Excerpt from “Gotterdammerung in the Confederation” by Johan Vyborg, Coventry Press, 3061
“…the initial fight for Sian commenced on the 6th of August, 3057 (as opposed to the popular start of the battle on the 19th, when the actual landings commenced). The fight began with the arrival of 10 Federated Commonwealth RCTs in system, one of the largest assemblance of jumpships in recent memory, with some 600 aerospace fighters escorting the force in. (there were some attached “free aerospace wings taken from various Capellan March commands to ensure extra escort fighters for the drop). The FC forces arrived at the zenith and nadir points a bit disorganized, and spent the next day reorganizing their formations for the ten day burn into to the system mainworld.
The Capellans had half as many aerospace fighters as the FC forces. With the exception of the fighters from House Imarra, the Red Lancers, and some small units made up of instructor cadre from a variety of aerospace schools on planet, most were with low time pilots and were hastily trained and held in reserve for the defense of the planet. Their training consisted of little more than how to keep the fighter in the air, and were taught to ignore all else and go for the transports. This wound up with them becoming easy meat for the FC fighter pilots who were left wondering why their prey did not maneuver to save themselves.
In one tragic case on the 9th of August, a fēng bào zǔ or stormgroup, of 18 student pilots and two instructors from the Footnot Flight Academy took their F-10 Cheetahs launched a ramming attack on the dropships belonging to the 6th Syrtis Fusiliers. One of the fighters got through the fighter screen, and badly damaged the Union-Class dropship Eye of Mendham. The Eye of Mendham managed to offload most of her passengers and cargo before the onboard fires caused a massive structural failure, killing most of the crew. It was a foreshadowing of things to come.
By the time the FC achieved orbit on the 17th of August, the Capellan aerospace response was disjointed, and spent, with over half their fighters having been shot down, or too badly damaged to repair. The overall FC commander, Marshal Linda Archer, ordered that the aerospace forces suppress all aerospace fields, military and civilian within 300km of the dropzone on Wuhan. The two-day battle, saw moderate casualties among the FC aerospace forces, mostly due to ground fire. However, it managed to succeed in destroying most of the remaining Capellan aerospace units, as well as suppressing a fair amount of the Capellan IAD (integrated air defense) network.
Thus, on the 19th of August, the fateful order was given to ‘land the landing force’.”
Sian, Part 1
Attacking Forces: 6th Syrtis Fusiliers RCT, 1st Davion Guards RCT, 4th Davion Guards RCT, 3rd Crucis Lancers RCT, 6th Crucis Lancers RCT, 7th Crucis Lancers RCT, 1st Ceti Hussars RCT, 3rd Royal Guards RCT, Davion Light Guards RCT, 10th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT, 1st Federated Suns Armored Cavalry, 1st Kell Hounds, Jade Phoenix Cluster, 10 artillery brigades.
Defending Forces: House Immarra, Red Lancers, 4th Tau Ceti Rangers (battalion), WOBM 2nd Division, WOBM 3rd Division, 1st People’s Loyalty
Regiment (Regular/Fanatical regiment made up of comb outs and convalescents with battlemech experience, leavened with instructors from the Sian Center for Martial Disciplines, as well as survivors of several units destroyed during Active Panther). 1 battalion of Death Commandos. 3 combined arms divisions of the Sian Home Guard, and 150 “Victory Battalions” (75 of which are on Wuhan).
Results: The initial landings took place in and around Jade Lake, a major city some 50km from the ultimate objective of the Forbidden City itself. A coup de main on the Forbidden City was considered, but it was felt that the defenses were too strong for any coup de main force to hold for any appreciable length of time for a relief force to arrive. The initial landings were conducted by Combat Command Charlie, 1st Ceti Hussars, as well as Jade Phoenix Cluster. Initial contacts with the enemy were sporadic, mostly with light elements of “Peoples Victory Battalions” who were often caught in the process of mobilizing, and easily disarmed or dispersed. This lulled a lot of the FC troops into a false sense of security, and belied what was to come.
