Stanzach

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Note: X and Y are coordinates (light years on XY plane) relative to Terra at (0, 0)

Stanzach
← 3135
3151
Stanzach 3151.svg
Stanzach nearby systems
(Map Legend)
System Information
X:Y Coordinates14.464 : 315.833[e]

Political Affiliation

Planetary History

Star League Era

By 2765 the planet Stanzach had been suffering a local insurrection and associated terrorism for several years, despite the efforts of the Eighth Arcturan Guards to end the conflict. The insurrection intensified when a series of strikes by employees and lock-outs by employers brought the population into an active class war, simultaneously sending the planetary economy spiralling downhill.[47]

In 2784 the Lyran Commonwealth reclaimed the military outposts and administrative centers on Stanzach that had been operated by the Star League. Stanzach wasn't the only world where this happened; using a similar process on all three worlds, the Lyrans also reclaimed similar facilities on both Gram and Lovinac. In all three cases the non-Lyran personnel working within these facilities were offered jobs within the local government bureaucracy, a reflection of Archon Jennifer Steiner actively attempting to retaining the expertise possessed by those personnel left within the dwindling, isolated Terran Hegemony agencies that still existed through treating them with respect.[9]

First Succession War

Stanzach was conquered by the Draconis Combine between 2786 and 2790, one of seven worlds to be captured in attacks that had frequently begun as raids, as the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces began to crack under the pressure of continuing efforts to annex the Bolan Thumb while also attempting to maintain a defensive posture against both the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery and the Free Worlds League Military.[11]

Fourth Succession War

Stanzach was attacked as part of the wave of attacks launched during Operation GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG in October 3028 to exploit the successes of the first ave of attacks,[48] with the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces deploying the Twelfth Donegal Guards to capture the planet.[48] The Twelfth were still battling for control of the planet when the DCMS counterattacked in December, dropping the Ninth Pesht Regulars and the Thirteenth Rasalhague Regulars on the planet and nearly forcing the Twelfth to retreat offworld; only the arrival of the Eighth Donegal Guards to reinforce the Twelfth allowed the battle for Stanzach to continue.[49] The battle for control of Stanzach bogged down, and the planet was still contested when the lull between operations began in early 3029.[50]

When the LCAF went on the offensive again in 3029 Stanzach became the site of the most spectacular events to be seen in either the Tamar or Trellshire sections of the front. With the deployment of the Ninth Pesht Regulars and Thirteenth Rasalhague Regulars the LCAF task force found itself fighting both BattleMech regiments and twenty regiments of conventional forces. The Lyran task force mustered thirty conventional regiments in total, plus the Eighth and Twelfth Donegal Guards augmented by the Tyr regiment, an assault regiment formed in secret using personnel recruited from the Tyr resistance movement or those with strong links to the ancient Principality of Rasalhague. The DCMS forces had used the lull in offensive operations to fortify positions along the Lule river with their forces located to the south and east of the river, but the DCMS front still stretched for some 200 kilometers.[22]

The Tyr regiment launched an offensive across the Lule on the 1st of June 3029, striking across the river at a point known as Cosognome Crossing, directly into a defending force consisting of two 'Mech companies from the Ninth, an infantry regiment and a battalion of armor. The Ninth fought bravely, but their poor equipment let them down, with the lead company of the Tyr pushing the Ninth's forces back while Lyran combat engineers frantically constructed a pontoon bridge behind them. Reinforcements for the DCMS forces were slow to move in response, with a battalion of the Pesht regulars leading a relief force to the bridgehead only to discover that the entire Tyr regiment had crossed along with a battalion of armor and two battalions of infantry, leaving the Ninth with little choice but to pull back.[22]

With the Tyr establishing it's position on the other side of the Lule the Eighth and Twelfth Donegal Guards wenton the offensive, attempting to seize other crossings; the Eighth attempted to capture the Fosol Bridge, but were rebufed by the Thirteenth Rasalhague Regulars. The Tewlfth was more successful, storming through the DCMS armor and infantry forces defending the Cadeska Bridge, losing half a company of 'Mechs but seizing the crossing. The senior DCMS officers on Stanzach met on the 30th of July to evaluate their position and decided that they should continue fighting, as the loss of their defensive positions on the Lule represented the loss of their strongest position, but still left the Lyran forces a long way from being able to capture the capital city, Kirund, or the valuable diamond mines located around Mount Adamant. Their determination to resist was thwarted by the DCMS High Command; even as the DCMS forces were fortifying new positions on the 31st of July Brigadier General Sven Johannsen, the second in command of the Rasalhague Military District, ordered both 'Mech regiments to withdraw. After requesting confirmation of the order the Ninth and Thirteenth abandoned Stanzach on the 9th of August; wary of a trap, the Lyran task force pressed forward cautiously, capturing Kirund on the 12th of August and the remainder of the planet on the 13th.[22]

