4th Armored Division

Insignia of the 4th Armored Division
Fourth Armored Division
Formed 2572
Affiliation Outworlds Alliance
Parent Command Alliance Armored Corps


Unit Description[edit]

The Fourth 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 4th 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 2572 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 4th Armored Division was largely crewed by foreign-born troops with military experience.[3][4]

Reunification War[edit]

When the Star League invasion of the Outworlds Alliance began in 2581, the 4th Armored Division was garrisoning the worlds of Crestoblus, Ki Zoban and Kinkaid II; however, forces from the 4th Armored would be deployed to the world of Sevon during the opening months of the invasion, where the 4th Armored saw combat for the first time.[1][5]

Sevon[edit]

The 4th Armored Division had deployed a contingent consisting of a mixed regiment or armor and infantry and 2 squadrons of aerospace fighters to Sevon under the command of Chairman Khasan Parry, to which the 1st Alliance BattleMech Regiment had provided two companies of BattleMechs in support. The Sevon militia was one of the largest planetary militias to be engaged in the first year of the invasion, consisting of two battalions of armor and two regiments of infantry, but more significantly, the Pitcairn Legion had also been deployed covertly to Sevon. When the commander of the SLDF task force, General Amos Forlough, led two divisions of Star League troops to Sevon, his arrogance led him directly into an ambush; the 4th Armored Division and the Pitcairn Legion first halted the SLDF advance and destroyed their scout forces before leading an assault directly into the landing zone of the 6th Royal Division. The Alliance forces mauled the 6th Royal Division, reducing it to a shambles, and held the landing zone long enough to recover substantial amounts of salvage before retreating in the face of the SLDF 4th Division. The 4th Armored would fight alongside the other Alliance forces on Sevon for another three weeks, before finally retreating from the world under the orders of the Alliance President in late October.[6]

Lushann[edit]

The 4th Armored Division were deployed to the key industrial world of Lushann in July 2583; originally defended by the 3rd Armored Division and two Alliance BattleMech regiments, Lushann had been reinforced by the Pitcairn Legion in April, but information obtained by Chairman Welkens Nordd of the Outworlds Alliance Militia gave the Alliance the opportunity to halt Forlough's destructive campaign of raids targeting civilian populations and industry across the Alliance. To do that, Nordd needed the Pitcairn Legion, and the 4th Armored were ordered to relieve the Legion on Lushann. The 4th Armored helped the defending forces keep the SLDF Fifteenth Division tied up while the Pitcairn Legion and other Alliance forces checked Forlough's rampage on the world of Tellman IV in what became known as the Day of Vengeance.[7][8]

The battle for Lushann inflicted a heavy toll on the 4th Armored and the other defenders, and would continue to grind away slowly throughout the remainder of the war; the conflict intensified in mid-2584, but despite two years of combat the SLDF never conquered the world, in part due to the efforts of the 4th Armored Division.[9][10]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 4th Armored Division

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

Four armored regiments + 5 mechanized regiments[11]

Rules[edit]

Reunification War[edit]

  • When rolling randomly to determine the armor platoon composition of the 4th Armored Division, each lance may make one roll per lance using the Draconis Combine table and one roll per lance using the Federated Suns table.[12]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 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. 106, "Reunification War: Outworlds Alliance Front Deployments (2581)"
  6. Historical: Reunification War, p. 114-115, "Sevon"
  7. Historical: Reunification War, p. 124, "Battle For Lushann"
  8. Historical: Reunification War, p. 124, "Day Of Vengeance"
  9. Historical: Reunification War, p. 125, "Slow Grind"
  10. Historical: Reunification War, p. 126, "Negotiation"
  11. Historical: Reunification War, p. 42, "Outworlds Alliance Militia"
  12. Historical: Reunification War, p. 183, "Alliance Armored Divisions"

Bibliography[edit]