Michael Bradbury
Michael Bradbury | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Affiliation | Lyran Commonwealth |
| Career | |
| Rank | Leutnant-General[1] |
Michael Bradbury was the commanding officer of the Fourth Lyran Regulars during the War of 3039.[1]
History
In mid-April 3039, Leutnant-General Bradbury and the Fourth Lyran Regulars invaded the Draconis Combine system of Konstance alongside the Federated Suns' Fourth Crucis Lancers and the mercenary unit Mobile Fire. Facing off against the defending Twenty-second Dieron Regulars, Bradbury's Lyrans were tasked with capturing the port city of Lazarus Bay from a substantial force of armor and a battalion of Dieron BattleMechs. Bradbury's combat losses during the battle were light, although the high-speed, high tempo conflict lead to a large number of mechanical breakdowns and consumed much of the Fourth Lyran's spare parts. By 21 May, Lazarus City was under the control of the Lyran Regulars, although only six hundred prisoners were taken and much of the Twenty-second Dieron remained unaccounted for.[1]
Follow-up operations to find and eliminate the remainder of the Combine forces met with little success but, by mid-June, the struggle for control of Konstance was downgraded to a "police action" rather than as an active military campaign. Matters for the joint Federated Suns/Lyran Commonwealth occupiers worsened when, on 10 June, a batch of the Lyran infantry's carbon dioxide filters were found to be faulty. When it was discovered that the Fourth Lancers' filters were incompatible with the Fourth Regulars' equipment, rumors began to spread that the Lyrans' FedSuns allies had outright refused to share their supplies. This blow to the invasion force's unity, taken in conjunction with increased raids by the surviving elements of the Twenty-second Dieron Regulars, lead to a substantial decrease in morale. Further disagreements between Leutnant-General Bradbury and Major General Charles Duncan of the Fourth Lancers regarding who held overall command of the invasion spiraled out of control following the loss of contact with General Nondi Steiner on 12 July.[1]
The situation for the bickering Regulars and Lancers considerably worsened with the arrival of the Third Dieron Regulars on 19 August. Having been bloodied by Lyran forces in the Fourth Succession War, the Third Dieron boldly landed within ten kilometers of Lazarus Bay in order to engage with Bradbury's troops as quickly as possible. After the Third Dieron unleashed a heavy artillery barrage against the city's defenses, Bradbury dispatched two battalions of Lyran 'Mechs to eliminate the enemy unit's headquarters and the artillery batteries sited around it. While the assault force initially made good progress, the presence of earthwork fortifications designed to protect the Dieron infantry forced the Lyrans to maneuver their force around the obstacles. In the middle of this movement, the Third Dieron's command company struck the two assault battalions in the flank with such ferocity that Bradbury soon received reports of an entire battalion of heavy 'Mechs tearing apart his men. When Bradbury ordered his soldiers to withdraw, they left a company of 'Mechs behind at the price of just one lance of Third Dieron warriors.[2]
While Bradbury's regiment could have held Lazarus Bay against the Third Dieron indefinitely, the arrival of the surviving members of the Twenty-second Dieron Regulars allowed the Combine force to breach the city's defensive perimeter on 3 September. Only the Mobile Fire mercenaries had any skill with urban warfare and, in the process of causing great harm to both the Third Dieron Regulars and Lazarus Bay itself, Colonel Quintin Moore soon perished in the fighting. On 5 September, Bradbury ordered his troops to retreat to their DropShips before joining up with their JumpShips in orbit. Bradbury—bitter that Major General Duncan's Fourth Lancers had not left the capital city to come to assist the Fourth Regulars—declared the battle for Konstance lost and made no attempt to make reentry in order to reinforce the Lancers' positions.[2]