Third War for Armageddon - Salamanders' Return to Armageddon: When WAAAGH! Ghazghkull descended upon Armageddon in 998.M41, many Space Marine Chapters responded as noted above, including the Black Templars, White Scars, Exorcists, Silver Skulls, Iron Champions, Storm Lords -- the list goes on, their raiment every colour under the Emperor's sun. Yet of all those Chapters that fought in the shadow of Armageddon's smoke-wreathed manufactorums and hive cities, the populace remember none with the same gratitude that they give to the Salamanders.The Salamanders had been instrumental in Ghazghkull's defeat in the Second War for Armageddon, but victory had cost them dearly. Perhaps it was vengeance that drove the Chapter to make such a generous contribution to the Third War. Whatever the reason, almost the entire Salamanders Chapter was present in the crucial early months of the war. Under the eye of their bold Chapter Master Tu'Shan, they fought with determination on the most terrible battlefields.When the din of battle grew quiet and the Ork attacks slowed, the Salamanders did not sit idle, but instead launched several devastating counterattacks against the Roks landed by the Orks along the Hemlock River. Preferring the close-quarter fighting to be had in the maze of crudely carved tunnels that lay within the interior of the Roks to the long-range duels in the desert, the Salamanders made their mark. By the start of the Season of Fire, 9 Roks had been destroyed by the Salamanders' attacks, killing untold thousands of Greenskins.The glory of such battles was one shared with many other Chapters, and alone it does not explain the fierce loyalty that the Salamanders engendered in the people of Armageddon. The truth of the matter remains that while some Chapters fought for the Emperor, and others for the renown and glory to be earned, Tu'Shan and his Salamanders fought each battle to save the lives of the people of Armageddon.For instance, during the battle for Hive Helsreach, the Salamanders strike cruiser Serpentine made its way through orbiting Ork armada to vomit Drop Pods onto the shattered streets of Helsreach. Sergeant V'reth, commanding seventy Salamanders battle-brothers, fought alongside the Black Templars of Reclusiarch Grimaldus.V'reth's forces devoted their energies to defending the helpless civilians caught up in the Helsreach siege. To the Templars' disgust, the Salamanders always made sure that their actions prevented civilian casualties, despite the inefficiencies this produced, while the Black Templars were always on the attack. While their differing styles of war put some strain on their relations with the Black Templars, V'reth and his forces ultimately departed the city for the banks of the Hemlock River.On more than one occasion, Tu'Shan threw his Astartes into the most hopeless of battles to rescue embattled civilian enclaves and settlements that other Imperial commanders had been prepared to sacrifice for the sake of the wider war. Indeed it is even rumoured that Master Tu'Shan himself came to blows with Captain Vinyar of the Marines Malevolent after it became known that the latter's men had shelled a refugee camp simply because there were Orks within its perimeter. This act alone won Tu'Shan and his Chapter much renown, although relations between the Salamanders and the Marines Malevolent have never been quite the same.The majority of the Salamanders departed Armageddon following the Season of Fire, but the Chapter's work was not done. The two companies of the Chapter that remained behind on the Hive World did so to protect its major population centres from marauding Ork warbands that would never quite be eradicated. The Chapter's Techmarines have been instrumental in repairing and rebuilding the infrastructure required to maintain such a vast amount of people, and it is certain that they have saved many thousands of lives with these vital but often overlooked duties. The people of Armageddon will not soon forget the efforts the Salamanders made in their name. The legend that the Sons of Vulkan have left behind will surely shine all the brighter with every passing year.