19th Army Group (Star League)
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| Nineteenth Army Group | |
| Affiliation | Star League |
| Parent Command | Task Force Sun (2772)[1] |
The Nineteenth Army Group was the Star League Defense Force Army Group formed to command various SLDF Armies.
History[edit]
As part of the preparations for Operation CHIEFTAIN, Commanding General Aleksandr Kerensky mobilized the Nineteenth Army Group for the campaign. The Nineteenth Army Group was assigned to Task Force Sun, along with the Fourth and Twenty-first Army Groups.[1] During the first wave of attacks on the Amaris Empire in mid-2772 the Nineteenth Army Group struck across what had been the border between the Capellan Confederation and the Lockdale Province of the former Hegemony. The Nineteenth Army was assigned to capture the Rio and Tybalt systems, while the Second Army was assigned to the capture of the Achernar, Angol, Basalt and Tigress systems.[2]
When the Nineteenth Army launched attacks on Rio and Tybalt from its staging areas on Tikonov, it found Rio to be a relatively soft target; Rio was an important key to the overall defense network of the Amaris Empire, but the world itself was minor in economic terms, and its defending forces were essentially somewhat oversized Patriot battalions. Many of the defenders on Rio surrendered at the first sight of forces from the Nineteenth Army. In contrast, Tybalt was an industrial world where the defenders were determined to hold out, and to destroy any supplies and manufacturing capabilities that they couldn't secure. The defending forces set up numerous enclaves in and around key industrial cities, each heavily armed; the Nineteenth Army found itself frequently forced to choose between spending additional time and manpower digging the defenders out with surgical attacks, or levelling the production facilties - some of the most advanced in the Hegemony. After Rio fell, elements of the Nineteenth Army moved on to attack Hean in October 2772.[2]
The Second Army hadn't been involved in the Periphery Uprising and hadn't seen any combat during the campaign to conquer the Rim Worlds Republic; when given the opportunity to fight during Operation CHIEFTAIN, the Second began by going in hard against its initial targets. Angol was a heavily populated agricultural world with multiple Castles Brian, a large garrison and extensive networks of allies and agents of the Amaris regime. The defenders on Angol fought hard, and while the primary combat actions were over by the end of 2772, the defenders fought as insurgents well into 2773, and it was only in the final quarter of the year that the Second Army was fully in control of the planet. The Second Army forces that attacked Tigress fared worse than those fighting on Angol; while Tigress was a similarly well-defended world, the invasion suffered a setback in the opening stages when an Amaris Empire WarShip patrol engaged the invading forces, destroying two brigades of troops from the XXIX Corps, followed by the defenders on Tigress launching nuclear strikes on several of the Second Army's landing zones. Even when major combat operations ended on Tigress, the Second Army forces had to contend with an insurgency that wasn't quashed until February 2774.[2]
Achernar was an agricultural world that had suffered under Stefan Amaris' rule; ordered to double, then triple, their agricultural output to feed worlds that couldn't feed themselves, the population of Achernar had been terrorised by mass executions and the razing of massive tracts of fertile lands when they hadn't been able to meet their quotas. When LII Corps landed, the Republican forces on the planet found themselves being attacked by resistance forces consisting of units of uparmoured heavy farm equipment and industrial equipment mounting weapons, operating in company and battalion sized formations. LII Corps rushed to help the resistance forces, and Achernar fell quickly; this freed up Second Army troops to push on to attack Ruchbah, a vibrant world that immediately prior to the coup had been on the verge of becoming a major economic power, thanks to its rapidly-growing technology and manufacturing industries. The Second Army forces landed on Ruchbah in October 2772, and their campaign to free the world was completed in April 2773.[2]
Basalt was a key outer world that supported other Hegemony worlds, and was rich in both minerals and marine sealife. The defending Amaris forces had established bases hidden in the mountain ranges on the world, as well as in some of the huge underground mining complexes, creating defenses that were as difficult to attack in their own way as a Castle Brian. The defenders held out through 2772, although the Second Army finally secured control of the planet in the beginning of 2773.[2]
Officers[edit]
| Rank | Name | Command | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commanding Officers of the Nineteenth Army Group | |||
Tactics[edit]
Unknown.