Draconis Reach Campaign

Part of Dark Age Era
Start Date From February 3139 to 20 September 3140 Location Draconis Reach Result Federated Suns' total defeat
Factions
(Attacker) Draconis Combine	(Defender) Federated Suns
Commanders and leaders
Matsuhari Toranaga	Caleb Davion
Conditions
Normal

The Draconis Reach Campaign was a Dark Age Era military operation undertaken by the Draconis Combine and its contracted mercenary units against local militia and Federated Suns' forces.

Operation Brief

The military operation took place in the Draconis Reach and nearby Federated Suns' space.

Operation History

Factions & Known Units Involved in the Conflict

Federated Suns

• Second Robinson Rangers
• White Witches

Draconis Combine

• Wolf's Dragoons
• Ryuken-go

Origin of Conflict

The Draconis Reach was a chaotic region of space located between the Draconis Combine and the Federated Suns. Both states had been in conflict for centuries, and the Dark Age Era saw more of it. The Reach was created in the late 3080s, when House Sandoval dispatched mercenaries and some House troops into a belt of worlds, creating a no man's land. Over the next six decades, both states would feed troops into the disputed territory, with raids between planets launched by both, neither able or willing to commit enough forces to end the stalemate for good. However, by 3139, all the worlds comprising it were, at least nominally, under the direct control of the Suns', which began taking steps to fully integrate them into their space, but they were very slow.

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Launch of the Operation

However, before the Suns had the opportunity to fully pacify and annex the Reach's worlds, the Combine acted. In an unexpected move, Matsuhari Toranaga, the Combine's Gunji-no-Kanrei, hired Wolf's Dragoons. In March 3139, right after they have arrived from Lyran space, he unleashed them upon the Reach; the Draconis Reach Campaign had began. The Dragoons began their invasion with the Battle of Marlowe's Rift (3139), in which they took the planet in barely two days, and later, despite heavy Davion's opposition, both Wapakoneta and New Aberdeen fell under their forces.

At first there was some tension between the Dreagoons and the subordinated Ryuken-go, but eventually their shared history overcame any distrust.

Soon, The First Prince, Caleb Davion, was informed of the attack... but as it wasn't happening into Federated Suns space, simply ignored it. However, their subordinates sent some reinforcements to the Reach. The Ryuken and Dragoons competed to see who conquered worlds quicker. An attempt of the Federated Suns to stop them failed during the Battle of Misery (3139), which became another Combine's victory.

Conflict Conclusion

By the end of the year, every world of the Draconis Reach had been taken and pacified by the Combine. However, even then, Caleb Davion only allowed to send a single regiment to defend the frontier. After ISF reported the gathering of Davion forces on the Federated Suns' world Glenmora, just outside the former area of the Reach. Fearing it was the prelude for a counterattack, the bulk of the Dragoons launched a devastating raid against the planet. However, they found harder than expected opposition, being trapped on the ground for two months. The Dragoons' campaign had been greatly facilitated by the fact than the 2nd Robinson Rangers, the Sandoval's unit which usually defended the Reach was on Robinson during a period of rest and refit, but now they were expecting them on Glenmora, and gave them a good fight.

The Battle of Glenmora (3140) almost became a deathtrap for the Dragoons' elite, but the Ryuken-go's intervention, by their commander's own initiative, allowed them to crush the Davion defenders and evacuate the Dragoons, battered, but operative. That signaled the end of the campaign.

Aftermath

The campaign ended in a complete defeat for the Suns, with all the Reach' worlds firmly in Combine hands, and the Suns' defensive forces in the region crippled. Duke Corwin Sandoval later launched a counteroffensive, Operation PELAYO, but it also ended in defeat, and eventually, the Combine invaded the Suns' again, which led to the creation of the Dragon's Tongue and occupation of New Avalon, puting the Suns' at the brink of destruction.

Bibliography

• Era Report: 3145
• Field Manual: 3145
• Redemption Rift (novela)
• Shattered Fortress (sourcebook)