THE COMMANDERS

Field Marshal Cassandra DeRuyter, Supreme Allied Commander, Eagle Nebula Expeditionary Forces, Provisional Military Governor of Anhur

The name Cassandra DeRuyter stands as exceptional in the rolls of honour for the great generals of human history. Before the Reaper War, she was compared with Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, W.T. Sherman, Erwin Rommel, and Yuri Vladormirovic. After the Reaper War, no historical comparison has seemed appropriate, to historians or the general public. Without her, the day would have undoubtedly been lost and the galaxy wiped clean of advanced organic life for another fifty thousand years. The Reapers themselves would have continued their dread harvest. In the course of her life, she fought every enemy that has ever presented itself against the Systems Alliance. Her later campaigns are perhaps better known, but it was on Anhur that she first came to the attention of the galactic public.

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the Union of African States, DeRuyter's military career began with the last stages of the Sahara Insurgency. There, as a young lieutenant, she demonstrated the traits that would define her career; aggression, virtuosity and cunning. In 2155, on her first tour, she led her mechanised platoon on a lightning pacification campaign in Northern Sudan, liberating seven settlements in three days from heavily-armed zealots formerly aligned with the Pan-Asian Coalition. Her unit became a constituent part of the newly formed African 3rd Colonial Infantry Division with the consolidation of the best units into the Alliance order of battle, and she spent 2156 between Earth and the new colonies. During this time, she rose to command a company.

In the aftermath of the Battle at Relay 314, her division was moved to Shanxi just before the turian invasion. Puzzlingly to historians, her combat records dated to the First Contact War remain sealed for unknown reasons, despite having survived the massive losses of data caused by the invasions of Earth and the destruction of both Arcturus and Luna stations. After Shanxi, DeRuyter took an extended leave of absence for family reasons, returning to duty in 2160. She was rapidly promoted upon her return, not only due to her own prowess but also due to the Alliance's extreme need for officers with the combat experience she had. By 2165, she commanded her division. With the colonial conflict with the batarians well under way, she had her units posted to the most dangerous combat zones, repelling multiple pirate and slaver attacks over the next five years.

It was the aftermath of Mindoir that propelled her position to the highest rank in the Alliance military. With the help of cooperative elements of the Navy, she formulated and executed a strategic plan to seize several independent colonies and resource-rich worlds in the Skyllian Verge. The operations went off without a single hitch, and unusually low casualties despite some significant resistance. In the inter-war years, DeRuyter commanded the Tenth Legion under Troop Command Afrika, which was responsible for a sector of the defence of colonies along the border with the Terminus Systems. When word of the plan to attack Elysium reached Consul Taro, she immediately promoted the South African again, this time to Field Marshal. DeRuyter was assigned to plan and lead the assault on Anhur, as well as the general campaign against the Eagle Nebula to come, a task for which she was the perfect candidate.

Colonel-General Oleg Petrovsky, Commanding Officer, XIII Legion

DeRuyter's direct subordinate commanding the 13th Legion, Petrovsky is infamous for commanding the military forces of Cerberus between 2183 and 2186, most notably including the Occupation of Omega. A corporal in the First Contact War, he successfully commanded his unit after its officers had been killed by the turians in a last-stand, resulting in a successive evacuation and the start of his eye-watering fast rise in the ranks of the Alliance Army. Of all the legion commanders on Anhur, he is worthy of particular mention for two reasons.

First of these is the trust Field Marshal DeRuyter had in him and his unit. The 13th would be selected for the toughest operational theatres, where the most capable enemy commanders were located or where there were unavoidable fixed defences that required both finesse and brute force to overcome. He demonstrated superlative knowledge of offensive, defensive and counterinsurgency operations during the campaign, organising feats of military action that would place him among the great generals of history had it not been for his later defection to Cerberus. In light of his actions and the events to come however, it was perhaps inevitable that he would not remain loyal to the Alliance.

The second reason that Petrovsky is noteworthy when speaking about the invasion of Anhur was the standing order he would issue to his legion in secret upon its landing. Taking his cue from several great generals in human history, he would order that records of slaveholders were to be seized at every opportunity, the persons in questions rounded up, and executions held to prevent them from beginning guerilla campaigns in the rear areas of the invasion force. This was done with the full knowledge and approval of both the Field Marshal and the Alliance government, but it was Petrovsky who would face the blame when word of it reached the Citadel. With the benefit of hindsight and from a purely military perspective, the order was entirely correct despite its brutality. Surviving former slaverholders did indeed start terrorist campaigns both during and after the invasion, and more often than not ended up dead regardless, often after killing thousands of innocents.

Lieutenant Karla Haider, Air Assault Brigade, 25th Panzergrenadier Division, 2nd Cohort, XXI Legion

At the start of the invasion, no one could have predicted that its rapid success lay in the hands not only of its command staff, but also with an air assault lieutenant on her first tour of duty. Karla Haider was unusual in many respects. Born as Karla von Habsburg, she was the heir-pretender to the throne of Austria, and had all the education and illustrious career opportunities that such a status brought. Despite a glittering and wealthy civilian life lying ahead of her, she joined the Alliance military under her German mother's maiden name in Munich. It became apparent very quickly that she could read any opponent like an open book, almost always being able to predict their moves before they could be made. As a result, she was selected early on to enter the EU Air Assault School in Scotland, whereafter she could join units that could exploit this capability quickly in battle.

She was assigned to the EU 25th Panzergrenadier Division under the German 21st Legion, which was one of the strategic commands assigned to the Anhur Campaign after the outbreak of the Rebellions and the batarian attack on Elysium. In the course of the campaign, her unit would perform admirably in all respects, particularly in the interdiction of slaver death squads that operated in areas that the enemy expected to be liberated. Both her platoon and herself would be awarded with high honours for these actions, but it was her own instinct and clarity of vision that would bring her unit to a coup against the Corporate Congress that doomed them to utter defeat in half the planned time.

"General Sickle", Commanding Officer, Anhur Protection Forces

The identity of the officer commanding the Corporate Congress' paramilitary and mercenary forces was and remains unknown to history. When Anhur's rulers made the decision to emulate Illium's systematic indentured servitude, there was an expectation of some unrest and possibly intervention from Illium itself via the Eclipse mercenaries. To prepare their forces and lead their troops, the records show that they hired an experienced military mind, and gave him or her full control over how to run the defence of the planet. Despite this, some believe that Sickle was in fact more than one person, given the variety of techniques they fell back on during the course of the campaign. The name Sickle came about as a result of DeRuyter's own strategy of spearhead attacks and envelopment of the enemy, as the defending general almost without fail ordered counterattacks against the rear of advancing formations, hence 'cutting like Sickle' became a term for such manoeuvres.

Despite the exact identity of the person being a mystery, several very well educated guesses have been made over the years as to other details. It is certain that Sickle had most likely had fought turians extensively or was a turian, as his or her initial defensive strategy reflected the military ideology of the Hierarchy closely. Discipline in defence and relentless forward movement along entire lines in offence were hallmarks of the style, as well as the grouping and separation of biotic soldiers into specialised units much like the turian cabal system. Many believe that Sickle was an asari, as the latter units were used in an identical fashion to the famed asari commandos. Others believe he or she was a salarian, given the extensive behind-the-lines actions that occurred in the aftermath of Alliance forces seizing the regions. A small number believe that Sickle was human, due to the diversity of techniques, but this has been dismissed by most.