6th Division (ComStar)
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| |
| 6th Division IV-xi | |
| Formed | Unknown (mid-3030s) |
| Nickname | Alert Words |
| Affiliation | ComStar |
| Parent Command | 6th Army |
Obliterated by Clan Steel Viper during the Battle of Tukayyid, the sacrifice of the green 6th Division ensured the Vipers' defeat.
History[edit]
Prior to the Clan Invasion, the green ranked Sixth Division was headquartered on the Free Worlds League world of Kearny.[1] Consisting of a mix of Terran born and Free Worlds League converts, the Sixth's CO Beeshor Yekel was intensely proud of his division but unfortunately consistently overestimated the abilities of his troops, which would have disastrous consequences on Tukayyid.[2]
Assigned along with the rest of the Sixth Army to face Clan Steel Viper during the Battle of Tukayyid, the Sixth Division was positioned in the hellish Devil's Bath, a horrific combination of geysers, boiling mud and narrow paths walled by massive granite columns, stretching for dozens of kilometers between the Vipers' intended drop zone and their target cities. After an initial exchange of fire, the Sixth withdrew into the Bath, luring the Steel Vipers in as the rest of the Sixth and Seventy-Eighth Division waited inside to ambush them.[3][4]
With the tight paths negating the Clan weapons' superior range and missteps sending entire Stars into the bottomless pools of boiling mud, Khan Natalie Breen realized too late her troops had stumbled into a massive trap. As the Vipers attempted to withdraw, a desperate Precentor Yekel of the Sixth used his Atlas's Satellite Uplink to personally issue an insulting public challenge throughout the Tukayyid system to goad them into continuing their attack.[3][4]
Now enraged by the insult, the traditional minded Vipers redoubled their advance, pushing the Sixth and Seventy-Eighth Divisions through Devil's Bath. While inflicting extremely heavy damage on the Com Guard forces, both of the Vipers Alpha and Gamma Galaxies used up their ammunition at a tremendous rate.[3][4]
With any hope of resupply dashed when the Com Guards' elite First Division struck the Vipers supply lines, Khan Zalman ordered Gamma Galaxy's 57th Striker Cluster to divide the Com Guard units and pin down the Sixth. While the Fifty-Seventh was utterly destroyed as a viable combat unit, it allowed Alpha Galaxy to completely surround the Sixth Division.[3][4]
Recognizing his unit was doomed, Yekel attempted to offer himself in return for the surrender and survival of his troops, but discovered the price of insulting the Vipers. Khan Breen ordered her warriors to refuse all attempts at surrender or mercy, with Alpha's assault OmniMechs falling upon the Sixth, obliterating it down to the last 'Mech.[3][4]
It was thanks to the sacrifice of the Sixth and its fellow Seventy-Eighth Division that the Steel Vipers were ultimately driven from Tukayyid in defeat, the Vipers' frontline Galaxies having expended all their strength to destroy them,[3][4] but with almost all its equipment lost and so few of the unit's members left alive, Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht elected to disband rather than rebuild the Sixth Division, transferring its survivors to other units.
Officers[edit]
| Rank | Name | Command | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commanding Officers of the 6th Division (ComStar) | |||
| Precentor | Beeshor Yekel | 3050 - 3052[1][2][5] | |
Tactics[edit]
Despite their inexperience, the Sixth Division was specialized in ambush tactics, seemingly making them the ideal choice of the ambush within the Devil's Bath.[2]
Composition History[edit]
3050[edit]
6th Division (Division/Regular)[1]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 20 Year Update, p. 70: "6th V-pi"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 BattleTech: Battle of Tukayyid, p. 88: "Clan Steel Viper Campaign - Combatants"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Tukayyid, pp. 79–88: "Campaign: Clan Steel Viper"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 BattleTech: Battle of Tukayyid, pp. 83-85: "Clan Steel Viper Campaign - Background"
- ↑ Field Manual: ComStar, p. 34: "8th Army V-Pi: Stern Defiance"