Gehenna Crusade

The **Gehenna Crusade** was an Imperial campaign spearheaded by the Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition whose forces consisted of factions of the Adeptas Terra including several Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, various forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and several Astra Militarum regiments to annihilate the Ravager Jackals Chaos Warband. Taking place halfway between the Second and Third Wars for Armageddon in the 42nd Millennium Terran standard, it was a brutal and lengthy conflict that stretched for over nine years.

## Timeline

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In less than four centuries the so called Ravager Jackals had grown to one of the largest and most successful pains in the Imperium’s side. But their latest raid was one too many for Inquisitor Solus Ures of the Ordo Malleus, who set his life’s work to the purging of these heretics from existence. After thirty-seven years, in the 958.M41, he found what he was searching for; the current location of Gehenna, base of operations for the Ravager Jackals. Like all Daemon Worlds this planetary hellscape would not stay in one place for long, giving the inquisitor little time to spare to assemble his force.

The heralds went out, and what might they returned with in tow. Almost four-thousand Adeptus Astartes from nearly five chapters, a score and a half Imperial Knights from House Anubis, an elite regiment of the Astra Militarum, and a Skitarii contingent from Forge World Bàtamhurt Prime. Borne across the void in the holds of a gargantuan war fleet it was a wonder to behold, more so when an onlooker learned of how hastily such a crusade had been gathered. But the servants of the ruinous powers were not idle as their doom gathered on the horizon, sending out a call to their fellow Iron Warriors. From the nomadic, space-hulk based Hellforge Fornax came the Lords of Desolation, the Iron Crucifers warband. A full great company sailed across the turbulent miasma, making planetfall as Crusade departed their rally point. The stage had been set, the battlelines drawn, and the die cast

Navigators took to their ocular thrones and guided their charges through the breach, mind’s eyes glaring into the teeming maelstrom of psychic energy. While simple in theory the entrance into the Immaterium and subsequent stay is a complex and unimaginably dangerous task, but fulfilled the task went. Dozens of cathedral-like warships emerged from realspace to regroup and make the final journey to their destination, guns primed and void shields raised. Harassed and haranged for over a year during their slow exodus to Gehenna the crusaders suffered losses periodically, from raids by the patrols of the Jackals and their Crucifer kin or from the teeming denizens of the Warp itself. On the eve of 963.M41 crusader capital ships formed up for a decisive battle, tired of the constant raids and harassment Lord High Sentinel Taren lash lead the coalition of vessels from the command deck of the Warden of the Righteous in an all out attack on the primary defensive cordon. Despite the orbital guard stations, planetetary anti-capital ship missile silos, and their own warships the combined Chaos flotilla was forced to concede the field as it were.

The void war won, for the time being at least, the Steel Tempests and Ordinators were tasked with establishing the initial landing zone via rapid drop pod and Thunderhawk insertion. However their foes had been ready for such an insertion and while difficult to shoot down drop pods or thunderhawks when piloted by Astartes with superhuman reflexes the gunners manning the anti-aircraft defenses had those some reflexes. Oblong eggs of ceramite and adamantium detonated in the heavens from the impacts of flak rounds. Undissuaded by the mounting losses the steely Angels of Death continued their operation, drop pods shaking the earth below from the force and sheer quantity. Not long were these members of the speartip to go unopposed, as armored columns emerged from the outer ring of defensive positions bearing upon their hulls the icons of Chaos and within their hulls the followers of Chaos. Cannon shells and bolter fire sailed across the sky between the two forces, but without heavy support of their own the Loyalist Astartes were taking the brunt of the casualties. This would not do, as such the second wave did not consist of Tactical, Devastator, or Assault Marines, but of Dreadnoughts. At the fore of these reinforcements was a warrior over eight thousand years old, entombed within a sarcophagus of ceramite and adamantium Ancient Artorias of the Imperial Sentinels let loose with weapons forged for a bygone age. Beside the former Lord High Sentinel stood warriors of equal caliber and acclaim, Bénoni of the Tempests themselves and Sagittarius of the Carbon Fists. Flanking these demigod-machines were dozens of other Dreadnoughts of all different patterns and from all of the assembled chapters.

