Siege of Vraks - The Murder Slopes: At last, at long last, the end was in sight. If the day's battle went well and the 261st Regiment won their objectives then the end would be within reach. Dawn broke, barely perceptible in the stygian gloom of low clouds and the distant rumble of thunder, or was it guns? There could be no mistaking the opening roar of the bombardment. Situated on the south bank of the Darro Rift, the 21st Bombardment Korps had spent many days and nights preparing for this firing mission. It would be sustained and accurate, concentrated and devastating, withc every gun that could be mustered now trained on that hill and the Citadel on top. As the order to open fire on the pre-set targets was received, Krieg gunners hauled on lanyards and the guns boomed as one. The shells soared high, screaming and whining in fight. First to impact were the higher velocity Earthshaker rounds, screaming in. Next, seconds behind, came the Medusa rounds, a low bass whine as the heavy siege shells fell. Last came the Bombard shells, each huge shell plunging from the clouds with the rumble of a passing freight train. A thousand shells fell in the first solar minute.As Tyborc and the staff officers of the 261st Regiment watched, the Citadel and its slopes vanished into a cloud of flame split explosives. Shell after shell added to the bombardment, thickening the ring of flames that now consumed the Citadel. Could anything live through such of a storm? Surrounding the observing officers, men in brown greatcoats mustered by squad, platoon and company clambered abroad the Gorgon carriers as they idled, spilling reeking exhaust fumes to thicken the air. Each squad was counted onboard in a scramble of hob-nail shod marching boots, ringing on the metal loading ramps. Watchmasters and Commissars cajoled each guardsmen into position before the pneumatic pistons hissed into life and the ramps drew up and locked with a solid clang. Sealed inside their metal behemoths, the next guardsmen would see of the world would be the base of that hill and the murderous fires of battle.On time, Colonel Tyborc issued the order of attack, and seconds later each Gorgon's engine revved into life, tracks slowly grinding into the earth as the inched towards, each lumbering carrier gathering speed slowly, men jostling inside, shoulder to shoulder in the packed holes. It had begun, and each company now had its part to play. The wheels of war were turning, and now Colonel Tyborc must now let them run their course. Behind the Gorgons followed more infantry on foot, still in ordered lines, each squad evenly spaced from the next, Leman Russ followed crews riding out of their turrets to better pick a route forwards. Soon yellow tongues of flame would adding the battle cannon shells to the bombardment ahead. The field artillery followed amidst more infantry companies, Centaur earners bouncing across the track-churned ground. Then came grenadiers, some in carriers, other walking, all slouched under weight of their heavy armour and hellguns. The entire regiment was on the move. Only the big artillery guns remained in place, the Earthshakers and Medusa siege guns, and soon they would also be firing. Colonel Tyborc had committed everything he had, with only three infantry companies and the Death Riders as his reserve, and these too would be committed if it seemed a breakthrough might come. It was all or nothing. Victory or destruction.All three attacks met with expectef fierce resistance. Despite the dense smoke and explosions, the lumbering Gorgons attracted heavy fire. The lead transport of 7th company took a direct hit in the side from a hidden artillery gun. The Earthshaker shell tore through the hold, shredding those inside, before exiting the far side, leaving a ragged hole. A second shot also hit, its high explosive warhead blasting the survivors into torn corpses.1st company were soon in a minefield and although the Gorgons pushed forwards, several were left burning. From high above, a defense laser silo opened fire, each huge laser impact tearing great scorch marks into the earth. First one, then a second, then a third Gorgon disappeared in a thunderous explosion of light and molten plasteel.For the 15th company, withering fire was also taking its toll on the Gorgons. One had its driver’s cab torn off by a tank shell. Slewing wildly, another’s tracks were shredded by artillery fire, leaving it stranded. The guardsmen inside disembarked into heavy fire and were soon scattered into cover or lying dead upon the earth.When the assault ramps crashed down, all the other platoons experienced the same treatment. Heavy bolter and heavy stubber fire swept the ground, more hidden minefields blocking the advance. Defensive mortar fire was plunging onto pre-sighted targets with terrible accuracy. Squads were annihilated in a blaze of murderous explosions and bullets. Captain Attas, leading 7th company was dead, as were his entire command squad - all killed when a bunker that was thought to have been destroyed opened fire at point blank range. His men crawled forward towards the service road leading up to the Lower Gate, corpses piling up in their wake. More corpses and abandoned Gorgons littered the route forwards.Against the 1st company the enemy counter-attacked and hand-to-hand fighting saw the first infantry wave thrown back. They had barely started to climb the slope up to the Cardinal Gate. The second wave of Krieg infantry charged in, bayonets fixed, counter-attacking in turn and turned the tide again, seeing the enemy cut down or falling back, but they had yet to reach the slopes, and already two waves had been exhausted. The third wave gained another few hundred yards in a spirited rush, but it was still well short of the Cardinal Gate when artillery and mortar fire racked its positions and turned the attack into a rabble. Captain Zolyan of the 19th company tried to press on uphill, but his company suffered the same fate as the first waves. Fewer than 100 guardsmen returned from a full strength unit of 740 when they set out. The Captain was not amongst them.Whilst the northern and western assaults were stalling, the attack on