Battle for Stromgarde

The Battle for Stromgarde refers to a series of engagements fought in and around the vicinity of Stromgarde Keep by the Alliance and the Horde during the Blood War. At the peak of the battle, fighting consisted of back-and-forth pushes against Stromgarde Keep in the south and the Horde fortress of Ar'gorok in the north. The Alliance, spearheaded by Danath Trollbane, claimant to the throne of the Kingdom of Stromgarde, sought to reclaim Stromgarde and reestablish it as an Alliance territory. The Horde, for their part, aimed to challenge the Alliance's claim to the province and instead secure it as a launching point for future campaigns against the southern Eastern Kingdoms and the Kingdom of Gilneas in the west.

After the betrayal by the Banshee Queen Sylvanas Windrunner, fighting around Stromgarde diminished. With the Alliance and Horde signing an armistice to end hostilities against one another, the fate of Stromgarde remains uncertain. Skirmishes against Sylvanas loyalists in Hillsbrad and around Thoradin's Wall are not uncommon.

The Fifth Regiment of Stormwind fought its last major campaign during the battle for Stromgarde. Having sustained heavy losses, it was then reformed into the Fifth Legion of the Grand Alliance.

Background
In ancient times, Stromgarde was the capital of the nascent human empire of Arathor. After the Arathorian Empire dissolved, the Kingdom of Stromgarde, its direct successor, retained Stromgarde Keep as its capital. By the Second and Third Wars, Stromgarde Keep served as a bastion against the Orcish Horde and the Scourge respectively. However, Stromgarde sharply declined after the Third War following the death of their king, Thoras Trollbane, and the rise of the Syndicate, a criminal organization that preyed upon the Arathi Highlands.

Many years passed before major developments occurred in the Highlands. By the start of the Blood War, it was mostly the Horde that had shown interest in claiming the Highlands for themselves. The Forsaken in Lordaeron and the blood elves in Silvermoon were eager to create a buffer between their respective capitals, though the Forsaken were also seeking a new launching point for future campaigns into the southern Eastern Kingdoms. In response, the Alliance, emboldened by the return of Danath Trollbane and Turalyon, increased their presence and support for the League of Arathor, the last bastion of humans in the region. Tensions peaked into open warfare with the start of the Blood War.

Prelude
As the Blood War began, fighting in the Arathi Highlands mostly consisted of minor skirmishes. Both factions, however, realized that no war could be prosecuted from their existing bases. The League of Arathor's outpost at Refuge Point was too small to house any substantial force, and the Horde's fort at Hammerfall was too far away from Stromgarde to maintain any real pressure on the Alliance. As such, the Horde focused on constructing their headquarters, a fortress in the northwestern Highlands called Ar'gorok, while the Alliance reinforced and reconstructed Stromgarde Keep. Furthermore, the bulk of both factions' forces were fighting on other fronts, namely Darkshore in Kalimdor and Tirisfal Glades in the Eastern Kingdoms. After the burning of Teldrassil and the battle for the Undercity, reinforcements poured into the Highlands. With both strong-points at Stromgarde Keep and Ar'gorok constructed and manned, commanders on both sides readied for the battle to come.

Regarding the 5th Legion, then known as the 5th Regiment of the Stormwind Royal Army, they arrived shortly after the end of the siege of the Undercity in August 38 L.C. They were commanded by Marshal Robert Foy.

Main Offensive
By late summer, both sides were launching attacks on Stromgarde Keep and Ar'gorok respectively. The Alliance and Horde were successful in raiding both strongholds, with minor breakthroughs leading to temporary losses of territory. For example, Alliance forces were occasionally successful in capturing Ar'gorok for a few weeks, but massive Horde counterattacks pushed them back to Stromgarde Keep. Vice versa, Horde assaults on Stromgarde Keep periodically led to fighting within the keep's walls. In turn, the Alliance summoned reinforcements and pushed the Horde out, sending them back to Ar'gorok. This 'tug of war' continued for a year, broken up only by brief lulls in the fighting as the Alliance and Horde paused to gather resources, tend to their wounded, and rest.

For the Fifth's part, the fighting in Stromgarde was both their darkest hour and their origin story. The 5th Regiment deployed alongside other regiments of the Stormwind Royal Army, falling under the overall command of the Redridge Brigade and Alliance High Command. During the opening weeks of the battle, the Fifth took part in bloody fighting near Newstead, a farming and logging village, and High Perch, a highly defensible hilltop that separated Stromgarde Keep and Ar'gorok. It was at High Perch that the Fifth endured its heaviest casualties, with one offensive alone leaving the regiment at half-strength. Disease and wounds claimed many more lives, including most of its commanding officers and Marshal Robert Foy himself, leaving the Fifth under-strength and leaderless. After only a few months at the Stromgarde warfront, the 5th Regiment was returned to Stormwind City, dissolved, and reorganized by Alliance High Command into the 5th Legion.

Armistice
By the autumn of 39, the warfront remained a stalemate for both sides. Though the Alliance held on to Stromgarde Keep, ensuring a strategic victory by denying the Horde its claim to the Highlands, it was clear that both sides had sustained heavy casualties in the effort. Furthermore, news had come that the former High Overlord of the Horde, Varok Saurfang, had started a rebellion against then-Warchief Sylvanas Windrunner. The rebellion culminated in a second siege of Orgrimmar, jointly led by the Horde and the Alliance, and the death of Saurfang at the hands of Windrunner. Ousted from her throne, Sylvanas Windrunner forsook the Horde and fled with a loyalist contingent, leaving the Horde temporarily leaderless. With both the Alliance and the Horde exhausted by the war, an armistice was signed in late September 39.

Even with a formal end to the Blood War, fighting continues in the Arathi Highlands. Skirmishes, erupting from border disputes between Stromgarde Keep and Ar'gorok, are rare but still a threat to the troops stationed there. More often, pockets of Sylvanas loyalists strike out from Hillsbrad, attempting to disrupt the peace and strike at the weakened Alliance and Horde garrisons in the region.