Battle of Turtle Bay (3050)
Sarna News
| Battle of Turtle Bay (3050) | |
|---|---|
| Conflict details | |
| Part of | Clan Invasion |
| Start Date | March 3050 |
| Planet(s) | Turtle Bay |
| Location(s) | Edo |
| Result | Smoke Jaguar Victory |
| Attacking Forces | |
| Affiliation | Clan Smoke Jaguar |
| Commanding Officer(s) | Galaxy Commander Cordera Perez |
| Command(s) | 362nd Assault Cluster Third Attack Cluster |
| Defending Forces | |
| Affiliation | Draconis Combine |
| Commanding Officer(s) | Tai-sa Tarukito Niiro Hohiro Kurita II |
| Command(s) | Fourteenth Legion of Vega |
| Other Forces | |
| “ | I saw the holovid of the Sabre Cat, the Smoke Jaguar flagship, lasing Edo to put an end to the riots there. I watched as missiles leveled buildings and lasers stabbed down from high orbit to melt the streets. The Sawagashii River boiled away to nothing! In a matter of minutes, a city of over a million was reduced to a charred, glassy scar on the face of the planet. How can you say I don't know what I'm asking? | ” |
| — Phelan Kell to Ulric Kerensky on the Dire Wolf, 3050 | ||
The Battle of Turtle Bay took place during the first wave of the Clan Invasion. Among those worlds that fell within the invasion corridor of Clan Smoke Jaguar, Turtle Bay was the scene of a brutal fight between the Smoke Jaguar warriors and the defending Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery. It would later become infamous as an example of the extreme brutality with which the Smoke Jaguars treated their conquered foes.
Prelude[edit]
As part of the Smoke Jaguar Clan's invasion plans, Turtle Bay was among those worlds assigned to Beta Galaxy, which entered the star system via pirate jump point. Upon their arrival Galaxy Commander Cordera Perez issued a standard Clan batchall, which was answered by Tai-sa Tarukito Niiro. The commander of the Fourteenth Legion of Vega agreed to face the invaders in the rolling meadows north of the capital city Edo, deploying every unit under his command save one. The heir apparent of the Draconis Combine, Prince Hohiro Kurita II, commanded a battalion within the Legion, but Tai-sa Niiro was unwilling to risk the welfare of the Combine's future leader. Over Hohiro Kurita's furious objections, his battalion was ordered to assume defensive positions within an industrial sector north of the city itself while the rest of the Legion deployed to face the Jaguars.[1]
Battle[edit]
Tai-sa Niiro deployed his units in a broad arc around the battlefield, facing the center of a broad expanse. As he hoped the invaders, two Supernova Trinaries and an aerofighter Trinary, landed in the dead center of the battleground where his massed firepower would finish them off. Unfortunately, he was unaware of the Clan's superior technology, including the longer range of their weapons, and the defenders were caught off-guard as the Smoke Jaguars 'Mechs opened fire first. Simultaneously the Clan aerospace fighters strafed a column of DCMS heavy tanks, destroying most of the armor in a single attack; Tai-sa Niiro attempted to counter with his own aerospace forces but they proved to be no match for the Clan fighters. In a move of desperation, Niiro deployed his infantry, ordering them to emerge from their hidden trenches and attack the Clan OmniMechs from the rear, but the escorting Elemental forces made short work of them before any real damage was done. After several hours of fighting the Fourteenth Legion broke and retreated towards Edo, pursued by the Clan warriors.[1]
As the fleeing units approached Edo, Hohiro directed them towards the Legion's DropShips, but realizing they could not hold out against the enemy's attack he commandeered the spaceport's facilities to send a warning via satellite uplink to DCMS high command about the situation. Finally, Hohiro laid as many traps, including explosive civilian vehicles and rigged man-hole covers, as he could in the city's narrow streets and ordered his battalion to occupy hidden positions.[2] As the Smoke Jaguars entered Edo's narrow streets Hohiro's forces began sniping from their positions, with the expectation that the attackers would withdraw to regroup. Instead, the Smoke Jaguars proceeded to rampage throughout the city, destroying buildings and killing civilians in their hunt for the defenders. At the last the remnants of the Fourteenth Legion, Hohiro among them, surrendered to the Smoke Jaguars.[1]
Aftermath[edit]
The survivors of the Fourteenth Legion were imprisoned in Edo's formidable Kurushiiyama prison, though the fighting was far from over. The people of Turtle Bay resisted their new rulers, who responded in typical Smoke Jaguar fashion. In one instance a unit of Elementals was tasked with sweeping a nearby village for the culprits in the bombing of nearby barracks. They swept through the village, randomly shooting everything and demanding those responsible surrender themselves or the killings would continue. When finally an old man presented himself as the suspected bomber and pleaded that the rest of the people be spared, he was immediately killed and the village leveled, declaring anyone willing to show such signs of weakness unfit to live.[1] In another instance, yakuza members bombed a local business that the Smoke Jaguars were patronizing. Civilians were killed in the explosion, "collaborators" to the bomber, and the Smoke Jaguars broadcasted their demand for the guilty to be turned over after tracking them to the neighborhood where the yakuza was hiding. After the first homes were destroyed and no "yakuza" turned themselves in, a Buddhist monk stepped forward and took responsibility for the bombing. The Smoke Jaguar Elementals killed the monk and returned to their duty.[3]
