Siege of Vraks - Counteroffensive: Disaster at 61-47: The sudden Chaos attacks had thrown the Krieg regiments into confusion and transformed the nature of the siege of Vraks. A slow, static war of attrition had suddenly become a more fluid battle, with the enemy able to strike deep behind the lines. The single long frontline was no longer the only battlefield. Although the sudden attacks caused much damage, as yet the reinforcements did not possess the heavy equipment and weapons to smash the Krieg regiments’ defensive positions. Their raids could not hold the ground they had captured and after the initial shock the Krieg regiments began to recover. In places the frontline had been breached and the enemy had capitalised and pushed it back, in others it had held firm. Over the coming weeks more heavy equipment would arrive from orbit, and the Chaos forces could look to make more permanent gains. The Apostate Cardinal’s forces would also look to join the attacks, charging out over no-man’s land to attack the weakened frontline positions and reclaim the lost ground. Where once there had been a clear ring of trenches around the fortress of Vraks, now the picture was less clear. In places the frontline remained in the same position, in others it was forced to withdraw as the traitor forces captured and held ground they had lost over a year ago.The problem faced by the Krieg commanders was that after holding the initiative for so long and dictating where attacks would take place, they had now lost that initiative. Now they were fighting a defensive war, trying to hold their captured ground against furious attacks inspired by the arrival of powerful reinforcements for the Cardinal’s rebels.Greater still was the problem of supplies. The loss of the Vraks System left the 88th Siege Army stranded with its supply line severed. The replacement men, guns, ammunition, fuel and stores needed to maintain the momentum of the war were all ferried to Vraks from off-planet, and whilst the current stockpiles were still vast, it did mean that these could no longer be replenished. It was a dire situation. How long could the Krieg regiments fight the war with ever dwindling supplies? Lord Commander Zuehlke's staff set to work calculating how long this would be based on all the thousands upon thousands of Quartermaster reports they had received.As their work began, news of the imminent disaster on Vraks reached Segmentum Obscuras High Command on Cadia. Alarmed that after ten standard years of brutal war the mission on Vraks was in danger of total failure, an investigation was commissioned to determine what had gone wrong. Led by Departmento Munitorum High Logistician-Adept Istar Ornus, the investigation would have the power to remove the campaign's current high command if it was found to have failed in its duty to the Emperor. News of the impending defeat must also be reported to the Lord of the Departmento Munitorum on Terra and from him it would eventually reach the High Lords of Terra themselves. Their wrath for failure and a squandering of valuable resources would see many careers ruined, and many officers banished to Penal Regiments or dispatched to face the growing Tyranid menace on the Eastern Fringes. But political intriguing to save face and careers did nothing to save the Krieg regiments facing annihilation on Vraks.More bad news for the Krieg regiments soon arrived. A new threat was looming. From its impact site west of the Chaylia Plateau, the Aharon’s Bane was now disgorging new warbands. The ship's crash landing had killed many, but far more had survived and were now preparing themselves for battle. They were a long way behind Krieg lines, and worse still, alongside the insane warriors of Chaos stalked many great war machines, amongst them Titans of Legio Vulcanum.Like their Space Marine brethren, the Titan Legions had once all been stoically loyal to the Emperor, but during the Great Heresy many had fallen to the machinations of the Dark Gods and joined the ranks of Horus. Those that had survived Horus' defeat fled to the Eye of Terror, and there, enshrouded in the Eye's warping powers and protected from the ravages of time by its corruption, the Titans remained, only venturing forth to join the ranks of the Chaos armies and Black Crusades as they fought to overthrow the Emperor's divine rule.This new threat had 160 kilometres of Vraks to cover, but were advancing unopposed. The Krieg regiments of the 1st Line Korps were alerted to the Chaos army's presence only when it had by-passed the cavernous Mora gorge and was approaching sector 60-53. With the rear of 1st Korps' lines under direct threat, the 88th siege army had to move fast to intercept the enemy. It fell to the 101st Regiment of the 11th Assault Korps, who were to withdraw from the line en masse and to quickly reinforce from the other Assault Korps regiments with extra tanks to meet the new enemy.The 101st Regiment began its move to meet the approaching enemy on 119.823.M41. By the time it was in position to launch its counterattack the enemy had swept a further 50 kilometres south, occupying the old second defence line as it went. The strategic situation wasn't good. The enemy in front was attacking and the enemy behind was threatening to cut off the 1st Line Korps from the rest of the army. All that stood in the way was the 101st regiment, who were preparing to launch an attack in Sector 61-47. If it failed then it was likely to cost the army heavily.At 158823.M41 the battle commenced. Leading were 101st Regiment's tanks, advancing by companies in line abreast, each Leman Russ and Macharius kicking up a column of dust as they advanced at a steady walking pace in parade ground order. With them were the Assault Korps' few Titan-hunters, Shadowswords and Stormblades. Behind them followed the infantry on foot, followed in