LXX Corps (Star League)

LXX Corps.png
LXX Corps
Disbanded 27662772[1]
Affiliation Star League
Parent Command Fourth Army (2764)


History

Star League Era

LXXX Corps was one of dozens of corps within the Star League Defense Force. Prior to the Periphery Uprising, LXX Corps was a part of the Fourth Army, stationed within District 3 of the Federated Suns Military Region. LXX Corps operated alongside LXII Corps on the border between the Federated Suns, the Taurian Concordat and the Periphery, assisting the Ninettenth Army in the event of problems with the Concordat.[2]

In 2764 LXX Corps was commanded by General Mitchell Cussler; of the four Corps Commanding Officers in the Fourth Army, Cussler had the most cordial working relationship with General Tatjana Baptiste, the Commanding Officer of the Fourth Army.[2][3] LXX Corps also had a cooperative working relationship with the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns - in fact, the closest working relationship with their Federated Suns counterparts of any of the Corps within the Fourth Army - in part because of the common ground found between the two as a result of the belief that the majority of the numerous assorted bandit and terrorist groups that were active in the region were being backed by either the Concordat or the Capellan Confederation. LXX Corps regularly coordinated actions with the AFFS against their joint enemies.[3]

At the time, General Cussler was considered the most strategically adept of the Corps commanders within the Fourth Army; he kept several brigades of troops on the move at any given time, and the two independent regiments within LXX Corps were known for popping up anywhere along the border - partly due to a friendly rivalry between the two units over who could stop the greatest number of bandit raids. Nicknamed "Mad Mitch", a sobriquet he earned as a result of a number of wild tactical operations he planned and executed against bandits while a Captain, General Cussler was known for having a flair for the unorthodox, and had risen steadily through the ranks since joining the SLDF. General Cussler's staff were both talented and eccentric, and skilled at keeping LXX Corps fully operational; this helped keep LXX Corps on a more aggressive standing than the other corps in the region, with availability of supplies generally not being an issue. It helped that the majority of LXX Corps was equipped with technology half a generation behind the cutting edge, which wasn't seen as a pressing issue by General Cussler or his staff, as they prized reliability above technological advantages. This also suited the SLDF Quartermaster Command, who were reluctant to ship LXX Corps the most advanced equipment for fear of the other powers in the region gaining access to the technology.[3]

Periphery Uprising

As part of the Fourth Army, LXX Corps was deployed into the Taurian Concordat as a part of the Eleventh Army Group in the latter half of 2766. The Fourth Army was ordered to push through the Amber Grove, Grossbach and Tirabad systems, where they would link up with the Third Army, who drove through the spinward region of the Concordat in an arc that moved them around the Badlands Cluster towards Serenity.[3]

By the time, Commanding General Aleksandr Kerensky stopped the attack on the Concordat in mid-2767 because of the coup launched by Stefan Amaris in the Terran Hegemony,[4] LXX Corps had been very badly damaged. Of LXX Corps' constituent divisions, the Forty-first Infantry Division, Fifty-second Mechanized Infantry Division and 152nd Jump Infantry Division had been destroyed in action, while the 191st Royal Jump Infantry Division, 238th Mechanized Infantry Division and 263rd BattleMech Division had all taken heavy casualties. The Thirty-first Light Horse Regiment had also been destroyed.[5]

The SLDF disbanded LXX Corps as a result of the damage taken during the Uprising, with XXXVII Corps absorbing the surviving remnants during the buildup to Operation CHIEFTAIN.[1] Of the units that had formed LXX Corps prior to the Uprising, only the 129th Dragoon Regiment survived the campaign to liberate the Terran Hegemony, and would join the Exodus out of the Inner Sphere.[5] Four battalions of the 238th Mechanized Infantry Division were left in a reserve pool after the division was disbanded, the other survivors having been folded into other units; one of those battalions deserted in 2771, becoming the pirate band known as Charon's Children. The remainder were approached by recruiters for the Lyran Commonwealth in 2783, leading to division and then violence in the ranks; the surviving forces split three ways, with some following General Kerensky on the Exodus, some joining the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces as the reactivated Eighth Lyran Regulars, and the remainder forming the Iron Raven Mercenary Group.[6]

Officers

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the LXX Corps
General Mitchell Cussler 2764[3]

Tactics

Unknown.

Composition History

2765

2766

  • 191st Royal Jump Infantry Division[5]
  • 238th Mechanized Infantry Division[5]
  • 263rd BattleMech Division[5]
  • 129th Dragoon Regiment[5]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, pp. 120–121: "Operation CHIEFTAIN Star League Defense Forces Order of Battle"
  2. 2.0 2.1 Field Manual: SLDF, p. 67: "Fourth Army"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Field Manual: SLDF, pp. 74–75: "LXX Corps"
  4. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 94: "The Taurian Campaign"
  5. 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 The Star League, p. 152: "Fourth Army"
  6. First Succession War, p. 111: "The Scattered Lancers"

Bibliography