4th Army Group (Star League)

Fourth Army Group
Nickname	Army Group Kurita
Affiliation	Star League
Parent Command	Star League Defense Force (2765); Task Force Sun (2772)

The Fourth Army Group, also known as Army Group Kurita, was the Star League Defense Force Army Group formed to command the various SLDF Armies responsible for the Draconis Combine Military Region.

History

In common with the other SLDF Army Groups, the Fourth Army Group was commanded by a General who answered only to the SLDF High Command and the First Lord of the Star League. In 2764, the Headquarters of the Fourth Army Group was located on Dieron; Dieron was home to a substantial garrison at this point and SLDF units were constantly moving through the Dieron system. In addition to the Army Group Headquarters commanded by General Abraham Zinsky, other units and formations that called Dieron home at the time included the headquarters of the Fourteenth Army, as well as the XXI Corps headquarters, a part of the First Army. By the beginning of the Periphery Uprising, Army Group Kurita was responsible for the Fourteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Armies. When the Periphery Uprising saw the mass deployment of the majority of the SLDF into the territorial states, the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Armies were deployed as part of that mass mobilization. This left the Fourth Army Group with just one active Army, the Fourteenth, but 30 assorted regiments of troops were transferred from the First Army to the Fourteenth, which was now responsible for the entire Draconis Combine Military Region alone.

As part of the preparations for Operation CHIEFTAIN, Commanding General Aleksandr Kerensky mobilized the Fourth Army Group for the campaign. The Fourteenth Army was transferred to the Twenty-first Army Group while the Third and Fourth Armies formed the new core of the Fourth Army Group, augmented by the Fifth Volunteer Brigade. The Fourth Army Group was assigned to Task Force Sun, along with the Nineteenth and Twenty-first Army Groups. Both the Third and Fourth Armies had taken considerable amounts of damage during operations in the Taurian Concordat, and even with the surviving elements of the badly damaged LXX Corps redistributed across the Fourth Army to reinforce the other Corps, neither Army could boast more than three-fifths of its pre-Uprising strength.

When Operation CHIEFTAIN began in mid-2772, Task Force Sun was commanded by General Aaron DeChavilier, and the Fourth Army Group was responsible for the majority of the prewar border between the Federated Suns and the Terran Hegemony; the Third Army targeted New Florence, Ozawa and Ronel, while the Fourth was responsible for Cartago, Elbar, Mirach, New Rhodes III and Schedar. The Fourth Army assaults mostly went well, largely due to many of the worlds being relatively insignificant to Stefan Amaris, but Third Army found itself bogged down for months on New Florence and Ozawa due to stiff resistance from the defending Amaris Empire forces. The biggest problem faced by the Fourth Amy were on New Rhodes III was a series of disasters that killed tens of thousands of civilians and polluted vast tracts of land. The first disaster was a stray missile that struck a fuel storage facility within Messi, the planetary capital, which triggered stockpiles of explosives and chemicals stored in warehouses near the storage facility, creating fires that gutted the city. The Amaris Empire forces took the opportunity to trigger other disasters, as massive petrochemical spills and fires that kept XXXVII Corps distracted providing relief and support to the civilian population before finally being able to focus on destroying the defending forces.

Following the various planetary assaults launched in Wave 1A of CHIEFTAIN, the Fourth Army Group participated in follow-on invasions in Waves 1B and 1C. Third Army launched an invasion of Towne in February 2773 that captured the world relatively easily, while in wave 1C Third Army attacked Errai in May 2773 while Fourth Army attacked Addicks. Elements of the Fourth Army had launched raids on occupied Hegemony worlds with little resistance from Amaris Empire troops, but it did expose them to the sight of disasters and deprivations caused by Stefan Amaris' regime. Fourth Army deployed LIV Corps for the assault, augmented by a division of infantry from the other two Corps within the Fourth. LIV Corps took the opportunity to vent months of frustration against the Amaris Empire Armed Forces units on Addicks, forcing them to fall back rapidly; the AEAF units retaliated with strikes using chemical and nuclear weapons, leading to months of assaults and counterassaults. While LIV Corps were able to grind the defending forces down to nothing, the months of warfare had dire effects on Addicks. The Third Army assault on Errai also went slowly; the Third Army units were unable to quickly push the defenders out of their positions, and struggled to capture enough supplies to keep up a high operational tempo. Stefan Amaris dispatched reinforcements to Errai that slowed things down further, and passing Amaris Empire WarShip patrols bombarded Errai twice, once in July and once in September. Despite this, Third Army slowly expanded its hold on Errai until November, at which point it returned to large-scale offensives. The battle for the single Castle Brian ran on into early 2774, and for months afterwards the SLDF forces were occupation with relief operations and dealing with insurgents.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the Fourth Army Group
General	Abraham Zinsky	2764

Composition History

2765

• Fourteenth Army
• Fifteenth Army
• Sixteenth Army

2766

• Fourteenth Army

2772

• Third Army

• XVII Corps
• XXXIII Corps
• LXVI Corps
• LXIX Corps

• Fourth Army

• XXXVII Corps
• LIV Corps
• LXII Corps

• Fifth Volunteer Brigade

Bibliography

• Field Manual: SLDF
• Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1