22nd Benjamin Regulars
Sarna News
 | This article needs to be updated with material from Combat Manual: Kurita. Once these titles clear the Moratorium period, or if they already have, please consider revisiting this article and updating it with the new material. |
You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.
Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field
Template:InfoBoxStateUnit
Contents
Unit Description
Part of the Draconis Combine's BattleMech Regiments of the Dieron District, the unit avoiding seeing action against the Clans, the green and untried 22nd Benjamin Regulars saw combat for the first and last time during the FedCom Civil War, destroyed in the failed defense of Marduk.
History
Formed after the War of 3039 [1], the green 22nd was stationed on New Mendham in the Irurzun Prefecture of the Benjamin Military District prior to the Clan Invasion. [2]
While the 22nd received shipments of advanced LosTech equipment as did the other Benjamin Regulars units during the Invasion, the DCMS held the unit back, unwilling to send a green and untried regiment against the invaders until given little choice. After the Battle of Tukayyid the 22nd was transferred to garrison Marduk, an important BattleMech producing world but far from the Clan front. [3]
With little possibility the 22nd would face combat any time soon, the DCMS Procurement Department stripped the unit of its advanced equipment to rebuild other units, providing surplus standard PPCs, Large Lasers, AC/5s and AC/10s from units that upgraded with ER PPCs, ER Large Lasers, Ultra AC/5s and LB 10-X ACs in return. Taking a cue from the 9th Benjamin Regulars on nearby Proserpina, the 22nd spent increasing time in simulators developing interesting new BattleMech, AeroSpace Fighter and Combat Vehicle configurations, partly to stave off the boredom of garrison duty, but also an attempt to develop configurations and tactics that might allow them to survive against units armed with more modern equipment. [3]
Federated Suns Incursion and Destruction
Still unwilling to send a green unit against the Clans, the DCMS high command left them stationed on Marduk rather than assign them to take part in Operation Bulldog or the Combine-Ghost Bear War. But with other DCMS units stripped from the Combine-Suns border to combat Clan Ghost Bear, the 22nd finally saw combat for the first and last time during the Draconis March's unauthorized invasion in the early stages of the FedCom Civil War.
Despite the value of the world, Duke James Sandoval selected a unit little better than the 22nd, the recently rebuilt and still green 1st Chisholm's Raiders stationed on Breed to capture Marduk. Landing on the planet on the 22nd of December 3062, the Raiders' initial plan on striking the capital of New Pontiac was set aside when they realized that while the 22nd Benjamin defended the whole world, sole defense in proximity to the Victory Industries BattleMech plant was its own security forces, a combined arms regiment with a battalion of OmniMechs.[4]
While taking heavy losses, the Raiders had secured tenuous control over sections of the Victory plant when the 22nd Benjamin Regulars finally learned of the attack. Striking out from New Pontiac, over 120 kms from Victory plant, the 22nd Benjamin quickly discovered that the 1st Chisholm's CO General Neece had sent the 23rd Breed Recon Regiment to delay them. The dense Tillerbee Jungle allowed the 23rd to stage ambush after ambush, preventing the 22nd Benjamin from reaching the Victory complex before the Raiders finished securing it on December 26th. While the Raiders spent the next eight days recuperating and reequipping from weapons and 'Mechs stockpiled at the factory, the 22nd had pushed within 20km of the Victory factories. [4]
Splitting her forces, Neece dispatched two of her 'Mech battalions to perform an orbital drop on New Pontiac as the bait to lure the 22nd Benjamin out of the jungle while her infantry and armor prepared to encircle them in a pincer movement to trap and destroy 22nd. Luck was with the 22nd however when animosity between the Chisholm 'Mech and Combat Vehicle elements boiled over and the 1st Chisholm Armor Brigade attacked before the Chisholm 'Mechs were in position, allowing the 22nd to escape the trap mostly intact and retreat west to a secondary base at Tauto.[4]
The 22nd continued to reap the benefits of the FedSun forces' infighting as Tai-sa Dirks led the Regulars west, resulting in two weeks of frustrating hit-and-run battles as the Chisholm forces missed more and more opportunities to eliminate the 22nd. The odds finally turned against the 22nd Benjamin when a fed-up General Neece purged the command staff of her armored forces and on January 19th 3063 a finally coordinated attack caught two mixed battalions of the 22nd Regulars in the Guland River Valley, followed two days later by the surrender of another Regulars battalion after a particularly long and devastating artillery assault. With only one-third of the 22nd Benjamin Regulars left, compounded by the capture of Tai-sa Dirks on January 24th, the bulk of the Chisholm's Rangers pulled back to New Pontiac on the 25th, leaving a single mixed arms regiment to mop them up.[4]
Initially able to stay ahead of these forces, the fate of the surviving battalion of the 22nd was sealed in March when FedSun reinforcements allowed the Chisholm's Rangers to focus their entire attention upon them. Finally cornered on March 21st on the edge of the freezing Ku'ulu Glacier as they attempted to cross and reach the relative safety of the Ko Nami'i Mountains, the 22nd easily weathered attacks from the Chisholm Rangers' few remaining fighters and VTOLs, forcing General Neece to reluctantly order in a battalion of jump capable 'Mechs. The Chisholm 'Mechs quickly caught up with the fleeing 22nd, half of the Regulars destroyed by the FedSun forces, the other half buried by avalanches or falling through the ice into deep water as the ice shelf weakened due to the shocks of the battle.[5] [6]
Officers
| Rank | Name | Command | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commanding Officers of the 22nd Benjamin Regulars | |||
| Tai-sa | Sonjanee Rausali | 3050[7] | |
| Tai-sa | John Ahrmram | 3054[8] | |
| Tai-sa | Stephen Dirks | 3059 - 3063[3] | |
Tactics
The Twenty-second had no signature tactics. Its attached armor battalion, William's Wolverines, was known for its aggressive tenacity.
Composition History
3050
22nd Benjamin Regulars (Regiment/Green/Questionable)[7]
- CO: Tai-sa Sojanee Rausali[7]
- Note: At this point in time the unit was stationed on New Mendham. [7]
3054
22nd Benjamin Regulars (Regiment/Green/Questionable)[8]
- CO: Tai-sa John Ahrmram
3059
22nd Benjamin Regulars (Regiment/Green/Reliable)[3]
- CO/1st Battalion: Tai-sa Stephen Dirks
- XO: Chu-sa Thomas Payne
- 2nd Battalion: Chu-sa Joshua Siga
- 3rd Battalion: Chu-sa Kiato Massanumi
- Note:Less then 60 percent of the Mechs are upgraded. [9]
22nd Benjamin Regulars Aerospace (2 Companies/Green/Questionable)[3]
- Wing Commander: Dai-i Kalvin Hiato
William's Wolverines (Battalion/Veteran/Fanatical)[3]
- Armor Commander: Chu-sa Makakie Williams
New Mendham 10th Militia (2 Battalions/Green/Reliable)[3]
- Troop Commander: Tai-sa David Jibitsu
References
- ↑ War of 3039, p. 138, Unit not included on "Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery Deployment Table"
- ↑ 20-Year Update, p. 42, "Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery (Deployment as of 3050)"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Field Manual: Draconis Combine, p. 47, "Unit Profile"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 FedCom Civil War, pp. 44-46, "War within the Draconis Combine - Marduk"
- ↑ FedCom Civil War, pp. 70-71, "Wave One: Draconis Combine - Marduk"
- ↑ Field Manual: Updates, p. 106
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 20-Year Update, p. 42
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Objective Raids, p.27
- ↑ Field Manual: Draconis Combine ,p. 14