Ketek Legion
The primary garrison at Lepidopterum is provided by the Salb V "Ketek" of the Benacian Union Defence Force. Originally known as the "Fretensis" legion, being the cognomen of various Shirerithian units dating back to the Jaris War, the legion gained its new nickname of "Ketek" in 1703 AN when levies raised amongst the descendants of the original Ketshire Automotive Technologies workforce in Stonetree, and its successor the Stonetree Engineering Group, were inducted into its ranks to replace losses incurred during the Second Elwynnese Civil War. Recruitment was expanded to include Benacian subjects in the Sovereign Confederation in 1704 AN. From 1704 AN, the legion came under the command of the Salbnan Iskander Rustam al-Osman, who remained in post as of 1707 AN.
Organisation
The legion comprises of a command & control regiment, three motorised infantry regiments, an area defence regiment, and an inspectorate regiment:
- Salb V "Ketek"
- 6 Command & Control Regiment
- Headquarters section
- Signals squadron
- Engineers squadron
- Security squadron
- Supply squadron
- Works squadron
- Sanitat (medical services) squadron
- Reconnaissance squadron
- Administration squadron
- Operational support squadron
- 6 Motorised Infantry Regiment
- Headquarters troop
- 1st Cohort
- 2nd Cohort
- 3rd Cohort
- Banner (support) squadron
- 26 Motorised Infantry Regiment
- 46 Motorised Infantry Regiment
- 6 Area Defence Regiment
- Command Squadron
- Anti-Tank Squadron
- Air Defence Squadron
- 1st Artillery Squadron
- 2nd Artillery Squadron
- Fuel Squadron
- Munitions Squadron
- Security Squadron
- Signals Squadron
- Workshop Squadron
- 6 Inspectorate Regiment
- Headquarters troop
- 1st Demi-Regiment (Provosts)
- 2nd Demi-Regiment (Commissariat)
- 6 Command & Control Regiment
History
The legion traces its origins back to the Shirerithian feudal hosts inducted into Imperial service during the Jaris War (1507-1508). These levies failed to prevent the conquest of Jaris, albeit temporarily, by the Grand Commonwealth, yet were still recognised for their valor in defending the landward positions of the island during the straits' campaign.
After the Imperial Forces were reorganised from 1636 AN onwards for the Sxiro-Jingdaoese Confrontation, the Fifth Legion was placed under the command of Legate (Salbnan) Theodorus Vasilus and assigned to the IV Corps of the Frontier Army, which garrisoned Batavia, Dietsland, Puritania and Voltrue. The IV Corps having been formerly the 5th Imperial Army Division between 1642 AN and 1644 AN. The legion during this period had a maximum established strength of 6,000 legionaries with an ample allocation of armoured fighting vehicles, artillery, and support vehicles distributed across five regiments organised in the historic "Apollonian" fashion. Some sources imply that legion would have had up to 750 of the CV36 Horjin AFV assigned to its establishment, however this an improbably high number and probably represented a calculation of the number of AFVs that would be required to deploy an entire legion into the battlefield in a single move - an occurrence that probably never happened.
The organisation of the legion in this early period being recorded as follows:
- Legio V
- 001 Engineer Regiment
- 038 Infantry Regiment
- 055 Artillery Regiment
- 061 Area Defence Regiment
- 330 Command Regiment
It is more likely therefore that such Horjins as were available would have been assigned to the infantry regiment, with the remainder making do with a mix of armoured personnel carriers, trucks, and Snatch Land Rovers. As such the more conservative figure of 150 Horjins per legion has been suggested, although this too may be still to high in practice.
Surviving records from the period do not suggest that the Fifth Legion was complicit in the Oustfest Massacre of 1644 AN, which saw the western frontier disturbed by the overthrow and dismemberment of Laqi Hyrrion, the appointee of the deposed Kaiser Dominus. Nor was the legion seemingly afflicted by the wave of purges which followed the successful counter-coup against Tokaray al-Osman which brought Noor to the Golden Mango Throne.
The Fifth Legion endured discommendation and decimation for its failure to prevent a Jing breakout on the Batavian Front during the War of Lost Brothers. In spite of this, the legion's banners were returned with the fall of the regime of Waldemar Zinkgraven.
