During the Battle for the Styx, the elite 11th Spartan Armored Division "Leonidas" and the 12th Spartan Infantry Division "In the Shade" was ordered to retake the city of Therapne, near Sparta. They anticipated only three companies to be present. Instead, they encountered the entirety of the 4th and the 7th Mechanized Divisions, as well as the 4th Marine Expeditionary Division, and infantry from the 5th Division. In addition, they had air support from the Pummeler Attack aircraft from the 4th Attack Division and the 5th Attack Division.

The Spartans, knowing they are outnumbered, outgunned, and out-positioned, and were ordered to hold their position. Three additional divisions, in the form of the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th Mechanized Divisions, were brought in to assist the Spartans. The attack was delayed for a month, which allowed the Pilotmario defenders to set up an elaborate defensive line of dug-in tanks, mines, and concealed guns along the Therapne Pass.

The Spartans received incorrect information about the time of the attack, and despite doubts from junior officers, Colonel Lysander and Colonel Icarius decided to commence the attack twelve hours early. The 11th and 12th Spartan Divisions charged head-first into the Pilotmarian defenses. Despite the immense flanking fire from dug-in tanks and troops of the 4th Mechanized Division and relentless attacks from Pummelers, they were able to breach the first line of defenses manned by the 5th Infantry Division.

Efforts from the 4th Marine Expeditionary Division, the remainder of the 5th Infantry Division and the 7th Mechanized Division were able to force the Spartans to retreat through the fortified Therapne Pass. Of the twenty-thousand troops and 3000 tanks committed, only 1,259 men and fourteen tanks were able to retreat. The Pilotmario defenders took 900 casualties and lost three tanks and two Pummelers in comparison to the 80,000 men, 320 aircraft, and 240 tanks deployed.

The Olympian attack was halted after the Spartan blunder. The remainder was absorbed in the 10th Spartan Division "Kratos". Two weeks later, the Olympian Army decided to retake the city with 20 divisions. However, they encountered no resistance, as the Pilotmario forces learned of their actions and retreated quietly, knowing five divisions would simply be overwhelmed.

This poem was written by Private Darion Verga, a Spartan survivor of the battle, based off the poem "Charge of the Light Brigade".

I
Half a mile, half a mile,
Half a mile onward,
All in the valley of Death
Drove the twenty-thousand.
“Forward, the Spartan Divisions!
Charge for the city!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Drove the twenty-thousand.

II
“Forward, the Spartan Divisions!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Drove the twenty-thousand.

III
Tanks to right of them,
Tanks to left of them,
Pummelers from above them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they drove and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Drove the twenty-thousand.

IV
Flashed all their heavy guns bare,
Flashed as they aimed them true
Shooting the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Pilotmarian
Reeled from the rifle shot
Shattered and sundered.
Then they drove back, but not
Not the twenty-thousand.

V
Tanks to right of them,
Tanks to left of them,
Pummelers flying behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While tank and trooper fell.
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of the twenty-thousand.

VI
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Spartan Divisions,
Noble twenty-thousand!