Notes:
The Australian Mechanised Division was expanded to an Army as Australia traditionally deploys multiple divisions in wartime and New Zealand will contribute at least one additional Division.
Units of the AMD (later the AMA) are named after actual historical units, though the unit sizes may be different. For example, the 39th was a militia Battalion, shown here as a Brigade.
This is based entirely on the original history by Slide
Several historical persons, events and traditions have been created cause for me its the human element that ties you to the story.
I am going to work on the rest of the original history from Slide, do with this what you will :)
Some sections of this entire history are taken from the only Battletech Wiki (www.sarna.net)
Units of the AMD described within this history:
1st Wellington Rifles
Formed for WW1, the battalion took Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli 2 August 1915
Auckland Mounted Rifles
Formed for WW1, the battalion took Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli 2 August 1915
1st, 2nd. 3rd, Australian Armoured Divisions
Formed for WW2, the 1st was destroyed at Ayr, rebuilt completely by 2049
6th Australian Cavalry Brigade
Formed for WW2
1st Australian Cavalry Brigade
Formed for WW2, destroyed at Ayr, rebuilt by 2048
39th Brigade "The Choccos"
Militia unit formed for WW2, defenders of the Kokoda trail.
3rd "Waikato" Mounted rifles
Raised for the Boer war, ww1, ww2, destroyed at Ayr, rebuilt by 2047
10th Maori Battalion
Raised for WW2, destroyed at Ayr, rebuilt by 2047
2014
At the end of the second Soviet civil war, the Western Alliance is formed as the natural opponent to the ACPS.
Australia and New Zealand take their places at the table as minor partners.
Almost all Australian and New Zealand military forces are integrated as part of the WAAF (Western Alliance Armed Forces). However at this point, like the forces of all other WAAF members, the militaries are still separated as independent forces.
Most countries retain small independent forces for "Self defence" not much more than weekend militias. However the Australian and New Zealand Self defence forces are small units of elite troops. These troops are specialists in operating of all the terrain of both countries. Designed to "Hit and run" in the event of invasion these units become important in the formation of the AMD over 30 years later.
After several disastrous deployments to the central Asian republics, all Australian and New Zealand forces are combined to create the incorrectly named Australian Mechanised Division (AMD) despite the force being made up of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Australian armoured divisions and the New Zealand Division as well as ancillary and attached forces.
2020
The first full-scale Fusion reactor is developed. Australian and New Zealand tech and mineral/energy companies invest heavily.
2023
ACPS accepted into the Western Alliance through the Osaka Agreement.
2031
The Australia and New Zealand suboceanic link is built. This is a supersonic sub-oceanic rail system, bringing the two countries, similar in culture and history, physically together for the first time. Powered both by geothermal energy from New Zealand and Nuclear power from Australia, the economies of the two western nations are physically and geographically merged, forming a new minor power in the Pacific. The new geographic region is known as the Australasian Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Several Pacific nations which were protectorates of the previous Australian and New Zealand independent governments, also join this organisation providing bases for the Australian and New Zealand Self defence forces across the Pacific.
Australian Mining and Industry, already a dominant player in world commodities, benefit from the massive amounts of materials required for this project. Several of the Australian companies merge to form "Super" companies which result in the purchase of China MinMetals. These companies come to dominate the worlds minerals supplies over the next several hundred years and invest heavily in multiple disciplines including energy and manufacture.
2044 The Coal War
Worried by the growing dominance of the merged Australian and New Zealand economies and the export of ANZAC culture in South East Asia and the Pacific, an alliance of South East Asian Muslim dominated nations including Indonesia and Malaysia, launch low-level attacks on the northern Australian sea borders.
These attacks range from sponsored terrorist attacks, including the infamous nerve gas attack on Darwin, to small teams of regular forces infiltrated to make strikes on Australian transport and industrial centres.
The major Australian mineral companies, overwhelmed by the serious force being deployed, begin to put serious pressure on the government of the Australasian Co-Prosperity sphere to deploy military forces to fight off these attacks.
Initially defensive positions and aggressive patrols are enough to mitigate the attacks until the full-scale deployment by the Muslim alliance of 16 regular divisions of combined arms forces in attacks against Port Hedland, Dampier, Karratha and Cairns. Darwin is occupied by a small scale drop of Parachute forces and quickly becomes a major supply point with its very short supply route across the East Timor sea being completely covered by land-based aircraft.
2045
Australasian Co-Prosperity sphere self-defence forces have fully deployed into the occupied zones including the entire New Zealand self-defence force. Constant pin-prick attacks on supply lines and VIP's cause havoc on the occupying forces. The Muslim nations have taken the opportunity to flood northern Australia with troops and its citizens, leading to many documented war crimes against the citizens of the Northern Territory and Northern Queensland who resist fiercely.
The AMD, as part of the WAAF is given the task of being an early strike force into Northern Australia as the WAAF forms up to push out the Muslim Alliance, who have refused the orders of the Western Alliance to withdraw.
2046
AMD 1st Armoured Division lands at Rockhampton and immediately begins to drive north towards Townsville.
The weaker eastern arm of the AMD strike force is caught and nearly destroyed at Ayr when Muslim Alliance armour and mechanised infantry forces strike from the West through Mulgrave and the north from Townsville.
This pincer catches the 1st between two forces and the sea. With their backs to the sea and the knowledge that if they aren't stopped the next city to be occupied is Brisbane, the 1st digs in.
AMD 2nd and 3rd armoured divisions push north from Perth towards the great mining towns and ports of Western Australia. The 2nd swings west and up the coast, the 3rd strikes directly north through the deserts and ridges of central WA. Enormous tank battles are fought across the deserts as the divisions drive north.
2046 Port Hedland
AMD 3rd Armoured Division
After a lightning strike across a desert that Muslim Alliance had considered uncrossable, with a quick stop to bring its entire force to bear and strengthen the supply lines, the 3rd slams straight into Port Hedland. Elements of the Australasian Co-Prosperity sphere self-defence forces deploy across the headland and land at the western tip of the Port Hedland docks in what is considered to be a suicide mission. The divisional mechanised infantry and armour by-pass the still civilian occupied South Hedland and take the Airport after fierce fighting. With anti-tank weaponry covering the flat, open space of the Solar Salt farm to the south of the port, 2 full Muslim alliance divisions are now bottled up in the Port Hedland peninsula, unable to escape.
