4th Alliance Guards

(Redirected from 12th FedCom RCT)
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Fourth Alliance Guards RCT
Formed 3049
Disbanded 3081 (destroyed)
Previous Designation(s) Twelfth FedCom RCT

(until 3057)

Nickname Death Before Dishonor
Affiliation Federated Commonwealth

(3049 - 3057)


Lyran Alliance
(3057 - 3081)

Parent Command Federated Commonwealth Corps

(3049 - 3057)


Alliance Guards
(3057 - 3081)

Prior to becoming the Fourth Alliance Guards RCT, the unit was originally the Twelfth FedCom RCT, the last of the brigades formed for the Federated Commonwealth Corps. While stationed on Marcus, they defended the world from a Marik-Liao incursion during Operation GUERRERO. When the Lyran Alliance seceded from the Federated Commonwealth in 3057, they were rechristened and integrated into the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces.

History[edit]

Formed in 3049, the Twelfth FedCom was stationed on the world of Marcus until the start of Operation GUERRERO in 3057, when the planet was attacked by the Free Worlds League forces in the form of the Seventh Free Worlds Legionnaires, Atrean Dragoons, and the Fifth Marik Militia. After six days of fighting, the RCT staged a suicidal charge in what was later named the Battle of Cabot's Stand.[1] This sacrificial assault bought time for DropShips containing members of the government and industry to escape offworld. The charge was a great success, inflicting crippling damage on the Seventh Free Worlds Legionnaires before the Twelfth FedCom was subsequently surrounded by the Atrean Dragoons and the Fifth Marik Militia and forced to surrender. The RCT remained prisoners for the rest of hostilities, but were treated well for their devotion and willingness to sacrifice themselves for others. After the hostilities ended, the Twelfth FedCom was released into the custody of the Lyran Alliance.[2]

Katherine Steiner-Davion ordered the Federated Commonwealth Corps units in her realm renamed the Alliance Guards after she seceded from the Federated Commonwealth to form the Lyran Alliance. The Twelfth FedCom RCT was thus renamed the Fourth Alliance Guard[3] and moved to garrison the world of Lipton, where they could rebuild. The unit did not reach full strength until just prior to 3067. The Fourth had a variety of 'Mech designs from across the Inner Sphere in its ranks, including a lance of Apollo BattleMechs gifted to them by the Free Worlds League Military.[2]

FedCom Civil War[edit]

As the FedCom Civil War broke out, the Fourth Alliance Guard initially remained neutral.

Apocryphal Content Starts

The information after this notice comes from apocryphal sources; the canonicity of such information is uncertain.
Please view the reference page for information regarding their canonicity.

In 3063, the Fourth Alliance Guard was sent to reinforce the Steiner command on Carver V against Davion and Liao forces on the planet. However, Davion-backed pro-independence forces ultimately prevailed in the conflict.[4]

Apocryphal Content Ends

However, on 13 January 3065 the unit moved to block the Com Guard 143rd Division during their annual field exercises. General Gregg, the Fourth's commander and a strong opponent of ComStar, believed that they would declare support for Victor and use the training exercises as a means to open a bridgehead for Victor Steiner-Davion's troops. After Precentor Alder Reed stood his troops down, the Fourth Alliance Guard also stood down, though tensions remained high. By the summer 3065, most of the Fourth Alliance Guard were assigned to a taskforce bound for Thorin, that Katherine hoped would find and kill Victor Steiner-Davion.[5]

Joining five other units, the Fourth Alliance Guard made landing on Thorin on 7 August 3065 and attacked Ecol City, the planet's defensive hub. Fighting continued for several months, but the task force found no evidence that Victor Steiner-Davion was ever on-world. On 24 January 3066, Victor Steiner-Davion did make landfall but remained only two days before withdrawing with his forces and leaving Thorin in Loyalist hands.[6] The bulk of the Fourth Alliance Guard would remained on Thorin as that world's garrison until sometimes after the end of the Civil War.[7]

The Jihad[edit]

In 3068, as part of Operation ÜBERSCHATTEN, the Fourth Alliance Guards landed on Thermopolis and attacked the Fifth Fusiliers of Oriente, who were garrisoning the planet. After inflicting severe losses on the Free Worlds League unit and forcing them out of the spaceport they had occupied, they then briefly redeployed to Autumn Wind before being pulled back to a reserve position on Cavanaugh in the face of the Free Worlds League's counterattack. From this reserve position they fought against several small raiding units before a truce between the two powers was finally called in 3069. They remained in this reserve position until late 3079. While they had not seen the levels of combat in the Jihad as other LAAF units had, they still had suffered almost sixty percent losses — from both combat casualties and having men and matériel transferred by High Command to support other units — and needed to rebuild.[8]

During the closing stages of the Jihad, the Fourth Alliance Guards were one of the units involved in a campaign to snatch worlds from the disbanded Free Worlds League between August and September 3079. The Fourth pushed the Thirty-fourth Marik Militia off Nockatunga in early September, seizing the planetary capital and primary spaceports in a battle fought entirely by conventional means. The Fourth's clash with the Thirty-fourth was one of only two battles during the campaign where LAAF and Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey forces would face each other directly.[9]

