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Admiral Gerard DuGalle is a character in the StarCraft universe. He is a Terran from Earth and an Admiral of the United Earth Directorate (UED).
Biography
Admiral Gerard DuGalle, age 64, was a highly decorated United Earth Directorate admiral. He and his most trusted comrade, Vice Admiral Stukov were sent as part of the UED Expeditionary Force to the Koprulu Sector after the battles of Chau Sara and Mar Sara, in order to pacify the area and bring it under UED control. DuGalle was put in charge due to his tactical expertise.
DuGalle was supposedly the most proficient UED leader, possessing prior experience in military conflicts, and commanded his force from the UED flagship, Aleksander. Stukov implied that DuGalle was "rigid" and did not make friends easily.
Dugalle was entrusted with the mission of pacifying the Kropulu Sector while containing the Zerg and Protoss; to that end he was issued three Primary Objectives:
- Conquer all of the "rogue" Terran colonies, and capture Arcturus Mengsk, the self-instated Emperor of the Terran Dominion.
- Take control of the entire Zerg Swarm by capturing the newborn Zerg Overmind with psychics and powerful drugs.
- Use the captured Zerg Swarm to conquer the Protoss.
Dugalle and his fleet arrived in the Koprulu Sector shortly after the death of the original Zerg Overmind. At that point, the majority of the Terran population was under Mengsk's control, and the last units of the now defunct Confederacy had been more or less intergrated into Mengsk's forces.
Dugalle's first action involved the demonstration of the destructive ability of the Zerg. He released Zerg onto an unsuspecting colony to "observe" them in warfare. Stukov was appalled, but DuGalle forced him to watch, claiming that the live demonstration would instill a resolve within the Vice Admiral that taped dissections could not.
The UED expeditionary force soon arrived at the Confederate border world of Braxis. They landed forces upon the planetary surface while blockading the planet from orbit; this assault would eventually form the cornerstone of their wildly-successful initial push into the Terran Dominion. With the assistance of a mysterious covert operations specialist named Samir Duran, who sided with the UED and offered DuGalle important information on Mengsk and his armed forces as well as providing Vespene gas for the UED military, the expeditionary force eventually took control of the capital city Boralis. Through this initial success, UED forces were able to gain control of vital Terran Dominion intelligence assets, which assisted them as they planned their assault.
UED victories soon followed, as the UED forces took control of a fleet of battlecruisers at the Dylerian Shipyards. The UED military discovered a Psi Disruptor on Tarsonis, and Duran convinced DuGalle to destroy it. This turned out to be an enormous strategic error; Stukov was forced to secretly intervene. For the time being, this action was of little immediate consequence, however, as the UED was able to then assault the Dominion capital of Augustgrad upon the planet Korhal. Dominion power was broken and the Emperor Mengsk was forced to flee; Directorate forces were unable to capture the Emperor, however, as DuGalle's men were ambushed by James Raynor and a small Protoss contingent, who helped Mengsk escape. A dumbfounded Dugalle then turned his attention to capturing Raynor.
Meanwhile, Duran began to manipulate DuGalle into believing that his Vice Admiral and good friend Alexi Stukov had betrayed him by reactivating the Psi Disruptor on Braxis. DuGalle was reluctant to believe that his friend and confidant had betrayed him, but when Alexi vanished during a battle on Aiur Dugalle ordered Duran to find and execute Stukov for treason. Before Stukov died, he informed Dugalle that the the traitor was actually Duran, who had been infested by the Zerg. In the mayhem that followed, Duran disappeared as the Disruptor entered its self destruct sequence. An enraged DuGalle managed to save the Psi Disruptor, swore vengeance upon the Zerg, and set out to take control of the Overmind.
DuGalle and his men were successful in their attempt to capture the Zerg Overmind, partially because of the Psi Disruptor, and UED forces believed that victory was imminent. They, however, underestimated the determination of Sarah Kerrigan, who tricked James Raynor and Fenix into destroying the Psi Disruptor and blackmailed Zeratul into slaying the reborn Overmind. With the 2nd Overmind dead Kerrigan launched a massive offensive against UED/Terran Dominion troops and Protoss forces on Korhal, inflicting massive causalties to all three factions, and severely weakening the ability of these sides to interfear with her plans. In particular, the Zerg were able to kill General Edmund Duke, Acturus Mengsk's right hand man, and Fenix, a powerfull Protoss warrior and war veteran. DuGalle and his men were thus forced to ally themselves with the forces they were originally sent to capture/suppress in order to defeat the Zerg. In a combined effort, the UED forces under DuGalle, Protoss forces under the command of Artanis, and the remnants of the Dominion under the command of Mengsk assaulted one of Kerrigan's defense platforms above the planet Char at a time when Kerrigan was very vunerable, only to be beaten back by the Zerg swarm. DuGalle acknowleged his defeat at Kerrigan's hands, and offered the terms of surrender, but Kerrigan refused to accept them.
The remainder of DuGalle's fleet began an organized retreat from the platform; however, DuGalle realized that they would be unable to escape from the sector. As well, he was notably disturbed by the loss of his long-time friend through the treachery of Duran and the undeserved absolution of guilt that the propaganda films granted him. Alone in his cabin, he composed a final letter to his wife Helena, blaming the defeat on his pride and arrogance, and then produced a small calibre firearm, which he used to commit suicide. Shortly thereafter, Kerrigan's swarms overtook the remaining UED ships, eliminating the entire fleet. There were no survivors.
Dugalle's Mistakes
Despite his tactical brilliance, DuGalle was not very good at proposing long term strategies. In some ways he seemed reckless in his pursuit of his goals. DuGalle was also convinced that the United Earth Directorate would eventually emerge victorious, and this hubris led him to engage in several tactically-risky maneuvers:
- His first blunder was setting up a base camp on Braxis without scouting for Vespene first. This led him to accept Samir Duran into his forces with few qualms, despite his misgivings.
- DuGalle polarized the sector by refusing to deal with any outside factions besides the forces of Duran, possibly due to their initial successes and an arrogant assurance of victory. Kerrigan exploited general fear of the UED in order to build her coalition of Protoss and Terran forces.
- DuGalle underestimated the importance of the Psi Disruptor because of faulty intelligence from Duran, who understood the importance of the Psi Disruptor in controlling the Zerg swarms.
- DuGalle made no further serious attempts to pursue Mengsk after he escaped with the assistance of the Zerg, allowing Kerrigan to obtain an ally that made her objectives somewhat easier to achieve
- Dugalle failed to relise that Mengsk's Psi Beacons/Psi Emmiters cancelled the effected of the Psi Disrupter, enabling Kerrigan's Swarms to regroup and destroy the Psi Disrupter.
- He made his final blunder after Sarah Kerrigan destroyed the Psi Disruptor. His fleet possessed the unenviable distinction of having to occupy Korhal, Char and Braxis all at the same time for tactically sound but very different reasons. He left a planetary garrison to defend the Psi Disruptor, but clearly his preparations were not enough to stave off the Zerg invasion force.
From that point on the expeditionary force was doomed. Kerrigan inevitably defeated his forces on Korhal and Char, then destroyed his fleet in a titanic battle.
Trivia
It is interesting to note that Dugalle commanded from the ship Aleksander, perhaps in reference to "Alexander the Great", whose empire was defeated upon Alexander's death because their was no one alive who possed his knowledge and skill in warfare.
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