General Nondi Steiner ordered the Lyran forces on Stanzach to consolidate their positions and await further orders, but by the 20th of August tensions within the Tyr regiment had reached a boiling point; eager to liberate the entire of the Rasalhague worlds the Tyr rebelled and lifted off for Radstadt, the Prefecture capital, in pursuit of the Ninth and Thirteenth.[22]

Clan Invasion

In October 3050 Stanzach, an important economic center of the Free Rasalhague Republic, was conquered by Clan Wolf as one of the final legs of Operation Revival's Fourth Wave. Major battles took place at Cosognome, Lule Valley, Mount Adament and Kirund between the 11th Battle Cluster and the 1st Stanzach Armored Division. While the Wolf invaders should have had a difficult time subduing the planet, the local populace's fear of the Clans had reawakened old racial prejudices between those of Scandinavian and Asian descent. While the tanks of the 1st Division were able to give good showings, the occasional "miscommunication" or outright mutiny between the two factions ultimately doomed their efforts.[51]

Jihad

On the 2nd of January 3079 one of the leaders of the Motstånd terrorist group, Albert Gronvold-Minami, was killed by Clan Ghost Bear paramilitary police on Stanzach following a terrorist bombing on Alshain on the 31st of December 3078 that killed hundreds of Ghost Bear and Rasalhagian civilians as well as several Unity Council members and former First Prince Christian Månsdottir.[38][52]

The press coverage of the death of Gonvold-Minami reported that he and a number of other Motstånd members had holed up in a flat in the Hayden Arms estate block of Janetown, and that when the surrounding area had been cordonned off by the Ghost Bear paramilitary police the terrorists decided to try and fight their way out rather than surrender. The resulting combat devastated the block itself and damaged two other nearby blocks, with a total of 14 terrorists and 6 paramilitary police killed. Gronvold-Minami was evidently apprehended while trying to escape in a car, and he and eight other terrorists who had attempted to surrender were summarily executed at the scene by the police. It was noted that while the summary execution of the terrorists attracted some criticism from legal activists, polls conducted across the Ghost Bear Dominion supported the action taken, something possibly influenced by Motstånd using explosives identified as being of Word of Blake origin.[38]

Military Deployment

2765

2786

  • Eighth Arcturan Guards[54]

2821

3029

3050

Planetary Locations

Nearby Systems

Closest 40 systems (40 within 60 light-years)
Distance in light years, closest systems first:
Memmingen 10.8 Vorarlberg 15.6 Bushmill 17.7 Engadin 21.4
Kandis 21.8 Gunzburg 25.7 Radstadt 26.9 Tamar 29.9
Kempten 31.7 Thannhausen 33.1 Muswell 33.4 Goito 34.7
Kufstein 36.2 Weingarten 37.2 Ferleiten 39.5 Heiligendreuz 39.6
Kobe 45.3 Volders 45.4 Karston 46.0 Hohenems 46.2
Moritz 46.9 Predlitz 48.6 Kaesong 49.1 Lamar 49.2
Corfu 49.5 Christiania 50.3 Unzmarkt 51.2 Hyperion 51.5
Spittal 53.1 Hainfeld 54.9 Satalice 55.7 Bessarabia 55.9
Sheliak 56.2 Skokie 56.5 Maestu 56.6 Oyevaina 56.7
Alshain 57.4 Basiliano 57.4 Feltre 57.8 Sevren 59.0

