13th Royal Infantry Division
Sarna News
The Thirteenth Royal Infantry Division was a part of the Star League Defense Force Regular Army. It was one of the SLDF's Royal units, which consisted of troops from the Terran Hegemony.
Contents
History
The Thirteenth Royal Infantry Division twice won the SLDF's Martial Olympiad, once in 2664 and again in 2684. The Thirteenth was one of the most rigorously trained units in the SLDF, and often received experimental equipment for testing and evaluation. Their evaluation was critical, and despite having their Divisional headquarters on Midway, no equipment was ever leaked to the DCMS. (The ISF is known to have dispatched at least one boarding party to take a supply JumpShip but marines attached to the Thirteenth prevented the takeover.) Widespread rumors suggested that the Thirteenth was one of the units used to evaluate Nighthawk power armor, but these remain unconfirmed. The Thirteenth is known to have conducted secret weapons tests in the Draconis Rift however.[1]
In 2764, the unit was assigned, as a part of the XXXV Corps, Fifteenth Army, to District 2 of the Draconis Combine Military Region, but was moved to an undisclosed are of the Periphery in 2765, to take part in the Periphery Uprising.[2]. The 13th survived the war and the Hegemony Campaign.
Post-Exodus
For many years the Inner Sphere assumed that the Thirteenth had joined the Exodus, and communications logs indicate that the Thirteenth told General Kerensky that they would be joining after making a stop in the Draconis Rift. Examining Clan records showed that the Thirteenth never joined the Exodus.[1] Instead the unit remained in the Inner Sphere rather than join Operation Exodus, secretly working for the fledgeling ComStar.[2][3]
In 2788 the unit took part in Operation Silver Shield when along with the 3rd Striker Regiment they assaulted two former SLDF Mechanised Infantry Divisions in the Amazon rainforest on Terra. [3]