Operation CELT

Operation CELT
Conflict details
Part of	First Succession War
Start Date	2 June 2828
End Date	24 June 2828
Planet(s)	Chesterton Demeter Tawas Sanilac Orbisonia Kathil Bahl's Retreat Boeotia Beten Kaitos Smolensk Mendham Edwards
Location(s)	Suns-Confederation Border: Chesterton-Demeter Salient
Result	Capellan Defeat
Attacking Forces
Affiliation	Capellan Confederation
Command(s)	CCAF
Defending Forces
Affiliation	Federated Suns
Command(s)	AFFS
Other Forces

Interwar Period

The Liao-Davion front remained relatively calm between 2821 and 2827 with occasional raids lacking the operational tempo and coordination as those experienced along the Davion-Kurita border. Although unwilling to rush back into war with each other, both First Prince Paul Davion and Chancellor Ilsa Liao took measures to prepare for the inevitable.

Operation CELT

The CCAF's 2828 planned offensive against the Federated Suns was code-named Operation CELT which focused on the recovering the Chesterton worlds that had been partially captured by the CCAF during the First Succession War. Chief among these was the world of Chesterton which formed a Davion salient with Demeter into the surrounding Liao-held worlds of Almach, Sonnia, Tianamon, and Ulan Batar. Although Ilsa Liao desired to remove this stain on her nation's honor, the CCAF was in poor shape in the aftermath of the First Succession War with nearly all units in poor shape both in regard to materiel and manpower. Her pragmatic approach was to authorize repair and resupply of certain units while denying others, which led to mutinies that were reined in by security services to restore order. Units assigned to the main effort of Operation CELT were tasked to target the worlds of Demeter, Tawas, Sanilac, and Chesterton. Units assigned to the supporting effort were tasked to conduct a wide push along the borders to distract the AFFS in the hopes of drawing off troops from the target area.

Main Effort: The Demeter-Chesterton Salient

The campaign commenced on 2 June 2828 with landings on Demeter, Tawas, Sanilac, and Chesterton.

Battle of Demeter

The Twenty-Fourth Sian Dragoons and the First Redfield Regulars (both at full regimental strength) under the command of Colonel Jiang Bao easily secured a bridgehead on Demeter, brushing aside the Fourth Syrtis Fusiliers commanded by Colonel Damien Hasek. The Fusiliers' lines were over-extended by their attempt to contain the landing zones. The Redfield Regulars conducted a lighting assault, effecting a breach, severing their supply lines and threating a total envelopment. The Fusiliers attempted a fighting withdrawal that left the unit mauled and scattered.

Colonel Hasek managed to pull together a reinforced battalion from the Fusiliers' surviving companies over the second week of June. Refusing to be drawn into battle against the massed forces of the CCAF task force, he conducted a bitter cat-and-mouse campaign of harassment, targeting Capellan supply lines and demoralizing the invaders over the last two weeks of June. On June 30th, Colonel Bao ordered his troops to withdrawal when the Thirty-ninth Avalon Hussars and the Bald Eagles mercenary regiment (part of the Screaming Eagles jumped into system. Paul Davion would ultimately reward Colonel Hasek with the dukedom of New Syrtis and command over the Capellan front.

Battle of Tawas

On June 2nd, the Third Liao Guards landed on Tawas which was defended by Belinda's Irregulars (a heavy-weight mercenary regiment most likely at half-strength) under the command of Colonel Belinda Williams. The Guards' mission was to block any AFFS relief to Chesterton and Demeter. Colonel Belinda Williams' DropShip was brought down by Capellan fighters in the early hours of the invasion, killing the colonel and her staff, leaving the Irregulars scattered and leaderless. Captain Maggie Ross, a twenty-two year old company commander, took command of the surviving Irregulars, staging a highly mobile campaign against the Guards, striking at their rear areas and harassing their supply lines. The Irregulars were able to keep the Guards forces off balance even though the mercenaries lacked the strength to defeat them.

Captain Ross's timely decision to order the evacuation of Camp Austin saved her troops from a Capellan strategic nuclear strike on the base.

On June 22nd, Captain Ross personally led a raid destroying three Liao Guards DropShips prompting the Capellan troops to pull back into a tight perimeter around the spaceport, withdrawing a few later, after news of the Chancellor's death on Orbisonia filtered through. The victorious Irregulars only had thirty-one surviving MechWarriors and twenty-six operational BattleMechs. Their valor was honored by the AFFS with the Syrtis Medal of Honor and an offer to rebuild their unit as part of the AFFS, however the decided to join Simpson's Samurai forming the Bloody Suns, a reinforced Mech battalion.

