System: Cursa

[3036] The last invasion of 3036 – as part of the FWL’s campaign to re-conqueror the rogue Andurien province - launched on 4 December, the “liberation” of Cursa was expected to be as easy as that of Ingomish or Leyda. Indeed, a succession of clashes with the garrison troops ended in the invaders’ favor and the two units — the green Twenty-fifth Marik Militia and the elite First Free Worlds Guards — prepared for an uneventful occupation.

The bomb that ripped through the Guards’ command center a month after the invasion was a complete surprise to the FWLM troops. The experienced Guards were effectively decapitated by the strike and were ill-prepared for what followed: an all-out assault on their positions by Andurien troops, and not the planetary garrison but rather elements of the Fourth Defenders of Andurien who had been on-world when the invaders landed but who had remained hidden.

Both loyalist units took a drubbing — the Militia was reduced to battalion strength, and only the assumption of command by Force Commander Alfred Gradjeda prevented them from being overrun. Gradjeda would go on to wage a three-month campaign against the Anduriens, fighting with only the resources available as events elsewhere in the League threw the FWLM command structure into chaos, eventually driving the remaining Fourth Defenders off-world in May 3037 (they withdrew to Andurien).

The humiliation of the unit’s mauling by the Andurien forces would remain with the First Guards for some time, coloring their actions later in the war. The Twenty-fifth, rendered combat-ineffective by the campaign, were withdrawn to Oriente.