the Great Gate was faring little better. No less courageous, it was no more successful. The Gorgon transports had taken the brunt of the enemy fire, eight of the fifteen were now wreckage. The others fell back, spitting heavy stubber rounds up the hill until their ammunition bins were spent. The infantry was slogging uphill into a gale of furious fire, plunging down onto them as the guardsmen scrambled forwards, all order was now lost in the tumult of battle.On the switchback highway ascending to the Great Gate, the Atlas recovery vehicles had ploughed their slow way forward, scraping a path through the mines, before lascannon blasts from the walls left each a smoking hulk on the road, crews scattering out of the hatches and fleeing back downhill. Fighting their way up the hill in the wake of the engineering vehicles was a column of Leman Russ tanks of the 261st regiment's 5th tank company -12 tanks in line astern. They crawled upwards, volleys of battle cannon fire pattering off the gate towers. One by one the tanks were knocked out, the last survivor reached the fourth switchback before the crew abandoned their immobilised vehicle. Burning tank wrecks littered the route back down and their rusting remains would block the road for any future assaults.Ahead of the main assault the bombardment had now concentrated, hammering the Citadel. The deluge of shells had, as predicted, overwhelmed the void shields, although they could not destroy the generators. The generators were buried far below in the Citadel vaults, and so any damage done could only be temporary. The artillery was now tearing at the buildings, blasting great. The attack plan for clearing the ravine was highly complex, but every unit involved had been thoroughly briefed, studied the maps and been issued their orders. Their first objective was to cross a natural gully that ran across the line of advance. From there the attack would then divide, with two forces assaulting the enemy strong points at the head of the gully, a third force veering right to strike at a defence laser silo that was believed to have been knocked out by heavy bombardment months ago. but its ruined ferrocrete walls still provided the defenders with excellent cover with which to enfilade the mam route of advance - it had to be stormed and taken A fourth force would then come forward to push on down the ravine and assault the gale and walls in conjunction with the Bed Hunters' drop pod assault Once the walls were breached, a renewed assault would clear the remainder of the ravine and drive the attack on to the end and the armoury gates. Once there the mission would be handed over to the engineer companies to blast through the armoured doors and begin to clear the complex beyond. As each objective was taken, new companies would be released to take over the attack. In all, Inquisitor Rex was expecting the assault to last for three to four days of sustained fighting. As ever, progress would be slow and hard foughtWhen the order to attack came, the guardsmen went over the top and began to advance in good order. At first it went smoothly, tanks and infantry advancing into the smoke that drifted over the landscape following another softening up bombardment by the field artillery guns just behind. The heavy rain was falling again, deepening the mud under foot and tracks. But despite the smooth start the planners had overlooked something. On their tactical maps the natural gully appeared as a single line and was believed to be only lighly held - a minor obstacle to be overrun by the first wave. What the regimental staff had missed was the fact that the gully was actually a natural trench, steep on the northern bank and in many places it was impassable to armoured vehicles. The enemy had dug-in deep into the gully walls, untouchable by artillery, but in its concentration on defenses of the ravine and the threat from plunging from the Citadel above, the regiment’s detailed artillery plan had only designated the gully for a brief bombardment by several quad launcher batteries. From this gully the enemy could foray out to engage the advancing guardsmen then quickly slip back to its protection. The enemy had also hidden tanks in the gully’s base, and prepared firing positions for them at the edge. As the Krieg tanks move forward, the enemy armour would roll into perfect hull-down positions and engage, before rolling back to change positions before any return fire could find them. Just taking the gully was going to be a far harder fight than anybody had planned for.So it proved. The enemy was patient and only opened fire at short range with a sudden withering hail that flayed the lead infantry platoons. Leman Russ suddenly detonated from surprise flanking shots from unseen enemy tanks. Five tanks were burning in seconds, the others reversing away rather than risk the same fate. The attack stopped dead in its tracks. Mortar fire then began to land, the air singing with shrapnel above the pinned guardsmen's heads. The 3rd company's commander was killed in a blaze of heavy stubber fire. Six of his eleven platoon commanders would die in the opening fusillade. Despite the losses the attack must press on, and so it did Unable to outflank the gully the only choice was to keep bulling forwards in a headlong attack, but little headway could be made.Urgently re-directed artillery fire smothered the gully in high explosives, but the enemy were well protected, and quickly found shelter under the gully edge. The three Macharius tanks found no way of crossing the gully, then lost two vehicles to demolition charges thrown by unseen enemies from within the gully. More infantry companies were called forward, but it was not until the second day that, by weight of numbers alone, the Krieg guardsmen forced their way into the gully and started to clear it with grenades and bayonets. Inside they would find degenerate mutants, beastmen and renegade militiamen side-by-side, alongside squads of Traitor Space Marines, notable of the Steel Brethren, who had turned this minor feature into another killing ground. On the attack's right flank, the first crossing was made by guardsmen of the 16th company. