Gina Ciampa

Gina Ciampa
Personal
Also known as	Maria Ciampa
Died	3070
Affiliation	Lyran Commonwealth
Profile
Rank	Leutnant-General
Profession	MechWarrior

Gina Ciampa was the commanding officer of the Fifteenth Lyran Guards between 3054 and 3070.

History

Fifteenth Battle of Hesperus

Her unit was on Hesperus when on 28 June, the Fourth Skye Rangers arrived in the system, accompanied by two Fox-class WarShips, the LAS Illustrious and the FCS Indefatigable, both under control of the Free Skye military. Their ultimate objective was the Defiance Industries complex on Hesperus II, the largest BattleMech factory in existence. Fourteen times opposing powers had attempted to seize Hesperus, and fourteen times the Lyrans had rallied to push back the invaders. With Hesperus in its hands, Free Skye would have the military industrial base needed to win its independence from the Alliance. Albion and its Free Skye allies intended the fifteenth occasion to be the charm, with their commanding General, von Frisch, in overall command of the operation, and the Fourth Rangers designated the primary attack force. The Twenty-second Skye Rangers were already on-planet, having used Hesperus III for cover. The Fourth Rangers' flotilla was confronted by the FCS Simon Davion, an Avalon-class cruiser easily outmassing the two Fox-class corvettes accompanying the Rangers. The Simon Davion destroyed the Illustrious, but a surprise attack by the Indefatigable allowed a successful boarding action, giving the rebels control of the ship and opening the door for the Fourth Skye to approach the planet. Defending the planet were 15th Lyran Guards, the 36th Lyran Guards, the corporate Defiance Self-Protection Force, and the infamous mercenary Gray Death Legion, who had earned the enmity of Free Skye ten years earlier on Glengarry.

Defiance Industries, the Rangers' primary target

Von Frisch's plan called for the Fourth to launch their opening assault on Doering Electronics in the Caran River basin, far from the planet's capital city of Maria's Elegy and further still from the main objective of the Defiance mountain complex, hoping to lure the defenders away from their base. Indeed, once the Fourth's opening target became clear, the Loyalists, commanded by Leutnant-General Gina Ciampa, sent the Legion and a battalion of her own 'Mechs from the Fifteenth to defend Doering, along with two Lyran Guard conventional regiments. On June 30, the two forces clashed, with von Frisch boldly dropping two companies of light and medium 'Mechs on the facilities themselves in a combat drop while the rest of the Fourth Rangers landed and engaged the main enemy force. The Loyalist forces attempted to hold Doering, but took serious losses once Albion was able to bring its full strength to bear, scattering the Lyran Guards battalion and driving Legion back. The defenders were forced to retreat to their DropShips and withdraw back to the capital, effectively surrendering the facility to the rebels. General Von Frisch left an armor regiment and two infantry regiments to hold Doering, then set his sights on his primary objective. The rest of the Fourth Rangers loaded back into their DropShips, and headed towards Defiance Industries.

The Defiance Self-Protection Force found themselves under attack by Skye aerospace fighters and artillery, looking to clear the way for both Ranger units to attack. Skye Ranger 'Mechs soon followed, as the Fourth and Twenty-second began their first push. Although the corporate force couldn't match the skill of the rebels (and certainly not the Fourth Rangers) they, equipped with some of the best 'Mechs Defiance could offer, were well entrenched with their own artillery support, and used static defenses and minefields to good effect. With a six-to-one advantage, however, the Rangers drove the DSPF back. It would be up to the Fifteenth Guards and the Gray Death Legion to stop the rebels from taking the factories. The Gray Death Legion desperately attempted to make it back to the Myoo Highlands using MagLev trains, but Skye Rangers were able to ambush the train and scatter much of the Legion. The commander of the Fifteenth, Leutnant-General Gina Ciampa, attempted to send a call for reinforcements from the LAAF High Command through ComStar. The Simon Davion, with its advanced sensors, detected the signal, and alerted von Frisch. Realizing the danger, von Frisch ordered the Simon Davion to bombard the ComStar HPG station from orbit in order to prevent the transmission. Von Frisch understood the danger, but intended a surgical strike. The WarShip Kaptain, Elena Cerlenko, inadvertently exceeded this, however, destroying not only the HPG station but much of the entire spaceport of Maria's Elegy, where both the Fifteenth Guards and the Legion had been based. Thousands were killed, including much of the Fifteenth Guards' conventional forces along with several 'Mechs. The barracks the Gray Death Legion had been using was also destroyed, as well as several Legion aerospace fighters. This action could be considered a war crime under the Ares Conventions, and a horrified Von Frisch resolved himself to capturing the planet to ease the dishonor done to his command and to Skye.

For a full week, the loyalists and rebels sparred. The GDL raided Free Skye positions, attempting to harass and harry them. Despite some successful strikes by the Legion, longtime legionnaire Lieutenant Colonel Davis McCall, the unit's executive officer, was killed during the fighting on 8 July, crippling the Legion's morale and forcing them to retreat. A few days later, the Rangers received reinforcements when the 32nd Lyran Guards RCT, who had been negotiating with Duke Robert Kelswa-Steiner and his representatives for some time, arrived in-system under Skye's banner. Also arriving were the 17th Skye Rangers, who had finally made it back to their home province. Von Frisch ordered the Thirty-second, which would make planetfall on the 18th, to make a low-altitude drop directly on the Defiance complex. The Fourth and Twenty-second Rangers would support the landings, and the entire force would then attack in force. He further ordered the Seventeenth to head to Maldon to keep the Thirty-sixth Guards from joining the other defenders in the Myoo Highlands. This gave the three remaining Free Skye units, led by the elite Fourth, a distinct numerical advantage over the other defending units - the Fifteenth, the Legion and the DSPF - who had all already taken serious damage during the campaign.

