Siege of New Alexandria

"I know we're losing. I want to know if we've lost"

- Catherine-B320

The Raid on New Alexandria was a major engagement between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant within the city of New Alexandria on Reach that occurred from August 18th to August 23rd, 2552. Major evacuations of civilians took place during the battle. The raid ended with the glassing of the city.

Battle
Though the supercarrier Long Night of Solace had been destroyed by UNSC forces, the arrival of Covenant reinforcements in the Epsilon Eridani System ensured the initiative remained with the Covenant. They dispatched a large Jiralhanae-led raiding force to the city of New Alexandria, supported by at least three corvettes. Heavy fighting raged on the ground and many civilians were killed. This prompted an evacuation of the civilians through the Traxus Tower. However, the Covenant's local air superiority prevented the evacuation, as one of the Covenant ships destroyed the tower, leaving the evacuees no choice but to use aerial transport. On the morning of August 23rd, SPARTAN-B312 entered the city after surviving the destruction of Long Night of Solace and assisted Army troopers and ODST "Bullfrogs" in the evacuation effort. The SPARTAN, assisted by troopers under the command of Sergeant Major Duvall, reactivated the city's missile defense batteries, which had been captured and disabled by Covenant troops. This allowed the human forces to damage one corvette and force its retreat, allowing the transports to evacuate.

By nightfall on August 23rd, the situation had deteriorated further for the UNSC forces, as the Covenant had placed communication jammers on numerous buildings throughout the city, severing communications between the surviving UNSC troops and Command. SPARTAN-B312, having rejoined Noble Team, was tasked with destroying the jammers in spite of the now-overwhelming Covenant air superiority. Noble Six eliminated all three jammers and aided other UNSC troops trapped in the ruined city. However, multiple CCS-class Battlecruisers arrived during this time and began glassing sections of the city. SPARTAN-B312 assisted in the evacuation of the Office of Naval Intelligence's headquarters, the Olympic Tower, by providing air support against numerous anti-aircraft Shade turrets, and rejoined Noble Team inside the building. As the group received new orders from Colonel Urban Holland, the Covenant evacuated their remaining ground forces and began full glassing of the area, forcing Noble Team to flee. Catherine-B320 was killed by a Sangheili sniper, though the rest of the team were able to escape into a radiation bunker beneath the building and survived the subsequent destruction of the city. The survivors of Noble Team were airlifted from the city three days later.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Reach