Battle of New Aragon (3062)

Battle of New Aragon (3062)
Conflict details
Part of	Federated Commonwealth Civil War
Start Date	9 December 3062
End Date	11 May 3063
Planet(s)	New Aragon
Location(s)	Dalemar Gary Hubertsville Fallau
Result	Allied Victory
Territorial Changes	New Aragon secured by Allies
Attacking Forces
Affiliation	Loyalists
Commanding Officer(s)	Hauptmann-General Charles Finnigan
Command(s)	Third FedCom RCT
Defending Forces
Affiliation	Allies
Commanding Officer(s)	Leftenant General Jimmie Kirston General Tom Stancel
Command(s)	First Aragon Borderers Alpha Regiment, Twelfth Vegan Rangers
Other Forces

Overview

The Battle of New Aragon was one of the first battles of what would become known as the Federated Commonwealth Civil War. While overshadowed by other flashpoints such as the historic carnage on Kathil and the drama of betrayal and revenge that took place on Kentares IV, the battle still served to characterize the brutal and tragic nature of the conflict, as erstwhile allies turned their guns on one another. Though brief, the clash had lasting consequences for all of the units involved, bloodying, weakening, or outright destroying them.

Prelude

Origins

The roots of the FedCom Civil War, and therefore the Battle of New Aragon, lie squarely at the feet of Victor and Katherine Steiner-Davion. Were it not for Victor's ill-advised scheme to replace Joshua Marik with a body double, the Free Worlds League might never have launched Operation GUERRERO. Were it not for Katherine's secession of the Lyran Alliance from the Federated Commonwealth precipitating the loss of the Sarna March, years of bloodshed might have been avoided. And had the Clans not invaded, more forces might have been garrisoned in preparation for surprise assaults from the Capellan border.

The Third FedCom RCT had been away from Sarna, their homeworld of nearly two decades, when the joint Capellan-Free Worlds invasion had launched in 3057. They were returning from New Earth, where they been garrisoned to guard against a Skye rebellion that never came, when they received word that Sarna had fallen. Due to the confusion caused by Katherine's formation of the Lyran Alliance, and her subsequent recall of all Lyran-controlled JumpShips back to their territory, a counterinvasion was out of the question. The Third FedCom found itself on New Aragon, without a homeworld, a chance at revenge, or a clear way forward. The unit took the loss of their homeworld hard, and members began to argue about how best to proceed. Ultimately, they reached the conclusion that Victor was to blame for Sarna's loss, as his actions had given the Free Worlds League cause to attack and the unit was already critical of Victor prior to the events of 3057. While this meant that they were more sympathetic to Katherine's cause, they did not heed her request to join the newly formed LAAF, believing that returning to Lyran territory would mean giving up any chance of retaking Sarna. Instead they remained on New Aragon, their bitterness and resentment festering.

Rising Tensions

In 3059, the First Aragon Borderers were called up to serve with Victor during Operation BULLDOG on the frontlines of the Clan Invasion, far from their homeworld. While they were otherwise occupied, Federated Commonwealth High Command assigned the Twelfth Vegan Rangers, a historically Davion-loyal mercenary unit, and the Third FedCom RCT, which was conveniently already in place, to defend the planet from further incursions. When they returned in 3062, the commander of the Borderers, Leftenant General Jimmie Kirston, resumed his post as head of planetary defensive operations. Kirston thanked the Third FedCom for their service and informed them that they stood relieved.

This was where problems began. While the Borderers had been away, the commander of the Third FedCom, Hauptmann General Charles Finnigan, had been cultivating a reputation for disobeying or subverting orders that he didn't like. Whether it was delaying a redeployment order, refusing a routine ammunition and supplies stock check, or simply giving situational updates, Finnigan blamed "administrative issues" and simply ignored the order. Kirston's return to his responsibilities as military head on New Aragon ruffled Finnigan, and he refused to recognize Kirston as a superior. Time and again, Kirston sent Finnigan requests to redeploy his unit from New Aragon to Moravian, and time and again, Finnigan made flimsy excuses, shuffled blame, and continued doing what he wanted to do. Kirston dutifully informed his superior, Marshal Piper Burullo, the head of the entire Valexa PDZ, but even a visit from her did little to change Finnigan's malingering.

