9th Bolan Defenders

Insignia of the Bolan Defenders
Ninth Bolan Defenders
Formed 2752-2765
Disbanded 2803
Nickname The Live Wires[1]
Affiliation Free Worlds League
Parent Command Bolan Defenders

History[edit]

Star League Era[edit]

The Ninth Bolan Defenders was one of three new regiments of Bolan Defenders to be founded between the repeal of the Star League Council Edict of 2650 in 2752 and 2765. The Ninth and the other regiments of the Bolan Defenders sat somewhere between provincial and federal status; with no Free Worlds League province to claim political ownership of the worlds of the Bolan Thumb, the Defenders were officially federal troops, controlled by the Dormuth Council and under the nominal authority of the Marshal of the Tamarind Military District. In contrast with most federal units the Defenders were given a great deal of autonomy and latitude by the Dormuth Council, allowing them to continue to respond rapidly to incidents and incursions within the Bolan Thumb - faster even than the locally-assigned Star League Defense Force garrisons. The Defenders remained very similar to provincial forces in other ways, however; in particular, no regiment of the Defenders ever deployed outside of the Bolan Thumb region or even below the area known as the Bolan Shoulders, the rimward edge of the Thumb region. The Bolan Thumb may not have been a Free Worlds League province but the Defenders treated it as such.[1]

The majority of the personnel serving within the Ninth were recruited from the Bolan region, and those who joined the Ninth rarely requested a transfer outside the brigade. It was this dedication that was in large part responsible for the Defenders as a whole consistently maintaining one of the highest readiness ratings of any FWLM formation; intimately familiar with the landscape of the region - both political and topographical - the Defenders were effective at mobilizing against threats and responding to or repelling bandit raids consistently faster than their SLDF counterparts.[1]

Like the other regiments of the Defenders, the Ninth began to suffer from the high tempo of activity within the Thumb during the closing years of the Star League; piracy and border raids ramped up sharply from the mid-2740s onward, placing an increasing strain on the Ninth as the weariness of constantly being on high alert began to affect the morale and performance of the units. Also dragging the morale of the brigade down were the persistent rumors that despite the corrupt National Intelligence Agency having been replaced by SAFE the League continued to place SAFE agents within each regiment to search for seditious tendencies. The Ninth remained keen to jump across the Lyran border if required, and were determined to live up to the brigade motto "Ad Respiratio Ultimus" - To the last breath - but the Defenders were increasingly on edge. After Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces performed a series of military actions in systems bordering the Free Worlds League and toppled the governments of Al Jafr, Ilzra and Maisons in the early 2760s the Ninth went on high alert for nine months before being stood down.[1]

First Succession War[edit]

Finsterwalde was one of the last of the worlds in the Bolan Thumb to be captured by the Lyran Commonwealth during the First Succession War. Command of the conflict in the Bolan theater had passed to Kommandant-General Aric Hasseldorf in 2790, who was keenly aware that the main focus of the Commonwealth High Command lay elsewhere. Hasseldorf's campaign relied on maintaining a regular tempo of objective raids against the embittered defenders, intended to force the FWLM commands to remain at high readiness constantly, sapping their strength, while scouts worked to identify weak points in the defenders lines and highlighted worlds ready to be conquered.[2] Despite the disruption caused by the death of Archon Jennifer Steiner and a reduction in the number of available JumpShips and WarShips to support his campaign, Hasseldorf continued to grind away at the FWLM forces within the Bolan Thumb.[3]

The Bolan Thumb campaign slowed significantly in 2800, but resumed apace in late 2801, and in 2803 Hasseldorf struck at Finsterwalde,[4] which was defended by the Ninth Bolan Defenders and the Thirty-third Marik Militia. Hassledorf had been forced to rely on mercenary units to augment his forces for several years, and he deployed three regiments - the Second Lyran Guards, Eleventh Arcturan Guards and the mercenary Twelfth Heavy Assault Regiment - in the assault.[5] The defending FWLM forces were heavily dug-in and had reserves of both tactical nuclear and chemical weapons they were more than ready to use, as Hassledorf's forces found when the FWLM hit the Lyran landing zones with both flavors of weapon, as well as launching a surprise aerospace fighter attack against the LCAF escorts. The fighter attack stripped Hasseldorf of what little naval power left to him after fourteen years of combat, and the bitter defense put up on Finsterwalde saw both the Ninth Bolan Defenders and the Second Lyran Guards destroyed. The defense mounted on Finsterwalde was fierce enough that it forced Hasseldorf to postpone his campaign for Acrux and Marsalle, the last of the Bolan Thumb systems still under League control.[4]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 9th Bolan Defenders

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

2765[edit]

Ninth Bolan Defenders (Regiment/Regular/Reliable)[6]

- At this point in time the Ninth was stationed on Finsterwalde.[6]

2786[edit]

  • Ninth Bolan Defenders (Regiment/Regular/Reliable)[7]
- At this point in time the Ninth was a heavy regiment stationed on Finsterwalde and was at full strength.[7] The unit was destroyed during the war.[7]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Field Report 2765: FWLM, p. 12, "Bolan Defenders"
  2. First Succession War, p. 68-69, "League Retaliations"
  3. First Succession War, p. 69-70, "Stall and Recovery"
  4. 4.0 4.1 First Succession War, p. 72, "Losing Steam: Phase Three"
  5. First Succession War, p. 71, "The Bolan Thumb Campaign (Continued)"
  6. 6.0 6.1 Field Report 2765: FWLM, p. 12, "Regimental Status"
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 First Succession War (sourcebook), p. 138, "First Succession War Deployment Table - FWLM"

Bibliography[edit]