WAAF Naval forces have cut off the Muslim Alliance from its northern ports and with its supply lines cut, the Muslim Alliance units begin to starve.
2046 Karratha
AMD 2nd Armoured Division
The 6th Australian Cavalry Brigade of the 2nd division is the first unit to sight Karratha. The Muslim alliance has used the massive earth moving equipment of the ports to erect extensive defences west of Karratha/Dampier and South of Port Hedland. The 2nd begins probing attacks around the defences to discover their extent.
Probing attacks by the 1st Wellington Mounted Rifles discover a hole in the defences. The Auckland Mounted Rifles and the 39th Brigade "The Choccos" poured through, swinging North and East, attacking the defences from the rear. Karratha falls in 2 days of fierce fighting.
Port Hedland
AMD 2nd and 3rd Armoured Division
With Karratha and Dampier secured by followup WAAF forces, the 2nd raced east to reinforce the attack on Port Hedland. By the time the 2nd reached the port, the Muslim Alliance units had been without food and on limited water for nearly two weeks. In the opening artillery salvo, thousands of enemy troops simply stood up (if they were able) and surrendered. After the initial attack began Private William Stendon was discovered walking back towards friendly lines across the salt flats with a number of tanks and armoured vehicles following him like puppies. When challenged by sentries of the Divisional HQ he declared that these were his prisoners and wanted to know what to do with them. Stendon had single handly captured the 3rd "Wahabi" Mechanised Infantry brigade.
The defenders of Port Hedland were quickly overwhelmed by the 2 WAAF divisions and surrendered en masse, but not before completely destroying the port and its supporting infrastructure.
2046 Ayr
1st Armoured Division
Day One
The initial attacks of the AMD 1st Armoured Division as it pushed north, were weakly resisted by Muslim Alliance forces. Resistance stiffened as the Divison approached Bowen.
The 1st had begun its attacks directly into the teeth of the bulk of the Muslim Alliance forces who were organising to strike south towards Brisbane. Opposing the first was the 22nd "Allah Al Akbar" Brigade, the 10th "Mohammed" and the 5th "Desierto de Las Moscas" Armored divisions. In Command was Malaysian General Fernando de la Cráneo, later recognised as one of the greatest commanders of the pre-Terran Alliance period.
de la Cráneo ordered the 22nd "Allah Al Akbar" Brigade forward to slow down the 1st and dog them with pinprick attacks, forcing the armoured units to stop and deal with each blocking attack as it developed. Making forward movement even more difficult were the streams of civilians moving south to get away from the fighting. Hundreds of thousands were uprooting and fleeing the advancing Mulsim Alliance forces. The 22nd performed its task admirably and by the time the 1st Division reached Bowen they were moving at a crawl.
Australian and New Zealand self-defence forces infiltrated into the positions of the Alliance forces sabotaging supply lines and equipment and providing targeting information to AMD air and artillery assets.
The Muslim Alliance deployed the 10th "Mohammed" Mechanised Infantry Division in the valleys and woodlands to the south of Ayr and the 5th "Desierto de Las Moscas" Armoured Division to the North West as a blocking force across the coast. At 1045am as the 1st pulled into Ayr, wiping out the last fanatical remnants of the 22nd, they were hit by strong armoured attacks along the highway from the west and artillery and mechanised infantry on the southern flank.
Under heavy fire, the combat engineers of the 1st, working behind the meeting elements of the division, created a series of interlocking defensive positions around Ayr. Suburbs were bulldozed and buildings destroyed to provide defensive positions. The heavy mechanised elements of the 1st withdrew to the defensive positions. By 7pm the 1st was in the defensive positions they would occupy for the next week.
de la Cráneo ordered Cavalry units of the 10th "Mohammed" to swing to the south of Ayr, deploying across the southern freeway and cutting the city off completely. The 1st was surrounded.
WAAF Marshal Charles "Wally" Bagby quickly realised the situation he was in. With the disorganised and tired 1st facing attacks from the North and West, they were under heavy pressure to withdraw. The one bright spot was the late addition to the Division of an overstrength Anti Aircraft Regiment. Bagby couldn't stop the fast movers passing high overhead but he could easily keep ground attack aircraft away from his positions. However Bagby also clearly understood, that as a blocking position to defend further attacks towards Brisbane, Ayr was an almost perfect defensive position. He ordered the 1st to dig in and gave the now famous "Stand and Die" order.
2046 Ayr
1st Armoured Division
Day Two
Fighting continued all through the night as both the ARMD and Alliance forces patrolled aggressively to test each others strength and positions. The combat engineers of the 1st continued to build and strengthen the defensive positions throughout the night with many collapsing of exhaustion. At 6am, the early stage of dawn, the Alliance attacked. A massive artillery bombardment from the west coupled with a strong armoured thrust signalled the opening stages of the attack, mechanised forces pushed from the south with little artillery preparation to attempt to surprise the defenders.
Knowing the strengths of the units facing him Bagby had swung the bulk of his armour to the west and his light AT missile units to the South. The Alliance units advanced into the teeth of a hurricane. The Armour of the 5th was savagely mauled by long-range fire from dug in 1st tanks. Although the initial armoured thrust managed to reach the defensive lines, the 5th had taken such heavy casualties they were forced to withdraw, under well-organised fire all the way.
Initially, the attack by the 10th "Mohammed" went well, brushing aside light blocking positions deployed in the night. Believing that the defenders had not adequately deployed to provide an "all around" defence, de la Cráneo reinforced the attack with his scant reserves.
Bagby had left the defence of the west to his second in command, General Richard Kelleher, Bagby himself was standing on top of an APC to the south scanning the tree and ridgelines defined as the killing zone for his forces. He had ordered his men to hide and to wait for his command to fire. As the 10th emerged from a tree line about 1 kilometre from his lines, he waited for them to deploy online and ordered his troops to open fire.
Over 100 AT missile crews and light armour units opened fire at nearly point blank range. The first line of Alliance units was simply obliterated. However, the 10th was an elite unit and they pushed forward into the withering fire. Lead elements, supported by the, until now quiet, artillery units of the 10th, actually reached the lines of the 1st and deployed infantry. Savage hand to hand fighting ensued in the suburbs to the south of Ayr.
