On the evening of August 11, 2552, the Spartans of Noble Team scouted the entire Veeaerie region and discovered that the Covenant had been secretly deploying large numbers of ground troops there. They had also set up several highly sophisticated energy screens capable of concealing entire armies, as well as what was believed to be an important gravity landing site for Covenant reinforcements.
After roughly figuring out the Covenant's scheme and discovering why the entire Veeaerie region—including its orbital defense facilities—had come under attack to varying degrees, UNSC forces followed the "Winter Contingency" warning and its operational guidelines:
At exactly 8:00 a.m. on August 12, the UNSC command launched an all-out assault on the Covenant forces gathering in the Veeaerie region, from the canyon ridges of Utkoze, beneath the rising sun.
As the beautiful sun slowly rose over Reach's horizon, countless UNSC Marines and ODSTs rode in the main vehicles of the ground forces, including Warthog scout vehicles, Falcon helicopters, and Scorpion tanks. Under the cover of heavy frigates overhead, they surged like a tidal wave toward the Covenant forces entrenched in Veeaerie and the enemy occupation zones where they had been skulking.
The battle went smoothly, with hardly any suspense at all...
That was because UNSC ground forces had always held a considerable advantage over the Covenant. And this was a battle on Reach, UNSC home ground, where a massive force of ground troops with an overwhelming advantage was surrounding a small enemy force that was still assembling and landing!
What's more, above the UNSC ground forces was the Grafton, a "318"-class heavy frigate assigned to coordinate the assault and provide aerial fire support.
So, less than an hour into the battle, Noble Six and the others, with help from the remaining ground forces, had cleared all Covenant troops