In the face of this sight vigor returned to the beleaguered first wave struck forth with renewed ferocity. The sally of the Traitor forces was steadily pushed back, having gone from the cusp of victory to the jaws of defeat in moments. Over a hundred Dreadnoughts had descended from their sacred sanctums to do battle in the Emperor’s name, but such a victory was not without cost, roughly a third of that number suffered damage in some way with around a half dozen being utterly wrecked. The carcasses of power-armored superhumans and their war machines burned in the disquiet that swallowed the landscape. Apothecaries set to their grim task of retrieving the lifeblood of their chapters as further forces began to make planetfall. The crusaders had one the first battle on the ground, of a very lengthy war.

Skirmishes continued for weeks following this initial bloody clash as millions of tons of supplies and thousands of ground troops were ferried down to the surface. The most notable of these actions would be between scout elements of the Truskan Frostrangers and a large contingent of the mortal defenders. For three days a single Truskan platoon harried and baited over four hundred enemy troops, within the first day the enemy command structure was torn apart root and stem by long-lasfire. When there was little space to maneuver any longer the brave Guardsmen made their stand, building a makeshift barricade. Firing at extreme close range in synchronized volleys like a pict out of late second millennium warfare they held the line. Four assaults were launched on this redoubt, the fifth would spell their doom. Ammunition was low as was the energy left in the beleaguered soldiers. But the Emperor most definitely protects, when the tide of cultists charged once more a great cacophonous thunder reverberated through the valley. The Exalted Court of Lady Anubis had arrived, Thermal, Battle, and Gatling-Cannons discharged, blasting swaths of heretics from the field of battle. The brave, foolish, and stupid among the traitors rushed the Imperial Knights only to be dismembered by Reaper Chainswords or crushed in the electrified grasp of a shock gauntlet. Out of forty Frostrangers, fourteen walked back into the crusade camp beside the Knights of House Anubis. Despite the relatively small numbers involved when taken into the grand scheme of the war, the moral boost was exactly what the crusaders needed.

The next noteworthy engagement was of much more importance to the greater conflict. After almost three years since the crusade’s start there were few tangible gains. An offensive orchestrated by Legatus Decimus Aurelian of the Ordinators would see Astartes Armored elements alongside Forge World Bàtamhurt Prime Skitarii change that fact and break through the enemy line at what the Imperials had designated Fortress X-3224. A bastion of the defenders garrisoned by Traitor Astartes of both the Iron Crucifers and native Ravager Jackals that had resisted all other attempts to take it. Airstrikes from the Imperial Sentinels and 752nd Air Support Operations Group commenced two days before the attack was set to begin. Sorties were flown constantly and the Imperial pilots did not go unopposed for long. Fewer and fewer aircraft took to the sky each run as the flak batteries, interceptors, and daemon engines reaped a toll. But the operation was a success. Cut off from reinforcements by the ever present threat of skyborn hellfire the garrison would triumph or meet their thirsting gods. Land Raiders and Predators rolled out of their depots under cover of Vindicator artillery fire followed close behind by the infantry in mechanized transports. In a scene reminiscent of the dark days of the Heresy Space Marine fought Space Marine in a titanic clash. Like the hammer of a wrathful god the vanguard of the column hit the outer defenses of the Fortress. Moments later a Rhino exploded, pieces of Astartes being tossed in all directions alongside parts of the vehicle, the distinctive smoke trail of a Hellstrike missile battery hung in the sky between the wall and the wreckage. Retribution was swift, twelve lascannon strikes had sheared the launcher from its position on the wall before the last piece of shrapnel had hit the ground. Once within a hundred meters the Land Raiders and Rhinos dropped their embarkation ramps Astartes surging forth like a wave of ceramite and holy fury. Small arms fire, if bolters and plasma guns can be called small arms, was exchanged between the besiegers and the besieged.

