8th Free Worlds Guards

Free Worlds Guards.jpg
Eighth Free Worlds Guards
Disbanded 2650
Nickname The Mauls[1]
Affiliation Free Worlds League
Parent Command Free Worlds Guards


History[edit]

Originally active during the Age of War and the early Star League era, the Eighth Free Worlds Guards was a regiment within the Free Worlds League Military and was disbanded in or around 2650 as a result of the issue of Directive 30, otherwise known as the Council Edict of 2650. Under the terms of Directive 30 the Free Worlds League was required to reduce the strength of its "federally supported military line units" down to a particular level, in line with the limits imposed by the Directive on the military of every Great House.[2]

The Council Edict of 2650 was examined in detail by the Dormuth Council, and on the 22nd of November 2650 the military Chief of Staff to the Council, Marshal Lloyd Harding, issued a report containing formal recommendations to Captain-General Ward Marik. One of the recommendations made was that all of the forces supplied to the FWLM by the various provinces of the FWL should be removed from the FWLM chain of command and officially handed back to the provinces, as provincial forces funded directly by those provinces were exempt from the strictures of the Edict; another recommendation was that the Eighth and one of her sister regiments, the Seventh Free Worlds Guards, be officially disbanded along with the Fifteenth Atrean Dragoons. These disbandment would bring the FWLM down to the official limits imposed by the Edict; Harding also recommended that while officially being disbanded, the Seventh, Eighth and Fifteenth should be quietly integrated into the provincial forces of the Duchy of Oriente, Principality of Regulus and Duchy of Andurien, making the disbandment more of a technicality than an actual event.[2]

The Dark Age[edit]

The Eighth was re-formed at some point during the Dark Age. In 3134, the Eighth conducted a successful raid on Bolan, followed by a failed attack on the Kaiser Systems factories on Herzberg. Caught by surprise by the prototype SCG-WX1 Scourge piloted by Samantha Holcomb, the Eighth was pushed back by Kaiser security.[3] In February 3146 two battalions of the Eighth joined the First Tamarind Regulars in an attack upon the Eighth Lyran Regulars on Zdice and Abramkovo. Following the Lyran Regulars' withdraw, the Eighth then hit Kamenz and obtained the planetary militia's surrender when their senior command staff were taken out by an artillery strike. A battalion from the Eighth also reinforced the First Tamarind when that unit was nearly driven from Bolan, reversing the tide of battle and securing that historic world for the League. [4]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 8th Free Worlds Guards
Colonel Winnie Garcia 3145-3151[5][6]

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

3145[edit]

Eighth Free Worlds Guards (Green/Reliable)[5]

  • CO: Colonel Winnie Garcia

Eighth Guards Aerospace Wing (Regular/Reliable)[5]

3rd Heavy Tank Regiment (Green/Questionable)[5]

7th Home Infantry Regiment (Regular/Fanatical)[5]

References[edit]

  1. Field Manual: 3145, p. 102
  2. 2.0 2.1 Field Report 2765: FWLM, p. 4, "Circumventing Directive 30"
  3. Experimental Technical Readout: Caveat Emptor, p. 15
  4. Shattered Fortress, p. 19-20
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Field Manual: 3145, p. 115, "Free Worlds League Military"
  6. Empire Alone, pp. 33-34

Bibliography[edit]