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Hjaltland Light Infantry

Regiment Origin

Regiment Classification - 
Planetary Defence Force
Recruitment Criteria - 
Tribes people
Nature of Recruitment - 
Standard conscription
Regiment Home world - 
Imperial World
Home World Predominant Terrain - 
Jungle

Regiment Tactical Information

Regiment Core Units - 
Light Infantry
Specialization - 
Lightning Strike
Loyalty Rating - 
Adherent
Special Equipment - 
Traditional Weapon
Regiment Creed - 
We Must Repent
Regiment Relations - 
Imperial Guard/PDF  – Hildasay System
Regiment Enemies - 
Chaos-aligned groups


The Light Infantry Regiments are the main fighting force on Hjaltland, acting as both the Planetary Defence Force and also providing occasional regiments to the Astra Militarium. Due to the size and population of the planet, normally around 50 million but due to the recent rebellion, is down to around 20 million, the force is small, usually consisting of a handful of regiments, totaling around a quarter of a million men at anyone time, with one regiments being provided for service to the Emperor every ten year or so, when the tithes are collected. Each regiment within the Light Infantry serves a 5 year period of service before returning to their home villages and continuing life, therefore, in times of need, nearly every inhabitant of the planet can be called to arms and form a coherent and trained force. The exception to this are those which enter service as officers or those within the regiments that join the AM, all of which are "volunteers" and go on to serve the Emperor for the rest of their lives. The deployment of these regiments to the AM does seem to coincide with a significant reduction in the local prison population and other undesirables, although the planet's leaders will readily assure anyone that this is just a coincidence and that the two events are in no way linked.

The planet of Hjaltland is covered with numerous small continents or large islands, each of which is mountainous and covered in jungle vegetation and many are volcanic in nature. This means that land based vehicles, of pretty much any size and shape are of little use. As such, the L.I. make little use of them, preferring to travel light and on foot through the numerous trails and tracks that criss-cross the islands. As such, much of the equipment used by the L.I. is man portable, such as the favoured autocannon, for heavy support and missile launchers for anti-air, with flamers, of both the standard and heavy varieties and grenade launchers being common amongst the troops for close range support.

The 851st Hjaltland L.I. is the latest regiment that has found itself mobilised for service in the greater imperium, but due to the recent rebellion, and also transport errors by the Imperial Navy, has found itself once again on Hjaltland, although still in the service of the greater Imperium. During the rebellion the 851st gained itself a fearsome reputation for its fighting abilities, either due to their fierce protection of their homeland or due to their displeasure at being volunteered for Imperial service is unclear. These abilities however, earned them the name the "Jungle Hunters", in recognition of their ability and relentless stalking of the Chaos Separatists through the jungles of there home world. Many separatist surrendered upon hearing that it was these warriors that chased them through the jungles, although all this act did was earn them a quick death as the 851st passed by, as anything else would have just slowed the hunt. Mercy was not something to which the Jungle Hunters were willing to embrace. This attitude did however cause some friction with the upper command, as some saw this as the needless slaughter of civilians who had been caught up in the fighting and the wasting of valuable intelligence and information that could have been gained from the surrendered soldiers.

The Regiment is currently lead by Commander Ollaw Jhonisoun. Commander Jhonisoun has proven himself to be a charismatic and energetic leader. While he has sometimes been criticised as to cautious, mostly by the ruling elite of the planet, his steady approach and an unwillingness to throw away the lives of his men has, however, earned him a lot of respect from all the members of the regiment. This does not mean that he is not willing to take risks when it is necessary or to sacrifice his men when such actions are needed, such as to hold a valuable objective or destroy an enemy strong hold, but it is his firm belief that wasting men and equipment over pointless objectives or small gains is counterproductive to the whole campaign. After all, if you waste the lives of your men over small things, you won't have any men to use for the bigger things!