Battle of Sanilac

On June 2nd, the Ninth Tikonov Lancers made a disorganized landing on Sanilac as a result of poor weather and navigational errors. The defending Eighth Crucis Lancers (forward deployed from Markesan in preparation for Operation DAO) under the command of the dimwitted Colonel Kit Dubonet responded timidly allowing the Capellans to recover and reorganize, driving the Crucis Lancers back in engagement after engagement, striking hard and isolating Davion companies and annihilating them, forcing the Davions to abandon bases and main population centers. Colonel Dubonet realized that the world would be lost without the use of strategic nuclear weapons (which they apparently lacked) and ordered their meager supply of chemical weapons to be used against the CCAF's headquarters in the capital city of Sandusky, which would have caused the deaths of thousands of civilians. Fortunately for the citizens of Sandusky, reinforcements from the Twelfth Syrtis Fusiliers and the death of Chancellor Ilsa Liao on Orbisonia causing the Capellans to withdrawal preempted the strike. Colonel Dubonet was reassigned to the staff of the new Duke of New Syrtis, which the simpleton regarded as a promotion instead of the sacking that it was.

Third Battle of Chesterton

The primary objective of Operation CELT was the heavily defended world of Chesterton under the command of General Jessica Bassner who had the Fourth Crucis Lancers, Third Deneb Light Cavalry, and the Chesterton Capellan March Militia's two line regiments (most likely one regiment of BattleMechs and Armor each) with military bases on planet and the outer moon of Wilus that were used to launch harassing raids on Liao traffic.

Late on June 18th, the Seventh and Eighth Tikonov Lancers, under the command of Colonel Fa Zeng Li, landed on Chesterton with little resistance from Davion forces with the support of the Capellan Confederation's two of the Capellan Confederation Navy's remaining WarShips, CCS Poznan and CCS Prominence, allowing the Capellans to establish local domination of near orbit. The Seventh Tikonov Lancers landed 100 kilometers west of Chesteron City came under aerial attack from the Crucis Lancers almost immediately after disembarking from their DropShips, followed shortly thereafter by a ground attack. The determination and ferocity gave Capellan commanders pause, even thought the counterattack was neither a surprise nor a devastating blow like the earlier 2nd Battle of Chesterton in 2812, leading Colonel Fa Zeng Li to authorize the use of chemical weapons, forcing the withdrawal of conventional forces, though Davion 'Mechs continued to harass the landing zones.

The Eighth Tikonov Lancers landed south of Tristam faced off against the Chesterton CMM, driving them back to the city, and broke through the city's defenses on June 20th. The Eighth's rush to crush the Chesterton CMM allowed the Third Deneb Light Cavalry to drop into their rear area, having timed their suborbital hop to avoid the Capellan WarShips, smashing the Eighth against the anvil of the Chesterton CMM still entrenched in the city of Tristam. Most of the Eighth was able to extricate itself from the city only through valorous efforts of two Liao companies that engaged in a deadly rearguard action.

The CCAF units decided to withdrawal, with the news of the Chancellor's death on Orbisonia, the Seventh stalemated at their landing zones, and the Eighth in retreat attempting to disengage from two pursuing Davion divisions. While the Capellans attempted to withdraw, the FSS Nathan DuVall and FSS Pleiades arrived in-system engaging the Capellan WarShips. Almost a third of the Capellan troops that escaped Chesterton were killed and both the CCS Poznan and CCS Prominence were destroyed in the battle, which crippled the FSS Nathan DuVall.

Supporting Effort: Raids-in-Force from Mendham to Edwards

In May of 2828, supporting effort units targeted a number of worlds between Mendham and Edwards conducting raids-in-force to destroy infrastructure, distract and occupy AFFS units, and to take advantage of opportunities to repurpose raids into full-scale invasions where the situation permitted.

Bahl's Retreat

The inexperienced Eleventh Liao "Paches" Lancers quickly overmatched the defending Simpson's Samurai and sought to capitalize on the near-rout of the mercenaries. Unfortunately, the Eleventh's inexperience hampered their efforts to completely destroy the battle-hardened mercenaries who, although a shattered husk of their former selves, were still able to field a company when the Eleventh withdrew on July 4th. The survivors of Simpson's Samurai later joined with the remnants of Belinda's Irregulars to form a new mercenary outfit, the Bloody Suns.

Smolensk and Boeotia

The Fifth Liao Guards faced minimal opposition on Smolensk.

The Second St. Ives Lancers smashed the Sixth Sakhara Academy Training Battalion on Boeotia. Both victories were squandered when they were recalled to the Confederation.

Beten Kaitos and Edwards

The Third Tikonov Lancers landed on Beten Kaitos, conducting a brutal assault against the Avatars of Painful Death (part of the Blue Star Irregulars) who had been reported to be at 28% strength in 2821. However, the mercenary regiment put up a spirited defense and beat back the Capellans with a series of swift flanking assaults that threatened to segment and isolate the Lancers.

