Medron

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Note: X and Y are coordinates (light years on XY plane) relative to Terra at (0, 0)

X: 423.84 Y: 115.26 [e]


Era Specific Data

2581

  • Population: 100,000+

2582

  • Population: 90,000+

Planetary Garrison

2581

Planetary Militia (until December)[1]

Star League Garrison (from December)[2]

2582

2584

40th Brigade, 14th Division, V Corps[2]

Owner History

Planetary History

Reunification War

In the 26th century, Medron was a largely agricultural world, although it was also one of the worlds within the Outworlds Alliance that had a strong industrial base and was located close to the Alliance borders with the Draconis Combine and Federated Suns. Medron was targeted by forces from the Star League Defense Force during attacks on the Outworlds Alliance in 2581 as a part of the forcible incorporation of the Periphery States into the Star League following the mass rejection of the Pollux Proclamation.[1]

When the commander of the Star League Outworlds Alliance Task Force, General Amos Forlough found his attempt to launch a quick invasion of Sevon followed by a strike at Alpheratz with two of the three divisions from II Corps being stymied by the determined resistance on Sevon, he ordered the commander of the remaining division, the 5th Division, to begin combat operations against Medron. The 5th Division CO, Major General Angelo Rucker, assigned the invasion of Medron the 13th Brigade under the command of Lieutenant General Remy Mallet.[1]

The 13th Brigade was a heavy assault brigade, and began landing on Medron on the 28th of October. Unlike many other Outworlds Alliance worlds, the commander of the local militia was an experienced military veteran; Planetary Defence Chairman Kerron Raty had emigrated to the Outworlds Alliance from the Draconis Combine, and during his time in the Combine had spent ten years or more as a tank commander within the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery. Even before the invasion of the Outworlds Alliance by the SLDF Raty had actively worked to organize the Medron militia forces to respond quickly to pirate raids, and in the pre-invasion years Raty had vocally advocated that the Alliance border should be strengthened against a possible Star League invasion. Raty's skills and opinions had resulted in the Outworlds Alliance Militia commander providing more support to Medron than any of the other worlds located on the Alliance borders, and Raty had used this support well.[1]

The militia forces Raty had organised consisted of four battalions of fast armor, each made up of approximately fifty vehicles - a mixture of 20 assorted light and medium tanks, plus another 30 vehicles converted to carry armour and heavy weapons - and two regiments of infantry, equipped with standardised weapons and enough vehicles to transport them. Chairman Raty didn't attempt to engage the 13th Brigade and their heavy units directly; instead, he used civilian reports and militia scouts to enable his mobile militia forces to conduct hit and run strikes against small and isolated SLDF formations. Two weeks later, the militia had destroyed a battalion of 13th Brigade 'Mech and tank forces, for the loss of only a battalion of militia forces. This was promptly followed on the 16th of November by the militia capturing an SLDF supply cache - a significant coup that furnished the Medron defenders with thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition, sufficient to allow Raty to arm another regiment of volunteer infantry. This new regiment would be used to defend Axel and New Tallahassee, two key industrial cities, and went on to build strong defences within both.[1]

General Mallet responded by first scattering the militia forces from the supply cache and then ordering a mass assault on the city of Axel. The assault turned into a two day battle; the SLDF infantry attempted to clear the city buildings and streets of militia forces so that the SLDF tanks and 'Mechs could advance without being harrassed, but were instead outmatched by the speed with which Raty's militia forces could rapidly redeploy, halting Mallet's advance at the industrial centre of the city. Not realising that the two-day conflict had cost Raty three quarters of the militia's combat strength and unwilling to level the city, Mallet withdrew his forces to the city limits and requested recommendations from General Amos Forlough on how to proceed.[1]

On the 23rd of November[1] Mallet received orders that would change the nature of the war in the Outworlds Alliance completely. Forlough had received orders on the 17th of November from his commanding officer, General Carlos Lee, redeploying a third of the Outworlds Alliance Task Force naval and JumpShip forces to the campaign against the Taurian Concordat. This prevented Forlough from striking at Alpheratz as originally planned, and SLDF forces were bogged down on several worlds because of the resistance the Outworlds Alliance population was offering. As a result, unable to strike at the Alliance capital, Forlough chose to instead strike at the will of the Alliance population; he ordered Mallet to literally decimate the civilian population of Medron.[20]

Mass executions began on Medron on the 25th of November, and within hours the surviving elements of the militia had been drawn out and destroyed. Within a week, more than 10,000 citizens of Medron were being buried in mass graves, and the resistance on Medron was effectively over.[20]

The relatively quick resolution of the resistance on Medron led Forlough to issue standing orders to all of the SLDF and Draconis Combine forces under his command, instructing them to decimate populations on worlds until mass resistance ended, and punish all future resistance with death. Medron was the first world to be hit by this genocidal instruction, and the worst hit, but it wouldn't be the last. While these mass executions quieted resistance on the Alliance worlds already occupied, the lasting legacy of these orders and the fall of Medron was anti-Star League hatred and outrage throughout the remainder of the Outworlds Alliance, with an accompanying tenfold increase in militia recruitment.[20]

House Davion forces attempted to annex Medron in 2584, following SLDF redeployments which removed units from occupied worlds in the Outworlds Alliance to fight against the Taurian Concordat, but the attempt was successfully thwarted by Hehiro Kurita,[21] and on the 1st of August 2585 Medron was formally ceded to the Draconis Combine as a part of the terms laid out within the Treaty of Cerberus.[22]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Historical: Reunification War, p. 116, "Medron"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Historical: Reunification War, p. 140, "Outworlds Alliance Front"
  3. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 141, "Outworlds Alliance Front"
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 147, "Outworlds Alliance after Age of War (2571) and at the Fall of the Star League (2750)"
  5. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 159, "Inner Sphere - 2596"
  6. ↑ Era Report: 2750, p. 37, "Inner Sphere - 2750"
  7. ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - 2765"
  8. ↑ The Periphery (sourcebook), p.156, "The Outworlds Alliance Sector"
  9. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - 3050"
  10. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 23, "Inner Sphere - 3052"
  11. ↑ Objective Raids, p.46, "Map of Periphery States: The Outworlds Alliance Sector"
  12. ↑ The Periphery, 2nd Edition, p. 110, "Outworlds Alliance"
  13. ↑ Inner Sphere, p. 98, "Near Periphery Kingdoms Map""
  14. ↑ Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 150, "Outworlds Alliance (3067)"
  15. ↑ Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 65, "Inner Sphere [3075]"
  16. ↑ Field Report: DCMS, p. 21, "Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery Deployment Map - August 3079"
  17. ↑ Map of the Inner Sphere 3130
  18. ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 11, "Inner Sphere Map - [3135]"
  19. ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 39, "Inner Sphere Map - [3145]"
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Historical: Reunification War, p. 117, "Rage Unleashed"
  21. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 126, "Year Four: Slow Grind"
  22. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 126, "Year Five: Peace In Our Time"

Bibliography

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