Cerberex Guard retake North Tuva

With the southern front slowly being rolled back by Ol Cha and Shadowstrike, Cunningham needed more troops to hold the line against the advancing Tau. On 0107.009M42 he received the news that the three fresh regiments of elite Guard had been redirected to Betor. This was a blow to the war on Tarsis, which it now seemed the Imperial High command were treating as low priority, but Cunningham was keen to go on the offensive.

Once again the Cerberex regiments recently deplyoed to the planet were keen to attack and get to grips with the Tau. Almost too willing in fact, as Cunningham had to admonish his subordinate commander on more than one occasion for trying to force the pace of the war. Eventually Cunningham acceeded to the Cerberex request, and five regiments were deployed to the northern Tau sector on Tuva.

This sector had been quiet since its occupation by the Tau and the defeat of Snazteef's Orks. With the main thrust in the south going well, the Tau had kept a reasonably strong force deployed under commander Strong Spear, but his orders were merely to distract enough force from the south to make life easier for Shadowstrike and Ol Cha.

On 0307.009M42 the Cerberex regiments, supported by ten PDF regimetns, launched a surprise attack on the Tau at dawn. Highly mechanised formations of veteran Imperial Guard troops, supported by Hellhounds, Demolishers and Vendetta units charged across the North Tuva plain, immediately yielding results. Unable to deal with such armoured formations the forces of Strong Spear immediately had to withdraw. Soon the fighting retreat became more of a rout as the Guard forces pressed home their advantage, not allowing the Tau to escape. Eventually Strong Spear had to admit defeat and evacuate via Manta to the Tau stronghold on Merrin. The Imperium had eliminated their northern Tuva front.

Strong Spear, one of Fastblade's proteges, had much to answer for after the defeat. His army, which had worked well against a number of Imperial formations in the past, notably the Porphyrians in operation Poseiden, had been unable to deal with the massed armoured formations which typified the Cerberex units. His cadres, battered and defeated, had much to learn.