Battle of Parma (3150)
Sarna News
| Battle of Parma | |||||||
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| Part of The Dark Age, Republic Era | |||||||
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| Factions | |||||||
| (Attacker) Wolf's Dragoons (Loyalists) |
(Defender) Wolf's Dragoons (Clan sympathizers) |
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| 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 in April to June 3081. [1]
Contents
Operation Brief
Operation History
Factions & Known Units Involved in the Conflict
Wolf's Dragoons
Origin of Conflict
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 (3028) 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 (3146). 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 (3151).[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
Conflict Conclusion
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 real 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.[7]
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 Alaric Ward, later declared a personal war against him and his clan. 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 which went to Terra for treason. Crews was declared guilty and executed. Brubaker committed suicide after being sentenced to exile the same crimes.[8]
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 and all information on the events that caused the Dragoons to break their agreement, the self-proclaimed Wolf's Dragoons' expert Dr. Ardam de Campos only believed there had been a training accident on Parma.[9]