Battle of Jericho VII

"Four of us and a thousand of them? Piss poor odds for the little guys."

- Kelly-087

The Battle of Jericho VII, also referred to as the Jericho VII campaign, was an engagement fought between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant between 2532 and February 12, 2535 on the human colony of Jericho VII.

Battle
Covenant forces first attacked the planet in 2532, beginning a three year long battle. Some civilians, including orphans who would volunteer for the SPARTAN-III program, managed to escape during that time.

Operation: FALLEN WALLS
Operation: FALLEN WALLS began on February 9, 2535. On the ground, Blue Team members: Blue-One, Two, Three, Four, and Five massacred the Covenant troops. Blue Team's mission was to draw out the Covenant rear guard, so Red Team could slip behind their lines and plant a HAVOK tactical nuke, hoping to destroy the next Covenant ship that landed and dropped its shields. These few Spartans were able to kill hundreds of Unggoy and destroy Shade turrets with little difficulty, as well using the Theta Maneuver to neutralize their Type-26 Banshee air support, by using the fougasses they had planted in case the Unggoy got out of hand. Meanwhile, Green Team was preventing a Covenant ground force advance on the planet.

The three divisions of the UNSC Marine Corps on the planet, operating elsewhere, suffered minor casualties and easily accomplished their goals as well. However, the 105th Drop Jet Platoon was slaughtered by a massive force of Unggoy. Blue Team swept through the area and avenged the platoon by killing hundreds of the Unggoy involved in that operation. All of the Spartan teams accomplished their missions and returned safely to the remaining fleet in a Pelican dropship.

Unfortunately, the UNSC fleet lost control of the space around Jericho VII after the three day battle with the Covenant fleet. However, Captain De Blanc was able to evacuate the Spartans aboard before the enemy fleet began its glassing of the planet. Spartan-117 requested to watch the planet being glassed. He observed the assault for nearly an hour as Jericho VII was destroyed. This would be the last time the UNSC would attempt to hold a colony while risking Spartans after losing orbital superiority.

Aftermath
The Battle of Jericho VII was notably the last attempt by the UNSC to hold colonies and deploy Spartans after losing orbital superiority.

Intelligence gained from the battle was utilized by Mobile Armament Systems in the creation of the CQB variant of the MJOLNIR armor. On July 12, 2540, five years after the battle, Operation: GUARDIAN LANCE was carried out to recover several pieces of Covenant equipment from the glasslands of the world. These specimens were later brought to SWORD Base on Reach.

Some of the future SPARTAN-IIIs of Alpha Company and Beta Company were orphaned in the battle. Jameson Locke, a future SPARTAN-IV and an Office of Naval Intelligence agent, was also orphaned during this battle. He evacuated from Jericho VII only minutes before the Covenant glassed the planet.

Silver Timeline
Operation: FALLEN WALLS took place in the Silver Timeline. Red Team and the participated in the battle. John-117 was awarded a Naval Action Ribbon as well as a Silver Star for recovering assets and deploying a HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon.

Trivia

 * The conflict was the first battle to be depicted in the Halo series.
 * Operation: FALLEN WALLS, the UNSC operation on Jericho VII, is a clear reference to the biblical event in which the walls of Jericho fell after an attacking army marched around the city for seven days.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: The Flood
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo: Reach
 * Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual
 * Halo Infinite