Battle

Opening Shots

When the fighting on Kathil broke out, Marshal Burullo and Leftenant General Kirston reissued their orders for the Third FedCom to vacate New Aragon immediately, seeing the Katherine-sympathetic unit as a potential threat to the security of the planet. In order to circumvent Finnigan's usual excuses about ship capacities and transit issues, Kirston offered to let the Third FedCom make use of the Borderers' own DropShip and JumpShip assets, whatever it would take to get the unit offworld.

Surprisingly, Finnigan confirmed the order and replied that he would begin the mobilization process for movement off planet. Secretly he issued orders to his commanders at their bases in Dalemar and Gary to begin movement against Alexandria, where Kirston and the Borderers were headquartered. The movement of such large 'Mech forces hardly went unnoticed, however, and Kirston contacted General Tom Stancel of the 12th Vegan Rangers to coordinate. As scouts and ISR assets reported that the Third FedCom was stealthily capturing and garrisoning strategic objectives along their route to Alexandria, it became clear that Finnigan wanted war.

On 9 December, in the middle of a raging thunderstorm, Alpha Regiment hot-dropped directly in the middle of the Third FedCom's Gary column, wreaking complete havoc on the units there. Over thirty percent of the Loyalist unit's forces were captured or destroyed in this engagement, sending the Third reeling and allowing the Rangers and Borderers to seize the initiative. Believing that he could still make his push on Alexandria, Finnigan, at the head of the Dalemar column, ordered his troops to continue their advance. Kirston had other plans, however. Utilizing his fleet of Leopard DropShips, Kirston deployed, struck, and redeployed with a demi-battalion of the Borderers' assault and heavy 'Mechs, harassing the loyalists at every turn. In the face of this constant hit and run assault, the Third's advance faltered and it slowly fractured into small, confused fragments.

Seeing that now was the time to strike, the Rangers and Borderers launched attacks on the both Dalemar and Gary, and succeeded in driving the Third's garrison forces out of Dalemar by 13 December. Gary, unfortunately, proved a harder target. The Allies were repulsed on the 14th and forced to respond to Finnigan's attack on Alexandria with his now-rallied forces. The Borderers' garrison in the city faltered under the weight of two combined arms battalions' fire but found their defenses shored up when a battalion of Rangers made an emergency drop to rescue them. The Third FedCom, now having suffered almost fifty percent losses, fell back to Gary while the bloodied Borderers regrouped in Alexandria.

Battle for Gary

The Borderers, well accustomed to salvaging the fallen 'Mechs of their foes, had managed to recover a good deal of replacements for their unit and set about rearming and refitting. Finnigan, however, was able to convince several planetary militia units to join his cause as well as appealing for help from off-world units. By the end of the month, both sides had replenished their numbers enough to feel comfortable beginning combat operations again.

The Borderers were the ones to make the first move. On 4 January, 3063, Kirston led his forces against the Third FedCom's Gary outpost, about fifty kilometers outside the city limits. Unfortunately, the rough terrain of the hilly country outside the city proved to be the Borderers' undoing, as Finnigan's forces were able to chew them up with widespread artillery strikes, mechanized infantry ambushes and nonstop aerospace bombing runs. The Rangers once again rode to the rescue, combat dropping around the city and turning the bloodbath into a tense seven day siege. When both forces finally fell to withdrawing actions, they skirmished on and off with each other for the following two weeks. When the dust had cleared, the Third FedCom had lost even more 'Mechs and matériel, while the First Aragon Borderers had only thirty-six BattleMechs still in action.

Both units fell back again to their bases in Alexandria and Gary, while the Rangers took up position in Dalemar to wait out the rest of the month and obtain some much needed repairs.

Loyalist Counterattack

Finnigan spent his downtime observing and planning. He believed that the only thing that was slowing his forces from completely wiping out the Borderers were the Rangers, who perpetually rode in to the rescue when the Borderers most needed help. He concocted a plan to remove the Rangers' element of mobility from them. In late February, he launched a diversionary attack on Kirston and his surviving troops, holding the majority of the Third in reserve. As the diversionary element fixed the Borderers in place, they predictably called for help and the Rangers predictably answered that call, sending a battalion out to their rescue. While a good portion of the Rangers were away from their base, Finnigan ordered his elements in reserve to assault their base in Dalemar. The assault was eventually repelled by Ranger defenders, but the objective had never been to take the city; by the time the Third FedCom fell back, the majority of the mercenaries' DropShips lay in smoldering ruins.

