Editing First Battle of Harlech (3067)

{{Cleanup|reason=review needed|date=September 2023}}
{{InfoBoxConflict
| conflict = 
| partof = The [[Jihad]]
| image = 
| caption = 
| date = 15 October [[3067]]{{cn}}
| place = Harlech
| planet = [[Outreach]]
| faction1 = 
| faction2 = (Defender) [[Wolf's Dragoons]]
| commander1 = 
| commander2 = 
| forces1= [[Waco Rangers]]<br/>[[Smithson's Chinese Bandits]]<br/>[[51st Dark Panzer Jaegers]]<br/>[[Tiger Sharks]]
| forces2= [[Home Guard (Wolf's Dragoons)|Home Guard]]
| forces3 = 
| result = 
| environment = 
| conditions = 
}}
==Overview of the Battle==
The '''First Battle of Harlech''' was the unexpected attack upon [[Wolf's Dragoons]]' home planet of [[Outreach]] by rival mercenary groups hired by the [[Word of Blake]].

===Prelude to the Battle===
After [[Operation ODYSSEUS]], the Dragoons saw the Blakists as a threat, and after [[Operation GUERRERO]], the expansion of the Blakists, and the birth of [[Word of Blake Protectorate]] confirmed their fears. The [[Allied Mercenary Command]] (AMC) was created on the 7th of March [[3066]] by [[Jaime Wolf]] as a response to [[Word of Blake]] expansionism in the [[Chaos March]].<ref>''Starterbook: Wolf and Blake'', p. 16</ref> The founding members included the [[Dismal Disinherited]], the [[Northwind Highlanders]] and [[Wolf's Dragoons]];<ref name="J:FRp44">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 44, "The Jihad In Review"</ref> the stated goal of the AMC was to provide aid to planets who wished to remain autonomous, but could not afford the military forces or mercenaries to stop a determined invasion. While Jaime expressed that the formation of the AMC was not a declaration of war against the Word of Blake, it was clear that the AMC was created to oppose it.

On 11 October [[3067]], the Word of Blake's liaison with the [[Waco Rangers]], [[Leopold Jenkins]], spoke to [[Wayne Waco]] to update him on plans, intending for an attack on Outreach after several days of preparation. Waco attempted to convince him to attack the same day. When the liaison refused, Wayne murdered Jenkins and proceeded with his own accelerated plan of attack.<ref name=AICD>''An Ice-Cold Dish''</ref>

==The Attack==
On October the 15th 3067 the Waco Rangers, [[Smithson's Chinese Bandits]], the [[51st Dark Panzer Jaegers]], and the  [[Tiger Sharks]] (4 mech regiments with support units) launched a well coordinated assault on Wolf's Dragoons. 
* Smithson’s Chinese Bandits bombarded the DropPort and [[Home Guard (Wolf's Dragoons)|Home Guard]] base.
* Waco's Rangers and Smithson's Chinese Bandits ground forces landed at Temptown and then moved to assault [[Harlech]].
* Tiger Sharks returned from a training cycle to join the attack against the AMC forces alongside the [[51st Dark Panzer Jaegers]].

[[AMC]] Forces included; the Dragoons' Wolf Spiders Battalion, Zeta Battalion, Beta and Epsilon regiments. The [[Broadsword Legion]] was hired to aid in the defense. Other disparate mercenary units stationed on Outreach at the time of the assault joined either side as they saw fit. [[Battle Magic]], long allied with the Dragoons, was a primary target for Waco's units. Struck in the early hours of morning by Waco's aerial units, were totally destroyed.<ref>''Mercenaries Supplemental update'' p. 11</ref> Smithson's Chinese Bandits were instrumental in the first strike on Dragoons Home Guard compounds, deploying fuel-air bombs to destroy their objectives, including entire fighter squadrons at Harlech spaceport.<ref>''Mercenaries Supplemental update'' p. 15</ref>

