Breakout on Mordecai Secundus

After many months of buildup and planning, the Imperium in mid 02.020M42 finally had enough strength to launch a major offensive on Mordecai Secundus, aiming to capture the Abrax mines which had been on the target list for the first week of the invasion. Stronger than expected defences, a greater number of enemy forces and a plague of diseases had so far stymied the armies of General Kutuzov, but with the arrival of fresh Knights and astartes forces, the long awaited operation Victor was given the go ahead.

 

On the chaos side, the military build up in front of their lines was obvious, and the Emerald Serpent prepared their own forces, marshalling a large host of Questor Traitoris, traitor guard of the Darantine regiment, and the might of Astralis Invictus, the Warlord titan which had now been redeployed to Mordecai for this latest engagement.

 

Battle was joined almost immediately as the Imperial offensive began, and the next weeks saw the most vicious fighting on Mordecai Secundus to date. Everywhere Astralis Invictus was encountered, the warlord titan made its presence felt, blasting or smashing elite imperial units, with the Imperium struggling to contain such a destructive war assets. However, the titan could not be everywhere, and the firepower of the Imperial army was as a whole more telling. Vast armies of chimera borne Darantine squads were blown apart as they advanced to retake objectives, although their suicidal sacrifice did delay the Imperial advance.

 

The battles raged around the mining complexes and reached a climax on 1602.020M42, as a chaos counter attack led by Astralis Invictus threatened to break the Imperial forward momentum. Kutuzov now deployed his reserves with the personal approval of the Imperial Fists senior commander, who elected to lead the defence of the southern mining complexes, taken just hours earlier. The astartes commander led the defence personally, taking out much of the attacking chaos armoured elements, but the deep striking terminator forces suffered serious issues. The Space Wolves managed to deliver their much needed firepower on target and on time, eliminating an enemy Hellhammer before being annihilated by the chaos titan. However, the Imperial Fists elite armoured warriors suffered difficulties with their vox transmissions, blunting the effectiveness of their deployment. In a last gasp effort, the Imperial knight "Eagle Heart" attempted to single handedly retake a key position, but was dismissively blasted from existance by the warlord titan.

 

Despite this, the Imperial defence of the southern mining complex held, allowing Kutuziv enough time to move his slower Imperial Guard regiments up to the front lines. As the Imperial basilisks began to find their range on the chaos positions, the traitor forces along with the mighty Astralis Invictus withdrew. The Imperium had captured the Abrax Mining complex, finally, by 1802.020M42, but the battle had not been a rout, and the Emerald Serpent had retained much of its fighting capacity, including the warlord titan. Operation Victor had been a success for Kutuzov, but not a war winning engangement.