Bloody Push

*"Our success made us arrogant, made us believe we would just keep pushing the Dyss back without ever needing to stop. By the time we realized our mistake, it was too late"*

-Corporal Christopher Hemsworth, survivor of the Bloody Push-

## Bloody Push

As the Dyss counter-attacks broke the main Empire armies, forces across the front tried to pull back as well as they could

### Location

Frontier worlds between the Eternal Empire and the Dyss Berserkers

### Result

Decisive Eternal Empire DefeatDyss forces are able to reach the heart of the Empire

## Forces

### Defending forces

First Year: Dyss garrisons and defence armies (Between 30 and 60 million soldiers)During Dyss Counter-Attack: Main forces of the Purifier (Unknown, but thought to be nearly 100 million soldiers plus fleets numbering over the 400 ships)

### Attacking forces

HM Imperial Army and Fleet:-90 million soldiers plus auxiliaries

-200 ships of war and twice as many transports

## Commanders

### Commander of defending forces

Warlord Kir'Dat (KIA)Great Purifier Hald'Ydon

## Casualties

### Defender casualties

Well beyond the 7 millionHalf the defence fleets at the frontier either destroyed or shattered

### Invader casualties

40 million either dead, captured or woundedTens of thousands of heavy armor and artillery lost

2/5 of the Imperial ships destroyed or unable to carry on without repairs

### Civilian casualties

Unknown. Could match or surpass that of the soldiers

Taking place during the early stages of the Great Northern War, the Offensive of 2261, more commonly known across the Eternal Empire as the **Bloody Push**, was an attempt by the marshalls of the HM Imperial Army to strike and shatter the forces of the Dyss Berserkers as soon as possible to prevent a long war of attrition. It was at the time the largest land-and-void operation ever attempted by the Eternal Empire and soon became the most costly in manpower and equipment.

A complete success at first, the Bloody Push saw armies of the Eternal Empire crush many of the garrisons and small defensive forces at the Dyss frontier. Swift and with the element of surprise by their side, Imperial armies managed to take many worlds taking at first light casualties. Encouraged by so many victories in so little time, rather than rest and allow the Dyss to mount a proper defence, Field Marshall Lionel Firefly ordered all forces to keep moving until forcing the aliens to surrender and accept defeat.

However, as better-trained and larger Dyss armies began to face the Imperials and the supply lines grew in length, the speed and power of the push quickly began to lessen, to the point where some armies were unable to keep going and were forced to live of the land. Seeing this as his chance, Great Purifier Hald'Ydon organized all reserve armies including those at other frontiers and launched a counter-push which easily shattered the dispersed and weakened Imperial forces.

As several attempts to hold the line failed, Lionel Firefly and the rest of the Imperial High Command finally ordered the retreat. Too late to save many of the armies at the front line, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Imperial soldiers were left behind (With an example being the Battle of Conderon) and slowly destroyed or captured by the vengeful Dyss forces. Amongst those left behind to cover the imperial armies' rear were men likeLiam Hornblower. Thanks to their constant raids and attacks to Dyss supplies and reinforcements, they allowed the remains of the HM Imperial army to regroup and properly face the pursuing Dyss instead of just being slaughtered to the last.

The Bloody Push is still considered the bloodiest offensive ever attempted by mankind and an unwelcomed memory for many millions in the Empire and a reminder of how pride should never be allowed to rule ones judgment on its own.

## **Preparations**

### **The "Start" of the Great War**

The Great Northern War did not properly start until the end of the first year after Dyss ships raided and assaulted empire frontline bases. Many present military theorists argue that this was not even an attack planned by the warlords of the Dyss, only some small attempts to gain loot and glory by a few minor generals thirsty for some actions after years of peace in the Dyss realm.

No matter the reason, the Eternal Empire could not stand such naked acts of agression. Mankind had been attacked and it would answer properly to the aliens at its doors. Of course, they were not facing primitives or small "empires" with little more than a couple of planets within their territories. The Dyss were a strong force and perfectly able to match the military power of the Eternal Empire. A war with them would be a blood affair and quite costly. Some even dared to argue that victory would not even be certain.

### **Mankind's greatest offensive**

Field Marshall Lionel Firefly , an old veteran of many campaigns against alien worlds now owned by the Eternal Empire, quickly stepped forwards to give the empire's high command a solution to their problem. Sceptical about the plans of the Dyss, he had spent many years working on a plan to fight and beat the alien empire in only a few years while taking "moderate" casualties.

