Battle of Trost District

The Torosuto-ku kōbōsen (トロスト区攻防戦) was a conflict between humanity and the Titans in Wall Rose's southern district, in which humanity prevented the loss of Wall Rose and claimed its first victory against the Titans.

Prelude
Two years after the fall of Wall Maria, the three surviving warriors of Marley, Bertolt Hoover, Reiner Braun, and Annie Leonhart, joined the 104th Training Corps. Their mission was to obtain the Coordinate from the royal family in the interior and to wipe out humanity, and the top ten graduates of the 104th Training Corps would be given the privilege of joining the Military Police Brigade. After the three years of training, all three warriors were placed among the top ten, and they openly expressed to their comrades their desire to join the Military Police. On the night before the attack on Trost District, the southern territory of Wall Rose, the 104th Training Corps was formally disbanded.

The next morning, the Survey Corps led by Commander Erwin Smith departed on an expedition beyond Wall Rose. In their absence, Trost District was much more susceptible to attack from the Titans.

Early conflict
Shortly after the departure of the Survey Corps, Bertolt Hoover transformed into the Colossus Titan, breaching the southern gate of Trost District as the 104th trainees cleaned the artillery atop Wall Rose, leaving an eight-meter hole. Eren Yeager, who had seen the Colossus Titan for himself during the fall of Wall Maria, confronted the Colossus in an attempt to kill it before disappearing as it did five years ago. However, Bertolt succeeded in escaping before Eren could land a killing blow. Immediately after the Colossus Titan's disappearance, the Trost Garrison initiated their strategy for dealing with a Colossus Titan appearance. As the trainees gathered for briefing, the citizens of Trost were immediately evacuated from the district before the Titans entered the district.

Under the command of the Garrison, the trainees were divided into squads assigned to various streets throughout the district. The main force of the Garrison took up the vanguard where the Titans would enter the breach, while the trainees were assigned to the middle guard for support and communication. The Garrison's elite soldiers took up the rear guard near the northern gate to ensure the best evacuation of civilians, and trainee Mikasa Ackerman was also selected for this position due to her exceptional performance in the Training Corps. It was made clear that desertion from the battle would be considered a capital offense and punishable with execution.

While Mikasa joined the rear guard, Eren was assigned to Squad 34 along with Armin Arlert, Thomas Wagner, Nac Tias, Mylius Zeramuski, and Mina Carolina. Soon into the battle, the Garrison vanguard was overwhelmed by the Titans and the middle guard was called into action. Squad 34 was quickly slaughtered by the Titans upon first contact, and Eren risked his life to save Armin. In the process, he was eaten by a bearded Titan, with his left hand and leg lost in the skirmish. In the belly of the Titan, Eren's Titan power inherited from his father was able to prevent his death. Out of the Titan, Eren's 15 meter Titan form emerged in a state of bloodlust. Eren's Titan would begin to roam Trost District, slaughtering any Titans it encountered. Armin, the last known surviving member of Squad 34, had not consciously seen Eren's Titan emerge due to falling into a state of shock after witnessing the deaths of his squad mates. He was later found by his friends from another squad.

To the north, the citizen evacuation came to a halt when Dimo Reeves, leader of the Reeves Corporation, attempted to haul an oversized load of goods through the north gate, preventing other citizens from evacuating. As an Abnormal approached the crowd, Trainee Mikasa killed the Titan and confronted Reeves, ordering him to allow the other civilians to evacuate. Reeves reluctantly complied, and the evacuation was completed shortly afterward. All soldiers and trainees were then given the order to scale the Wall out of the district. However, many trainees could not evacuate due to low amounts of gas in their vertical maneuvering equipment, which could not be replenished due to the supply depot having been overrun by Titans. As the trainees grew worried for their situation, Reiner, Annie, and Bertolt decided to wait for more Titans to gather before continuing in their plan to breach Wall Rose.

The Mysterious Titan
Rather than scaling the Wall, Mikasa joined the middle guard in search of Eren, only to receive the news that he had been killed in action with the majority of Squad 34. To cope with the news, Mikasa left to kill more Titans as her comrades joined her, though Mikasa ran out of gas soon afterwards and was left alone. As a Titan approached to eat her, Eren's Titan by chance came across her at the same time and prevented her death. Armin pulled Mikasa away from the scene, and together with Trainee Connie Springer he proposed an idea to make use of the mysterious Titan to lead an attack on the supply depot for the evacuation of the trainees.

As the conflict in Trost played out, news reached the Survey Corps of the Titans' sudden movement northwards. Fearing another breach in the Wall, Commander Erwin ordered a retreat to provide support for the Trost District Garrison.

