Operation SOLAR FLARE

Operation SOLAR FLARE
Part of The IlClan Era
Start Date From April to June 3152 Result Federated Suns victory Territorial changes Dragon's Tongue
Factions
(Attacker) Federated Suns	(Defender) Draconis Combine
Commanders and leaders
Erik Sandoval-Groell	Yori Kurita
Conditions
Normal

Operation Solar Flare is an early IlClan Era military operation that was undertaken by the Federated Suns against the occupying Draconis Combine forces in April to June 3152.

Operation Brief

The military operation took place within the Dragon's Tongue area of the Federated Suns, occuped by the Combine forces.

Operation History

Units Involved in the Conflict

Federated Suns

• Dawn Guards
• Davion Assault Guards
• Eighth Crucis Lancers
• Fifth Robinson Strikers
• Fifth Avalon Hussars
• Kestrel Grenadiers
• Knights Defensor
• Favored Few (mercenary)
• Illician Lancers (mercenary)
• White Whitches (mercenary)

Draconis Combine

• Black Sword
• Seventh Ghost Regiment
• Eleventh Ghost
• 45th New Samarkand Regulars
• McFadden's Sky Storm (mercenary)
• Ryuken-san
• Ravannion's Redemption (mercenary)

Origin of Conflict

The end of the Dark Age Era was, probably, the worst time of the Federated Suns' history. The occupation of their capital world of New Avalon and the Draconis March, Robinson, and the Capellan March, New Syrtis, threatened the same estate's existace. However, along a decade, all were retaken by the Suns, finishing with New Avalon itself. Operation DAWN was a success, though at a high cost. However, the Kuritans there not only lost a great part of their best troops: their leader, Kanrei Matsuhari Toranaga, was captured and soon killed. And not only was freed New Avalon, also the nearby Coloma. However, that still left the rest of the Dragon's Tongue in Combine hands, so a second campaign, to free those worlds, became necessary, before the Kuritans may send reinforcements. As the First Prince Julian Davion had to rebuild the capital's administrative structures, he announced than will step own to lead military operations from a time, and the continuation will be led by his Prince's Champion, Erik Sandoval-Groel. The liberation of New Avalon had took a heavy toll, but most of the remaining forces of Task Force Dawn left four combat-worthy AFFS commands to led the task, backed by two mercenary regiments, most of which were payed not in money, but in promised landholds. Clan Sea Fox Fox Khanate became the bonding agent of a great deal of them. Erik draw more upon Crucis March and Capellan March upon his command.

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Launch of the Operation

The critical need of troops made Julian Davion to make a deal with Leo XXI, the new pontiff of the New Avalon Catholic Church. Their Knights Defensor had been launching unsanctioned raids against the Tongue, to free Christian colonies, but Leo, reluctantly, agreed to cease them and put the Knights under Eric's command. Sandoval soon began his campaign, testing the defenses of the Tongue worlds. Early operations on Willowick and Leamington succeeded in free easily those planets, but soon the Kuritans began counterattacking. Plymouth became the first major operation, as elements of the Fifth Avalon Hussars met a battalion of the Black Sword. Both units had faced each other on New Avalon, so the fight between them was fierce.

On Luthien, the Kuritan capital, news of Operation Fawn arrived much after New Avalon had fell. Yori Kurita, the Combine's Coordinator, ordered the Voice of the Dragon to remember people than the invasion was the work of Toranaga, so he has the responsability to defend the worlds it conquered, distancing herself from him and his loyalists. Though she increased the recruitment of troops and defensive measures, she refused to send help or reinforcements to the Tongue worlds.

First Wave

The first major hurdle of the operation was on Plymouth. The Black Sword had been created by sho-sa Masashi Miura, combining the Genyosha and Ryuken survivors which had escaped from New Avalon. The 'Hussars were thirsty of revenge, so they launched many reckless charges. The kuritans took advantage of the Davion's rage, refusing to give them a stand-up fight. Eventually, they became corraled into the Caraxes Defile, a box canyon, where the Hussars charged, wave after wave. Though they winned eventually, their losses were so high than Erik reassigned the Fifth to mop-up duties and activated the First Conroe Training Battalion. The campaign followed on Euclid. There, the mercenary Ravannion's Redemption had stationed his 1st battalion, which faced the Davion Assault Guards, led by Erik Sandoval-Groell. The mobile Redemption units slashed the Davion flanks with lightning strikes before fading away, downing the assault 'Mechs one after another. Only using artillery to bombard the area with minefields the mercenaries were corralled, but they refused to surrender, opening a breach through the Davion lines, escaping with most of their unit, leaving the planet on Davion hands.

On Meinrad, the Dawn Guards met the second battalion of Ravannion's Redemption, where, using their more maneuverable elements, drove the mercenaries out of the planet within a week. Learning from his mistakes on Plymouth, Erik sent the Kestrel Grenadiers to dislodge the Black Sword's 3rd battalion from Mansfield. Both groups had mercenaries with them, and when the kuritans ordered the Favored Few to stand their ground until death, the mercenaries turned against their employer. The Sword had to evacuate, and the mercenaries were disarmed by the Grenadiers, awaiting a Sea Fox mediator to evaluate if their conduct was a contract breach.

