Gulan Siege Lifted

Following Bladderack's ill-fated assault on the Imperial city of Gulan and his legion's subsequent redeployment, it fell to the Children of Steel, an enormous formation of Chaos infantry supported by artillery, to take the city. In manpower the Chaos cultists outnumbered the defenders by nearly 4:1, though the Imperial forces had more tanks and transports. On 0107.007 M42 the odds were stacked against the defenders.

Artillery 2:1
Tanks 1:5
Troops 3.6:1

Even so General Graham was confident that his force of 50,000 men,comprising of Cerberex PDF units and the Librian 4th mechanised Regiment,could hould out aganst the 200,000 strong legion facing them. Led by a renegade Tech Priest the commander of Gulan's defences new they would be facing all kinds of arcane technology even if the attackers had few armoured vehicles.

The Children of Steel began their attack on 0207.007M42 and the battle raged intensely for a week. Both sides suffered losses and the city was reduced to a wasteland by massed artillery fire. The Librians lost hundreds of tanks and had many more put out of action. Meanwhile the Children of Steel attacked with wanton abandon, teleporting dedicated attack squads deep into the defender's territory.

This tactic was to cost them. Despite wreaking havoc on the defenders,particularly gun emplacements and concealed tanks, the teleporting squads were cut down without the support of their infantry. The Legion's Rough Rider cavalry shared a similar fate, decimated by a hail of multi-laser and heavy bolter fire.

Luck also played a pivotal role as the Chaos forces found it harder and harder to destroy the Armoured Vehicles of the Imperial defenders.

On the fourth day of the assault, with the Chaos forces floundering in the outskirts, Graham launched his counter-attack, throwing the Librian reserves into the fray and causing havoc. Territory was quickly retaken andthe Children of Steel were forces to retreat from the city or face encirclement.

By the end of 0707.007M42 the Librians, supported by the Cerberex Imperial Guard, had extended the front lines nearly three hundred miles from the city as the Chaos defenders fled across the plains to more defensivepositions. The Imperium had finally scored a success on Cerberex.