Battle of Montauban

The Battle of Montauban was a large scale battle in Madan no Ou to Vanadis series, where the force supporting Duke Felix Aaron Thenardier and Duke Maximilian Bennusa Ganelon clashed in a final battle to end the long time struggle between the two powerhouses. With no trustworthy commander present, Ganelon's army were crushed by Thenardier's five war dragons and suffered a destructive defeat, while Artishem, Ganelon's capital city, was purposely burnt to ashes, result in a huge civilian losses.

Background
Just as the war between Muozinel and Brune broke out, Thenardier quickly responded to the situation by ordering all knight squads in southeastern Brune (Agnes) to move back to Nice, so he would leave the 50,000 invasion force lead by Kureys Shahim Balamir to do the job for him to crush the new-born Silver Meteor Army. However, to prevent Muozinel's further advance to Nemetacum in case they have crushed Silver Meteor Army, and to protect the southern port cities which were part of his protectorates from the second Muozinel naval invasion force, Thenardier gathered a force of 7,000 men to the south, while Steid lead an army of 13,000 rallied to Nice to prevent any possible attacks by Ganelon’s forces.

When Thenardier was busy fighting Muozinel invaders, Ganelon launched a full-scale attack lead by Greast to Thenardier's defending forces at home base. Two armies clashed near Nice, and the tide of battle was not in flavor of the Thenardier side, Steid had to retreat back to Nemetacum while the seemly unstoppable Ganelon soldiers wreak havoc in Thenardier's land.

When Thenardier finally returned home with a victory, he immediately requested five dragons from Drekavac, despite he already requested new dragons since Zion's demise on Molsheim Plains: he got Three Earth Dragons, one Fire Drake and one Doubled-Headed Dragon. Thenardier also asked about the chains that warped both Fire Drake and Double-Headed Dragons, Drekavac replied that he made these chains as a special protection to repel and nullifying Vanadis's Veda. Seeing it as the his best chance to defeat the Vanadis, Thenardier smirked violently and decided to test his dragons on Ganelon's forces first.

However, Ganelon no longer wanted to participate in this battle, he ordered Greast to return to Artishem, the two discussed about their difficult situations: Not only the Silver Meteor Army has two Vanadis, Tigre's Black Bow and a lost princess as the army's primary support, Thenardier also possessed five dragons in his ranks and ready to attack Artishem, leaving Ganelon in an extreme disadvantage. Although Ganelon claimed he could "easily crushed the dragons", seeing there was no purpose to stay, he decided to abandon his forces and leave Artishem, let both of Tigre's and Thenardier's forces fought each other until the last force standing. He would watch over which side was going to achieve the ultimate victory: if it's Thenardier who won, Ganelon would then murder Thenardier and seize Black Bow and Durandal; if Tigre was victorious, he and Greast would exile to another country.

With five dragons in hand, Thenardier lead his army to Montauban plains to resolve the struggle between him and his long-time enemy.

Battle
Ganelon Army deployed 13,000 men at the center as their main striking force, with an additional 7,000 on each side, and 3,000 at the back. Thenardier, with a disadvantage in numbers, deployed 5,000 men at the center, with 5 dragons at their back, plus an additional 7,000 on each side, and 6,000 reserved as a separate flank.

When the battle just broke out, with their superior numbers, Ganelon Army's center force of 13,000 quickly broke Thenardier's much thinner center force and forced them to run, Ganelon's 3,000 men at the back soon joined the pursuit and left an empty space between their men and the dragons. It's at this moment when Thenardier ordered the dragon to strike, which did not take too long for it to became a one-sided slaughter. Ganelon's force had to means against the dragons, many of them either got devoured alive, being crushed to pieces, or being trampled to death. In horror, 16,000 Ganelon's men turned their back and started to run desperately for their lives, just to find out that their way of escaping was blocked by Thenardier's 6,000 flank force under Steid's order. It didn't take too long for Ganelon's force to surrender.

Although 20,000 of Ganelon's men surrender, Thenardier did not take any prisoner. He ordered all nobles and aristocrats who supported Ganelon and commanded more than 1,000 men to be executed, and exiled all the remaining soldiers, with plotting these mind-weaken soldiers would go to Tigre's side for shelter, thus increased the load of the Silver Meteor Army.



Upon hearing his army's defeat, Ganelon secretly planned to burn Artishem - an ancient city he governed-in order to fake his death. The fire broke out at night, and only a few of Artishem's citizens were vigilant enough to escape, whilst many of them were burnt in the fire. While watching the city on fire from afar, Ganelon and Greast then escaped to Zhcted and temporarily disappeared from the war theater.

Aftermath
With Ganelon's disappearance from Brune, Tigre now had to face the full pressure from Thenardier and his army within Nice's vicinity, hence began the last arc of Brune Civil War:Vorn-Thenardier Campaign.

The destruction of Artishem also put Tigre's plan to help Regin searching evidence for her royal blood in jeopardy, since Saint-Groel was located under the city. The burning of Artishem may also indirectly caused the Saint-Groel incident.

As many as 4,000 of Ganelon's former men joined Silver Meteor Army to seek shelter, however, they were not only drastically increased the supply load of Silver Meteor Army. It's also proven during the Battle of Vincennes that they were not capable of fighting, and could betray at anytime. Many escaped soldier also became bandits or pirates, which had a long-term effect on area stability.

Trivia

 * It was not sure who actually commanded Ganelon's forces in this battle. Whoever that was, he was unlikely to survive since Thenardier executed all Ganelon's commanders.