Battle of Northwind (3057)

Operation Guerrero
Part of Clan Invasion Era
Start Date From 22 September to 20 October 3057 Planet Northwind Result Highlanders victory
Factions
(Attacker) Federated Suns	(Defender) Northwind Highlanders
Commanders and leaders
Drew Catelli	William MacLeod
Conditions
Normal

The Battle of Northwind (3057) was a Clan Invasion Era military operation that was undertaken by the Federated Suns' forces against the Northwind Highlanders' mercenary unit, and a de facto also Highlander Civil War.

Operation Brief

The military operation took place within Tara and surrounding areas of Northwind.

Operation History

Factions & Known Units Involved in the Conflict

Federated Suns

• Third Royal GuardsRCT
• First NAIS Cadre
• Northwind Consul Guard

Northwind Highlanders

• Stirling's Fusiliers
• MacLeod's Regiment

Origin of Conflict

The relationships between the Northwind Highlanders and the Federated Suns weren't ever easy. The Highlanders' permanent affiliation with the Capellan Confederation made them a mainstay of the Capellan forces, but that also made Northwind a prioritary target for the Suns. Their conquest of the planet in 2841, during the Second Succession War and destruction of two Highlander regiments on planet was a hard hit which sparked a deep hatred from the Highlanders towards House Davion. Their capellan employers promised them to recover the planet, but for decades were unable to do so. So when Hanse Davion offered the Highlanders the opportunity to recover their home plnaet if they switch sides during the Fourth Succession War, almost all accepted.

However, the Pact between Highlanders and Federated Suns was far from perfect: despite Hanse Davion's promise of independance, and to allow the regiments to stay always in, or nearby to, Northwind, the Clan Invasion forced Hanse to send several of their regiments to face them. Between the losses suffered in the conflict and in the battle of Glengarry, in 3056, they began to feel mistreated. The fact than the Suns didn't respect their word to pay parts and Mechs lost at a fair rate, and the meddling of Northwind's planetary consul Drake Burns into the planet's affairs, attempting to fully integrate them into the Federated Commonwealth, only worsened the situation. Soon, Northwind was a powder keg. It only needed a spark... and the Suns' will gave them one.

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Prelude

While Sun-Tzu Liao was preparing the Capellan part of Operation GUERRERO, he decided to include on it Northwind, both by psychological and practical reasons, to deny the Highlanders' to the Suns. However, he hasn't agents on that planet, so decided to sent one of his Death Commandos, descendent from Highlanders, Major Loren Jaffray. The Chancelor's orders to him were to convince the Highlanders to broke ties with the Suns and reclaim their independence, offering the Confederation's help and, if possible, to annihilate the Highlanders calling a hidden force of Death Commandos. Colonel William MacLeod, acting senior colonel of the Highlanders, was interested on his offer, and began taking steps to make Northwind's independance a reality. Unknown to him and Jaffray, the Consul Guards' commander, Colonel Drew Catelli, was conspiring to destroy the Highlanders and claim the planet for him.

The launching of Operation Guerrero put Northwind dangerously near of the fighting. The creation by Katherine Steiner-Davion of the Lyran Alliance worsened the situation: as she demanded all three Highlanders' regiments in her new nation to depart, despite Burns' insistance to make them stay where they were, MacLeod agreed, ordering the regiments to return to Northwind. An assasination attempt against MacLeod failed, thanks to Jaffray's intervention, and that increased William's distrust towards Burns.

Civil War

The fight began during a field exercise between MacLeod's Regiment and the Consul Guards. Then, Catelli ordered MacLeod to submit to the Suns' authority and surrender Jaffray. When he refused, a malware made both sides believe they were attacked by the other, and a real battle began. However, Jaffray uncovered the truth and managed to convince both sides to cease the fight. Catelli deposed MacLeod and promoted Major Chastity Mulvaney to replace him. However, almost all of his regiment's followed his former leader, but part of it stayed loyal to the Suns, joining the Consul Guard, led by Mulvaney. That turned the exercise into a civil war, but the Highlanders and Guards separated without fight for the moment, with Catelli and MacLeod agreeing to leave Tara as neutral ground for both sides. MacLeod's regiment, now reorganized, numbered about three short battalions.

However, the arrival of part of the Third Royal Guards led by Marshal Harrison Bradford, at a pirate jump point, the 24 September, quickly changed the balance.

Both sides fought for first time the 25 September, in the Tilman River Valley, when Marshal Bradford sent a team of the First NAIS, wearing Infiltrator Battle armor suits, to infiltrate into the rebels' base and launch a headhunting attack, expecting to decapitate them, but Loren Jaffray, suffering insomnia, saw the camouflaged suits and gave the alert. The fight was fierce, and the NAIS caused heavy damage and losses, downing some Mechs, but mainly targeting the command and control vehicles. The majority were killed, forcing the rest to flee.

The 29 September, another battle was fought in the Tilman River, when the Highlander Rebels ambushed a group of tanks, but then were attacked by Highlander loyalists hidden in the river. The fight was fierce, but the Highlanders avoided killing each othert: even Jaffray and Mulvaney, when became entangled in the deep of the river, refused to kill each other, and eventually both sides retreated.

The 4 October, Consul Burns was murdered by one of Catelli's men, blaming the Highlanders, and Bradford used the murder as excuse to occupy Tara, where he and Catelli prepared a trap to annihilate the Fusiliers upon landing, making blow the spaceport and a good part of Tara. The next day, when the Highlanders' rebels arrived to their destination, The Castle, an old Star League-era fortress, they believed to have arrived before Mulvaney's forces, but they were wrong, and became ambushed. To avoid being attacked by Davion's fighters, the rebels entangled with their adversaries. Eventually, MacLeod's group won, but at a heavy cost, and unable to take the Castle. Still worst, all the Third Royals has just arrived on planet, changing the balance of forces in favor of the davionists.

However, the rebels' uncovering of the plan changed all the situation. After being informed, Mulvaney and all her highlanders defected, joining MacLeod's forces, and began preparing to crush the Davions.

Final Battle

The 20 October the last battle was fought. Both groups of highlanders infiltrated Tara, charging against the Davions. Jaffray infiltrated in a Davion's command vehicle, sending a signal to the incoming Stirling's Fusiliers, warning them about the trap. The Fusiliers then made a combat drop in the spaceport and deployed ECM to prevent the Davions to send the detonation signal. Both Highlanders regiments fought together against the Suns. The battle soon became a crushing defeat for the davionists. Catelli and what remained of his Guard reunited into a warehouse filled with explosives, but found themselves surrounded. When Drew refused to surrender, Mulvaney shoot into the warehouse, making it blow.

Aftermath

The explosion annihilated Catelli and what little remained of the Guards but didn't affect the highlanders or the city. The Third Royal was crushed and destroyed too, which put an end to the battle. Sun-Tzu was satisfied with the results, and despite the fact than Loren had defected the Commandos, he didn't allowed the rest of the unit to kill him for his betrayal, as he had expected his actions. The Chancellor sent a personal gift to Victor Steiner-Davion, remembering him the loss of two units and his victory over the Prince. Victor, which hadn't ordered or allowed Catelli or Burns' actions, was furious, but when Bradford had been liberated, didn't punish him, as he may have some use for him in the future. Unable to do nothing about Northwind, he had to allow his independance.

Bibliography

• Highlander Gambit
• Northwind Highlanders (scenario pack)