Early on the morning of October 15, a small force detached from the Fifty-first Dark Panzer Jaegers attempted to intercept and kill [[Dameon Guillome]], VP of Logistics for GM-Blackwell, and his staff. While returning to the downtown headquarters of [[Blackwell Heavy Industries|GM-Blackwell]], he was alerted by security of a small force bearing down on the building. Reacting quickly, the staff negotiated a verbal contract with a small group of mercenaries who had arrived that morning for a meeting with [[Hugh Farragut]], lead archaeologist on the Remus Dig Project. The mercenaries held of the Jaegers long enough for Mr. Guillome to leave Harlech and make it to Blackwell's secured corporate complex on Romulus. Intercepted comm logs - turned over by the mercenary heroes who recorded the transmissions - revealed when later analyzed that the Jaegers had a list of high-level GM-Blackwell administrators slated as "''targets''". With this new evidence, it was finally understood that Blackwell Chief Financial Officer [[Thomas Crown]], who had perished when his penthouse apartment suffered damage from an errant missile strike, was actually a target and not a victim of an unfortunate accident.<ref name=Blackwell>BattleCorps: INN Newscast (Solaris Broadcasting Co. section), news item published [28/10/3067]: "Blackwell VP to Honor 'Mercenary Heroes'"</ref>

The Rangers met so much success than new mercenaries, probably ones with a grudge towards Dragoons, began painting the Rangers' insignia on their 'Mechs and joining them. The ''Waco Renegade Rangers'', as Wayne called them, had between 200 and 300 'Mechs, but lacked organization or coordination, attacking more like a horde than a real unit.<ref>''An Ice-Cold Dish'' pp. 171</ref>

An augmented lance of independent six MechWarriors led by Lieutenant [[Elton Rice]] was hired to serve with the Rangers.  Yet they were so aghast at the extremes shown towards the Dragoons and Harlech civilians that they abandoned their contract and defended several thousand civilians sheltering in an office building. Their defense cost many of the lance's lives and all of their ’Mechs.<ref name=TRO3050Up14>''Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade'', p. 14: "FLC-4P Falcon"</ref>

==Dragoons Counterattack==
Only the timely intervention of the Dragoons' Zeta Battalion stopped the rampant killing. The Wolf Spiders and Zeta Battalion fought the attackers and briefly secured the DropPort. Commander Jaime Wolf, coordinating operations from multiple command centers, launched a counterassault in conjunction with elements of Beta and Epsilon regiments recalled from Remus, to finally contain the renegade threat. The mercenary group [[Ace Darwin's WhipIts]] sided with the Dragoons, but despite gathering two companies of other mercenaries, were overpowered by Waco's units on the city outskirts. [[Ace Darwin]], piloting his characteristic pink ''[[Panther]]'', was killed in the fight.<ref>''Mercenaries Supplemental update'' p. 11</ref> 

Converging from three directions, the Dragoons caught most of Waco's forces in a classic encirclement. Each side fought fiercely, with quarter neither asked nor given. In a climactic battle, [[Wayne Waco]] led a company of 'Mechs against Wolf's lance in the shadow of the destroyed Hiring Hall. Although it has been said than Waco's frenzy attacking the Dragoons was fueled by the belief than the Word of Blake forces would arrive to support them,<ref>''Mercenaries Supplemental update'' p. 15</ref> by 18 October, Waco was well aware that no support was coming for his not-quite-authorized attack; the furious assault was known to be suicidal from the start, and Waco didn't expect to do more than hurt the Dragoons.<ref name=AICD/> In the end, Commander Wolf and his lance destroyed all Waco's forces, fighting the renegades to the death, until only [[Jaime Wolf]] and Wayne's 'Mechs stood. Wolf finished the battle on his own, bringing down Waco's command even while dying from mortal wounds. Wolf's ''[[Archer]]'', battle-ravaged and surrounded by a field of destroyed 'Mechs, was still on its feet when allied forces finally made it to the scene, the ruins of [[Colonel]] Waco's ''[[BattleMaster]]'' sprawled before it.