With the mauled forces of the 5th "Desierto de Las Moscas" withdrawing to the west, Bagby ordered the western flank light armour to swing south and hit the footholds the 10th "Mohammed" had established in his lines. This time it was the turn of the alliance forces to use the defences created by the 1st.
The AMD 1st Australian Cavalry Brigade was severely mauled by artillery and missile fire as it moved south, however, combined with counter attacks by the 1st Australian Infantry Brigade, the 3rd "Waikato" Mounted Rifles and the 10th Maori Battalion, the 10th were pushed out from their foothold and forced to flee back across the open ground under the guns of the AMD.
2046 Ayr
1st Armoured Division
Day Three to Five
Both sides withdrew to lick their wounds. The heavy fighting of the second day had caused massive casualties on both sides. Smoke filled the air from burning armour scattered across the farmlands surrounding Ayr. Thousands of bodies lay unburied on the open ground and the med tents of both sides were full to bursting. Desultory attacks, not more than reinforced patrols, kept everyone awake during the hot, humid nights.
As the fighting of Day Two had progressed both opposing commanders had secrets.
de la Cráneo was receiving the last units of two more divisions. The 152nd "Manilla" Mechanised Infantry Division and the 12th Divisional artillery group deployed to surround the city. The 152nd to reinforce the 5th in the West and the 12th to be able to bring fire across the fronts of both the western and southern attacks.
Bagby had received word of the success of the attacks in Western Australia, and more importantly of the deployment plans of the WAAF forces. Polish and American Airborne troops would be landing at Innisfail, a seaborne landing would occur by Spanish and Dutch marines at Townsville, reinforced by the British 17th/21st Lancers of the Queens Royal Lancers, 2 more Armored divisions were advancing north at a rapid pace from Brisbane. The plan was to use the air and sea landings to cut the Alliance supply lines along the coast and begin the destruction in detail of the separated Alliance military units.
Bagby had to hold out for another 36 hours before the forward elements of the reinforcing armour from Brisbane would reach him.
2046 Ayr
1st Armoured Division
Day Six
de la Cráneo, believing that the 1st was now badly damaged, running low on supplies and understanding the possibility of reinforcement from the South, decided on a single throw of the dice. He would throw everything he had against the fragile defences of the 1st in a bid to overrun them.
Bagby had spent the night walking amongst his troops, he had toured the entire defensive hedgehog, sitting, eating and chatting with his units. Each conversation was friendly and informal, each conversation reinforced the belief in the troops that there was nothing between Brisbane and the Alliance but them.
At 500am the attack began. With one gun for every 200 meters of the defensive front, the Alliance forces threw hundreds of tons of high explosive at the defenders. The attack almost completely obliterated the forward defensive positions of the 1st. The artillery kept up as the mechanised attack rolled towards the lines, with armour being so close they were receiving shrapnel from their own shells. At 545 the artillery abruptly stopped and the mechanised units of the Alliance, now only hundreds of meters from the defenders charged forward.
Many AMD defenders emerged shell-shocked and were quickly gunned down, but Bagby's tactic of withdrawing troops to just behind the forward defensive line saved thousands. These troops rushed straight back to their defensive lines and met the advancing Alliance forces with everything they had. The Alliance attack surged into the forward lines and stopped. Desperate fighting began around the entire defensive ring.
The 1st took the "Stand and Die" order to its ultimate conclusion. AMD units were wiped out without giving an inch of ground, but they were decimating the advancing Alliance forces. The fight became a slugfest, with the Alliance slowly pushing the 1st back into secondary positions. ANZ self-defence forces began to mount coordinated attacks against the entrenched units of the Alliance 12th Divisional artillery group, forcing them to defend themselves rather than support the forward units.
Hour by hour the 1st was pushed back until the remains of the division were compressed into a 4 by 4 block perimeter from the Ayr Hospital in the North to the Bruce Highway to the West. With a studied calm Bagby shook the hands of his HQ staff and lead them out into the fighting occurring less than 100 meters from his divisional HQ.
At 230PM with the final defensive positions of the first about to be overrun, the lead elements of the 34th German Armoured Division crossed the river North of Home Hill and its forward artillery units opened fire on the rear of the embroiled Alliance forces.
With the German armour pushing north into Ayr proper and German light cavalry units engaging his artillery to the West, de la Cráneo received word of the landings at Townsville to his north. de la Cráneo realised that if he stayed, his forces would be destroyed in detail by WAAF units advancing from the from the South and North. He signalled withdrawal, pulling all of his forces back towards the Flinders highway and Mingela.
The battle for Ayr was over.
The 1st was destroyed as a fighting force for several years, suffering over 60% casualties and the complete destruction of its TO&E.
Charles "Wally" Bagby survived the ferocious fighting of the perimeter and was offered promotion. However this would have taken him away from the 1st, which he refused to do. Bagby rebuilt his unit and other WAAF commanders were always wont to comment on the fanatical support and love offered to him by his men.
WAAF Supreme Commander of Land Forces, Field Marshal Jarsal Singh stated at Bagby's funeral in 2055 "If he had ordered his men into Hell to depose Satan, the 1st would have gotten to their feet with Bagby at the head of the column and they would have followed him into hell, because they had already been there and knew he would lead them out."
The entire AMD lined the road of the funeral procession and stood at attention for hours as his funeral cortège passed. Hardened fighting men cried for days.
The first battle honour awarded to the flag of any WAAF unit was awarded to the 1st for the battle of Ayr.
de la Cráneo would lead his men on one of the finest fighting withdrawals in history, harassed all the way by WAAF units, finally embarking with the ragged remnants of a single brigade from the town of Karumba in the Gulf of Carpenteria.
Ayr was utterly destroyed, Port Hedland and Karratha were both badly damaged in the fighting. Once the last Muslim Alliance forces were ejected from Australia, the governments of the Alliance countries collapsed. The Western Alliance presented them with a massive bill for the rebuilding of the Ports and infrastructure of Australia.
The 1st AMD took as their divisional motto "Stand and Die", eventually this spread across all of the units and became the motto of all of the WAAF Australian/New Zealand Army units. However, only the 1st retained the motto as an official shoulder patch.
