Battle of Tukayyid (3052)

Introduction

The world of Tukayyid was primarily an agricultural world in the Free Rasalhague Republic at the time of the Clan Invasion. The world was picked to be the site of a proxy battle fought for control of Terra between the Clans led by ilKhan Ulric Kerensky and ComStar's ComGuard led by Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht. The actual battle was broken down into ComGuard-defended objectives that the Clans would try to conquer. If the majority of these targets were conquered by the Clans then Terra would be allowed to fall into which ever clan could advance to it first. If the ComGuard successfully defended the majority of the targets, then the Clans had to abide by a 15 year truce with the Inner Sphere in which no Clan elements would cross the plane emanating from Tukayyid and extending to the edges of the Inner Sphere perpendicular to the Clan Occupation Zones.

Prelude

ComStar had operated under a policy of active co-operation with the invading clans since the Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht had met Ulric Kerensky during the early stages of the Clan Invasion. The Primus of ComStar, Myndo Waterly, saw the Clans as a unique tool to crush the Successor States, allowing their vision of a ComStar dominated future for the Inner Sphere to be brought into being. To this end, the First Circuit worked to help provide Clan Wolf with a great wealth of Strategic and Tactical intelligence on planets they planned to attack. And when those planets then fell to the Wolves, ComStar was engaged by the Clan to serve as administrators on their behalf, considerably smoothing occupation of these worlds and allowing the Clans Galaxies to quickly move on to fresh targets without needing to leave major concentrations of troops to secure their rear areas.

This policy of co-operation and administration was highly successful for the Wolves. While the pace of the Ghost Bears, Jade Falcons and Smoke Jaguars invasion increasingly slowed as they become bogged down in drawn out conquests of worlds, the Wolves surged ahead, ultimately resulting in the ilKhan calling a Grand Kurultai at Radstadt in an attempt to slow the Wolves down, a fateful decision that resulted in his death at the hands of Tyra Miraborg. It was however to prove a boon to ComStar with the election of Ulric Kerensky as ilKhan; their policy of providing information and administering worlds now became the policy of all the Clans, with the Precentor Martial himself serving as the personal envoy to the Clans from the First Circuit.

ComStar turns hostile

Primus Myndo Waterly arrived on Solsveda to meet with the ilKhan for the first time on the 7th of January 3051, a day after the humiliating defeat of the Smoke Jaguars and Nova Cats at Luthien. Here it was shown for the first time to ComStar that the true goal of the Clans was in fact Terra itself, the home of ComStar for hundreds of years, core of the entire Inner Sphere HPG network and birthplace of the Star League. Under such a direct threat, ComStar could no longer remain neutral, but they in no way wanted to see Terra, humanities birthplace, torn asunder by an enormous battle the likes of which the planet had not seen since 2777. Confronting the clans, Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht was sent to ilKhan to issue a Batchall. A Clan Trial of possession would be waged on a proxy world for control of Terra, the world of Tukayyid inside the rapidly diminishing Free Rasalhague Republic. All civilians would be evacuated from the planet well before the battle started, and ComStar and the Clans would each cover half of the cost of damages to civilian infrastructure resulting from this trial, set to begin in May of 3052.

While possession of Terra and ComStar was a clear outcome for the Clans should they win, the bidding was fierce over what precisly ComStar would gain should they win. Focht's initial position of a permanent truce line drawn at Tukayyid was countered by an offer for a one year truce, with both sides gradually reducing their positions until a Fifteen Year Truce was Bargained and Done. Twenty Five Galaxies from Seven Clans would face off against Twelve entire Armies of the ComGuards, each Clan being assigned two objective cities to take. If ComStar won, they would buy the Inner Sphere invaluable time to fortify to the point of becoming an almost impossible target for the Clans to take on. If ComStar lost however, they may well have doomed the Inner Sphere to conquest by the Clans at a stroke.

The Clans Prepare for Battle

The ilKhan presented the terms of the bid to the Clan Grand Council, all of whom eagerly endorsed and ratified the bid. The vast majority of the Clan Warriors when presented with the battle saw an easy victory over the mystical warriors as a forgone conclusion, and the bidding in the Grand Council for the 'best' place in the invasion was fierce. The Smoke Jaguars and Nova Cats, eager to regain the face they had lost in their failed invasion of Luthien, bid dangerously low to gain the 'honor' of being the first Clan on the planet, all the Crusader Clans conspiring to ensure the Wolves would land last, with the least 'glorious' targets to strike at long after the Trial was expected to have been decided, an insult the Wolves were suspiciously happy to accept.

