1st Aragon Borderers

File:Aragon borderers.png
First Aragon Borderers
Formed	3011 - 3013
Disbanded	3079 (destroyed)
Previous Designation(s)	New Aragon Planetary Militia
Nickname	The Pride of New Aragon
Affiliation	Federated Suns
Parent Command	AFFS

In actuality an upgraded garrison, the First Aragon Borderers are stationed on the Capellan March border world of New Aragon. The unit has been deployed off world, but has been most effective as a counter-insurgency force and short-range strike force.

History

Formation

The First Aragon Borderers were created initially as a stop-gap measure in response to the constant pressure exerted on the Federated Suns-Capellan Confederation border. As New Aragon had changed hands between the Federated Suns and the Capellan Confederation numerous times during the Third Succession War, the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns decided that, rather than tie up an AFFS unit and contribute more issues to their supply chain, two battalions worth of BattleMechs would be added to New Aragon's planetary militia. This would have a two-fold purpose: help the planet fight off raids by the Capellan Confederation and secure the Federated Suns' hold on it. This planetary militia unit then became known as the First Aragon Borderers.

Although the exact date of the Borderers' founding is not specified, it can be inferred that its activation was likely tied to Hanse Davion's restructuring of New Aragon's military forces during his tenure as military governor from 3011 to 3013, after the planet was secured for House Davion by elements of the Wolf's Dragoons in 3008. Even though the presence of 'Mechs on New Aragon didn't slow or halt the Capellans' encroachments, the planetary militia suddenly found itself able to give the raiders a fair fight. Although the unit sustained many casualties as they passed through the crucible of combat, they managed to bring down many of the Confederation raiders and win valuable experience.

Fourth Succession War

In 3029, the First Aragon Borderers joined other Federated Suns forces in attacking the Capellan Confederation in Operation Rat. During the second wave of the offensive, the unit was assigned, along with Delta Company of the Davion Light Guards, to invade and capture Hunan. Opposing the two Federated Suns units was the First Battalion of the Freemont's Cuirassiers, who met the Borderers as they landed just outside Hunan's capital city. Unfortunately, the Borderers were ill-equipped to face down the many Marauders of the Cuirassiers, and suffered devastating losses. Were it not for the timely and effective intervention of Delta Company, the unit would most likely have been wiped out entirely.

After successfully capturing the planet, the Borderers redeployed back to New Aragon, where they returned to the task of defending their homeworld. During the fourth wave of Operation Rat, they were stationed at Fort Ellison when two battalions from the Second Chesterton Voltigeurs made planetfall south of their position. Knowing that their force of mostly infantry and armored vehicles would be outmatched by the 'Mechs of the Voltigeurs, the Borderers set up ambushes and harassed the advancing Capellans as they approached the fort. Despite their fierce resistance, the Borderers were pushed back to the fort and were in danger of losing their position when the aerospace element of the Davion Heavy Guards arrived and immediately began a series of extensive airstrikes on the Voltigeurs. As the momentum shifted, the Borderers regrouped and charged the wavering enemy, forcing their commander to call a retreat back to their landing zone. Unfortunately for the Capellans, their dropships had been attacked and destroyed by Heavy Guards, Aragon Borderers, and New Avalon Crucis March Militia fighters in orbit. The Voltigeurs were encircled and forced to surrender to the Borderers.

War of 3039

Although the unit took no part in the official hostilities of the War of 3039, official records show that the First Aragon Borderers remained actively stationed on New Aragon from 3038 to 3040, likely to monitor the Capellan border in case of any CCAF incursion.

Clan Invasion and Operation Bulldog

Although initially deployed to to Layover in 3054, likely in response to the Clan Invasion, the First Aragon Borderers were at some point forced to return to New Aragon to again deal with Capellan incursions. During the majority of the invasion's opening battles, the Borderers found themselves tied up maintaining and preserving the security of their homeworld, including countering attacks perpetrated by forces sympathetic to the Free Worlds League and Capellan Confederation during Operation Guerrero. Sometime in 3059, they were called upon to join the newly-founded Second Star League Defense Force in Operation Bulldog as they faced off against the forces of Clan Smoke Jaguar and accepted the chance to prove themselves against the clan.

