Jornath: The Hamlis Valley (Part 2 of 3)

.26 Months Since Fall of Usamilplatz.

Link to Part 1 [HERE]

After many months of difficult fighting in the Northern theatre, the Imperial forces won a hard-fought victory in the Liberation of Saltzkhost, the breaking of Kaptain Gutpulla's forces in the Katarinaplatz by massed, disciplined las fire would become the foundational stuff of planetary propaganda. The Kaptains death caused a short period of internecine conflict to determine the new regional commander of the 'Dakka Boyz' warband, which ultimately ended in Blood Axe Clan fashion after the wider 'Kore' command structure controlled by Feeld Marshul Skrollbach intervened to "appoint" the Big Mek Bazzgazer Deffzappa to control of the remainder of the Dakka Boyz in the Saltzkhost region. The now Kastallan Deffzappa, enjoyed a sudden influx of Blood Axe clan warriors and light machines which began filtering from the suburbs and villages around Saltzkhost back towards what had once been W542, but was now known as "Fort Squigbelly"  

Beyond the success in Saltzkhost, the rest of the north was in difficult straights, the Mechanicus offensive to free their pledge city of Usamilplatz had completely stalled in the months since the Emerald Scream. Skitarii Formations and Mechanicus-aligned Cohorts or Guildmusters had been totally enveloped by Ork warbands in Korsnokrat, nearly dissolving the Offensive's right flank. A constant supply of aerial supply drops by Precpian and specialist Imperial Guard Regiments have managed to keep the 35,000 Imperial soldiers in Korsnokrat fighting under the weight of strategic alien artillery fire from Fort Squigbelly, and constant hit-and-run raids by 'Speed Freaks' warbands. 

A breakthrough into the Mechanicus' logistics and command train on the C14 Highway had only barely been avoided in a nightmarish confrontation between Marshal Lukos M05's Outrider Cohort and the Dread Mob of Gratzogg Worldfang, which saw over 100 of Prima Jama's Sydonian Dragoons destroyed and countless Seyberys Raiders butchered. Marshal Lukos would die in the resultant explosion of his melta bomb cooking off the ammunition store of an Ork Stompa. 

Seeing the difficulties in the North and with the center theatre heavily suppressed by Astartes and other Transhuman forces, the newly planetside 537th Army Group Vahland of the Imperial Guard, diverted their IX Corp, comprised of the 87th and 50th Divisions into the Usamiljen mountains. The IX Corp would link with the command of the so-called Army Group North or 1AG(L) {1st Army Group - Local} in the staging areas at Guffmans Platz and would use the primary highways to move into position to support the Mechanicus efforts in Usamilplatz

Leading the 87th Division's advance into the Saltzkhost region was the 220th Antinar Deepers, a Mechanized Infantry Regiment with multiple campaigns won against Chaos warbands in the Manchvellian Crusade.  It would be the 220th, backed by two armored regiments from the 1AG(L) , the 9th Uval AgriCav and 1st Vendistad Motorworks Guildmuster (1VMG) which would lead the Divisions' speartip into the Hamlis Valley, part of a larger thrust by IX Corp to break open the Encirclement of Korsnokrat and get the Mechanicus Offensive back on track. 

The 220th Antinar Deepers, 9th Uval AgriCav, and 1VMG would begin preparation for the attack on Fort Squigbelly at Marker 522, right along the edge of the C14 Highway Northwest of Saltzkhost, from there, under artillery cover in the early morning hours the trio of regiments would blitz into close range of the alien installation where the 220th would prepare a fortified beachhead at the Southwestern gates and await the arrival of following infantry and motorized regiments, who would seize the orkish batteries and clear the fortress fully. 

As the 220th Antinar Deepers move through the Hamlis Valley they come under more and more precise alien artillery and exotic weapons fire.

The 8th Company, under Captain Sonos, are met a few hundred meters outside the gate by a counter-assault of Ork armor and heavy infantry. 

Platoons of Guardsmen dismount despite the Aliens crashing into their column, unleashing torrents of close range las-fire into the foe

Elite Ork infantry dismount as more and more Imperial tanks are burst by close assaults from Ork warriors or pierced by long-range Mega-Blastas and Kannons 

It has become clear that the battle is turning against the Imperials, many tanks are destroyed and Infantry Platoons are dismounted and scattered across the area under direct assault by alien infantry or vehicles.

As morning dawns fully, it becomes clear to 87 Division Command that the attack is in a great deal of trouble, requests are made to the Navy for CAS, which materializes around 8 o'clock in the form of lightning and thunderbolt fighters that strike targets for much of the morning, eventually allowing for the withdrawal in order of the 1VMG, and the eventual organization of the scattered 9th Uval AgriCav who had largely been pushed widely off course in the night by Ork armor. 

The 8th Company of the 220th Antinar Deepers would be reduced nearly to a man holding their positions in a rearguard as their remaining companies withdrew under fire back to Marker 522.   Captain Sonos and his command staff would be slain, after they were engaged by Ork Meganobz, who forced themselves inside their command chimera. 

The largest grouping of 8th Company men remaining by 11:00a would stage a final symbolic push to take the alien banner flying outside the Fortress' Southwestern gate. 

The last of 8th Company would fall in the ascent to the banner of the Dakka Boyz warband. Though unconfirmed, estimations are that the final living officer in control of 8th Company was 2nd Platoons Sgt. Nolan Bethilde.  

All members of the 8th Company, 220th Antinar Deepers would be posthumously awarded the Steel Anchor by the Antinar Martial Prefecturite, and the Unity Ribbon of the Jornath Campaign by the Office of the High Civitan Jornath. 

In the late afternoon, following the attack. IX Corp was met with the stark realization that many dozens of armored vehicles had been lost, alongside several hundred men and women without any Imperial asset having even set foot within the Ork Fortress. New plans would be drawn up and static lines several kilometers to the southwest and south would be established, to fence in the worst of the alien fast-moving vehicles. 

With Fort Squigbelly still under Ork control, the 50th Division would have to contend with an additional approach by Ork armor, and the increasingly more precise artillery and laser weapons fire in their effort to free Korsnokrat from encirclement. 

Stay tuned for the next action in the Hamlis Valley. 

-Your Favorite Madman-