Nuclear weaponry used on Hexis

As 019M42 progressed, the war on Hexis became even more grim, as the Imperium began shelling the enemy positions with atomic weaponry from their newly created nuclear artillery in the deserts of Calth. The use of the weaponry was still controversial, as although it proved effective at reducing chaos fortifications, there were two worries. First, irradiated zones risked the lives of loyal imperial guardsmen, or more accurately, increased the resource cost of retaking these regions. Human resources, although not difficult to replace, could become difficult to command if they became aware of the dangers of the radiation they were being sent into. For now however, General Konev was concentrating on military objectives, namely the destruction of enemy fortresses and supply bases. The second fear was that the forces of chaos would retaliate in kind, or worse, use warp spawned weaponry against the hundreds of thousands of guardsmen now defending the imperial lines.

Three salvoes were fired at chaos positions in early 03.019M42, exhausting the current imperial nuclear arsenal but meeting with significant success. The fortifications in Old Town were obliterated, with mass cultist casualties, while in South Praxis, the warp beacon set up by chaos to guide in ships was similarly annihilated. In West Praxis, the region of Hakhor was bombarded, destroying chaos supply dumps and killing the defenders in that part of the city. The Imperium were unable to follow up the success by taking ground, but that wasn't the point. Konev was determined to grind down the enemy and destroy their ability to fight, before pushing into the city of Praxis itself.