278th Division (ComStar)

278th Division IV-chi
Nickname Clear Courtesy (3050);
The Khan Killers (3062)
Affiliation ComStar
Parent Command Twelfth Army


One of the most elite units in the Com Guards, the 278th Division suffered heavy losses against Clan Wolf during the Battle of Tukayyid, before rebuilding to become the vanguard of ComStar's defense against a renewed Clan Invasion.

History[edit]

Prior to the initial Clan Invasion the 278th Division was known by the nickname of Clear Courtesy and was assigned to the Twelfth Army. Then a IV-nu based formation, the 278th's headquarters world was Rasalhague in the Free Rasalhague Republic.[1]

Tukayyid[edit]

One of the very few elite ranked divisions within the Com Guards, while the bulk of the 12th Army faced Clan Nova Cat, Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht assigned the 278th to assist the divisions of the Tenth Army defend Clan Wolf's primary target city of Skupo.[2][3][4]

Stationed outside of the small hamlet of Forest's End alongside the 166th Division, 278th was in the direct line of advance of the Wolves Third and Seventh Battle Clusters. While the 66th Division harried the Wolves right flank and the inexperienced 283rd Division prevented Alpha Galaxy's Fourth Wolf Guards from encircling the 166th and 2787th positions, the Wolf Khans focused all their efforts on the primary defensive line, slowly pushing the 266th and 278th Divisions back.[2][3][4]

While Natasha Kerensky's famed Thirteenth Wolf Guards tore the 282nd Division apart during a failed attempt to bypass the retreating Com Guard forces, their sacrifice allowed the 278th and the other elements of the Tenth Army to fall back to their defensive positions outside Skupo. However before the 278th and other divisions could dig in, the Wolf forces resumed their attack. Despite the arrival of reinforcements from the Ninth Army's 198th and 247th Divisions, after the Wolf Spiders overcame a brutal ambush by the 138th Division and began to tear into the 166th, the 278th was left as the sole Com Guard unit effectively combating the Clan Wolf forces.[2][3][4]

Unfortunately the division's success attracted the personal attention of ilKhan Ulric Kerensky, who recognized the vital nature of the elite division to the defense of Skupo and designated the 278th a priority target for elimination. Acting on his orders, the 11th Wolf Guards launched an all-out attack on the 278th; despite staging a brilliantly coordinated counterattack against the 11th, the Com Guard division then found itself it encircled by another Wolf Cluster. Unable to break the trap, the 278th went down fighting, inflicting heavy losses as they fell. This included Khan Garth Radick, who was killed from a Gauss rifle shot to his 'Mech's head. Now lacking the forces to hold Skupo after the loss of the 278th, Precentor Martial Focht ordered the withdrawal of the remaining divisions defending it, virtually surrendering the city to the Wolves.[2][3][4][5][6]

Rebuilding & Revision[edit]

Despite less than a third of the division surviving the battle, the Precentor Martial ordered the division rebuilt, bolstering the survivors with displaced battle-hardened veterans from divisions destroyed on Tukayyid rather than new recruits to avoid diluting the overall experience level of the unit. Even with these transfers, the 278th only returned to full strength in 3055.[7] Selecting the new nickname of The Khan Killers after that climactic battle, the 278th became the command division of the Twelfth Army, but the loss of Rasalhague during the invasion led to its transfer to Tukayyid.[8] The threat of a resumed Clan Invasion meant that the 278th was one of the few divisions to be stationed in its entirety on a single world.

