Freeman's Fanatics
Sarna News
Template:InfoBoxMercUnit Freeman's Fanatics were a mercenary unit operating during the early Succession Wars era.[1] [2]
Contents
Overview
The Freeman's Fanatics were an ad-hoc battalion of former Rim Worlds Republic troops that chose to enter mercenary service with the Lyran Commonwealth during the middle decades of the First Succession War.[3]
In 2815 still under contract to the House Steiner, the Fanatics undertook a highly unusual mission - raiding the water-rich Capellan Confederation world of Westphalia. The defending First Chesterton Voltigeurs destroyed four of the Fanatics' Ostsols with their more mobile Wasps over a unique "island hopping" campaign that lasted for several weeks before the Lyran mercenaries withdrew.[4] [5]
The history behind this engagement, the only recorded instance of House Liao forces fighting House Steiner forces prior to the War of 3039,[4] remains a mystery, with any Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces records that may have explained the reasoning behind the raid lost during the First Succession War. With the Lyrans and Capellans sharing no common border at the time, Westphalia had barely any strategic value and certainly no military industry or technological centers to draw such attention, the only reason it even merited a Capellan Confederation Armed Forces garrison was due to its proximity to both the Davion border and the Chesterton region.[5]
While lacking any evidence, Commonwealth historians have long debated why their realm would send the Freeman's Fanatics on a mission so far from Lyran interests, by 3150 the most common theories being that the Fanatics were actually retrieving a high-value Loki agent who had been sent to gather data in the region and somehow became trapped there, or that the raid was the aftermath of failed talks between Houses Liao and Steiner with an eye towards an alliance against the Free Worlds League.[5]
By the formal end of First Succession War in 2821, the Freeman's Fanatics were still under Lyran employ and were stationed on Planting, reduced to 61% of their full combat strength.[1] Rapidly expanding in the lull between the First and Second Succession War, by 2830 the Fanatics had expanded into a regiment sized formation, still stationed on Planting. By the end of Second Succession War just over thirty years later though, Freeman's Fanatics had suffered heavy losses, battered down to less than a quarter of their regimental strength. Licking their wounds, as of 2864 the Fanatics were stationed on Zosma.[2]
Officers
| Rank | Name | Command | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commanding Officers of Freeman's Fanatics | |||
Tactics
Unknown.
Composition History
2786 - 2821
Freeman's Fanatics (Battalion/Regular/Reliable)[6]
- Note: In 2821 the light-weight command was reduced to 60 percent of its strength and was deployed on Planting. [6]
2830
Freeman's Fanatics (Regiment/Regular/Reliable) [7]
- Note: At this point in time the light-weight unit was stationed on Planting with an operational readiness of 93 percent. [7]
2864
Freeman's Fanatics (Regiment/Regular/Reliable) [7]
- Note: At this point in time the light-weight unit was stationed on Zosma with an operational readiness of 25 percent. [7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 First Succession War, p. 140 "First Succession War Deployment Table - Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces (LCAF)"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Second Succession War, p. 100 "Second Succession War Deployment Table - Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces - Mercenary Combat Commands (LCAF)"
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedFSW-36 - ↑ 4.0 4.1 House Liao (The Capellan Confederation), p. 83
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 First Succession War, pp. 108-109 "Oddities of the Succession War - Why, Westphalia?"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 ’’ First Succession War’’, p. 140
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 ’’ Second Succession War’’, p. 100