Protectorate Militia (Word of Blake)
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Overview
Protectorate Militia Command
The Protectorate Militias were created by the Word of Blake to boost their defensive strength within the Word of Blake Protectorate without adding undue strain to their supply lines of high-technology equipment. The local militia forces were raised from the population of their individual worlds and focussed on defense of those worlds; as a result, the militias often drew on local feelings of patriotism, something the Word used to build a reliable defensive line.[1]
The local militias lacked special weapons or directives and were most commonly used to bolster the defense of their own homeworlds, but late in the Jihad the Word did move Protectorate Militia forces to other worlds within the Protectorate as a means of reinforcing counter attacks against advancing coalition forces.[1] The largest combined deployment of Protectorate Militia forces was the campaign to defend Dieron, which saw the Word of Blake deploy a large naval flotilla, five Divisions of Militia forces and five Divisions of Protectorate Militia forces; in this case, the Protectorate Militia Divisions were drawn from the worlds of Acamar, Asta, Fletcher, Liberty and Milton.[2]
The Protectorate Militias were effectively destroyed as coherent units during Operation SCOUR, but at least as late as mid-3081 former Protectorate Militia forces were continuing to resist on a number of former Protectorate worlds. The Republic of the Sphere worked to disarm these forces, largely through peaceful means, and the idea of allowing some of the combat veterans from the Protectorate Militias to serve in the local militias of the new Republic was mooted.[1]