Sidney Sithole
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.jpg) Fleet Admiral Sithole (796 UC (487 IC / 3596 CE)) | |
| Gender: | Male |
| Affiliation: | Free Planets Alliance |
| Rank: | Fleet admiral (retired) |
| Occupation: | Joint operations headquarters chief (former) |
| Status: | Alive (801 UC (3 NIC / 492 IC / 3601 CE)) |
| Played by: | Utsumi Kenji (Deceased) (OVA, SL) Satō Masaharu (GW) |
Sidney Sithole (Japanese: シドニー・シトレ) was a Free Planets Alliance flag officer. He was known for his "parallel pursuit" tactic during the Fifth Battle of Iserlohn and for his mentoring of Yang Wen-li.
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Military career
Little is known about Sithole's early life and early military career, except that he was childhood friends with João Rebelo, the Secretary of the Treasury. By 788 UC (479 IC / 3588 CE), he was a Vice Admiral and had spent several years as the headmaster of the Free Planets Alliance Officer Academy, where he was apparently well-respected by the cadets. (LOGH: 'Invasion of the Imperial Territory', SL: 'The Hero of El Facil')
In 792 UC (483 IC / 3592 CE), Admiral Sithole led the Alliance expeditionary fleet in the Fifth Battle of Iserlohn and came the closest in conquering Iserlohn Fortress by force with his "parallel pursuit" tactic. He succeeded in closing in to the formation of the Imperial Fleet and slowly pushed it back towards the fortress, confident that the fortress would not fire the Thor Hammer in the vicinity of its allies. However, he miscalculated the desperation of the fortress commander who, fearing for his life if Iserlohn Fortress fell to enemy hands, fired the Thor Hammer anyway and inflicted massive damage to both the Alliance and Imperial fleets. Sithole was forced to pull back his surviving ships and the Fifth Battle of Iserlohn ended with yet another Imperial victory. (Golden Wings)
By 795 UC (486 IC / 3595 CE), Sithole was promoted to the rank of Fleet Admiral and was the Joint Operations Headquarters Chief. As one of the few senior military officers who did not pay lip service to the Secretary of Defence Job Trunicht, his position was becoming increasingly tenuous especially in light of increasing Alliance military setbacks. It was under such circumstances that he appointed Yang Wen-li as the commander of the 13th Fleet and tasked him with the seemingly impossible task of capturing Iserlohn Fortress. (LOGH: 'Birth of the 13th Fleet', TBT: 'Part One')
Yang did not betray Sithole's expectations when he succeeded in capturing Iserlohn Fortress in the Seventh Battle of Iserlohn. Although Yang had intended to retire after his triumphal return to Heinessen, Sithole rejected it as he believed that the war would continue and Yang was going to be indispensable to the Alliance forces. His misgivings came true when the Alliance High Council approved a large scale invasion of Imperial territories. The invasion was to be carried out by eight numbered fleets and was the largest ever mobilisation in the history of the Free Planets Alliance. However, the invasion turned into a disaster when the Alliance expeditionary fleet fell for Reinhard von Lohengramm's scorched earth strategy and was conclusively defeated in the Battle of Amritsar in October 796 UC (487 IC / 3596 CE). As a result, Sithole took responsibility for the defeat and retired from the military. (LOGH: 'Iserlohn Captured!', 'Invasion of the Imperial Territory', 'Liberation of the Frontier Zone', 'The Battle of Amritsar Starzone', 'New Trends')
Retirement
Sithole picked up bee-keeping in the countryside after his retirement. However, he still retained an interest in current affairs, especially after the collapse of the Free Planets Alliance. In September 800 UC (2 NIC / 491 IC / 3600 CE), he participated in a memorial service held in Heinessenpolis which turned into a bloody riot. He was detained by Imperial soldiers under the command of Oskar von Reuenthal, the Governor-General of Neue Land as a suspect for instigating the riot. However, after a personal interview by Reuenthal, he was set free, albeit under constant surveillance. (LOGH: 'The Cold Spell Arrives', 'Rumbling')
In March 801 UC (3 NIC / 492 IC / 3601 CE), Sithole was detained once again under Paul von Oberstein's so-called "Grass-mowing Operation". Sithole and over five thousand other former public and senior military figures of the Free Planets Alliance were detained for the purpose of being used as negotiation fodder against the Iserlohn Republic Government. This never came to fruition however after a riot broke out in Rugpool Prison where they were detained in. Sithole was injured during the riot and was later set free by the orders of Reinhard and continued his life of retirement. (LOGH: 'Cosmic Mosaic', 'Planet of Confusion')
Appendices
Appearances
- LOGH:
- 'Birth of the 13th Fleet' (first appearance)
- 'The Rosen Ritter'
- 'Iserlohn Captured!'
- 'Invasion of the Imperial Territory'
- 'New Trends'
- 'The Cold Spell Arrives'
- 'Rumbling'
- 'Planet of Confusion'
- Golden Wings
- Overture to a New War
- SL:
- 'The Hero of El Facil' (flashback)
- 'The Hero's New Assignment'
- TBT:
- 'Part One' (final appearance)
- DNT:
Name variations
- Sidney Sitolet (Novels)
- Sidney Sithole (DVD subtitles)
- Sidney Sitolet (LD subtitles)
- シドニー・シトレ (LD/DVD subtitles — Japanese)
Background information
Sithole is likely to be named after Ndabaningi Sithole, a Zimbabwean Methodist minister, politician and a founder of the Zimbabwe African National Union.
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