Following the surrounding of Festergax in mid 022M42 the Imperium were expecting a push to relieve the city from the west and prepared accordingly. Behind the front line Imperial Guard troops general Kutuzov arranged for the deployment of two rapid reaction forces from the Space Wolves chapter of astartes and the Adeptus Mechanicus. This was deemed more than adequate to protect the front lines as preparations were made for starving out the Thousand Sons still holed up in the city itself.
Imperial high command had perhaps become a little complacent by this time, as the strategic situation was now in favour of their campaign and being felt by the forces of chaos. However, the daemonworld of Astralis still hung in the system, and rather than the expected attack by conventional forces, the traitors turned to the denizens of the warp to carry out their next offensive.
The sudden appearance of Khorne daemons took the imperial forces on the front lines by surprise and quickly caused a rout in the guardsmen. The Space Wolves responded quickly, but the daemon host was led by ferocious giant daemonic creatures which the astartes struggled to contain. In a battle that was fought by attrition, it soon became clear the elite astartes force would be unable to prevent the deamonic horde from breaking through to Festergax, and the space marines retreated.
A path had now been opened up to the beseiged city of Festergax, and this corridor was widened by another summoning of deamons, this time a horde of Tzaangors. The tzeentch daemons overwhelmed the front lines and the Adeptus Mechanicus were ill equipped to deal with such numbers. The Mechanicum forces were unable to deal with the sheer volume of enemies, their army being optimised for taking down large war engines and greater daemons. By the end of 09.022M42 the Imperium was in retreat once more and Festergax now formed the head of a particularly stubborn chaos salient.
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