Destruction[edit]

The Fourth Alliance Guards had the misfortune to be present on Poulsbo on 13 February 3081 when a task force from the Principality of Regulus, hot on the heels of the Word of Blake's Master, subjected the world to a devastating nuclear bombardment. Despite the fact that the world was unoccupied by Blake forces and transmitting pleas to stop, the Regulans ignored all contact with forces on the planet and proceeded to drop atomic warheads on all major population centers. The Regulans later stated that destroying the entire world was the "only way to be sure" that Word of Blake influence on the world had been removed. The bombardment annihilated the Fourth Alliance Guards, along with the Heart of Blake mercenary unit, and was both a heavy blow to the morale of the Alliance and a source of outrage directed towards the Principality of Regulus, with calls for prompt and bloody retribution.[10][11]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the Twelfth FedCom RCT
Leutnant-General Carl Bert-Gregg 3049 - 3057[2]
Commanding Officers of the Fourth Alliance Guards
Leutnant General Carl Bert-Gregg 3057 - 3067[2][12]

Tactics[edit]

Just as they did when they were part of the Federated Commonwealth Corps, the Fourth Alliance Guards favor blitzing their enemies with the full strength of their BattleMechs while their infantry and armor elements flank the enemy and strike from the sides.[2]

Composition History[edit]

3050[edit]

Twelfth FedCom RCT (Regiment/Green/Reliable)[13]

3054[edit]

Twelfth FedCom RCT (Regiment/Green/Reliable)[14]

3062[edit]

Fourth Alliance Guards RCT (Regular/Reliable)[2]

  • CO: Leutnant-General Carl Bert-Gregg
  • Base: Lipton
Fourth Alliance Guards (Regiment/Regular/Questionable)[2]
  • CO: Leutnant-General Carl Bert-Gregg[2]
Fourth Alliance Aerospace Brigade (2 Wings)[2]
  • First Alliance Wing
  • Third Alliance Wing
Fourth Alliance Guards Armor Brigade (3 Regiments/Regular/Questionable)[2]
  • Twelfth Alliance Guards Light Armor Regiment
  • Thirteenth Alliance Guards Light Armor Regiment
Fourth Alliance Guards Infantry Brigade (5 Regiments/Regular/Questionable)[2]
  • Aide: Leutnant-Colonel Gerald Morris
  • Twenty-third Alliance Guards Infantry Regiment
  • Twenty-fourth Alliance Guards Infantry Regiment
  • Twenty-third Alliance Guards Mechanized Infantry Regiment
  • Twenty-fourth Alliance Guards Mechanized Infantry Regiment
  • Twelfth Alliance Guards Jump Infantry Regiment

3067[edit]

Fourth Alliance Guards (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[12]

  • CO: Leutnant-General Carl Bert-Gregg
  • Base: Thorin
Note: Advanced IS technology: 35 percent | Omnis: 5 percent[12]
Fourth Alliance Aerospace Brigade (2 Wings/Regular/Reliable)[12]
Note: Clan technology: 5 percent | Advanced IS technology: 25 percent
Fourth Alliance Armor Brigade (3 Regiments/Regular/Questionable)[12]
  • CO: Colonel Derek Hyatt
Note: Advanced IS technology: 25 percent
Fourth Alliance Infantry Brigade (5 Regiments/Regular/Questionable)[12]
  • CO: Colonel Thelma Speroni

3079[edit]

Fourth Alliance Guards (Regiment/Veteran/Questionable)[15]

Note: At this time the unit was stationed on Cavanaugh II.[15]

Unit Colors and Insignia[edit]

  • Despite being renamed and falling under LAAF chain of command, the Fourth Alliance Guard still utilizes the Federated Commonwealth Corps crest as their insignia. In addition, they still wear FedCom style uniforms and rank insignia.
  • The parade colors of the Fourth Alliance Guard is the same as when it was a member of the FedCom Corps: navy blue with gold banding on the arms and legs of 'Mechs, and gold checkerboard patterned highlights on the upper torsos of 'Mechs and turrets of armor units.

Reference[edit]

  1. Field Manual: Free Worlds League, p. 42
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Field Manual: Lyran Alliance, p. 46: "4th Alliance Guards: Death Before Dishonor"
  3. Field Manual: Lyran Alliance, p. 44: "Alliance Guards: Hope Reborn"
  4. MechCommander 2
  5. FedCom Civil War, p. 131
  6. FedCom Civil War, p. 149
  7. Field Manual: Updates, p. 46
  8. Field Report: LAAF, p. 8
  9. Jihad: Final Reckoning, pp. 24–25: "Lyran Aggressors Press Into League Territory"
  10. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 84: "The Defensive Situation"
  11. Field Manual: 3085, p. 99
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Field Manual: Updates, p. 177
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 20 Year Update, p. 27
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 Objective Raids, p. 19
  15. 15.0 15.1 Field Report: FWLM, p. 8

Bibliography[edit]