Street War

Conflicts between Resistance and Combine forces.

The Street War marked a major turning point in the tide against the Combine. Triggered by Gordon Freeman's infiltration and subsequent destruction of the processing plant Nova Prospekt, citizens and resistance alike were spurred into action and over the course of a long, arduous week gradually turned what started as simple rioting into an outright war against the Overwatch.

The Street War is also referred to as “The Lost Week” as Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance were absent for the majority of this event, trapped within a slow teleport. Indeed much of what happened in this period is left unknown, Gordon Freeman only returning on the final day, to much of City 17 in ruin and in the absence of Eli Vance, Barney Calhoun leading the streams of resistance fighters into battle.

The battle culminated in the loss of the Overwatch Nexus and the defeat of the Overwatch forces, the majority having been pushed back to the base of the Citadel, where Gordon Freeman began his infiltration of the monolithic structure in an attempt to rescue Eli and Alyx Vance. Ultimately the Citadel suffered a catastrophic blow, and the evacuation of City 17 was underway soon after.

The Street War marked the first major success for the Resistance forces, but at a dearly payed price. Where as the Combine forces suffered heavy losses, the Resistance forces suffered even greater loses, mainly because of the fact that many of the numbers were previously normal civilians who took up arms, and therefore had no combat training.