Upon discovering Eren's Titan, thought to be an Abnormal by the trainees, Armin and the others navigated their way through Trost to the supply depot. At this same time, Jean Kirstein led the surviving trainees to the supply depot in a do-or-die attempt to retrieve the much-needed gas. Once all trainees had arrived at the depot, they made their way to the supply room and, with a strategy formulated by Armin, cleared out the seven Titans that had infiltrated the room. As the surviving trainees evacuated over the Wall, some stayed behind after noticing that Eren's Titan had become overwhelmed by Titans, who had begun to feed on his body. The Titan regained some strength after spotting the Abnormal Titan that killed Thomas Wagner, killing it in a rage before collapsing to the ground, having killed a total of 20 Titans in his own Titan form. The trainees who witnessed Eren's emergence from his Titan brought him to Captain Kitz Weilman. Mikasa and Armin remained by his side, and the others who left to regroup with the other trainees were forced to comply to an oath of secrecy until further notice. Knowing of the nature of Eren's Titan power, the Marley warriors put their attack on hold, believing that he might possibly be the holder of the Coordinate they are searching for.

The damage of the Titan infiltration was temporarily alleviated due to a harpoon net created by the Garrison technical crew, clustering them by the north gate rather than letting them roam free throughout the district. To the north of the district, Captain Weilman interrogated Eren concerning his Titan nature. Despite Eren's insisting that he is human, Captain Weilman caved in to his fears and ordered for the artillery crew to open fire on Eren. With his Titan power, Eren instinctively created a Titan that blocked the cannonball. After leaving his Titan, Armin Arlert pleaded to Captain Weilman in favor of Eren's humanity, but Weilman would not listen to reason until the arrival of Commander Dot Pixis, leader of the southern Garrison forces. After the Commander was briefed on the situation, Armin Arlert proposed a plan to use Eren's Titan power to seal the breach in the southern gate with a boulder within the district. Pixis agreed with Armin's plan, placing his faith in Eren's Titan power.

Sealing the breach
As Eren and his escort squad approach the boulder's position, Rico Brzenska gives him a brief lecture on how he had to fulfill his duty for this mission, as many Garrison members and fellow trainees were laying down their lives so he could accomplish his mission. Eren then shifts into Titan form with Mikasa and the Garrison squad watching, but instead of lifting it and sealing the breach as he promised, Eren's Titan takes one look at the boulder before spinning around and punching the building Mikasa was on. Fortunately for her, Mikasa just narrowly avoids Eren's fist, but against the Garrison squad's pleas for her to get away from Eren's Titan, she tries to get closer to him, in an attempt to get him back to his senses. Dodging another one of Eren's punches, she manages to get in front of Eren and speak to him, despite the squad's reasoning that Eren might not be able to understand her in his Titan form. Eren attempts to punch Mikasa a third time, but she dodges again, with Eren incapacitating himself in the process. Disappointed, Rico shoots a red flare to signal a mission failure, but has her squad defend Eren's position. At this point Armin shows up and desperately tries to wake him up. Meanwhile, Eren is stuck in his own fantasy world, where the Titans had never attacked, and ignores what Armin is trying to say through the window. Eventually, Armin succeeds by reminding him of his goal to exterminate the Titans, and Eren, arising from his dormant form, regains control of his Titan and continues on with the mission. The sight of Eren carrying the boulder gives the Garrison squad hope, so they defend him until he reaches the gate. Many of the Garrison squad's members, including Ian Dietrich and Mitabi Jarnach, were killed. Eventually, Eren succeeds in sealing the breach, and Rico shoots a yellow flare to signal a mission success before falling to her knees and mourning for her fallen comrades. Meanwhile, Armin and Mikasa are struggling to pull Eren out of his Titan, as other Titans surround their position. Luckily for them however, Captain Levi rescues them.

Aftermath
To his surprise, Eren wakes up chained to a bed in a dungeon underneath the court, to see Commander Erwin and Captain Levi sitting outside his cell. Asking what had happened in the past 3 days he had been in a coma, Levi explains that the cannons were used to wipe out the rest of the trapped Titans, just as Armin had said, although they had captured 2 of these Titans for experimental purposes. Erwin then asks about what his key was for, to which Eren replied that it was for something in his basement that could possibly hold the key to saving humanity, and after being asked of his intentions, he responds that he wanted to join the Survey Corps so he could use his powers to save humanity and to kill Titans. After being denied water and bathroom privileges, Hange Zoë and Mike Zacharias show up to bring him to the courtroom, where his tribunal would occur.

In stark contrast to the bloodbath in Shiganshina five years prior, the evacuation efforts proves to be a major success and nearly the entire civilian population is rescued before they can come to harm. Military losses during the battle however are considerably higher, with several hundred soldiers dead or missing. In the aftermath of the battle, the Garrison collect the dead to prepare them for proper burial and cremation to prevent disease from spreading. Discovered among the dead is Marco Bott, who has been missing in action and died under mysterious circumstances. The surviving trainees who participate in the battle would later choose the branch of the military they wished to serve, just as Eren Yeager is allowed to continue his service in the Survey Corps with his newly-discovered Titan abilities.