1st Armored Division

Insignia of the 1st Armored Division
First Armored Division
Formed 2572
Affiliation Outworlds Alliance
Parent Command Alliance Armored Corps


Unit Description[edit]

The First Armored Division was one of four armored divisions that formed the Alliance Armored Corps during the Reunification War.[1]

History[edit]

Formation[edit]

Formed as a result of the order issued by Outworlds Alliance President Grigori Avellar in 2572 that created the Outworlds Alliance Militia, the 1st Armored Division was a part of the crash armament program that resulted, and was equipped with a mixture of vehicles and equipment sourced covertly from outside the Alliance and those armored vehicles manufactured by Alliance industries which had been realigned by the President to produce armaments.[2][3]

In the years between 2571 and 2581, military recruitment from within the Outworlds Alliance was extremely low, and the OAM was forced to rely on recruiting foreigners. This would change after events in the first year of the war, but by the time the war began, the 1st Armored Division was largely crewed by foreign-born troops with military experience.[3][4]

Reunification War[edit]

Tabayama[edit]

When the SLDF invasion of the Outworlds Alliance began, the bulk of the 1st Armored Division was on Kazanka, although two battalions were deployed on Kazanka under the command of Chairman Elaine Perez. The governor of Tabayama was secretly pursuing a pro-Kurita agenda, and actively hampered the efforts of the 1st Armored to defend Tabayama when the 4th Galedon Regulars arrived in August 2581; despite the efforts of the 1st Armored to resist the initial invasion, the location of their DropShips was betrayed by the planetary governor, robbing the 1st of critical support. However, despite the governors agenda, the population of Tabayama rose up in protest against the Combine occupiers, giving the 1st a chance to regroup and launch spoiling attacks; this campaign of attacks lasted for weeks, until the 4th Galedon retaliated by using live fire and BattleMechs to disperse civilian protests. The resulting death toll led to the 1st Armored engaging the 4th Galedon directly, recapturing the city of Yamabad and its spaceport, although almost a battalion of vehicles were lost in the battle. Possession of Yamabad gave the 1st Armored a chance to escape from Tabayama, and Perez led her troops in a collapsing defense that gave her the opportunity to bring two companies of armor and 2,000 civilians away from Tabayama safely, in defiance of a battalion of 4th Galedon Mechs.[5]

Kazanka[edit]

When the DCMS launched attacks into the Alliance in 2582, the greater part of the 1st Armored had consolidated onto Kazanka; the 19th Galedon Regulars landed in September, they found that not only were the 1st Armored present in force, but that the militia was larger and better equipped than anticipated, had been trained by advisors from the AFFS and that the planetary defenses were stronger and deeper than expected. This combination of factors allowed the 1st Armored to turn the swift conquest of Kazanka into a grueling campaign where the 1st Armored and militia forces continually blocked the Kuritan attempts to attack the civilian population and engaged the 19th Galedon in strength. The 19th had a deeper and more resilient supply chain, allowing them to grind the Alliance forces down, but the 1st Armored made the DCMS troops fight for five months to capture Kazanka; by the time the 1st Armored retreated off-world in mid-February 2583, the Kuritan forces had burned through more than a years-worth of supplies in a few short months and the inner Alliance worlds had valuable time to fortify their defenses against future attacks.[6]

Zlatousi[edit]

The 1st Armored had a detachment on Zlatousi in support of the 2nd Armored Division, who were also involved in fighting against the DCMS attacks in late 2582; the battles were against the 24th Galedon Regulars this time, and the only major difference between the campaign for Kazanka and the campaign for Zlatousi is that the Alliance forces had to retreat from Kazanka two weeks earlier, leaving the world at the end of January 2583.[6]

Prinis Prime[edit]

The 1st Armored would face the 19th Galedon Regulars again in August 2583, when the DCMS regiment attacked Prinis Prime in an attempt to occupy the world. This time, the 19th Galedon didn't have the supply chain they'd had on Kazanka... and the Alliance defenses were stronger on Prinis Prime than they'd been on Kazanka. Although the 19th Galedon faced fewer units from the 1st Armored, who were split between Prinis Prime and Milligan's World, the militia forces on the planet included anti-'Mech trained infantry and the planetary defenses were stronger. Attempts by the 19th Galedon to attack the civilian population were blunted by the militia infantry, who crippled the 19th Galedon's advanced forces, holding them up long enough for the 1st Armored to redeploy and halt the attack. The 19th Galedon were forced to retreat off-world in November 2583, and the Combine wouldn't manage another major attack against the world during the war.[7]

Milligan's World[edit]

Even as the 19th Galedon Regulars were attacking Prinis Prime, the 24th Galedon Regulars were invading Milligan's World; those 1st Armored Division units who weren't deployed on Prinis Prime were on Milligan's World, and the militia on Milligan's World had more infantry than the militia on Prinis Prime, as well as being strongly reinforced with their own armor regiments. Using the same tactics as their compatriots on Prinis Prime, the 1st Armored forced the 24th Galedon off-world in November 2583.[7]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 1st Armored Division

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

4 Armored Regiments + 5 mechanized Regiments [8]

Rules[edit]

Reunification War[edit]

  • When rolling randomly to determine the armor platoon composition of the various Alliance Armored Divisions, each lance may make one roll per lance using the Draconis Combine table and one roll per lance using the Federated Suns table.[9]

References[edit]

  1. Historical: Reunification War, p. 141, "Outworlds Alliance Front"
  2. Historical: Reunification War, p. 108, "Something From Nothing"
  3. 3.0 3.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 108, "Guns and Diplomats"
  4. Historical: Reunification War, p. 110, "Alliance Preparations"
  5. Historical: Reunification War, p. 113, "Tabayama"
  6. 6.0 6.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 121-122, "Kazanka, Nexus Ri and Zlatousi"
  7. 7.0 7.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 125, "Kurita's Overeager Appetite"
  8. Historical: Reunification War, p. 42, "Outworlds Alliance Militia"
  9. Historical: Reunification War, p. 183, "Alliance Armored Divisions"

Bibliography[edit]