First Assault on Defiance

The Gray Death Legion opposed the Rangers on Hesperus

On 18 July, the rebels launched their main assault, with the relatively fresh Thirty-second Guards leading the main drive, supported by the Skye Rangers. The result was the bloodiest fighting of the campaign. The Red Arrows pushed directly into the Gray Death Legion while the Rangers pressured the Fifteenth Lyran Guards, driving them back towards the mountain facility. The Fifteenth managed to destroy the Twenty-second Rangers as a cohesive unit, though with heavy losses. The Legion, however, was forced to hold the line against the turncoat Thirty-second, supported by elements of the Fourth Skye Rangers. Despite massive casualties to all sides, the defenders were driven back into the mountain complex. Lead elements of the Thirty-second Guards actually drove deep into the Defiance cavern in a running battle with the loyalists. In the end, the Legion successfully checked the assault, capturing the Thirty-second's commander, Leutnant-General Alice Day, when her Axman was destroyed by Captain Brewer and his lance. The loss of their commander led the Thirty-second Guards to withdraw, and the Skye Rangers were forced to follow suit. The Legion, however, had been all but obliterated themselves. Colonel Lori Kalmar-Carlyle, the Gray Death Legion's commander, was killed by Free Skye infantry after ejecting from her Victor. Less than a company of 'Mechs had survived, with other combat elements suffering even worse casualties. With most of their ranking officers killed, the Gray Death Legion, one of the most respected mercenary units in the Inner Sphere for fifty years, had effectively been destroyed, their survivors - led by Duke Daniel Brewer, Captain in the Legion and CEO of Defiance - incorporated into the DSPF.

Despite destroying the Legion and heavily damaging the Fifteenth Guards, the Fourth Rangers and their allied units had all been mauled over the course of the fighting. The Thirty-second Lyran Guards, without their commander, were completely demoralized with internal dissent, despite having only suffered moderate damage overall. The Seventeenth Rangers had been mauled opposing the Thirty-sixth Guards, and the Twenty-second Rangers, who had spearheaded the campaign to begin with, were down to a few survivors, a unit existing mostly on paper. The Fourth Rangers, for their own part, had escaped with moderate damage, but could not capture the vaunted factories themselves. As the defending loyalist units lacked the strength to drive the rebels from the planet, however, the campaign fell into a lull. Months passed, with neither side able to do anything to dislodge the other. Meanwhile, the Loyalists of Katherine Steiner-Davion were denied the 'Mechs of Defiance Industries.

Second Assault on Defiance

On 3 March, 3066, General Dundee was able to send reinforcements in the form of the 14th Lyran Guards, another RCT defecting to the Free Skye movement. The Fourteenth, despite being under orders to wait for Maria Esteban to arrive, immediately assaulted the Thirty-sixth Guards at the Maldon mining complex. Although the Fearsome Fourteenth were successful in smashing the Air Surfers and driving them away, the Fourteenth took significant losses themselves during a counterattack by the Air Surfers. Overall, losses to both Lyran Guard units were moderate at that point. Meanwhile, Leutnant-General von Frisch and his troops, seemingly recharged by the Fourteenth's actions, rallied and drove on Defiance once again. The Fifteenth Guards and the DSPF were pushed nearly to the brink with serious losses, but the Free Skye forces were once again forced to retreat. This time, losses to the Fourth were heavy. This last setback convinced von Frisch that the Free Skye forces could not achieve a victory on Hesperus, and that his troops had shed enough blood in the name of independence. He ordered his Fourth Rangers to begin withdrawing on 11 April, heading back to Skye. Ironically, General Esteban was already in-system, burning towards the planet, along with the newly formed Skye Guard as further reinforcements. The question of whether Esteban could have won if the Fourth Skye Rangers had remained would be left to the historians.

Sixteenth Battle of Hesperus

From March 3068 until early 3070 the Word of Blake ran Operation STEEL HAMMER, a series of heavy raids against the planet's defenders. The first raid fell between the 14th and 17th of March 3068, coinciding with raids on Coventry and Donegal; the three raids all featured support from Blakist WarShips or Pocket WarShips.

In the first phase, the Sixteenth and Twenty-second Divisions conducted extensive raiding against the planet's defenders which began in 3068. Over the course of approximately two years, elements of the Light of Mankind were inserted on the planet, using the raids as a cover.

In 3070, a Blakist invasion force arrived in the form of the Thirty-eighth Division and the Fortieth Shadow Division. This force was escorted by the Lola III Class Destroyer, WoBS End of Wisdom, and a reinforced Level II of Pocket WarShips. The invasion's escort fleet overwhelmed and destroyed the Lyran Fox-class corvette LAS Melissa Steiner, effectively blockading the planet. The two divisions landed on Maria's Elegy and the Defiance Industries factory complexes. At the same time, the Light of Mankind teams enacted their long-awaited mission objectives, sabotaging defensive systems and assassinating key personnel. The Fifteenth Lyran Guards, who had also been infiltrated, failed to mount a strong defense and suffered horrendous casualties. The unit was forced to withdraw under heavy fire toward the factory's interior, with Gina Ciampa, the Fifteenth’s commander, leading the last-ditch effort to barricade the South Gate. Though she tried to destroy her own 'Mech to close the entrance, Tau infantry was able to stop her and promptly executed her, seizing the gate. With only fourteen days of fight, Hesperus II was first conquered by an outside power.

Bibliography

• The Dying Time (novel)
• FedCom Civil War
• Field Manual: Lyran Alliance
• Field Manual: Updates
• Jihad: Final Reckoning
• Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents
• Jihad Turning Points: Hesperus II