Sixteenth Battle of Hesperus II - Coalition Assault

Sixteenth Battle of Hesperus II - Coalition Assault
Part of Jihad era
Planet Hesperus II
Result Stone's Coalition victory
Factions
Word of Blake Stone's Coalition
Forces involved
Check Units in Forces section Check Units in Forces section


History[edit]

Start[edit]

In the first two weeks of November 3074 Coalition forces led by Devlin Stone launched an assault against the defending Word of Blake forces, determined to recapture the planet after the successful defense of Skye earlier in the year and the recovery of Galatea. The Coalition forces, which included elements from Skye, ComStar and Clan Wolf, took on three Word of Blake Divisions.

The Coalition conducted a daring spaceborne assault to take on the three defending Blakist divisions with Coalition forces establishing a beachhead on South Whitman while Coalition aerospace forces cleared the sky above. The Coalition forces split in two:

  • Precentor Martial Victor Steiner-Davion directed the assault against the defenses of the Myoo Mountain factories. He led the Com Guard First Army, Battle Corps Legion and a mixed assortment of smaller mercenary commands against the Second and Thirty-eighth Divisions
  • Devlin Stone directed the assault against the heavily fortified city of Maria's Elegy. He led his own Stone's Lament and Clan Wolf's Delta Galaxy against the entrenched Fortieth Shadow Division.[1]

November[edit]

Maria's Elegy[edit]

The Shadow division waited patiently the Coalition forces and after some diversionary attacks along the Elegy's perimeter, it withdrew deep into the city's interior and drew in Delta Galaxy with a series of deadly suicides and ambushes. Wolf forces were enraged by what they considered dezgra tactics and in a frenzy smashed several of the WoB checkpoints, but were not able to penetrate the city's interior. Stone used his Lament to try to destroy the heart of the Shadow Division line only to walk into a well-laid trap that he was able to escape thanks to the Wolfkin Keshik's intervention. After this, his forces had to retreat and start a more conventional siege of the city.[1]

Myoo Mountain[edit]

The fight was not easy either at the Defiance Industries complexes. The Precentor Martial split his forces and sent the Battle Corps Legion and a mixed mercenary command against the Thirty eighth Division while the First Army faced the Word's Second Division, with both WoB divisions supported by Castle Brian-like fortifications. Just after one day, the assault stalled.

During the next seven days a brutal fighting converted an extended siege to a final push, where the Com Guard Seventy-ninth Division was able to breach the defenses and gain access to the mountain complex. The Seventy-ninth's opened the can on the Word's hold on Defiance Industries, but it took another month before Com Guard battle armor were able to clear the facility of Blakist troops and saboteurs.[1]

December[edit]

The Fortieth Shadow Division was able to resist one more month, resisting all the Coalition threw at them, including artillery bombardments. By 20 December, the Coalition forces were able to shatter the last Blakist fortification around the city, and the First Skye Jaegers conducted a daring nighttime combat drop onto the Word's positions, which though succeeded in finally driving them off, cost the unit a severe beating and the loss of several of his officers at the hands of Manei Domini Laodices.[2] The Fortieth Shadow Division was able to withdraw under fire to their hidden DropShips before abandoning the planet.[1]

End[edit]

With the withdrawal of the Fortieth, the battle for Hesperus II was over.[1][3][4]

Badly mauled, these units withdrew from the planet, though it is speculated that survivors of the Fortieth Shadow may have gone to ground to conduct sabotage efforts against the planet's controls. What was confirmed was that the Word of Blake rendered many of their improvements to the factories unusable through sabotage before leaving.[5][6][7]

Forces[edit]

Word of Blake[edit]

Stone's Coalition[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Jihad Turning Points: Hesperus II, p. 5: "The Battle for Hesperus II"
  2. ↑ Technical Readout: 3075, p. 180
  3. ↑ Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 55: "Timeline of the Jihad"
  4. ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 53: "The Jihad in Review"
  5. ↑ Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, pp. 103–104: "40th Shadow Division unit profile"
  6. ↑ Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 24: "Operation: Steel Hammer" - History of Hesperus occupation up to 3074
  7. ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 48: "The Jihad in Review"

Bibliography[edit]

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