XXXIX Corps (Star League)
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Unit Description
XXXIX Corps (or the Thirty-Ninth Corps) was one of the seventy-two Corps that made up the Star League Defense Force. XXXIX Corps was one of the larger Corps; prior to the collapse of the Star League it consisted of 6 divisions and 2 independent regiments. [1]
History
In 2764 XXXIX Corps was part of the Tenth Army, assigned to District 3 of the Free Worlds League Military Region.[1] Assigned to the frontier regions of the Free Worlds League, the operational area patrolled by XXXIX Corps in the 2760s presented a number of challenges for the Corps, ranging from Regulan politics to pirate activity to the metal-eating slugs of Mankova. The largest of the corps within the Tenth Army at the time, XXXIX Corps was responsible for garrisoning a swath of worlds stretching from the rimward half of the Principality of Regulus through to the spinward corner of the Rim Commonality, as well as being responsible for providing support to IV Corps on the border between the Free Worlds League and the Magistracy of Canopus when required.[2]
XXXIX Corps had been commanded by Major General Baruti Saayman since 2742, and Saayman was responsible for the harsh stance taken by the Corps regarding piracy, well in advance of First Lord Simon Cameron issuing similar orders to the entire SLDF. Saayman had been born and raised in the Outworlds Alliance as a pacifist until his entire family had been killed by pirates, at which point he had joined the SLDF, eventually graduating from the War Academy of Mars, and he had responded to the dramatic increase in piracy following the beginning of the Phony War in 2741 by enforcing a kill-on-sight policy against pirates and bandits. Saayman was also intolerant of acts such as looting conducted by SLDF personnel; anyone from XXIX Corps caught looting during Saayman's tenure was subject to an immediate court-martial rather than the non-judicial punishments imposed by other corps.[2]
The long supply chain out to XXXIX Corps was a particular problem for General Saayman; with every province and many of the independent worlds within the League insistent on imposing border inspections and controls on SLDF shipping moving through their space, delays were common and there was a noticeably increased chance of supplies for XXXIX Corps being subject to predation by the same pirates that XXXIX Corps was hunting - with several notable instances of XXXIX Corps units having to fight pirates equipped with materiel intended for XXXIX Corps and stolen en route. As a result of the first instance of this bandit predation Saayman had started assigning naval flotillas from the Seventh Fleet to escorting supply shipments.[2]
When the simmering violence and rebellion building in the Periphery erupted with the New Vandenberg Uprising and subsequent Periphery-wide uprising in 2765 XXXIX Corps was deployed into the Periphery Military Region along with the rest of the 10th Army.[1]
The resulting combat and terrorist actions within the Periphery Military Region inflicted significant damage on XXXIX Corps, with two divisions lost in action - the Pollux Division and the 82nd Mechanized Infantry Division - along with the independent 195th Royal Light Horse regiment. Having survived the Periphery Uprising, XXXIX Corps went on to fight in the Hegemony Campaign, losing another two divisions - the Antaeus Division and the 42nd Mechanized Infantry Division - while the independent Seventh Hussar Regiment took heavy enough losses to be disbanded.[1]
Prior to the start of Operation Chieftain in 2772 the XXXIX Corps absorbed the survivors of the XIII Corps, which was disbanded.[3]
The bulk of the two surviving divisions that comprised the entirity of XXXIX after the Hegemony Campaign followed General Aleksandr Kerensky on the Exodus, with the exception of the 4674th Striker Regiment, a part of the 120th Jump Infantry Division, who elected to remain in the Inner Sphere and joined the Draconis Combine.[1]
Composition History
| Unit | 2764 | 2765 | 2766 | 2767 - 79 | 2784 | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divisions | ||||||
| Twenty-first Royal BattleMech Division | active [1] | active [1] | active [1] | destroyed [1] | ||
| Fifty-eighth BattleMech Division | active [1] | destroyed [1] | ||||
| Forty-second Mechanized Infantry Division | active [1] | active [1] | active [1] | destroyed [1] | ||
| Eighty-second Mechanized Infantry Division | active [1] | destroyed [1] | ||||
| 146th Mechanized Infantry Division | active [1] | active [1] | active [1] | active [1] | active [1] | Exodus |
| 120th Jump Infantry Division | active [1] | active [1] | active [1] | active [1] | active [1] | Exodus |
| Independent Regiments | ||||||
| 4674th Striker Regiment | joined DCMS [1] | |||||
| 195th Royal Light Horse Regiment | active [1] | destroyed [1] | (member of 1st RCT) | |||
| Seventh Hussar Regiment | active [1] | active [1] | active [1] | active [1] | disbanded [1] | |
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 The Star League, p. 143 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "SLp143" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Field Manual: SLDF, p. 132-133, "XXXIX Corps"
- ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 120 "Operation Chieftain SLDF Order of Battle"