2nd Donegal Guards

History

Formation

Dating back to the Terran Alliance, the Second Donegal Guards were originally the Eleventh Terran Rangers. Following the collapse of the Alliance, the Eleventh Rangers became mercenaries, contracting with the various worlds in the area that would become the Protectorate of Donegal for protection. When Seth Marsden formed his Protectorate, he offered the Eleventh Rangers, who had been serving as some of the finest mercenaries in the region for almost a century, a place in their nascent military. They accepted, becoming the Second Donegal Guard. Having served the Lyran Commonwealth for almost a millennium, the Guard have fought in every major conflict in Commonwealth history save the Clan invasion.

Like the other early regiments of the Guards the Second were named for a regiment from Terran history that shared the largely Irish heritage of the Protectorate; in the case of the Second, this regiment was the Leinster Regiment.

Star League Era

Like the other regiments of the Donegal Guards the Second enjoyed access to the best equipment found outside of the Royal Guards brigade during the Star League era, and was staffed largely with officers looking to advance through their leadership abilities and grasp of strategic skills, rather than through the political favoritism that often held sway in other formations.

In 2765 the Second was positioned two jumps away from the border between the Lyran Commonwealth and the Rim Worlds Republic, in anticipation of any action involving the Republic. Stationed on Roadside, a world that was both a forward base of operations and an important logistics hub, the Second's position allowed it to react to a range of possible crisis fronts along the Republic border without leaving a gap in the overall defenses of the region. For some time the Second had habitually maintained at least one company of forces in an off-world rotation, working with local forces that required assitance and patrolling the local region.

Third Succession War

In 3011 they mobilized to relieve the survivors of Winfield's Brigade on Sevren.

War of 3039/Clan Invasion

The Second Donegal conducted the first offensive operation of the War of 3039 when they were tasked to take the world of Kessel alongside the Fourth Skye Rangers and Eleventh Lyran Regulars, defeating the Second Sword of Light, as well as the Fifth Sun Zhang Cadre and Twelfth Sun Zhang Cadre. During Operation Bulldog, they made history as the first Lyran regiment ever to be welcomed on to Luthien, and the first to land at all in almost three centuries. Only seeing mop-up action in Bulldog, the Second was nonetheless active in the FedCom Civil War, taking part in the brutal fighting on Giausar before General Caesar Steiner called upon them to end the Skye Revolt on Hesperus II. Prior to that, they moved from Gienah to Arcadia, where they intercepted the Kristen's Krushers mercenary force. Pursuant to their orders to "eliminate neutral or hostile forces" they engaged the mercenaries and inflicted heavy damage on them, leaving only two companies of mercenaries alive. They stopped their assault when the 6th Marik Militia landed on world and forced the Donegal Guards to withdraw.

The Jihad

Heavily involved in the Skye-Bolan Offensive against the Free Worlds League, having been lead to believe them responsible for the assassination of their commander in 3068, the Second Donegal pulled back in the face of the Marik counter-offensive and focused on keeping the border secure. Having absorbed the remnants of the Third Donegal Guards following the liberation of Donegal, the Second made it through the Jihad cohesive enough to stage attacks in to the Blakist Hegemony. At the end of the Jihad they found themselves rotated to the Clan front, garrisoning A Place. One of the central pieces of the defense against Clan Jade Falcon, they found themselves faced with troops looking to keep an edge against worthy opponents, and found themselves fighting trials of possession over alcohol and contraband while rebuilding.

In 3099 the Second Donegal Guards defended Grauss from a raid by the Third Jade Falcon Talon Cluster. The Falcons bid away all their air support, and the Second Donegal's aerospace fighters inflicted massive damage on the Falcons. The Falcons were driven off, suffering heavy losses.

The Second Donegal Guards refused to support Duke Vedet Brewster and instead focused on raiding Clan Jade Falcon forces as they came across the Commonwealth's borders. They also refused to respond to the LCAF High Command when Brewster was in charge. Despite being branded a "rogue unit" they defended the Commonwealth with distinction. After Trillian Steiner became Archon, the Second was redeployed to Crevidia.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the 2nd Donegal Guards
Template:LyranRankInline	Caesar Steiner Possibly it's most famous commander, Steiner commanded the unit through the Fourth Succession War. The 20 Year Update names Template:LyranRankInline
	Delmar Voss	3025 commander of the Second, a post he held until he was killed in action on Giausar. Shortly thereafter, Caesar Steiner, now a Template:LyranRankInline, took direct command of the unit once more late in the Civil War.
General	Ceasar Steiner
Template:LyranRankInline	Violet Gates	3085
Template:LyranRankInline	Herman Henriot	3145

Tactics

The Second Donegal Guard possessed a reputation for unorthodox, yet effective, tactics. They preferred high-speed combat over the usual Lyran "mountain of metal" tactics, as well as the heavy use of aerospace assets.