The Self Defense forces who had performed so admirably in support of the main force units were adopted into the TO&E of the AMD units. Each division created a Brigade of highly mobile special forces, specifically tasked with the infiltration and destruction of the enemies ability to wage war from behind enemy lines. These units became known as "Chindit" Brigades after the special task forces employed against the Japanese in WW2
2086
The Western Alliance dominates 80% of Terra population and forms the Terran Alliance.
2088
All armed forces of the former nations formed as part of the WAAF are reformed into the Terran Alliance military.
Elements of the AMD, Japanese, Malaysian, Taiwanese, Fijian and Tongan forces are combined into the Australasian Mechanised Army as part of the Terran Alliance Armed Forces. This causes a lot of anger within the AMA as the Malaysian troops made up a large proportion of the Muslim Alliance. After several years of intra-unit violence including many murders, the Malaysian troops are withdrawn from the AMA.
2108
The TAS Pathfinder is launched. The first manned FTL ship crew contains several staff officers of the AMA.
2109-2165
Scientific advancement continues apace and with the discovery of the Kearny-Fushida jump drive, other worlds are colonised.
During this period of relative peace, the TAAF is re-organised into a peacekeeping force. The AMA is expanded to include integrated space, naval and air as well as land assets.
Whilst the AMA is made up of citizens from various member states, at its core it is still dominated by the wealthy countries of Australia and New Zealand. The western colonial heritage of these countries and cultural beliefs, of a fair deal for all and fighting for what is right, creates within the AMA an Esprit De Corps that many other units outside of the AMA aspire to.
The AMA's ethos of "Mateship, Honesty, Integrity, Courage, Honour, and Valour" as well as an extensive educational programme detailing the past deeds of the historical units of the AMA, tie the common soldier to the deeds of those of the past.
2166-2235
As part of TAAF, the AMA are deployed as peacekeepers and they perform extensive duty acting as escort duty for ships bound for new colonies. During this period of the first exodus of Terra, AMA forces escort no less than 50 colonial expeditions. Although escorts are mandatory AMA forces find themselves in the almost unique position of being requested by colonial expeditions with a record of never losing a colony ship.
2235
By the end of 2235 the Terran Alliance has more than 600 member planets within 120 light years of Terra, but there are many more uncharted, non-aligned planets. It is estimated that at this time there were over 300 additional human-occupied planets.
2236 The Waning years
AMA forces are not used during the Outer Reaches rebellion. The AMA had escorted and helped to create many of the colonies in rebellion. It was decided that it would be best to keep them out of the war and not put the unit in a situation where they may be required to shoot at people they considered friends. The AMA spent the entire war garrisoning the central African republics.
2242
The Terran Alliance withdraws all troops from the outer territories. The second Terran exodus begins as poorer nations export the segments of the population they are unable to control.
2303
The first full scale interstellar military operation, Operation "Bright Sky" is launched. Elements of the 2nd and 3rd Divisions land on Tharsis.
2310
Grant Zoli forms the Peoples Independence Party. The party's strong showing in the elections of 2310 made the PIP a major force and possibly the deciding factor in the upcoming Alliance-wide Parliamentary elections of 2314. It was not long before both major parties (Expansionist and Liberals) were offering Grant Zoli both power and money for support
2314
Grant Zoli is found dead and the Terran Alliance Civil War breaks out. Alliance Global Militia units are sent to put down a rebellion in New Zealand.
Training units of the AMA, including the 1/112th and the 3/46th are drawn into the conflict when AGM units fire on civilians in front of their troops. The civil war broke out globally when both major political parties unleash their secretly trained detachments of utterly loyal soldiers. What had been a quiet war of knives and pistols escalated to a full-blown confrontation between two heavily armed sides. Though they fought mainly with each other, many thousands of civilians were killed.
The command elements of the AMA made the decision to remain absolutely neutral in this war. They would obey only the orders of their military and elected political representatives, however as they felt that who was politically in charge was unclear, they would not obey the conflicting political orders streaming into their HQ's.
In all areas where the AMA operated, strict no-go zones were declared and enforced. The AMA deployed around cities and towns around the world, suppressing the actions and movements of all political parties. Compared to the tens of thousands killed in other parts of the world, very few died in AMA controlled zones.
2314
The Purge
In February 2315 2nd Lieutenant Nikki Smith led a team of 7 Chindits in an attempt to assassinate the command elements of the AMA based in Sydney. The attempt failed but several hundred civilians and 2 city blocks were destroyed in the fighting. Papers recovered from Smith's rooms revealed that Smith had been a covert member of the Liberal party and had secretly recruited members of his Chindit team to provide a strike force within the AMA in case it was ever needed. The Liberals, frustrated by the AMA's lockdown of major cities around the world had ordered the strike to enable a "leadership change" within the Army leadership.
Additional documentation showed communications leading to additional Liberal party cells and that certain "accidents" that had occurred over the last few years, was, in fact, Smiths cell eliminating identified Expansionist party cells. AMA Marshal Steve "Sparky" Mackay was confronted with disloyal elements within his own ranks. Further investigation led to the identities of more cells from both parties.
Mackay called together his divisional commanders and the commanders of the Chindit units, all of whom had been cleared as utterly loyal to the AMA. Putting the circumstances to them, he requested, not ordered, their backing in an extraordinary plan.
Loyal Chindits strike teams would be dispersed around the AMA. These units would be placed into close proximity with known disloyal units. As soon as the teams were in place, command orders would be sent to eliminate the agents of the Parties.
Mackay asked his team to agree with this plan, he would not order this as he realised he was ordering AMA units to kill their own. When the circumstances of the attack on the Sydney based commanders and the subsequent discovery of the infiltration by political parties was put to them, all of the gathered Commanders unanimously agreed to the plan.
On March 14th, 167 AMA members were quietly eliminated, their names were listed on a black marble plaque mounted in Mackays Command headquarters. At the top of the plaque were inscribed the words "Lest we forget". This list became known as the "Black List" and was maintained by subsequent commanders of the AMA.
Only an additional 15 names have been added to this list in the subsequent 500-year history of the AMA.
Mackay then ordered the formation of an internal intelligence arm of the Chindits. Infiltration of the unit by outside forces must never be allowed to happen again. The name of the head of the unit was to be a closely guarded secret. Many subsequent AMA Marshall's have gone their entire careers without ever being contacted by Internal Intelligence. The members of the unit are carefully recruited from all areas of the AMA and their motto is Fidelis Ultra Nex, "Loyal beyond Death". The Internal Intelligence arm appears on the TO&E of the AMA but with no listed unit members.