It is almost certain that the longserving legate Theodorus Vasilus was amongst the senior command staff purged by the Chamber of the Crypteia for the failures of the Fifth Legion, which had served out the remainder of the war as a "legion of detachments", assigned to various ignominious duties or called forward whenever expendable troops were required. The dishonour would take a long time to shift from the reputation of the legion. One staff officer was even reported to have somehow successfully defected to Kalgachia, although his ultimate fate was unknown.
| Batavian Legion File:1664p3 Batavian Legion.png | |
| Active: |
1664–1668 |
| In use by: | Imperial Army |
| Allegiance: | Shireroth (Batavia) |
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| Type: | Combined Arms Salb / Tactical Sirþmos Maht |
| Size: | 3,600 legionaries 3,600 specialists 75,000 auxiliaries |
| Nickname: | |
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| Current Commander: | Salbnan David Raion Aide-de-Camp: Salbnan Alatheus Saphrax |
The remnants of the Fifth Legion was reinforced by auxiliary elements and renamed as the Batavian Legion in 1664. The new formation was tasked to take over responsibility for the defence and security of the Batavian sector of the Western Banner Group of Benacia Command. It's primary area of concentration was between Ingleheim and Vinandy and between Lugdunum and Noviomagus. The duties of the legion were to provide aid to the civil power in the Dominion of Batavia, the portion of the country that remains under Shirerithian control, and to screen the approaches to Portus Batavii, Westpoint, and the Gascon frontier in a period when Imperial Forces in western Benacia are being withdrawn and redeployed elsewhere following the partial decolonisation of Batavian territory and the withdrawal of Jingdaoese forces from enclaves leftover from the War of Lost Brothers. In comparison to other legions the Batavian Legion was significantly over-strength being practically a self-sufficient division.
The origins of the Batavian Legion lies in the disgraced Fifth Legion which, following its collapse and rout at the Battle of King's Worth, had been subjected to the traditional punishments of decimation, the execution of its staff, and the ceremonial destruction of the legion's standard and regimental banners. The disgraced survivors were listed as a Legion of Detachments, available for the most menial and degrading assignments. Redemption came in 1664 when, with the withdrawal of Imperial Forces from areas intended to be ceded to the provisional Batavian government, the regiments were marched northwards to Vinandy, wherein they were presented to the young, some might say overly young, Prince David Raion, their new Salbnan (Legate) to whom their former commander, a fierce disciplinarian who had overseen their tortuous regime of punishments, was appointed aide-de-camp. The Imperial legionaries would henceforth, like their diminutive commander, be expected to live as Batavians, but in return they would redeem their honour and their lifes.
After the capitulations which ended Imperial sovereignty over Batavia in 1668 AN, the elements of the Batavian Legion which had refused to defect retired in some disorder into Shirerithian Inner Benacia, coming under the authority of the Central Banner Group of Benacia Command. As such, the natural next step for them was to follow the Banner Group in defecting from the Imperial banners to those of the Black Legions with the start of the Kalirion Fracture of 1671 AN.
The "Salb V Fretensis" would be garrisoned at Istenbruck, an ethnic Batavian town in the Siyachia, where the veterans of long service would be permitted to form a colony and were replaced by locally recruited Yehudim, augmented by Mishalanski levies at the culmination of their basic training, Babkhi recruits called to the colours by the preaching of a Humanist jihad in southern Elwynn, and transferees from the Maritime Forces made available after the decommissioning of old capital ships.
Salbnan Tiberius Sourdust would receive command of the Fifth Legion from Alatheus Saphrax in 1681 AN. Whilst at Instenbruck, the legion would be placed under the 1st Battle Division of the Siyacher Corps, and charged with screening its section of the Batavian frontier. Shorn of artillery, armour, and auxiliaries, the Fifth Legion during this period would consist of three mechanised infantry cohorts and a command & control squadron, amounting to an established strength of 3,627 legionaries.
The Fifth Legion would endure heavy losses during the Inner Benacian Conflict and the Second Elwynnese Civil War, with the remnants finally being brought to the cantonments at Stonetree to serve as a foundational cadre for new levies taken from amongst the families of Goldshirian automotive workers settled in the frontier region. In 1704 AN, to mark this period of transition, Sourdust would relinquish command to the Salbnan Iskander Rustam al-Osman.
The legion would transfer to Lepidopterum in 1731 AN, replacing the IV Legion which had moved to Oktavyan, as part of a series of redeployments which saw the 11th Army move into the frontier region between Kalgachia and Batavia as part of the reorganisation of the Western Banner Group of Benacia Command during the later stages of the Shiro-Benacian Cold War.
