Crucis March Militia

Crucis March Militia -Brigade logo.png
Crucis March Militia
Formed 2754[1]
Affiliation Federated Suns
Parent Command AFFS


The Crucis March Militia is tasked with guarding the core of the Federated Suns. While most of the CrMM doesn't see much action, the border combat regions often deal with pirate raids.


History[edit]

Formation[edit]

The March Militias found across the Federated Suns were originally formed in 2754 as a result of the Preparedness Act enacted by First Prince Richard Davion in 2735[2] and the subsequent repeal of the Star League Council Edict of 2650 in 2752.[2] Richard established a formal training program aimed at increasing the general readiness level of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns reserve forces and formalized the structure of the March Militias, bringing the planetary militias into a common structure.[1]

Richard established a system whereby each of the Marches within the Federated Suns conducted internal wargames every two years, with those wargames being inspired by the Martial Olympiad conducted by the Star League Defense Force every four years. Each March Militia was formed as an ad hoc brigade drawing on the winners from each planetary militia across each Combat Region. These ad hoc brigades then competed against each other at a March level to earn the title of "Best Prepared" March Militia within each of the three Marches.[1]

The wargames proved to be very popular and continued under Richard's successor, First Prince John Davion; by 2750 the prestige that was associated with the "Best Prepared" title inspired troops in every combat region to give their best effort, with some commands making plans years in advance to try and ensure that they were ready. After the close of the 2754 games Prince John activated all of the Combat Region commands as federal troops and formed them into the March Militias; while this move was controversial and provoked a flurry of judicial cases opposing the creation of the commands, it also added twenty BattleMech-equipped combat commands to the AFFS in a single stroke. Many of the planets that provided troops for the games were resentful of having their best militia troops pressed into federal service, and it would be 2763 before the last of the cases worked its way through the courts. With the final ruling going in favor of Prince John, he then moved to allay many of the fears expressed by the planets involved by laying down specific instructions that the March Militias wouldn't be deployed outside their home combat regions except under a small number of very rare and clearly-defined exceptions.[1]

When first established each of the March Militias within the Crucis March Militia was based around a standard model that gave each a level of firepower roughly equivalent to a Star League Defense Force light division. Each militia consisted of a single BattleMech regiment, three regiments of infantry, two armor regiments, a battalion of mobile artillery, and two wings of aerospace fighters, with each wing consisting of eighteen fighters. This relatively low number of aerospace fighters was a significant difference between the March Militias and their frontline AFFS counterparts or similar SLDF formations of the era.[1]

The Crucis March Militias were well-equipped, many much more so than the average Capellan March Militia or Draconis March Militia, to an extent that led to commentators dubbing the New Avalon Crucis March Militia the Sixth Davion Guard. All of the Crucis March Militias established constant training regimens and were highly active, leading to a readiness level greater than might have been expected of a militia formation. Many of the Crucis March Militias rotated frequently between different worlds, particularly those responsible for Combat Regions bordering the Periphery; many of the Militias on interior worlds were located near SLDF commands and would regularly challenge those commands to compete in wargames. The SLDF commands were almost universally better trained and equipped, but that didn't dissuade the various Militias from continuing to issue challenges on an annual basis, despite Militias only rarely defeating their SLDF competitors.[1]

The Crucis March was divided into ten Combat Regions at the time the March Militias were created,[3] with each Combat Region raising one March Militia; these ten Militias were the Anjin Muerto, Bastian, Broken Wheel, Islamabad, Kestrel, Malagrotta, Marlette, New Avalon, Point Barrow and Tsamma Crucis March Militias.[1] The Crucis March Militias were more troublesome to the AFFS than the militias from the other Marches, however; the interior worlds of the Crucis March were more self-sufficient than those of other Marches, and as a consequence were more resentful of the creation of the March Militias and what they considered "meddling" from New Avalon in their own affairs. Even after the last court case had been heard, many of the interior worlds continued to obstruct or interfere with the full deployment of their March Militias.[4]

The Succession Wars[edit]