The plan was a bold one and hungry for resources. The core of the HM Imperial Army would be sent to war, leaving only a few reserve forces to hold to the core worlds. Attacking from the South-Western border of the Dyss realm (what Lionel named the "Soft Belly of the Dyss Empire"), Imperial forces would attack swiftly and without mercy, focusing on defeating the main Dyss forces rather than conquering planets and defending them.

After much debate and the intervention of the Lord Regent, the plan was given the green light. Nearly 100 million soldiers were readied for war, the forces spread across several planets as not a single one could feed, fuel and equip the wave of flesh and steel ready to attack the Dyss. Across the ranks, spirits were up, so much so few listened to the worries of the supply officers, many of whom were forced to remain quiet about the fact that, unless the war was over within a year or less, the lack of supplies would prevent the imperial armies from marching onwards.

### **The Soft belly of the Dyss**

Lionel had been right to choose the South-West as its target for the offensive. Due to wars on their North and Eastern borders, Dyss forces in this sector could not compare to the numbers of Imperials facing them. True, there were millions of soldiers ready to fight and die, yet they lacked great fortresses and defence lines which could truly slow down the Imperial advance.

Far too late, the 7th of February of 2261, Lionel gave the order to advance.

## **First stage of Campaign (2261 to 2262)**

### **First Pushes**

   Across dozens of worlds, the Imperial navy  appeared over the frontier worlds of the Dyss empire, only performing a swift, pre-bombardment of their strongest defences before sending wave after wave of red-clad soldiers into the unprepared worlds.

Having superior numbers, armor and artillery support by their side, the HM Imperial Army  swiftly overwhelmed the first line of worlds, even if in some of them casualties turned out to be heavier than expected due to still-intact Dyss fortifications. Following the orders of the Field Marshall, imperial forces sought their Dyss counterparts and eliminated them by a mixture of speed and superior firepower.

The navy too achieved a number of victories against Dyss patrols and frontier fleets. What few enemy ships survived quickly changed their stance and focused on raiding the imperial supply lines, something which was seen at first as a desperate attempt by Dyss captains to annoy the imperial fleets, yet later proved to be quite dangerous as supplies began to run out.

### **Year of Victories**

In the core worlds of the Empire, news were spread of the victories achieved by Imperial armies against the alien menace. Across the strong winds of the world of Aigna, fighters from the Imperial Army known as "Monty's Flying Circus" took a great toll on the Dyss squadrons, bringing down six fighters and bombers for every one imperial.

Land forces of the empire marched and fought on every landscape imaginable, from flat plains covered in ice to mountain ranges which spread across whole continents. Heroes were made, not only amongst the commanders of the imperial forces, but the common soldiers as well. Tank aces, and pilots, marksmen of great skill and elite squads of highly-trained troopers became the faces of the war effort against the Dyss.

Focused on carrying on with the campaign without losing speed or momentum, Field Marshall Lionel sent his armies forth even when Dyss forces still remained on conquered worlds. Units like the long rifles of Liam Hornblower  were left behind to hunt down these remains, a task liked by very few soldiers as they did not earn the same glory and promotion of their companions at the front.

The good days however, would not last forever.

### **First signs of trouble**

   Fast as the offensive was however, it was not fast enough to prevent the Dyss from at least organizing their forces into a stronger force. Old fortifications were improved, fleets sent to challenge the imperials and slow them down. Survivors of the battles against the Eternal Empire brought valuable reports about the foe's tactics and machinery, reports the Dyss would use with great effect as the HM Imperial army carved its way past the alien's "Soft Belly".

Suddenly, battles became slower and far bloodier affairs, as now the empire faced a foe which would really challenge them in almost equal footing. Complete air superiority was gone, Dyss fortresses in mountains and cliffs forced the High Command to focus more on the long affair of siege warfare. Battles which previously had been finished with "only" thousands of dead imperial soldiers now saw tens, if not hundreds of thousands of them being killed or grievously wounded by the guns and warriors of the Dyss.

Nevertheless, unwilling to accept that his plan might be failing, Field Marshall Lionel kept with the push. Even had he and his generals wanted to, the imperial forces were already too stretched, with reinforcements, supplies and ammo constantly becoming harder to find as the army moved farther away from the core worlds. In the volcanic world of Trasnat, what should have been an easy victory against an inferior Dyss force became a slow grind with few soldiers having the specialized equipment to fight against the heat and fumes of the world (Culminating in the Battle of Trasnat). Finally, it was only through the sacrifice of thousands that the imperials managed to kill **Warlord Kir'Dat** (thought to be the supreme commander of the frontier Dyss forces in that sector) and push the remains of his forces into the magma of nearby volcanos.