Decimus himself lead the charge, followed by Anuketh Solarak of the Imperial Sentinels. With bolter and blade it appeared the offensive would succeed, but then the fighting got close quarters, firefights were fought at punching distance in the winding corridors of the fortress. As the forward momentum of the assault slowed to a grind the defenders found themselves in their native element and reaped a deadly toll on the Crusaders. However the weight of numbers and no small amount of firepower saw the Aquila banner raised over the fortress’s cratered and crumbling walls when the sun rose the following day, followed shortly by the banner of the Crusade itself.

All along the front similar strikes were launched on other hardpoints until the defenders faced total encirclement of their final positions in the first defensive line. Under the direction of their insidious masters the Chaos forces retreated in an orderly and violent fashion, smashing the attempts to stop them in their tracks by the Truskan Frostrangers. The High command of the Crusade cursed the lost opportunity, now the defenders had not only the fresh troops that had already been stationed in the second line but also those from the first. However there was little to do now about that fact other than to redouble their efforts. The remaining Frostrangers were dispatched to scout a good location for a new central base from which the siegeworks could spread out like a spider’s web. Once a suitable plateau had been located the crusaders began the process of transporting the command, control, and logistics elements, and troops to their new positions.

The lengthy process was made lengthier by the constant harassment of the Ravager Jackals’ bike squads, which forced the Imperials to slow down the convoys and increase the patrols. At the end of the advance it had taken almost four months, time that the gathered commanders knew should not have been taken up before offensive operations began again. The crusade must go on after all, and go on it did. Probing assaults were conducted by Astartes Scouts squads immediately, followed by artillery and aerial bombardment of the defensive lines. Luckily for the exhausted pilots of the crusade their chaos counterparts appeared to be either dead or lying low for now, which only left the flak guns to deal with on each sortie. It would not be until the new year, 966.M41, that the next major battle would take place but what a battle it was.

In as close to synchronicity as was possible the entire front erupted in fierce fighting,  minor engagements expanded, combining with others nearby into larger assaults. The defenders rushed to their bunkers, heavy weapons’ positions, and other defensive structures to stave off the crusaders’ newest attack. At what would become known by those who survived as 'Chainsword Ridge' the Imperial Sentinels and Steel Tempests fought against a determined Iron Crucifer bunker complex, the former committing two full companies to the assault. For every ten meters gained an Astartes fell, wounded or dead, but the inexorable advance of three hundred angels of death was too much and the outer walls came crashing down under the weight of the firepower brought to bear. This small victory was short lived as in a minute replica of the Iron Cage there was no exposed courtyard inside, but killing zones. The Sentinels’ commander, Chapter Champion Halkele Grenier, was the first to fall,  armor slagged by a plasma cannon. Then a young Tactical Marine took up the late Champion’s sword, rallying those around him to avenge the fallen. This righteous fury carried the day for the crusaders, heavy bolter shells, plasma and lascannon blasts seeming to alter their course away from the unknown battle brother as he lead his brethren through volleys of enemy fire to raise the chapter banner over the fortress.

This was not the breakthrough Crusade Command had hoped however, behind the hard-won fortress was another layer of defensive positions, trenches, bunker complexes, and tunnels. The counterattack of the defenders nearly pushed the Sentinels and Steel Tempests back out of the fortress, only being repelled after the arrival of several hundred Bàtamhurt Skitarii and additional Astartes. Instead of a resounding decisive victory and then a rout what followed was a slog, for over three more years the war continued at a steady albeit painfully slow pace.

