Difference between revisions of "Battle of Kathil (3062)"
Sarna News
| Line 53: | Line 53: | ||
===Loyalist Miscalculations=== | ===Loyalist Miscalculations=== | ||
| − | Hoping to force the CMM to capitulate, Weintraub ordered the Eighth FedCom to begin raids targeting the families of the unit's officers. These operations were wildly unsuccessful, and in the aftermath of one particularly abysmal failure, the CMM counterattacked the Eighth's position and was able to destroy the majority of the Loyalists' munitions stockpile. By December, the Eighth FedCom was desperate for supplies and was forced to shift priorities to raiding for supplies instead of intimidation. In the month's first week, the Eighth was able to drive elements of the Second NAIS Training Cadre out of a stockpile in Woodland, capturing the area for themselves. Hoping to follow up this initial success with additional momentum, Weintraub ordered the Eighth FedCom to continue their advance on 7 December.<ref name=FCCWp22/> | + | Hoping to force the CMM to capitulate, Weintraub ordered the Eighth FedCom to begin raids targeting the families of the unit's officers. These operations were wildly unsuccessful, and in the aftermath of one particularly abysmal failure, the CMM counterattacked the Eighth's position and was able to destroy the majority of the Loyalists' munitions stockpile. By December, the Eighth FedCom was desperate for supplies and was forced to shift priorities to raiding for supplies instead of intimidation. In the month's first week, the Eighth was able to drive elements of the Second NAIS Training Cadre out of a stockpile in Woodland, capturing the area for themselves. Hoping to follow up this initial success with additional momentum, Weintraub ordered the Eighth FedCom to continue their advance on 7 December, 3062.<ref name=FCCWp22/> |
| − | This attack was disastrous. The CMM was able to repulse the Eighth's advance and push them back into the Yare Industries power facility and quickly secure the power transmission dishes before Weintraub could turn them on the DropShips of the approaching First Capellan Dragoons. In the resulting carnage, the Eighth FedCom lost a battalion of 'Mechs, two support battalions, and Leftenant General Fallon, who was killed piloting her ''[[Hauptmann]]'' 'Mech. Major General Sampreis, seeing that the Loyalists were reeling, pushed the advantage and was able to drive his forces into District City and liberate Duke VanLees from his captivity. Meanwhile, as the ''FCS Robert Davion'' attempted to target the Dragoons' incoming transports, it was struck by a DropShip it had disabled. The WarShip was knocked into the upper atmosphere and disintegrated.<ref name=FCCWp22/> | + | This attack was disastrous. The CMM was able to repulse the Eighth's advance and push them back into the Yare Industries power facility and quickly secure the power transmission dishes before Weintraub could turn them on the DropShips of the approaching First Capellan Dragoons, who had arrived in system and were now making planetfall. In the resulting carnage, the Eighth FedCom lost a battalion of 'Mechs, two support battalions, and Leftenant General Fallon, who was killed piloting her ''[[Hauptmann]]'' 'Mech. Major General Sampreis, seeing that the Loyalists were reeling, pushed the advantage and was able to drive his forces into District City and liberate Duke VanLees from his captivity. Meanwhile, as the ''FCS Robert Davion'' attempted to target the Dragoons' incoming transports, it was struck by a DropShip it had disabled. The WarShip was knocked into the upper atmosphere and disintegrated.<ref name=FCCWp22/> |
Weintraub desperately ordered all of his remaining forces to fall back and concentrate on holding their position in District City, particularly the GM factory complex. Blaming the disaster at the Yare facility on Fallon's independence, he severely curtailed all of his subordinates' ability to issue orders without prior approval and settled in to wait. Sampreis, on the other hand, made the wise decision to fold the Second NAIS Training Cadre into his own Kathil CMM. This effectively doubled his 'Mech availability and gave him much more leeway to maneuver and probe Weintraub's defensive lines. Only minor skirmishes took place until Christmas Eve, when Sampreis, reinforced now by the First Capellan Dragoons, launched a coordinated assault on the Eighth FedCom positions.