Jiro Takada
Jiro Takada | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Affiliation | Draconis Combine |
| Career | |
| Rank | Tai-sa[1] |
Jiro Takada was the commanding officer of the Fourth Proserpina Hussars during the War of 3039.[1]
History
Tai-sa Takada and the Fourth Proserpina Hussars were stationed on Fellanin II when it was invaded by the Eridani Light Horse's Seventy-first Light Horse and Twenty-first Striker regiments in April 3039. The mercenary units quickly captured the cities of Perdition and Bender's Hope before advancing against the Fourth Hussars' Fort Drummin, where Tai-sa Takada delayed them long enough to evacuate the unit's supplies. After retreating to the city of Gomand, Takada's soldiers were battered by the combined force of the ELH's aerospace assets and their accompanying Armed Forces of the Federated Suns infantry, forcing the Hussars to once again withdraw. Over the next twelve days of retreating, Takada began to organize his BattleMechs and their supporting militiamen around the city of Luceré before bad weather enabled him to organize his artillery and two combined-arms battalions for a surprise counterattack.[1]
On 21 May, Takada's surprise attack launched with the ELH's airbase at Pourant as its primary target. As the Fourth Hussars' artillery pounded the ELH's DropShips and aerospace fighters, the forces accumulated at Luceré sallied out in a spoiling attack that prevented any mercenaries from reinforcing their besieged airbase. By the time the fighting was over and all forces had disengaged, Takada had lost most of his artillery and a battalion's worth of equipment, while the ELH had lost three DropShips, a wing of fighters, two battalions of AFFS troops, and a battalion of Light Horse BattleMechs—including Colonel Jamal Fallehy, commander of the Twenty-first Striker Regiment. A follow-up assault the same night temporarily drove the ELH into retreat, until Major Edwin Amis organized a rearguard action that halted the Hussars' pursuit and prevented a complete rout.[1]
Starting on 22 May, the ELH and Fourth Hussars began trading blows at a rate that soon became unsustainable for the smaller Hussars force. After two weeks of back and forth combat, Takada once again ordered his men to retreat and for the rest of June the Hussars lead the ELH on a chase across the planet. The chase ended when Takada's troops recaptured Fort Jinjiro from its AFFS garrison and began launching several raids against the ELH's units. These efforts were designed to isolate and destroy individual battalions of Light Horse troops but the mercenaries repeatedly managed to close ranks before any such destruction could occur. A final raid on 18 July gave the newly-promoted Colonel Amis a chance to counterattack against Fort Jinjiro, shattering the Fourth Hussars' own defenses and instigating a four-day-long battle that leveled the base. By the end of 21 July, the Fourth Hussars were finished as a fighting force and the few survivors faded into the planet's wilderness, although Takada's ultimate fate was left uncertain.[1]