2315
Admiral James McKenna forms the Terran Hegemony.
The commanding officer of the AMA is one of the earliest approached by McKenna as part of his plan for an emergency coup. The McKenna family had served as fleet pilots on many of the escort missions staffed by the AMA and knew the regiment well.
James McKenna and the commander of the AMA, Marshal Steve "Sparky" Mackay, had become close friends and McKenna had spent many holidays with Mackay in his family home on the New South Wales beaches. They had shared many long conversations late at night, decrying the corruption and petty state politics of the Terran Alliance. Marshall Mackay commanded one of the most powerful armoured units in the TAAF and McKenna knew it was vital to have his support.
As a heavy combined arms force with the traditions of the AMA behind it, the posture of the AMA towards any coup would be critical as an indicator of how many of the ground units of the TAAF would jump in the event of a coup. The swift elimination of disloyal elements within the AMA had deeply impressed McKenna.
Mckenna approached Mackay in late March 2315. In respect to their friendship, Mckenna openly shared his plans with Mackay and finally asked him whether he would support him. Mackay rose to his feet and saluted Mckenna, offering him direct command of the AMA if he required it.
2316
The AMA is deployed in the first wave of the newly formed Terran Hegemony "Colonial reformation", landing on Quentin. This is the first time the AMA has ever been deployed as a whole unit. The open plains of Quentin well suited the fast-moving, combined arms style of the AMA and the capital fell rapidly. The AMA settled in as a garrison for the next few years. Another first, the first time the Army was permanently stationed off Terra.
2338
The Terran Hegemony's attack on New Rhodes III was part of Director-General James McKenna's 3rd Offensive launched in 2335. While most of the focus of the attack was on worlds located near the Federation of Skye, there were a few attacks launched against planets in other areas of space. The people of New Rhodes III knew they could not stand up to the Terran Hegemony by themselves. They requested help from the Federated Suns. The Federated Suns agreed to help in return for a hefty payment. During the first attack by the Terran Hegemony, the Federated Sun's Federated Protection Force Navy managed to board and capture the `THS Dragonfly'. Shortly after the capture of the `Dragonfly' the Federated Suns forces retreated from New Rhodes III in face of a vastly superior Terran Hegemony force, leaving the people of New Rhodes III at the mercy of the attackers.
The AMA landed on New Rhodes III with the expectation of heavy combat. However, with the withdrawal of FedSuns forces, the government of the planet realised they were in no position to resist the Terran Hegemony and surrendered.
2338-9 The death of Admiral James McKenna.
When the announcement of the death of Admiral Mckenna in 2338 reached the AMA on New Rhodes III, all members of the Army were ordered to cover their cap badge with a horizontal black stripe to show the units mourning. This badge would remain across the caps of the AMA until the formation of the Star League over 200 years later.
2239 - 2439
For the next hundred years, the AMA was based on the world of New Rhodes III. Over this period the AMA was deployed in numerous minor brushfire wars and border disputes. Despite being centred off-world, initially, the primary recruitment zone for the Army remained Terra. For the dwellers in the urban slums of Auckland, Wellington, Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo, Osaka and many other cities of the Pacific Rim, often the only way off the planet was enlistment in the AMA.
New Rhodes III, as a small rural world, produced very few raw recruits at the beginning, however with the development by the AMA of the New Rhodes Military Academy as the only University on the planet, an increasing number of Officers would come from that world.
These new Terran recruits were mostly toughs from the urban gangs and in many cases urban criminals. The AMA adopted a similar philosophy to another famous military organisation, of "Don’t ask don’t tell". The AMA would take any physically capable recruit and as far as the Army was concerned, your life started at the recruiting station. The government of New Rhodes also negotiated an agreement with the AMA whereby any recruit who served 5 years or more with the Army would be awarded full citizenship and 10 acres of land. The planet benefitted by this arrangement by receiving a steadily increasing stream of highly motivated and disciplined population. New Rhodes blossomed, with both the economic benefits of several divisions based on the planet and with the influx of ex-Military people becoming citizens, becoming one of the most important planets in the sector.
As the population of New Rhodes increased and the first generations of children born to recruits settled on the planet came to maturity, the number of recruits from New Rhodes began to increase exponentially.
2439
The Battlemech is invented. As one of the premier units of the Terran Hegemony, the AMA is one of the first units to be equipped with the new technology. The AMA continued to test and refine the Battlemech design on battlefields across the Terran Hegemony for the next 50 years.
2443
The Mackie MSK-6S is deployed in battle for the first time.
2351
Michael Cameron creates the Peer List, establishing a new noble class based on achievement rather than heredity. New Rhodes III is granted as a permanent fife to the AMA, with the commander of the AMA being granted the title of Duke. This position would not be hereditary and is granted upon promotion to the position of Marshall.
With the acquisition of a world and the position of Duke being applied to the AMA, the process for promotion to the head of the AMA would be changed. The position was no longer promoted by the Terran Hegemony Armed Forces High Command. The Marshall would be elected from a pool of available officers. Any Officer above the rank of General/Admiral (Divisional/Fleet Commander) and the commanders of each of the Chindit Units (Colonels) could be selected. Each Officer must have at least 3 years in their position and must have spent at least one year as combat commander of his or her division or unit.
This provided a total pool of available officers for the position of Marshall of 12.
Commanders of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Armoured Divisions
Commander of the New Zealand Division (Mechanised)
Commanders of the 4 Chindit brigades
Admirals of the fleet of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and New Zealand Fleets.
The head of the Internal Intelligence arm was made explicitly ineligible for the position. However, the commander of the II was given absolute veto right to any name put forward for the Marshall's role. In the event of a need for a new Marshall, all available candidates would be placed in the pool. The II commander would be tasked with extensively investigating the backgrounds of all candidates. Any names deemed to be unsuitable by the II would be removed. The remainder of the names in the pool would be voted on by all 12 of the commanders and a candidate elected. The Marshalls role was for life, or until the Marshall was medically unable to continue command.
This method of choosing Marshalls internally continues to the present day.
