18th Benjamin Regulars

Benjamin Regulars Brigade Insignia
Eighteenth Benjamin Regulars
Formed Star League era or earlier[1]
Affiliation Draconis Combine
Parent Command Benjamin Regulars

History

Star League Era

Of the various brigades of Regulars active within the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery during the Star League era, the regiments of the Benjamin Regulars - including the Eighteenth Benjamin Regulars - were considered to be the most flexible. This was a reflection of the reality that the Regulars could at any point be called on to fight against the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces or the Star League Defense Force, as a result of the Benjamin Military District bordering the Federated Suns, Lyran Commonwealth and Terran Hegemony. This was even acknowledged by the Internal Security Force, who gave the Eighteenth and the other regiments of the Regulars more leeway than the average DCMS unit - an attitude the Benjamin Regulars repaid by limiting complaints and criticism to supply issues and local concerns, rather than anything to do with politics.[1]

First Succession War

In February 2785 a reinforced battalion from the Eighteenth Benjamin Regulars raided Towne, a former Terran Hegemony world the Federated Suns had annexed in 2783. The Regulars emerged from the shadow of Crom, Towne's moon, and burned towards Hyboria, a continent in the northern hemisphere of Towne and location of Port Howard, Towne's capital city. The defending forces on Towne consisted of the Fifty-sixth Avalon Hussars, the 123rd Aerospace Interceptor Wing, and the local planetary militia. The defenders were already scrambling when the Regulars appeared, as a raiding party from a Capellan Confederation Armed Forces unit, the Seventh Tikonov Lancers, had emerged from a Lagrange jump point near Towne and was already burning towards a landing side on Fetryl, an undefended continent in Towne's southern hemisphere.[2]

The relationship between the Hussars and the 123rd was poor, with little or no communication, and bordered on being actively dysfunctional. The arrival of the two raiding parties highlighted this dramatically, with the commanding officers of both AFFS commands bickering over which group of raiders was the bigger threat, enabling the Benjamin Regulars to land almost unopposed, while the Lancers penetrated the 123rd Aerospace's screen relatively easily, landing with only minimal damage. The Lancers and the Regulars then began rampaging around the continents they'd made planetfall on, looting and burning warehouses full of valuable supplies.[2]

It took two days for the two AFFS commands to begin cooperating, with the Hussars deploying a force to the city of Vale in Fetryl to reinforce the planetary militia; however, by this point the Lancers were already falling back to their DropShips. The planetary militia in Vale had managed to stage a daring guerrilla ambush against the Lancers, and that ambush had highlighted that the planetary militia was more than willing to fight to hold up the Lancers until assistance could arrive. The 123rd conducted sorties against the Lancers while they were falling back, but the Lancers were able to reach their DropShips and escape after taking only limited losses.[2][3][4]

While the Lancers were retreating from Fetryl the Hussars and the 123rd launched a combined counterattack against the Eighteenth. The attack was far from perfect, but it was enough to convince the Eighteenth that it was time to leave. To add insult to injury the Regulars were able to retreat easily to their transport JumpShips near the third planet in the system, which had been waiting for a week to collect them, well before Federated Suns naval forces from the zenith jump stations could engage them. The Regulars had looted and destroyed four warehouses containing millions of pounds of valuable equipment, and between the Lancers and the Raiders more than four thousand civilians had been killed, along with two hundred and fifty military personnel - primarily from the planetary militia.[2]

The raid conducted by the Eighteenth was so effective that it highlighted to the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery how weak the defenses on Towne were, and in December 2785 the DCMS attacked Towne again - this time using the Fifth Dieron Regulars, supported by seven assorted regiments of infantry and aerospace fighter support and a small naval escort, overwhelming the defending garrison and capturing the world.[2]

Second Succession War

On the 19th of February 2830 Coordinator Jinjiro Kurita launched simultaneous offensives against the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth. Operation AKAI KAZE - RED WIND - was the offensive launched against the Federated Suns; while the main targets of AKAI KAZE were the Franklin, Lucerne and Sakhara V systems, ten assorted systems were also hit by heavy raids, intended to distract and disorient the AFFS. One of those worlds was Breed, on which the First Avalon Hussars were located. The Eighteenth Benjamin Regulars landed on Breed, only to find their attack being swiftly repulsed by the Hussars, with the Hussars storming into the Regulars' landing zones and crushing them, forcing the DCMS troops to retreat rapidly to their DropShips.[5]

Officers

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 18th Benjamin Regulars

Tactics

Star League Era

The Eighteenth Benjamin Regulars favored a strong combined-arms approach, but otherwise were a generalist unit, and deliberately fielded a wide range of BattleMech classes to encourage adaptation to changing circumstances.[1]

Composition History

2765

Eighteenth Benjamin Regulars (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[1]

Note: At this point in time the Regulars were stationed on Skat; attached to the Regulars were a wing of aerospace fighters, an artillery regiment, four infantry regiments and four armored regiments.[1]

2786 - 2821

Eighteenth Benjamin Regulars (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[6]

Note: At this point in time the Eighteenth were a heavy-weight regiment, operating at full strength and stationed on Skat.[6] In 2821 the unit was operating at one third of full strength and stationed on Donenac alongside the Seventeenth Benjamin Regulars and Thirty-second Dieron Regulars.[6]

2830

18th Benjamin Regulars (Regiment/Elite/Fanatical)[7]

Note: At this point in time the heavy-weight unit was stationed on Donenac with an operational readiness of 59 percent.[7] The unit was destroyed during the war.[7]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Field Report 2765: DCMS, p. 10: "Benjamin Regulars"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 First Succession War, pp. 23, 26: "Towne"
  3. House Davion (The Federated Suns), p. 60: "The Towne Debacle" - Towne changes hands after the fall of the Hegemony
  4. Handbook: House Davion, p. 55: "Timeline: First Succession War" - Dates of the Kurita/Capellan Raids and Towne's capture noted
  5. Second Succession War, pp. 31–33: "The Dragon Strikes: Black Wind, Red Wind"
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 First Succession War, p. 136: "Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery (DCMS)"
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Second Succession War, p. 96

Bibliography