Bolan Defenders

Logo of the Bolan Defenders
Bolan Defenders
Formed c. 2558[1]
Disbanded c. 2812[2]
Affiliation Free Worlds League
Parent Command FWLM

The Bolan Defenders brigade was raised by the Free Worlds League Military during the Age of War to garrison and protect the worlds of the Bolan Thumb.


History

Formation

The Bolan Defenders came into being as a result of the successful Age of War-era conquest by the Free Worlds League of the region of the Lyran Commonwealth that came to be known as the Bolan Thumb. Although the conquest of the various worlds of the Bolan Thumb was completed during the first half of the twenty-sixth century the first regiments of the Bolan Defenders wouldn't reach full strength until after the signing of the Tharkad Accords in 2558, by which point the borders between the Free Worlds League and Lyran Commonwealth had been formalized and the pressure on the Free Worlds League Military (FWLM) units holding onto the various conquered worlds had reduced.[1]

In an act of appeasement towards the populations of the various conquered worlds of the Bolan Thumb the majority of the personnel for the forming Bolan Defenders regiments were recruited from the worlds of the Thumb, although the FWLM included a sprinkling of liaisons from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) put in place to watch for signs of subversion.When the NIA confirmed that the Defenders had been vetted for loyalty to the region the brigade was given free rein to police the region as it saw fit. The brigade wasn't vetted primarily for loyalty to the Captain-General, and this was a distinction echoed somewhat in the nature of the Defenders' place within the FWLM, somewhere between federal and provincial forces.[1]

Star League Era

The Defenders continued to sit somewhere between provincial and federal status throughout the Star League era. With no Free Worlds League province to claim political ownership of the worlds of the Bolan Thumb, the Defenders were officially federal troops, controlled by the Dormuth Council and under the nominal authority of the Marshal of the Tamarind Military District. In contrast with most federal units the Defenders were given a great deal of autonomy and latitude by the Dormuth Council, allowing them to continue to respond rapidly to incidents and incursions within the Bolan Thumb - faster even than the locally-assigned Star League Defense Force garrisons. The Defenders remained very similar to provincial forces in other ways, however; in particular, no regiment of the Defenders ever deployed outside of the Bolan Thumb region or even below the area known as the Bolan Shoulders, the rimward edge of the Thumb region. The Bolan Thumb may not have been a Free Worlds League province but the Defenders treated it as such.[1]

Following the repeal of the Star League Council Edict of 2650 the brigade was enlarged by the FWLM, growing from the original eight regiments to a total of eleven regiments by 2765. The majority of the personnel serving within the brigade were still recruited from the Bolan region at this point, and those who joined the Defenders rarely requested a transfer outside the brigade. It was this dedication that was in large part responsible for the Defenders consistently maintaining one of the highest readiness ratings of any FWLM formation; intimately familiar with the landscape of the region - both political and topographical - the Defenders were effective at mobilizing against threats and responding to or repelling bandit raids consistently faster than their SLDF counterparts.[1]

The Defenders began to suffer from the high tempo of activity within the Thumb during the closing years of the Star League; piracy and border raids ramped up sharply from the mid-2740s onwards, placing an increasing strain on the Defenders as the weariness of constantly being on high alert began to affect the morale and performance of the units. Also dragging the morale of the brigade down were the persistent rumors that despite the corrupt NIA having been replaced by SAFE the League continued to place SAFE agents within each regiment to search for seditious tendencies. The Defenders remained keen to jump across the Lyran border if required, and were determined to live up to the brigade motto "Ad Respiratio Ultimus" - To the last breath - but the Defenders were increasingly on edge.[1]

The Lyran Commonwealth performed a series of military actions in Lyran systems bordering the Free Worlds League in the early 2760s, actions that the Archon claimed were police actions - internal affairs of state for a Great House - but which the Dormuth Council believed were precursors to deliberate military action against the Bolan Thumb, particularly with the governments Al Jafr, Ilzra and Maisons all having been toppled by the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces. The Defenders responded to the LCAF operation by going on high alert and remaining there for no less than nine months.[1]

First Succession War

When the Star League collapsed elements of the Bolan Defenders saw action even before the official outbreak of the First Succession War in 2786. When an LCAF invasion force seized Bolan itself in March 2785, the Sixth and Tenth Bolan Defenders battled the invaders. During their final stand the Defenders resorted to using nuclear weapons across Bolan in a "scorched earth" response to their homeworld's fall to the Commonwealth.[3]

After this the Bolan Thumb saw little more than raiding for the next few years, with the exception of the seizure of Rochers in 2787 where the Eleventh Bolan Defenders were annihilated. In 2790 LCAF Kommandant-General Aric Hasseldorf stepped up the raiding efforts but with a more expansive objective in mind: weakening the Bolan Defenders and picking off the Thumb worlds one by one as individual planets were identified as suitable targets for conquest. The first such world turned out to be Valloire in late 2790, where the Fourth Bolan Defenders perished after a two month running battle with the LCAF.[4] [2]

Throughout the rest of the 2790s the LCAF gradually took more worlds in the Bolan Thumb while the Defenders fought them tooth and nail, occasionally and briefly occupying Lyran worlds as well. By 2800 the Defenders were clinging to a handful of remaining Thumb worlds. Further campaigning reduced the League presence to a single world by 2804: Acrux, now effectively a fortress world held by the collective remnants of the Bolan Defenders.[5]

The Bolan Defenders took part in subsequent FWLM offensives to reclaim the Bolan worlds, but the attacks bogged down against determined Lyran resistance. In 2811 these efforts culminated in a major defeat for the League on Poulsbo, after which the League finally gave up on retaking the region. Upon receiving news of this, the remaining Bolan Defenders on Acrux and Marsalle vowed to sell their lives dearly. The First and Second Bolan Defenders would be the last units of this brigade to fall during the final conquest of Marsalle in 2812.[6] [2]

Officers

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the Bolan Defenders
Colonel Salam Tutt 2785[7]

Tactics

Different per unit.

Units of the Bolan Defenders

Colors and Unit Insignia

The unit logo of the Bolan Defenders was the planetary flag of Bolan over which a Marik eagle was superimposed; below the banner was the brigade motto, Ad Respiratio Ultimus. The Bolan Defenders used a parade scheme of lime green with white highlights on their equipment.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Field Report 2765: FWLM, p. 12, "Bolan Defenders"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 First Succession War, p. 70-71, "The Bolan Thumb Campaign"
  3. ↑ First Succession War, p. 18-20
  4. ↑ First Succession War, p. 68-69
  5. ↑ First Succession War, p. 70-72
  6. ↑ First Succession War, p. 72-73
  7. ↑ First Succession War, p. 18

Bibliography

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