3rd Marik Militia

Among the first Marik Militia regiments formed, the Third Marik Milita was struck from the rolls after they fought on the side of the rebels during Anton Marik's Revolt.

History

Reunification War

The 3rd fought alongside the 1st, 4th and 5th Marik Militia in the Reunification War 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 3rd were no exception to this, seeing service in no less than six planetary conquests.

Restitution

At the end of the military buildup prior to the official declaration of war between the Star League and the Magistracy, the 3rd Marik Militia were stationed on the Free Worlds League border world of Rohinjan alongside the 1st Marik Militia and the 2nd Fusiliers of Oriente Brigade. The 1st and the 3rd were each assigned to support SLDF brigades in the opening attacks of the war; in the case of the 3rd, they were deployed alongside the 2nd Fusiliers of Oriente Brigade in support of the 57th Brigade for the invasion of Restitution. The SLDF task force would continue to deploy the 2nd Fusiliers and the 3rd Marik Militia together throughout the campaign against the Magistracy until the 2nd Fusiliers were redeployed to the Rim Worlds Republic theatre.

Restitution was a world famous for it's media industry - particularly the producers of dubious pornography and low-brow dramas. Restitution's media industry had given the planet experts in communications, data delivery and image and video manipulation and a planetary communications network as advanced as any in the Inner Sphere. The attack on Restitution was expected to be a tough fight; intelligence showed that the defending garrison consisted of the 3rd Canopian Light Horse, one of the elite Chasseurs á Cheval regiments, and that the capital city of Magdeburg had been surrounded by massive defences, augmenting the benefits of it's location atop a narrow bluff.

The 57th Brigade were allocated the majority of the AeroSpace assets from the 58th Brigade to assist them in achieving air superiority over Magdeburg so allow for the 57th to make a direct assault on the city, bypassing the bulk of the prepared defenses. The plan was a complete success - in large part due to the fact that only token resistance was offered; the 57th secured the city, only to discover that there was no sign of the 3rd Canopian Light Horse. While the SLDF had been preparing to conquer Restitution, the planetary defenders had redeployed and would appear two weeks later in the Cranston system, bloodying the 58th Brigade badly.

Ruschegg

The capture of Ruschegg in 2578 was relatively easy for the 3rd and the other units involved; one of three former Free Worlds League worlds 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 Ruschegg effectively offered no resistance to the SLDF landings, although it would have been difficult for any local militia to contest an invasion which saw the SLDF 58th Brigade deploy alongside the 62nd Royal Brigade, the 1st and 3rd Marik Militia and the 1st and 2nd Fusiliers of Oriente Brigades. Within a very short period of time the planetary leader of Ruschegg had not only surrendered but was actively petitioning for Ruschegg to be admitted into the Free Worlds League. The relatively peaceful capture and annexation of Ruschegg, Payvand and Scheuerheck was an important moral victory for the Free Worlds League, one that the Captain-General's allies in the Parliament used extensively against opponents of the Star League.

Aspropirgos & Borgan's Rift

Following the campaign for Ruschegg the 3rd spent several years supporting the 58th Brigade directly, as did the 2nd Fusiliers of Oriente Brigade until the Fusiliers were deployed to the new front against the Rim Worlds Republic. The Magistracy Armed Forces had managed to surprise and outfox the SLDF task force several times in the opening years of the war, and as a result the SLDF timetable slowed as Captain-General Marik built up her forces for the next major invasions. In addition to refitting and rearming VII Corps and the FWLM regiments acting in support, Marik targeted two worlds each year for invasion, consolidating gains as part of a slow encirclement of the Magistracy capital world of Canopus IV. The 3rd was involved in two of these four campaigns; in September 2580, the 3rd landed on Aspropirgos alongside the 58th Brigade and the 2nd Fusiliers, clashing with the 1st Canopian Fusiliers and the 2nd Canopian Grenadiers. In what would be the standard pattern of warfare for the MAF when defending worlds during 2580-2581, the two Canopian regiments did their best to sting the invaders before retreating ahead of any effective retaliation, saving their strength for later battles. The same thing happened when the 3rd Marik Militia and the 58th Brigade landed on Borgan's Rift in September-October 2581, although as the 2nd Fusiliers had been redeployed, the 3rd found themselves operating alongside the VII Corps' 402nd Independent Regiment. This time the 3rd faced two of the mercenary units employed by the MAF, The Red Hand and Kincani's Dragoons, but the campaign was a repeat of the battle for Aspropirgos.

