5th Army (Star League)

Army 05th (SLDF) logo.png
Fifth Army
Affiliation Star League
Parent Command Sixth Army Group (2764)[1]
Fifth Army Group (2772)[2]

The Fifth Army of the Star League Defense Force was assigned to operations within the Capellan Confederation Military Region.[3]

History[edit]

The Fifth Army was the only standard pattern army stationed within the Capellan Confederation, with the main Army Headquarters located on Epsilon Eridani and responsibility for those worlds closest to Terra. The Fifth was the largest SLDF army in the Confederation. The Fifth's headquarters were located seventy-five light years away from the nearest Corps, which led to General Bram Merga allowing his Corps commanders a great deal of latitude. This policy had worked well for the Fifth.[1]

General Merga also used a modified Lion DropShip as his command vessel, and was frequently traveling to visit his units in their garrison posts. In addition to checking up on his units, he used these trips to consult with Capellan nobles and governments to remind them of the value of the Star League.[1]

Unlike other Armies responsible for member state capital worlds, the Fifth didn't have a standing unit on Sian. Instead the SLIC employed more agents. The Fifth Army was able to work together with CCAF commands to destroy bandit forces and repel raids. Those CCAF units that worked alongside the SLDF had a better opinion of the Star League, but most Capellans treated the members of the Fifth Army with suspicion, if not outright paranoia. Despite this, some units, like the Fifteenth Dracon, were held in high regard.[1]

When the Periphery Uprising erupted, the other two regional armies within the Capellan Confederation, the Sixth and Seventh Armies, were both deployed forward into the Periphery. That left the Fifth with responsibility for the entire of the Confederation; to augment the Fifth the SLDF High Command transferred in twenty-nine assorted regiments of troops from the First Army.[4]

When Stefan Amaris launched his coup on 27 December 2766 on Terra, his forces also swung into action on all of the other worlds within the Terran Hegemony and a number of jointly-administered worlds.[5] This included Epsilon Eridani; despite the Fifth Army being deployed across the Confederation there were still a large number of personnel from the Fifth Army on Epsilon Eridani, as well as a substantial number of SLDF personnel within the support and training organizations. These people, primarily administrative, support and logistics personnel, posed a risk to the Rim Worlds Republic forces, which had already managed to occupy at least one Castle Brian on Epsilon Eridani prior to the Coup beginning.[6] The SLS Antietam Creek was a black navy ship from the SLDF attached to the Second Battalion of the Eighty-third BattleMech Division when the unit tried to escape from Epsilon Eridani during the Amaris Coup in 2767.[7]

When Commanding General Aleksandr Kerensky arranged to meet with the remaining members of the SLDF High Command and his task force commanders on the recently-liberated world of Talitha in November 2774. With Talitha on the front lines, close to two major Amaris Empire Armed Forces strongholds, Kerensky and the other senior officers traveled discretely, and Kerensky charged the Fifth Army - commanded at the time by General Kim Solheim - in charge of conference security. Despite a handful of minor attacks on the base by Amaris' loyalists, the conference went off without a hitch.[8]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 5th Army
General Bram Merga 2759 - 2765[1][4]
General Kim Solheim 2774 - 2776[9]

Tactics[edit]

Different per Unit.

Corps of the 5th Army[edit]

Composition History[edit]

2765-2772[edit]

  • 6 BattleMech Divisions[4]
  • 13 Infantry Divisions[4]
  • 9 Independent Regiments[4]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Field Manual: SLDF, p. 79: "Sixth Army"
  2. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, pp. 120–121: "Operation CHIEFTAIN Star League Defense Forces Order of Battle"
  3. The Star League, p. 153
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 43: "Fifth Army"
  5. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 80: "Cometh Hell's Legions"
  6. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, pp. 84–85: "Atrocities And Excesses"
  7. Lawyers, Guns, & Money
  8. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2, pp. 29–30: "Inside Looking In"
  9. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2, pp. 30, 46

Bibliography[edit]