Newellian civilians being led by Eurasian legionaries to execution.
The Newell City Massacre (Eurasian: Internecio Civitatis Feri, lit. Extermination of the Savage City) was a military action undertaken by Eurasia during the Great War in Eurasian Newellia. It was a part of the Omnestacita. Beginning in 1937, Eurasian forces entered Newell City and began to systematically deport all the citizens whom were of workable age. Those who were young, elderly, or infirm, were rounded up and executed. In the span of roughly two weeks, 500,000 people were evicted and moved from their homes. 250,000 died.
The action began under the aegis of what was called Operation Dread (Eurasian: Observatio Horrere), by which Praetorian Guard units of the Tegumen Legion, the infamous equivalent of the Einsatzgruppen of Duresia, entered the city and began arresting the municipal leadership, taking them into the town square and shooting them without any given reason. The local police force was also finessed into rendering support for these actions, and the officers who refused were shot. After the political leaders were disposed of, the larger force of the Eurasian Legions arrived to carry out the mass deportations.
Initially, the city was cleared relatively peacefully, as the populace did not understand they were being deported to work camps. However, the Newellian resistance, upon hearing of the situation, organized an uprising in the city, which caused the Eurasians to brutally crack down. Whole neighborhoods were rounded up and shot for suspected harboring of partisans. When this proved ineffective at quelling the resistance, the Eurasians implemented newly brutal tactics.
Eurasian commander of the Newell City Massacre, Legate Rodolfus Negelius Gratianius, pictured here in 1938.
Starting with the far western quadrant of the city, the Praetorian forces began rounding up all the elderly and children and bringing them to the major thoroughfare of the city. The remaining men and women were brought out as well, and were told by the Eurasian legate in command of the operation, Rodolfus Negelius Gratianius, that "Justice will prevail against the rebels. These deaths are on their heads. (Eurasian: Justitia contra rebellem valebit. Hic mortes suum culpam sunt.) The Eurasians then began to crucify all the captured elderly and children along the roadway. It is estimated 4,000 children were crucified in a single day. The resistance, though unperturbed by the actions, quickly lost the support of the people, and their actions died out with barely a whimper.
The remaining residents of the city were finally deported at the end of two weeks of occupation, and what remained of the city was set ablaze by the Eurasian forces as they retreated. It is unknown how many hidden people remained in the city, but it quickly became a ruin and a ghost town. To this day, it has not been reïnhabited, and the vast majority of those who were deported from the city died in Eurasian or Duresian concentration camps.