56th Brigade (SLDF)

History

The Fifty-Sixth Brigade was a part of the Star League Defense Force Regular Army. It was originally formed during the creation of the SLDF in 2571, and was a part of the 19th Division during the Reunification War, where it served in the Magistracy of Canopus campaign from 2577 to 2588 and was one of the most active brigades within VII Corps.

As a part of the Magistracy of Canopus task force, the 56th was stationed on Meadowvale when military action against the Magistracy began. The Commanding Officer of VII Corps, Captain-General Marion Marik, would often assign a division or more of troops to the conquest of various worlds by drawing together brigades from across VII Corps. The 56th often operated in conjunction with other brigades from VII Corps as well as fighting alongside units from the Free Worlds League Military assigned to the task force as auxiliary forces.

Umka

The 56th was the second brigade to be deployed on a combat action against a Magistracy world when the war began, landing on the world of Umka in August 2577; despite outnumbering the defending garrison by a considerable margin, the 56th was forced to fight a three-month campaign as the defenders refused to surrender. The bulk of the defending force consisted of two battalions of troops from the 1st Canopian Light Horse, but even when these two battalions had been forced off-world the local irregulars continued to fight. The 56th held the main industrial complexes and settlements on Umka easily, but as Umka was a water-rich world where the bulk of the landmasses were island chains the local garrison simply switched to guerilla warfare, relocating rapidly from and around islands and archipelagos and forcing the 56th to winkle out numerous small camps and groups with assistance from the 62nd Royal Brigade and two regiments of FWLM troops.

Scheuerheck

In contrast with the Umka campaign, the 56th Brigade deployment to capture 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 overhwelming force and agile diplomacy by Captain-General Marik. The defenders of Scheuerheck effectively offered no resistance to the SLDF landings which saw the 56th deploy alongside the 401st Independent Regiment and no less than four regiments of FWLM regulars, and within a very short period of time the planetary leader of Scheuerheck had not only surrendered but was actively petitioning for Scheuerheck to be admitted into the Free Worlds League.

Obrenovac

The 56th worked alongside the 55th Brigade and two FWLM regiments to conquer Obrenovac in June 2578, and after the invasion one of the regiments attached to the 56th - the 92nd Assault Infantry - was assigned as the planetary garrison. The 92nd was soon tested by a series of political strikes, protests and marches organized by an operative from the Magistracy Intelligence Ministry. When the operative attempted to incite the protestors to violence against the 92nd, the protestors instead turned on the operative and handed him and his supporters over to the 92nd. The Commanding Officer of the 92nd, Colonel Richard Adams, met with the local protest leaders to assure them that they had the right to protest peacefully, and that so long as the protests remained orderly and nonviolent the SLDF wouldn't interfere. As a result, the protestors arranged a series of self-policing measures to ensure that this was a case, and there were few problems between the 92nd and the protestors for the remainder of the occupation.

Lindenmarle

After the opening stages of the invasion and various unexpected raids, ambushes and rerversals inflicted by the MAF, there followed two years of relatively quiet activity on both sides of the war as the MAF and the SLDF consolidated their positions, rearmed and resupplied. That changed in 2582, when the SLDF began to adopt MAF tactics and launched not just several more planetary invasions but also a series of raids. The 56th hit Lindemarle with two FWLM regiments in support in July 2582 and forced the defending 1st and 2nd Canopian Light Horse regiments to retreat, continuing an anti-spinward push into the Magistracy.

Afarsin & Bass

The 56th Brigade deployment to Lindemarle was followed in quick succession by campaigns to capture Afarsin in 2583 and Bass in 2584; in both cases the 56th was the only full brigade assigned to the world being targetted, although varying numbers of FWLM regiments were deployed in support. Neither world was garrisoned with a regular MAF unit and the conquests were relatively easy compared to other campaigns being fought across the Magistracy, such as the battles for Tetski and the Magistracy capital world of Canopus IV, although Afarsin was a stepping stone on the route to Canopus IV whilst Bass was one of a number of worlds captured by a bouyant SLDF after the fall of Canopus.

Palladix

The battle for Palladix was the last major campaign for the 56th Brigade during the war with the Magistracy, and was fought in May 2586. Whilst the conquest of the Magistracy was inevitable after the loss of the bulk of the Magistracy Navy and the capture of the majority of the MAF major repair facilities, the MAF refused to surrender and forced the SLDF to continue to conquer worlds. A number of these were uncontested beyond the abilities of the local garrison, but those MAF units that hadn't been involved in the battle for Canopus continued to fight, and the battle for Palladix was one of the fiercest in the closing stages of the war. Facing the 56th Brigade and their auxiliary regiment, the Juggernaut regiment of the Stewart Dragoons, were two of the Chasseurs á Cheval regiments, the 1st and 4th Canopian Light Horse. Whereas the 56th had faced the 1st Light Horse before on Lindemarle and forced them to retreat, neither MAF regiment would retreat from Palladix, and the resulting campaign saw the 1st canopian Light Horse defeated and forced to surrender, while the 4th Canopian Light Horse was destroyed.

Composition

Despite the doctrine and organization originally defined during the creation of the SLDF, the 56th would most likely have been a mélange of combined arms units. The breakdown for the SLDF element of the Canopian task force indicates that just under a half of the SLDF regiments were BattleMech regiments, one-third were infantry regiments and the remaining forces were a mix of armor and AeroSpace regiments.

Rules

Reunification War

• VII Corps units may utilize Overrun Combat.
• VII Corps units gain a +1 bonus to repair rolls.
• The VII Corps commander may select half of the maps used in any battle, irrespective of scenario rules.
• VII Corps units adhere to the Ares Conventions.
• VII Corps units suffer a -2 penalty to Initiative if forced to fight on city maps.

Bibliography

• Historical: Reunification War