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| rdfs:comment | - After eliminating the majority of the Earth Alliance's military, the Battle of the Line was to be the Minbari's final assault on Earth. The Minbari had laid waste to every fleet the Alliance had sent at them, and having destroyed the human bases on Io and Ganymede and skirted past Mars, the aliens were in a perfect position to attack Earth itself. Despite the constant pleas of the humans for mercy and their declaration of surrender, the Minbari were adamant on finishing the war, and planned nothing less than the complete annihilation of Earth's population.
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| Casual | - *Light
- *Heavy
*Majority of EarthForce
*All but 200 fighters
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| dbkwik:babylon5/property/wikiPageUsesTemplate | |
| Date | |
| Name | |
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| Commanders | - Grey Council
*Satai Delenn
*Satai Hedronn
*Satai Morann
*Satai Coplann
- Minbari Fleet
*Shai Alyt Bramner
*Alyt Sineval
- *President Elizabeth Levy
*General Robert Leftcourt
*General Fontaine
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| Result | - Near-destruction of Earth, Unexpected surrender of the Minbari Federation
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| Forces | - *Sharlin class warcruisers
**Tragati
**Valen'Tha
*Nial class fighters
- Any battle-equipped ship available
*Nova class dreadnoughts
*Hyperion class heavy cruisers
*Olympus class corvettes
* SA-23E Mitchell-Hyundyne Starfurys
**361st Tactical Fighter Squadron
* Badger-class Starfurys
*20,000 ships and fighters
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| PREV | - Battles of Beta Durani and Proxima III
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| Place | |
| NEXT | - End of war, no further battles
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| Conflict | |
| abstract | - After eliminating the majority of the Earth Alliance's military, the Battle of the Line was to be the Minbari's final assault on Earth. The Minbari had laid waste to every fleet the Alliance had sent at them, and having destroyed the human bases on Io and Ganymede and skirted past Mars, the aliens were in a perfect position to attack Earth itself. Despite the constant pleas of the humans for mercy and their declaration of surrender, the Minbari were adamant on finishing the war, and planned nothing less than the complete annihilation of Earth's population. With no options left and with the knowledge that their defeat was inevitable, Earthforce prepared a final defense of the planet, assembling what remained of their forces in a massive armada designed to slow the Minbari advance and buy time for Earth's population to evacuate. The Earthforce pilots and naval crew, convinced that annihilation was at hand, still volunteered in droves, rallying together for one last battle to "hold the line against the night." As with every other space battle of the war, the Humans fought bravely but were ultimately brought down, overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the Minbari and their stealth technology. Many humans died for every Minbari casualty that occurred. Looking for a reason to end the conflict, Satai Delenn had one of the Human pilots brought aboard the Minbari command cruiser for interrogation, under the pretext of learning more about Earth's planetary defences. Jeffrey Sinclair, his Starfury damaged and his wingman and entire squadron shot down, was chosen for interrogation. During his interrogation, Sinclair was scanned with a Triluminary, leading to a shocking discovery. The Minbari believed that the Triluminary revealed that Sinclair was the reincarnation of Valen, their revered leader from a millennium past and that Minbari souls had been reborn as Humans. Initially, the Grey Council could not believe it, so other humans were captured and subjected to the same scan, thereby confirming the hypothesis. The Minbari's most sacred law is that "Minbari do not kill Minbari," so the Grey Council ordered an end to the fighting and issued a surrender to the Earth Alliance. Unaware of the true reason for the surrender, many members of the Warrior Caste refused to follow orders and committed suicide, while resentment over the order would fester for over a decade, and eventually lead to the Minbari Civil War in 2261. The Grey Council had Sinclair's memory of their findings erased and the reason for the Minbari surrender remained a secret for nearly fifteen years after the battle. Of the approximately 20,000 human defender forces, only about 200 survived. The survivors were all awarded the Battle of the Line Medal.
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