turn by the field artillery, still behind its tows. There was little in the way of heavier artillery as there had not been time to move the big guns and the ammunition they required. This was a mobile war for which the siege regiment was not well-equipped. There had been no time either to conduct any reconnaissance of the ground.The approaching enemy was a horde of foulness, Renegades, sub-humans, mutant-slaves, Beastmen, pirates and other fugitives from the Emperor's justice. The dregs of the galaxy who had come to Vraks to gain plunder and win the reward of their gods. They were led and directed by the Chaos Space Marine warbands, veterans of a thousand battles. Amongst them stalked the Titans, their great strides shaking the earth, each broadcasting a dirge of unholy litanies to urge those about them into battle and whip them into a frenzy.The 1st Korps commanding officers, accompanied by their Commissar advisors, climbed a low rise from which to gain a grandstand view of the coming engagement. They looked out with their surveyors across a battlefield that was already barren and broken, crater-scarred like the face of a moon. As the columns of dust advanced, they surveyed the horizon for the approach of the enemy, knowing that first to appear would be the towering figures of the Chaos Titans.In fact the first enemy to strike came as a complete surprise as aircraft suddenly materialised in Vraks' turbulent skies. Like angry hornets they plunged down on the advancing tanks, which found themselves completely without anti¬aircraft defences. As the bombs fell, Lascannon blasts raked the advancing tank squadrons. First one, then another tank blossomed into flames and smoke. Brown geysers of earth and rock began to spout as the well-drilled formations scattered, seeking safety from the surprise first blow. Aircraft had not featured in the Vraks War previously. Suddenly a whole new dimension of the battle was opened up, and instantly the enemy had aerial supremacy over the entire theatre. With their ammunition expended, the enemy aircraft vanished from the skies as rapidly as they had arrived. Despite their losses, the leading tank companies pressed on. On the horizon the first enemy were now in sight. The bright flash of Titan heavy weapons opening fire could be seen. The lead tanks encountered the first enemy ground troops while Chimera-borne infantry were already in position and waiting to open fire. To the left and right the tell-tale dust columns of advancing armour could be seen.The Centaur tows had halted and the field artillery pieces were being quickly man-handled to readiness, ammunition carriers coming forward to deliver stockpiles to each gun. Soon the rapid thump of quad launchers was reverberating across the battlefield, their four shells landing in quick succession, small explosions that merged into one and left a thickening cloud of dust smearing the battlefield, obscuring the commander’s view.Now they were relying on Vox-relays to get a picture of the battle. At the front it seemed that the first enemy infantry positions had been overrun, smoking Chimera hulls now added to the obscuring haze, but the Titan's long- range weaponry had found its range and was starting to exact a heavy toll. The brown dust columns were turning to blue-black smoke as the tanks were destroyed by the massive power of Turbo-Lasers, Gatling Blasters and Volcano Cannons. The tanks were returning fire, their armour-piercing shells whining off the Titan's Void Shields with electric blue flashes. It was an uneven fight, even with the super-heavy tanks in support. One Shadowsword found itself a firing position from which to engage the advancing Titans, but saw repeated blasts flicker off the Void Shields to no effect. A return blast from a Turbo-Laser struck the tank's main gun and damaged it. Seconds later a succession of blasts tore straight through the engine compartment and superstructure, immolating the command crew. The surviving hull crew bailed out as the Shadowsword crackled and smoked behind them, its fully charged capacitors threatening to detonate. As the crew sprinted for the rear, the air was thick with fire. Tank rounds and laser blasts by the hundred scorched across the battlefield as artillery rounds started to fall.On the left flank enemy armour had joined the battle. Led by the ominous, squat bulk of Chaos Space Marine Land Raiders, Predators and Vindicators, the Traitors' armour traded shots with Leman Russ tanks. The momentum of the Krieg attack had already faltered in the face of Titan firepower and soon more hulks were littering the battlefield as the Traitor Space Marines closed in. The battle had raged for two solar hours, growing in intensity, but Vox-reports were soon indicating that the tank attack had failed. The enemy were advancing again, Titans stalking through the smoke and explosions. The 101st Regiment's counterattack had been broken and was in danger of being shattered completely. Orders were issued to pull back and a reserve company of tanks was brought forward to buy more time for an orderly withdrawal. Of the sixteen Leman Russ that had rumbled forward, none returned. Throughout the night the battlefield crawled with wounded and smoke-stained tank crews attempting to return to their lines, whilst the enemy triumphantly reclaimed any damaged vehicles they could salvage.As the 101st Regiment's commanders listened to the bray of voices over their Master-Vox sets, they could count the smoke columns of burning wrecks before them. Fifty-two black smoke pillars smeared the sky and the dust no doubt obscured more again, as well as those vehicles which had failed to burn. Losses had been heavy, especially in armour. In all, nearly 70 tanks had been sacrificed, including 11 super-heavy tanks, along with 27 artillery pieces and yet uncounted tows and infantrymen.