Commonwealth Guards

Commonwealth Guards
Formed	3058
Previous Designation(s)	Alliance Guards (3058 - 3084)
Nickname	"Hope Reborn" (3058 - 3084)
Affiliation	Lyran Alliance (3058 - 3084) Lyran Commonwealth (3084 - Present)
Parent Command	LCAF/LAAF

A brigade with a long history of shifting identities and loyalties, the Commonwealth Guards are considered one of the less glamorous brigades of the LCAF. Through their ties to Bolan and Buena Provinces, they have become known as a regional brigade for the Commonwealth's border with the Free Worlds League.

History

Formation

To help promote nationalist feelings in the newly formed Lyran Alliance, the five Federated Commonwealth Corps RCTs stationed in the Lyran half of that former state were absorbed by the LAAF and renamed the Alliance Guards. The First and Second Alliance Guards were first used as a dumping ground for troops considered disloyal, then eventually disbanded, their 'Mechs and equipment used to form the Alliance Jaegers. Those troops deemed loyal to the Lyran Alliance were allowed to retain their equipment and were transferred to new unit. The remaining Guards regiments then served as sink units and were not re-equipped, forced to use mostly outdated war matériel.

Jihad

During the Jihad, the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Alliance Guards were used as reserve forces that supplemented the "more trustworthy" LAAF troops. Despite serving in heavy fighting, Alliance Guards regiments were picked clean in order to resupply troops considered "politically reliable" by LAAF high command. As they neared the bottom of the supply list, they found themselves receiving equipment that was cast off from other Alliance commands as they upgraded. The lack of supplies was sadly not a great problem as most Alliance Guards regiments also lacked the personnel to operate the missing 'Mechs and vehicles. The Third, Fourth, and Fifth were all severely damaged during heavy offensives and took serious damage as a result. The Fourth was outright destroyed when Regulan forces dropped nuclear weapons on Poulsbo from orbit.

Reformation

The brigade was reorganized shortly after the Lyran Alliance returned to its original name. While some officers recommended combining the remains of the two surviving RCTs into a single unit, General of the Armies Rebecca Simons instead devised a plan to form a new defensive brigade. Following the model of the 1st Buena Guards, Simons converted the units into three additional LCTs to represent the Bolan Province and Buena Province. While some soldiers, particularly those in the 2nd Bolan Guards, still felt resentful towards their status, many embraced the restructuring. Most prominently among these was Leutnant-General James Ito, formerly of the 5th Alliance Guards and now commander of the 1st Bolan Guards. The Bremond-born officer had come to embrace of the world Bolan and was considered a "Bolan native" as he planned his eventual retirement there. The LCAF hoped that, by posting these units near the worlds they represented, these soldiers would bond with their adopted homeworlds in the same way Ito did.

Dark Age

The Commonwealth Guards as a formation found their attention split during the brief reign of Duke Vedet Brewer over the Lyran Commonwealth. With the First Hesperus Guards relocated away from the front lines to serve as bodyguards on Tharkad the remaining regiments were spread thinly as they tried to focus on multiple front lines.

By the time Trillian Steiner had been declared Archon the First Bolan Guards had already been destroyed, fighting a desperate defense on Bolan against forces from Clan Wolf. The Archon inherited a Commonwealth Guards brigade that had been loaded with officers chosen for their loyalty to Duke Brewer, but which she couldn't afford not to deploy because of the huge pressure the Commonwealth was under. The actual combat readiness of the various regiments within the brigade varied considerably depending on how close they were to the remaining military production sites still in Lyran hands or how loyal they were to the Archon.

Both the First and Second Buena Guards were considered highly loyal to the Archon in 3145, particularly after the commanding officer of the First was replaced; the First had extensive experience of fighting Clan Wolf forces, having fought on both Bella I, Dixie and Tharkad, whilst the Second had performed well on the border between the Commonwealth and the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey prior to the Clan Wolf invasion.

The Second Bolan Guards escaped destruction at the hands of Clan Wolf forces because of its position at the time, deep in the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey; after fighting a rearguard action that bought time for numerous other Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces to retreat the Second was a respected command, but perhaps not entirely trusted. The Second's commanding officer took steps to change this by purging his command of officers of dubious loyalty and by swearing a personal oath of loyalty to the Archon.

The least-trusted unit of the Guards was the First Hesperus Guards, who had taken part in the revolt against Archon Melissa Steiner before serving as Duke Brewer's royal guard - and who then fled with him into the far reaches of the Commonwealth ahead of the Clan Wolf invasion. The Archon couldn't afford to disband the First, but having been granted asylum on the world of Alekseyevka by the local Margrave the First hadn't answered a call to return to Tharkad for reassignment as late as 3145.

Like the Commonwealth Jaegers the Commonwealth Guard were heavily dependent on defense manufacturers located in the Buena Province, with perhaps the largest source of new equipment being the StarCorps Industries facilities on Loburg and Son Hoa, although the First Buena Guards was able to draw on salvage from the battlefields of Tharkad to help it rebuild.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the Commonwealth Guards
Hauptmann General	Isadora Agravaine	3059 - c. 3084

Tactics

Different per Unit.

Units of the Alliance Guards

• 1st Alliance Guards (Disbanded by 3062)
• 2nd Alliance Guards (Disbanded by 3062)
• 3rd Alliance Guards (Formerly the 11th FedCom RCT)
• 4th Alliance Guards (Formerly the 12th FedCom RCT, destroyed on Poulsbo in 3081)
• 5th Alliance Guards (Formerly the 10th FedCom RCT)

Units of the Commonwealth Guards

• 1st Buena Guards
• 2nd Buena Guards (formed from the Fifth Alliance Guards)
• 1st Bolan Guards (formed from the Fifth Alliance Guards)
• 2nd Bolan Guards (formed from the Third Alliance Guards)
• 1st Hesperus Guards (until March 3151)

Color Scheme and Insignia

The paint scheme for the Alliance Guards was brown and tan, with occasional black highlights. When they were redubbed the Commonwealth Guards, they elected to continue to use a variation of this scheme. Except for the Hesperus Guards, all Commonwealth Guards units use brown, off-white, and add various command-specific shades of blue to their 'Mech's heads.

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  Former Insignia of the 3rd Alliance Guards

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  Former Insignia of the 4th Alliance Guards

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  Former Insignia of the 5th Alliance Guards

Bibliography

• Field Manual: 3085
• Field Manual: 3145