Additional tau forces arrived on Libria V during 10.014M42 as the alliance, almost free from fighting a two front war on Zadoc pushed more resources into the Librian venture. The Federacy were unwilling to commit significant troops without almost guaranteed success, and the Librian rebels were bogged down in an attritional stalemate on Libria III. The Crusade forces had for now discontinued their assaults on the loyalists on Libria I, so general Alexander was free to concentrate on the alliance invasion of Libria V, despite the fact that Admiral Jellicoe's forces were unable, or unwilling, to break the alliance blockade of the system.
The tau reinforcements immediately showed their worth in a textbook assault of Gold River, the last imperial stronghold in the north. The tau forces were inexperienced, which allowed the loyalist Librian forces to score early successes, especially when Demolisher siege tanks caught tau fire warriors in the open. However the tau soon learned from this, and their aggressive strike by tau battle suits into the heart of enemy lines proved decisive. The Librians took too long dealing with this threat, and lost vital ground as the tau moved up to consolidate their positions. Gold River was almost abandoned and Alexander now found his forces in the north cut off from the rest of his army south of the Gold River.
Analysis by the imperium pointed to a lack of air and artillery support as being critical to losses against the tau, and the Departmento Munitorium put out an urgent request for additional units of Basilisks and Wyverns. Air support was more difficult, for as long as the alliance remained in control of Librian space, the tau would continue to enjoy complete air supremacy.
No comments:
Post a Comment