In the end, the battle objectives were divided by the Council as follows:

• The Smoke Jaguars would land first, with the cities of Dinju Heights and Port Racice their targets, two of the largest cities on the planet.

• The Nova Cats would attack the cities of Joje and Tost.

• Clan Ghost Bear was assigned the cities of Spanac and Luk.

• The Steel Vipers bid for the objectives of Kelly Springs and the Kozice Ranch Station.

• Urcunat and Kozice Prime were the targets of the Diamond Sharks.

• The Jade Falcons chose Humptulips and Olalla as their targets.

• And the Wolves were given the remaining targets of Brzo and Skup, as well as the final 'drop slot' onto the planet. Five days after the Smoke Jaguars would set foot on the soil of Tukayyid.

Each Clan would fight its own battle and Stand or Fall on its own leadership, the ilKhans offers of advice would henceforth be ignored by all Clans save his own.

The ComGuards Prepare

The architect of the ComGuard strategy, Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht, had been preparing for the battle since returning from his first visit with the Clans in 3050. Running simulations and war games using ComStars stores of advanced Star League era Mechs, much to the annoyance of the Primus who - at the time - anticipated no possible conflict between the ComGuards and Clans. Armed with both first hand observations of the Clan leadership, strategy and tactics, combined with countless examples of engagements across the Inner Sphere, Focht carefully constructed his plans. Scoffed at by most of the Clans as a 'paper-General' leading a glorified honor guard for an organization of bureaucrats, the man who had once been Frederick Steiner - a decorated and highly capable Commander in his own right - systematically laid the groundwork for his defense.

With only a few exceptions, the Clans had run roughshod over all Inner Sphere forces they had come up against during the invasion. Their superior technology mated with their strategic initiative let them pick and chose the battles, and apply sufficient force to win on almost every occasion in very short, sharp battles pitting strength against strength; in short, playing to the Clans strengths and preference for direct, 'trial-like' encounters. With the exception of Clan Wolf, the Invading Clans lacked the knowledge, logistics, training, equipment and mindset needed to fight anything outside of direct force on force confrontations.

As such, Focht built his battle plans around a classic long-term Battle of Maneuver. He would deny the Clans the short, sharp 'Trial' like battles they were suited to fighting. Instead, he would use terrain and mobility to erode them Cluster by Cluster with a series of rapid and never ending hit and run attacks combined with massive air and artillery strikes, until he could crush what was left of each Clan on his own terms with overwhelming firepower. Tukayyid offered excellent defensive terrain that the ComGuards prepared to great effect; bridges were rigged with explosives, shielded bunkers constructed from which units sized from Lances to Regiments could appear without warning were scattered in strategic locations and entire cities were razed and recreated as little more then giant traps. Focht's Star League era Command and Control systems allowed he and his staff to fight the entire planet as a single theater seamlessly, and the ComGuards were well briefed in their part. Other key factors included;

• Uniformly, the ComGuards were using Star League era military technology that was a far closer match to that of the Clans then any of the Successor States, a match that became even closer with the use of Terrain and mobility.

• The ComGuards would be facing the Clans collectively in a series of waves, meaning units unengaged could be shifted as needed, where as the Clans were determined to fight their battles alone, with only minimal thought to a cohesive, wider strategy.

• The ComGuards would be well prepared for the type of battle they had planned, the Clans -with the exceptions of the Wolves- were not.

The Battles

The Battle of Tukayyid took place from the 1st of May to the 20th of May and can be broken down into Seven theaters of battle, corresponding to each of the Clan attackers.

The Smoke Jaguars

The First Clan to set foot on Tukayyid were the Smoke Jaguars, who had bid for - and won - the right to attack the cities of Dinju Heights and Port Racice, and to land on the planet before any other Clan. Sitting in excellent defensive terrain and having cut their bids as low as possible to win, the Smoke Jaguars none the less saw a glorious victory ahead of them, from which they would wash away the shame of their humiliating defeat at the Battle of Luthien. Dismissive of the ComGuard soldiers defending their objectives, the Smoke Jaguars planned for a swift and overwhelming campaign, boldly splitting their two Galaxies to attack both targets simultaneously.