<ref name=FCCWp22/> | Weintraub desperately ordered all of his remaining forces to fall back and concentrate on holding their position in District City, particularly the GM factory complex. Blaming the disaster at the Yare facility on Fallon's independence, he severely curtailed all of his subordinates' ability to issue orders without prior approval and settled in to wait. Sampreis, on the other hand, made the wise decision to fold the Second NAIS Training Cadre into his own Kathil CMM. This effectively doubled his 'Mech availability and gave him much more leeway to maneuver and probe Weintraub's defensive lines. Only minor skirmishes took place until Christmas Eve, when Sampreis, reinforced now by the First Capellan Dragoons, launched a coordinated assault on the Eighth FedCom positions.<ref name=FCCWp22/> | ||
Revision as of 15:11, 8 February 2022
| Battle of Kathil | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of FedCom Civil War | |||||||
|
|||||||
| Factions | |||||||
| (Attacker) Loyalists |
(Defender) Allies |
||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Hauptmann General Mitchell Weintraub | Major General Donald Sampreis | ||||||
| Forces involved | |||||||
| Eighth FedCom RCT
Eighth Donegal Guards |
Kathil CMM
|
||||||
| Environment | |||||||
| Urban | |||||||
| Conditions | |||||||
| Normal | |||||||
Contents
Overview
Considered by many to be the first true battle of the FedCom Civil War, the Battle of Kathil was the spark that ignited many other flashpoints across the Federated Commonwealth's territory as news of it spread like wildfire. Though initially a conflict between an untested unit of the Federated Commonwealth Corps and a Capellan March Militia unit supported by an NAIS Training Cadre, the battle soon grew to encompass such renowned units as the Donegal Guards, Syrtis Fusiliers, and Davion Brigade of Guards. As with many other battles during the Civil War that followed, it was long, bloody, and costly for both factions.
Prelude
The roots of the Battle of Kathil begin in a few different places, chiefly and most often named being the growing resentment between the "Loyalist" supporters of Katherine Steiner-Davion and her Lyran Alliance and the supporters of Victor Steiner-Davion, whom the so-called "Allies" viewed to be the legitimate ruler of the Federated Commonwealth. But often overlooked in these analyses is the role that Field Marshal Duke George Hasek played in sparking the conflict. True to his family's history, Duke Hasek saw the conflict as an opportunity for the Capellan March to gain more independence from New Avalon. He had already commissioned the design of the Federated Suns' first home-produced BattleMech, the Templar, on Talon, and knew that the industrial juggernaut of Kathil was a lynchpin in maintaining the March's security. Hasek decided to consolidate his powerbase, and ordered the reformation of the Kathil Capellan March Militia, a unit that had been off the AFFC rosters since the end of the Fourth Succession War.[1]
When the unit was finally reformed in October of 3062, he deemed the Eighth FedCom RCT, which had been maintaining the planet's defenses for some time, unnecessary and ordered them off the world. He believed that by relocating the unit, which he knew to be very pro-Katherine, to Halloran V, he could sidestep any future conflict with either side of the brewing Civil War. Unfortunately, Hauptmann General Mitchell Weintraub flat-out refused the order, stating that he and his unit had been assigned to the Kathil garrison by the Archon-Princess herself and that the Duke's order could hardly countermand hers. Additionally, Weintraub noted that the Kathil CMM was brand new, and barely had the qualifications necessary for the world's defense. Hasek, sensing trouble, ordered the First Capellan Dragoons to Kathil. He knew that this unit was fiercely loyal to himself and believed that they might be able to help "convince" the Eighth FedCom to leave Kathil without a fight. This was not to be the case.[1]
Battle
Opening Aggression
Upon hearing word that the Dragoons were on their way to Kathil, General Weintraub ordered that the capital city of Kathil, District City, be placed under immediate martial law. The Eighth FedCom RCT had been recently cut off from standard resupplies by Duke of Kathil Peter VanLees, so Weintraub ordered his palace surrounded in order to remind the Duke of who truly held the power on the planet. Now essentially under house arrest, Duke VanLees was forced to restart shipments to the Loyalist unit.[1]
