Editing 18th Division (Star League)

{{infoBoxMilitaryCommand
| image          = [[Image:Star League Logo.png]]
| Designation    = 18th Division
| formed         = [[2571]]
| Disbanded      = 
| Previous Designation = 
| Nickname       = 
| Affiliation    = Star League
| Parent Command = [[VI Corps (Star League)|VI Corps]]
| Sub-Command    = 
}}

==History==
The '''Eighteenth Division''' was a part of the [[Star League Defense Force]] Regular Army. Formed as a part of [[VI Corps (Star League)|VI Corps]] during the creation of the Star League Defense Force in the beginning years of the [[Star League]], the Eighteenth Division served alongside the other units of VI Corps in the [[Taurian Concordat]] campaign from the beginning of [[Operation BULL RUN]] in [[2578]] until [[2582]];<ref name="H:RWp142">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 142, "Taurian Concordat Front (Jump-Off - 2585)"</ref> IV Corps was then reorganized and redeployed, forming one of the core units within [[Task Force MAILED FIST]], the Task Force assembled to implement [[Operation MAILED FIST]] - the Star League intervention in the [[Rim Worlds Republic]] civil war.<ref name="H:RWp152">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 152, "Rim Worlds Republic Front (Jump-Off - 2587)"</ref>

===Medellin===
By [[2583]] civil war had been raging within the Rim Worlds Republic for eight years, fought between supporters of [[First Consul]] [[Gregory Amaris]] and supporters of the [[Rim Provisional Government]], and the world of [[Medellin]] was the garrison posting of the loyalist [[1st Amaris Legionnaires|First Amaris Legionnaires]].<ref>''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 153, "Rim Worlds Republic Front (Jump-Off - 2587)"</ref>

The Star League had initiated Operation MAILED FIST in mid-[[2581]], but the SLDF plans had been forced to change after a deep raid by the [[4th Amaris Fusiliers|Fourth Amaris Fusiliers]] had managed to strike at the [[Lyran Commonwealth]] interior world of [[Alarion]].<ref name="H:RWp132+">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 132-133, "Alarion (December 2581)"</ref><ref name="H:RWp132+">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 132-133, "Alarion (December 2581)"</ref>

The result was the reorganization of the SLDF forces and their auxiliaries into three battlegroups, each responsible for the pacification of one of the three provinces that made up the Rim Worlds Republic.<ref name="H:RWp133">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 133, "Island Hopping (2582-2590)"</ref> Medellin and the First Legionnaires were targets of the battlegroup assigned to pacifying the [[Apollo Province]], and the Eighteenth Division from [[VI Corps (Star League)|VI Corps]] to pacifying the world.<ref name="H:RWp134">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 134, "Helbrent to Nightwish (July 2582 - November 2584)"</ref>

The First Legionnaires and the other forces on Medellin had prepared in advance for the invasion, and while the [[BattleMech]] forces within the Eighteenth Division initially made good progress against the armor forces within the Legionnaires, the SLDF forces soon found themselves bogging down in wooded terrain. Things rapidly got worse for the Eighteenth; the Legionnaires had extensive knowledge of the local terrain that they put to lethal use, luring the Eighteenth into killing zones prepared well in advance. Complicating the campaign yet further for the Eighteenth were the extensive bunkers and tunnel complexes dug into the nearby hillsides, a tactic that would become increasingly common in the defense of worlds across the Republic against the SLDF.<ref name="H:RWp134BB">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 134, "Busting Bunkers"</ref>

The concealed weapons and anti-'Mech infantry frequently launched harassing attacks against the SLDF from the flanks and the rear, with SLDF losses increasing rapidly. The SLDF campaign took almost a year to complete; the infantry units within the Eighteenth had to clear each and every bunker, a process that wasn't completed until February [[2584]]<ref name="H:RWp134"/> and that was soon to become commonplace on worlds across the Republic.<ref name="H:RWp134BB"/>

