53rd Armored Division

53rd Armored Division
Branch:	UNSC Army
Type:	Armored warfare
Size:	12,000+ soldiers
Engagements:	Battle of Actium

"Let no one here question our place in human history. That we are here right now is not coincidence or accident. It is our fate. And this war, our birthright — our legacy. Our generation was born to fight the Covenant, and you, my fellow soldiers - were born for this very day. Today the enemy will hear the roar of humanity. And they will fear us."

— Colonel Akono Menteith

The 53rd Armored Division was an armored division of the UNSC Army that was active during the Human-Covenant War.

History

Battle of Actium

Main article: Battle of Actium

The division's most notable action was during the Battle of Actium in May 2545. On May 10, in the midst of the Covenant's invasion of Actium, Colonel Akono Menteith made a rousing speech, stirring the twelve-thousand men and women of the 53rd to perform great feats of heroism.

Within the month, the 53rd Armored Division, with the aid of a pair of HAVOK tactical nuclear weapons, destroyed three of the largest Covenant staging areas ever encountered. Soon, however, Actium fell to the Covenant and every remaining member of the division was killed. Though the 53rd Armored Division was annihilated, Colonel Menteith's speech became legendary throughout the colonies as a symbol of human resistance against the genocidal Covenant.