Hearing of this, and with the approval and authorization of Duke Hasek and the Kathil Theater Commander, Field Marshal Suzanne Zellner, Major General Donald Sampreis ordered the men of his Kathil CMM to arrest General Weintraub and all of the Eighth FedCom's senior staff officers. Unfortunately for him, the Eighth FedCom discovered the undercover detachment that he had sent to apprehend their leaders and, in a moment of great historical gravity, opened fire on them. Weintraub, figuring he could use this skirmish as a pretext to quash the threat of the Kathil CMM, ordered an immediate strike on the CMM's base in Radcliffe. The Kathil CMM was ready and waiting, however, and repulsed the Loyalist attack in a series of bloody, inconclusive firefights.[1]
Duke Hasek, hoping to avoid further conflict and being dragged into choosing a side, pleaded with Weintraub to withdraw his unit to Lee while he opened an investigation on the incident. Weintraub ignored him, and targeted several key sites across Kathil that he felt would help secure his control of the planet: the Yare Industries microwave power uplink center, the General Motors factory complex in District City, and the orbiting McKenna Shipyards. His executive officer, Leftenant General Karen Fallon, led the atttack on the power uplink center personally and was easily able to smash the Second NAIS Training Cadre garrisoned there, who had not yet declared for either side. Fallon set up a command post at that site and began constructing defenses for the inevitable counterattack. In orbit, the Loyalist Admiral Jonathan Kerr had successfully commandeered an Avalon-class battlecruiser, FCS Robert Davion, from the McKenna Yards and moved to interdict traffic to Kathil's surface.[1]
Loyalist Miscalculations
Hoping to force the CMM to capitulate, Weintraub ordered the Eighth FedCom to begin raids targeting the families of the unit's officers. These operations were wildly unsuccessful, and in the aftermath of one particularly abysmal failure, the CMM counterattacked the Eighth's position and was able to destroy the majority of the Loyalists' munitions stockpile. By December, the Eighth FedCom was desperate for supplies and was forced to shift priorities to raiding for supplies instead of intimidation. In the month's first week, the Eighth was able to drive elements of the Second NAIS Training Cadre out of a stockpile in Woodland, capturing the area for themselves. Hoping to follow up this initial success with additional momentum, Weintraub ordered the Eighth FedCom to continue their advance on 7 December, 3062.[1]
This attack was disastrous. The CMM was able to repulse the Eighth's advance and push them back into the Yare Industries power facility and quickly secure the power transmission dishes before Weintraub could turn them on the DropShips of the approaching First Capellan Dragoons, who had arrived in system and were now making planetfall. In the resulting carnage, the Eighth FedCom lost a battalion of 'Mechs, two support battalions, and Leftenant General Fallon, who was killed piloting her Hauptmann 'Mech. Major General Sampreis, seeing that the Loyalists were reeling, pushed the advantage and was able to drive his forces into District City and liberate Duke VanLees from his captivity. Meanwhile, as the FCS Robert Davion attempted to target the Dragoons' incoming transports, it was struck by a DropShip it had disabled. The WarShip was knocked into the upper atmosphere and disintegrated.[1]
Weintraub desperately ordered all of his remaining forces to fall back and concentrate on holding their position in District City, particularly the GM factory complex. Blaming the disaster at the Yare facility on Fallon's independence, he severely curtailed all of his subordinates' ability to issue orders without prior approval and settled in to wait. Sampreis, on the other hand, made the wise decision to fold the Second NAIS Training Cadre into his own Kathil CMM. This effectively doubled his 'Mech availability and gave him much more leeway to maneuver and probe Weintraub's defensive lines. Only minor skirmishes took place until Christmas Eve, when Sampreis, reinforced now by the First Capellan Dragoons, launched a coordinated assault on the Eighth FedCom positions.[1]