Hunters, the third Pelican from their flight found the group and gave them coordinates of an extraction point. Commander Miranda Keyes ordered Johnson to regroup with the In Amber Clad so that he could coordinate further deployment of infantry and armor units while the Spartan continued on foot through the city to find the second squad.

The pinned down ODSTs in Hotel Zanzibar were rescued by the Master Chief, who then organized an offense by destroying Covenant infantry, armor, and anti-aircraft batteries on the beaches facing New Mombasa.

Assault on the Bridge
John-117 and his makeshift Marine unit entered a blown-out hole in a tunnel, and destroyed the forces hiding inside of it. After the engagement in the tunnels, they advanced towards the bridge connecting Old and New Mombasa. Before the Spartan got there, the Marine unit at the bridge had exhausted itself fighting the Scarab.

The Master Chief arrived at the bridge to assess the situation while Sergeant Johnson reinforced the Marines with weaponry, including a Scorpion tank. The Chief traveled across the bridge with the armored unit, clearing it of both Covenant armored and mechanized forces.

City Center
After the engagement on the bridge, UNSC forces entered New Mombasa in large numbers. They linked up with various squads of Marines as they moved through the city, eliminating Covenant forces that were setting up positions. The Master Chief's team worked their way towards the City Center, finding that the Scarab had, likewise, taken a similar path.

Once in the city center, they found a Marine outpost commanded by Staff Sergeant Marcus Banks of Alpha Company under siege by a unit of Wraiths. A UNSC Mechanized unit destroyed the Wraiths, and secured a landing zone for reinforcements. The Pelicans dropped a platoon of Marine infantry and a Scorpion Tank.

Destruction of the Scarab
The lumbering Scarab appeared outside the Metropolitan City Center and destroyed a Scorpion Tank. Marines opened fire on the walker, but it was unaffected and impervious to the weak rounds and climbed over their position and moved into the canals of the city. However, it soon found itself trapped inside of the walls of the canal, giving the Marines a chance to attack it openly with Pelicans.

The Master Chief and Alpha Company followed the Scarab through the canals and the Spartan boarded the walker. While the Marines provided some cover fire, the Spartan defeated the forces manning the Scarab walker. After defeating its command crew, the Chief managed to destroy the Scarab from the inside by damaging its internal operating systems or the core system. The Marine forces in the area and the Spartan were extracted by Pelicans to the In Amber Clad so that it could attack the High Prophet of Regret's Carrier.

Retreat
Lord Terrence Hood was hesitant to let In Amber Clad engage the High Prophet of Regret's Assault Carrier, still above Mombasa and the New Mombasa Orbital Elevator. However, when the Carrier began jumping into Slipspace while still in atmosphere, Hood recognized that the only ship able to follow was the In Amber Clad and gave the ship the green light to give chase.

The Pelicans carrying Spartan-117 and the Marines enter the In Amber Clad, which followed the Assault Carrier into Slipspace. Just before the Carrier jumped, nearly a hundred HEV pods rained from the sky, only to be caught by the explosion in mid-flight, sending them wildly off-course (This was shown in the Keep It Clean teaser). The Slipspace cataclysm caused extreme damage to the entire city and it caused the Orbital Space Elevator to collapse, causing the Kenyan Savannah to be littered with pieces of the huge Elevator spread over hundreds of miles. . The damage was so heavy that to the point of Halo 3, the city was still covered in black smoke. This could be observed in the Halo 3 levels Tsavo Highway (Level) and The Storm (Level).

Aftermath
The High Prophet of Regret would arrive upon Installation 05 along with the In Amber Clad. It is possible he acquired the location over the course of the battle.

The UNSC would not discover the actual purpose of the Covenant's arrival on Earth until straight after the Battle of Installation 05. By this point, a second fleet of Covenant Loyalists had arrived and begun fighting the Second Battle of Earth. This, too, had a large amount of fighting in the general region - specifically around Voi where the Covenant began excavating the Forerunner structure,the Portal of the Ark.

Related Articles

 * First Battle of Earth
 * Mombasa
 * New Mombasa
 * Old Mombasa