1st Zosma Protectorate Militia Division

Unit Description

The 1st Zosma Protectorate Militia Division was one of many Protectorate Militia Divisions to be raised by the Word of Blake during the Jihad to bolster the defences of the Word of Blake Protectorate without adding undue strain to their supply lines of high-technology equipment. The 1st Zosma was raised from the population of Zosma and focussed on the protection of that same world; in common with the other Protectorate Militia Divisions, the 1st Zosma would have drawn on local feelings of patriotism, something the Word used to build a reliable defensive line. As a local militia formation the 1st Zosma would have lacked special weapons or directives.

History

Men and women were drafted into the Protectorate Militia, but the prospect of steady income and basic necessities appealed to many of Zosma's younger generations, nearly doubling the expecting size in no time.

Dyev

The 1st Zosma was unusual, in that it was one of the few Protectorate Militia Divisions to be moved from its homeworld and deployed in an offensive action by the Word of Blake. In the case of the 1st Zosma, this involved being deployed in a Blakist counteroffensive on Dyev against forces from Clan Ghost Bear, where one Level III was sent. The other forces who joined the 1st Zosma on Dyev were the 28th and 32nd Militia Divisions augmented by the 3rd Bryant, 1st Lipton and 2nd New Earth Protectorate Militia Divisions.

It was reported by Word of Blake media outlets that the 32nd, New Earth and Zosma Divisions used the fortifications established on Dyev by the Draconis Combine to resist attacks from the Ghost Bear Kappa and Pi Galaxies.

Both the 28th and 32nd Militia Divisions are known to have been destroyed on Dyev in 3076; it is therefore very likely that the less well-equipped 1st Zosma Level III was also destroyed in the same military action.

Chara

The rest of the militia was repositioned on Chara, and Zosma was left in the hands of its all-volunteer Corporate Security Protection Force (CSPF), filled with retirees and come-of-age youths.

The first attempt to liberate the world in September 3077 turned into a bloodbath for the attacking allied coalition forces. Faulty intelligence on the Chara system led to the Clan Wolf-in-Exile forces who made up the bulk of the assault force being savaged, with three allied WarShips included in the losses, victims of the functioning SDS network placed in the Chara system by the Blakists. The plan for attacking Chara was dependent on information from the intelligence operative known as "Damocles", but the information supplied to the allied coalition forces was either lacking or deliberately misiniformative. The coalition forces arrived in the system to discover that the Word of Blake had not only placed a functioning SDS network in the system, but that the network was equipped with nuclear weapons. The damage inflicted by the SDS was enough to destroy the flagship of Clan Wolf-in-Exile, the McKenna-class battleship CWS Werewolf, as well as the largest WarShip in service with the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces, the Mjolnir-class battlecruiser LAS Fylgia, and a Carrack-class transport, the NCS Perilous Vision, operated by Clan Nova Cat during the initial approach to Chara.

Despite the losses in space, the coalition forces managed to land Beta Galaxy of Clan Wolf-in-Exile on the surface of Chara. However, rather than facing just the anticipated two battalion Militia size units known to be stationed on Chara (elements from the 1st Zosma Protectorate Militia Division and the Chara Protectorate Militia), the Clan forces found themselves also facing three line regiments from the former Free Worlds League - the 4th Free Worlds Legionnaires, the 13th Marik Militia and the Steel Guard. Beta Galaxy divided their forces in an attempt to fight against the much more numerous Blakist forces; the 16th Wolf Guards engaged the 4th Legionnaires and the 2nd Wolf Legion attacked the Steel Guard, while the remaining Clan Wolf-in-Exile forces concentrated on routing the Protectorate Militia forces. Despite inflicting heavy losses on the Blakist units, the Wolf-in-Exile forces simply couldn't hold against the overwhelming numbers, were ground down and forced to retreat. The Clan forces took significant losses, many of whom were not recovered; the highest-ranking casualty was Star Colonel Ranna Kerensky, slain by a hit to the cockpit of her 'Mech. Following the loss of their field commander, Beta Galaxy retreated in some haste, with Alexia Rhyde assuming temporary control of the galaxy as the task force retreated to Talitha to regroup and await reinforcements.

The heavy losses taken in the attempt to liberate Chara led to widespread questioning of Damocles' loyalty, identity and motivations, with some claiming in public that he was a Blakist double agent, intentionally feeding the coalition false intelligence.

The second allied coalition assault on Pacifica was launched on the 16th of October and led personally by General Belle Lee; even though the Blakists resorted to the use of WMDs to try and prevent the liberation of Chara, the combination of damage taken during the abortive first allied assault and insufficient supply lines led ultimately to the Word of Blake forces surrendering. The fierce resistance put up by the Blakist forces led to General Lee authorising the use of orbital bombardment, but it wasn't enough to prevent a number of coalition units from being badly mauled; General Lee ended up disbanding a number of allied commands and folding the survivors together into a new unit, which was given the name Stone's Revenants. The damage inflicted on Chara by the combination of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons as well as orbital bombardments left the planetary infrastructure badly damaged and created a significant humanitarian crisis unfolding.

While the bulk of the Word of Blake forces left Chara, a large portion of the Protectorate Militia managed to escape into the wilderness while continuing to contest the advance of the coalition forces into the Myanmar Highlands and maintain control over the Scarlet Sea. Prompted by the Word of Blake ROM, the local Blakist forces used a natural disaster - a large earthquake which struck near the port city of Charon - to create a bastion from which the Protectorate forces could continue to operate. The recently deployed Chaffee Militia dispatched a relief column to Charon, but the Blakists, Grandin's Crusaders in disguise, intercepted and engaged the column, destroying it and the only major bridge connecting the coalition forces to Charon. The Word of Blake then endeared itself to the locals by flying in relief supplies on Karnovs and Planetlifters, securing their base of operations for the near future.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the 1st Zosma Protectorate Militia Division

Tactics

Unknown.

Composition History

In common with the other Protectorate Militia Divisions, the 1st Zosma would have been equipped with enough DropShip capacity for transportation, but not JumpShips.

Bibliography

• Jihad: Final Reckoning
• Jihad Hot Spots: Terra
• Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents
• Total Chaos
• Field Report: Clans