The regiments 2nd in command and first company commander is Captain Nicole Thomassoun. The Captain is seen in a very different light to his superior. Although he is well respected by the troops, he is also seen as reckless and somewhat of a medal chaser, and can often be seen fighting up at the front line and on many occasions in front of the line. Wherever possible, Captain Thomassoun like to deploy onto the battlefield via the Valkyries or Vendetta's of the Imperial Navy, jumping to wherever the fighting is thickest or where his squads plasma guns can cause the maximum amount of damage. This approach, although highly successful, has lead to high rates of casualties amongst the troops assigned to his unit, and is seen by many as a one way ticket to the Emperor's Judgment. It has also caused many arguments between the Commander and the Captain, as the captain is very rarely in a position to actually command the first company, although many of the first company are quite happy about this fact.

The First company, which is usually formed of 6 platoons, like many of the other companies within the 851st, have been depleted in both men and equipment as a result of the recent rebellion, is currently formed of only three platoons, or Troops as they are known within the Hjaltland L.I., Red, Yellow and Blue Troops.

Yellow Troop, lead by Lieutenant Sandesoun, is tasked as a multirole platoon, to support both red and blue platoons, and is usually armed up with flamers and grenade launchers in order to give it the capability to take on multiple unit types. This also enables the platoon to move around the battlefield to where it is needed most.

Red Troop, commanded by Lieutenant Wischert, is tasked as the defensive platoon and is armed with the majority of the companies autocannons. The command squad is equipped with flamers to provide close support and counter charge capabilities, in the form of a wall of flame, to anyone that strays to close to the line.

Blue Troop, lead by Lieutenant Andersoun, is the main offensive platoon and is the most depleted of the three units. This platoon often deploys are a single squad and contains all of the companies melta guns, a rare and valuable weapon within the Hjaltland L.I.

The other three platoons within the first company, Green, White and Black, were disbanded due to the high number of casualties suffered during the campaign. These casualties included all of the officers and the majority of the sgts and NCO’s, it was for this reason that these platoons were disbanded and merged with Red, Yellow and Blue platoons. It is hoped that when the fighting is over these platoons can be rebuilt to full fighting strength.

In addition to these units, there have been other units attached to the first company, currently this takes the form of the Hrossey 56th Artillery regiments number 3 Battery, formed of 3 Wyvern class heavy mortars, although one is currently out of action due to mechanical issues.  Even though the Battery is currently one vehicle under strength, its supporting fire is greatly appreciated by the men of the first company, however getting the vehicles into a position where their weapons can provide fire support is not! With the terrain and vegetation against them, correct deployment is always a challenge.

The Imperial Navy have also kindly allowed a number of aircraft to be used by the 851st to assist in transportation and to give fire support. Two of these aircraft have been assigned to the first company, these are the  Vendetta gunship "Wolf Slayer" and the Valkyrie transport "Deliverance". While the 56th Hrossey are greatly appreciated by the first company, the Imperial Navy aircraft are somewhat loathed. This is usually due to their late arrival on station and the attitude of the pilots when they get there, as they very rarely want to stop to pick up or drop off the troops, favouring using the grav-chutes to deploy and just not bothering to pick up anyone other than at the nice, clean and safe landing pads at the main base. The pilots give many excuses, from dangerous crossfire to not enough clearance, but many of the first believe it's more to do with not getting their aircraft dirty or scratching the paint.

The exploits of Deliverance are not well documented but Wolf Slayers exploits are well known. This gunship started out life as a standard Valkyrie before being refitted to Vendetta format and deployed as part of an attachment to a Space Wolf strike force with a small unit of guardsmen, tasked with liaison duties, although during this time the gunship went by a different name. After many years and numerous engagements the attachment was ended and the gunship was transferred to Inquisitorial service alongside the same SW force, although this service was just as long, the gunship was mostly used for transport and very rarely saw combat. It was only when the Inquisition gained the use of a Stormraven gunship, that the Vendetta was released back to the Navy. It was then transferred to the services of the Navy within the area of the Hamnavoe System and was initially made available, very briefly, to the forces of the Dagr Ormr before being assigned to the air wing attached to the 851st. As a result of this it was partnered with Deliverance, to form a fast attack close air support and anti air unit for first company. It has recently been requisitioned by the Inquisition, along side the rest of the 851st and it's embedded assets, and has again been used to deploy forces of Dagr Ormr.

Updated: Feb 21

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