On May 13th, 3059, they were stationed on McAlister with other SLDF forces, awaiting the greenlight. In the first wave of the attacks, they participated in a Trial of Possession that saw Jeanette recaptured by the Inner Sphere. During the second wave, they attacked and secured Almunge with the First Amphigean Light Assault Group, meeting minimal resistance and sustaining no losses. They and the First Amphigean garrisoned Almunge during the Smoke Jaguar counterattack, then proceeded to assault Coudoux, supported by the Second Sword of Light and the ComGuards' Thirty-fourth Division. There, they fought against Smoke Jaguar's Seventeenth Garrison Cluster and witnessed them flee back to the Clan homeworlds.

In the final mopping up, both the First Amphigean Light Assault Group and the First Aragon Borderers attacked Stapelfeld, where they fought hard against the Nineteenth Garrison Cluster, who eventually initiated a Trial of Possession to honorably surrender. Although the Borderers sustained heavy losses during their actions in Operation Bulldog, they managed to salvage enough parts from the battlefields to be able to field nine Clan BattleMechs at the conclusion of hostilities, four of which were OmniMechs.

While the unit was away from New Aragon, its garrison duties were taken over by the 3rd FedCom RCT, who still remained on the planet by the time that they returned from the front.

FedCom Civil War

Opening Shots

Issues between the Third FedCom RCT and the First Aragon Borderers began to surface upon their return. The commander of the Third FedCom RCT, Hauptmann-General Charles Finnigan, refused to acknowledge the Borderers' commander, Leftenant-General Jimmie Kirston, as the head of New Aragon's defensive operations, despite Kirston being granted that authority both by the AFFS and the local government. Finnigan and the men and women under his command, who had formed close relationships with the people of Sarna, blamed Victor Steiner-Davion for its loss during Operation Guerrero and advocated joining Katherine Steiner-Davion and her Lyran Alliance. Finnigan was ordered to have the Third FedCom relocate to Moravian and allow the First Aragon Borderers to return to their duties, but made strange, implausible excuses about why the move was impossible.

As news of conflicts between pro-Katherine and pro-Victor forces reached, New Aragon, both Kirston and the PDZ Commander ordered Finnigan and the Third FedCom to leave the planet, offering the use of the Borderers' transport capabilities to effectuate their departure. Finnigan instead marched on Alexandria, the city where the Borderers were stationed. Recognizing the advance as a precursor to an attack, Kirston and the commander of the Twelfth Vegan Rangers' Alpha Regiment, General Tom Stancel, coordinated a surprise attack on the Third FedCom by the Rangers on December 9th, 3062. The attack was a massive success, rendering a full third of the Third FedCom combat ineffective and stalling their advance toward Alexandria temporarily. As Finnigan drove his unit onward towards the objective, he and his forces were harried by the Borderers' nimble defense. Kirston's strategic use of Leopard DropShips to move his command's heavy and assault 'Mechs rapidly across the battlefield quickly broke the Third FedCom's column apart and allowed the Rangers and Borderers to focus on attacking Third FedCom bases in the cities of Dalemar and Gary..

Escalation

Working together, the Rangers and Borderers were able to completely clear Third FedCom forces from their garrisoned position in Dalemar by December 13th. Unfortunately, their attempt to oust the garrison in Gary on December 14th was unsuccessful. Finnigan used this change in momentum wisely, marshalling the body of his forces and assaulting Alexandria. The following battle was as bloody as it was unproductive, as the Borderers and Third FedCom ravaged each other's forces. Even at half their operational strength, the Third FedCom was more than a match for the First Aragon Borderers. The timely arrival of a group of Rangers finally turned the tide in favor of the Borderers, and both sides retreated back to their camps to regroup. Adept at salvaging and capturing equipment from their time in the Clan Wars, the Borderers were able to reinforce themselves with repurposed Third FedCom Equipment.

On January 4th, 3063, Leftenant-General Kirston made his move on Third FedCom forces camped outside Gary. Unfortunately, the rough terrain around the encampment proved fatal to the Borderers, as they were torn apart by Finnigan's combined-arms teams, leaving only a single battalion of 'Mechs in the Borderers' ranks. The Twelfth Vegan Rangers once again hot-dropped to the rescue, but the battle dragged on for three more weeks before both forces limped away to lick their wounds until the end of the month.

