The Clan Wolf DropShips landed 40 kilometers southeast of their objectives, the cities of Skupo and Brzo, five days after the rest of the Clans landed. Once down and secure, the Clan Wolf Galaxies lined up as if they expected to fight from the first step instead of forming the loose travel collumns they favoured.
Arrayed against Clan Wolf was the Tenth Army, composed of some of the best divisions and regiments the ComGuards had to offer. Having pinpointed the exact position of the Clan landing, Precentor V Margo Koivu deployed her forces along the trees covering the foothills of the Porozistu Mountains.
Contact came as Clan Wolf passed the little hamlet of Forest's End.
The ComStar forces engaged the Third Battle Cluster of Beta Galaxy and the Seventh Battle Cluster of Gamma Galaxy, holding the 283rd Division to fend off the Fourth Wolf Guards of Alpha Galaxy. The 283rd, though unexperienced, fought better than expected, and prevented Clan Wolf from closing a loop that would have trapped the divisions involved in the primary engagement.
While the 283rd held off the Fourth Wolf Guards, elements of the Clan's right flank were harried by members of the elite Sixty-sixth Division*. The Wolf Khans, seeing no easy way around the attackers, hit them in the center of their offensive line. The concerted pressure weakened the ComGuards' formation and forced the 278th from their hilltop position.
Hard-pressed, the ComGuards started to fall back under cover of artillery support.
Aerospace elements on either side were of little help to those on the ground, as they were fighting a running battle of their own. The retreat was accomplished in good order, and the Tenth Army regrouped 20 kilometers from Brzo and Skupo, establishing as new defensive line.
Precentor Koivu was concerned when her forces withdrew from Forest's End without pursuit. She had expected to be relentlessly harried, especially since Clan Wolf had blooded several divisions.
Yet, as she positioned her forces outside Skupo and Brzo, the enemy was not in sight.
The ComGuards deployed scouts and fighters to find the Wolves, but the recon fighters were harrassed by Clan Wolf fighters, and so Koivu's scouts found nothing but trees and hills. The Precentor's concern was validated when the Clan attempted to skirt the Tenth in an attempt to take the enemy's rear or bypass them entirely in a drive for Skupo.
As the ComGuards started to fall back, Alpha Galaxy's Thirteenth Wolf Guards slipped behind the 166th Division*.
The Precentor immediately ordered her reserve divisions forward, sending the veteran 282nd Division to take on the Thirteenth Wolf Guards and force them away from the 166th* and Skupo.
The next two hours would be crucial.
The ComGuards began to pull back from their position, only to be attacked by the rest of Clan Wolf. They could not halt their withdrawal without stretching forces dangerously thin in order to prevent Clan Wolf from slipping through their lines. The Precentor ordered her reserve forces to stand firm in the face of the Wolf juggernaut to cover the retreat.
The 282nd Division made contact with the Thirteenth Wolf Guards, and the ensuing fight, though far more costly for the 282nd, forced the Wolf Spiders to abandon their drive.By the time the Wolf Spiders pulled back, most of the Tenth Army stood on the crest of a series of steep hills overlooking the two cities and the road that connected them, less than five kilometers away.
Before the ComGuards' forces could dig in, Clan Wolf launched another offensive.
Again they engaged the ComGuards up and down the line. When the defenders weakened, they hit the center of the line with a vengeance, straining the defensive perimeter to the breaking point. Having successfully broken through, the warriors of Clan Wolf stood on the road between the two cities.
It was beginning to look as if Clan Wolf would encircle Brzo, trapping most of the Tenth Army.
The Wolf Spiders were in for a shock, however. as they closed on what appeared to be an open hilltop, 'Mechs, tanks, and squads of infantry rose out of a system of trenches to fire on the stunned Wolf warriors. The fighting in the trenches was fierce and unforgiving.
Only sheer stubborness and an unwillingness to retreat saved the Wolf Spiders.
After an hour of short-range firefights, the ComGuard division pulled back, with the Wolf Spiders on their heels.
