Battle of Parma (3150)

Battle of Parma
Part of The Dark Age, Republic Era
Start Date From November to December 3150
Planet Planet Parma
Result Clan Sympathyzers victory
Factions
(Attacker)
Wolf's Dragoons (Loyalists)		 (Defender)
Wolf's Dragoons (Clan sympathizers)
Conditions
Normal

The Battle of Parma, or the "Second Dragoons Civil War" was a late Dark Age Era military operation undertaken by two factions of Wolf's Dragoons against each other from November to December 3150.[1]

Operation Brief[edit]

Operation History[edit]

Units Involved in the Conflict[edit]

Wolf's Dragoons[edit]

Origin of the Conflict[edit]

In 3139, when Wolf's Dragoons signed a contract with the Draconis Combine, most of their members, including Colonel Henry Kincaid, expressed reservations about working for House Kurita: the unit had bad blood with the Combine since the Battle of Misery and the Kuritans had earned a poor reputation in their dealings with mercenaries. However, the Warlord Matsuhari Toranaga posted Chu-sa Tori Ishihara to the Dragoons, who was very respectful and helped ease the tensions. The Dragoons proved key in the conquest of the Draconis Rift, the Dragon's Tongue and the conquest of the Federated Suns capital in the Battle of New Avalon.

However, after the conquest, the relationship quickly soured. By 3150, Ishihara was replaced by Tai-sa Reiko Akamine, a hard-liner with a severe disdain for mercenaries that proved to be a key friction point. Realizing the Dragoons were no longer necessary for the campaign, Akamine showed them great disrespect by assigning them garrison duties - something expressly prohibited in their contracts. The Dragoons, the self-proclaimed "the tip of the spear", were retired from the front, replaced by DCMS units who claimed credit for the Dragoons' victories.[2]

The main victims of Akamine's constant harassment were the Dragoons in Gamma Regiment, led by Colonel Nicholas Crews. Gamma had a well deserved reputation as undisciplined troublemakers, and several were arrested by the planet's Kuritan police for minor crimes - or even fake ones. Ignoring the contract rules, Akamine threw them in jail instead of returning them to their unit. When General Thomas Brubaker arrived on Parma, he took the side of the Kuritans and threatened to depose Crews. This opened a rift between the Dragoons that someone could easily exploit.[3]

That someone arrived the same day in the form of the Clan Wolf envoy, Star Captain Marotta Kerensky. He was sent by Wolf's Khan Alaric Ward to realize Operation AMALGAMATION. The Operation, suggested by Marotta itself, aimed to convince the Dragoons - or at least part of them - to rejoin Clan Wolf and aid in the Battle of Terra.[4]

Brubaker received Kerensky with honors, and listened his offer. He was interested, and the idea of fighting their traditional enemies in Clan Jade Falcon and stopping Malvina Hazen's warpath through the Inner Sphere appealed to him, but Brubaker refused to break their contract with the Combine. Marotta found allies in Crews and Captain Deborah Sheridan, but when Crews attempted to convince Brubaker, this angered the general so much that he relieved Crews of his command.[5]

This only served to further anger Crews, who, along with Sheridan and Kerensky, conspired to mutiny and leave Parma to join the Wolves on Terra.[6]

Launch of the Operation[edit]

Sheridan, resenting her punishment and loss of rank for a previous defeat, initiated the mutiny, activating War Plan R on November 27th, jamming all Dragoons communications except those which Crews specified.[7]

When Brubaker heard about the jamming, he quickly understood what Crews was doing, and gave orders to locate the rebels.[8]

The next move from the Gamma mutineers was to free the captive Dragoons languishing in Kuritan jail. Marotta had come with a full company worth of Wolf OmniMechs as present to the Dragoons. After freeing the captive Dragoons, Crews promoted Sheridan to captain again, and used the freed Dragoons, and others, including Marotta, to create a new company, the Black Wolves Company, under Sheridan's command. Reiko Akamine informed Brubaker about the prison break, but hid the mutiny and presented all the movements as a training exercise.[9]

Knowing that Brubaker and his loyalists would pursue them, Crews planned to ambush and capture the general, using him as shield to secure their retreat.[10]

Their most probable path was in Hachtel Site 22, a group of old stone quarries with narrow bridges and quarry pits filled with water, a ideal ambush ground. To attract Brubaker's people there, the mutineers placed Marotta's Savagery in the nearby city of Gaisano. When a recon VTOL approached, it was downed by the rebels, drawing the first blood. Brubaker mobilized his command company to intercept them.[11]

On November 29th, the mutineers lay in wait, hidden in the Hachtel Site 22. When Brubaker's unit arrived, the rebels emerged and opened fire on them., with the Black Wolves leading the attack. After engaging the loyalists, the rebels retreated, drawing them deeper into the quarries. Without alternatives, the loyalists pursued them.[12]

The fleeing rebels hid underwater in the quarries, and when Brubaker's unit arrived, they attacked them, focusing their fire on the command lance and especially on Brubaker himself. Crews arrived with more forces, surrounding the loyalists. The Black Wolves suffered several casualties, with some loyalists killed as well. Crews downed Brubaker's Annihilator, and the General finally surrendered to prevent further loss of life. The battle and the civil war was over.[13]

Conflict Conclusion[edit]

The Clan Loyalist victory ended with Brubaker captured. On December 10th, in a meeting between Brubaker, Marotta, Sheridan, and Crews, the general explained than Crews' acts would lead the 'Dragoons to a full civil war. Marotta cunningly convinced him to prevent this by hiding the mutiny and ordering all Dragoons' forces to break their contract with the Combine to travel to Terra. Reluctantly, he agreed, but in exchange, asked that Sheridan, Crews and the other mutineers be judged after Terra. All accepted the offer.[14]

The loss of the Dragoons left a huge hole in the Combine's forces in the Federated Suns. The Dragoons were almost annihilated in the IlClan Trial, and after being personally insulted by ilKhan Alaric Ward, later declared a personal war against him and Clan Wolf. Of the mutineers, only Crews lived to face a trial. After gathering all Dragoons on Savannah, Colonel Henry Kincaid ordered the arrest of all officers who had went to Terra for treason. Crews was declared guilty and executed. Brubaker committed suicide after being sentenced to exile for the same crimes.[15]

The Dragoons hid the incident so well than most of the Inner Sphere never knew of the true events behind the dissolution of their contract with the Combine. The real history was only known by a select few Wolves and Dragoons. A year later, despite paying for any good information on the events that caused the Dragoons to break their contract, the self-proclaimed Wolf's Dragoons' expert Dr. Ardam de Campos only believed there had been a "training accident" on Parma.[16]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Divided We Fall, pp. 16-17
  2. ↑ Divided We Fall, p. 2
  3. ↑ Divided We Fall, pp. 33–36
  4. ↑ Divided We Fall, pp. 46–52
  5. ↑ Divided We Fall, pp. 60.
  6. ↑ Divided We Fall, pp. 63–64
  7. ↑ Divided We Fall, pp. 68–69
  8. ↑ Divided We Fall, p. 70
  9. ↑ Divided We Fall, pp. 76–85
  10. ↑ Divided We Fall, p. 87
  11. ↑ Divided We Fall, p. 94
  12. ↑ Divided We Fall, p. 99
  13. ↑ Divided We Fall, pp. 109–110
  14. ↑ Divided We Fall, pp. 114–115
  15. ↑ Redemption Rites, p. 51
  16. ↑ Empire Alone, p. 55

Bibliography[edit]

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