References

  1. ↑ Handbook: House Kurita, p. 18, "Draconis Combine - [2319] Map"
  2. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 13, "Lyran Commonwealth Founding - [2341] Map"
  3. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 25, "Lyran Commonwealth after Age of War - [2571] Map"
  4. ↑ Handbook: House Kurita, p. 31, "Draconis Combine after Age of War - [2571] Map"
  5. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 159, "Inner Sphere Map - [2596]"
  6. ↑ Era Report: 2750, p. 37, "Inner Sphere - [2750] Map"
  7. ↑ Field Manual: SLDF, "Inner Sphere - [2764] Map"
  8. ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [2765] Map"
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 First Succession War, p. 29, "Lyran Commonwealth Gains"
  10. ↑ First Succession War (Source Book), p. 25, "Inner Sphere - [2786] Map"
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 First Succession War, p. 61, "The War of Raids: House Steiner's Succession War"
  12. ↑ Handbook: House Kurita, p. 43, "Draconis Combine after First Succession War - [2822] Map"
  13. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 36, "Lyran Commonwealth after First Succession War - [2822] Map"
  14. ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2, p. 122-123, "Inner Sphere - [2822] Map"
  15. ↑ First Succession War (Source Book), p. 113, "Inner Sphere - [2822] Map"
  16. ↑ Handbook: House Kurita, p. 53, "Draconis Combine after Second Succession War - [2864] Map"
  17. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 40, "Lyran Commonwealth after Second Succession War - [2864] Map"
  18. ↑ House Kurita (The Draconis Combine), p. 193, "Draconis Combine - Map"
  19. ↑ Handbook: House Kurita, p. 64, "Draconis Combine after Third Succession War - [3025] Map"
  20. ↑ House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), "Lyran Commonwealth Map - [3025]"
  21. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 47, "Lyran Commonwealth after Third Succession War - [3025] Map"
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2, p. 65-66, "Stanzach"
  23. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 56, "Lyran Commonwealth after Fourth Succession War - [3030] Map"
  24. ↑ Handbook: House Kurita, p. 66, "Draconis Combine after Fourth Succession War - [3030] Map"
  25. ↑ Historical: War of 3039, p. 133, "Inner Sphere - [3040] Map"
  26. ↑ Handbook: House Kurita, p. 68, "Draconis Combine after War of 3039 - [3040] Map"
  27. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 59, "Lyran Commonwealth after War of 3039 - [3040] Map"
  28. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [3050] Map"
  29. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 23, "Inner Sphere - [3052] Map"
  30. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 61, "Lyran Commonwealth after Clan Invasion - [3052] Map"
  31. ↑ Handbook: House Kurita, p. 71, "Draconis Combine after Operation REVIVAL - [3052] Map"
  32. ↑ Era Report: 3062, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [3057] Map"
  33. ↑ Era Report: 3062, p. 29, "Inner Sphere - [3063] Map"
  34. ↑ Handbook: House Kurita, p. 74, "Draconis Combine after FedCom Civil War - [3067] Map"
  35. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 70, "Lyran Alliance after FedCom Civil War - [3067] Map"
  36. ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 43, "Inner Sphere - [3067] Map"
  37. ↑ Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 65, "Inner Sphere - [3075] Map"
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 60, "The Jihad in Review"
  39. ↑ Field Report: Clans, p. 25, "Ghost Bear Dominion & Kungsarmé/Clan Nova Cat Deployment Map - [August 3079]"
  40. ↑ Field Report: DCMS, p. 21, "Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery Deployment Map - [August 3079]"
  41. ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 63, "Inner Sphere - [3081] Map"
  42. ↑ Field Manual: 3085, p. 127, "Inner Sphere - [3085] Map"
  43. ↑ Map of the Inner Sphere 3130
  44. ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [3135] Map"
  45. ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 39, "Inner Sphere - [3145] Map"
  46. ↑ Field Manual: 3145, p. VI, "Inner Sphere - [3145] Map"
  47. ↑ Field Report: Lyran Commonwealth 2765, p. 8-9, "Arcturan Guards"
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1, p. 44-45, "Operation GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG"
  49. ↑ NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1, p. 61, "End of the Offensive"
  50. ↑ NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2, p. 61, "Trellshire and Tamar Theaters"
  51. ↑ Clan Wolf Sourcebook, p. 63
  52. ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 11-12, "Terrorists Die In Firefight"
  53. ↑ Field Report: Lyran Commonwealth 2765, p. 9, "Regimental Status"
  54. ↑ First Succession War (Source Book), p. 139, "First Succession War Deployment Table - LCAF"
  55. ↑ First Succession War (Source Book), p. 137, "First Succession War Deployment Table - DCMS"
  56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 56.4 Wolf Clan Sourcebook, p. 63

Bibliography

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