After suffering dreadful reverses in previous weeks, an operation to retake the initiative on Alphe was carefully prepared by General Percival and his retinue. He managed to get the agreement of the Ultramarines who proved vital to the first real Imperial success in several months on Alphe. The plan was deceptively simple. Percival recognised that the Chaos forces in the north were the weakest of the three enemies on the planet, holding a long front with few elite troops and nowhere near the number of indentured cultists the Catechism could call upon.
Cerberex Guard regiments began advancing on the Chaos defenders from the west of Westlake on 2711.009M42. They found the going exceptionally tough, with the Chaos Marine forces holding on tenaciously to every one of the Imperial objectives, Progress was slow, but the Imperial regiments from Cerberex had plenty of experience fighting the forces of Chaos, and eventually managed to force their enemy to give ground. After 5 days they had surrounded the city of Westlake.
Rather than storming the city themselves the honour was left to the Ultramarines chapter, with their superior street fighting ability. The battle for the city was equally fierce, and it came down in the end to sheer numbers. The attritional, bitter, marine on marine fighting had more than a hint of hatred to it, and the forces of Chaos fought for every street corner, every ruined house and every bombed out grain store with maniacal stubbornness. However by 0611.009M42 the ultramarines had wiped them out, taking heavy casualties themselves. Westlake however had been liberated, and the Imperium once again held the initiative on the agri world.
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