Composition History

2765

• 2^nd Donegal Guards (Veteran/Fanatical)

- At this point the Second was stationed on Roadside.

3025

2^nd Donegal Guards (Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Caesar Steiner

- At this point in time the Second was stationed on Pollux.

3040

2^nd Donegal Guards RCT (Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Caesar Steiner

3054

2^nd Donegal Guards RCT (Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Delmar Voss

3062

2^nd Donegal Guards (1 Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Delmar Voss
Aide: Template:LyranRankInline Ellwood Goulding

2^nd Donegal Guards Aerospace Brigade (2 Wing)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline: Grayson Pakes
- 4^th Donegal Wing
- 112^th Donegal Wing

2^nd Donegal Guards Armor Brigade (3 Regiments/Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Lionel McGruder
Aide: Template:LyranRankInline Evelyn Basil
- 19^th Donegal Light Tank: Template:LyranRankInline Narayan Iyer
- 13^th Donegal Armored Cavalry Regiment: Template:LyranRankInline Denise McGreggor
- 4^th Arcadia Panzer Regiment: Template:LyranRankInline Leonard Ward

2^nd Donegal Guards Infantry Brigade (5 Regiments/Regular/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Nick Lucas
Aide: Template:LyranRankInline Pitr Sarpong
- 9^th Donegal Heavy Infantry Regiment: Template:LyranRankInline Patrick Tregana
- 21^st Donegal Infantry Regiment: Template:LyranRankInline Grimnan Sloane
- 26^th Light Infantry Regiment: Template:LyranRankInline Leslie Conway
- 92^nd Mounted Rifles: Template:LyranRankInline Ashim Roy
- 109^th Jump Infantry Regiment: Template:LyranRankInline May Zoega

3067

2^nd Donegal Guards RCT (Elite/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Caesar Steiner

2^nd Donegal Aerospace (Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Grayson Pakes

2^nd Donegal Armor Brigade (Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Lionel McGruder

2^nd Donegal Infantry Brigade (Regular/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Nick Lucas

3079

2^nd Donegal Guards RCT (1 Regiment/Elite/Fanatical)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Viktor Bedolodia

3085

2^nd Donegal Guards RCT (1 Regiment/Elite/Fanatical)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Violet Gates

2^nd Donegal Aerospace (Green/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Pramoda Tiraboschi

2^nd Donegal Armor Brigade (Regular/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Elio Schuttman

2^nd Donegal Infantry Brigade(Green/Fanatical)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Dariusz Nicolescu

3145

2^nd Donegal Guards RCT (Regular/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Herman Henriot

2^nd Donegal Aerospace (Regular/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Sergio Owen

2^nd Donegal Armor Brigade (Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Jimmie Collier

2^nd Donegal Infantry Brigade (Regular/Reliable)
CO: Template:LyranRankInline Maria Wood

Notes

• The Second carried the unofficial nickname "Caesar’s Legion" while under the command of Caesar Steiner.

• Often, members of the Steiner family not closely in line for the Archonship serve in this unit. The unit's logo, a Steiner fist holding a golden crown, represents this.

• The The Leinster Regiment was a British Army unit formally raised in 1881 with the merger of the 100th (Prince of Wales' Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot and the 109th Regiment of Foot (Bombay Infantry). Strongly associated with Canada, the Leinster Regiment was headquartered in Leinster in Ireland, and was one of six regiments raised in Ireland to be disbanded in 1922 following the creation of the Irish Free State.

Bibliography

• FedCom Civil War (sourcebook)
• Field Manual: 3085
• Field Manual: 3145
• Field Manual: Lyran Alliance
• Field Manual: Updates
• Field Report: Lyran Commonwealth 2765
• House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)
• Historical: War of 3039
• Objective Raids
• Technical Readout: 3025 Revised
• Technical Readout: 3145 Lyran Commonwealth