Exhausted and unable to rest and re-equip in the planets they conquered, few in the imperial army were ready for what was coming.

## **Dyss counter-attack (2262 to 2263)**

### **A wounded lion**

Great Purifier Hald'Ydon, known by the Dyss as "*Truesight*", had been rallying the reserves and other forces of the Dyss while the valian warriors of the West managed to hold the imperial onslaught. After nearly a year, the numbers of his army not only matched those of the original force of the imperial attack, but also surpassed it by some millions of soldiers. Moreover, these were fresh warriors, well-equiped and eager to push back what they saw as invaders trying to take their lands. With the great Dyss victory at the Battle of Lost Sun on space, orchestrated by the Great Purifier himself, the warriors and commanders knew they had to push back once in for all.

With the Dyss fleet at the head, the Great Purifier finally launched his counter-attack. Had the imperials performed a slow conquest where each conquered planet was later reinforced with garrisons, fortresses and supply depots, maybe the HM Imperial Army would have hold better than they did. Still fighting against their foe in a number of strange worlds however, they were unprepared as fleets of heavy armor and wave infantry attacks slammed into what few defences they had.

### **The pride of Marshall Lionel**

While the Field Marshall's arrogance deserves much of the blame for the disaster which unfold, the truth was few if any of the generals under his command was willing to be the first one to fall back after a full year of nothing but victories in the field. Many requested reinforcements and further supplies, boasting that with the right tools, they would push back the enemy reinforcements and trap them.

Sadly, as much as he did not want to retreat, the bitter truth was Lionel could not give those resources either. There were far too many fronts, too far away from one-another to properly answer the Dyss advance. Rather than surrounding the enemy forces, it was the Imperial Army which found itself in pockets, surrounded by Dyss armor and infantry which slowly crushed them to the last man. A great example of this was the Second Battle of Conderon, which saw one of the most deadly confrontations faced by the Imperial Armed Forces and the Dyss Hakone Hvitsärk both in land and space.

The fleet too had its hands full and could offer little support as it faced the full might of the Dyss armada. Lead by the Great Purifier himself, the great fleet fell on dispersed groups of the Imperial fleet, overwhelming them with a mixture of heavy guns and endless swarms of fighters and bombers. Months of void warfare later and the captains of the imperial fleet were retreating on their own, unable to even slow down the Dyss with their far inferior numbers.

### **Attempt to withdraw**

   Finally, as whole armies were annihilated to the last man, the Field Marshall gave the order to withdraw (some say he was not the one to do so, that one of his junior officers signed the orders for him after the Field Marshall suffered a heart attack while reading casualty reports).

Few however were able to fulfil this order, as they lacked the transports and chances to do so. While retreating, the HM Imperial Army suffered even more casualties. Many divisions left their heavy weapons behind to be able to flee faster, leaving them to be used later by the approaching Dyss.

Many soldiers took their own lives rather than be captured by the Dyss. Enraged after learning of how the Imperial Army had destroyed and slaughtered the citizens of many Dyss settlements in the frontier worlds, the already-merciless Dyss decided to make an example of captured Imperial soldiers. The most infamous way of showing their victory were the "Skull pyramids", built with hundreds, if not thousands of flayed skulls from executed imperial soldiers.

Without a proper infrastructure behind them, the bloodied remains of the imperial army were forced to leave behind the worlds they had conquered months before, with only a few regiments being left behind in an attempt to at least slightly slow down the incoming Dyss revenge. As the first Dyss ships reached the first planet belonging to the Eternal Empire ever since before the war, any hopes and plans to try the "Push" again were finally forgotten.

Now began the war for survival.

## **Aftermath**

Despite a number of victories during early stages, even the most optimistic historians at the Empire's service see the "Bloody Push" as a complete failure which almost costed the war to the Eternal Empire. It would be decades until it regained the military strength it had lost during this offensive.

The aftermath of the Bloody Push also increased the xenophobic feelings amongst the empire's population against the "non-humans". Stories of the cruelty of the Dyss (some of which were even true), fueled the belief of the Empire that this was a galaxy filled with foes to exterminate, before they could get the chance to do the same to them.