Guardsmen advance across open ground under heavy fire. Despite severe casualties, the guardsmen on the Imperial left flank reach the Tau defensive lines.

“Some say I am ruthless in throwing men into battle. That is true. Some say I throw away men’s lives. That is untrue. A human wave attack has value, but it isn’t entirely mindless.  Artillery and air support can be used to assist the attack. Minefields can be identified and bypassed. Flamers will help take a trench.

A single wave cannot tear down a stone jetty. But the same  wave can flatten a sand castle. I pick my targets carefully.“—Valhallan General Georgy Densilov at the Battle of the Bronze Obelisk, 583.M41

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Continued from Part 1 . . .

Tallarn advance quickly

To the west of the village, the advance of the 117th Tallarn was particularly robust, its infantry outpacing the Cadians throughout the day. They crossed a kilometer of open terrain with only moderate losses, while their heavy-weapons support, including an advanced battery of Basilisks, forced a pair of Riptides to withdraw from battle.

Imperial losses are heavy by noon. That doesn’t stop the 117th Tallarn. Despite being attacked by Tau Piranhas, the Tallarn reach the first line of xeno defenses. The arrival of the 93rd Savlar Chem-Dogs gives the Tallarn the momentum to continue forward. On the right flank, the Cadians run into such heavy enemy fire that their vanguard battalions are wiped out before they advance 400 meters. Click on photo for larger image.

Soon after, a cheer rose amongst the Tallarn when an advancing Devilfish transport erupted in a fiery explosion. The troops’ optimism rose further when the first defensive line of Fire Warriors was slaughtered to last warrior by the thousands of lasgun rounds that Imperial troops rained down upon the xenos.

It seemed as if the Imperial attack column was unstoppable, but the xenos’ introduced new countermeasures that began to make themselves felt. A squadron of Piranha skimmers raced forward to fire burst cannon and physically ram into the Imperial’s advancing vanguard. Dozens of guardsmen were killed as the armored skimmers drove through the front lines, human bodies being crushed or throw into the air.

This desperate tactic was not without cost to the xenos. One Piranha skewed sideways and hit the ground after one of its wings hit a particularly dense grouping of infantrymen, and the bodies’ combined bulk braked the skimmer’s momentum and led to its crash.

Watching from a sand dune in the rear, military observers saw the vehicle’s xeno crew attempt to extract itself from the wreckage. It was to no avail. The xenos quickly were assailed by outraged guardsmen with bayonets. No prisoners were taken.

This insignificant moment of revenge did nothing to change the reality that the Tallarn advance suddenly began to falter. Imperial casualties were mounting, and two large formations of gun drones were spotted advancing to support the xeno counterattack.

Positioned atop sand dunes and behind gun emplacements, heavy-weapon teams provide invaluable support fire as guardsmen advance.

Chem-Dogs surprise xenos

For a moment, the battle appeared in doubt. But the Imperial’s “human wave” attack was not as simplistic as it appeared.

Savlar Chem-Dog

Col. Vance had taken note of a low ridge that ran north-to-south on the eastern edge of the battlefield. It was just high enough to screen the advance of the 93rd Savlar Chem-Dogs, which clambered over the ridge and charged into the xenos’ flank.

As the infantry advance,d the Chem-Dogs’ heavy weapons deployed atop the ridge and opened fire. Two Piranha quickly were destroyed, and the Imperial advance gained new momentum.

The added weight of numbers allowed the Imperials to overwhelm the xenos’ second defensive line. It was a tough fight. Hundreds of guardsmen were show down by the enemy’s powerful plasma weapons, and the assault began to waiver.

At that moment, however, an act of selfish courage turned the tide. The regimental standard-bearer fell to enemy fire, and the commander of the vanguard, Captain Ushad Khabir, was nearby and grabbed the flag. Although this made him a prominent target, he raised the flag high and charged, inspiring his men and putting new momentum into the advance.

Once Imperial troops reached the Tau lines, the xenos’ advantage disappeared. Going into the trenches with bayonets, the desert raiders engaged in ruthless close combat until every xeno was dead or fleeing.

Surprisingly, Captain Khabir survived. His uniform was singed by two near-misses of plasma fire, and the regimental standard was holed twice by plasma rounds. At this point, Khabir wisely turned over the standard to another soldier.

The two regiments appeared close to overwhelming the Tau right flank

Col. Willem Vance and his command squad observe the attack from the rear of the Cadian attack column.

Slaughter of the Cadians

To the west, the fighting took an altogether different course. The Cadians advanced only a few hundred meters before they were targeted by some of the most intense and accurate enemy fire experienced during the entire Crusade.

The regiment’s officers, and even their commissars, were aghast by the number of massive explosives that erupted within the dense column of advancing troops. Small-arms fire from Fire Warriors and gun drones mowed down the first line of guardsmen and then the second.

Most damning, a squadron of Broadside Battlesuits were deployed behind a line of small mesas to the west.

The sky filled with the trails of hundreds of Tau missiles that peppered the Cadian vanguard with small but accurate explosions that targeted heavy-weapons teams—weapons that high command were counting on to take out the very threats that were destroying them.

Still, the Cadians kept advancing, living up to their reputation as some of the finest warriors of humanity. Surviving heavy-weapons teams deployed, taking out one Hammerhead tank and leaving one Riptide helpless after its mechanical leg was shot off.

The M36 Kantrael pattern lasgun used by the 310th Cadian Regiment in its attack on the Tau defense line. It was hoped that the fire of thousands of these powerful small-arms weapons would win the battle.

Post-battle intelligence reports revealed the Cadians were not outnumbered but severely out-gunned by the Tau on this flank.

Casualty reports certainly support this assessment. The lead battalion of the attack was wiped out before it had advanced 400 meters, and the follow-up battalion was out of action before it reached the 500-meter mark.

In an attempt to counter this incredibly accurate fire, a squadron of armored Sentinels were ordered to flank the Tau firing line. The xenos responded by sending forward a Devilfish transports. The transports was immobilized by the Sentinel’s multi-lasers, but the disembarking xeno troops—an elite Breacher Squads—sheltered in the shadow of the wreck.

Given the enemy’s known weaponry—powerful pulse blasters that could penetrate the Sentinels’ armor—the combat walkers opted not to attack but hold the xenos at bay. {The Sentinel’s commander was later executed for cowardice in the face of the enemy.]

To the credit of the commissariat, the Cadian attack continued for another four hours, wave after wave of troops, with their commissars doing everything possible to keep their men moving forward. It was not enough.

In the end, every commissar fell in battle, and the Cadian advance halted. There was no retreat. The few hundred guardsmen still on the field dropped to the ground—and endured continual xeno fire until the sun to set and they could crawl back to Imperial lines.

The 310th Cadian Regiment was shattered.

Click here to read the conclusion of this battle.

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.