However, the Smoke Jaguars never realized that they had succeeded in capturing the Draconis Combine's crown prince until the local yakuza pulled off a daring rescue attempt which freed Hohiro and the remaining Legionnaires.[4] An intensive search was immediately conducted, but the Smoke Jaguar's efforts were continually hampered as Edo's yakuza cells took every opportunity to harass the Smoke Jaguars. When rioting broke out following Hohiro Kurita's escape, Clan Smoke Jaguar dispatched a number of vehicles to control the violence, using Indra Infantry Transports to attempt to intimidate the population into submission. This ploy failed, and in the central marketplace of the city of Edo, the crowd attempted to seize control of two vehicles, prompting the crews to open fire. In less than a minute, the tanks killed five hundred people, escalating the situation even more.[5] Finally, Galaxy Commander Perez ordered all Smoke Jaguar forces to withdraw from Edo, which the local resistance mistakenly took as a sign of victory.
Destruction of the City[edit]
Shocked and embarrassed at the level of lower caste resistance and the escape of the Prince, Perez ordered Beta Galaxy's WarShips, including the Sabre Cat,[6] into low orbit above the city. A Veiled Huntress was listed as participating as flagship in the Turtle Bay Massacre,[7] though its class is not mentioned. One picture published of the bombardment shows two ships firing against the city.[8] As these ships likely include the Essex class destroyer Sabre Cat and a Vincent Mk. 42 class corvette, and two DropShips are also pictured, other JumpShips or WarShips must have been in-system as neither the Essex nor the Vincent carry DropShips. The Vincent is unlikely to be the Veiled Huntress as she is too small to act as a flagship.
The Sabre Cat was misidentified in one report of the Turtle Bay action as a Texas class battleship.[9] This does point to the presence of a Texas during the massacre, and the most likely candidate for this ship is the Veiled Huntress.[7]
Galaxy Commander Perez then commanded his vessels to open fire. Repeated strikes from autocannons and laser weapons bombarded the city until there was nothing left but smoking debris.[1][10]
Legacy[edit]
The orbital attack of the Jaguars leveled the city, killing several million people. While that attack did put an end to the rebellion, it ironically also made the Jaguars lose the planet: After that atrocity, all of the planet's residents became hostile toward the Jaguars, knowing they would die if a Jaguar decided so. For this, the Jaguars simply declared the planet pacified and refused to let a garrison remain there.[11] The bombardment had the most far-reaching consequences among the Clans: even ilKhan Leo Showers was shocked as the extreme act was viewed as somewhere between cowardice or criminal stupidity[12] that even the hardline Crusaders despised, while the Wardens saw the massacre as irresponsibly immoral. In the aftermath, the Smoke Jaguars would fight their own people, and Perez was challenged and lost his command to Dietr Osis.[10]
This action also resulted in the removal of all Clan WarShips from further combat bids.[10] The attack was so devastating that many in the Inner sphere believed the Jaguars had used nuclear weapons.[13] This single act of brutality turned the Inner Sphere (and even many Clans) against the Jaguars. The Combine's samurai mentality when facing the Clans fell away, as single honorable combat was no longer expected and the reality of the existential crisis facing the nation was evident. Surrender was impossible and the invasion was a fight to the death.[14] Some who lost their families in the attack later developed a deep hatred for all the Clans, most notably Mark Castor-Davion.[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ↑ a b c d e Invading Clans, p. 55
- ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 129: "Touchpoint: Turtle Bay" (scenario)
- ↑ Lethal Heritage, ch. 19
- ↑ Lethal Heritage, ch. 23
- ↑ Technical Readout: 3060, p. 47
- ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 54: "Clan Smoke Jaguar"
- ↑ a b ClanTroops, p. 32
- ↑ Invading Clans, color plate 4
- ↑ BattleSpace Rulebook, p. 39
- ↑ a b c Invading Clans, p. 56
- ↑ Grave Covenant, p. 299
- ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 15: "Timeline"
- ↑ The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, p. 18
- ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 27: "Draconis Combine"