2nd Orloff Grenadiers

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History

Reunification War

Formed before the Reunification War, the Second Orloff Grenadiers and their sister regiment the Third Orloff Grenadiers served as a part of the Marik Auxiliary Corps assigned to support the Star League Defense Force VII Corps during the invasion of the Magistracy of Canopus. VII Corps was the largest of the corps at the time, and was commanded by Captain-General Marion Marik; the Marik Auxiliary Corps was commanded by General Ian Marik, and while VII Corps took the lead on many of the planetary campaigns, elements of the Marik Auxiliary Corps were present on almost every campaign of the war between the Star League and the Magistracy. The Second Orloff Grenadiers were no exception to this, seeing service in no less than five planetary conquests.[1][2][3]

Cranston

Cranston was expected to be a tough battle, and the SLDF Fifty-eighth Brigade had already been ordered to redeploy most of the brigade's fighters to the Fifty-seventh Brigade for their assault on the nearby world of Restitution. The Second Orloff Grenadiers were deployed from the staging world of Saonara to serve alongside the First Marik Militia in support of the Fifty-eighth Brigade as they invaded Cranston. Defending Cranston when the strike force landed in October 2577 were the First Canopian Grenadiers, who were soon discovered to be much better armed and equipped than SLDF intelligence had indicated - a result of an illicit trade in weapons and material with agents and companies within the Free Worlds League and Capellan Confederation. Although the Fifty-eighth and the FWLM units had the Canopian Grenadiers heavily outnumbered, the Canopians played to their own strengths by using maneuverability, speed and the local terrain to constantly harass the SLDF units, hitting hard and fading back before any of the task force unit could bring their superior numbers to bear.[4][5]

Hampered by a lack of AeroSpace forces to do any reconnaissance or gather intelligence and facing a foe that refused to engage in stand-up battles dragged the SLDF campaign out into November; events then took a turn for the worse when, on the 9th of November, the SLDF WarShip picket line in the system reported an unidentified vessel arriving at a pirate point in the system. The new vessel was inside the picket, and successfully deployed DropShips onto the northern continent of Cranston, from which emerged the Third Canopian Light Horse, fresh and supposedly the garrison for Restitution according to SLDF intelligence. Suddenly faced with twice the number of enemy forces and completely outmatched in the air thanks to the significant AeroSpace forces accompanying the Third Light Horse, the Fifty-eighth Brigade commander decided to split his forces; General Michael Martinnson deployed two thirds of his forces against the First Canopian Grenadiers, while ordering the other third and both Marik regiments to prevent the Third Canopian Light Horse from linking up with the Canopian Grenadiers. The next three weeks were a brutal campaign, particularly for the scratch company of AeroSpace pilots and fighters that were all the Fifty-eighth, the First Marik Militia and the Second Orloff Grenadiers could muster to defend them from the Canopian AeroSpace assets; by the time the MAF defenders had been forced to retreat from Cranston, three weeks after the Third Light Horse's arrival, the Fifty-eighth and both FWLM regiments had been bloodied, the MAF had proved that the war was going to be fought in a fashion entirely different to that predicted by the SLDF planners, and the surviving SLDF AeroSpace pilots from the scratch company were the first recipients of the Star League Medal of Honor in the Canopian theatre.[4][5]

Scheuerheck

In contrast with the Cranston campaign, the capture of Scheuerheck was relatively easy; one of three former Free Worlds League which had defected to the Magistracy in the 2550s, all three were conquered through a display of overwhelming force and agile diplomacy by Captain-General Marik. The defenders of Scheuerheck effectively offered no resistance to the SLDF landings which saw the 56th Brigade deploy alongside the 401st Independent Regiment, the Second and Third Orloff Grenadiers, the Third Regulan Hussars and the First Defenders of Andurien. Within a very short period of time the planetary leader of Scheuerheck had not only surrendered but was actively petitioning for Scheuerheck to be readmitted into the Free Worlds League. The easy acquisition of three systems and their relatively peaceful incorporation back into the League was a propoganda coup for the Captain-General, and was used to great effect by her allies in the League Parliament.[1][6]

Bethonolog

The invasion of Bethonolog in 2578 was relatively easy, albeit unconventional. The VII Corps' Fifty-ninth Brigade landed ahead of the Sixtieth Brigade and prepared to assault the Canopian positions on the planet, only to receive a message from the local militia Colonel stating that while he intended to resist the invasion, he wanted permission to wait until the 26th of December so that the people of Bethonolog could enjoy the various religious holidays falling at that time of year. General Mancini of the Fifty-ninth agreed on behalf of the invading forces (including the Second Grenadiers and Third Regulan Hussars), and sent the militia colonel a Christmas pudding as a gift; the Colonel reciprocated by sending General Mancini a bottle of local wine and a turkey. A week of halfhearted clashes between the militia and the Fifty-ninth began during the New Year period, satisfying the honor of both sides, and the Fifty-ninth took control of Bethonolog on the 9th of January 2579.[1][6]