On the 1st of May 2787 the Draconis Combine launched a massive invasion of the Federated Suns, with the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery troops under the command of Jinjiro Kurita, son of the Coordinator. Jinjiro had learned from the battles on Towne earlier in the First Succession War and had recognized that interservice cooperation between the different branches of the Federated Suns military had largely been replaced by rivalry and that the various Combat Regions across the Federated Suns had become dangerously parochial, with units being very protective of worlds within their Combat Region but the staff of the various Combat Regions rarely coordinating or cooperating with each other. Jinjiro's forces took full advantage of that; his first wave attacked worlds along the border, overwhelming many before they had a chance to call for help. Each of the Combat Region commanding officers attempted to deal with the attacks on their own, focused completely on the defense of their own Combat Region with little exchange of information between Regions. Jinjiro's second wave capitalized on this, striking in force against the Clovis Combat Region; despite a dogged, fierce defense by Field Marshal Simons and forces directly under his command such as the First Clovis Guards Regiment on Clovis he was cut off and, after a week, killed when his DropShip attempted to retreat from the planet. The loss of Smith caused organized resistance in the Clovis Combat Region to collapse, and before the other senior officers within the AFFS had realized what happened, DCMS forces poured through the Clovis Combat Region and deep into the heart of the Federated Suns.[5]

It would be thirty years before the AFFS had finally recovered and fought its way back to something approximating the prewar border;[6] the risk posed to the Federated Suns as a result of the entrenched parochialism and separation between Combat Regions highlighted the weaknesses of the system within the Capellan and Draconis Marches, leading the Marshals of the AFFS to restructure both Marches, replacing the Combat Regions with a number of smaller Polymorphous Defensive Zones (PDZs), each with its own March Militia. The Crucis March continued to use the system of Combat Regions, as it was considered to be a safer March less at immediate risk than the Capellan or Draconis Marches.[7]

By the close of the Third Succession War there were still ten March Militias serving within the Crucis March Militia, although the Bastian Combat Region had become the Remagen Combat Region, despite Remagen itself being a part of the New Avalon Combat Region.[8] Each Combat Region provided the money and manpower to field a single March Militia, and each March Militia was a Regimental Combat Team consisting of one BattleMech regiment, two armored regiments, five infantry regiments, a company of artillery and aerospace fighter support. The personnel within each of the March Militias were either regular soldiers and officers who had requested a transfer to a Militia unit near their homeworld - or who had been transferred - or soldiers trained locally at the military training school associated with that PDZ. Command of each March Militia usually lay with a Major General familiar with the PDZ in question.[9]

The Jihad[edit]

During the Jihad several CrMM units joined breakaway nations like the Filtvelt Coalition or Malagrotta Cooperative. This placed the members of the CrMM who stayed in the Federated Suns in the uncomfortable position of fighting friends and allies. As a result, the loyal Crucis March Militia units didn't put as much pressure on the new nations as they might have otherwise. General Raymond-Roger Marsin, commander of the Remagen CrMM, led his troops against all sorts of enemies ranging from forces of the new Outback nations to pirates of all stripes. His efforts to stabilize the Federated Suns Outback have finally led to results, with the Malagrotta Cooperative worlds rejoining the Federated Suns.[10]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the Crucis March Militia

Tactics[edit]

Different per Unit.

Units of the Crucis March Militia[edit]

As the militias of the Crucis March have not seen combat in quite some time, equipment is very poor.

Notes[edit]

  • Field Report 2765: AFFS attributes the Preparedness Act of 2735 to both Richard Davion[2] and Roger Davion.[1] Because other sources indicate that Richard Davion was First Prince in 2735 and that Roger Davion died in 2703, the latter attribution is probably an error.
  • The Malagrotta Crucis March Militia formed the core of the breakaway Malagrotta Cooperative's army until it and the Cooperative were destroyed by privateers.[10]
  • The Marlette Crucis March Militia fought as part of Operation SCOUR and was nearly destroyed on Terra. Many of the survivors of the unit chose to retire and remain in the world after its liberation.[10]
  • The Remagen Crucis March Militia was the busiest CrMM unit during the Jihad, and received a full refit of their weapons, vehicles, and equipment at the conclusion of the Malagrotta campaign.[10]

Color Schemes and Unit Insignia[edit]

The Crucis March Militia colors are blue, white, and red, similar to the Davion Brigade of Guards.

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Field Report 2765: AFFS, p. 21: "Federated Suns March Militias"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Field Report 2765: AFFS, p. 3: "Strategic Update"
  3. Field Report 2765: AFFS, p. 29: "Armed Forces Federated Suns Deployment Map 2765"
  4. Field Report 2765: AFFS, p. 22: "Morale"
  5. House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 62: "The Storm Breaks (PDF edition)"
  6. House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 67: "March Militia and Planetary Guard Units (PDF edition)"
  7. House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 135: "Deployment of AFFS Forces (PDF edition)"
  8. House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 147: "March Militias (PDF edition)"
  9. House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 127: "March Militia and Planetary Guard Units (PDF edition)"
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Field Report: AFFS, p. 17

Bibliography[edit]