===Arluna===
In late [[2584]] the SLDF changed tactics again; a number of major [[Rim Worlds Army]] units had been destroyed or captured, and the focus for the campaign shifted to capturing worlds of strategic importance, but the campaign was slowed by the greatly increased resistance offered by the [[RWA]] and local civilian populations, prompted by atrocities performed by the [[Draconis Auxiliary Corps]] when they captured [[Nightwish]] in mid-2584. Despite facing significant morale problems and a high level of desertions because of the slow progress made and the heavy casualties being taken Operation MAILED FIST continued; the conquest of Arluna was one such example of a campaign that took longer than originally planned due to the level of resistance offered by the civilian population; [[General]] [[Nathan Isaacson]] assigned the Eighteenth Division to conquering [[Arluna]] in [[2585]], but the conquest took six months before the last insurrections were put down, despite the lack of any significant RWA units on the world at the time.<ref>''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 134, "Arlina to Viborg (December 2584 - September 2588)"</ref><ref name="H:RWp152"/>

===Winter and Herbania===
In contrast with the battle for Arluna, the campaign the Eighteenth conducted to capture [[Winter]] in [[2587]] was one of the few not singled out as an example of a campaign that resulted in extensive and prolonged civil unrest on the occupied world.<ref name="H:RWp134AV">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 134-135, "Arlina to Viborg (December 2584 - September 2588)"</ref> The Eighteenth remained on Winter until [[2590]], at which point they were redeployed to secure the world of [[Herbania]], another campaign in which they faced only local militia units.<ref name="H:RWp153">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 153, "Rim Worlds Republic Front (2588-2596)"</ref>

===Toland===
The campaign for [[Toland]] in [[2593]] was the last campaign of the [[Reunification War]] for the Eighteenth, and was the only planetary campaign within Operation MAILED FIST that saw the Eighteenth deploy alongside other units. Deployed alongside the Eighteenth were three regiments from the [[2nd Marik Auxiliary Corps]] - the [[2nd Defenders of Andurien|Second Defenders of Andurien]], [[2nd Regulan Hussars|Second Regulan Hussars]] and the [[2nd Fusiliers of Oriente|Second Brigade]] of the [[Fusiliers of Oriente]] - to the conquest of Toland in [[2593]]. The Star League forces successfully took control of Toland,<ref name="H:RWp139">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 139, "Bitter Harvests (2591-2596)"</ref> defeating the local militia forces, and remained in place as the local garrison until the Defenders of Andurien and Regulan Hussars were redeployed for the invasion of Apollo in [[2596]].<ref name="H:RWp153"/>

==Officers==
{| class="wikitable"
|- 
! scope="col" width="220" style="background: #dedede;" | Rank
! scope="col" width="220" style="background: #dedede;" | Name
! scope="col" width="220" style="background: #dedede;" | Command
|-
| colspan="4" style="background: #efefef;" | '''Commanding Officers of the 18th Division (Star League)'''
|-
|}

==Tactics==
Unknown.

==Composition History==
Unknown.

==Notes==
It was confirmed by the author of [[Historical: Reunification War]] that in general, the Divisions listed within [[The Star League|the Star League sourcebook]] be traced back directly to those Divisions listed within Historical: Reunification War.<ref name="CGL:ATW05102011">''[http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,11015.0.html Ask The Writers: Star League Divisions: Reunification War to Liberation of Terra]''</ref> However, in [[2764]] there are two divisions listed as the Seventeenth within the [[SLDF]]: the [[18th Royal Mechanized Infantry Division|Eighteenth Royal Mechanized Infantry Division]], [[II Corps (Star League)|II Corps]]<ref name=SL145>''The Star League'', p. 145, "Twelfth"</ref> and the [[18th Infantry Division|Eighteenth Infantry Division]], [[LXVII Corps (Star League)|LXVII Corps]].<ref name=SL158>''The Star League'', p. 158, "Twentieth"</ref> It is not known which of these can trace their history back to the Eleventh Royal Division of the [[Reunification War]] era.

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Historical: Reunification War]]''
* ''[[The Star League]]''

[[Category:Star League Defense Force Commands|Division, 0018th]]