11th Donegal Guards

Donegalguards11th.png
Eleventh Donegal Guards
Previous Designation(s) One-Eyed Jacks
Nickname Twin Towers (2765);[1]
The Push-Me-Pull-Yous (3145)
Affiliation Lyran Commonwealth
Parent Command Donegal Guards

History

The Eleventh Donegal Guard was a BattleMech regiment in service to the Lyran Commonwealth.

In 2765 the Eleventh was stationed on Bella I.[1] They were stationed in battalion sized formations across the system's three inhabited worlds. This deployment was forced by the population's dissatisfaction with the practice of guarding only Bel II, which led to increased raids on the other two worlds.[2]

As of 3025, the Guards were stationed on New Capetown.[3]

At the start of the War of 3039, the Guards were again based on New Capetown. They were briefly moved to Nekkar, but by the end of the war were returned to New Capetown. They would see no fighting.[4]

In September 3044, together with the Third Lyran Guards, the Guards participated in the liberation of Alphecca.[5]

As of 3050, they were based on Hyalite, in the House Davion half of the Federated Commonwealth.[6]

They returned to the Lyran half of the Commonwealth to help meet the threat of the Clan Invasion. They took heavy losses fighting Clan Jade Falcon, and by 3054, they had been reduced to a battalion in strength, and were based on Graceland alongside their companion unit from the assault on Alphecca, the 3rd Lyran Guards RCT.[7]

Cooperation between the units allowed them to easily counter Clan raids on Graceland and other nearby Lyran worlds, and would be expanded after the arrival of the Com Guard 388th Division, with the Lyran Alliance's increasing distrust of ComStar after Victor Steiner-Davion's rise to Precentor Martial of ComStar resulting in both units moving to isolate the Com Guard Division along with their usual duties.[5][8]

FedCom Civil War

Despite the fact the 388th Division steadfastly maintained their sole interest in protecting the surrounding worlds from the Jade Falcons after Victor Davion's broadcast on December 8th 3062 that triggered the FedCom Civil War, the hot-headed Colonel Andes prepared the Eleventh Donegal to launch a preemptive strike against the Com Guard unit no matter the penalty, only held back by the level headed Leutnant-General Paul Zardetto of the Third Lyran Guards. Though stymied by the Guards' efforts to hold the Eleventh Donegal in check, Andes fomented extremists with Brotherhood of Cincinnatus loyalties into staging two weeks of increasingly violent anti-ComStar protests to engineer a reason to eject the ComStar unit from the world, culminating in a protester-triggered incident that led to the death of twelve citizens and three Com Guards, along with hundreds of wounded. On January 7th 3063 Colonel Andes ordered the Eleventh to disarm the 388th in response to the massacre, despite the Com Guard division pulling back to ComStar defensive emplacements and the Third Guards' best efforts to contain their fellow unit. The Eleventh Donegal launched near suicidal attacks on the 388th which provoked extremists to attempt to bomb Graceland's HPG compound.[9]

Angered that Andes' actions had now led ComStar to invoke a Communications Interdiction on the world, the Third Guards CO Leutnant-General Paul Zardetto ordered his unit to push aside the Eleventh and completely contain the 388th. While apologizing for the Eleventh's action, Zardetto ordered the 388th to withdraw to prevent further escalation of the situation. Recognizing they had little choice to avoid fanning the conflict, with the stipulation that a mixed 'Mech and armored infantry Level III be left behind to guard the HPG compound from further attacks, the 388th lifted off Graceland on February 5th. Long an embarrassment for his outspoken views, three days later the commander of the Pandora Theater General Walter Gothard "rewarded" Andes for his disastrous actions with a promotion to a staff position, transferring command of the 11th Donegal to Leutnant-General Zardetto's aide Colonel Kay Hanley. On February 14th, Tharkad ordered the 3rd Lyran Guards to move out to Pandora, leaving the Eleventh Donegal as the sole defenders of Graceland.[9]