Endgame

The battle resumed in February 3063 with Hauptmann-General Finnigan strategically feinting an attack on the weakened Borderers. Once the Twelfth Vegan Rangers dropped to assist the struggling Borderers, he struck at the mercenaries' base in Dalemar, destroying or crippling most of the unit's now-undefended DropShips. March consisted of sporadic hit-and-run attacks by both sides as they sought to find an opening in the other's defenses. In April, General Stancel was surrounded while conducting an attack on a Third FedCom position. This time it was Kirston and the Borderers who combat dropped in, and together the two units retook the towns of Hubertsville and Fallau. The rescue cost the Borderers dearly, however, leaving the regiment with only fifteen 'Mechs standing once all was said and done. Relayed this information by his intelligence component, Finnigan pressed the attack on April 3rd. The battle lasted ten long days until, on April 13th, the Allied forces made one last desperate hot-drop, right on top of Finnigan's command post. While Borderers aerospace units dominated the skies, the Rangers launched diversionary attacks to tie up and draw in the body of the surviving Third FedCom. Cut off from support, Hauptmann-General Finnigan was slain in battle, perishing when his Devastator was destroyed. With the loss of its commander, the Third FedCom began to crumple.

Utilizing the Borderers' DropShips, the Rangers' Mechs harried and harassed the surviving elements of the Third FedCom for the rest of April until, finally cornered, they were forced to make a stand. In a six hour battle on May 11th, the Borderers and Rangers annihilated a third of the remaining Loyalists, capturing another third, and driving the final third to desert. While they made efforts to track down the Third's deserters, they were unsuccessful, as the Borderers were severely understrength and the Rangers were called away to a different battlefront. Though the Borderers' losses were heavy-- so heavy in fact that they were removed from the active AFFS rosters-- they were able to use battlefield salvage and abandoned Third FedCom RCT 'Mechs and equipment to replenish their strength and achieve active-duty status by 3067.

Jihad

New Aragon was assaulted by Word of Blake forces in 3069. The Borderers were on the world at the time, rebuilding from damage they'd taken as part of Operation SOVEREIGN JUSTICE. The Borderers quickly took control of several Star League fortresses and began a hit and run campaign against the invading Blakists. The Blakist troops wanted to end the fight quickly, so they deployed several chemical weapons in the tunnels that connected the forts. These attacks destroyed the Aragon Borderers completely.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the 1st Aragon Borderers
Colonel	Vincent Kooper	3025
Leftenant General	Barrie Salsburg	3054
Leftenant General	Jimmie Kirston	3062
Major General	Jimmie Kirston	3067

Tactics

The Borderers are most effective as a counter-insurgency force and short-range strike force. They also prefer a defensive position if possible.

Composition History

3025

First Aragon Borderers (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)

• CO: Colonel Vincent Kooper

Note: At this point in time the unit was stationed on New Aragon.

3040

1st Aragon Borderers (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)

Note: At this point in time the command was stationed on New Aragon.

3050

1st Aragon Borderers (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)

• CO: Leftenant General Barrie Salsburg

Note: At this point in time the command was stationed on New Aragon.

3054

1 st Aragon Borderers (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)

• CO: Leftenant General Barrie Salsburg

Note: At this point in time the command was stationed on Layover.

3062

First Aragon Borderers (1 understrength Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)

• CO: Leftenant General Jimmie Kirston

Note:- Two Battalions only

First Aragon Auxiliary (2 Battalions/Regular/Questionable)

• CO: Colonel Tab Daniels

Note:- Includes Mechanized Infantry and two Aerospace Fighter Squadrons)

3067

First Aragon Borderers (Veteran/Relibale)

• CO: Major General Jimmie Kirston

First Aragon Auxiliary (Veteran/Fanatical)

• CO: Colonel Gil O'Connell

3079

The Aragon Borderers were destroyed by Word of Blake forces in 3069 and weren't rebuilt.

Color Scheme and Unit Insignia

The Aragon Borderers have a blue and white parade paint scheme.

Notes

• Before the First Aragon Borderers were created, the First Auxiliary was known as the Seventh Aragon Armored Cavalry.

Bibliography

• FedCom Civil War (sourcebook)
• Field Manual: Federated Suns
• Field Manual Updates
• Field Report: AFFS
• Historical: War of 3039
• House Davion (The Federated Suns)
• Jihad Hot Spots: 3072
• NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1
• Objective Raids
• The Dragon Roars