The name or term "Battle of Klendathu" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Battle of Klendathu (disambiguation).
The Battle of Klendathu refers to the invasion of Federation Forces on the Bug homeworld Klendathu. The attack was a complete defeat, resulting in heavy casualties for the United Citizen Federation.
History[]
Planning[]
In response to the Meteor Attack on Buenos Aires, the Federation Council convened in Geneva where Sky Marshal Dienes announced plans for an offensive against Klendathu, which was identified as the Arachnid home world and source of the Meteor attack.
Sky Marshal Dienes stated that the invasion was to "ensure that Human civilisation, not insect, would dominate this galaxy now and always."
The staging point for the attack on Klendathu was Battlestation Ticonderoga, located deep within the Arachnid Quarantine Zone. Multiple Mobile Infantry Divisions and Federation Fleet assets were committed to the offensive.
Fleet was expected to gain air superiority early on with minimal resistance as the only known Arachnid anti-air/orbital capabilities in the form of Plasma Bugs were believed to respond with random and light fires in support of the Arachnid ground forces. This would allow the Fleet to position directly over the deployment zones allowing for rapid Mobile Infantry deployments to the surface.
Once on the ground the Mobile Infantry would establish a beachhead, and destroy any Arachnid resistance encountered while Fleet complete a lodgement of ground forces and supplies to Klendathu. This rapid assault on the surface combined with close air support provided by TAC fighters would provide the numbers and fire-power required to counter the numerical advantage of the Arachnids before they could even begin to mobilise against the Federation Armed Forces. These factors would allow both Fleet and Mobile Infantry to dominate the surface against any Arachnid response.
The Battle[]
Rodger Young views a ship damaged by Bug Plasma
The Wildcats face an incoming Arachnid swarm
The offensive began with the arrival of the Fleet in the Klendathu System, consisting primarily of Corvette Transports and support craft. Corvette Transports launched TAC fighter squadrons while deploying entire Mobile Infantry Divisions via DR-4 Viking dropships to the planets surface.
Plasma Bugs from the surface of Klendathu fired their first initial salvos of anti-ship fire within minutes during the troop deployments from orbit. The Corvette Transport; Rodger Young had completed thirty five percent of it's Mobile Infantry deployment by the time the Plasma Bugs had opened fire on the Fleet. As predicted by Military Intelligence the Bug Plasma did in fact appear to be random and light, the first salvos coming within close proximity to fleet ships, but with no recorded hits or causalities sustained by Fleet, allowed Mobile Infantry deployment to continue unimpeded.
However, moments later once the Corvette Transports started to complete their troop deployments, Plasma Bug Batteries began sustained and accurate anti-ship fire, causing catastrophic damage to the Fleet. In one incident. damage sustained by a Corvette Transport caused the ship to veer off course and collide with another Corvette Transport, causing the Rodger Young to make an evasive maneuver to avoid collision before being hit by bug plasma towards the nose and bridge of the ship. Despite these damages, the ship would survive the battle intact.
During the chaos in high orbit, the first wave of Mobile Infantry units reached the surface within minutes of deployment, although some DR-Viking dropships were lost due to Plasma Bug fire, the majority of the deployments were successful, with thousands of infantry securing the drop-zones and advancing outward, with no initial resistance met. Various sporadic skirmishes would begin to occur as Mobile Infantry companies would encounter and destroy Plasma Bugs and Bug Holes with the use of Tactical Oxygen Nukes and engage isolated groups of Warrior Bugs with rifle fire.
As the Mobile Infantry continued to advance and extend their perimeter around the primary landing zones, small skirmishes against Arachnid ground forces would begin to escalate into large scale engagements as it was discovered that the Arachnids had in fact already mobilised in greater numbers than anticipated.
Mobile Infantry units attempted to repel the Arachnids, fighting in lined formations with rifle fire. However due to the damage being sustained by Fleet in orbit from continued Plasma Bug fire, the infantry on the ground were left without sufficient close air support to counter the Arachnid numerical superiority, and because of this, ground forces were unable to prevent or repel the Arachnids from advancing directly into Mobile Infantry positions. This resulted in Mobile Infantry units being forced to engage Warrior Bugs in close quarters combat, with troopers being fatally wounded or outright killed by stabbing and/or dismemberment.
Within the first thirty minutes of the battle, the Mobile Infantry divisions, unable to gain ground against the Arachnids, and sustaining heavy casualties, had lost the initiative. It was no longer possible for the Mobile Infantry to deny the Arachnids the ability to mobilize within the area of operations or even maintain security of the landing zones. In addition to this, due to the amount of damage still being sustained by the Fleet, there was no ability to provide the necessary close air support to troopers on the surface in order to bombard and destroy the high concentrations of Warrior Bugs assaulting the Mobile Infantry positions.
With no other option, the Federation Armed Forces issued a general retreat. All Mobile Infantry divisions were ordered to fall back back to the landing zones for extraction. The retreat quickly became disorganised as retreating infantry units were continuously pursued by Warrior Bugs, with many troopers killed attempting to cover the retreat of other units or attempting to rescue other troopers.
During the retreat, the Mobile Infantry unit; Roughnecks 2-0 managed to facilitate in the rescue of multiple troopers that may have otherwise been killed in battle. It is unknown if other units performed similar actions or with such success.
