Shadow Companies

The Shadow Companies were special forces units raised by the Leteiran Irregulars both before and during the First Brother's War. Initially raised to carry out sabotage and assassination missions for the burgeoning Leteiran resistance, they would soon change into becoming the one of the most elite fighting forces within the Leteiran Cluster. By the end of the war they would be concentrated into three divisions, the 1st or "The Right Hand of Death," 2nd or "Laughing Ghosts," and 3rd or "Lightning Fists." They would be notable for their role in battles like the Battle for Third Moon and Liberation of Shinmon as strike teams causing chaos behind enemy lines.

History

The first Shadow Companies trace their origins to Jansen's Fifteen, an adhoc force raised on New Beginnings for the asssassination of the colonial governor Franklin de Rossi. While the assassination would not be successful, the Irregulars determined that the experience and knowledge gained should be preserved. The First Shadow Company, as it would come to be known, would be slowly built up over the course of the next several years. As the desire for indepedence within the Leteiran Cluster would grow, the Shadow Companies would swell with defectors from veterans of colonial military and special forces. By 2245, jus before the First Brother's War, the Irregulars would have a total of 18 Shadow Companies.

Following the Battle for Third Moon and the beginning of the First Brother's War, the Leteiran Irregulars would restructure the Shadow Companies into five independent battalions. The change was primarily made in order to simplify logistics and training. While the battalions would be held closer together than there constitutiant companies were be prior to the reform, the battalions would still frequently be broken up and deployed across multiple planets.

As part of the preparations for the inevitable counter attack by the Orians in the later stages of the First Brother's War, the Irregulars high command would issue Army Order 96, which would restructure the Irregulars into consistent fighting units. This would restructure the various formations and subformations that the Irregulars had absorbed throughout Operation LIBERATION and their other actions in the Nothern cluster. This restructuring would also apply to the Shadow Companies, grouping them into three divisions. While each division would be trained to be able to perform all roles that the Shadow Companies would have to fulfill, each division would also specialized into a specific role. The First Division, "The Grim Reapers," would focus on assassination. The Second Division, "The Laughing Ghosts," would focus on sabotage and guerilla warfare. Finally, the Third Division "Lightning Fists" would largely be trained as shock troops.

Officially after the end of the First Brother's War the shadow companies would be disbanded as part of the dissolution of the Leteiran Irregulars. But, many members would be able to evade capture often disappearing with large caches of supplies.

Organization

Initially, Shadow Companies were formed as indepedent units outside of the typical Irregulars chain of command. However, as the units grew, they would begin to get organized into battalion level forces for the purpose of logistics and training. In the waning years of the First Brother's War, these battalions were eventually formalized into brigades, which were in turn formed into the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Shadow Divisions. The final incarnations of these divisions would consist of 5 total combat brigades with another roughly another brigade worth of support elements. Each brigade would itself consist of typically four combat battalions each housing about four companies of soldiers with support logistical elements at both the battalion and brigade levels. The training duties each battalion intially held would be shifted up to the divisional level.

Manpower and Equipment

Shadow Companies usually comprised about a company sized element, with no more than 200 active combat member to each company. These soldiers would be divided into 4 platoons of 50 soldiers a piece. By the end of the First Brother's War the companies would typically be comprised of three infantry platoons and one heavy weapons platoon, although some specific companies would occasionally have more heavy weapons platoons depending on their designed role. Most companies would also have some motorized capacity baked into their command structures, usually in the form of various all terrain vehicles.

Individual soldiers would be fairly heavily equipped. Most would carry a service rifle as their primary weapon and their service pistol. In addition, they would usually be expected to carry enough equipment to go weeks without resupply. Later into the war, heavy weapons teams would begin to carry anti-tank weaponry, usually MANPATS, as well as occasional ingrained MANPADS in more elite units. Because most of the equipment that the Leteiran Irregulars used was captured from military garrisons and supply depots, there was no consistent armament across units.

Training

The training of Shadow Companies would improve with the growth of the Leteiran Irregulars. Initially, as the first Shadow Company was arranged as an adhoc force, there was little to no additional training provided to the company as these were already the best that the Irregulars had to offer. As the Irregulars grew, and more importantly as old members retired and new members would be trained by former Shadow Company soldiers, the training would gradually improve. By the end of the First Brother's War, before the last Shadow Company would officially disbanded, the Training of the shadow companies would be some of the best in the Leteiran Cluster. Most shadow company soldiers would be expected to be proficient in black ops, sabotage, reconnaissance, and guerilla warfare.

Tactics and Strategy

Strategy:

Even late into the Second Brother's War, Shadow companies would never be deployed at more than a battalion level, with one only exception. Due to the special forces nature of the Shadow Companies they were most commonly deployed in company and platoon sized deployments to achieve specific objectives. They would often be deployed on fronts that had stalled in order to allow for breakthroughs.

Tactics

The infantry platoons were the most common element of the company to be deployed for special forces and other small actions. If the full company was necessary for a pitched battle, they would typically use fast strike tactics meant to maneuver around enemy positions. Another commonly deployed tactic was the infantry platoons serving as maneuver elements, funneling enemy forces to the heavy weapons platoon.

Fate and Legacy

While the official Shadow Companies had largely been as part of the peace accord at the end of the First Brother's War, most would evade capture by Orian authorities and would often disappear with large portions of the military supplies of their companies. Most if not all Shadow Companies were able continue guerilla fighting after the war, with many still active even until the start of the Second Brother's War. Surviving units would often join up with the Leteiran United Front as rearline raiding and guerilla forces. Enough had survived that eventually the Second and Third Divisions were able to be reformed. They would go on to serve with distinction throughout the Second Brother's War.

Following the formation of the Leteiran Commonwealth following the Second Brother's War, the shadow companies would be officially incorporated into the new Commonwealth Military as the reformed New Shadow Corps. Throughout the Commonwealth-Accords Cold War, the Shadow Divisions would often be deployed in contested areas to secure Leteiran interests or to train local resistance forces. Eventually, following the collapse of the Leteiran Commonwealth, region ties would begin to tear apart the Shadow Companies. Today, there are special forces units across many members of the Outer Arm Defense Council that can claim descendence from the various Shadow Companies.

Type

Special Forces