Despite having heavier losses than expected, the campaign's early stage was a rousing success. The AFFS seized all their targets, except for Gambier, which the Ryuken-san had turned into a quagmire. New Avalon wasn't anymore under threat. The Combine condensed their forces, forming a barricade from Monroe and Mauckport up to Greeley. The Seventh Ghost raided Nagel in force, savaging the cadets of the Point Barrow Academy Training Battalion. In early 3152, the 45th New Samarkand Regulars struck the frontier world of Brundage, driving off the Illician Lancers Twenty-First Rangers, claiming the planet for the Combine. In April, the Eighth Sword of Light seized Sakhara V from the mercenary White Whitches, which in reprisal raided the Ruken-san base on Hoff, seizing several storehouses of supplies before retreating to Dahar IV. Erik, focused on reclaiming the Tongue worlds, ordered the units on the Draconis March to hold, at least for the moment.

Gambier soon became the most frustrating battlefield of the campaign for the Federated Suns: The Ryuken-san had fortified both jump points with a fleet of assault DropShips. General Richard Daimler of the Davion Assault Guards commanded barely a battalion of aerospace assets, which he had to preserve to ground support, so had to limit herself to the ground assault, so had to limit himself to interdict the Combine space forces on the jump points. DMCS mercenaries used Gambier as fallback point, rendezvousing with the Ryuken to receive orders. For their successful dealing with the Assault Guards on Euclid, Tai-sa Deguchi ordered Ravannion's Redemption to remain on Gambier and aid in the defense. Knowing Gambier was an entertainment world, Julian Davion authorized mercenaries which signed on the campaign to hold whatever land they liberated in form of lucrative landholds. The Combine used it to aid in the defense, entrenching themselves in the hotels and amusement parks, which slowed the campaign, as the mercenaries attempted to liberate them the most intact possible. The campaign lasted until Erik Sandoval detached the First Conroe Training Battalion and two more battalions of mercenaries. The reinforcements tipped the balance in the attackers' favor. The Brigade of Shiva drove Ravannion's Redemption from their defending position. Amongst the confusion, the Ryuken and its support elements used the confusion to escape, leaving the planet in Davion hands. However, it was a limited success: the several mercenary units argued about who owned the new landholds, creating a problem for the Federated Suns, as the Sea Foxes refused to be involved. Still worse, the majority of mercenaries stayed on Gambier, which dangerously weakened the AFFS forces.

Second Wave

Wave two of Solar Flare began with the Eight Crucis Lancers dropping onto Sullivan with a BattleMech battalion and two conventional regiments. The Combine garrison, the Eleventh Ghost, choose to preserve their strength and retreated. Meanwhile, the Seventh Ghost continued its personal counter-offensive, destroying the militias on Benedict and Mirage, but after looting both worlds, they abandned them. Both Ghost regiments gathered on Greeley, which became a bulwark for other DCMS units to fall bak to. Erik Sandoval distributed JumpShips amongst the Tongue, facilitating the AFFS movements. Thanks to that, the Eight Crucis intercepted a JumpShip from the Eleventh Ghost on route to Greeley, in the Adrian system. As they attempted to board it, an attempted Combine jump tore the ship apart. Other world offered fierce resistance; Mauckport seemed undefended when the Kestrel Grenadiers landed on it, securing it and leaving the garrisoning to the Fifth Avalon Hussars. While the Grenadiers faced the Second New Samarkand Regulars on Tsamma, the Hussars made the mistake to lower their guard, and a hidden contingent of the Second Regulars overrun their base. Though two companies of the Hussars escaped, they were soon hunted and destroyed. After taking the Hussars' DropShips, the Second captured their JumpShips and returned to Tsamma, where they crushed the Kestrel Grenadiers and departed to Combine space.

Palmyra represented the most symbolic victory of the second wave. McFadden's Sky Storm defended the world, destroying a third of the Assault Guards DropShips before retreating. After landing, they were welcomed by survivors of the Palmyra Disaster, which rose and crushed the DCMS militia, before joining the campaign. Small victories on Mokane, St. Robert and Linneus invigorated the AFFS, which prepared to end the campaign.

The Last Battles

See too Battle of Greely (3152)

In late June 3152, Greeley became the last battlefield in the campaign, a glorious last stand for the samurai loyal to the dead kanrei and abandoned by their Coordinator. The Seventh Ghost quietly disappeared, but the survivors of the Ryuken-san and the Eleventh Ghost rallied to Sho-sa Miura and his last Black Sword soldiers, making a final stand. Taking no chances, Erik brought the fresh Fifth Robinson Strikers to support the assault guards and Dawn Guards. The battle outside the tundra, around Fort Greeley, lasted only two hours, with the Strikers bearing the brunt of the Combine attacks. By sunset, all Black Sword members lay dead, and the few survivors from the Ryuken and Eleventh Ghost requested seppuku to their lords.

Conflict Conclusion

The Battle of Greeley put an end to the campaign: Soon after, Erik negotiated with the Combine, allowing the retreat of all remaining kuritan forces to their space. Exhaustion drove the conflict to a halt. some AFFS officers wanted to launch a third wave, to reclaim lost worlds until Tancredi IV, but Erik denied it. Ironically, the fight had weakened more the Suns -technically, the victor- than the theorically loser -the Combine-, with battalions reduced to mere companies, and full regiments destroyed. While the DCMS worked to rebuild their forces, all fight in the frontier quickly halted.

Notes

Ironically, the greatest ally of the Federated Suns was their -theoric- enemy leader: Coordinator Yori Kurita. Even before Operation Dawn, she realized it was untenable to hold New Avalon, so denied reinforcements with Toranaga, and later to his forces. She didn't even gave orders to Toranaga forces, except to retreat. She used the Davions to decimate Toranaga loyalists, and shifted all the blame of the defeat to him.

Gallery

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  Davion Assault Guards during the last part of the Battle of Greeley

Bibliography

• Dominions Divided