On March 8th, for the first time in history, an orbital drop operation with heavy armored units took place.
Afte destroying the Yggdrasil station, the vital bridgehead that links Earth and Moon, ZAFT attempted to press on their advantage by commencing the first orbital drop operation, targeting the mass driver-equipped Habilis Space Port's near Lake Victoria. The goal of the operation to to cut off one of the supply routes from Earth to the Moon.
Lack of ground side support, and inexperience in Earth-side warfare however spelled the doom for the eager ZAFT; despite inflicting heavy causalities on Eurasia Federation and South African Union forces, the Alliance were able to defeat ZAFT invaders.
Following the defeat, PLANT Supreme Council was convinced that limited military action without significantly more force on the ground is not going to be viable, and approved of escalate the war with much more involvement on Earth as well.