3rd Sword of Light

Brigade Insignia of the Sword of Light
Third Sword of Light
Affiliation Draconis Combine
Parent Command Sword of Light

History[edit]

First Succession War[edit]

In May 2787 the Draconis Combine launched a massive invasion of the Federated Suns. The invasion was so swift and targeted communications and JumpShips so effectively that many border systems didn't have a chance to transmit warnings or alerts, leading to widespread confusion on the part of the AFFS. Three days after the initial attacks another large wave of attacks was launched by the DCMS, based around two salients; one, under the overall command of Coordinator Minoru Kurita, struck into the Clovis Combat Region, beginning with invasions of Cartago, Clovis and Olancha. Leading the assault on Clovis was the Coordinator himself at the head of the Third Sword of Light.[1]

Clovis was the location of the headquarters of the Clovis Combat Region within the Draconis March, and the Commanding Officer of the Region, Field Marshal Grover Simons, was on Clovis when the Combine invasion forces arrived in-system. In addition to the Third Sword of Light Minoru had brought two other BattleMech regiments - the Third Pesht Regulars and Ninth Dieron Regulars - eighteen assorted regiments of armor and infantry and enough aerospace fighters to ensure aerospace superiority, along with a substantial WarShip flotilla from the Third Fleet. Although the WarShips took no part in the ground campaign, the WarShip flotilla - consisting of two Samarkands, and Aegis and four Narukamis - battled the Federated Suns naval picket in the system, destroying the New Syrtis-class carrier FSS Midale and the Davion-class destroyer FSS Reynard Davion.[1]

On the ground, Field Marshal Simons used the time bought by the naval picket to have the First Clovis Guards and the three conventional regiments available to him dig into defensive positions around Gorst City, the planetary capital; the DCMS believed that Simons had three 'Mech regiments available to him, not one, and the ferocious defense put up by the defenders stymied the Third Sword of Light and other DCMS forces for the first week, while Simons called for reinforcements. Due to the pace of the invasion every unit that could have answered had either been destroyed or was desperately fighting to survive, but a small part of reinforcements from Xhosa VII did manage to make it to Clovis aboard the Robinson-class carrier FSS New Ivaarsen, arriving five days into the second week of battles. This was too late to save Clovis, but Field Marshal Simons attempted to have his surviving forces form an orderly retreat from Clovis, to save what he could. Unfortunately for Simons, his Leopard-class DropShip, the last to leave the surface of Clovis, was destroyed ten kilometers above the surface when it attempted to fight rather than surrender; with Simons' death, defense in the Clovis Combat Region collapsed, and by the end of May the DCMS had conquered most of the Clovis Combat Region, half of each of the Dahar and Robinson Combat Regions and a chunk of the Fairfax Combat Region.[1]

The Third Sword of Light was disbanded during the First Succession War.[2]

Third Succession War[edit]

Activated after an unknown period of time, the unit was active again during the Third Succession War.

During that war, the Third Sword of Light would serve as the primary Combine forces holding the captured FedSuns world of Robinson. The Federated Suns threw repeated raids to retake the former Draconis March capital which the elite unit easily repulsed, until unbeknownst to the Third, they became unwilling participants in Taragi Kurita's attempt to unseat Coordinator Miyogi Kurita. Seeing the perfect opportunity to discredit Miyogi's son and chosen successor Jon Kurita, commander of the entire FedSuns front, Taragi used his skill at secretly manipulating the DCMS bureaucracy to ensure supplies earmarked for the Third were misrouted elsewhere, leaving them dangerously low on munitions and parts, a fact that would not escape the notice of the Federated Suns.[3]

In late 2891 as part of Armed Forces of the Federated Suns' ongoing Operation Pendragon, Marshal Joseph Davion II led the elite Second Avalon Hussar RCT on a bold invasion of Robinson. While the Third saw the arriving Davion DropShips well in advance, they were not prepared to Joseph's highly risky plan to drop his forces directly into the DCMS troops midst, expecting a more conventional choice of drop zones. Though initially falling back, the elite Third Sword quickly mounted a counterattack which blunted the Second Avalon's advance, fighting toe-to among the buildings of Robinson's capital city. The fighting would drag on for an entire month, though the Third excelling in small unit actions, coordination between the component parts of the Second's RCT allowed them to win in larger scale operations, with the Combine defense beginning to falter as Taragi ramped up his efforts and ensuring that the DCMS troops on-world received no supplies for an entire month. While fighting with all their skill, eventually the lack of supplies forced the imperiled Third Sword of Light to retreat off-planet to avoid destruction, conceding control of the world to the Federated Suns.[3][4]

Enraged at being forced to retreat due to lack of supplies, when the commanders of the Third Sword angrily approached Jon and Taragi wanting to know who had caused the supply snafu, Taragi sprang his trap. Producing falsified information and the testimony of supposed procurement officer, in truth an ISF officer loyal to Roweena, Taragi presented a mountain of damning evidence implicating Jon Kurita, with the commanders of the Sword of Light regiments responding by most strenuously urging the Coordinator to remove his son and place Taragi in command of the Davion Front. Miyogi attempted to rally his own support in the High Command to save his son, but court rumors that the Coordinator was sending an offer of alliance to the Federated Suns (in truth a smear campaign waged by Taragi's friends within the ISF) scuttled these efforts. The final act was played out by Captain Hideyoshi Toyama, a fanatical young officer in the Third Sword of Light who was desperate to avenge his unit's humiliation on Robinson. With a large explosive device strapped to his chest, Toyama succeeded in entering the Imperial Palace when the Coordinator was seeing petitioners in the Audience Hall, killing 30 people including himself and Miyogi Kurita. When word of the assassination reached the Davion front, Taragi had his ISF contacts arrest Jon Kurita, executing him for negligence and treason after a mock trial. With the death of Miyogi's only male child, Taragi became Coordinator of the Draconis Combine unchallenged.[3]

As of 3025, the Third Sword of Light is inactive.[5]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 3rd Sword of Light

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

2786[edit]

Third Sword of Light (Regiment/Veteran/Fanatical)[2]

- At this point in time the Third Sword was a light-weight regiment operating at full strength and stationed on Eguilles.[2] The unit was destroyed during the war.[2]

Game Rules[edit]

First Succession War[edit]

  • Between 2786 and 2807, the composition of randomly-generated lances from the Third Sword of Light are determined using a single roll on the Random Unit Assignment Tables per lance, with all of the lance 'Mechs being the resulting type. Between 2808 and 2819, the lance composition is determined using two rolls on the Random Unit Assignment Tables per lance, and from 2820 lance composition is determined using one roll per 'Mech per lance.[6]
  • When generating Third Sword of Light forces using Random Unit Assignment Tables during the First Succession War, the Sword of Light receives a +4 modifier to each roll on the appropriate table.[7]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 First Succession War, pp. 38–39: "The Battle For Clovis"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 First Succession War, p. 137: "Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery (DCMS)"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 House Kurita (The Draconis Combine), pp. 76–77: "The Third Succession War - The Rise of Taragi"
  4. House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 82: "Third Succession War - Battle for Robinson"
  5. House Kurita (The Draconis Combine), pp. 135–137
  6. First Succession War, p. 147: "Force Compositions"
  7. First Succession War, p. 147: "RAT Die Roll Modifiers by Combat Command Table"

Bibliography[edit]