They would not remain alone for long. Despite the bad blood between the units, the threat of the Clan Jade Falcon incursion of the Lyran Alliance led Precentor Martial Pro-Tem Gavin Dow to order the 388th Division back to Graceland to reinforce the Eleventh Donegal. Landing on June 1st, the Falcons' Seventy-fourth Battle and Twenty-second Provisional Garrison Clusters focused the bulk of their attacks on the Eleventh, breaking the veteran Lyran unit within two weeks before turning their full attention onto the 388th. The survivors of the Eleventh Donegal were saved from complete destruction when Archer Christifori's Archer's Avengers and sections of the Twentieth Arcturan Guards landed to assist in the defense of the planet, pushing the Falcons back.[10][11] Remaining on Graceland and bolstered by the arrival of 1st Kell Hounds and Clan Wolf-in-Exile's Third Wolf Guards Cluster, as August 1st 3067 the rebuilding Eleventh Donegal Guards had returned to 20% strength.[12]

Destruction and Re-formation

Remaining on Graceland during the early part of the Word of Blake Jihad, the partially rebuilt Eleventh was destroyed by Free Worlds League forces during Operation BROKEN FIST.[13]

The story of the Eleventh would have ended there were it not for the Blackjacks, the renamed One-Eyed Jacks mercenary unit. Honoring the mercenary unit's long service to the Lyran realm and the losses it also suffered during Broken Fist, the mercenaries accepted the invitation to become an LAAF line-unit under the name of the Blackjacks.[14]

Originally assigned to the Lyrans' generalized "irregular" forces during the Jihad,[14] after that conflict's conclusion the LAAF high command chose to standardize the unit as an LCT, renaming it as the new Eleventh Donegal Guards. The new but combat-experienced Eleventh quickly exorcised their namesake unit's demons by recapturing Graceland. Admirably serving to protect the world from further attacks from Clan Jade Falcon, the ex-mercenary Eleventh's biggest problem has been integrating its new support elements.[15]

Dark Age

In 3145 the Eleventh was used as the only purely offensive formation in the Donegal Guards. They spent a great deal of time striking at systems in the Clan Jade Falcon Occupation Zone. The Eleventh went on a series of small raids on worlds that were formerly part of the Isle of Skye. The Falcons dispersed in an attempt to catch the Eleventh, and the Eleventh used this opportunity to raid Glengarry. While on the world they captured nearly sixty suits of battle armor from the Gray Death Technologies plant on that world, and sabotaged the GDT plant before retreating off-world.[16] They then returned to their garrison world, Gladius.[17]

ilClan Era

When the Black Ice team on Pobeda reported the departure of that world's front-line defenders in late 3050, the Eleventh was dispatched the following year to reclaim it for the Commonwealth. Veterans in fighting the best of Clan Jade Falcon, the Eleventh's soldiers easily crushed the Falcon paramilitary garrison and secured Pobeda.[18]


In February of 3151, the 11th Donegal Guards launched raids into the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone. Specifically, they made landing on Seginus. After engaging with the Jade Falcon defenders, they hastened the Falcon's already planned withdrawal from the planet. [19]

Officers

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 11th Donegal Guards
Colonel Jonathan Thurman 3025[3]
Colonel Cyrus Andes 3049 - 3054[7][5][9]
Colonel Kay Hanley 3063 - 3067[9][12]
Leutnant-General Darrel Duke 3085[20]
Leutnant-General Nathan Bergstrom 3145[17]

Tactics

The command takes the lead from the beginning. The enemy must take a defensive position to react.[5]

Composition History

2765

11th Donegal Guards (Regiment/Regular/Reliable)[1]

Note: At this point in time the unit was stationed on Bella I.

2786 - 2821

11th Donegal Guards (Regiment/Regular/Reliable)[21]

Note: At this point in time the medium-weight unit was stationed on Bella I. In 2821 the command was reduced to 51 percent of its strength and was deployed on Zwenkau.[21]

2830

11th Donegal Guards (Regiment/Regular/Reliable)[22]

Note: At this point in time the medium-weight unit was stationed on Senftenberg with an operational readiness of 115 percent.[22]

2864

11th Donegal Guards (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[22]

Note: At this point in time the heavy-weight unit was stationed on Lorie with an operational readiness of 80 percent.[22]

3025

11th Donegal Guards (Regiment/Green/Questionable)[3]

  • CO: Colonel Jonathan Thurman
Note: At this point in time the unit was stationed on New Capetown.

