XL Corps (Star League)

XL Corps.jpg
XL Corps
Formed unknown
Nickname n/a
Affiliation SLDF
Parent Command Fifteenth Army


XL Corps (or the Fortieth Corps) was one of the seventy-two Corps that made up the Star League Defense Force. Prior to the collapse of the Star League XL Corps was a moderately large corps, consisting of 6 divisions, 2 independent regiments and an independent aero wing.[1]

History

In 2764 XL Corps was part of the 15th Army, assigned to District 2 of the Draconis Combine Military Region. The XL Corps covered the area between the edge of District 2 and the Combine's Periphery border. This corps was headquartered on Hassi R'mel and was charged with finding and preventing any contraband from moving from the Inner Sphere to the Periphery. In the late 2760's the XL Corps investigation teams found an increasing amount of weapons and other contraband equipment moving through XL Corps' operations area, but SLIC hadn't been able to identify who was shipping and receiving the gear.[1]

The XL Corps was the SLDF's most difficult Corps to resupply. The low number of stars in the Draconis Rift slow the transporting JumpShips, and the lack of appropriate recharging stations further exacerbated the problem. There were several proposals to build more recharging stations in uninhabited systems, but these plans hadn't been acted upon by the time of the Periphery Uprising. The units of XL Corps simply relied on manufacturing centers in the Draconis Combine to provide replacement equipment.[1]

When the simmering violence and rebellion building in the Periphery erupted with the New Vandenberg Uprising and subsequent Periphery-wide uprising in 2765 XL Corps was deployed into the Periphery Military Region along with the rest of the 15th Army.[2]

The Periphery Uprising and the Hegemony Campaign effectively shattered XL Corps; the conflict in the Periphery claimed two full divisions and an independent regiment, with a third division, the 272nd Mechanized Infantry Division, vanishing from records somewhere between the Periphery Uprising and the campaign to liberate the Hegemony. The second conflict consumed all of the other divisions within XL Corps, with the 7th Jump Infantry Division being disbanded after heavy losses and the remaining XL Corps divisions all lost.[2]

When General Aleksandr Kerensky ordered the Exodus in 2784 only two units remained within XL Corps, the 687th Independent Aero Wing and the 91st Heavy Assault Regiment. Surviving elements of the disbanded 7th Jump Infantry had already joined the Draconis Combine and Capellan Confederation, and the 91st chose to join the Federated Suns. Only the 687th followed General Kerensky into the Deep Periphery.[2]

Officers

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the XL Corps
Major General Thomas Alexander Pre-2764[3]
Major General Yahuhiro Nakazono 2764[1]

Tactics

Unknown.

Composition History

2764

Divisions
Independent Regiments

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Field Manual: SLDF, p. 186
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Star League, p. 148
  3. Field Manual: SLDF, p. 183, "82nd Royal Jump Infantry Division"
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Field Manual: SLDF, p. 187

Bibliography