Afarsin & Bass

The Second Orloff Grenadiers didn't take part in another combat operation after the conquest of Bethonolog until 2583, when the Grenadiers were assigned alongside the Second Oriente Hussars and Third Regulan Hussars and 4th Marik Militia in support of the Fifty-fifth Brigade to conquer the world of Afarsin. An agrarian world of little strategic importance and which hadn't merited a MAF garrison so far during the war, Afarsin was seen as a stepping stone to other worlds based on the system's location as one of the most anti-spinward worlds in the Magistracy. The SLDF-led force landed to capture the world in April and faced only a token display of resistance by the defenders.[2][5][7]

The Grenadiers weren't one of the units chosen by the Captain-General to join in the invasion of the Magistracy capital in 2584. Instead, the Grenadiers and the Fifty-fifth Brigade were dispatched from Afarsin to conquer the world of Bass, another Magistracy world with no MAF line regiments stationed in defense; as a result, Bass fell quickly, in what would be the last campaign of the Reunification War for the Second Orloff Grenadiers.[2][5]

Star League Era

Swiftly building a reputation for excellence, the Second Orloff Grenadiers wanted for very little during the Star League era; the Second and the other regiments of the Grenadiers were provided with top-of-the-line equipment procured by House Orloff and had initiated an extremely stringent recruiting mechanism that included all members of the Second swearing oaths not to fight against the Grenadiers or House Orloff.[8]

Despite House Orloff's secession from the Federation of Oriente and although the Grenadiers were officially provincial forces of the Duchy of Orloff[8] - all of the forces associated with provinces officially having become provincial forces in 2650, decades before the founding of the Grenadiers, in what was at least partly an act of fiction to avoid disbanding a large number of regiments under the demands of the Star League Council Edict of 2650[9] - House Orloff and House Allison maintained a close relationship. As a result the Second could be - and often were - deployed throughout the Federation of Oriente, protecting worlds of importance to Oriente rather than just Kievanur and Semenyih, neither of which was of particular interest to pirates and raiders.[8]

The Grenadiers as a brigade chose to stand by House Allison during the Marik Civil War, a decision that resulted in the Grenadiers not being called on to fight, but which also strained the relationship between the Grenadiers, the Free Worlds League Parliament and the Captain-General.[8]

During the decade leading up to the Amaris Civil War the Second was very active, dealing with pirate raids against various Federation worlds; like its sister regiments, the Second displayed consistently rapid response times - which helped the Second limit collateral damage and casualties - and the high degree of operational latitude given to the commanding officer of the Second by House Orloff. Funded by House Orloff, equipped with the best equipment and given a great deal of operational latitude, morale was consistently high in the Second during this era despite the operational tempo. In exchange for this high level of support and operational freedom, to ensue that the high standards of the Grenadiers were met, the commanding officer of the Second enforced high standards of conduct and strict dress codes consistent with those being enforced across the brigade. These standards, whilst harsh and imposing, were supported by the Second, who felt that the discipline was a key part in allowing the Grenadiers to continue to outshine every other provincial and federal brigade within the Free Worlds League.[8]

It was during the Star League era that the Grenadiers established the tradition of regimental commanding officers being democratically elected by the personnel in their unit, with each commanding officer being elected for a two-year term. This tradition was a source of some concern for the Free Worlds League Military due to the risk that an elected commander might not agree with the policies and direction provided by House Orloff, in contrast with an appointed commander.[8]

Officers


Composition

2765

Second Orloff Grenadiers (Veteran/Reliable)[10]

- At this point in time the Second was stationed on Sophie's World.[10]

Notes

  • There is a discrepancy between Historical: Reunification War and other texts over the existence of the Orloff Grenadiers. According to sources such as Field Report 2765: FWLM the Orloff Grenadiers brigade was founded immediately after the creation of the Duchy of Orloff in 2691. This would preclude them from taking part in the Reunification War, which occured a century earlier than this founding date. This has been flagged as errata on the official forums.
  • The Second Orloff Grenadiers were presumably destroyed during the Succession Wars.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Historical: Reunification War, p. 148, "Magistracy Of Canopus Front(Jump-Off - 2582)"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Historical: Reunification War, p. 149, "Magistracy Of Canopus Front (2583-2588)"
  3. Historical: Reunification War, p. 95, "SLDF Task Force Canopus"
  4. 4.0 4.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 98, "Restitution and Cranston (October-November 2577)"
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Historical: Reunification War, p. 150, "Magistracy of Canopus Front (Jump-Off-2582)" Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "H:RWp150" defined multiple times with different content
  6. 6.0 6.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 100, "Ruschegg, Payvand and Scheuerheck (August-October 2577)" Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "H:RWp100" defined multiple times with different content
  7. Historical: Reunification War, p. 102, "Afarsin, Adherlwin, Megarez and Nobel (March-April 2583)"
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Field Report 2765: FWLM, p. 19, "Orloff Grenadiers"
  9. Field Report 2765: FWLM, p. 4, "Circumventing Directive 30"
  10. 10.0 10.1 Field Report 2765: FWLM, p. 19, "Regimental Status"

Bibliography