Rosen Ritter
From Gineipaedia, the Legend of Galactic Heroes wiki
The Rosen Ritter (Japanese: 薔薇の騎士) were a special infantry regiment in the Free Planets Alliance military. It was formed around 745 UC (436 IC / 3545 CE), and composed exclusively of former-Imperial citizens and their children. Initially formed solely as an element of propaganda, the Rosen Ritter quickly became known as one of the fiercest fighting units in the conflict. Though renowned for that exceptional combat ability, the Rosen Ritter were never truly trusted by their Alliance comrades, a distrust not helped in the least by the many former Rosen Ritter commanders who betrayed the Alliance in order to return to their homes in the Empire. Of the 12 regimental commanders before Walter von Schönkopf, four died in battle against the Empire; two were promoted to flag officers and later retired; and six betrayed the Alliance and went back to the Galactic Empire.
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Notable operations
Battle of Van-Fleet Starzone
On March 794 UC (485 IC / 3594 CE), the Rosen Ritter was stationed in Van-Fleet 4-2, the second satellite of the fourth planet orbiting Van-Fleet, as part of the ground forces defending an Alliance rear support base located in there. When the Imperial Fleet unexpectedly dispatched an entire fleet to Van-Fleet 4-2 on 29 March 794 UC (485 IC / 3594 CE), the Rosen Ritter was ordered to reconnoitre the landing site of the Imperial fleet and to prepare for possible hostilities. (HBSHBL: 'Drei Rot')
The reconnaissance mission, led by the 12th regimental commander Otto Frank von Wahnschaffe, was detected and repelled by Imperial troops led former Rosen Ritter regimental commander Hermann von Lüneburg, who had defected back to the Empire. Wahnschaffe died in the process, leaving the command of the Rosen Ritter to the vice-commander Walter von Schönkopf, who then planned and succeeded in resisting a full scale Imperial assault on the Alliance base long enough for Alliance Fleet reinforcements to arrive outside Van-Fleet 4-2 and force the Imperial ground forces to retreat, albeit with heavy losses. (HBSHBL: 'Those Who Defected', 'Bloodshed in April', 'A Dangerous Man')
The Iserlohn Infiltration
When the 13th Fleet was formed after the Battle of Astarte, the 13th regimental commander of the Rosen Ritter, Walter von Schönkopf, caught Yang Wen-li's eye. Yang then had the Rosen Ritter transferred to the 13th Fleet, under his command. Despite rumors that Schönkopf, too, would betray the Alliance, Yang Wenli decided to trust him completely, and to use the Rosen Ritter as the crux of his plan to capture Iserlohn Fortress. Yang Wen-li had said, "If he turns traitor, they'll say I was no judge of character. The 'one man hero' will disappear from this world." (LOGH: 'The Rosen Ritter')
At the Seventh Battle of Iserlohn, Walter von Schönkopf led the Rosen Ritter, including Kasper Lintz and Linier Blumart, on an infiltration mission onto Iserlohn Fortress. Pretending to be wounded Imperial officers, they managed to infiltrate Iserlohn's command center and sieze it by taking Imperial admiral Thomas von Stockhausen hostage. Once they took control of the command centre, they allowed the 13th Fleet inside the fortress. While Yang Wen-li convinced the Iserlohn Fleet commander, Hans Dietrich von Seeckt, that the fortress had already been completely pacified by his forces, the Rosen Ritter swept through the fortress, fighting off the remaining Imperial forces in brutal hand-to-hand combat and eventually succeeded in securing the entirety of the fortress. (LOGH: 'Iserlohn Captured!')
Notable Soldiers
- Linier Blumart
- Karl von der Decken (Killed in the Battle of Van-Fleet)
- Kasper Lintz
- Hermann von Lüneburg (Defected back to the Empire)
- Walter von Schönkopf
- Otto Frank von Wahnschaffe (Killed in the Battle of Van-Fleet)
Appendices
Trivia
- Following the Rosen Ritter's rescue of Walter von Schönkopf and Dusty Attemborough from pursuing Alliance police, Special Operations Colonel Jawaf comments that though the Rosen Ritter unit consists of roughly a thousand men, its combat capabilities nearly equal to an entire division. This would mean that a Rosen Ritter soldier is worth roughly ten or fifteen regular men, since a modern-day military division consists of ten to fifteen thousand troops.
Name variations
- Rosen Ritter (DVD subtitles)
- Rosen-Ritter (LD subtitles)
- 薔薇の騎士 (LD/DVD subtitles — Japanese)
Memorable quotes
"As a close combat squadron formed from children of Imperial exiles they have unmatched skill in battle, but no fleet can control them."
—Admiral Alex Cazerne
Apocrypha
DVD features
Production sketches for the close combat weapons used by the Alliance appear in the DVD features of the DVD boxset.
 Alliance close combat weapons |
