The Battle For Jornath has now entered into its third year, one that is shaping up to be no less hard fought for the Imperium than the previous two. Here I shall endeavor to recapture the events up to this point in the war in short order, hitting the major highlights of actions and movements around the conflict zone in a brief manner. For more specificity, you can click on the "Jornath [40k]" tab on the top of this page to access a comprehensive list of every blog post made about the war in chronological order.
Year 1.
Jornath is a largely typical Imperial World located in the Imperium's Eastern Fringe and situated just outside of the southwestern reaches of the domain of the Realm of Ultramar. It has a pseudo-feudal society based heavily on family, hereditary title and inherited wealth. The planet is responsible for sending 2 Regiments of Guardsmen into service every five years. The material export of Jornath pre-war was mostly made of average sized doles of wheat, local fruits, grox, and mineral wealth in the form of iron, copper, and tungsten (which forms in surprising quantities in Jornath's northern hemisphere).
Jornath does not structure its Planetary defenses in a typical manner to most worlds, forfeiting any sense of standardized Regimental system (which its tithed Imperial Guard Regiments are forced to adopt). Instead, it bases its garrisoning forces on ancient martial traditions of the Cohort, Hearthguard, and Mustermen. Each of these types of military formation can vary wildly in size, armament, and administration, because of the nature of the Jornathi political landscape. As a result of this confusing system, the Sub-Sector Capital of Casa Urient, which takes authority for drafting lengthy response plans for the planets under its control set many units into locations and called for actions which would become total compromising to several areas defensive integrity in the early war.
The Ork presence in the Jornath system was announced when a Krooza from the Ork fleet, preemptively threw itself into the teeth of the planets defensive platforms with no support. The Krooza was ripped apart in short order but split in half upon its entry into the atmosphere the back half crashing outside of Kula Hive on Jornath's larger northern continent. The front breaking into smaller fragments over the mountain ranges around the Mechanicus forge-city of Prima Jama. Orks, of course, survived the impact, but fortunately were contained by the natural terrain in the mountains and by immense amounts of PDF forces around Kula (placed there by a lucky clerical error)
When the main body of the Ork fleet arrived and began its fighting with the Planet's small picket fleet and Orbital Platforms, the crude alien landing craft known as Rok's opted to drop in and around the areas where their ill-fated predecessors had crashed. Possibly to bolster their forces to effect a breakout or more likely, because that was where the fighting was already underway.
Ork ground forces squabbled amongst themselves for the first few weeks of their deployment in earnest to the planet's surface, attempting to suss out who would command certain warbands into the fight. During this period Tactica Command Jornath is formed by the Council of Patricians and the Battle of Usamiljen Heights takes place. Large-scale pre-emptive strikes on Ork staging areas are not conducted. High Patriarch Neravan sends out a call for aid to any available Imperial assets.
Cohorts in the conflict area are lethargic to react to the planetary invasion, many formations act under the strict dictates of their ancestral boundaries. Meaning they will refuse to fight or engage forces not within the territory controlled by their funding guild or family, will refuse to fight alongside or in support of rival cohorts etc.
In the North around Guffmans-Platz, Orks make a push south, and The Battle of the Ctre Valley is fought, making it apparent to a collection of larger Cohort commanders that an offensive action here is required before the aliens can gain too much momentum.
Feeling that superior numbers and speed of action could be utilized to break the spirit of the Ork warbands in the mountains, forcing them into smaller groupings where they could be destroyed. The northern cohorts launched within two weeks of the plans first draft being sent to Tactica Command.
The offensive, called Operation Remits Maw, was a disastrous affair as many of the cohorts had no experience in mountain combat, could not effectively supply their combat units without suffering severe losses from constant Ork ambush. The sheer size and inexperience of the commanders in operating on such a scale meant that there was little hope of overcoming these obstacles.
Rather than breaking apart the few dozen large sized Ork concentrations in the mountains, Remits Maw gave the Ork leaders a singular target to descend upon. Drawing more and smaller warbands together towards the southern passes. Inevitably leading to enormous numbers of PDF troops becoming cut-off in the mountains, without hope of an easy breakthrough.
Astartes and Imperial Guard forces arrive in earnest at this point in the battle, Captain Vorodivo of the Mortifactors assumes overall theatre command of the battlespace, feeling that a full analysis of the strategic situation would be a better current expenditure of their time, the Mortifactors conduct limited operations, with the Dreadmare Companions, White Scars and members of the Jornathii Special Operations Battalion, to draw off Orks and allow the Imperial forces stuck in the mountains to fall back to Fort Behras.
Newly arrived Imperial Guard personnel spread out through the Jornathi Cohorts to act as military advisors and improve the combat effectiveness of the planetary defense forces.
Year 2.
The end of the first year and beginning of the second year were suspiciously quiet, only featuring light skirmishing and raids around the no-mans land of imperial and ork controlled territories. Suddenly at the beginning of Summer, simultaneous assaults on defensive installations occur all across the Northern defensive line. Many sections are totally overrun and Orks begin flooding into the central Kula region.
Astartes, Navy and PDF Air Forces all conduct delaying strikes as the Orks' press south. Intelligence identifies the commander of the Ork counter-offensive as being a Warboss called simply "Krump"
Krump's forces lay siege to Fort Behras and are able to overtake Saine Yeltsville surrounding the Fortress in its entirety, threatening the massed armories within.
While Behras is put under siege, in the Ork exclusion zone by Kula, Imperial successes trigger a large grouping of Xenos to assault the city of Bolasku along the eastern portion of the encirclement. The aliens sieze the city and create a scrap fleet, which breaks into two detachments. One heads south along the coast toward Hive Oakenzid, while the other makes for the Isle of Nizajain.
The southbound fleet is largely obliterated by navy air-strikes. The assault forces heading into Nizajain are boarded by mixed forces of Naval ratings and Astartes, the surviving aliens are destroyed in a pyrrhic victory on Nizajain itself.
The Sons of Medusa arrive in the Battlespace, and begin conducting precision strikes in the Ork exclusion zone and supporting actions at Fort Behras.
Tactica Command Jornath, in conjunction with the Astartes Commanders, formulate a new operation to regain the initiative. Operation Gray Jewel in launched at the close of the year, targeting the Ork encirclement of Behras, it has so far met with good success thanks to victory in The Battle of Mendorus Grove.
Year 3.
With a newfound momentum, Imperial forces plan on rolling up the Orks concentrated at Fort Behras, ideally pushing them into the Ctre-Valley Agricultural Complex where they can be annihilated with Orbital Fire without risking damage to vital infrastructure. Hopefully drawing Krump himself into open battle and killing the alien, will aid in this effect.
Only time shall tell.
Thank you for reading!
-Your Favorite Madman-
