2nd Division (ComStar)

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The ComGuard Second Division was one of the most elite units among the ComStar military forces, having fought against Clan Steel Viper during the Battle of Tukayyid and serving as ComStar's ground force contribution to Task Force Serpent.

History

Formation

One of the earliest Com Guard divisions, the Second was a relatively unknown quantity before the Clan Invasion, being known prior to Tukayyid by the nickname of the ComStar Angels. Wolfnet uncovered that the then green unit was assigned to the Third Army and headquartered on Peabody.[1]

Clan Invasion

As part of the Third Army, the Second faced multiple Clans during the Battle of Tukayyid, primarily fighting against Clan Steel Viper.[2] Like many surviving divisions, the now-tempered and elite Second chose a new nickname based on their experiences, The Falconeers, remaining with the Third Army while moving its headquarters to Epsilon Indi.[3]

Task Force Serpent

One of the most elite units in the Com Guard, the Second Division was Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht's first choice to assign to Task Force Serpent. While impractical to transport the entire division, Focht sent the bulk of the Second's BattleMech and Combat Vehicle sections, the Living Word, Hidden Hand and Dark Regret, to Huntress.[2][4][5]

During the initial assault on Huntress, the Second Division was assigned the relatively easy task of capturing the Mount Szabo command post that was partially crippled by the DEST force assigned to Serpent, with portions of the Second then attached to assist in the hellish fighting between the First Knights of the Inner Sphere and Kingston's Legionnaires against a sizable force of then previously-unknown ProtoMechs.[6]

During the Smoke Jaguar counter-assault, General Ariana Winston assigned the Second Division to the northern army tasked with protecting the Smoke Jaguar genetics repository and Mount Szabo, two sites sacred to the Jaguars, alongside the Eridani Light Horse and Second St. Ives Lancers. After facing and repulsing the Clan's initial challenge, the Second was assigned to defend or destroy the capital Lootera's spaceport, bearing the brunt of the Jaguar assault and slowly being pushed back.[7] Along with the rest of the northern army, the Second was pressed back into the Jaguar's Fang mountains, suffering heavy losses until the Victor Steiner-Davion-led relief force arrived to carry the day.[8]

Like all members of Task Force Serpent, the Second suffered extremely heavy losses on Huntress. Of the eighty Second Division BattleMechs assigned to Serpent, only seventeen returned, with even worse losses among the aerospace fighter, combat vehicle and infantry sections. Each of the Second Division's forty-two survivors received the highest possible Com Guard decorations from Precentor Martial Focht, making the Second the most decorated unit in the Guard.[2]

Unlike other elements of the Third Army, the Second Division remained steadfastly loyal when Victor Steiner-Davion accepted the post of Precentor Martial, due in part because of their shared history on Huntress, and finally returned to full strength in 3066.[9]

While stationed on Epsilon Indi in 3067, elements of the Second attacked the independently-contracted mercenary unit Tooth of Ymir. They destroyed four companies of the merc unit, until the Tooth's commanding officer sent scathing interrogative messages to Precentor Regis Grandi. Grandi denied authorizing the attacks, and halted the assaults on the mercenary unit.[10] The Second Division contracted Arc-Royal based repair group Skibinski's Salvage to rebuild the nearly destroyed command.[11] While relations between the Tooth and the Second Division had been strained since the Tooth's arrival, Precentor Grandi had to concede that there was no tangible evidence linking the Tooth to the Word of Blake, and it was reported in January 3068 that the Tooth had been forced to withdraw to Arc-Royal because its strength had been reduced below the minimum level stipulated in their contract.[12][13]

The Jihad

In the opening stages of the Jihad the Second was attacked directly by the Word of Blake. The Second requested assistance from the Langendorf Lancers, who were under contract to the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces and stationed on Epsilon Indi at the time, but the Lancers instead broke their contract, forced their way into the nearby spaceport, seized a number of DropShips and fled.[14] The destruction of the Second Division's command post at the hands of Blakist battle armor - including Manei Domini troopers using Purifier and Phalanx - was broadcast in graphic detail on the 26th of December 3067 by Joseph Lawson, a journalist from INN who had the misfortune to be in the command post when the Blakist troops forced their way in and literally tore the people inside apart.[15][16] By the 14th of January 3068 reports were already circulating of the Second Division and other Com Guard forces having taken heavy casualties.[17][18]

During the Blakist invasion of Epsilon Indi, one of the pilots from the Second Division earned a considerable degree of notoriety within the invading forces; Adept Valerie Heron savaged a Blakist Level II of Cheetah fighters in the first wave of the invasion, using her light LX-pattern Rogue aerospace fighter to earn her ace status in a single engagement and leading the one Blakist survivor of the battle to claim that the Second had brought back a ghost from Huntress to fight for them. One of Precentor Grandi's final acts during the battle on Epsilon Indi was to request that ComStar award its highest honors to Heron, who had gone into battle for a second time, against two Level IIs of upgraded Stingray-class fighters, and managed to destroy three before being killed in action.[19]

Officers

Composition history

3055

2nd Division (Division/Elite) [21]

Note: At this point in time the 2nd Division was stationed on Epsilon Indiri.[21]


3062

The Second Division consists of a fairly even mix of BattleMechs, AeroSpace Fighters, combat vehicles and infantry.

Notes

  • The insignia of the Second Division is a simple white disc inscribed with the word Remember.[2]

References

  1. 20-Year Update, p. 70
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Field Manual: ComStar, p. 25
  3. ComStar (sourcebook), p. 84
  4. Twilight of the Clans, p. 44
  5. The Hunters, p. 114
  6. Twilight of the Clans, p. 10, 25
  7. Twilight of the Clans, p. 12, 35
  8. Twilight of the Clans, p. 13
  9. Field Manual: Updates, p. 85
  10. Mercenaries Supplemental Update, p. 113 - "Possible WoB ROM tricks Second Division to attack Tooth of Ymir".
  11. Mercenaries Supplemental Update, p. 107 - "2nd Division contracts Skibinski's Salvage to rebuild the Tooth of Ymir".
  12. 12.0 12.1 Blake Ascending, p. 35, "Mercenary Treachery"
  13. Dawn of the Jihad, p. 35, "Mercenary Treachery"
  14. Mercenaries Supplemental Update, p. 82, "Langendorf Lancers"
  15. Blake Ascending, p. 85-86, "Slaughter!"
  16. Dawn of the Jhad, p. 85-86, "Slaughter!"
  17. Blake Ascending, p. 86-87, "Com Guards Shattered"
  18. Dawn of the Jihad, p. 86-87, "Com Guards Shattered"
  19. Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade, p. 232, "RGU-133E Rogue"
  20. Sword and Fire, p. 60
  21. 21.0 21.1 'ComStar (sourcebook), p. 84'

Bibliography