2453
Assault units of the AMA make the first "hot" combat drop using the newly developed "Drop" ships on the Periphery world of Haloran V in the Chesterton Commonality. The attack is on the Ceres Metals facility in an outlying suburb of Halloran City.
Battle of Halloran V.
The Battle of Halloran V was important to the history of the AMA for three reasons. It was the first battle in which the regiment met the St Ives 10th Militia who would go on to form the North Wind Highlanders (Marions), it was the last time the AMA operated as a predominantly armoured regiment and it would be the greatest defeat to date of the AMA.
The R&D facility of Ceres Metals outside the City of Halloran had been designated as a target for destruction by Terran Hegemony High Command. TH Intelligence had learned that the facility was about to produce a breakthrough in Myomer technology and it was decided that this advance could not fall into. The AMA was tasked with taking the facility, capturing the technology and if that was found to not be possible, the destruction of the facilities.
As the AMA was forming up on New Rhodes, and unknown to the AMA the newly formed St Ives 10th Militia Regiment was landing on Halloran V, tasked with protecting exactly the same facility.
The AMA was to use the newly developed drop ships to enable them to deliver forces directly into the target zone. However, at this point in their history, the AMA was still predominantly an Armoured unit. Although they had been using Mechs since their introduction to the unit in 2439, the tactics of the Army had remained largely static with a continued emphasis on combined arms units, with tanks providing the heavy firepower. Mech companies were attached to each division but they fell under the command of the senior armour officer on the ground. Many of these men and women fundamentally did not understand this new technology and effectively used them like walking pillboxes.
The 10th St Ives was a newly raised militia unit, created as a stand-alone mech force, trained specifically as mech warriors to leverage this new technology. The 10th was about to teach the AMA an expensive lesson in keeping up with modern tactics.
The AMA planned to drop the 2nd and 3rd Divisions to surround Halloran City, take the Ceres facility, capture the Starport and pull out. AMA infantry, one company of Chindits and one company of Mechs were to hot drop into the grounds of the Ceres metals facilities in the North of the city while the heavy armour and supporting artillery dropped into the open ground to the west. The AMA expected that no force within a days travel of the city would be able to fight off the heavy weapons of the Dropships. Infantry and Mechs would take the facility and pull out to the west, towards the armour who were to take the starport, the port and cut the city off from its main transport routes.
The plan went wrong from the very beginning.
10th militia aerospace forces harassed the drops ships as soon as they entered the planet’s atmosphere. 2 ships were destroyed on the way down. The force tasked with taking the facility landed relatively intact, directly on top of the 2nd company of the 10th. Bombers destroyed the 3rd Dropship before it could disgorge its cargo and heavy artillery began pounding the landing zones. The infantry commanders refused to leave the ships until the artillery was dealt with, the dropship commanders, seriously rattled in their first combat drops, wanted off the ground and back inside the fire support of the battleships in orbit, as fast as possible.
It was decided that the Mechs would be released to deal with the artillery, and the AMA mech bays were opened. Three pilots were killed still inside the mech bays from long range fire from concealed mechs of the 10th. The remaining mechs disembarked and engaged the Liao pilots. The 10th was a light/medium unit, trained in rapid fire and movement. The AMA was used to being used like pillboxes and they were quickly cut to shreds. The infantry commanders watching their mechs being rapidly destroyed, called off the attack and ordered the Dropship commanders to lift off. As the dropships rose they exposed their bellies to the mechs below, who were now in the weapons dead zone of the drop ships. Lasers and LRM's smashed into the engine pods, knocking 2 more dropships out of the sky, belly flopping onto the ground.
The strike force took greater than 50% casualties and lost a full mech company.
To the west things started off a little better with the Armour of the 2nd and 3rd landing unopposed.
The 1st company, 10 St Ives Militia were in the process of decimating the infantry drop around Ceres Metals to the north of the city. The 2nd and 3rd companies had been deployed around the Starport and quickly moved to engage. It took the 2nd and 3rd about 4 hours to reach the dropships of the AMA with the 1st company coming from Ceres metals only an hour behind them. News of the debacle to the north had already reached the AMA commander, General Andrew Best, and he was aware of the advance of the mech companies facing him.
Best knew that the plan was a write-off. He had the bulk of the 2nd armour on the ground and about half of the 3rd. Deploying his armour into a defensive position to receive the attack of the 10th St Ives he ordered the drops ships to take off and leave his men behind. In contact with the task force commanders in orbit, he formulated a plan to try and break off the world.
Best would receive the attack with, in his words, “Spears grounded” and once the initial fury of the attack was dispersed he would take his men on a run to the Starport. The dropships would dis-embark troops to the Battleships, refuel and return to pick his men up under the guns of the warships. It was a good plan for armour fighting armour. Unfortunately, they were facing well-trained Mechwarriors. The first engagement went well with the tanks forcing the scout elements of the 10th 2nd company to withdraw leaving 2 mechs smoking.
Best, thinking the worst was over, ordered his troops to mount up and roll towards the Starport. This was when he ran into the medium Mechs of the bulk of the 10th. The 2nd armoured were decimated. The fight became a running battle with armour ducking and diving behind any raised point in the ground to keep the Mech fire away from them. Over a hundred smoking tank hulks were left along the Causeway Highway as Best ordered his troops to “run to the ‘Port as best you can”.
Several Mechs were disabled during the fight, mainly by suicide attacks, tanks running into their weak ankle joints, but the 10th lost not a single Mech to enemy fire during the pursuit. As the ragged remains of the AMA forces approached the Starport the firepower of the orbiting Battleships came into play. Laser weaponry deployed from 10 miles up drew a line of fire to the rear of the retreating forces. The pursuing 10th was forced to break off and head deep into the suburbs to avoid the fire by sheltering amongst civilian populations.
The Dropships deployed and the AMA were routed from the world of Halloran V.
This would not be the first or the last time the AMA would meet the 10th.
2455 - 2500
The response to the battle of Halloran V amongst the senior commanders of the AMA was of absolute horror. The elite 2nd and 3rd Armoured Divisions of the Australian Mechanised Army, with a proud history stretching back over 300 years, had been decimated by a single company of Mechs. Consternation reigned and many long nights were spent with senior commanders yelling at each other about what to do next.
General Best, returned from Halloran V, missing an eye and a hand, made a suggestion about how to solve the impasse.
