Grand Marshal Sir Rudolph William Tristan Joseph Lanning, 1st Baronet GSU GCMT GCSM GCGE GSIC OV OM (born 12 August 2633) is a German-Terran military officer who is the current Chief of Staff of the Central Galactic Union Army. As such, he is the professional head of the Army and the highest-ranked Army officer.
Lanning served as an armoured cavalry officer during the colonial rebellions of the late 2650s. Promoted to the rank of Major General in 2664 after being educated in the Staff College in Berlin, he would command tactical and operational units in the Great War, and achieve recognition for his utilization of "deep battle" tactics of layered artillery use within mechanized infantry units. He cut his teeth commanding the 31st Cavalry Corps in the Soviet front from 2665 to 2668, earning the rank of Colonel General through rapid promotion. His lasting fame came from commanding the 67th Panzer Army in the campaign in the Shrike colonies in the early 2670s. He was considered an expert on encirclement tactics by the end of the conflict, having used them to great effect to rapidly destroy planetary defensive fortifications upon landing with fast-moving armoured forces. In 2673, he was promoted to the rank of General Field Marshal in command of the Far Rim Army Group, conducting conquests in the Far Rim and Shrike core worlds. In 2675, he was promoted to Chief Marshal and appointed Commander of Army Forces in the Occupied Territories. Lanning was appointed Vice Chief of Staff of the Army in 2677 and Chief of Staff of the Army in 2681.
Lanning is considered emblematic of the "Berlin establishment" of relatively apolitical but highly nationalist Army officers which formed the backbone of the old Imperial Army. Like some others of his generation, he has expressed loyalties to the feudal ideals of the Terran Empire in the past. However, despite this, Lanning has made more recent statements reflecting upon the creation of the Republic as the "next stage of human civilization."
Early life and education[]
Rudolph Lanning was born Rudolf Wilhelm Tristan Josef Lanning on August 12th, 2633 in the church hospital in Quedlinburg, Magdeburg Province, to Joseph Artur Lanning, a tailor, and Lt-Col Theresa Lanning, an Army officer. He was baptized two days later at Quedlinburg Abbey. Lanning grew up in the North German middle-class, and endeavored from an early age for a career in the Imperial Army. His mother served two tours of duty in the Cruxite War and impressed upon her son the value of military service. The Lanning family moved to Magdeburg, and Rudolph attended junior military academies there. Upon turning 18, he enlisted in the Imperial Army.
Army career[]
Early career[]
Lanning enlisted in mid-August 2651 and set out for Basic Training. He completed boot camp in late November and went to Armor School. He enrolled at the Army Officer School in Zossen, Brandenburg Province and attended until December 2653, graduating with a commission as a Second Lieutenant. Impressing his superiors, he was set on a fast track for promotion and was promoted to Captain by 2655, assigned to command a tank company in the 12th Guards Cavalry Division.
He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 2659 and placed in command of an armored battalion. In early 2662, he was given a battlefield promotion to Colonel after distinguishing himself in combat. The brigade to which his battalion was attached lost its HQ section in an ambush, and he was forced to take command while the brigade was under encirclement by highly organized rebel bushwhackers. He led his troops from the front, commanding at the head of the main tank column, as they broke through rebel lines to link up with artillery and defensive infantry elements.
General[]
In 2662, after his unit was on leave, Lanning enrolled in the Army Staff College in Berlin, Prussia. There, he studied political science, psychology, and economics in order to gain a better understanding of how to manage large numbers of people with disparate views and opinions. The looming threat of war with the Soviet Republic impressed upon Lanning the necessity of unity within the ranks. Upon graduation he was promoted to Major General in July 2664, and he took command of the 78th Armored Division. On the outbreak of war in September 2665, the 78th Armored Division was mobilized for front-line combat.
Lanning's success in a stunning string of victories in the Battle of Kalabaska in December earned him a promotion to Lieutenant General and an appointment in command of the 31st Cavalry Corps on 31 December. The 31st Cavalry Corps was a component of Field Marshal August Sask's 3rd Army. The forces under Marshal Sask's command undertook a series of campaigns in Soviet territory, leading up to the Battle of Khoz. Lanning was deployed on Khoz IV for the duration of the battle, engaging Soviet heavy armored forces in encirclement campaigns and then suppressing guerrillas. Sask considered redeploying the 31st Cavalry Corps to Khoz Prime to relieve the encirclement of the 12th Cavalry Division, but it was decided that Lanning's troops were needed to keep Khoz IV secured while the 12th Cavalry undertook a breakout operation in November.
After the Battle of Khoz, he was appointed to the command staff of Marshal Sask. He advised Sask on the use of armored units and jockeyed with General Robert Rall for authority as deputy commander. In 2670, partly as a way to separate him from Rall, he was promoted to full General and given his own command, in charge of the 67th Army. While most of the Terran Army was deployed against the Soviets, Cassiopeians, and Vryst in the early 2670s, Lanning was in charge of raids against Shrike colonies in the trailing edge of the Far Rim, beyond the Vryst-Shrike border. Using methods devised by the Imperial Marines, he deployed orbital-drop and airborne forces on poorly-defended frontier worlds, using rapid armored and air assaults that devastated population centers and destroyed military installations before evacuating to orbit and retreating to "redoubt worlds" that had been seized and set up as forward operating positions for the Terran military. His successes distracted and confused the United Suns, in spite of tactical setbacks during his operations. In planetary attacks, his forces often strained their supply lines while engaging in raids; and near the end of the campaign, the Shrike military became adept at responding to the assaults on their colonies and were able to repulse Terran fleets. His earned a promotion to Colonel General in May 2673 for his efforts; his forces were subordinated to the Far Rim Army Group, and were used in armored assaults on Shrike worlds.