Jungle Dogs Chapter History

The Jungle Dogs are one of the later founding Space Marine chapters, that for the most part follows the Codex Astares for its formation. Its geneseed originated from the Ultramarine's Lineage. In an ancient text the first Chapter Master, Maxus Dobermininus, found a reference to early fighting forces. The scraps of this text are considered to be the holiest of relics that the chapter possesses. One of the few remaining pages of that text has a quote that reads as follows:

"In these colors he is known and in these colors he is feared, The Jungle Dog, a United States Marine. Lt. Col. T.R. Fehrenbach (USA) in "This Kind of War" stated: "The man who will go where his colors go, without asking, who will fight a Phantom for in jungle and mountain range, without counting, and who will suffer and die in the midst of incredible hardship, without complaint, is still what he has always been, from Imperial Rome, to Sceptered Britain, to Democratic America. He is the stuff which legions are made. His pride is his colors and his regiment, his training hard and through and coldly realistic, to fit him for what he must face. And his obedience is to his orders. As a legionary he held the gates of civilization for the classical world… A United States Marine." These are words to live and die with, they are the heart of what a Marine is."

So from this scrap of text the chapter took its name, The Jungle Dogs. These are the ideas that the chapter was founded upon and are ingrained in the minds of all, from the newest of recruits to the oldest of veterans.

The Chapter was originally located on a Death World Jungle Planet near The Eye Of Terror. From the beginning, life there was a constant challenge; it was not only a constant fight against the elements, but against both the fauna and flora of the planet. One had to be weary not only of the Beasts that inhabited the planet but also of the plants which were just as hungry for flesh. The chapter favors flame type weapons because of this; they were used extensively in clearing safe areas on the planet's surface and keeping them that way. The challenges imposed by this environment honed the skills that the chapter uses today and forced the chapter to form specialized squads and modified vehicles to combat these.

One of the first specialized units created was The Jungle Clearing Squad. It was formed in conjunction with the Jungle Sweeper, a modified Rhino with a Heavy Flamer, saw blades, scythes and a giant gripper claw to clear huge swaths of Jungle at a time. The squad uses heavy flammers to burn back the plant life and Marines with Close Combat Weapons to fight off the plants as they attacked in defense. Another specialized unit that was formed was the Beast Hunter Squads. The Beast Hunter Squads hunt down animals that threaten the safety of the chapter and its support organization. They hunt beasts of all sizes from small creatures, that look like Terran mice with an acidic saliva that can eat through power armour in no time, to huge behemoths that dwarf the Tanks and Dreadnoughts. The Chapter also modified the Predator chassey to carry an Inferno Cannon and created the Land Speeder Inferno to assist in the Jungle clearing operations.

The Chapter's Fortress was located on an island in the middle of an Inland Sea. The Island was totally cleared of all types of life (Plant and Animal) and the base was built. The earth that the fortress occupied was sewn with salt and other compounds to make it unsupportive of life. The high walls surrounding the edges of the island the Fortress were smooth on the outside and they curved outward to prevent something from climbing over. The walls were armed with heavy flamers at regular intervals along with other manned and unmanned defenses to keep the animals and plants out. The surrounding waters were full of natural predators; these were left there to hamper besieging forces. The surrounding Jungle was no better and left alone except for training and hunting.

It was in these jungles, while hunting beasts, that the chapter discovered the Jungle Dogs. These clever beasts had an almost uncanny intelligence. It was noted that they could coordinate their attacks and bring down their prey in both a swift and efficient manner. Using the Beast Hunters, the chapter was able to capture some of these Jungle Dogs. These have been breed and trained them as guard dogs and fighting beasts. The chapter named them after an animal from an ancient text, and the Chapter's name.

The Chapter had to not only fend off not only Chaos incursions form the Eye, but also attempts by Eldar and Dark Eldar raiding parties, Orc warbosses thinking that the planet would be easy to take with just one human settlement, and one massive tyranid attack, as well as heading off on crusades to defend the Emperor's interests. In the battle for a small planet Meridian Prime, the chapter took heavy loses to a combined fight form the Orc Badazz Bigtoof who was leading the Waagggg!! along side a chaos marine force called the Fire Hawks, a nefarious Traitor Legion of some repute. This was the first encounter with them but it was not to be the last. The Jungle Dogs were able to crush the Orcs, but the Fire Hawks were able to escape back to the Eye of Terror. Seeking revenge, The Fire Hawks attacked the home planet along with many allies from the Eye. They laid siege upon the Jungle Dogs Fortress until it fell after three years of solid defense. The chapter was able to escape into the jungles and get off planet to try to regroup its forces. The Chaos Gods in a final insult swallowed the chapter's original home world into The Eye Of Terror.

Because of their almost constant fight against the forces of Chaos, The Fire Hawks, the chapter has been assigned a permanent detachment of Inquisitors, Gray Knights and a battle company from the Adeptus Ministorium from the Martyred Lady Chapter. These are here not only to fight against the forces of chaos, but also to ensure that the chapter does not sway towards the temptations of chaos. The Jungle Dogs and their arch-nemesis, the Fire Hawks, have fought many a pitched battle since the destruction of their home planet, with neither side gaining a distinct advantage. The largest battle was for a small planet named Cambia 3. This encounter lasted for two years, but in the end the entire population had to be put to the question by the Inquisition.

The chapter escaped to a space hulk that they found near by. After many long months of cleansing the hulk of the vile genestealers that inhabited it, they claimed it as theirs and started the long process of rebuilding the chapter. The Chapter used the hulk to find a habitable planet that they could again call home. While patrolling in the Segmentum Pacificus, they came across a large planet. There the local human population was fighting to get out from under the control of alien masters, and the Jungle Dogs decided to lend their aid and bring the planet back under the holy guidance of the Emperor and his servants. Once free of the alien influence the Jungle Dogs decided to have a permanent presence to protect the locals from further alien invasions, and made their new home on Dobar Prime. They are now garrisoned in an ancient fortress that was found deep in one of the equatorial jungles named the Citadel of the Ancients. Since then the chapter has established a strong connection with the people of Dobar Prime, and most of those who are raised into the ranks of the Jungle Dogs come from that planet, including the current Chapter Master, Canis Jungalo. The chapter master's old regiment (from before he received his geneseed and became a marine), the Imperial Guard Regiment the 23rd Dobar "Jungle Dogs", is permanently attached to the chapter, and is usually found in a supporting role for many of their incursions.