"Why don’t we ask the Mech heads?"
The senior Mech Commander, Captain Suzanne James was summoned to stand before the senior officers of the High Command and asked: "How did this happen? what do we do now?"
Captain Suzanne James was the right person in the right place at the right time. Without once saying "we told you so" James introduced the Senior Command of the AMA to the work of Lieutenant Colonel Brad Ponting, a military philosopher and tactician attached to Terran Hegemony Research and Development in Paris in 2350. Much like other great military minds such as B.H.Liddel-Hart, Ponting had seen the effect the new weaponry would have on the battlefield well before anyone else. Writing like a man obsessed, he had published a book, "Singularity: The future of the Battlefield into the next Millennia". This slim volume with the grandiose title; fell on deaf ears within the military elite of the time and dismissed as some kind of crackpot. Ponting would die on a battlefield in the Capellan worlds, not far from New Rhodes, less than a year later.
His book, however, caught the eye of the new breed of military men and women, Mechwarriors. Passed from hand to hand, whispered almost in secret, the book crossed political boundaries and spread throughout the militaries of the Inner Sphere. In some units it was regarded as holy writ, to be obeyed in all things, in others it was regarded as a good start and was extended and modified by thousands of minds.
Captain James had been given her copy by her training Seargent when she was accepted into the New Rhodes Military Academy Mech School. He told her "she would never get to use the tactics in it in the AMA, but he was damned if he would send out a Mech warrior into battle who didn’t have an understanding of the tactics taught by the book".
It was this book, 20 years old, dog-eared, missing its cover and covered in tiny handwritten notations that James placed on the table in front of her Commanders.
2500
The debate raged for the next 3 months with James involved every step of the way. Towards the end, Marshall Aaron Dawes summed up the discussion:
* The AMA would reorganise completely as a Battlemech organisation.
* Terran Hegemony High command would be informed that the AMA would not be available for sole unit deployments for the next three years as it re-organised and retrained.
* The AMA would remain a combined arms unit, retaining its infantry, space, aerospace, artillery and armour units.
* The AMA would reorganise as a Battlemech combined arms “Heavy Division”, comprising of 8 full regiments of mechs (2 Regiments per Brigade) plus supporting arms.
* The AMA would organise to allow it to be self-supporting on the Battlefield.
* The AMA would request the building of Mech, armour and weapons factories and an orbiting fort on New Rhodes III to allow it to become completely self-sufficient in the procurement and supply of its weapons needs.
* The AMA would retain its historic unit designations and names.
* Based on the new designations of units based around mech deployments, the AMA would return to its original designation of the Australasian Mechanised Division (AMD)
* The Infantry Regiments would be re-organised as conventional infantry forces but with a strong anti-mech focus.
* Armour units would be organised as light elements for scouting and Assault elements for anti-mech efforts.
The AMD would be organised as follows:
To&E
Australasian Mechanised Division
Command Rank: Marshall
1st Armoured Brigade
Command Rank: General
All Regimental Command ranks set at Colonel
Assault Mech Regiment "39th Regiment - The Choccos"
Medium Mech Regiment "1st Wellington Mounted Rifles"
Assault/Heavy Tank Regiment "12th Armoured"
Infantry Regiment "10th The Wellington Infantry"
2 Heavy Artillery Regiments "11th Artillery Regiment", "13th Artillery Regiment"
All Squadron Command ranks set at Squadron leader with an army equivalent of Lieutenant Colonel
2 Squadrons of Aerospace "14th Fighter, 15th Bomber"
Fleet Command Rank set at Admiral
Assault Transport fleet "Kokoda"
Brigade command rank set at Colonel
Chindit Brigade "Port Hedland"
2nd Armoured Brigade
Assault/Heavy Mech Regiment "1st Auckland Mounted Rifles"
Light/Medium Mech Regiment "9th Australian Cavalry"
Assault/Heavy Tank Regiment "13th Armoured"
Infantry Regiment "14th Infantry"
Artillery Regiment "3rd Artillery Regiment"
2 Squadrons of Aerospace "16th Fighter, 17th Bomber"
Assault Transport fleet "Auckland"
Chindit Brigade "Ayr"
3rd Armoured Brigade
Assault/Heavy Mech Regiment "The Maori"
Light Mech Regiment "1st Australian Cavalry"
Assault/Heavy Tank Regiment "14th Armoured"
Infantry Regiment "15th Infantry"
Artillery Regiment "4th Artillery Regiment"
2 Squadrons of Aerospace "18th Fighter, 19th Bomber"
Assault Transport fleet "McKenna"
Chindit Brigade "Karratha"
The New Zealand Division (4th NZ)
Light Medium Mech Regiment "1st Otago Mounted Rifles"
Light Mech Regiment "6th Australian Cavalry"
Medium Tank Regiment "2nd Light Horse"
Infantry Regiment "3rd The Otago Infantry", "4th The Canterbury Infantry"
2 Artillery Regiment "5th Artillery Regiment" "6th Artillery Regiment"
2 Squadrons of Aerospace "20th Fighter, 21st Bomber"
Assault Transport fleet "Ayr"
Chindit Brigade "Karumba"
2500-2504
The AMD undergoes a complete re-organisation and re-training. Captain James is promoted to Colonel and assigned to the command of the 1st Otago Mounted Rifles. Constant border raids from the five houses keep all HAF units on their toes, but no significant battles take place within TH borders. With the AMD partially removed from the TAF order of battle, the unit is used in only small-scale deployments. The bulk of the deployments fall to elements of the Chindit Brigades as Special Forces scouts.
2505-2542
The reign of Deborah Cameron began the implementation of a “peacemaker” philosophy for the Terran Hegemony. While this was largely successful all HAF forces become run down, with poor morale, little training very little real-world experience.
AMD commanders remain loyal to the Cameron’s and with the emphasis on re-arming and retraining over the last few years the AMD suffers very few of the morale problems endemic in many other units of the HAF.
2542-2548
Joseph Cameron is elected to the leadership of the Terran Hegemony and continues his mother’s policy of “diplomats over soldiers”.
2549
Stress within the HAF high command reach a breaking point and lead to Joseph Cameron’s eventual assassination at the hands of the military. AMD Chindit ceremonial units are on Terra but are not on duty with Joseph Cameron at the time and take no part in the killing.