On Edwards, the Fifth Deneb Light Cavalry came "within a whisker" of crushing the landings of the Twenty-Seventh Sian Dragoons who was only able to gain a toehold with a concerted push supported by heavy aerospace support.

Kathil and Mendham

The Chesterton Cuirassiers commanded by Colonel Laurelli Liao landed on Kathil on 2 June 2828 facing off against both the Twenty-seventh Avalon Hussars and the Kathil Capellan March Militia. Colonel Liao was a young, canny commander who was skilled at keeping the opposition off balance. She conducted a series of feints against District City and the General Motors facilities which prevented the defenders from relocating troops to counter the main Liao assaults. Neither side gained any advantage over the subsequent three weeks, with the worst damage to the Cuirassiers occurring in their hasty withdrawal off-world on June 24th.

On June 2nd, the Sixth St. Ives Lancers and the First Centauri Guards's landing at the city of Munnings on Mendham was contested by the Fourteenth Syrtis Fusiliers and the Twenty-sixth Avalon Hussars whose repeated attempts to crush the CCAF task force were unsuccessful but were able to repulse the Lancers' and Guards' attempts to breakout of the landing zone. Fierce fighting continued for two weeks, both sides bloodied and battered yet unwilling to capitulate, until events elsewhere forced the Liao forces to conduct a hard-fought withdrawal.

Orbisonia

Orbisonia was a key world in the Capellan March and a major AFFS staging area.

On 19 June 2828, the Red Lancers and Prefectorate Guard landed on Orbisonia under command of Chancellor Ilsa Liao who lead from the front, intending to fix the Second Ceti Hussars and the Fourteenth Avalon Hussars and prevent them from countering the main effort on Chesterton. The initial assault went well with the Liao force driving back the AFFS troops. In the early hours of June 20th, the Chancellor received confirmation of the Seventh Tikonov Lancers and Eighth Tikonov Lancers' assaults on Chesterton and retired to sleep in a jubilant mood. Ninety minutes later she was awoken with the news that the Davion Assault Guards were in the process of dropping onto Orbisonia via pirate point. She ordered an immediate withdrawal which proved troublesome as both Capellan regiments were engaged with the lighter and more maneuverable Avalon and Ceti Hussars whose morale had been bolstered by news of the Assault Guard's arrival. The Capellan units resorted to using chemical weapons against conventional Davion forces in one advance.

The Davion Assault Guards dropped directly from orbit straddling the CCAF positions and threatening to turn the withdrawal into a rout. Ilsa Liao stepped into the breach to allow her troops to withdraw in good order, she refused to give up command of the rearguard even when her officers insisted, valiantly fighting for time to all her troops to escape. At 1315 hours, June 23rd, 2828 (the fourth day of fighting0, Chancellor Ilsa Liao, Duchess of Sian, First Lord of the Star League fell in battle. Her inspirational leadership and valorous conduct allowed nearly 80 percent of her troops to withdrawal. Her daughter, Colonel Laurelli Liao, commander of the CCAF raiding force on Kathil became the new Chancellor and withdrew her forces to Sian to assess the catastrophe that had occurred.

Aftermath

The failure of Operation CELT did not doom the Capellan Confederation, the undefended border with Marik remained calm, Captain-General Charles Marik did not exploit the situation. Chancellor Laurelli Liao recalled her troops, stabilized the Marik border, and prepared for an inevitable Davion onslaught.

Units Involved

Capellan Confederation

• Twenty-Fourth Sian Dragoons
• First Redfield Regulars
• Third Liao Guards
• Ninth Tikonov Lancers
• Seventh Tikonov Lancers
• Eighth Tikonov Lancers
• CCS Poznan
• CCS Prominence
• 11th Liao "Paches" Lancers
• Fifth Liao Guards
• Second St. Ives Lancers
• Third Tikonov Lancers
• Twenty-Seventh Sian Dragoons
• Chesterton Cuirassiers
• Sixth St. Ives Lancers
• First Centauri Guards
• Red Lancers Prefectorate Guard

Federated Suns

• Fourth Syrtis Fusiliers
• Belinda's Irregulars
• Eighth Crucis Lancers
• Third Deneb Light Cavalry
• Chesterton Capellan March Militia
• FSS Nathan DuVall
• FSS Pleiades
• Simpson's Samurai
• Sixth Sakhara Academy Training Battalion
• Avatars of Painful Death (part of the Blue Star Irregulars)
• Fifth Deneb Light Cavalry
• 27th Avalon Hussars
• Kathil Capellan March Militia
• Fourteenth Syrtis Fusiliers
• 26th Avalon Hussars
• Second Ceti Hussars
• Fourteenth Avalon Hussars
• Davion Heavy Guards

Bibliography

• First Succession War
• Second Succession War