As both sides realized the inherent danger of urban warfare and street-to-street fighting in 'Mechs, they spent the majority of March probing each other's lines and attempting to draw the other out into open terrain. Skirmishes and hit and run strikes continued until April, when General Stancel, leading an element of his Alpha Regiment, thought he'd found a chink in the Third FedCom's defenses. As it turned out, it was not a weak point and he was quickly surrounded by Third FedCom forces. Stancel put in a call for help to Kirston and proceeded to lead his Rangers through four unbroken hours of pitched fighting until the Borderers could ride to the rescue, combat dropping into the Loyalists' southwest rearguard. The two forces were able to battle their way to a link up and used their momentum to launch a joint assault on Hubertsville and Fallau, which fell to the Allies in short order.

Sadly, the Borderers had sustained catastrophic losses in their valiant rescue action: less than four operational lances were left standing from what had used to be a regiment-sized unit. Kirston's excellent techs were quickly able to bring four more lances back to life with expedient repairs, but the unit's overall attrition had gutted the First Aragon Borderer's operational capacity. Finnigan, no fool, realized this fact and quickly ordered another counterassault against the Allies, hoping to knock out the Borderers for good. The Rangers and the Borderers stood firm under their generals' leadership, however, weathering ten straight days of fighting until they could launch one last desperate assault.

The Final Hot Drop

On 13 April, a joint battalion of Rangers and Borderers dropped right on top of Hauptmann General Finnigan's command post. Simultaneously, the Allies in Fallau and Hubertsville launched their own attacks against the Third FedCom line, forcing the Loyalists to respond to a fifteen-kilometer battlefront. Caught between the pressure of a three-pronged assault and under the heavy fire of DropShip and aerospace aerial fire, the Third was pinned and unable to move to assist their commander and his staff. Finnigan, piloting his Devastator 'Mech, fell to the Allied guns as he tried to defend his command post. His executive officer, Leftenant General Rupert Hande, attempted to step up and rally the faltering unit but it was already too late. The Third only had a scant number of surviving 'Mechs standing after the pitched fighting, and without their aerospace wings, they could not stand up under the pressure of the Allied air superiority and ground mobility. The Third soon fell back, harassed at every turn by the Rangers, who made extensive use of the Borderers' DropShips to conduct a series of hot drops on any rally point the Third tried to reach and any strongpoint they attempted to fortify.

The grueling pace of the combat drops had a net positive effect on the people of New Aragon, and eroded any local support or goodwill that Finnigan had curried with the local population. The intense tempo also demoralized the men and women of the Third FedCom, who began abandoning their posts and deserting slowly but steadily. Stancel coordinated a last hot drop on the disorganized, faltering Loyalists on 11 May, 3063. A full half of the surviving Alpha Regiment fell from the skies into the center of the Third's territory while the rest of the Rangers and the remains of the Borderers made a direct assault on their perimeter. Using his air superiority and the sheer number of DropShips under his authority, Stancel had them act as mobile fire support, bringing their heavy guns to bear on the ragtag remnants of the Third. To their credit, the Third FedCom help up for six hours before breaking.

In the end, thirty-three percent of the surviving Loyalists flat out deserted, melting into the civilian population, forty percent were captured, and the remainder were killed in combat. The Battle of New Aragon was over.

Aftermath

Throughout June and July of 3063, the Twelfth Vegan Rangers and the First Aragon Borderers tried their best to track down the deserters but were forced to give up due to a serious lack of manpower and resources.

The Rangers, although weakened, were still in fighting shape. When they received word that their sister regiments needed help in their fight on Algol, General Stancel immediately mobilized them into action and departed the planet shortly thereafter. The Borderers were almost nonexistent after the campaign was over, and it took them almost four years before they had gained enough strength, 'Mechs, and numbers to be officially added back to the Federated Suns' order of battle.

The Third FedCom had entirely ceased to exist as a unit, with any of the deserting survivors flatly uninterested in fighting ever again. Due to their perceived dishonorable conduct during the FedCom Civil War, they were stricken from the official records like many of their fellow FedCom Corps units. As the Federated Commonwealth had died at the Civil War's start, they were looked at as a bad memory of a shameful period of history and thus, never reactivated.

New Aragon was secured by the Allies and remained under Federated Suns control until the cataclysmic events of the Word of Blake Jihad.

Units Involved

Loyalist (pro-Katherine) Forces

• Third FedCom RCT

Allied (pro-Victor) Forces

• First Aragon Borderers
• Alpha Regiment, Twelfth Vegan Rangers

Bibliography

• FedCom Civil War
• Field Manual: Federated Suns
• Field Manual: Updates