Idle years and Operation Bulldog[edit]

The idle years of garrison duty on a virtually deserted world threatened to the dull the unit's edge, with the division's CO Demi-Precentor Richardo Burketon successfully arguing for the 278th to form part of ComStar's contribution to Operation Bulldog.[7] Launching from the Draconis Combine world of Braunton, the 278th took part in the 3rd Benjamin Regulars led SLDF task force assigned to retake Asgard during Bulldog's first wave. As the 4th Jaguar Dragoons withdrew to Odin's Retreat to try and repeat the 3rd Benjamin Regulars' month-long defensive campaign in that region during the initial Clan Invasion, the Davion Heavy Guards and the 278th sealed the two major routes of escape as the Regulars and 3rd Proserpina Hussars chased down and eliminated every Clan Smoke Jaguar warrior.[9] The most significant loss during this assault was not in battle, with Demi-Precentor Burketon badly injured during a cargo-handling accident, later replaced by Precentor Eduard Karen.[7]

Pre-Jihad Years[edit]

Initially returning to station on Tukayyid,[10] with the lessened Clan threat after the Great Refusal and increasing tensions in St. Ives Compact, the new Precentor Martial Victor Steiner-Davion transferred the 321st and 403rd Divisions to bolster the Fourth Army in 3061, with the 278th assigned to cover both Tukayyid and the 403rd's former station on Ueda. Something of a culture shock after years on the ComStar controlled Tukayyid, 278th were particularly resentful of the increasing Rasalhague disdain for ComStar and restrictions upon them similar to those forced upon mercenary units before the Clan Invasion.[7] However the division continued to develop worst-case scenarios for the Twelfth Army to fend off attacks from the Clans, Combine or Lyran Alliance against the Republic, testing them against the 472nd Division.[11]

Jihad[edit]

These plans would be put to the ultimate test when the Word of Blake launched a WarShip assault against Tukayyid in January 3068. The aerospace fighters of the 278th would join those of the 472nd in assisting the Sovetskii Soyuz-class Blake's Vengeance and the Essex-class Hammerstrike in their unsuccessful counterattack against the Blake's Sword and the Deliverance. While able to inflict heavy damage against the Deliverance the 278th's forces in orbit were shattered along with the rest of the Com Guard defenders, with the Blake's Sword then able to unleash orbital bombardments against ground based troops. Caught away from their underground bunkers, the bulk of ground elements of the 278th suffered severe casualties.[12]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 278th Division (ComStar)
Precentor Byron Koselka 3049 - 3052[1]
Demi-Precentor Richardo Burketon 3052 (after the Battle of Tukayyid) - 3059[8]
Precentor Eduard Karen 3059 - 3067[7][11]

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

3050[edit]

278th Division (Division/Elite)[13]

Note: At this point in time the 278th Division was stationed on Rasalhague.[13]

3055[edit]

278th Division (Division/Elite)[14]

Note: At this point in time the 278th Division was stationed on Tukayyid.[14]

3062[edit]

Notes[edit]

  • The insignia of the 278th Division is hooded figure with an ax standing above a bound prisoner.[7]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 20 Year Update, p. 71: "12th V-nu"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Tukayyid, p. 90: "Campaign: Clan Wolf"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 ComStar, pp. 71–72: "Battle of Tukayyid"
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Wolf Clan, pp. 50–51: "Days of Armageddon - Wolf"
  5. Era Report: 3052, p. 31: "Factions - ComStar - 278th Division (Clear Courtesy)"
  6. Lost Destiny, pp. 304–305: Radick's forces engage the Com Guards, he is slain by a Highlander
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Field Manual: ComStar, p. 43: "12th Army V-beta (The Broadsword and Shield)"
  8. 8.0 8.1 ComStar, p. 85: "12th Army V-beta"
  9. The Dragon Roars, pp. 11, 19-21
  10. Technical Readout: 3067, p. 152
  11. 11.0 11.1 Field Manual: Updates, p. 88: "12th Army V-beta (The Broadsword and Shield)"
  12. Dawn of the Jihad, pp. 88–89, and Blake Ascending, pp. 88–89: "Tide of Fire - Tukayyid Hit, Heavy Casualties Reported"
  13. 13.0 13.1 20 Year Update, p. 71
  14. 14.0 14.1 ComStar, p. 85

Bibliography[edit]