| Battle of Chicago | |||||||
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| Part of The Race Invasion of Tosev 3 | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| United States | The Race | ||||||
The Battle of Chicago was one of the critical battles of the Race Invasion of Tosev 3, wherein the United States was able to hold the Race (at great cost to both sides), until the U.S. was able to deploy its first explosive-metal bomb, thus insuring its own independence.
Before the Battle[]
When the Race's Conquest Fleet came to Earth, the human powers who had been fighting each other had to combine their resources for their own survival. Early in their invasion, the Race targeted Chicago. Chicago was a key transportation hub, and the Race captured the entire Mississippi River in the early days of the invasion; if Chicago fell, the United States would be cut in half.
On the human side, Chicago was where the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago was in the early stages of developing an atomic (explosive-metal) bomb. Physicist Jens Larssen convinced General George Marshall of Chicago's importance. Marshall issued orders that Chicago must be held at all costs. The generals on the ground, George Patton and Omar Bradley, began preparations for a surprise attack. Equipment and material was moved at night and then carefully camouflaged. The Americans also realized that the Lizards, as reptiles, were ill-equipped for the winter.
With winter pending, Patton planned to encircle the Race forces attacking Chicago. To do that, he had to conduct a mass thrust into the Race lines and link up with Bradley's forces.
The Battle: Patton's Initial Drive[]
The attack began with a massive artillery bombardment. US Army shifted its artillery positions as the Race was able to return fire and destroy them if they stayed in the same place. Under the cover of the bombardment, tanks advanced. While American armor was inferior to the Race's Landcruisers, the Americans field more tanks than the Race could, and anti-landcruiser rockets for infantry males started to run dangerously low as well. The Americans had also brought their own anti-armor weapons in the form of bazookas.
While the Race's Killercraft was highly advanced, the US Army fielded enough planes that it could overwhelm their air defenses. This also made sending in hauler craft to deliver badly needed supplies or redeploy armored vehicles to meet the attack too risky. One Race commander even suggested landing a starship directly on the battlefield to deliver supplies, but American artillery made even that impossible as well. Outnumbered, undersupplied, and at risk for complete destruction, the Race retreated.
The Race Counter-offensive[]
The Race front was pushed back halfway across the state of Illinois as a result of the Patton-Bradley offensive. However, the Race began another advance when the weather improved, making Chicago the primary front of the Race's invasion of the United States. They gradually pushed the Americans back out of the city limits, but their progress was so slow and costly due to intense house to house combat, especially once they entered the city. When Atvar promised Cordell Hull that his infantrymales would reach Lake Michigan, Hull retorted "Some will, but how many won't?"
When the US's first explosive-metal bomb was ready, American soldiers buried the bomb under their position and withdrew from the city. When the Race took possession of the field, the US detonated the bomb by a radio transmitter, destroying much of the city and a substantial number of Race males and their equipment. With that, the Battle of the Chicago ended, with a US victory, at a horrific price.
Seattle was atom bombed by the Race as retaliation for the American victory.
In popular culture[]
The battle was dramatized in a fairly inaccurate movie released in 1964.
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