Operation: WARDOG

Thier first 'real operation' was OPERATION:WARDOG, a sustained guerilla campaign on Hannibal III, a human colony recently taken by Remnant forces. While the navy was being mustered the SPARTANS began to devise a guerilla warfare plan, even before approached by HIGHCOM. When HIGHCOM prepared to send them there, they showed them their plan. It was bold but simple. Their platoons would be individually dropped onto the surface, across the whole entire surface, by stealth infiltrator ships, along with equipment nessecary for base camps and vehicles for ground operations. From there, they would establish hidden bases deep within enemy terrain and then from there, launch raids up until the UNSC arrived in system. The majority of the units 'dissapeared' into the thick woods of the planet, where they would only make encrypted, 'bounced' comms very rarely to HIGHCOM to report their status. From these positions they would go out on raids, destroying enemy depots, setting garrisons alight and destroying ground positions during the night, then melt into the darkness. These raids where highly succesful, destroying enemy concentrations with near zero casualties. Though one 'odd' raiding method, spearheaded by Bravo Company, with SPARTAN-013 at the head of this method, was using the warthogs they had dropped in with, which were usually for exfiltration or movement between raids, to rapidly assault enemy air fields, destroying their landed Phantoms, Banshees and Seraphs, while a number of other troops would stealthly infiltrate the other segments of the airfield when their guards were dranw out and destroy the waiting aircraft, either through planting bombs on them, 'shooting them up', sabotaging them or in one documented case, destroying the internal electronic systems with brute force before leaving, as did the mounted unit. Up until this point they only took one death along with a few minor injuries.
When the UNSC Fleet was finally mustered and entered system, preparing to smash aside the Remnant fleet, the SPARTANS went into their final phase of the plan. Each battallion got their individual tasks. Third Battallion was assigned to attack a number of cross road villages, bridges and mountain passes, take them and hold them against Remnant counter attack until relived. They were also assigned to destroy a number of key bridges to hamper enemy movement in and out of the designated landing zones. Second Battallion was assigned to securing enemy anti aircraft positions and landing zones. Thier engineer teams were at the forefront of this, laying out pioneer landing positions for their dropships and frigates along with destroying enemy AA batteries. First Battallion had one of the more prestigious engagments, with their whole company formed up to take one of the most important locations. When the Remnant took to the world, they forced the survivors into 'prison camps' in the second town on the planet, as the capital was largely destroyed in the primary assault. Though the SPARTANS had observed this position for some time, they were unable to attack or do anything about the regular brutality meeted out on the enslaved humans. Now was their chance. With the majority of their garrisson out on patrol to stop the humans, their reinforcements destroyed in raiding and they vehicles out there seearch for their ghost like enemies or on fire, thier defence was pitiful. After infiltrating the Remnant perimeter en masse, they launched their lighteneing attack from below and above, rappelling for infiltrated buildings, exploding from sewers like rats. Brutes and their Jackal, Grunt and Drone conscripts still remember the sheer destructive force of one 'demon' but now hundreds of them suddenly leapt from the shadows, putting their forces into a whole sale rout. Key objectives, such as landing zones, defensive positions and prisons were taken and held. With the Brutes losing the majority of the interior of the town and only holding the largely useless subrubs and exterior, they spent two hours regrouping and then moved in to re-take their positions. They marched into hundreds of 'kill zones' laced with mines, rockets, machine guns and snipers. Within twenty minutes of their counter attack they suffered 58% casualties and fell back. Ordering their armoured forces to return and attack, they prepared to march in again. Most of those forces never made it back to the town, with them being caught up in ambushes along objectives the other battallions had taken or destroyed by the first wave of UNSC air forces. Of the few that made it back, their heavy units were destroyed and the majority of their fast units, eleven ghosts and five choppers, broke through to the central square, past the measily SPARTAN defence. In a well orchestrated trap, they had box their rapid assault vehicles in, trapping them off from the remaining forces and destroyed them at will. Though this part of the engagment is the least well documented, it is reported that the battallion's Warthogs moved in at this time and attacked, while one SPARTAN, allegedly 013, hijacked a moving chopper and then, along with the warthogs, pushed out of the square and swept up the last of the enemy resistance. During the latter phase of the operation, only three SPARTANS died, while there were several more sever casualties.