Commander Wolf's death seemed to galvanize the Dragoons. [[Brian Cameron (31st c.)|Brian Cameron]] took the command of the Dragoons, ordering ''Condition Feral'', a bloody no-mercy policy.
The Dragoons' counteroffensive gained the strength and character of a berserker fury. In less than a day, the Dragoons swept Harlech clean of the last renegade forces in a brutal action. No further renegade activity was reported since then, and even the looting one might expect after such devastation had been minimal in the past 48 hours.<ref>''Total Chaos'', p. 40</ref>

The Mercenary group [[Lone Wolves]], divided between pro-Waco and pro-Dragoons, began fighting between them. Some renegade Lone Wolves then defected and joined forces with the attackers, which prompted many of the rest to fight on the side of [[Wolf's Dragoons]], partially to save the Lone Wolves' reputation. The Committee had the majority of the group leave the planet, hunting down the defectors and renegades, destroying their stolen [[DropShip]] in a brief battle at the [[jump point]]. Ironically, the pro-Dragoons faction who stay behind were mistaken as pro-Blakist and destroyed by the Dragoons.<ref>''Mercenaries Supplemental Update'' p. 88</ref> 

In the four days of heavy fighting, civilian casualties in the battle were, at least, a quarter of million, and three or four times as wounded. Harlech City's infrastructure, power and water supply, was severely damaged and most people had to burn bodies on the streets to prevent diseases outbreak. Dragoons military losses also were terrific: The Home Guard and the Epsilon Regiment were destroyed. Beta casualties are estimated thirty-five percent, and Zeta and Wolf Spiders battalions were between thirty-five and fifty percent, respectively.

==Aftermath==
Enraged, the dragoons launched a counterstrike by the AMC against the Word of Blake forces in the [[Battle of Mars]] ended in disaster as the AMC forces were intercepted in orbit and largely destroyed. The units wiped in the ill-fated assault were Beta Regiment, Zeta Battalion, and a battalion of Home Guard, along with the Second Dismal Disinherited and Lindon's Battalion.

The Word of Blake would soon retaliate with a major assault on Outreach, the [[Second Harlech]] this time with the goal of destroying the Dragoons directly. Defeated on the ground, the Word of Blake had WarShips waiting in orbit, and when it was determined victory would not come through a ground battle alone, they launched nuclear strikes against the Dragoons, completely devastating the unit and Harlech. General [[Maeve Wolf]] gathered what survivors she could and evacuated with the assistance of [[Clan Wolf-in-Exile]] and the [[Kell Hounds]], finding sanctuary on [[Arc-Royal]].<ref>''Starterbook: Wolf and Blake'', pp. 16-19</ref> <ref>''Dawn of the Jihad'', pp. 35-38</ref><ref>''Blake Ascending'', pp. 35-38</ref> The First Harlech was one of the first attacks of the [[Jihad]].

== Notes ==
* Although a number of mercenary units in the employ of the Word of Blake went through with the initial attack on Wolf's Dragoons, at least one minor unit broke its contract with their employer (implied to have been a Blakist surrogate) rather than take part in the attack, and a number of personnel abandoned units that had honored their contracts, choosing to instead retreat away from Harlech.<ref>''A Line in the Dust''</ref>
* First Harlech was a real graveyard for mercenary units: [[Ace Darwin's WhipIts]] and [[Battle Magic]], from Dragoons' side, and Waco Rangers, [[Smithson's Chinese Bandits]], the [[51st Dark Panzer Jaegers]], and the [[Tiger Sharks]], from the attackers, were totally annihilated. And between the Battle of Mars and [[Second Harlech]], the Dismal Disinherited and Lindon's Battalion disappeared too. Even the Dragoons were almost totally destroyed, reduced to barely a regiment full of broken and traumatized warriors.<ref>''Starterbook: Wolf and Blake'', pp. 16</ref>

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[List of Solaris Broadcasting Co. articles#Blackwell to Honor Merc Heroes|BattleCorps Solaris Broadcasting Co., 28/10/3067: "Blackwell to Honor Merc Heroes'"]]''
* ''[[An Ice-Cold Dish]]'' (in: ''[[Shrapnel (magazine)#Issue 5|Shrapnel, Issue 5]]'')
* ''[[Jihad Hot Spots: 3070]]''
* ''[[A Line in the Dust]]''
* ''[[Total Chaos]]''

[[Category:Jihad Era Military Operations|Outreach, 1st (3067)]]