On the night of the 21st, as the Davion Light Guards began to probe towards Belin on State Highway Six towards the Forbidden city, Charlie company of the 1st Battalion ran into a major Capellan force consisting of Victory Battalions, Home Guard, and a company of Death Commandos who slipped in behind Charlie Company. A relief force consisting of most of Vanuvar’s Battalion of the 7th Crucis Lancers had to fight their way through a series of ambushes conducted by Home Guard and Victory Battalion elements, and took moderate casualties, but took until the next morning to relieve Charlie company. Charlie company had only 40% strength left, having had to fight off battalion sized infantry human wave attacks, as well as probing raids by enemy ‘Mechs piloted by some of the best ‘Mechwarriors in the Confederation.
The push for Belin continued, with the 3rd Royal Guards attempting to force a crossing across the Perfume river to the south and envelop the city or flank it and steal a march towards the Forbidden City. Both options went awry. First, the 3rd Royal Guards ran into fanatical resistance from Victory Battalion and Home Guard elements, reinforced by elements by a Level III of WOBM. It took six critical hours to force the crossing, and the lead ‘Mech battalion of the 3rd took 25% casualties. The advance down State Highway Six fared little better, with the 7th barely making any progress against elements of the Death Commandos, as well as dug in Home Guardsmen and Victory Battalion members. Often, it took brute force and copious amounts of firepower to shift the fanatical Capellans from their positions, but the FC eventually won the fight. The FC’s air dominance also helped, as it paralyzed Capellan troop movements by day, and forced them into a more positional strategy than the military situation dictated.
But, the Capellans were in dire straits. Capellan casualties were mounting, and supplies were running low, as the first two days of fighting had burned off some 40% of the on-planet ammunition reserve. There was talk amongst the remaining elements of the Strategios of using “special weapons” to redress the balance and buy time for reinforcements to arrive, but House Master Ion Rush asked famously “Where are there enough warriors left in the Confederation to do more than welcome their new masters? We are it.” Of course, no one mentioned this to the increasingly mad Sun-Tsu Liao, who demanded increasingly detailed briefings on the military situation, and often interfered in military decisions daily.
State Farming Complex Nineteen
28km from the Forbidden City
Sian
Capellan Confederation
August 23rd, 3057
Been a shitty time here on Sian, right from the damn start. Sergeant Ben Doorman reflected. His Packrat had been ordered out by the troop commander of the RCT to go “find Capellans and call artillery on them.” While such orders are usually a license for most scouts to have fun and raise hell, on Sian, it was a good way to die. There was a lot of IEDs and vibromines left around, and depending on who laid them, there might or might not be a minefield sketch to capture or interrogate out of someone.
His Packrat had been modified, and sported a pair of machine guns and a Beagle Probe vice the SRM-6in a hastily designed turret. They’d also moved the flamer to the front of the vehicle. He loved the Probe, but he wasn’t so damn sure about the SRM-6 being removed. At least they added some bar armor to make up the difference with the damn Capellan V-LAWs. I’ve had everyone and their granny shoot the damn things at me.
He swung the turret and did a sweep of the barn and the outbuildings again. So far, the probe hadn’t picked anything up. They were trailing behind an infantry screen of seven or so troopers from their own vehicle and had advanced through the open spaces of the farm using what cover they could find. But they’d stayed the hell away from the buildings. All we need is some patriotic Capellan kid or farmhand with a Molotov and an upper floor window. I saw that happen to Bellamy in that village last week. Still can’t get the memory of the screams over the troop radio net out of my head.
We haven’t taken a lot of prisoners yet. So far, the resistance has been either non-existent, or do-or-die fanatical. Nothing in-between. I guess these folks believe we’ve come to carry off their daughters, enslave their menfolk, and eat their babies. And the worst of it is? I really don’t have the time nor inclination to make them believe otherwise. At least I didn’t have to shoot any kids. Some guys in the infantry companies had had to do that. Not sitting well with some of them, so I hear.