They reached the road, ready to continue the push northward and threatening to encircle Skupo. Elements of the Ninth Army appeared from the northwest, supported by aerospace fighters and artillery. The fresh troops barrelled into the bulge that Clan Wolf had created between the two cities. Elements of the Ninth were also diverted to reinforce the reeling 138th.
By midnight the battleline resembled the letter "M".
Clan Wolf had suffered a major disappointment in being prevented from closing a loop around either Skupo or Brzo. The ComGuards had achieved a great, but costly, victory because the Tenth Army had held long enough for the Ninth to arrive.
The Precentor and her staff made an important discovery during the fighting.
Not only was Clan Wolf being conservative with their ammunition (unlike the other Clans), but they had configured their OmniMechs with a heavy bias toward energy weapons. In addition, most of the Elementals fought without their usual SRM pack, and supply trains were following closely behind the second line.
This frugality made one thing certain: the ComGuards could not count on Clan Wolf running out of ammunition.
The fight for Skupo and Brzo continued with only short respites. It was centered on the Wolf Spiders, who renewed their efforts against the 138th Division. Under heavy fire from the Clan, the inexperienced and demoralized warriors broke and ran. Despite the reassignment of reserves from the Ninth Army as reinforcements for the 138th, the Wolf Spiders destroyed their prey completely.
As Khan Kerensky hunted, the Eleventh Wolf Guards of Delta Galaxy engaged the 278th Division, and the 166th* fought a hit-and-run battle with the remnants of the Thirteenth Wolf Guards.
The ComGuard forces were finally overwhelmed. Skupo fell to Clan Wolf.
The ComGuards could not slow the progress of the Thirteenth Wolf Guards as they continued to push north to connect with the rest of their force. The resulting encirclement would trap whole ComGuard divisions in Skupo. Rather than risk the loss of so many warriors, the ComGuards withdrew and conceded Skupo to Clan Wolf.
Even retreat would prove diffcult, because Clan Wolf launched a major push at virtually the same time.
This caused considerable confusion among the retreating forces. ComGuard division commanders are to be praised for preventing the confusion from becoming a panic. As it was, the Wolf Guards captured almost two hundred warriors in their encirclement of Skupo.
The Fourth Wolf Guards and the Third Battle Cluster reappeared in the bulge.
Both had been conspicious by their absence during the past two days, and their arrival was dreaded, with good reason. Their main axis of attack was directly aimed at Brzo. The force of so many Clan heavy and assault OmniMechs attempting to breach the defenses around the city was daunting, and it was understandable when the Tenth Army bent. It is to their credit that they did not immediately break.
The divisions of the Ninth Army did not wait for an order to launch their own offensive in support of the Tenth, hoping to slow the Wolf offensive.
The two Clan Wolf assault clusters shifted their axis.
The Ninth's assault, instead of helping to hold the Clan forces, allowed Clan Wolf to breach the defensive ring where the two armies should have met. This split the ComGuard forces into two groups, a dangerous situation.
In response to these new attacks, the Eleventh Army was dispatched to reinforce the faltering defense of Brzo. Clan Wolf was expected to attack the Ninth Army, but advance scouts reported the Clan devoting considerable effort to raiding ComGuard supply depots and creating and concealing depots of their own.
Though it was obvious that Clan Wolf was willing to use its mobility to work around advantageous ComStar positions, they remained in the Porozistu Mountains. The Eleventh ComGuards had been assigned to that area to take part in a direct engagement with ilKhan Ulric Kerensky's forces.
Clan Wolf gradually broke off individual battles to regroup for the final engagement in the mountains.
The fighting began amid a raging thunderstorm. Clan Wolf moved forward slowly, feinting and thrusting to maintain their advantage. The links to their supply bases held, and ComStar's few attempts to disrupt these lines were quickly smashed. Even with this advantage, what little ground was taken was won at a heavy price.
Khan Garth Radick was slain commanding Beta Galaxy.
Clan Wolf inflicted heavy enough damage on the ComStar forces that the Thirteenth Army was comitted to the mountains. Before the new ComStar force could join the engagement, however, the battle for Tukayyid ended.
Edited by Chris Kerensky, 31 January 2019 - 10:01 PM.
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