XI Corps (Star League)
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| XI Corps | |
| Formed | 2582[1] |
| Affiliation | Star League |
| Parent Command | Sixteenth Army |
XI Corps (or the Eleventh Corps) was one of the seventy-two corps that made up the Star League Defense Force. Prior to the collapse of the Star League, the large XI Corps consisted of six divisions and four independent regiments.[2]
Contents
History[edit]
Reunification War[edit]
General Amalthia Kincaid was responsible for the formation of XI Corps as the first of a new kind of SLDF corps when she took command of Operation BULL RUN, the conquest of the Taurian Concordat, in 2582. Initially formed at just two divisions in strength, XI Corps was mustered using five striker regiments, replacement troops, and battalions taken wholesale from I Corps and III Corps. In contrast with the other SLDF corps of the time, Kincaid organized XI Corps' BattleMech, armor, and infantry regiments into full brigades, rather than making each brigade a mix of the three types. Kincaid's successor during the campaign expanded XI Corps by forming a third division, although by the end of the war XI Corps would still lack a Royal brigade or division.[3]
After the battle for New Vandenberg, General Damien Onaga used XI Corps to conquer Brockway and Midale in 2590. Both worlds were spared the immense death toll and destruction that many other Taurian worlds suffered during the War; this was due to Onaga changing the strategy employed on Operation BULL RUN, taking a very different approach to that ordered by the previous theater commander, Field Marshal Amos Forlough. Onaga's approach to conquering the systems saw him deliberately rotating troops in and out of battle, giving them an opportunity to blood themselves, while limiting his campaign to purely military targets, rather than cities and civilian infrastructure. This made the conquest of Midale a slower campaign than many previous planetary assaults, but inflicted far less damage, and with much of the planetary garrisons having already been stripped away by the Taurian Defense Force to fight in other systems during earlier years of the war, the battle for Brockway was over by the end of November and the battle for Midale was over by the end of December 2590.[4] XI Corps was only two divisions strong at the time of the attacks, and deployed the Thirty-first Division alongside I Corps on Brockway, where they destroyed the Seventy-fourth Concordat Chasseurs, while the Thirty-second Division deployed alongside III Corps to seize Midale.[1]
Periphery Uprising[edit]
In 2764, XI Corps was part of the Sixteenth Army assigned to District 3 of the Draconis Combine Military Region. There they faced the lion's share of the small cross border conflicts sponsored by the Lyran Commonwealth and Rim Worlds Republic against the Draconis Combine. In 2765, they had been facing these conflicts for two decades, and the constant low level fighting was beginning to affect morale. The DCMS claimed poverty and lack of resources, forcing the SLDF to step into the gap.[2]
The commander of XI Corps was agitating for the increased speed of unit rotations, trying to get his burned-out and depressed soldiers into an area where they could rest and recuperate. The use of SLDF troops to repress Combine citizens was a particularly sensitive issue, and the General had informed the Warlord of Rasalhague that his troops wouldn't engage in those activities in the future. Only individuals who were engaged in overt violent activity against civilian populations or Star League member states would be engaged by members of XI Corps.[2]
When the simmering violence and rebellion building Periphery-wide erupted with the New Vandenberg Uprising in 2765, XI Corps was deployed into the Periphery Military Region along with the rest of the Sixteenth Army.[5]
XI Corps lost fewer units in the Periphery Uprising than the other corps within the Sixteenth Army; the New Delhi Grenadiers were destroyed in 2765, while the Sixty-sixth Mechanized Infantry Division took heavy casualties and was disbanded, although some elements joined the Draconis Combine. In 2766 the Epsilon Indi Division was destroyed and XI Corps were embroiled soon after in the Hegemony Campaign. Three full divisions were destroyed during the twelve-year conflict;[5] XI Corps also lost the Nineteenth Striker Regiment, destroyed in an ambush on Amity.[6]
Amaris Civil War[edit]
In 2772, the SLDF's Sixteenth Army was assigned to retake Lyons from the Amaris Empire during Operation CHIEFTAIN. Defended by a combination of Patriot forces and the Twenty-fifth Amaris Dragoons, the SLDF would encounter horrific conditions that would typify the kind of resistance faced all across the Terran Hegemony. The Dragoons used chemical and biological weapons against the Sixteenth Army without compunction, in the process affecting over a hundred thousand civilians living in three of the world's largest cities. The Patriot battalions swelled their ranks by rounding up and forcing thousands of civilians to man defensive turrets and barricades, under the threat of torture or death if they refused. XI Corps commander Major General Pyus Schurter ordered his troops to exercise extreme care and use non-lethal weapons where possible, and the siege on the planet's lone Castle Brian lasted more than two months.[7]
Exodus[edit]
When Commanding General Aleksandr Kerensky ordered the Exodus in 2784, the three intact divisions within XI Corps all elected to follow him; however, the three surviving independent regiments elected to remain in the Inner Sphere,[5] forming the noted Eridani Light Horse mercenary unit.[6]
Officers[edit]
| Rank | Name | Command | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commanding Officers of the XI Corps (Star League) | |||
| Major General | Vincenté Marcocelli | 2764[2] | |
| Major General | Pyus Schurter | 2772[8] | |
Tactics[edit]
Unknown.
Composition History[edit]
2582[edit]
2765[edit]
- Divisions
- Thirty-fourth Royal BattleMech Division[9]
- 168th BattleMech Division[9]
- 49th Infantry Division
- Thirty-eighth Mechanized Infantry Division[9]
- Forty-seventh Royal Mechanized Infantry Division[9]
- 57th Mechanized Infantry Division
- 66th Mechanized Infantry Division
- Sixty-seventh Mechanized Infantry Division[9]
- Sixty-eighth Jump Infantry Division[9]
- Independent Regiments
- Notes: All four independent regiments of the corps formed the 3rd Regimental Combat Team.[2]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Historical: Reunification War, pp. 142–143: "Taurian Concordat Front"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Field Manual: SLDF, p. 190
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 31: "XI Corps"
- ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 91: "Cleanup"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The Star League, p. 149
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mercenary's Handbook, p. 68
- ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, pp. 122, 124
- ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 122
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Field Manual: SLDF, p. 191