54th Lyran Guards

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Resurrected as a green unit intended to emulate the famous Stealths and Tamar Tigers, the Fifty-fourth Lyran Guards were one of the many LCAF units destroyed during the First Succession War.

History

Star League Era

During the Star League era the Fifty-fourth Lyran Guards was one of six regiments within the Fifth Lyran Guards Division, one of five Divisions of active regiments within the Lyran Guards brigade in the closing decades of the Star League's existence. The Fifty-fourth had been a part of the Sixth Lyran Guards Division, but the declining number of active regiments within the Sixth led to the Sixth being disbanded, with the two surviving regiments - the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-third Lyran Guards - being reorganized under the Fifth to bring the Fifth Division up to six active regiments by 2765.[1]

Like the other regiments of the Guards during this era, the Fifty-fourth lacked any particular political ties - either regional or familial - unlike regiments in other brigades; commonly assigned to garrison postings, the Fifty-fourth Lyran Guards and their sister regiments were postings of choice for those who wanted to work for the Commonwealth without either regional loyalties or particular ambitions. This led to the Fifty-fourth and her sister regiments being manned by soldiers who were professional, but without the close-knit ties found in more parochial regiments. The LCAF was intent on generating more camaraderie and esprit de corps among the Fifty-fourth and the other Guards regiments, but with little success by 2765.[1]

In 2765 the Fifty-fourth was deployed as the local garrison on Kirkcaldy; nine-tenths of Kirkcaldy was owned by a single corporation at the time, Baker Pharmaceuticals, but the planet remained largely unpolluted. What action the Fifty-fourth saw during their posting up until 2765 largely consisted of deployments to the equatorial continent of Banu, where the Fifty-fourth had to rescue occasional Baker Pharmaceuticals teams from the local fauna.[1]

First Succession War

With the heavier Lyran Commonwealth military suffering increasing losses to the more nimble Free Worlds League and Draconis Combine forces during the First Succession War, the Lyrans achieved few decisive victories save for those of the famed Tamar Tigers and the Stealths. One of the most notable in the final decades was when the Stealths' former CO Colonel Raymond Hempsted led the 12th and 14th Lyran Regulars in retaking Bella I from the FWLM in 2813. [2]

Desperate to regain the lightning raid abilities of the Stealths and fueled by the successful recapture of Bella I, the LCAF High Command set in motion an ambitious plan. Combining the nation's brightest academy graduates with the best equipment available, the newly formed Fifty-fourth Lyran Guards then underwent advanced training with Colonel Hempsted and the aging veterans of both the Stealths and the Tamar Tigers. After a year of near torturous training, Hempsted considered the Fifty-fourth ready to see their first combat, preferably in concert with a veteran regiment. [3]

Unfortunately the LCAF High Command had other ideas, ordering the newly dubbed "Hempsted's Greyhounds" to stage a raid unaided against the Draconis Combine world of Otho. The Lyran High Command was deaf to the strenuous objections of Colonel Hempsted and his aides who cited that no matter the training, the fifty-fourth were still an untried green unit. Despite Hempsted's pleas, the High Command refused to allow him to take command of the Fifty-fourth, only agreeing to allow some of the other Stealths to accompany the unit as aides.[3]

Just as Hempsted had feared, the green MechWarriors of the 54th cracked under the pressure of combat against a veteran DCMS BattleMech unit, the entire unit being annihilated in March 2821. [4] [5] Hearing of the disaster, Archon Richard Steiner court-martialed those directly responsible for the Otho raid, also promoting a now melancholy Hempsted to command both the Kurita front as well as overseeing the training of all recruits and cadets. [3] Recognizing that LCAF still desperately needed troops skilled in faster-paced operations yet unwilling to risk more inexperienced troops, the Fifty-fourth's defeat prompted the Archon to increasingly court mercenary units skilled in such tactics. [3]

The Fifty-fourth was among the units added to the Commonwealth's List of Honored Missing, read out by the Archon on both Veteran's Day and the anniversary of the Commonwealth's founding.[6]

Composition History

2765

Fifty-fourth Lyran Guards (Regular/Reliable)[1]

- At this point in time the Fifty-fourth was based on Kirkcaldy.[1]

Reference

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Field Report 2765: LCAF, p. 13-14, "Lyran Guards"
  2. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 52 "Bella I"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), pp. 52-53 "Lambs to the Slaughter"
  4. House Kurita (The Draconis Combine), p. 61 "Collapse"
  5. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 37 "Timeline: The Commonwealth and the First Succession War"
  6. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 65 "What, Me Worry?"

Bibliography