The Sixth Sealand Brigade was a brigade-size marine infantry unit of the Denisite Army. It was involved in Denise's major overseas campaigns, including the Turlu Invasion, the Dragon War, and Operation Westhope.

Structure

The Sixth Sealand Brigade was formed out of three regiments: the Denisite Army's 6th and 12th Waterfront Infantry Regiments, and the Federal Denisite Navy's 22nd Marine Infantry Regiment. It was one of the first four Sealand brigades, a new Denisite unit trained specifically for long-distance overseas invasions. The brigade's 2'600 soldiers had some naval training, which allowed them to be efficiently coordinated and transported via the navy; they could use landing barges to land directly on a stretch of coast; and they were well-drilled to operate with limited supplies and communications, including on rough terrain such as jungles or hills.

The brigade was commanded by a Commander, and each of its three regiments had a Captain. The unit was under Central Sealand Command, which stood directly under Central Army Command, in peacetime. Communications with the essential navy transports were coordinated by Sealand Tactical Headquarter groups. In war, Sealand brigades were organically combined with some ancillary units, and sometimes some navy transport ships, to form Sealand Divisions. Divisions were usually autonomous units which stood under their task force's General Command, and coordinated directly with navy and army headquarters. In larger efforts, such as the Dragon War or Operation Westhope, all Sealand Divisions in the force were grouped under Operational Sealand Command, which stood directly under General Command and was completely separate from both the army and navy.

Sealand was kept in the army rather than the navy primarily due to internal politics. Placing the elite and resource-intensive Sealand units under navy command would have made the navy vastly more powerful than the army, so the power imbalance could be somewhat compensated in this way. Additionally, Sealand was a marine infantry unit, and Sealand soldiers spent most of their time on land much like conventional infantry; it made much more sense to keep them in the army system, at least during peacetime.

History

The Sixth Sealand Brigade was one of four Sealand units founded in 368 b. OW. The navy's 22nd Marine Infantry Regiment, founded five years earlier, had trained with Andan forces as marine infantry, and was among Denise's first marines. A major invasion campaign was planned for the following year, so military command was reorganizing its forces accordingly. The Sealand units were founded to efficiently pull off the difficult operation of naval infantry landing; the Sixth Brigade was founded by merging the trained marine regiment with the 6th and 12th Waterfront Regiments. Though the brigade did not have much time to properly organize itself, and two-thirds had no training in the naval part of things, it was deployed the following year in the Turlu Invasion.

Turlu Invasion, 367 b. OW

The Sixth Brigade was under the Denisite First Expeditionary Army's command, which in turn was part of the First Grand Alliance Task Force. At army command's insistence, it was treated mostly as an army unit, and had little to no direct communication with the navy.

The Sixth Brigade's lack of training and proper command system was clearly felt. Only one of its regiments used barges and invaded a beach; the rest was sailed in afterwards on brigs. Additionally, there was logistical and communications chaos in the first days after the landing, because the brigade was split along two fronts, the roles of regimental and brigade headquarters were not clearly defined, and organizing the supply chain on an open and hostile coastline was complicated. Luckily, there was no fierce enemy opposition, and the brigade could properly organize itself during the ensuing land campaign.

The Turlu Invasion was Denise's first real naval invasion, and accordingly was a very rich learning experience. The brigade's command structure was revised and clearly defined, while training to deal with the logistical difficulties of an invasion could begin. It was also clear that the brigade would have a more direct communications line with its attached naval transport flotilla in the future.

The brigade was stationed on Turlu for a decade, partly training and partly garrisoning various areas, before being moved back to Colupan.

Dragon War, 353 - 352 b. OW

During the Dragon War, the Sixth Sealand Brigade was placed under the Third Sealand Division, which had its tactical headquarters first in Waterfront, then on Twinisle, then in Dalelost, Conelu.

The brigade was made combat-ready in 353 b. OW, though it saw little action until 352 b. OW, when it was attached the 231st and 233rd Naval Mobility Flotillas and its division was moved to Twinisle. There, the brigade received dragon warfare training and equipment, and the 7th Wyvern Scouts Air Wing was attached to the brigade. Still, it saw no action, until the Third Sealand Division was attached to the Second Dragon Rises Treaty System Task Force Command - 2nd DRT - and moved to Conelu, in military camps near Dalelost, which was both 2nd DRT headquarters and Denise's strongest outpost in the west. The Naval Mobility Flotillas were redeployed to other units, and the smaller units of the brigade saw some combat against both dragons and cultists. Finally, the Sixth Brigade saw fought alongside cross-Oshmondian forces during the final Battle of Conelu.

Conelian Occupation. Though the 2nd DRT was disbanded and most of the Denisite army returned to Colupan, the Sixth Brigade was part of a sizeable detachment that remained on Conelu. The brigade stood directly under Dalelost Command and was billeted in Dalelost, mostly as a defensive garrison in case of attack. The brigade saw little combat action until it was rotated back to Colupan in 342 b. OW, and its depleted ranks were reinforced with a freshly trained Sealand Battalion.

Operation Westhope, 327 - 320 b. OW

The Sixth Sealand Brigade was reactivated into service directly under Central Sealand Command in 327 b. OW, when it underwent rigorous training. It was attached several naval transport units and moved to Dalelost in 326, from where it stood on standby, occasionally sending small units as escorts for various missions. The brigade then sailed to Cape of New Hope Polar Naval Base in 323 b. OW, where it mostly served as construction support.

The brigade fell under the orders of West Task Force Command's Operational Sealand Command in winter 322 b. OW, when it prepared for the final stages of invasion. It was assigned to Strike Force II's 2nd Sealand Division, as its 1st, 2nd, and 4th regiments. After a won Battle of Dynnegall, the 2nd Division - packed aboard 60 crude assault barges - and its warship escort sailed into the port of Luche, on Luchadimalah. There was no resistance at sea, and the land attack was spearheaded by the 5th Regiment, meaning the brigade's three regiments landed in an already secured port. They then marched out along the well-built road to the city of Storaad, where the 3'000-strong force - though lacking nearly all the supplies and mounts it was assigned - easily overwhelmed the meagre defenses. Two days after, reorganized and finally with the right amount of horses and drakes, the 2nd and 4th regiments marched on eastwards, taking the town of Farview after an easy battle. The brigade had conquered and held the entire eastern half of Luchadimalah with minimal losses.

The brigade, which remained under Second Division Command headquartered in Luche for the duration, policed Luchadimalah for two years. It was less successful at this, because there were many administrative issues and much popular resistance to military rule. The brigade was then rotated out in 319 b. OW and moved to a garrison near San Digo, the capital of the recently invaded State of San Morin, where it stood directly under central command. It saw barely any action, and most of the time over half the brigade was on leave simultaneously, visiting family and the like back on Colupan or living new lives in the Archaen. Three years afterwards, the brigade was split apart: about half the soldiers returned to Colupan, where they became the 22nd and 41st Waterfront Regiments, and the remainder became part of the Archean marine infantry.