| abstract | - The Clearwater Forest Massacre was the killing of several hundred Insurrectionist during the reclamation of Venezia by the United Nations Space Command. The massacre was orchestrated by agents of the Office of Naval Intelligence's Section III. The seven agents were placed in charge of eliminating, or capturing and interrogating Insurrectionist officers. However, after a massive prison break in one of the UNSC POW camps on Venezia, the agents were ordered by their immediate superiors to covertly liquidate all rebel officers in their camp in order to preemptively stop them from escaping and rejoining the rebels. And so, on the fifth of May, 2560, nearly two hundred Insurrectionist officers were secretly loaded aboard trucks, under the excuse they were being transferred to a different camp. However, the officers were taken to Clearwater Forest, where they were methodically murdered and thrown in a mass grave. Out of the two hundred, one officer survived, and the graves were eventually exhumed by Insurrectionist forces, who quickly broadcast images and video of the exhumation of the officers across the galaxy. The Office of Naval Intelligence, who had ordered the massacre, came under heavy fire as they were blamed for it. In response, ONI stated that those responsible had been prosecuted within the agency, a lie that they effectively covered up. Even though the agency's public image took a large hit due to the massacre, its effects on the rebellion were well felt. Even though the two hundred killed had been in POW camps, it was planned for them to be broken out in raids. However, with the loss of two hundred possible leaders, leadership within the remaining Insurrectionists on Venezia and throughout the galaxy took a hit from which it would never recover.
|