He glanced at the Beagle display again. A pair of dots appeared, then more, all centered around the outbuildings. Shit! Before he could shout a warning, a pair of green luminescent fingers reached out towards the infantry, one man being cut in half by a torrent of large caliber rounds, another going down after being caught by two rounds in the chest that the body armor didn’t even stop. A flash then erupted from the room of the barn, a white finger of rocket exhaust stretched out towards the Packrat, which violently lurched to the left and increased speed to avoid the projectile. It overshot the vehicle, and exploded ten meters behind it, the Packrat was at speed now, hitting every bump and undulation in the ground with a violent slam to the occupants of the vehicle.
Doorman hurriedly slew the turret with a while of protesting hydraulics and snapped off a long burst from the linked machine guns. The staccato burst of the firing sounded like a jackhammer, punctuated by the tinkle of spent brass and links being ejected from the guns. Red tracer ripped out like fingers of death in the general direction of the V-LAW shot, the impacts tearing holes into the barn, and sending pieces of wood flying. The surviving infantry dropped prone and added their own weapons to the cacophony, the barn disappearing into a cloud of shattered wood and dust.
Doorman clicked the intercom “Buley, get us within flamer range of the Barn and outbuildings. We’re gonna torch these fuckers.”
“Merkurs, get your scouts tossing smoke and covering me, I am going to torch these buildings and flush these bastards before we lose anyone else, clear?”
“Roger that, boss, try not to die, it’s a long walk home, over.”
“Wilco, Merkurs.”
A small white smoke screen soon blossomed between the buildings and the infantry. The tendrils snaked with the wind, but it did a decent job obscuring things between them and the Capellans. It was on the longish edge of flamer range, but it would have to do. Doorman reflected. He just hoped the Capellans were out of V-LAWs and weren’t trying to suck him in close before firing the next one.
“Ok, Buley, hug the smoke so we can burn that fucking barn!”
The vehicle lurched again, and took off at full speed, bounding over every bump in the ground, shaking Doorman hard, even with the six-point restraints. They pulled up short of the barn, the infantry pouring fire into it to keep the heads down of whomever was in there.
Doorman squeezed the trigger for the flamer, and a gout of flame shot out from the front of the vehicle. The fire hissed and popped like a living, hungry thing as it licked the side of the barn, igniting it within seconds. Doorman gave it another three second burst for good measure, but the barn was fully involved.
Before long, one of the windows burst open, and a woman jumped from the top of the barn, aflame from head to toe. She hit the ground and didn’t get back up. Another figure came out the open barn doors…screaming, but Doorman couldn’t hear what was being said. This one was smaller, obviously a child with a rifle strapped to their back…they too were aflame, their arms flailing as they ran. Suddenly, they dropped like a poleaxed steer. Shit, please tell me there’s not more kids in the other-
A series of sparks and pings erupted from the Packrat as multiple small arms rounds hit the vehicle. A flash then erupted from the building, and the Packrat shuddered, then filled with smoke. Buley was screaming on the intercom. “Fuck! My arm…It’s gone Sarge, it’s gone!” Doorman slammed back a long burst from the machine guns, then grabbed his bailout kit and radio, diving out the infantry bay hatches to the rear. He had to get to the front of the vehicle before…
As he stepped out he realized there was no hope for Buley, the front of the vehicle was aflame, the rocket had arced over the bar armor..and hit the front hydrogen tank for the reactor. Buley was burning alive, and Doorman could do little about it, except run before the hydrogen detonated, so, Doorman took off at a dead run and flopped down to Merkurs.
Merkurs looked at him unceremoniously, “So, we calling for air or artillery?”
“Artillery, I am gonna flatten the shit out of this place.”
Doorman turned his attention to the radio “Stingray Two-Seven to Thor Four-Four, we need fire support at gridref RF11782434, need contact HE, three salvos, danger close, over..”