Joseph Cameron is assassinated on September 28th, 2549. Ian Cameron immediately declares himself Director-General of the Hegemony without any of the usual trappings of elections. The next day, elements of the 51st Dragoon Regiment, as part of a plan in support of the assassination, begin a military coup to take control of the Hegemony. The 51st seized the centres of network control and occupied all political buildings, principally in Geneva.
The Dragoons were tasked with supporting the assassination of Joseph Cameron and taking power for the HAF. Ian was located in Mexico City, where he was staying at his local private residence. On hearing of the revolt, he deployed a regiment of the Cameron family Household Guard to Switzerland and ordered them to surround the city of Geneva. With the coup defeated, Ian called on all soldiers of the Terran Hegemony Armed Forces to swear an oath of loyalty to the Hegemony and the Cameron family.
During the coup attempt, the 3rd company of the Chindit Brigade “Ayr” were serving a stint as bodyguards to the Cameron’s. The 3rd company acted with great professionalism, ensuring the safety of the Cameron family and of Ian personally.
As a result of the coup attempt, all HAF forces are forced to take an oath to the Terran Hegemony and the Cameron family.
The AMD, not only happily takes the oath, they turn the day of the swearing into an annual unit holiday, still celebrated to this day. All members of the AMD make their oath to the Cameron's. Even ancillary support personnel are required to take the oath or lose their ability to continue to be employed by the AMD. With the massive presence of the AMD, the University, and the industrial facilities owned and run by the AMD on New Rhodes III, the entire population elects to take the same oath. “Swearing in Centres” are set up around the planet.
As a reward for their long service to the Cameron’s, the loyalty shown by New Rhodes III and the faithful duty discharged under combat conditions by the 3rd Company, the “Ayr” Brigade, Ian Cameron adds the AMD to his personal guard, allowing them to be known as a "Royal Regiment" of the Cameron Family. The AMD added the title “Royal” to their flashes and they are renamed, the Australasian Royal Mechanised Division (ARMD).
At the time the Hegemony's economy was threatened due to a lack of resources within the Hegemonies borders. Ian’s ambitions to push further technological improvement would be unattainable unless more resources could be found. Ian understood the risk of the Hegemony becoming dependent on the Inner Sphere Star Lords for its technical and manufacturing needs, so he turned to his long-held dream; unification of humanity under the Hegemony's leadership.
Ian laid his plans and began to lay the foundations of his newly imagined state; this dream began with a revitalization of the Hegemony’s armed forces. Once a military-wide rebuilding programme was underway he then turned to Hegemony's Foreign Relations department. After years of massive spending within diplomatic circles, Ian threatened the heads of department to show a return on the Cameron family’s investment and trust. In addition, he began the development of an Interstellar Communications network. Ultimately he was laying plans for the Star League, which would tie the economies of the Great Houses to that of the Terran Hegemony. Ian doubted he would see his plans come to fruition as he believed that it would take 50 years for his planned Star League to be realized, in the end, it would take 22 years.
2571
After a series of secret and public treaties are signed (Andurien Peace Treaty 2556, Treaty of Geneva 2556, The Tharkad Accords 2558, New Avalon Accords 2567 and the Treaty of Vega 2569) Ian Cameron is elected First Lord of the Star League. The 2,000 page Star League Accords are signed into law in Hegemony Congress in July 9th, 2571. Cameron appoints his wife, Shandra Noruff-Cameron, the former commander of the HAF, as the first commander of the Star League Defence Force.
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Brigades of the ARMD all provide escorts and ceremonial units during the Star League creation ceremonies. Captain Fernando Castillo, Commander 3rd Company, “Ayr” Chindit Brigade, bodyguard to the First Lord, is the man physically closest to Ian Cameron when he signs the Star League accords.
Immediately after the signing of the Star League Accords by the First Lords, Cameron sent invitations to all the states of the Periphery. The invitation to join the Star League is rejected unanimously by the Periphery states. The vision of a unified humanity under the Star League is about to bear very bitter fruit as Cameron’s vision becomes an obsession. Star League propaganda, portraying the periphery states as “lost and dangerous people” is churned out across all member states of the Star League.
2572
Ian Cameron requests the First Lords of the Star League to bring their units back to a war footing.
** Certain portions of this section of the history taken and rewritten from http://www.sarna.net**
2572
Ian Cameron requests the First Lords of the Star League to bring their units back to a war footing.
ARMD units take part in the United Triumph Military Exercises where 13 SLDF regiments face off against 10 similarly equipped House units. It's is a resounding disaster with the more experienced house units trouncing all SLDF units involved. ARMD does better than most when the 1st and 3rd Brigades come into contact with Marion's Highlanders of the NorthWind Highlanders. Marion’s had evolved from the original 10th St Ives Militia that had decimated the 2nd and 3rd AMA Divisions on Halloran V and the ARMD units were out for revenge. Although the battle is rated as a defeat for the ARMD Brigades, it is considered a very close call with the Highlanders effectively almost destroyed as a fighting unit according to the exercise judges.
Several events occur over the next 3 years, each causing an escalation in the tension between the Star League and the Periphery. The Santiago Massacre of civilians by the 17th Galedon Regulars, the miss jump of Taurian Warships into FedSuns space and the subsequent destruction of the Taurian fleet by SLDF/FedSuns forces, the rumours of a regiment of Battle mechs within the Outworlds Alliance and finally the Malagrotta Crisis.
Ian, having offered his help to the Taurians in negotiations with the Federated Suns would be publicly rebuffed. In anger, Ian Cameron then publicly sides with the Federated Suns and informs the media that it was the Taurians who had caused the events. He allows the Federated Suns to claim compensation for their “losses” in the “Taurian invasion”. The Taurian Concordat government refuses to pay reparations and withdraws from negotiations while upgrading their military posture. The invasion and its aftermath would later be known as the Malagrotta Crisis.
2575 The Reunification War
On Jan 25 2575 Ian Cameron Issues the "Pollux Proclamation" backed by the Council of the Star League. This de-facto declaration of war claims the right for the Star League and its Council, the government of all known human space. It is possibly the most blatant land grab in history. Most Periphery states go on immediate high alert.
ARMD units are immediately ordered to the Taurian Concordat as part of I Corps. Also ordered into the Concordat are SLDF Corps III, IV and VI.
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