Crater Cobras (Brigade)

Crater Cobras Brigade
Formed First Succession War[1]
Disbanded 3058[1][2][3]
Nickname Fangs of Fate
Affiliation Mercenary
Parent Command Independent
Sub-Command(s) 789th Striker Regiment, Black Cobras

History[edit]

First Succession War[edit]

Formed during the First Succession War from the remnants of several SLDF regular army units as Baldwin's Cobras Heavy Brigade, the unit found their reliance on artillery frequently earned them the nickname "Crater Makers;" Alexander Baldwin responded by naming the Brigade the Crater Cobras.[1][4]

Second Succession War[edit]

The Second Succession War took a heavy toll on the Brigade, which barely survived with the 789th Striker Regiment and the Black Cobra Regiment intact. The weakened command was hired by the Federated Suns in the wake of the Second Succession War, and found itself stationed on Deneb Kaitos.[4] Not only did the Cobras refuse employment from the Draconis Combine, whose ruling House the command blamed for the collapse of the Star League, but their contract to the Federated Suns saw them engaged in numerous conflicts with Kuritan units.[1] One DCMS unit, the Thirtieth Dieron Regulars, initiated a blood feud with the Cobras, which eventually led to the complete destruction of the Thirtieth.[4]

Third Succession War[edit]

In 3025, the Crater Cobras were working for the Federated Suns and were based on Deneb Kaitos in the Draconis March.[5] A combined-arms unit at this point, the Cobra 'Mechs were a mixture of medium and assault weight 'Mechs, supported by medium weight fighters, armor and infantry.[6]

Fourth Succession War[edit]

The Fourth Succession War found the Crater Cobras redeployed during Operation RAT from Deneb Kaitos to Nopah alongside the Blue Star Irregulars, Redfield Renegades, Fourth Davion Guards RCT, Thirty-third Avalon Hussars RCT and Fourth Deneb Light Cavalry RCT. The Crater Cobras remained on Nopah during the first four waves of Operation RAT,[7] but were soon deployed after the mid-war lull.

In early 3029, the Crater Cobras, the Screaming Eagles Second Regiment, Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers RCT, and fifteen assorted conventional regiments were assigned to the invasion of Sarna. The capital of the former Sarna Supremacy, and perhaps the most important target of the second half of the war for the Federated Suns, Sarna maintained a political and symbolic importance within the Sarna Commonality, and was far from the front lines established during the fourth wave of Operation RAT.[8]

Unfortunately, the attack on Sarna didn't go as planned; if it wasn't for the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers deliberately approaching Sarna faster than dictated within the original plan and triggering the Capellan ambush, all of the Federated Suns units dispatched to attack Sarna might well have been lost. As it was, the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers were almost completely wiped out, but their actions – and their fate – alerted the Screaming Eagles and Crater Cobras to the presence of all four regiments of McCarron's Armored Cavalry on Sarna.[9]

Because their contracts for this particular mission were explicit, the two mercenary units could not back out of this. Rather than abandon the attack and face censure, the Crater Cobras and Screaming Eagles decided to go ahead with the attack on Sarna, but altered the attack plan to drop several hundred miles away from the original drop zone, in a position that would allow them and the remaining attached conventional regiments to prepare defenses and hold out for reinforcements. The situation was compounded because the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers had sent messages to their supporting JumpShip fleet indicating that the attack was going to plan, which led to them jumping out of the system to return to Federated Suns space for other assignments, leaving the mercenaries stranded.[10]

The combined mercenary and AFFS forces manage to hold out for several months, inflicting more casualties on McCarron's Armored Cavalry than they received. Neither side at first was sure exactly what they were up against, and neither side could send a message off planet because of a ComStar communications interdiction. After many months, the MAC began to escalate their attacks as they were finally able to get a picture of what they were up against. The Screaming Eagle and Crater Cobras began to consolidate their strength at Graves Hollow, but had their defenses breached. They were on the verge of being overwhelmed when relief forces arrived on 1 December 3029 in the form of the Assault and Light Brigades of the elite Davion Guards.[11] The relief forces didn't realize that they were relief forces until frantic messages from the Cobras and the Eagles reached them mid-deployment, but their arrival managed to save the mercenary units.[12]

Realizing that they had lost Sarna, Colonel Archibald McCarron made the hard choice to abandon the planet. With the Crater Cobras and Screaming Eagles advancing to pincer the MAC forces as they attempted to load up as much as they could before fleeing, Colonel Marcus Barton led his Second Regiment in a counterattack against the Crater Cobras and Screaming Eagles. This surprised the Davion mercenaries, as they outnumber Barton's force 2-to-1, but with Davion High Command wanting Barton killed for all the damage Barton had done to the Federated Suns over the years, the Crater Cobras and Screaming Eagles met Barton head-on. The resulting battle lasted several hours and was one of the most brutal of the Fourth Succession War. By the time it was over, Barton had lost over half his force, but he managed to knock out 2/3 of the Crater Cobras and 3/4 of the Screaming Eagles. This battle gave the McCarron's Armored Cavalry the time they needed to finish loading their DropShips and escape, with the Crater Cobras and Screaming Eagles able to claim they had driven off the MAC.[13]

