17th Army (Star League)

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The Star League Defense Forces 17th Army was assigned to operations within the Magistracy of Canopus Territorial State.

History

Formed in the great expansion of the SLDF, the Seventeenth Army replaced the VII Corps who had defeated and maintained control of the Magistracy of Canopus since the Reunification War. At its peak the 17th consisted of twenty-four divisions which included six BattleMech Divisions, fifteen infantry Divisions and up thirty Independent Regiments. [1] In 2765 the SLDF units in the Seventeenth Army outnumbered the Magistracy Armed Forces by a factor of twenty to one.[2]

The 17th had historically enjoyed good relations with the population of the Magistracy; this left it open to severe losses when the Periphery Uprising began, as the 17th were completely unprepared for the savagery of the Uprising, or the sheer scale of the rebellion. The rebel forces drove the 17th off Canopus and those worlds closest to it before reinforcements could arrive in the Magistracy, a blow that the 17th never had the opportunity to repay despite petitioning General Aleksandr Kerensky to be in the vanguard of the Magistracy campaign. The two years of campaigning in the Periphery saw the 17th lose more than half its forces in combat or through disbandment.[3] The 17th also saw defections from all three Corps to the rebels, with elements of the 108th Mechanized Infantry Division, 265th Mechanized Infantry Division, 48th Jump Infantry Division and the 38th Royal CAAN Marine Regiment all joining the enemy.[1]

Like all Territorial State armies, the 17th initially attempted to stabilize tensions in the Magistracy that led to the second Periphery rebellion prior to Stefan Amaris's murder of Richard Cameron. The divisions of the 17th suffered heavy losses in the SLDF's assault on the Rim Worlds Republic and the campaign to recapture of the worlds of the Terran Hegemony, with the Seventeenth Army disbanded upon the collapse of the Star League, the bulk of its surviving divisions joining General Kerensky on his Exodus. [1]

Officers

In 2765 the commanding officer of the 17th Army was Admiral John Soong; the 17th was one of only two Armies to be commanded by an Admiral at this point, rather than a General.[3][2]

Corps of the 17th Army

Composition

2765

  • 6 BattleMech Divisions[3]
  • 15 Infantry Divisions[3]
  • 30 Independent Regiments[3]

2767

  • 2 BattleMech Divisions[1]
  • 7 Infantry Divisions[1]
  • 20 Independent Regiments[1]

Following the Periphery Uprising the 17th was left with only 46% of its original combat strength intact.[3]

Notes

The designation for the XVIII Corps is used twice in The Star League sourcebook, once for a Corps within the 17th Army, and once for a Corps within the 9th Army. This is most likely a typo or error, as the units forming the two Corps are different; based on the numbering convention for those Corps deployed in the Periphery Military Region in 2764, the XVIII Corps listed within the 9th Army is most likely to be the actual XVIII Corps. The Corps designation for the unit found in the 17th Army is most likely the LXXII Corps (as there are 72 Corps-level formations in total listed in the Star League Sourcebook and the LXXII Corps is not otherwise found in this volume).[1][4]

It was clarified in Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1 that the third Corps within the 17th Army was in fact LXXII Corps.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 The Star League, p. 155, "Seventeenth Army"
  2. 2.0 2.1 Field Manual: SLDF, p. 201
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 45, "Seventeenth Army"
  4. The Star League, p. 142, "Ninth Army"

Bibliography