1st Tamar Hussars

Tamar Tigers logo.png
First Tamar Hussars
Disbanded January 2801
Nickname The Tamar Tigers
Affiliation House Kelswa
Parent Command LCAF

The Tamar Tigers were the pride and joy of the Duke of Tamar, and was the first unit from the Duke of Tamar's private forces to receive BattleMechs in 2465.[1]

History[edit]

The Tamar Tigers were attached to the SLDF in the Reunification War. They were unlike many Lyran units because their commander was able to remove political appointees and Social Generals from the unit. The Tamar Tigers served alongside the Fourth Royal Guards and the Twenty-fifth Skye Rangers.[2] From 2581 to 2591 the Tigers fought on Black Earth, Qurayyat, Fjernet, Kwangjong-ni, Luanda, and Barcelona.[3] In 2591 Archon Viola Steiner received word that her son had been kidnapped, and the Duke of Tamar was a suspect. Unable to meet the Duke, the Archon instead engaged the Tamar Tigers and Skye Rangers at their camp on Barcelona. There the Tigers resisted the Archon's assault until SLDF forces could separate the combatants. Later evidence found that the Dukes were innocent, but the Tigers and Rangers had lost a battalion and refused to continue to fight for the Archon. They returned home shortly after the Day of Rage.[4]

First Succession War[edit]

Shortly after the outbreak of the First Succession War the Tigers were dispatched on a deep raid against the Draconis Combine's capital Luthien. In March 2787 they arrived at a pirate point close to the planet. Expecting to wade through heavy defenses the Tigers instead found Luthien only lightly guarded and were able to inflict serious damage on the planet's Aichi continent before DCMS reinforcements half a world away arrived to find the Tigers already gone.[1] [5]

The Tigers' success influenced Archon Jennifer Steiner's decision to expand the LCAF's strategy of raiding. In 2790 raiding operations were launched on both fronts, with the Tigers once again successfully damaging the Combine on Pomme De Terre, Styx, Telos IV, and Kervil. Their success inspired the Archon to mount the fateful assault on Styx that ultimately cost Steiner her life. After this disaster General Graham Kelswa, the Tigers' CO and commander of LCAF forces on the Combine front, personally led the unit in several battles during this time.[6] [7]

Final Raid on Benjamin[edit]

In 2794, Lyran intelligence learned that Benjamin, an industrial hub and Military District capital, had been stripped of its defenders. Seizing an opportunity to deliver a heavy strike against the Combine, General Kelswa led the Tigers there and, using a pirate point, appeared to take the planet totally by surprise. Only once the Tigers' DropShips were making planetfall did the Combine navy unleash their trap, obliterating the Lyrans' naval and JumpShip assets. The Tigers themselves avoided the same fate thanks to Kelswa's decision to have his MechWarriors perform a combat drop that scattered them across the ground outside Benjamin's capital Deber City.[8]

Kelswa's intention was for the Tigers to conduct a guerrilla war until the LCAF mounted a rescue effort for them. Unfortunately, inaccurate intelligence from incompetent agents led the LCAF High Command to believe that the raiders had perished utterly. Six years would pass before credible intelligence convinced them otherwise. During that time the Tigers managed to deal much damage to Benjamin's cities and factories while defeating two elite DCMS 'Mech battalions and double that number of conventional forces, while losing barely a company's worth of their own 'Mechs.[8]

Despite the certain knowledge of their survival, Archon Richard Steiner ultimately decided that he couldn't risk any of the LCAF's dwindling stock of transports and WarShips on a high-risk rescue mission. As a result, by January 2801 the remaining Tigers would mount their final, spectacular assault upon Benjamin's defenders. Between diversions elsewhere and the aid of local criminal elements, the Tigers infiltrated their last fifteen 'Mechs into the heart of Deber City. In a lightning assault, the Tigers and local anti-Kuritan elements seized the planetary capital; the subsequent Combine effort to reclaim it lasted most of a week and reduced Deber City to ruin.[8]

Ultimately the Tamar Tigers managed to destroy a regiment's worth of DCMS BattleMechs and three times as many armor and infantry forces before they finally fell.[8]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the Tamar Tigers
Commander Sabine Petrov 2591[9]
Commanding Officers of 1st Tamar Hussars
Graham Kelswa 2791 - 2801[6]

Tactics[edit]

The Tamar Tigers became known for their daring style of mobile warfare.[1]

Composition History[edit]

2786[edit]

Tamar Tigers (Regiment/Elite/Fanatical) [10]

Note: At this point in time the light-weight unit was stationed on Tamar. The unit was destroyed during the war.[10]

Notes[edit]

  • The Tamar Tigers were added to the list of Honored Missing.[11] The Order of Tamar Tigers decoration uses the regimental patch of the Tamar Tigers.[12]
  • Special rules for 1st Tamar Hussars can be found in Historical: Reunification War, p. 183

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), pp. 47–48: "Tigers and Stealths"
  2. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 40
  3. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, pp. 152–153
  4. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, pp. 137–138
  5. ↑ First Succession War, pp. 47–48
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), pp. 50–51: "The Military Realities"
  7. ↑ First Succession War, pp. 64–68
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 First Succession War, pp. 72–74: "The Long, Last Stand of the Tamar Tigers"
  9. ↑ Memories of Rain
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 First Succession War, p. 139
  11. ↑ House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 68: "What, Me Worry?"
  12. ↑ House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 127: "Medals and Decorations"

Bibliography[edit]

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