Eventually, all surviving Mobile Infantry units were extracted from the surface and transported back to the remaining Corvette Transports in orbit, leaving the surface area of operations in complete Arachnid control. Fleet remnants then retreated to Battlestation Ticonderoga, leaving no remaining Terran Armed Forces in the system and effectively ending the offensive on Klendathu.
Aftermath[]
- "To fight the Bug, we must understand the Bug. We can ill afford another Klendathu!"
- —Sky Marshal Tehat Meru[src]
The Rodger Young and a few other ships bearing scars of battle as they retreat to Ticonderoga.
In total, the Mobile Infantry suffered over 300,000 casualties in the Klendathu Invasion, 100,000 of which died in the first hour. Starship Troopers (1997 film)
After the surviving Mobile Infantry troopers were recovered by dropships and brought back aboard the Corvette Transports, the remaining ships in the fleet retreated to Fleet Battlestation Ticonderoga. Many of the ships that participated in the battle were non-operational and had to be towed to safety. The Terran Navy was cut to ribbons when so many of its ships were massed in Klendathu's lower orbit, limiting the operational deployment of Federation forces in Arachnids space for some time.
Well over 300,000 ground troops were killed in the battle, with 100,000 killed in the first hour alone. By any measure, the battle was an unmitigated disaster. Apart from material losses, the psychological effect of the disaster drastically damaged morale across the Federation. Strategically, with so many ships and soldiers lost in one fell swoop, there was no way surviving Federal Military forces could effectively combat the inherent numerical superiority of Arachnid forces, which began swarming Federation holdings in all directions.
Sky Marshal Dienes resigned in shame after the disaster, and was succeeded by Sky Marshal Tehat Meru. Maru's leadership outlined a new grand strategy of using surviving forces to clear out the planets outlying Klendathu one at a time, which were less heavily populated by the Arachnids. This would follow the classic routine of heavy aerial bombing runs by TAC Fighters, followed by sending in the Mobile Infantry to mop up the survivors and clear out subterranean Bug holes. At the same time, this would provide more opportunities to observe and research the Arachnids to examine them for tactical weaknesses. Starship Troopers (1997 film)
Notable Combatants[]
- Lieutenant Willy †
- Private Shujumi †
- Private Kitten Smith †
- Private Katrina McIntire † (Likely dead, possibly listed as M.I.A.)
- FedNet Correspondent †
- Federal Network cameraman †
- Ethan Ricker † (M.I.A.)
- Private Johnny Rico (wounded, mistakenly marked as K.I.A. on official medical records)
- Private Dizzy Flores
- Private Ace Levy
- Lieutenant Zander Barcalow
- Lieutenant Carmen Ibanez
- Captain Deladier
- Sky Marshal Dienes
The Wildcats[]
The Wildcats were deployed in the first wave. Led by Lieutenant Willy, the Wildcats charged towards enemy positions without being detected. The company came across two Plasma Bugs which were quickly killed by two Tactical Oxygen Nukes. Lieutenant Willy led a further charge dividing the company into squads. Running around a large rock, a surprise attack by a Warrior Bug tears Lieutenant Willy to bits in a matter of seconds. The remaining troopers, under Squad Leader Ace Levy, kill that Warrior but soon hordes of dozens, maybe even hundreds, of Warriors appear. The troopers, unsure of their orders, do nothing and request orders from Ace, but Ace filled with fear freezes and simply says "I don't know". It was not until Johnny Rico seized command and issued the orders they needed "Kill them, Kill them all!" that they reacted. The squad engages the Warriors losing several soldiers such as Shujumi, who ran out in front of the squad and became easy prey, and Katrina McIntire, who fled before falling into a Bug hole and being dragged into a tunnel to her doom by a Warrior.
When the general retreat was called, with troops around them already in retreat, the Wildcats retreat in some disorder with many stragglers becoming easy picking for Warrior Bugs. Kitten Smith was then maimed to death by a Warrior Bug. Johnny Rico, seeing his friend die, fired upon the Warrior, knocking it to the ground. Believing the Warrior Bug to be dead, Rico relaxed and lowered his weapon, but the Warrior unexpectedly used its last burst of energy to lunge at Rico, piercing the trooper through the leg. Two more Warriors then spotted and charge towards him but using his Morita Assault Rifle's inbuilt shotgun Rico was able to fight them off, just barely. Crippled, Rico was unable to return to the dropships. Rico was declared Killed in Action causing Carmen to mistakenly take him as dead. Johnny Rico was, however, rescued after the battle by the Roughnecks.
After the battle, the Wildcats were almost entirely wiped out, with Troopers Rico, Flores, and Levi, as the only known members to survive. The unit was disbanded, and the aforementioned three were transferred to the Roughnecks. Starship Troopers (1997 film)
FedNet[]
The Federation was confident of an easy victory and sent a correspondent to report live from the surface of the planet during the invasion. When a general retreat was ordered, however, the reporter was killed by a Warrior Bug caught live on camera shortly after the broadcast began, and the cameraman then retreated after Rico tells him to get out of there.
With the camera still rolling, the camerman recorded Kitten's death, and Rico's rage over his death. The Warrior Bug responsible, then attacked the camerman, impaling the unfortunate man through the chest, and causing him to throw the camera near Rico, just as the mandible of the Warrior stabbed him through the leg. With the last few seconds of its battery, the camera recorded Rico in agony, before promptly turning off due to damage. Starship Troopers (1997 film)
Notes[]
- TBA