Libria IV: Ultramarines cut off alliance advance

Thousands of troops had been cut off by alliance forces by the alliance in the "Verder-South Park" pocket. It would take at least a week for him to organise a significant counter attack. His Librian forces were being brought up to the front line, including fresh armoured companies, but his front line troops, mostly Novgorod and Volscian regiments, were all but spent, and could only be relied upon for defensive duties.

Fortunately the Ultramarines were on hand, and the astartes quickly established that a strike against the Dark Eldar would be the most likely to yield results. They knew of the divisions within the alliance and planned to take full advantage of it. Within 24 hours of the cut off the Ultramarines launched their offensive, striking hard in the Main Road district against the Guilded Blade kabal. The dark eldar, apparently still caught up in a wave of pillaging and enslavery, delivered a lacklustre defence. Within hours the dark eldar had simply withdrawn, leaving a 20km hole in the alliance line, and releiving the Librian defenders in Verder.

Now the tables had been turned. Vital supplies were delivered to the loyalists in the south east of the city, but further west, alliance forces, mostly tau and rebel librians, were themselves cut off. The Ultramarines were unable to hold the line against the expected counter attack however, as their numbers would be too small. Still unable to form a meaningful guard formation up to the job, the Space Wolves on Libria IV began preparing for the inevitable alliance assault.

By 2010.015M42 General Dersky was under severe pressure.