Steel Gauntlet

Steel Gauntlet is the third novel of the military science fiction StarFist Saga, written by David Sherman and Dan Cragg. In Steel Gauntlet, St. Cyr, a maniacal sadist who has reinvented the doctrine of armored warfare has taken control of the planet Diamunde, and 34th FIST is deployed as part of a larger force in a full scale war to remove him from power. The Marines are to make an opposed landing, establish a "planethead" and hold for relief by the army.