Alpha Galaxy

Alpha Galaxy, led by Lincoln Osis, chose the target of Dinju Heights and took to the field confident in their inevitable victory over ComStar. Their Campaign started well, with the Sixth Jaguar Dragoons smashing ComStars 50th Division, securing the LZ for the rest of Alpha Galaxy, who swiftly formed up and advanced towards their objective, harassed by the remains of the 50th who did little direct damage, but did keep Alpha Galaxy in contact as they retreated towards the Dinju Pass, forcing the Clans to eat through munitions, but doing little to alter the momentum of the Clan Jugernaught until they arrived at the foot of the pass.

Star Colonel Brandon Howell leading the Jaguar Grenadiers rallied his unit at the suspiciously undefended pass, but pressed on, deploying a Binary of scout Mechs ahead of the rest of his Cluster in the hope that they would find - and spring - any ComStar traps, while the rest of the Cluster were ordered to make their way through the Dinju Pass at full speed after them, hugging the walls for whatever cover they could find. This un-Clan like caution was all that saved his command from complete destruction, as the heavy units of ComStars 299th Division turned the pass into a shooting gallery, blasting the beleaguered Clan Warriors mercilessly as they ran the gauntlet. But for all the damage they took, the Star Colonels decision saved a significant amount of his command from the 299th...only to hit the roadblock of ComStars 323rd Division at the far end of the pass, the two divisions neatly trapping the Cluster in a vice that systematically started to grind the Grenadiers into dust.

Not about to be outdone by Brandon Howell's heroics however, Khan Osis ordered the Jaguar Dragoons to advance into the pass, but his advance stalled far sooner then Brandon Howell's; the ComGuards had turned the pass into a gauntlet of death with carefully pre-planned mass fire zones that halted any attempt to push deeper and link up with the beleaguered Grenadiers. Worse, a ComGuard Mechwarrior managed, with a single well placed shot, to throw the entire offensive into Chaos by taking out Khan Osis himself, yet the Jaguars dug in their heels and refused to submit, throwing all of their incredible firepower back into the teeth of the ComGuard defenses as they fought meter by bloody meter up the pass. Operating under the -incorrect- assumption that they were only facing the remains of the two Divisions they had been facing for the running engagement, the Dragoons expended their firepower for ground, confident they could still break through the remaining forces of ComGuards and take Dunju Heights. And while the Smoke Jaguars preference for heavy ballistic weapons loadouts gave their OmniMechs the firepower to push forward through the ComGuard defense, it was a rapidly diminishing resource as ammunition started to rapidly run dry.

It was at this point that the Precentor Martial slammed the doors of his trap shut. Reinforcements from the Second Army were deployed to back up and take over for the battered divisions that that had been holding the line. With Khan Osis still presumed dead and saKhan Weaver also dead at the hands of the ComGuards, the leaderless Smoke Jaguars were suddenly finding themselves on the verge of being wiped out to the last warrior. Rather then let that happen, ilKhan Kerensky invoked his Command Authority to order an immediate withdrawl of all Smoke Jaguar forces and while the survivors of Beta Galaxy wearily obeyed, Alpha did not. Furious at the notion of dishonoring the sacrifice of Brandon Howell and his Cluster at the orders of a Wolf ilKhan, the Dragoons and many other Alpha Galaxy warriors instead chose to push into the pass and certian death. It was only with the last minute return of a very much alive Khan Osis that their death was averted, the Khan showing his tactical brilliance in organizing a fighting withdraw that saved what was left of the Cluster from certain destruction.

Deeper in the pass and hopelessly cut off, what was left of the Grenadiers forced up to launch a suicidal attack on Dinju Heights, never entertaining any thought of surrender as they crashed with a terrible rage against the forces of the 82nd Division and 322nd Divisions. The damaged ComGuard forces fell back to the city itself to await the incoming reinforcements as the Smoke Jaguars charged, and this surprise disengagement gave the chance for the scant handful of Grenadiers remaining to retreat and link up with the withdrawing Dragoons, the Jaguars having been soundly and completely defeated.

