Ascella Protectorate Militia
Sarna News
Contents
Unit Brief
The Ascella Protectorate Militia is one of the many militias raised by Word of Blake to defend the Word of Blake Protectorate. The unit was deployed in Ascella.
History
Ascella was the target of a Word of Blake attack during the first week of April 3069, which soon saw the world incorporated into the Word of Blake Protectorate.[1] It was the third of three worlds to be attacked by forces from Clan Ghost Bear on the 6th of October 3075, shortly after the Ghost Bears had agreed to support Devlin Stone's coalition, and was where their wave of attacks stalled; the inbound Ghost Bear DropShips were attacked by Blakist Pocket WarShips, and half the DropShips were destroyed before they could make planetfall.[2][3][4] The Blakist Pocket WarShips were able to inflict such heavy damage because the Ghost Bear WarShips were already committed to supporting the attacks on Kaus Australis, Kaus Borealis and Kaus Media; with almost a full Cluster of troops lost, the Ghost Bears redeployed the Leviathan-class battleship CGB Leviathan to the Ascella system from Kaus Borealis, where it proceeded to hunt down the remaining Blakist Pocket WarShips and aerospace fighters.[4]
In December 3075 the Ghost Bears successfully negotiated for support from Clan Snow Raven for the allied coalition; as a result, a second Ghost Bear assault on Ascella began on the 9th of December, this time backed up by support from the Snow Ravens. Allied coalition forces under the command of Devlin Stone also dropped onto Ascella at roughly the same time, but the two groups found themselves fighting very different campaigns; while Stone's Lament managed to capture Ascella's HPG compound and the capital city in only a week, the Ghost Bears spent two weeks securing Ascella's primary industrial complexes and spaceport in the face of a dogged, bitter resistance from Ascella Protectorate Militia forces who used scorched earth tactics liberally from the beginning of the campaign.[5][6]
The contrast between the campaign tactics used by the Ghost Bears and Devlin Stone's forces was marked; the Ghost Bears killed every Blakist they could find, prompting the Word of Blake forces to use every means in their arsenal to resist. Stone's forces worked their way through the strong points around the capital city of Copiosus one at a time, and on the fifth day were in a position to force the surrender of the majority of the surviving Blakists within the city, including many of their leadership. Any Blakist forces still resisting Stone's forces were defeated on the sixth day, and when the Ghost Bears arrived in assault formation to attack Copiosus they found Stone's forces in place and the city in a relatively pristine condition.[7]
The strong implication is that Stone had kept the Ghost Bears unaware of the presence of his forces on Ascella, and presented the capture of Copiosus as a deliberate and pointed commentary on the tactics used by the Ghost Bears. In capturing the most heavily defended city on the planet in a manner which minimized casualties and collateral damage, Stone's forces had won a victory that was far more notable in Clan terms than those won by the Ghost Bears; to the waste-averse Clan forces, Stone had won a superior victory and then slapped the Bears in the face with it. Whatever other response the Ghost Bears had to Stone's victory, the most visible was their rapid departure from Ascella as quickly as possible.[7]
Officers
| Rank | Name | Command | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commanding Officers of the Ascella Protectorate Militia | |||
Tactics
Unknown.
Composition History
Unknown.
Reference
- ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 46, "The Jihad In Review"
- ↑ Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 18, "Timeline of the Jihad"
- ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 54, "The Jihad In Review"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 47, "Cebalrai Free, But At What Cost?"
- ↑ Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 19, "Timeline of the Jihad"
- ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 55, "The Jihad In Review"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 16, "Sign Of Things To Come?"