Trench raids would proceed rapid, brutal, close quarters assaults repeated ad nauseum. In the tight fighting conditions the Imperial Sentinels and other Chapters’ Terminators excelled, slowly expanding the territory held by the Crusaders and diminished that of the defenders. A new chapter would soon take center stage of the Astartes contingent with the summoning of numerous Daemonic entities, the Ordinators leading the effort to dispel these conjured creatures. The defenders’ reinforcements were short lived, targeted by their nemeses with the aid of the other Crusaders they were destroyed for the moment.

Finally the stalemate was broken when Truskan scouts located a secret passage under the battlelines, guiding a handpicked force behind the defenders to flank them. The aerial bombardment campaign picked up speed in anticipation of this new attack, thousands of tons of munitions being expended to keep the Chaos forces’ heads down. When the attack commenced although on edge for an attack the defenders were wholly unprepared for its direction and ferocity. Only the Traitor Astartes-occupied positions offered even token resistance as the defenders became encircled and trapped between the strikeforce at their rear and the onslaught of the crusaders from the front in every case but one. At Redoubt 11-96-97, near the far left end of the second defensive line, a garrison of three hundred Renegade Guardsmen and a handful of Iron Crucifers held back the Crusaders for two weeks, trapping any who attempted to assault the position in prepared killing fields. Though by the twelfth day practically all the ammunition that had been stockpiled was used up and all but sixty of the defenders killed. When the new Chapter Champion of the Imperial Sentinels, the same one who had taken up his predecessor’s blade years before entered he was greeted by a suicidal but defiant last stand. Were these defenders loyal sons and daughters of the Imperium they would live on in history for their deeds, but that was not the case. And although brave the bayonet charge of only a few dozen mortals, the heretic Space Marines all dead at this point, was not enough to change the course of the engagement.

The second defensive line had finally been breached, but at great cost in men, materiel, and time. The crusade had dragged on for eight years, and for most of the past half decade the crusaders had maintained void supremacy. This was about to change, the Chaos fleet had not been idle during that time, launching probing attacks on the crusading armada before bringing them into a decisive fleet action. But the Iron Crucifer and Ravager Jackals were not alone, the latter having been reinforced by other portions of the warband returned from raiding realspace as well as the arrival of the Khornate Sarrinite Brotherhood. Overwhelmed by the number of enemies assailing them and despite winning the battle the order for a general withdrawal was given. The crusade fleet would not repeat the victory again and the Imperium could not afford to lose the forces on the planet and in the void. And so, after spending years, almost a decade, on a hostile planet, fighting a determined enemy, and with the inner citadel exposed the Gehenna Crusade was forced to retreat. For many, most in fact, it was a bitter, bitter pill to swallow. For the next year offensive operations were de-escalated before being halted altogether as the final survivors of the once great force boarded their transports and began the journey home. But they were not out of the woods yet, the Chaos fleet pursuing them for days, weeks until finally the material realm was torn asunder once more by the reversion to realspace of voidcraft. The tables once again turned the pursuit ended, fearful of being cutoff from resupply or outflanked.

No side could claim total victory in this war, the Crusaders suffered catastrophic losses without achieving their ultimate objective and the defenders were equally decimated, having been brought to the brink of annihilation. The casualty figures on both sides were staggering, thousands, tens of thousands of lives as well as irreplaceable war machines lost forever. However the defenders’ loss of the latter was not entirely due to battle, during the final withdrawal the Imperial Sentinels and Forge World Bàtamhurt Prime had located and retrieved the contents of an underground armory belonging to the Jackals. The prizes within would be returned to Imperial service after reconsecration and purgation, to replenish the losses sustained by the chapters in Rhinos and Predators heresy-era Sicaran Tanks, Xiphon Interceptor, and more relics of that dark and bygone era were distributed out. Though neither crusaders nor defenders had been victorious, the war was not without success of any kind for either. Vows of vengeance were uttered by survivors of both belligerents, the crusaders to finish what they started and the defenders to punish those who had dared to assault their home, but that is a story for another day.