3040

11th Donegal Guards RCT (Regiment/Green/Questionable)[23]

Note: At this point in time the command was stationed on New Capetown.[23]

3050

11th Donegal Guards (Regiment/Green/Questionable)[24]

Note: At this point in time the command was stationed on Hyalite.[24]

3054

11th Donegal Guards (1 Battalion) (Regiment/Green/Questionable)[25]

  • CO: Hauptmann General Cyrus Andes[25]
Note: At this point in time the command was stationed on Graceland.[25]

3062

11th Donegal Guards (1 Regiment/Regular/Questionable)[5]
CO: Colonel Cyrus Andes
Aide: Kommandant Philip Ho

95th Donegal Light Tank Regiment (1 Regiment/Regular/Questionable)[5]
CO: Colonel George Wildman

217th Donegal Commando Regiment (1 Regiment/Regular/Questionable)[5]
CO: Colonel Wyatt Vines
- The 217th includes a Platoon of battle armor

11th Donegal Guards Air Wing (1 Wing/Regular/Questionable)[5]
CO: Kaptain Seren Johansson

3067

11th Donegal Guards (Veteran/Questionable)[12]
CO: Colonel Kay Hanley

11th Donegal Guards Air (Win/Veteran/Questionable)[12]
CO: Kaptain Seren Johansson

95th Donegal Light Tank (Regiment/Regiment/Questionable)[12]
CO: Colonel Wallace Hopper

217th Donegal Commando (Regiment/Regular/Questionable)[12]
CO: Colonel Katrina Loess

3085

11th Donegal Guards LCT (Regular/Reliable)[20]
CO: Leutnant General Darrel Duke

11th Donegal Aerospace (Green/Reliable)[20]
CO: Kaptain Viorel Sobol

11th Donegal Armor Brigade (Regular/Reliable)[20]
CO: Colonel Pier Blackbourne

11th Donegal Infantry Brigade (Regular/Fanatical)[20]
CO: Colonel Vidar Simpson

3145

11th Donegal Guards (Elite/Reliable)[17]
CO: Leutnant General Nathan Bergstrom

33rd Gladius Reaper (Veteran/Reliable)[17]
CO: Colonel Janel Gorman

11th Donegal Infantry Brigade (Elite/Reliable)[17]
CO: Colonel Marty Willett

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Field Report 2765: LCAF, p. 11: "Donegal Guards" - Regimental Status
  2. ↑ Field Report 2765: LCAF, p. 10
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 121 (PDF version): "Unit Deployment Table"
  4. ↑ Historical: War of 3039, p. 137
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Field Manual: Lyran Alliance, p. 70: "11th Donegal Guards Unit Profile"
  6. ↑ 20 Year Update, p. 22: "AFFC Deployment Table - 3050"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Objective Raids, p. 22: "AFFC Deployment Table - 3054"
  8. ↑ Field Manual: ComStar, p. 41: "11th Army V-eta: The Honorable"
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 FedCom Civil War, pp. 42–43: "Flashpoint - Graceland (7 January 3063)"
  10. ↑ FedCom Civil War, p. 115: "Jade Falcon Incursion - Graceland"
  11. ↑ Field Manual: Updates, p. 169: "Donegal Guards bio"
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Field Manual: Updates, p. 177: "Deployment Table"
  13. ↑ Field Report: LAAF, p. 11: "Donegal Guards - Condition"
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Field Report: LAAF, p. 18: "Irregular Forces - Mercenaries"
  15. ↑ Field Manual: 3085, p. 100: "The Lyran Commonwealth - Donegal Guards - Eleventh Donegal Guards"
  16. ↑ Field Manual: 3145, p. 127
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 Field Manual: 3145, p. 133: "Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces - Donegal Province"
  18. ↑ Tamar Rising, p. 21-22
  19. ↑ ' 'Honor's Gauntlet', p. 139
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 Field Manual: 3085, p. 109: "LAAF Deployment Table - 3085"
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 First Succession War, p. 139
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 Second Succession War, p. 99
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Historical: War of 3039, p. 137
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 20 Year Update, p. 22
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Objective Raids, p. 22

Bibliography

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