362nd Assault (Clan Smoke Jaguar)
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Contents
Overview
The 362nd Assault Cluster was a front line military formation of Clan Smoke Jaguar. The Cluster was considered the backbone of Beta Galaxy and was always factored into every action.
History
Operation Revival
The 362nd Assault Cluster bid and fought on the following worlds during Operation Revival, the invasion of the Inner Sphere:
Periphery
Santander's World
Sarah Weaver won the bidding against Star Colonel Kellin MacKensie of Clan Ghost Bear for the right to attack Santander's World with nine 'Mechs and a Star of Elementals from the Shroud Keshik in August 3049. She made her batchall and was surprised to receive a reply from Helmar Valasek stating that a Battalion of Santander's Killers would meet her on the Gillard Plains, 10km from their base. When they landed the warriors found only three DropShips and no signs of the Killers. The Elementals approached the DropShips without incident, but as the Keshik formed up to march past the vessels towards the Killer's base the concealed explosives within the DropShips was detonated destroying more than half the Keshik's 'Mechs. Helmar Valasek then led a Company of the Killers in an assault that finished off the crippled Keshik, apologizing for being late as he was eating dinner. Weaver was incensed and led the 362nd Assault Cluster to crush the Killers in brutal fighting that lasted a week.[1]
Wave One
Turtle Bay
The 362nd Assault Cluster was one of two Clusters from Beta Galaxy to attack Turtle Bay in March 3050.[2] The Jaguar Clusters entered the system via a pirate point and issued a batchall that the commander of the defending Fourteenth Legion of Vega responded to, stating he would defend the planet with everything he had except one battalion. This battalion was commanded by Hohiro Kurita the heir to the Combine. Two Supernova trinaries and an aerospace trinary landed at meadows to the north of the city of Edo. The Jaguar fighters strafed the armor columns of the Fourteenth Legion destroying almost all of it in a single attack. Tai-sa Niro order his own fighters to counter, but these were soon shot from the sky. In desperation the Legions infantry attacked but were soon engaged by Elementals. After two hours of fighting the defenders broke and retreated to the city of Edo after a flank attack by elite Elemental from the Stealth Trinary, Strike Star.[3] The Legion of Vega ran back into the city. Hohiro Kurita attempted to direct them to the spaceport and the safety of their DropShips. His own battalion moved to cover the rout and set booby-traps in the narrow streets. This lack of honor incensed the Jaguar warriors and they rampaged through the city hunting down the DCMS forces until they Legion was forced to surrender.[4]
Wave Four
Courchevel
In September 3050 the First and Second Assault Supernovas along with Trinary Command were bid to take Courchevel. The defending Tenth Alshain Regulars miscalculated the approach time of the Jaguar DropShips allowing the 362nd Assault Cluster to overrun their hardened positions and catch the bulk of the Combine unit in the open of the Harcourt Plains. The Tenth were slaughtered in a brutal melee and forced to retreat. They chosen the apparent safety of the Dragon's Rift and its rocky cover, unknown to the Tenth Star Colonel Emilie Wimmer had placed her Command Trinary in the Rift and the retreating Tenth ran straight into it and surrendered.[5]
Wave Five
Luthien
Actual battle records of the 362nd Assault Cluster are sparse for the fighting on Luthien in January 3052. However, it is reported that they took heavy casualties.
Tukayyid
After their initial landing their advance quickly became bogged down, the swamps and march hampered their speed and they came under repeated ambushes heavy artillery barrage. Expecting a quick stand up fight they were equipped mainly with ballistic weapons, which after the prolonged engagement ran low on munitions forcing the cluster to withdraw early.[6]
Post Tukayyid
The cluster took up station on Kiamba at the forefront of the Clan forces.[7]
Operation Bulldog
Operation Bird Dog
Kiamba
As part of the clandestine campaign Operation Bird Dog the Galedon Pride, a company sized unit from the Fifth Galedon Regulars, dropped onto Kiamba in May 3059. The 362nd Assault Cluster hunted the Galedon Pride down and destroyed them completely before reinforcements could arrive. [8]
Wave One
Kiamba
When Operation Bulldog started the Cluster was caught off-guard and the commander reacted too late to deploy her AeroSpace Fighters allowing the Inner Sphere taskforce to land without incident in June 3059. This was part of the first wave and consisted of the DCMS's elite First Genyosha, the Com Guard's Eleventh Division, the Davion AFFC's First Kestrel Grenadiers and the Free Rasalhague Republic's Third Drakøns. Facing such overwhelming odds, the 362nd Assault Cluster was easily destroyed, with the coalition forces suffering only minimal losses.[9]
The Third Drakøns and the First Kestrel Grenadiers moved to holding positions on Collins Ridge, while the First Genyosha and the Eleventh Division pushed the 362nd Assault Cluster into Hecate's Swamp. Not wishing to get trapped there Star Colonel Wimmer ordered her Cluster to move our as quickly as they could. This move was undertaken in haste and the Cluster lost its formation cohesion. This proved crucial as they attacked the positions on Collins Ridge; unable to break through they were caught in the open by the Genyosha, surrounded and destroyed.[10]
Officers
| Rank | Name | Command | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commanding Officers of the 362nd Assault | |||
| Star Colonel | Emilie Wimmer | 3049 - 3059[5] [11] | |
Other Officers
- Star Captain Silva DesCastris led Trinary Command between 30?? and 3059.[5]
- Star Captain Dwayne Myers led Trinary Battle between 30?? and 3059.[5]
- Star Captain Lois Furey led First Trinary Assault between 30?? and 3059.[5]
- Star Captain Stephan Osis led Second Trinary Assault between 30?? and 3059.[5]
- Star Captain Gran Osis led Binary Elemental between 30?? and 3059.[5]
- Star Captain Carlo led Fighter Star between 30?? and 3059.[5]
- Star Commander Davis Grey led Strike Star Jungle, Stealth Trinary between 30?? and 305?.[12]
Tactics
The cluster prefers broad frontal assaults where speed and shock allows them to quickly overtake and crush their opponents.
The loss of such a large number of Elementals from it roster during Operation Revival would require a shift in tactics away from a combined arms approach.
Composition History
3049-3052
(partial)
- Strike Star Jungle (25 Elementals - elite)
3057-3059
- Trinary Command - (15 OmniMechs)
- Trinary Battle - (15 OmniMechs)
- First Trinary Assault (15 OmniMechs)
- Second Trinary Assault - (15 OmniMechs)
- Binary Elemental - (50 Elementals)
- Fighter Star - (10 OmniFighters)
Rules
A minimum of half the deployed 'Mechs must be jump capable (round down).
After 3050 the Cluster does not have to employ Zellbrigen or Batchall when facing Inner Sphere opponents. [14]
Notes
- An Aerospace Trinary is reported on Turtle Bay but this may have belonged to the 3rd Attack Cluster. [4]
Gallery
362nd Assault Cluster TO&E 3058
References
- ↑ Invading Clans, p. 53-4
- ↑ Lethal Heritage, p. 122
- ↑ Clan Troops, p. 22-3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Invading Clans, p. 55
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Invading Clans, p. 67
- ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 55-6
- ↑ Objective Raids, p. 34
- ↑ The Dragon Roars, p. 8-9
- ↑ The Dragon Roars, p. 10-11, 15
- ↑ Grave Covenant, p. 257-8
- ↑ ''Era Report: 3052, p. 129
- ↑ Clan Troops, p. 23
- ↑ Invading Clans, p. 70
- ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 150