Operation WINTER GARDEN
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Operation WINTER GARDEN was the last House Davion military offensive along the Davion-Liao front during the Second Succession War, running from 2860 to 2862.[1]
Planetary Chart
Below is a chart of the planets invaded as part of Opertion WINTER GARDEN in their respective years[1]:
| 2860 | 2861 | 2862 |
|---|---|---|
| Gallitzin | St. Ives | Undra |
| Andro | Acala | Lacadon |
| Gahral | Perkasie | |
| Vintru | Daniels | |
| Lee | Alcyone | |
| Aosia | Oli | |
| Bell | Khi | |
| Cammal | Knutdor | |
| Bethel | ||
| Hurgh |
Overview
As the Second Succession War began to slow after nearly two decades of brutal conflict as all the exhausted Great House militaries verged total collapse, Coordinator Miyogi Kurita agreed with his generals that his mammoth Marathon Offensive against both the Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Suns be ended. Thus the Davion-Kurita front began to stagnate as large scale invasions or liberations were replaced by small scale raids and counter-raids, somewhat of a preview of the constant but reduced level of conflict that would typify the Third Succession War that would break out in less than a decade. But as the tempo on the Kurita front slowed, seeking to refocus his people and military, First Prince Michael Davion ordered that the pace of operations against the Capellan Confederation be intensified.[1] [2] [3]
Prime Marshal Peter Davion ordered preparations for invasions against a swathe of Capellan worlds, many of these had be raided earlier in the Second Succession War by the AFFS, but WINTER GARDEN's goal was to capture and hold these systems. While the Capellan front had remained secondary compared to the Combine front, the AFFS had made steady and incredible gains at the Confederation's expense ever since the capture of Chesterton, with many among the Davion public convinced the AFFS could easily roll over the weak and cowardly Capellan troops. In truth many of these losses were due to inadequate military industry and inefficient supply trains, two key points that then-Chancellor Laurelli Liao addressed as part of her Operation JADE CASTLE defensive plan. Another aspect of JADE CASTLE was reconstruction of the CCAF into smaller more responsive units that, now the Confederation had shrunk to what some observers called "its optimum defensive size", could rapidly respond to and reinforce worlds under attack on either the Free Worlds League or Federated Suns fronts. [1] [2] [3]
Rather than easy pickings, the troops of WINTER GARDEN found the Capellan forces held their ground far more resolutely than expected, with each Davion success being far more costly in time, men and material than even the worst estimates of AFFS High Command. Concerned with Capellan's stiffening resistance, Peter Davion made the fatefully decision to personally take over leadership of the invasion of the Capellan world of Cammal in 2860. According to reports, the Cammal defenders were putting up a fierce resistance to save this resource rich planet and had managed to blunt the Davion drive. The Prime Marshal would quickly learn how spirited when his arriving DropShip was forced to crash-land after an attack by Capellan Thrushes, seriously wounding him. Forced to rely upon his escape-and-evade training from decade earlier, Peter Davion would narrowly avoid capture as the ten Davion regiments doggedly held on, cutoff from outside help. [1] [2] [3]
Deprived of their commander, the rest of the WINTER GARDEN assaults began to falter in the face of a resurgent CCAF, with the offensives against Lee, Bell and Aosia abandoned and other assaults delayed. Worse was to come when Capellan forces successfully recaptured Daniels and Alcyone in mid-October 2860, a tactical counter-offensive that threatened the rimward edge of of Operation WINTER GARDEN, the AFFS High Command forced to redeploy troops committed to assault operations of other worlds to liberate them both, eventually succeeding by mid-2861.[1]
Unfortunately the Confederation's luck now turned against them, suffering an even more disastrous crisis of leadership when on 19 October 2860 less than a day of receiving word of the CCAF's successful counterattacks, Chancellor Laurelli Liao suffered a stroke, passing away on 31 October. Succeeded by her weak and ineffectual brother Dainmar, the new Chancellor made one of the greatest military blunders of the Succession Wars, deeming the heavy fighting portended on Cammal as too costly and risky, he ordered the CCAF to retreat, unknowingly saving both Peter Davion and Operation WINTER GARDEN.[1] [2]
Relieved that his favorite uncle had survived, the First Prince decided to take advantage of Dainmar's seeming weakness and stepped in to see WINTER GARDEN concluded, one of the few times that Michael directly oversaw a military operation during his reign. Led by Michael's eldest daughter Colonel Melissa Davion, a short series of feints and spoiling attacks including a deep raid against Sian itself by the Seventh Crucis Lancers culminated in the brash Colonel Davion leading the Davion Assault Guards in a daring raid against St. Ives, capital of the St. Ives Commonality and present home of Chancellor Dainmar Liao himself. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Traveling aboard the FFS Resolve via a series of uninhabited systems, the Davion Assault Guards took the Capellan defenders by complete surprise, landing without a single loss. Splitting her force in two, one half struck at the St. Ives' massed defenders while the remainder surged into the planet's capital of Tian-ten and quickly surrounded the Chancellor's palace. While not able to successfully overwhelm the fanatical defenders, Colonel Davion's troops gave the Chancellor such fearsome display that he retreated to a bunker deep below his palace, reportedly cowering beneath his bed in his sleeping attire. Retreating with only two 'Mechs lost, though their MechWarriors were recovered, Colonel Davion's efforts had so shattered the resolve of the Chancellor that he immediately sued for peace.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Surprised at the Chancellor's offer and curious to see just how far he could push the weak-willed Dainmar, First Prince Michael replied to his offer by insisting a key requirement to end the Davion offensive was official recognition of not just the sixteen worlds taken as part of WINTER GARDEN, but of Federated Suns authority over all the worlds it had captured from the Confederation during the First and Second Succession Wars. In January 2862 the spineless Chancellor Dainmar Liao readily agreed to even this insulting requirement, much to the dismay of the Confederation's nobility and military elite, with the Federated Suns and Capellan Confederation formally bring the Second Succession War to a close. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Though Dainmar's capitulation was a political coup for House Davion, many of the worlds taken in Operation WINTER GARDEN would prove to be of marginal value at best, and following a combination of economic collapse and forced migration the Federated Suns officially abandoned six of them - Hurgh, Oli, Khi, Knutdor, Undra and Lacadon - within eighteen months of WINTER GARDEN's conclusion. Though at first the AFFS monitored these worlds to ensure they remained unused, with Khi and Lacadon serving as AFFS staging posts, by the early years of the Third Succession War most of these worlds fell off the maps, lost and forgotten. [1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Second Succession War, pp. 76-77 "The Last Gasps (2860-2863) - Operation WINTER GARDEN"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 House Davion (The Federated Suns), pp. 73-75 "History - Second Succession War - Capellan Juggernaut"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Handbook: House Davion, p. 59 "History of the Federated Suns - Second Succession War - Miyogi's Marathon and Dainmar's Disgrace
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 House Liao (The Capellan Confederation), p. 48 "History - Second Succession War"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Handbook: House Liao, p. 32 "History of the Nation - Dawn of the Succession Wars - Dainmar Laio"