1st Hussars (Free Rasalhague Republic)

First Hussars
Disbanded	3070 (disbanded)
Affiliation	Free Rasalhague Republic
Parent Command	Hussars

The First Hussars were the first KungsArmé unit to face the Clans during Operation Revival.

History

Clan Invasion

As of 3050, the Regular-ranked First was stationed on the Rasalhague Province border world of Thule, directly in the path of Clan Ghost Bear.

With the bidding fierce to see who would be the first Bear unit to strike at an Inner Sphere world, Khan Karl Bourjon and saKhan Theresa DelVillar declared that Alpha, Beta and Delta Galaxies would all contribute forces to a composite "Cluster" to go up against the First Hussars, breaking the bidding deadlock.

Despite being caught off guard by the Clans batchall, with Överste Swigard intimately familiar with Thule she selected a time and place for battle that clearly favored her own troops. When the Ghost Bear OmniMechs overheated after failing to account for the incredible heat of Thule's noonday sun in the treacherous terrain of the Fresdon Desert, the Hussars' artillery support was able to destroy over a Trinary of equipment.

This setback prompted Star Colonel François Cote of the Third Bear Striker to break his bid to order the rest of Cluster into battle. Having already anticipated just such a strategy, the Hussars sent their aerospace fighters to strafe the Third on its approach from the east, inflicting yet more losses. With Star Colonel Stephan Huntsig breaking his bid to call in the fighters of his Fiftieth Striker Cluster, the Bears were able to surround the Hussars. As the fighting petered out, Swigard sent out recon units to try and determine the reason for the lull, realizing the Bears were waiting for nightfall and the end of the oppressive heat.

Rather than waiting for the Bears to gain the advantage, the Hussars struck the Bear northern flank while the sun was still high in the sky, using artillery to cover their attempted breakout through the encircling Bear forces. When the Ghost Bears attempted to block the breakout with their lighter and faster units to give time for their heavier elements to arrive, the Hussars succeeded in escaping even after the Ghost Bears gained air superiority, thanks to continued artillery barrages.

This ongoing difficulty prompted Star Colonel Paul Vishio to finally break his bid as well, calling down additional fighter support to silence the Hussars' artillery. The now desperate Hussars bolted for the large river that divides the Fresdon Plain in hopes of reaching their naval support assets, losing over a company of troops as they hurriedly boarded massive cargo ships to head upriver and out of reach of the Ghost Bear 'Mech forces.

With Thule's population accepting Ghost Bear rule, and deciding that sinking the Hussars' ships outside of combat would be dishonorable, the Ghost Bears left the Third Bear Striker's 312th Assault Trinary behind as a garrison unit, content they would be able to mop up the survivors while the rest of the Bears moved on to other targets. With the Bears wholly unprepared for guerrilla resistance from the Rasalhague population, Överste Swigard led the survivors of the First Hussars in eliminating the skeleton garrison left behind and retaking their homeworld, planning and preparing for the day the Ghost Bears would surely come back.

CGB Alpha Galaxy destroys the First Hussars on Thule

SaKhan Theresa DelVillar and her Golden Bears landed on May 14th, finding the Hussars' remaining battalion's worth of troops on the frigid plains of the Southlands. Like the first attack, Överste Swigard planned her defense in a region her unit were intimately familiar with operating in and which she hoped would hinder the Clan troops, unaware the Bears favored the cold even more than her own troops. The Golden Bears easily swept through the prepared positions and traps the Hussars had set, and by the 17th the First Hussars had lost two companies of 'Mechs and were forced to their final "last stand" location, the so-called "Icebox".

A massive abandoned coal mine and processing plant, the enclosed space of the Icebox removed the Ghost Bears' range advantage and gave the Hussars ample opportunity for physical combat, but saKhan DelVillar welcomed the brutal fighting to come and ordered her troops in, certain her own Elemental forces would easily tilt the battle in their favor. DelVillar would be proven right when even in the face of mined approaches and heavy artillery support the unceasing advance of the Ghost Bears eventually shattered the last company of Hussar 'Mechs and resulted in the capture of Överste Swigard.

The infantry unit attached to the Hussars was also heavily damaged with only a few platoons escaping capture. Rather than immediately launch a guerrilla campaign, they went to ground and waited for the invasion force to leave. They then raided the garrison troops left behind and captured Elemental armor. After practicing with the Elemental armor, these infantry soldiers launched an attack on the garrison unit one year after the Hussars ceased to exist. Then they left the world and safely relocated to the Draconis Combine.

During the formation of the Rasalhague Dominion, the First Hussars were recreated as part of Tundra Galaxy.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the First Hussars
Överste	Joannie Swigard	3050

Tactics

Unknown.

Composition History

3050

First Hussars (Regular/Fanatical)

• CO: Överste Joannie Swigard

Bibliography

• 20 Year Update
• ClanTroops
• Era Report: 3052
• Field Manual: Warden Clans
• Invading Clans