Jornath: Assault on Gate S-2 (Evening)

This is the concluding stage of the Assault on Gate S-2, to see the first part click Here

After only a handful of hours after Bazbrag's initial assault on the walls, his Warband renewed its attack. This time the Orks had decided to withhold their heaviest equipment, their knight-titan equivalencies and dreadnaught walkers took severe losses from the Sons of Medusa's counter-assault. While the greenskins are often thought to be without number, not even the Ork can afford to waste that much heavy equipment on a consistent basis. However, where there once were machines there now were hundreds of alien warriors.  Bazbrag had ordered forward the Ded Burnin' Troop,  a division of his Warband, under the direction of a firey Ork Psyker (referred to as Weirdboyz in the tongue of the Xenos) The Ded Burnin' Troop numbered around 500 primarily foot mobile infantry as it launched its attack on the Walls around Gate S-2 at 9:30pm.

Behras Garrison Cohort II Company after its earlier losses was diminished down to a paltry 56 men, including all officers. However it was now freshly bolstered by reserve elements from the Garrisons internal QRF, returning assets from the 11KCC, and a few hundred conscripted civilians armed with anything the defensive force could find to hand. With Commander Souza slain in the initial attack on the Gate, overall command of the defensive sector fell to his immediate subordinate Confrater Galton. Normally Galton was involved in working with the Ecclesiarchy and the administrative sections of the Behras Vineyards Bottling Corporation, to provide alms of wine, grape by-product, and recycled industrial waste to needy areas of society. Which is to say that he essentially has little to no military experience beyond his essential training with the Cohort. Despite this, he does have a particular penchant for oratory, in the style of the Minstorum. 

Taking advice from the 11KCC detachment commander, Galton ordered II company and the reinforcing elements back off the wall, and created a secondary killzone just behind the wall, on the opposite side of the arterial causeway that ran behind the curtain wall.

The defense would be a simple plan, the QRF would hold the gate for as long as possible to force the greenskin's to take the much more exposed approach over the wall. Where the tankers would blast the aliens to pieces with massed firepower.  Should the gate fall, or the orks get over the wall a massed fusillade of rifle fire from the conscripted workers will act as the last line of resistance. 

Commander Galton set up his field command in the cemetery at the intersection of the arterial causeways. The location was wrapped in a large wrought iron fence, and the rows of mausoleums provided good cover from the ground. It was for the poetry of the place that Galton chose it as his CP for the battle however, he liked to imagine that the Imperium's honored dead might aid him in some way. 

As the bootfalls of hundreds of aliens descended on the wall, and the thud of localized mortars disturbed the relative quiet of the night air. The guards and conscripts of II company sat in formation, clutching prayer books, cleaning kit, or taking swigs of wine from the cellars, a thousand little comforts to ease the nerves. Between the lines, walked the robed figures of the Ministroum holding aloft swinging orange lanterns and loudly singing joyous hymnals. The priests and other members of the ordos had been withdrawn to the heart of the defense early in the Siege, to protect what High Command referred to as "vital spiritual and medical assets". Galton called in some old favors though, feeling that a fair bit of spirituality might do the company good. 

The call to arms came suddenly as the first trip-flare shot up into the skies from outside the wall. Officers and NCO's shouted loudly to gather equipment. The tank engines roared into life and begin to advance toward the wall with guns leading. 

As forces advanced something strange happened, a cloud of glowing green smoke drifted over the wall. Men began clamoring for their respirators, fearing a gas attack. As the smoke drifted above the causeway a deafening throaty drone blanketed the area and the cloud began to arc with electricity. The drone broke immediately, only to be followed hastily by that familiar Ork battle cry 

"WAAAAGGGHHHH!!!"

From the cloud over two dozen Orks charged the nearest KCC vehicle, firing wildly with oversized automatic weapons and waving crude axes. Stick Grenades detonated against the hull, blowing open hatches and crumpling the armor. The greenskins began to climb across the beleaguered Leman Russ, attempting to find a way to the crew within.

The initial surprise wore off soon enough, as every nearby unit unloaded a torrent of fire into the aliens, wiping out the greenskins before they could eliminate the vehicle. A mound of goreslick dead rested next to the vehicle. 

Outside the wall a harassing element from the 20th Chonn Firebrands, a Feral worlder regiment of rough riders, responsible for counter-assault and recon. Plunged headlong into the body of the Ork advance searing the aliens commander with superheated melta fire. Only to be dragged down on their attempted escape by the weight of numbers.

The Orks finally made it to the gate, pouring through and firing large caliber pistols at the men of the QRF. A frenetic short-range firefight took place as the mechanized infantry charged back.

With the gate heavily engaged Confrater Galton and the priests marshaled the conscripted workers towards their firing positions. 

The Gate was awash with combat now, as hundreds of Orks and men hacked at one another with bayonets, axes or digging tools. Automatic weapons fire from short range digging into the mass of bodies, killing scores with indiscriminate fire. 

The majority of the Orks had broken in, but a third of the QRF's infantry was able to successfully withdraw to the lines of vehicles and conscripts. The whole of the defense force formed a vee on the gate Killzone, and poured volleys of rifle fire into the onrushing Orks. 

The majority of the aliens were scythed down before they could get into contact. 

Outside the walls, the rest of the Ded Burnin' Troop started to question entering into the gate. In the face of stiff resistance, and with the force's leadership slain by the Chonn Firebrands. The remainder of the Ork forces withdrew back to their staging positions. 

After the Assault on Gate S-2, Bazbrag pulled back his warband to midtown in Saine Yeltsville, rejoining the rest of the encircling alien forces. The Walls of Fort Behras had held for another day, but as was the situation all across the fortress, men and material were desperately low. By the time of Bazbrag's assault, Tactica Command Jornath estimated that Behras would only be able to hold for another 7 months if combat levels were to maintain at their current ebb. A relief effort had been in the works for the majority of the year, to hopefully break the siege of the fortress, but reports like the attack on S-2 began to paint an ever-worsening picture of the situation, instigating a massive increase to the timetable of the counter-attack.

Named Operation Gray Jewel, the breakthrough attempt would see some of the heaviest fighting of the entire war up to this point with the deployment of new and terrifying weapons.The Battle for Jornath moved into its 3rd and potentially bloodiest year.

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-Your Favorite Madman-