Andurien Hussars

Brigade Insignia of the Andurien Hussars
Andurien Hussars
Formed 2556
Affiliation Capellan Confederation
Parent Command CCAF
Sub-Command(s) First Andurien Hussars
Second Andurien Hussars
Third Andurien Hussars
Fourth Andurien Hussars
Fifth Andurien Hussars
Sixth Andurien Hussars
Seventh Andurien Hussars
Eighth Andurien Hussars
Ninth Andurien Hussars
Tenth Andurien Hussars
Eleventh Andurien Hussars
Twelfth Andurien Hussars


History[edit]

Formation[edit]

The genesis of the Andurien Hussars lay in the peace treaty brokered by the Terran Hegemony in 2556 that ended the Third Andurien War. The Andurien worlds were handed over to the Capellan Confederation, and Chancellor Terrence Liao awarded the worlds full Commonality status as an attempt at reconciliation. The Andurien Hussars were established to be the military formation associated with this new Commonality.[1]

The Andurien Hussars began with two regiments, the First and Second Andurien Hussars. The First were assigned to restore order across the worlds of the Commonality following the general collapse of law enforcement agencies following a period of terminal decline during the Third Andurien War. Many cities were already under the control of criminals and gangs when the First arrived, and many Anduriens anticipated heavy-handed responses from the Hussars[1] - the Anduriens being no strangers to brutality, as typified by the actions of the Sarna Sabers, the favorite military formation of Kurnath Liao, on various Andurien worlds[2] - but instead found the First acting with great restraint, investigating each incident thoroughly and resolving each crime with the minimum necessary force. The actions of the First were a direct result of the Commanding Officer of the First, Colonel Nathaniel Yong, a firm devotee of the Korvin Doctrine who inspired the soldiers under his command to place the greater good of the Commonality above their own well-being, a tradition that continued throughout the centuries and earned the First the nickname "The New Guardians".[1]

The Second Andurien Hussars were intended to be the rapid reaction force for the Andurien Commonality, and the Second made good use of their fast, lighter BattleMechs to become experienced skirmishers and pirate hunters; the Second would spend two hundred years hunting pirates, brigands and bandits along the border of the Andurien Commonality and the Periphery, hunting down raiders and destroying pirate hideouts.[1]

Expansion[edit]

The Andurien Hussars would begin to expand as a formation after the Star League Council revoked the Council Edict of 2650 in 2752, allowing the various Great Houses to expand their military beyond the limits established in 2650. Three regiments were created to support the activities of the First Hussars, namely the Third, Fourth and Fifth Andurien Hussars, while the increasing turbulence around the borders of the Commonality and the steady uptick in pirate raids led to the Sixth and Seventh Andurien Hussars being mustered to support the bandit-hunting activities of the Second Hussars. The creation of these five new regiments brought the Andurien Hussars brigade up to a strength of seven BattleMech regiments by 2765.[1]

The performance of the various new regiments was a mixed bag; amongst the peacekeeping regiments the Third was the only regiment to be formed solely from natives of the Andurien Commonality, and was quickly the subject of rumors alleging that the regiment was corrupt and in the pocket of local mafia concerns. The Fourth suffered from a lack of experience in both combat and peacekeeping operations, leaving them practicing ceremonies and drills, while the Fifth worked hard to emulate the First but with less success, earning complaints of using excessive force while observing their duties. Equally, of the two regiments formed to support the pirate-hunting activities of the Second, the Sixth Hussars performed well, proving a tenacious and determined unit, but the Seventh proved to be far less effective in their duties, the regiment as a whole succumbing to the big-game hunting proclivities of its Commanding Officer, Colonel Peelson, and nearly provoked a war between the Confederation and the Free Worlds League by making an unauthorized game-hunting expedition to the League world of Antipolo.[1]

First Succession War[edit]

Prior to the onset of the First Succession War the Andurien Hussars expanded to a total strength of twelve regiments, two of which - the Eighth and Ninth Andurien Hussars - were formed from Star League Defense Force personnel recruited from the 133rd Jump Infantry Division and the Third French Infantry Regiment.[3] In May 2789 Captain-General Kenyon Marik launched a large-scale invasion of the Andurien Commonality of the Capellan Confederation, beginning with dropping the Fourth and Eleventh Atrean Dragoons and four regiments of mercenaries onto Andurien, after a brief but bloody naval battle above the planet. Faced with six regiments supported by heavy aerospace forces and the punishing artillery of Baldwin's Cobras Heavy Brigade, the defending forces - the Andurien Heavy Guard and the Twelfth Andurien Hussars, which was an untested unit at the time - crumbled; the campaign was brief and one-sided. A week after the landings, Andurien was under the control of the Free Worlds League again.[4]

By the end of the First Succession War two more regiments of Andurien Hussars, the Fifth and Sixth had been destroyed, leaving the roll at nine active regiments, although each regiment had been reduced to between twenty-six and forty-seven percent of full strength, leaving the actual combat strength of the brigade at about three and a half regiments in total.[5] In 2822 the surviving members of the Eighth and Ninth Andurien Hussars left the CCAF and formed a new mercenary command, the Dismal Disinherited.[6]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the Andurien Hussars

Tactics[edit]

Different per Unit.

Units of the Andurien Hussars[edit]

Notes[edit]

  • The Fifth Hussars[7] was destroyed in the First Succession War.[5]
  • The Sixth Hussars[7] was destroyed in the First Succession War.[5]
  • The Ninth Hussars[5] was abandoned the CCAF to become mercenaries in 2822.[6]
  • The Twelfth Hussars[5] (destroyed in the First Succession War.[5][4]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Field Report 2765: CCAF, p. 8: "Andurien Hussars"
  2. Field Report 2765: CCAF, p. 12: "Liao Lancers"
  3. First Succession War, p. 32: "Those Left Behind"
  4. 4.0 4.1 First Succession War, p. 60: "Losing Ground"
  5. 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 First Succession War, p. 135: "Capellan Confederation Armed Forces"
  6. 6.0 6.1 First Succession War, p. 36: "Those Left Behind"
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 Field Report 2765: CCAF, p. 8: "Andurien Hussars"

Bibliography[edit]