Survey Corps

The Survey Corps (Chōsa Heidan) is the military branch devoted to fighting Titans head-on, studying them, exploring the world outside the Walls, and expanding human territory. Its soldiers are the finest users of vertical maneuvering equipment, and although concrete victories are scarce, the regiment stands as a symbol of humanity's hope under its winged emblem, the Wings of Freedom. Once the truth behind the Titans comes to light, the Corps turns its efforts against Marley and the nations beyond the sea, and after the Battle of Heaven and Earth it is merged with the other branches into a single unified army under Yeagerist control.

Political standing never matches the branch's courage. Bureaucrats, wealthy conservatives, and much of the Military Police see the expeditions as squandered money and lives, and only the king's backing keeps the regiment intact. Those who enlist anyway do so out of conviction rather than any hope of pay, glory, or advancement, which makes them arguably the most sincere soldiers humanity has.

Reclaiming land from the Titans defines the branch's mission: planting camps, resupply stations, and fortifications outside the Walls, and after Wall Maria's fall, building a supply line from Trost toward Shiganshina in preparation to seal the breach, a goal finally achieved two months after Historia Reiss takes the throne at the cost of nearly the entire regiment. Titan research becomes a second calling, producing discoveries about pain tolerance, reliance on sunlight, and intelligence, and once Eren Yeager's transformation surfaces, the Corps assumes responsibility for guarding him and probing the limits of his power, with soldiers repeatedly dying to defend or recover him. Its later campaigns target people instead of Titans: for the raid on Liberio the soldiers train in subterfuge and carry modified anti-personnel gear mounting up to four Thunder Spears, semi-automatic pistols, bolt-action rifles, and hand-thrown explosives.

Around 300 volunteers form the regiment at typical strength, backed by some 600 specially bred horses prized for speed, stamina, and calm. Under Erwin Smith, the 13th commander, ten teams answer to squad leaders who report to him, while Captain Levi Ackerman, dubbed humanity's strongest soldier, answers directly to the commander and leads the Special Operations Squad, to which Eren is assigned. Erwin's signature invention, the Long-Distance Enemy Scouting Formation, spreads riders across a wide arc and relays flare signals so the column can steer around Titans instead of engaging them, reducing losses by thirty percent, though rain and fog can cripple it. Ambush doctrine follows a set pattern of luring a target into favorable terrain and pinning it with the special target restraining weapon, the method used against the Female Titan. The Battle of Shiganshina District leaves just nine survivors; Hange Zoë inherits command as the 14th commander and rebuilds through a surge of transfers, and Armin Arlert eventually becomes the 15th, leading a loyalist remnant of a handful of soldiers who defy the Yeagerist insurrection and fight to halt the Rumbling with Onyankopon flying them into battle.

Erwin Smith, Hange Zoë, and Armin Arlert hold command in succession as the 13th, 14th, and 15th commanders, with Keith Shadis serving before them. Levi Ackerman captains the Special Operations Squad, whose fallen members include Petra Ral, Oluo Bozado, Eld Jinn, and Gunther Schultz. The 104th class supplies the regiment's most famous names: Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, Jean Kirstein, Connie Springer, Sasha Blouse, and Historia Reiss, who leaves the ranks for the throne. Mike Zacharias, Moblit Berner, and Floch Forster also stand among its notable dead, and even ordinary Survey Corps soldiers are reckoned stronger than those of the other branches.