15th Special Operations Squad
The 15th Special Operations Squad was a People's Army squad active during the Liberation War. It earned fame during the war for its unconventional warfare operations and its members' eccentricities. It was nicknamed the "mad dog squad" by its enemies, due to members' habit of going into battle wearing novelty headbands with cat, dog, or rabbit ears.
The squad was formed sometime around 1942, from People's Army volunteers who were in their late teens at the time. Its members were:
- Mio Sakamoto (Miranian: 美緒 坂本)
- Minna Dietlinde Wilke (Gylic transcription: Mina Ditlinde Vilke)
- Gertrude Bühler (Gylic transcription: Gertyrud Büler)
- Erika Hartmann (Gylic transcription: Erika Hartyman)
- Shirley Hunter (Gylic transcription: Şarli Hanta)
- Francesca Lucchini (Gylic transcription: Fyranceska Lukini)
Mio was elected the squad's commander, and was an accomplished practitioner of "revolutionary discipline", helping maintain high morale and close friendships among the squad. All members shared charismatic personalities and coarse senses of humour, which contributed to their renown.
The squad was mainly involved in unconventional warfare operations, such as sabotage, subversion, reconaissance, and ambushes. They operated throughout the Free Territories. When on leave, they were frequently engaged in home front operations such as visiting factories and patriotic campaigns.
They became one of the most well-known squads of the People's Army by the end of the war. Some of their famous operations included military deception operations before the Battles of Nerazur and Mytin, several run-ins with Lidia's Legion, taking part in the liberation of Keraþ from the Futurist Front, and capturing the Royal Palace at the end of the Battle of Velouria.
The public was captivated by their personalities and tales of derring-do, whose exciting action and straightforward morality contrasted with the traumatising violence and dispiriting length of the Liberation War itself.
Following the end of the war, they became members of the Gylian Self-Defense Forces, although they refused to accept any ranks, and prominent memebers of Veterans for a Just Peace. Mio and Minna married, and became senior members of the GSDF, although they declined appointment to the Ministry of Defense. Shirley and Gertrude married. Erika and Francesca became involved in politics. The former squad members remained close friends after the war, and enjoyed long retirements, dying of old age in the late 2000s–early 2010s.
The 15th Special Operations Squad became iconic figures of the Liberation War. They published collective memoirs, appeared in various documentaries, and well into old age would visit classrooms as part of VFJP's Living History program to recount their wartime experiences. Their activities and image had an influence on Gylian pop culture, particularly inspiring the depictions of cunning and boisterous action heroines and war heroines.
