1st Hesperus Guards

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First Hesperus Guards
Formed 3137
Nickname First Guards
Affiliation
Parent Command Hesperus Guards

History

Formation

The First Hesperus Guard was a Lyran regiment formed by Duke Vedet of Hesperus II in the spring of 3137. The unit was created for the Lyran Commonwealth military campaign known as Operation HAMMERFALL. Duke Vedet staffed the unit with officers he had secretly "helped". The Guards had been equipped by the Duke as well, with the latest equipment Defiance Industries could manufacture. Vedet used the Guards as a counterbalance to Trillian Steiner's creation of the Broken Swords.[1]

Operation HAMMERFALL

In July, 3137, Duke Vedet led the Guards as part of the Task Force known as "Gauntlet". They were part of the first wave of Operation HAMMERFALL, sent into the region of space labeled by the Lyran command as "The Wedge", located between the Free World League's Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey and Marik-Stewart Commonwealth.

As part of the Task Force, they easily captured the worlds of Shasta and Millungera in the first months of the war. The Guards were later relocated to reinforce the fight in Marik-Stewart space facing with the re-formed Silver Hawks Irregulars and local militia The Bondurant Bombardiers on Bondurant. The fight for Bondurant was a brutal campaign, exhausting both units thoroughly, but ultimately ending in victory for the weary Guards and Third Lyran Regulars.

The Guards returned to Tamarind-Abbey space to invade Simpson Desert with most of the Third Lyrans Regulars on December 2. The guard later continued on to be deployed on Danais to aid the 4th Royals in their efforts to fight the Silver Hawks and a local militia unit named the "Daredevils of Danais". The Duke and Guard took the capital city of Breckenridge, thinking they could use the resources of the city to take over the "lightly" defended planet, not knowing the Hawks were planetside.

However, the city had been stripped of vital resources and its facilities sabotaged. The Duke had ordered the Guards to raid the city's civilian stores for supplies. The Hawks and the Daredevils made capturing the city a symbol of the resistance of Danais. These forces continued to perform hit-and-run guerrilla attacks on the Guards and other Lyran forces for months.

With relentless attacks by civilians and guerrilla forces of the militia alike, Duke Vedet ordered all the civilians in the city of Breckenridge be arrested and locked away by February 3138. By this time, the invasion of the Free Worlds League space had come to a standstill by order of the Archon due to the arrival of Clan Wolf.

In March 3138, Operation HAMMERFALL had finally resumed and the Guards had landed on the world of Helm in Marik-Stewart space. The landing arrived with the Clan Wolf Cluster led by Star Colonel Alaric Wolf. Clan forces proceeded without the Guards, and attempted to attack the capital city of Helmsdown. The Wolves attack was called off after running into strong resistance from local forces, whom were in fact the Silver Hawks. The Guards were joined by the 1st Steiner Strikers on April 24th in order to reinforce the Lyran forces and help resume battle.

Two days later marked the resumption of the Battle for Helmdown. The Guards' artillery began to rain fire down on the Silver Hawk positions within the city. The Guards had slow goings through the city. Some elements of the Silver Hawks that been battered by both Strikers, Wolves, and Guards contacted the Duke in order to surrender. He accepted their surrender, only to be forced to fire upon them when Clan Wolf forces attacked the surrendered units, forcing the Hawks to resume firing on both the Guards. The battle ended in the massacre of the remaining Silver Hawks.

Fed up with the barbarian ways of Wolves, the Guards began preparations to leave the planet and hit the new capital of the commonwealth, Stewart. Unknowingly prompted by Trillian Steiner's rumors, both the Wolves and the Guards touched down on Stewart on June 5.[2]

Using intelligence discovered by Loki, Duke Vedet led the Guards into New Edinburgh with both Clan Wolf forces and 1st Steiner Strikers pushing forward from the south of the city. The Duke dispatched the company to intercept what they believed was the motorcade of the Captain-General Anson Marik, but turned out to be a trap.

The Guards stormed the New Edinburgh Palace and its infantry units were forced to kill Anson Marik in a running gun battle through the palace, claiming Stewart as part of the Lyran Commonwealth and effectively destroying the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth.[1]

Brewer's Coup and after

In 3140 the Guards were forced off of Kalidasa. Duke Vedet used the turmoil of the time to depose the Archon and take her place. At this time elements of the Hesperus Guards were used to protect the throne room. Two years later, Duke Vedet was forced off the throne and he and the Guards went to Alekseyevka in the Timbuktu Theater. As of 3145 the Guards have refused to obey Trillian Steiner's orders to return to Tharkad.[1][3]

By 3148 the First Hesperus Guards were based on Rapla near the breakaway state of the Buena Collective. Despite the entreaties of Buena's ruler Warlord Diego Widmer, Brewer refused to involve his personal unit in the defense of that realm. Two years later, when Trillian Steiner asked Brewer for assistance against the newly formed Timbuktu Collective, Brewer instead moved the Guards towards the Melissia Theater for purposes unknown.[4] [5]

Officers

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 1st Hesperus Guards
Duke Vedet Brewer 3137-3145[6]

Tactics

Unknown.

Composition History

3137

First Hesperus Guards (Combined arms Regiment)

3145

First Hesperus Guards (1 Battalion/Veteran/Questionable)[6]

  • CO: Duke Vedet Brewer

First Hesperus Guards Aerospace (Veteran/Questionable)[6]

First Hesperus Armor Brigade (Regular/Questionable)[6]

First Hesperus Infantry Brigade (Veteran/Questionable)[6]

  • CO: Colonel Clarence Peterson

Notes

The flag ship of 1st Hesperus Guards is the Arm of Hesperus, which is a DropShip.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Era Report: 3145, p. 59
  2. Era Report: 3145, p. 24
  3. Field Manual: 3145, pp. 123, 132
  4. Shattered Fortress, p. 48-49
  5. Shattered Fortress, p. 91
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Field Manual: 3145, p. 132, "Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces - Timbuktu Theater"

Bibliography