Waco's Rangers and the Crazy Eights were the last task force units to land on Coventry. The CEF Command's decision that the Rangers and the Eights should make DropShip landings, rather than the more glamorous but dangerous combat drops, created some tension between Rangers' Commander Wayne Rogers and the Dragoons' Brubaker until the Light Horse's General Adriana Winston managed to calm things down. Shortly after 1125 hours on 10 April 3058, the Rangers and the Eights forced their way on planet. During their hotly contested approach and landing, the Rangers destroyed eight Falcon OmniFighters and five front-line OmniMechs. The Crazy Eights destroyed two more OmniMechs and an unknown number of Elementals.
With the arrival of Hauptmann Trevena of the Tenth Skye's First Battalion, the majority of Coventry's defenders were concentrated in Lietnerton. After some deliberation, the CEF command staff decided to launch a three-pronged attack against the Falcons at Port St. William. The battle plan called for the Dragoons and the Eridani Light Horse to make a direct attack against the Jade Falcons defending the spaceport city. The remnants of the Coventry Militia, the Academy cadets and the Skye Rangers would swing westward, screening the mercenary column from a possible flank attack by the more mobile Clan formations, The third arm of the operation would be a strike behind enemy lines. Formed around Waco's Rangers and the Crazy Eights, this arm would move through the wild, hilly region known locally as the Dales. Once in position, the task force would launch a surprise attack on the Clan rear. The unenviable job of guiding the Rangers through the rough hills fell to Caradoc Trevena and his recon company. The Waco's Rangers' phase of the operation would be carried out quietly, with no engagement of enemy forces until the Dragoons/Light Horse attack was well under way.
Unknown to the Inner Sphere planners, however, the Jade Falcons had laid plans of their own. Clan intelligence suggested that Waco's Rangers and the Crazy Eights had been left behind in Lietnerton to guard the CEF base. Star Colonel Arimas Malthus found this highly questionable, considering the well-known hatred between the Dragoons and the Rangers. He reasoned that the reports of the Rangers' presence in Lietnerton must be incorrect and speculated that the Rangers were actually moving through the Dales to attack the Falcons from behind.
To counter this threat, Falcon commanders skimmed 'Mechs and Elementals from each of the three Galaxies protecting Port St. William and formed these units into two Clusters. The first, code named the Harrier group, was made up of light OmniMechs. Heavy and assault elements comprised the second Cluster, christened the Red Tail group. The two groups laid an ambush according to a plan devised by Star Colonel Malthus. Though the plan stretched the strict definitions of Clan honor, Khan Pryde recognized its tactical soundness and allowed it to go ahead. However, she forbade the Falcons to use such deceptive tactics in any future engagements.
The deadly effectiveness of Star Colonel Malthus's plan became apparent in the early hours of April 21. As the Dragoons/Light Horse column struck at the main Jade Falcon lines, the Falcons' Harrier group engaged the Rangers/Eights column near the Dales, drawing the mercenaries into a large grassy field between Port St. William and the Dales. Once the last Ranger 'Mech had entered the clearing, the OmniMechs of Red Tail group unleashed a barrage of missile fire from their positions behind the aspens surrounding the field. That initial strike destroyed five Ranger machines, and the advancing Falcon 'Mechs battered the remaining mercenaries. Only a delaying action fought by Hauptmann Trevena's Tenth Skye Rangers, which had been assigned to perform reconnaissance duties for the mercenaries, along with the timely arrival of the Dragoons' Delta Regiment, prevented the annihilation of Waco's Rangers and the Crazy Eights. In the end, the Falcon ambush destroyed 85 percent of the Rangers' and Eights' 'Mechs.