Sabbat Worlds Crusade - Lyubovhive: With the successful pacification of the southern portion of the "Transcontinental Nexus," Carnhide's attention next turned to the gigantic main hive city of Lyubovhive. As the majority of all existing enemy resistance had retreated to this veritable fortress, Carnhide knew this objective represented numerous problems for his overall strategy.In the years of Chaos occupation the forces of the Archenemy had turned the hive city into a nearly-impervious fortress with a heavily armoured outer structure while also embellishing it with innumerable gun emplacements and malevolent antipersonnel devices. The ancillary hive cities of Zenic and Zevin that lay to the west also proved to be a problem, as these two hives fed primary power reserves into Lyubovhive.An overlapping system of defensive trenches, dykes and armour traps lay to the south and southwest, constructed in a wide crescent many hundred of kilometres long, and partly mined. It would be a major chore just to get to the main hive.Carnhide's senior staff offered numerous conflicting schemes regarding how to best take the formidable Lyubovhive. Instead of choosing a single plan of attack, the general once again displayed keen insight and remarkable fluidity of thinking by deciding to embark upon a simultaneous three-pronged assault that incorporated all of these various plans.Though this was seen as indecision by his peers at the time, Imperial history would later vindicate Carnhide. Dividing his forces into six separate "armies" the general also divided his commanders to lead their respective forces and carry out the various plans that each commander had recommended.Led by Major General Arcol, the first army would maintain a firm occupation of the areas already taken, providing a slow siege of the main hive city to wait the enemy out and standing in reserve if necessary.The second army, mostly composed of motorised light infantry, was to be commanded by Colonel Hjak. His forces were also to be kept in a reserve and support position outside Sradhive, ready to deploy at a moment's notice.Carnhide himself would command the third army and commence a frontal assault on Lyubovhive, cutting a patch through the defensive system.Under the command of General Doshen, the fourth army would encircle Lyubovhive around the eastern fringe and attack from the northeast sector. Such a plan had been recommended by Doshen.The fifth and sixth armies would be composed of smaller motorised forces commanded by Colonel Paquin and Colonel Varnsetter, respectively. Their primary objectives were the ancillary hive cities, with the fifth army severing communications with the main hive while the sixth army struck at Zevin and Zenic simultaneously.Using his superb diplomatic skills and a bit of guile, Carnhide once again made use of the Imperial Navy and Adeptus Mechanicus forces to help his overall strategy succeed. He manipulated the two separate organisations by insinuating that he would hate to see them robbed of their share of the climactic glory by the Astra Militarum forces on the ground.The Mechanicus immediately seconded their war machines and Titans to the third and fourth armies, while the Imperial Navy's Aeronautica Imperialis would conduct precision air strikes on the coastal power farms of the ancillary hives. They would then provide air cover for the fifth and sixth armies.Colonels Paquin and Varnsetter initiated the attack by striking deep at the southern side of Zevin and Zenic. Paquin's fifth army succeeded in cutting all communications with Lyubovhive by severing the mass transit and cable links within a single day, then turned west towards Zenic.The Navy did its part by reducing the power farms to smoking craters with its deadly air power. The sixth army managed to break into the southern side of Zevin, but the advance soon ground to a halt after facing ferocious resistance.The Astra Militarum soon came face to face with significant numbers of the Blood Pact for the first time since the invasion began. On the move for the better part of three solar days, Major General Doshen's fourth army swung around to assault the northeastern margin of the main hive.They were soon met by huge numbers of enemy armour, composed principally of units of the Blood Pact, armed with captured and customised Imperial battle tanks. An enormous armour battle soon erupted on the northeastern plains.Meanwhile, the large third army force commanded by General Carnhide dug a path through the rudimentary but deadly defence system erected by the Archenemy. Fortunately, the strength of the Mechanicus' war machines served them well by destroying and clearing these lethal defences, losing two Titans in the process, but ensuring that by the end of the first day the outer walls of the hive city were in sight.In spite of this success, Carnhide soon received negative reports of the sixth army being fought to a standstill by Blood Pact forces and the fourth army being pushed back and slaughtered. Pleading for support from the reserves, both commanders were refused by Carnhide.Though his decision was viewed as cold and heartless, Carnhide knew he could not spare them for he would soon need the reserves to reinforce his main assault. Though he wanted to support the efforts of his beleaguered officers, he had full confidence in both commanders to accomplish their individual objectives. In less than twenty-four solar hours, his confidence was rewarded.Colonel Varnsetter managed to launch a thrust into the Blood Pact forces, driving them back about three kilometres into Zevin. Moving with all speed, Colonel Paquin moved in to support the sixth army in a counter strike, bringing the fifth army into a pincer movement on the Blood Pact's vulnerable left flank.The Navy air wings heavily supported their efforts, attacking both the Blood Pact in Zevin and key positions within the hive city. It would take nine more solar days of fierce warfare before a conclusive Imperial victory could be claimed against the ancillary hives, with exceedingly high casualties as a result of their troubles.General Doshen redoubled his efforts on the northeastern front, bolstered by the news that the Blood Pact was not as invincible as their reputation suggested. He then ran the heavy armour and Titans in his command into a long, tight angle of attack across the hydroelectric valleys of the East Lyub River. Battalions of light support and anti-tank units were simultaneously directed in an encircling manoeuvre around to the north.Soon a second, fierce tank battle erupted, but the general's gambit proved to be successful. The Blood Pact war machines fell back and attempted to reform into a cohesive force, but many soon found themselves easy targets for the advancing Imperial armour and were destroyed before they could reassemble. Forced to retreat towards the flanks of the main hive city, the Blood Pact armour broke into two distinct elements.The first was annihilated by advancing Warhound Scout Titans and tank destroyers outside the main eastern gate. The other element soon faced the encircling light support battalions which picked them off at their leisure, breaking their cohesiveness as an effective fighting force.The light support and tank destroyers continued to pick off the last of the Blood Pact's war engines as Doshen's main force advanced to assault the outer defences of Lyubovhive.Carnhide's third army broke past the defence systems, crossing the outer road networks near the main hive itself just as they received word that Doshen's forces began their assault. Taking heavy fire from the gun emplacements and hardpoints that studded the hive's outer perimeter, the Imperial drive started to falter under the relentless barrage. Even the Imperial commissars balked at the prospect of advancing into the deadly barrage of cannon fire, batteries, las fire and flamers.But the Imperials hardened their resolve and drove forward into the heart of the enemy. General Carnhide's third army penetrated the southwestern perimeter of Lyubovhive in the early hours of the campaign's 17th solar day.Ferocious urban fighting ensued, as the Archenemy countered the Imperial assault with a well-orchestrated resistance meeting them at every step of the way. Carnhide was soon forced to call in support from the second army, sooner than he had anticipated.The brutal fighting ensued unabated for the next eighty solar hours. News of Doshen's forces breaching the main hive perimeter in the northeast and also driving in towards the hive city's core reached them forty-six solar hours into that period. Though the general's spirits were lifted by the good news, his hopes were soon dashed as the Blood Pact once again proved to be an implacable foe that fought with stealth and guile.For every small victory and every inch of ground taken, the Blood Pact made the Imperials pay dearly, laying traps, setting ambushes, mining tenements and employing snipers and booby traps.After eighty solar hours of continuous fighting, Carnhide finally relented and called a halt, allowing the frontline forces to retire and be replaced. The fighting dulled somewhat for a short period of time but at hour eighty-five, Carnhide pressed his forces onwards.