Battle for Camelot (Human-Covenant War)

The Battle for Camelot took place in the early days of the year 2552, toward the end of the Fall of Avalon and was fought primarily between the United Nations Space Command Army and Marine corps and Covenant forces on the United Earth Government Colony Avalon's economic and social capital, Camelot. It was the most catastrophic engagement during the Fall of Avalon with nearly six million civilian casualties and over five million military casualties. UNSC ground forces managed to extract four million surviving civilians from the city and air and navy forces were successful in protecting fleeing civilian craft. Two whole divisions of marines were wiped out and the army elements in the city were decimated to a twentieth of their original number. The battle was fought down to the last building with air-force elements leveling the city with the attacking force inside using thermonuclear weapons.

February 17th
16:00 Camelot Provincial Time: Covenant forces breach orbital defenses over Camelot. The UNSC Nergal-class aircraft support carrier, the Cadaver assisted in mitigating the number of Covenant forces able to enter the city, deploying aircraft strike teams to intercept Type-52 and Type-25 troop carriers before succumbing to fire from an SDV-class heavy corvette and crashing into the River Trent. Though grounded communications equipment had survived and the bridge remained compromised by mostly undamaged. It served as a forward base for UNSC airmen during the battle.

20:00 CPT: Fighting has broken out across the city. UNSC Marine and Army elements operated from local command posts at Ironhill and the Gatehouse are deployed into the city and succeed in isolating the Covenant to the central districts where civilian populations have already been evacuated or killed as reserve units focus on the civilian evacuation. The evacuation efforts are thwarted by Covenant marksman and special forces teams intercepting the reserve forces as they make their way to the extraction zones. In an attempt to contain the strike teams in the outer city the defense holding a majority of the Covenant in the centre of the city collapses with Covenant spreading throughout the city.

23:00 CPT: Marine and Orbital Drop Shock Troopers are deployed to strike Covenant positions, eliminating high ranking Sangheili officers, clearing anti-air emplacements and eliminating Yam'ne hives. Air force strike teams use thermal imaging and high explosives to cause massive damage to Covenant controlled sectors while Army and reserve forces struggle to evacuate civilians from the falling city.

February 18th
07:00 CPT: Come sunrise the city is almost completely controlled by the invaders with the air-force and marines devoting efforts to slowing the advance while civilians are ferried across the River Trent toward evacuation craft. Naval elements manage to spare a single Crusader-class frigate to eliminate the SDV-class cruiser over the city. In the following hours one million civilians are successfully evacuated.

14:00 CPT: Just over two million civilians are evacuated as the final transport leaves and remaining army, marine and air-force soldiers focus devise a plan to level the city. Sappers begin infiltrating sewer systems, planting and arming several HAVOK class nuclear warheads under the guidance of army and marine engineers as well as air-force drone operators. Several Lekgolo, Yam'ne and Quinol are encountered and are swiftly dealt with.

21:00 CPT: Army and Marine engineers confirm that all warheads are in place and the warheads are detonated, leveling densely populated Covenant positions believed to be drop-zones for troop carriers in a blinding flash observed from orbit. Air force drones are knocked out of the sky by the force and the shockwave causes a collapse to most structures across the river. The Cadaver suffers minor damage while UNSC soldiers retreat from the city toward the Ironhill command centre. The air force conduct several final strikes on remaining targets once the force of the blast has subsided.

February 19th
03:00 CPT: Aircraft aboard the Cadaver are reassigned to the Carrion and the remaining command crew are requested to take over onboard several heavily damaged ships in orbit. Due to the loss of fighters a surplus of ordinance is available onboard the Cadaver, much of which is redirected toward the Mordred Initiative.

09:00 CPT: No structure is left intact as Covenant forces pull out of the city having suffered twelve million casualties at the hands of the defending forces in only two nights. A remarkable feat by UNSC standards.

Aftermath
Much of Camelot is rendered unapproachable due to high levels of residual radiation and heat left by the air force, army and marine nuclear attacks. Radiation suits are distributed among the residents of Ironhill and the affects of the blasts later spread through the city. Camelot is left in ruin however is untouched by the partial glassing of the planet, following the war a former Sangheili officer present during the battle explained that it served as a reminder of failure where Covenant forces had failed to defeat a small number of battle-weary marines, airmen and soldiers.