Aftermath

“	Your troops forced half of the Smoke Jaguars from the field in three days! The rest of them were forced off the planet by the tenth day, but only because their leaders were too stupid to know they were beaten. Not only are they not accustomed to fighting that long, but they never lose that quickly. The Sixth Jaguar Dragoons have been shattered and the Jaguar Grenadiers have more ghosts in the ranks than living warriors.	”
	— Ulric Kerensky to Anastasius Focht

Clan Nova Cat

Clan Nova Cat was assigned to take the cities of Joje and Tost, facing the veteran Com Guard Seventh Army bolstered by reserve green divisions from the Twelfth Army. The Nova Cat's Khan Severen Leroux chose to launch their campaigns with Nova Cats' daring hover-drop maneuver, with OmniMechs and Elementals leaping from their hovering DropShips in the atmosphere instead of requiring heat dissapating Drop pods.

Unfortunately the Com Guards 417th Division gained air superiority over the dropzones and greatly damaged the landing forces, with a kamkazi attack destroying the Alpha Galaxy command ship with all hands. While saKhan Lucian Carns questioned if Alpha Galaxy's terrible losses had effected its ability to take Tost, Khan Leroux led his troops to the city as planned.

The Cats' Gamma Galaxy and the remains of Alpha pushed past the 244th Division to rush towards Joje, only to be stopped by the 417th and Ninth Divisions at the edge of the city, with the Com Guard forces luring the Cats into attacking via well-defended Vibrabomb seeded mine fields. Air and armor harassed the advancing Clan forces, finally stopping them less than five kilometers from their target.

Clan Nova Cat tried to relieve the pressure on their stalled advance on Joje by sending Beta Galaxy's Forty-Fourth Nova Cat Cavaliers east along the Losiije Lake Road toward Tost, while the rest of the Clan redoubled its efforts to take Joje. However reserve units from 13th and 431st Divisions were already in position along the road, crushing the attempted break-out.

By the third of May, Clan Nova Cat had made three separate attempts to seize both target cities, but each was beaten back as the Cats quickly ran out of ballistic ammunition and missile reloads. However their repeated attacks had begun to weaken the defenders of Joje with the 417th and Ninth Divisions finally forced to pull back and regroup. With the 467th Divisions attempting to cut the Cats off from their landing zones, a desperate saKhan Carns tried to regain the offensive by ordered Gamma Galaxy and element of Beta to stage a fighting withdraw to draw as much attention to themselves.

As the 244th and 467th Divisions headed toward the eastern shores of Lake Losije to combine their forces and harass the retreating Gamma, the bulk of Beta Galaxy emerged from the lake, having secretly and slowly followed the Losiije River into the lake. Caught unawares, both divisions were shattered with the Nova Cats captured several ComStar supply depots in the process. While having finely pushing Alpha into retreat from Joje, the Com Guards recognized that the resupplied Beta and Gamma Galaxies could likely take the city. Unfortunately the 13th and 431st Divisions were still tied up battling Alpha, and the 167th and 312th Divisions unable to not reach the battle field in time, with the Ninth, Four-Hundred and Seventeenth and Hundred and Sixteenth Divisions ordered to leave Joje completely undefended to launch a furious counter-attack.

This tremendous gamble paid off, with the Com Guard Divisions attacking while the Nova Cat techs were still uncrating their captured supplies. Charging into the fray with near-suicidal abandon, the Com Guards pushed the Cats back, recapturing or destroying the supply depots. Both Nova Cat Khans now recognized the battle had turned against them, ordering a general withdrawal to their DropShips. The Com Guards did not let up, continuing to harass the battered Clan Nova Cat forces all their way back to their dropzones, with only a single Trinary of Beta Galaxy OmniMechs making it off-world.

Clan Nova Cat lifted off Tukayyid in defeat, having not set foot in neither Tost or Joje. While a mere three Nova Cat Stars had survived intact, the Clan's forces had inflicted greater losses on the Com Guards than they in turn suffered, greater than any other of battle on Tukayyid.

Results

The ComGuard won a resounding victory at Tukayyid that stopped the Clan juggernaut in its tracks and bought the Inner Sphere 15 years to prepare for a resumption of hostilities from Clans below the truce line. The victory also elevated Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht to nothing short of a legend within both the Inner Sphere and the Clans.

Sources

• Tukayyid (scenario pack)