III Corps (Star League)

Template:InfoBoxStateUnit

Unit Description

The III Corps (or Third Corps) was one of the first corps organized at the foundation of the Star League Defense Force. Prior to the collapse of the Star League it consisted of 4 divisions and 8 independent regiments. 2 divisions and 3 regiments from the III Corps survived the collapse and left the Inner Sphere with the Exodus of 2784, while one division disbanded and joined the Lyran Commonwealth. The remaining units were destroyed during the New Vandenberg Uprising.

History

Reunification War

After the battle for New Vandenberg, General Lord Damien Onaga used III Corps to conquer Midale in 2590. Midale was spared the immense death toll and destruction that many other Taurian worlds suffered during the War; this was due to Onaga changing the strategy employed on Operation BULL RUN, taking a very different approach to that ordered by the previous theatre commander, Field Marshal Amos Forlough. Onaga's approach to conquering Midale saw him deliberately rotating troops from III Corps and XI Corps in and out of battle, giving them an opportunity to blood themselves, while limiting his campaign to purely military targets, rather than cities and civilian infrastructure. This made the conquest of Midale a slower campaign than many previous planetary assaults, but inflicted far less damage, and with much of the planetary garrison having already been stripped away by the Taurian Defense Force to fight in other systems during earlier years of the war, the battle for Midale was over by the end of December 2590.

Star League Era

In 2764 the Third Corps was part of the 8th Army, assigned to the First District of the Free Worlds League Military Region. At that time their headquarters was on Marik, and they made efforts to improve the cool relations between the SLDF and Free Worlds League. These efforts yielded little response, but they continued to make the effort. The Third lost a division in 2761 and another in 2763. These divisions weren't lost to combat, but were reassigned to reinforce units along the Periphery border. As a result, the Third Corps had a large number of independent regiments.

However, in 2765 an uprising occurred in the Periphery, requiring a large portion of the SLDF mobilized to put down the rebellion. The Third's units were divided between the Second and Third Districts, filling in gaps left by other units sent to the fighting. However, the uprising had been secretly orchestrated by Stefan Amaris to accomplish his coup.

The Third would take part in Aleksandr Kerensky's campaign to reconquer the Terran Hegemony from Amaris, but in the process suffered heavy losses. Of those units which survived, only five would join Kerensky's Operation Exodus, with the rest disbanding or joining other military forces.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the III Corps (Star League)

Tactics

Unknown.

Composition History

2764

Divisions

• 43rd Infantry Division
• 100th Royal Mechanized Infantry Division
• 194th Mechanized Infantry Division
• 185th Jump Infantry Division

Independent Regiments

• 11th Royal CAAN Marine Regiment
• 3002nd Heavy Tank Regiment
• 48th Hussar Regiment
• 305th Dragoon Regiment
• 367th Royal Dragoon Regiment
• 211th Striker Regiment
• 457th Heavy Tank Regiment
• 587th Royal Artillery Regiment
• 5008th Mechanized Infantry Regiment

Rules

Reunification War

• All III Corps artillery strikes and orbital bombardment attacks receive a -1 bonus to the Target Number.
• III Corps receive a -1 penalty to Initiative when operating alongside Draconis Combine forces.

Bibliography

• Field Manual: SLDF
• Historical: Reunification War
• The Star League