Bromhead Massacre
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| Bromhead Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Conflict details | |
| Part of | Civil War Era |
| Planet(s) | Bromhead |
| Attacking Forces | |
| Affiliation | Taurian Concordat |
| Commanding Officer(s) | William Mouat |
| Command(s) | Second Taurian Lancers |
| Defending Forces | |
| Affiliation | Federated Suns |
| Command(s) | Hansen's Roughriders (mercenary) |
| Other Forces | |
The Bromhead Massacre took place on the Federated Suns planet of Bromhead by the Taurian Concordat' Defense Forces in 3067.
The Attack[edit]
The Second Taurian Lancers, under the command of Colonel William "Stable Manager" Mouat, attacked Bromhead in August 3067. Most of Hansen's Roughriders combat assets were in transit during this period and would not learn of the attack until later.[1][2] However, the remaining Roughriders infantry on Bromhead managed to inflict several defeats against the attacking Second Lancers, delaying them for two entire days, before the incensed Taurians managed to overrun the Roughriders' main base.[3][4]
The Massacre[edit]
When the Taurians entered the mercenaries' base, they saw the Roughriders' civilian dependents loading vehicles to escape. It appears than the Lancers' Word of Blake advisor Fedlem Studdard, which had tell Murant than the base only hold militia, not civilians, opened fire first with her Grand Titan and the rest of the Taurians followed suit. As a result, the Roughriders' dependents—thousands of civilians, including Colonel Wolfgang Hansen's wife and three youngest children—were killed. The Lancers didn't realize the truth of the matter until after the Massacre had concluded, when they found that all of the slain were civilians.[5]
The only Roughriders unit present to defend the dependents were The Old Guard, an unofficial committee of retired MechWarriors, tankers and infantry, who normally took care of small problems for the unit and handled disciplinary issues. While the Old Guard fought and died to protect the dependents against the Second Taurian Lancers and managed to save a small group of civilians, it came at the cost of their own families.[6]
The Reckoning[edit]
While the Bromhead Massacre was occurring, the Roughriders were on Panpour and were in the midst of contract negotiations with Duke George Hasek.[7] Only after departing Panpour for Lindsay did the Roughriders learn of the Massacre and, while ignoring their contract with the Duke, single-handedly engaged and slaughtered both the Pleiades Lancers and Lindsay's TDF garrison force. The battle barely left two companies of Pleiades Lancers alive and most of those soldiers were said to be too broken to return to active service.[8][9]
The Bromhead Massacre turned Hansen's Roughriders into a quiet, brooding, and bitter entity bent primarily on revenge against the Concordat. Hansen personally vowed to turn every battlefield into a Taurian mass grave and to take no prisoners, with the entire unit following suit. Only the fact that the Roughriders possessed no JumpShips of their own kept the mercenaries from going on a rampage into the Concordat immediately.[10][11][12]
The Taurian government was informed of the Massacre by Colonel Mouat, but they covered it up and claimed that the supposed "massacre" was only a hoax. Mouat even hid the facts from his own family initially, although he began drinking heavily and would later admit to causing the deaths of a few mercenary dependents, not the thousands that had actually occurred. An unusual number of Second Lancers troops would commit suicide over the next three years but the Concordat's government once again covered these incidents up as accidents. While Colonel Mouat attempted to tender his resignation, it was refused by his superior officers.[13]
On an unknown date, the pirates Dedrickson's Devils attempted to raid Midale under the guise of a Taurian unit. The Roughriders charged them with berserker fury, slaughtering them. Only after the unit's Armed Forces of the Federated Suns liaisons captured some pirates alive and uncovered the truth did the Roughriders allow the survivors, barely a third of the raiding force, to escape. It was subsequently suggested that the Devils had been hired by an unknown third party in order to test the Roughriders' resolve.[8][14]
By February 3070, the Roughriders were still broken and bent on revenge. At this time, the bulk of the Second Taurian Lancers, apparently manipulated by a third party, raided Midale. The Roughriders were expecting them and first targeted the Lancers DropShips, disabling or destroying all of them, before finally falling upon the Taurians' ground troops. The ensuing battle could easily be classified as a slaughter, with the Roughriders killing any Lancer they could find while ignoring the pleas of their AFFS liaisons. Said liaisons managed to capture a few of the Lancers alive while hiding them from the enraged Roughriders, while all of the other Taurians were killed.[15]
Pleiades Campaign[edit]
Despite their revenge against the Second Lancers, the Roughriders remained obsessed with revenge despite not engaging any additional Taurians until 3071. Then, the AFFS' Capellan March command allowed the mercenaries to launch their own offensive against the Concordat military, beginning on Electra in the Pleiades Cluster, where they annihilated the local Taurian guerrillas and even used captured Alamo warheads against them. Any surviving insurgents were claimed by on-planet Department of Military Intelligence operatives, who feared they would otherwise be executed by the Roughriders.[10]
During the Pleiades campaign, the surviving members of the Old Guard cobbled together a short company of tanks salvaged from the earlier Second Lancers' attack. They proved to be so effective in combat that Colonel Hansen ultimately incorporated the Old Guard into the Roughriders as an all-volunteer armor company, making them into a permanent unit.[6]
References[edit]
- ↑ Sound and Fury
- ↑ Mercenaries supplemental p.37
- ↑ Blood Rage, ch. 9
- ↑ Jihad Secrets: the Blake Documents p.81
- ↑ Blood Rage, chs. 9–10
- ↑ a b Shrapnel Issue 12, "Unit Digest: Old Guard (Hansen Roughriders)"
- ↑ Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents p.81
- ↑ a b Blood Rage, chs. 1–2
- ↑ Mercenaries Supplemental p.37
- ↑ a b Mercenaries Supplemental Update, p. 65
- ↑ Blood Rage, ch. 7
- ↑ Mercenaries Supplemental p.37
- ↑ Blood Rage, chs. 5–9
- ↑ Mercenaries Supplemental Update, p. 65
- ↑ Blood Rage, ch. 2