5th Dragonlords

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Brigade Insignia of the Dragonlords
Fifth Dragonlords
Formed ca. 2572
Disbanded Second Succession War[1]
Nickname The Godzilla Stalkers
Affiliation Federated Suns
Parent Command Dragonlords


History[edit]

Formation[edit]

The origins of the Fifth Dragonlords - nicknamed "The Godzilla Stalkers" - lay in the formation of the Star League and the establishment of the Star League Defense Force. With the significant drawdown of military forces in the wake of the formation of the SLDF, large quantities of military personnel - including some of the best and brightest - found themselves unemployed. Many carried on with the only skills they had, engaging in piracy and brigandage; as a result, the Star League initiated the United Triumph Military Exercises (UTEs) in 2572 as an attempt to deal with some of the problems.[2]

The Davion Brigade of Guards were due to be dispatched to take part in the UTEs; as the Guards were responsible for protecting the five core Golden Worlds of the Federated Suns - New Avalon, Argyle, Belladonna, El Dorado and Torrence - the Davion clans on those five worlds funded the creation of five temporary garrison units, supplying them with the best and heaviest equipment and recruiting the finest of the recently-discharged veterans from the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns as manpower. These five temporary units - of which the Fifth was one - were never disbanded, as the outbreak of the Reunification War saw the AFFS in need of trained combat formations.[2]

Reunification War[edit]

The Fifth and the other regiments of the Dragonlords were all deployed against various of the Periphery States during the Reunification War, with all of the brigade seeing heavy action. The performance of the various regiments earned them a fixed place in the AFFS as frontline commands.[2]

Star League Era[edit]

When the Star League Council issued the Council Edict of 2650 limiting the size of the military each Great House was allowed to maintain, the AFFS was required to draw down in strength sharply, as were the other militaries of the Inner Sphere. The Fifth was one of three regiments within the Dragonlords to draw down to just a single battalion as a result of the manpower and unit reductions mandated by the Council Edict.[2]

When the Star League Council repealed the Edict of 2650 in 2752[3] the Dragonlords quickly returned to full strength as a brigade. The Dragonlords' quick return to full strength was made possible by the rearmament program put in place by Richard Davion, which had seen each active MechWarrior within the Dragonlords issued two BattleMechs, and the strong and active training program for reserves on each of the Golden Worlds, which generated a pool of trained manpower to draw upon.[2]

As tensions in the Periphery rose almost the entirety of the Dragonlords were deployed to worlds along the border between the Federated Suns and the Taurian Concordat. The only regiment within the brigade not to have been deployed to the border by 2765 was the Fifth, who remained in place on the relatively quiet world of Talcott. The Commanding Officer of the Fifth had responded to the lack of action by launching a series of training exercises against the planetary militia as well as the security forces at the local General Motors plant.[2][4]

First Succession War[edit]

In 2788 the Twenty-third Marik Militia and two other Free Worlds League Military regiments, the Third and Seventh Oriente Hussars were stationed on the former Hegemony district capital of Tyrfing when a brutal five-way battle for control of the world began. The Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces and Capellan Confederation Armed Forces were the first to arrive, with raiders from the Seventh Donegal Guards, Stealths, Prefectorate Guard and Ariana Grenadiers attacking the League troops and each other; these were soon joined by the Fourth Davion Guards and Fifth Dragonlords - dispatched by the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns - and the Eighth Sword of Light and Black Sharks, dispatched by the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery.

Tyrfing was already badly damaged, with much of its ecology poisoned by the aftereffects of the nuclear and chemical weapons used during the Amaris Civil War, and the five-way battle for control of Tyrfing - or for access to loot any remaining Star League technology - effectively ended any prospect of Tyrfing continuing to be a viable world. Between the rampant use of nuclear and chemical weapons and the lingering poisons left from the previous war, almost ninety percent of the infantry forces on Tyrfing were dead when the battle ended in February 2789, and only a fifth of the Twenty-third's conventional forces were still combat ready - more than that of any other regiment to have participated in the battle. Tyrfing's pre-Coup civilian population of more than three billion had been reduced to just eight million and was falling steadily, with every major city destroyed during the conflict; by the end of the First Succession War that population had dropped to five million and was still falling, with the League government placing Tyrfing under quarantine in 2824.[5]

Second Succession War[edit]

The Fifth, like its sister regiments the First and Fourth Dragonlords, was destroyed during the Second Succession War.[1]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 5th Dragonlords
Colonel Jehan Garside 2788[6]

Tactics[edit]

Lacking conventional forces, the regiment compensated by having a fourth BattleMech battalion in its TO&E. In contrast to the other three lighter-weight battalions, this last unit consisted solely of heavy and assault 'Mechs. A favorite tactic involved the fourth battalion landing via DropShips either behind the enemy or directly on top of them while the other battalions were still scouting the enemy's front.[4]

Composition History[edit]

2765[edit]

Fifth Dragonlords (Regiment/Regular/Fanatical)[7]

- The Fifth were stationed on Talcott at this point in time.[7]

2786–2821[edit]

Fifth Dragonlords (Regiment/Regular/Fanatical)[8]

- At this point in time the Fifth was a medium-weight unit operating at full regimental strength, and was based on Talcott.[8] In 2821 the unit was just two-fifths full strength, and was based on Muskegon.[8]

2830[edit]

Fifth Dragonlords (Regiment/Regular/Fanatical)[1]

- At this point in time the Fifth was a medium-weight unit operating at full strength, and was based on Valexa.[1] The unit was destroyed during the war.[1]

Notes[edit]

  • Field Report 2765: AFFS attributes the Preparedness Act of 2735 to both Richard Davion[3] and Roger Davion.[2] Because other sources indicate that Richard Davion was First Prince in 2735, and that Roger Davion died in 2703, the latter attribution is probably an error.

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Second Succession War, p. 94: "Armed Forces of the Federated Suns (AFFS)"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Field Report 2765: AFFS, p. 15: "Dragonlords"
  3. 3.0 3.1 Field Report 2765: AFFS, p. 3: "Strategic Update"
  4. 4.0 4.1 Turning Points: Tyrfing, p. 10: "Fifth Dragonlords"
  5. First Succession War, p. 110: "The Tyrfing Conflict"
  6. Turning Points: Tyrfing, p. 10
  7. 7.0 7.1 Field Report 2765: AFFS, p. 15: "Regimental Status"
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 First Succession War, p. 134: "Armed Forces of the Federated Suns (AFFS)"

Bibliography[edit]