13th Brigade (SLDF)
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Contents
History
Reunification War
The Thirteenth Brigade was a part of the Star League Defense Force Regular Army. Formed as a part of the 5th Division during the creation of the SLDF, the 13th Brigade was a part of II Corps during Operation UNION HOLD, the five-year campaign to conquer the Outworlds Alliance. The 13th Brigade served as a part of the Outworlds Alliance Task Force from the start of the operation in 2581 until the entire 5th Division was transferred to the Taurian Concordat front in 2584.[1]
Medron
In October 2581 the 13th Brigade was under the command of Lieutenant General Remy Mallet and was ordered to capture the world of Medron. The 13th Brigade was a heavy assault brigade, and Medron was only defended by the planetary militia. Unlike most of the militias on the various border worlds, the Medron miitia was well-trained and effective; under the command of a former DCMS tank commander and veteran named Kerron Raty, the militia had grown to a force consisting of four battalions of fast armor supported by two regiments of mechanised infantry. The 13th Brigade found that the militia were determined to resist for as long as possible and had to deal with hit and run attacks that constantly used the high mobility of the fast militia armor to pick off isolated units from the 13th. In mid-November militia forces captured an SLDF supply cache and used the seized supplies to raise and arm volunteers from the population to fortify the cities of Axel and New Tallahassee. The 13th assaulted Axel, but couldn't secure the city centre without levelling the city, a course of action Mallet was unwilling to order at this point in time. Instead, Mallet asked the commander of the Outworlds Alliance Task Force, General Amos Forlough, for advice on dealing with the determined militia forces.[2]
A week later, orders arrived from Forlough directing Mallet to punish the population of Medron for resisting the will of the Star League by decimating the population - to execute literally one in ten of the inhabitants of Medron. In contrast to her stance over levelling the city of Axel, Mallet ordered these executions, and within a week the 13th Brigade had crushed the resistance on Medron and executed more than 10,000 civilians.[3] The consequence of these actions went beyond the pacification of Medron; the order to decimate civilian populations became a standard order for the entire task force, and thousands of civilians were executed on planets across the Outworlds Alliance, paving the way for later orders to deliberately attack civilian population centres to weaken the will of the Alliance to resist. In addition to the resulting brutalities, the 13th Brigade's actions also sparked a groundswell of outrage amongst the population of the Outworlds Alliance, causing the battles for other worlds to be longer and more vicious than those of the first year of the war, and bringing a flood of volunteers joining the Outworlds Alliance Militia, determined to resist Forlough and his "Baby Killers."[3][4]
Cerberus
In 2583 the entire of the 4th and 5th Divisions were assigned to conquer the industrial world of Cerberus; the invasion began with drops directly on top of the militia positions, which quickly overwhelmed and scattered the militia. The militia forces attempted to regroup, but Forlough had already ordered the six brigades of SLDF troops to destroy the will of the population to resist by laying waste to every factory, village, town and city on the planet.[5] The Alliance would continually reinforce the defenders on Cerberus, which became the scene of constant grinding warfare until the end of the campaign against the Outworlds Alliance. The 13th would remain embroiled in the conflict on Cerberus until the entire of the 5th Division was deployed to the war against the Taurian Concordat in 2585.[6][7]
Officers
The commanding officer of the 13th Brigade in 2581 was Lieutenant General Remy Mallet.[2]
Rules
Reunification War
- When randomly generating force experience all 13th Brigade forces apply a +2 bonus to the Random Experience Level roll.[8]
- All 13th Brigade units add a +1 bonus to Initiative rolls.[8]
- All 13th Brigade units may Force the Initiative.[8]
- All 13th Brigade units may utilize Overrun Combat.[8]
- All 13th Brigade units receive a +1 bonus on Availability Rolls for Advanced Components.[8]
- All 13th Brigade units receive a +1 bonus to repair rolls.[8]
- All 13th Brigade units receive a +1 bonus to determine the availability of supplies or replacement equipment.[8]
References
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 140, "Outworlds Alliance Front"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 116, "Medron"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 117, "Rage Unleashed"
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 124, "Baby Killers Unleashed"
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 123, "Cerberus And The Baby Killers"
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 125, "Year Four: Slow Grind"
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 126, "Negotiation"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Historical: Reunification War, p. 181, "The Star League"