Hastur

In mid-2583 the mood across the SLDF task force was bouyant; not only had the task force captured the important Magistracy world of Tetski, the SLDF naval contingent had managed to ambush and destroy the bulk of the Magistracy Navy in the Thurrock system, leaving many Canopian ground units pinned to their current worlds due to a lack of transport assets. After two years of slow and steady progress of like the campaigns for Aspropirgos and Borgan's Rift, the SLDF was finally able to strike across multiple worlds in strength. A sign of the growing confidence of the SLDF was that smaller units and formations were assigned to planetary invasions; the invasion of Hastur in late 2583 is a case in point. Just two regiments were assigned to attack and occupy Hastur; the 3rd Marik Militia and the 402nd Independent Regiment, fresh from the operation on Borgan's Rift. No line regiments from the MAF were present on Hastur when the two regiments arrived, and they quickly occupied the world in defiance of any resistance offered by the local home guard.

Canopus

In 2584 the invasion of Canopus IV itself was ordered and landings began in early April; the defending Magistracy Armed Forces units put up a fierce resistance, and the 3rd saw heavy action from the very first day of combat operations - the 3rd Canopian Fusiliers struck at both the 3rd and the 35th Royal CAAN Marine Regiment who were operating alongside them and pressed both regiments hard. The 35th Royal took the brunt of the damage before reinforcements arrived, and ended up having to be withdrawn from combat ops and placed in reserve for several weeks. The 3rd continued to fight alongside the numerous SLDF and FWLM regiments involved in the campaign as the Magistracy defenders were pushed back to the capital city of Delphi and finally defeated, although the final day of the campaign resembled a meatgrinder with forces on both sides taking heavy damage before the MAF lines were broken. The battle for Canopus was the last major battle the 3rd fought during the Reunification War, and along with the 1st Marik Militia, the 3rd had served with distinction throughout the campaign; more than that, the two regiments had managed to capture enough material to allow the construction of the 6th Marik Militia.

Star League Era

While the bulk of the Militia remained loyal to Captain-General Bertram Marik, the 3rd and 8th Marik Militia chose to support the cause of Oliver Marik during his 2729-2734 revolt. In the peace settlement that ended the conflict, the 3rd was granted a full amnesty and returned to normal duty.

Succession Wars

In 2952 the Third Marik Militia received a new commanding officer who spearheaded the invasion of Cavanaugh II. This commander had a masterful grasp of LCAF tactics, capitalizing on many small errors made by the Lyran defenders. To counteract this, the LCAF High Command sent the 5th Striker Battalion of the Eridani Light Horse. The Light Horse unit was able to kill the commander, and post-mortem identification showed that the Third's CO was Mikhail Tetren, a former LCAF officer who had defected to the Free Worlds League.

Despite centuries of sterling service during the Succession Wars, the 3rd sided with their former commander Anton Marik during his revolt in 3014-15. In the fighting on Sophie's World the fighting between the 3rd and the 6th Marik Militia was particularly savage, with the two units refusing to accept or give quarter. Anton then dispatched the 3rd to Berenson, where they attacked the 15th Marik Militia, a unit that had been starved of supplies for months. This action wasn't successful, and the 3rd withdrew to Bernardo. The 15th and 31st Marik Militia pursued the 3rd to Bernardo, inflicting heavy casualties. The 3rd retreated again, but was eventually defeated on Park Place, where they surrendered after two weeks of heavy fighting. Unlike the mercy shown by Bertram two centuries earlier, Janos Marik ordered the unit's officers executed or imprisoned, and the unit itself permanently disbanded and stricken from the Militia's history.

Officers

In 2952, the unit was commanded by Mikhail Tertren, a former LCAF officer. During the rebellion in 3014-15 the 3rd was commanded by Gerald Marik.

Tactics

During the rebellion the 3rd was noted for its fanatic loyalty to Anton Marik, and would not retreat unless a battle turned dramatically against them.

Bibliography

• Field Manual: Free Worlds League
• Historical: Brush Wars
• Historical: Reunification War
• House Marik (The Free Worlds League)
• House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)