62nd Royal Brigade
| |
| Sixty-Second Royal Brigade | |
| Formed | 2571–2575 |
| Affiliation | Star League |
| Parent Command | Twenty-first Royal Division |
The Sixty-Second Royal Brigade was a part of the Star League Defense Force Regular Army.
History
The Brigade was originally formed during the creation of the SLDF in 2571 from units drawn from the Hegemony Armed Forces, which earned it the Royal designation. The Sixty-Second Royal Brigade was a part of the Twenty-first Royal Division during the Reunification War, where it served in the Magistracy of Canopus campaign from 2577 to 2588.[1][2]
As a part of the Magistracy of Canopus task force, the Sixty-Second Royal was stationed on Watermael alongside the rest of the Twenty-first Royal Division when military action against the Magistracy began. The Commanding Officer of VII Corps, Captain-General Marion Marik, would often assign a division or more of troops to the conquest of various worlds by drawing together brigades from across VII Corps. The Sixty-second Royal often operated in conjunction with other brigades from VII Corps as well as fighting alongside units from the Free Worlds League Military assigned to the task force as auxiliary forces. During the early years of the invasion the Sixty-Second Royal was redeployed to the world of Restitution after the 57th Brigade had conquered this border world in 2577 and after the defenders from Restitution had ambushed the Fifty-eighth Brigade on Cranston.[1][2]
Ruschegg
The Sixty-Second Royal Brigade deployment to capture Ruschegg in 2578 was relatively easy; one of three former Free Worlds League which had defected to the Magistracy in the 2550s, all three were conquered through a display of overwhelming force and agile diplomacy by Captain-General Marik. The defenders of Ruschegg effectively offered no resistance to the SLDF landings, although it would have been difficult for any local militia to contest an invasion which saw the Sixty-Second Royal Brigade deploy alongside the Fifty-eighth Brigade and no less than four regiments of FWLM regulars, including two regiments from the Marik Militia and two brigades from the Fusiliers of Oriente. Within a very short period of time the planetary leader of Ruschegg had not only surrendered but was actively petitioning for Ruschegg to be admitted into the Free Worlds League.[1][3]
Royal Foxx
The SLDF launched their attack on Royal Foxx in March 2582; the Sixty-Second Royal would face the elite Chasseurs á Cheval brigade of the MAF, as defending Royal Foxx were the First and Fourth Canopian Light Horse regiments. The SLDF was attacking in strength, deploying an ad hoc division of troops formed from the Sixty-first and Sixty-Second Royal Brigades along with the Fifty-ninth Brigade in an overwhelming show of force. Despite being heavily outnumbered the two MAF regiments contested the invasion of Royal Foxx, but were forced to withdraw by the end of March. In securing Royal Foxx, the SLDF locked down trade routes across a large region of the Magistracy and opened up easy access to the more lightly defended outback worlds of the Magistracy.[1][4][5]
Nobel
The Sixty-Second Royal continued to operate alongside the Sixty-first Royal for the many of the remaining years of the war; in 2583, both brigades joined the Fifty-seventh Brigade in a short campaign to capture the lightly industrialized world of Nobel as the SLDF consolidated its hold on worlds near the Magistracy capital of Canopus IV. The MAF had no major units on the world to contest the invasion by a complete division of VII Corps troops, leaving only the home guard regiments to briefly resist. The Sixty-first and Sixty-Second Royal Brigades would remain on Nobel for more than a year, ensuring there could be no effective campaign to recapture the world.[2][6][7]
Candiear
Deploying for a third time as part of a division-strength force, the Sixty-first and Sixty-Second Royal Brigades joined the Fifty-sixth Brigade against forces from the Chasseurs á Cheval on the world of Candiear in 2585. Defending Candiear were the Second and Fourth Canopian Light Horse, who tried to contest the invasion but in a repeat of the battle for Nobel were unable to resist for long against the SLDF numbers and had to retreat, the Second Light Horse linking up with Buquoy's Bandits on Harminous and the Fourth Light Horse joining the First Canopian Light Horse on Palladix.[2][6][8]
Kossandra's Memory
Settled shortly before the outbreak of the war by the MAF for use as a redoubt and base of operations should Canopus IV fall, the outback world of Kossandra's Memory was the site of the final battle between the SLDF task force and the Magistracy Armed Forces. The MAF had managed to keep the existence of Kossandra's Memory secret for much of the war although it hadn't been able to evacuate the Magestrix to Kossandra's Memory when Canopus fell in 2584; when Captain-General Marion Marik finally invaded Kossandra's Memory in 2588 the Second Canopian Light Horse and the Bandits were the only surviving major MAF units and were both on the world. Numbering just a few mismatched battalions, the MAF units still contested the landing, under the command of Colonel Adam Buquoy himself; Marik landed the Sixty-Second Royal Brigade on Kossandra's Memory, along with the First Marik Militia and the Third Regulan Hussars, and led them personally into battle.[8][2]
Marik used three regiments drawn from those who had landed in her assault against Buquoy's positions, and while Buquoy tried to trick Marik into making rash attacks that he could capitalize on, the Captain-General kept her cool and used her superior numbers to grind the Canopian forces down. With the last of the Magistracy forces finally defeated after eleven years of campaigning, the war between the Magistracy and the Star League finally ended when Marik accepted Buquoy's surrender with a firm handshake.[8]
Officers
| Rank | Name | Command | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commanding Officers of the 62nd Brigade | |||
Tactics
Unknown.
Composition History
Despite the doctrine and organization originally defined during the creation of the SLDF, the Sixty-Second Royal Brigade would most likely have been a mélange of combined arms units.[9] The breakdown for the SLDF element of the Canopian task force indicates that just under a half of the SLDF regiments were BattleMech regiments, one-third were infantry regiments and the remaining forces were a mix of armor and aerospace regiments.[10]
Notes
- Special Rules for the Sixty-Second Royal Brigade can be found on Historical: Reunification War, p. 181.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Historical: Reunification War, p. 148: "Magistracy of Canopus Front (Jump-Off-2582)"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Historical: Reunification War, p. 149: "Magistracy of Canopus Front (2583-2588)"
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 100: "Ruschegg, Payvand and Scheuerheck (August–October 2577)"
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 150: "Magistracy of Canopus Front (Jump-Off-2582)"
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 101: "Reversals (2582–2583)"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 151: "Magistracy of Canopus Front (2583–2588)"
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 102: "Afarsin, Adhelwin, Megarez and Nobel (March–April 2583)"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Historical: Reunification War, p. 105: "Mopping Up (2584–2588)"
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 27: "Divisions and Brigades"
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 95: "SLDF Task Force Canopus"