Clan Invasion[edit]

On the eve of the Clan invasion, the Crater Cobras were deployed on two worlds in the Free Worlds League; the 789th Striker were on Megrez, whilst the Black Cobras were on Cascade.[14] The Crater Cobras were still in place in 3054, although by this point Colonel Richard Burr had taken over from Colonel Thomas Rabelais as the commanding officer of the Black Cobra regiment.[15]

Following the damage inflicted on the Crater Cobras in the Fourth Succession War, the unit took up service with the Free Worlds League. This was the beginning of a two-decade-long period of service that would only end after Operation GUERRERO.[4]

Operation GUERRERO[edit]

The Crater Cobras suffered significant losses at the hands of terrorists who sabotaged three Black Cobra DropShips as they were prepared to deploy from Zurich to reinforce Nanking, and the resulting destruction of the DropShips left the Black Cobra regiment with just two companies of 'Mechs.[1][4][2] Although the terrorists were originally believed to be Zhanzheng de Guang operatives,[1] they were in fact Davion-loyalist terrorists.[16][17] As the Black Cobras losses were suffered during a "noncombat situation", the LCCC refused to indemnify their losses, which led to the Black Cobra regiment leaving both the Crater Cobras and the employ of the Free Worlds League, re-forming on Outreach as Burr's Black Cobras.[1][2][3]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 789th Striker Regiment
Commanding Officers of Baldwin's Cobras Heavy Brigade
Lieutenant General Alexander Baldwin
Commanding Officers of Crater Cobras
Colonel Richard Westrick 3025[5]
Colonel Stephan Prynne 3054[15]

Other Members[edit]

Tactics[edit]

They had a wide range of tactics from harassing over dueling to ambushes.

Support[edit]

3025[edit]

At this point in time, the Crater Cobras had enough DropShips to transport both 'Mech regiments and their armor and infantry support along with the aerospace fighter contingent. They were also in good shape financially.[6]

Composition History[edit]

2821[edit]

Baldwin's Cobras (3 regiments)

79th Striker (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[20] 42%
In 2821, the command was reduced to 42 percent of its strength and was deployed on Mosiro.[20]
Alexander's Asps (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[20]
In 2821, the command was reduced to 44 percent of its strength and was deployed on Kalmar.[20]
Black Cobra (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[20]
In 2821, the command was reduced to 43 percent of its strength and was deployed on Kalmar.[20]

3025[edit]

The Crater-Cobras[5]

789th Striker Regiment (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[5]
(Chan's Choppers)
Westrick's Black Cobras (Regiment/Regular/Reliable)[5]
Note: At this point in time the units were stationed on Deneb Kaitos. In addition to the two BattleMech regiments, the Crater Cobras had armor, infantry and fighter support.

3050[edit]

The Crater Cobras (2 Regiments)[14]

789th Striker (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[21]

Note: At this point in time the unit was stationed on Megrez.[21]

Black Cobras (Regiment/Regular/Reliable)[21]

  • CO: Colonel Thomas Rabelais[21]
Note: At this point in time the unit was stationed on Cascade.[21]

3054[edit]

The Crater Cobras (2 Regiments)[15]

789th Striker (Veteran/Reliable)
Black Cobras (Regular/Reliable)

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Field Manual: Mercenaries, Revised, p. 52
  2. ↑ a b c Field Manual: Mercenaries, p. 48
  3. ↑ a b Field Manual: Free Worlds League, p. 16: "Mercenary Troops"
  4. ↑ a b c d e Mercenaries Supplemental, p. 29
  5. ↑ a b c d e House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 136
  6. ↑ a b House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 151
  7. ↑ NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1, pp. 12–13
  8. ↑ NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2, pp. 44–45
  9. ↑ NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2, p. 48
  10. ↑ NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2, p. 49
  11. ↑ a b c d e First Strike, pp. 28-29: "Last Stand" (scenario)
  12. ↑ NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2, p. 51
  13. ↑ McCarron's Armored Cavalry, p. 10
  14. ↑ a b 20 Year Update, p. 57
  15. ↑ a b c Objective Raids, p. 39: "FWLM Deployment Table - 3054"
  16. ↑ Shattered Sphere, p. 76: "Operation Guerrero - Aftermath"
  17. ↑ Bred for War, p. 319
  18. ↑ BattleTech: Star League Command Lance, Gu Minyan Pilot Card
  19. ↑ BattleTech: Mercenaries, Sycreeta Melander Pilot Card
  20. ↑ a b c d e f First Succession War, p. 138
  21. ↑ a b c d e f 20 Year Update, p. 57

Bibliography[edit]

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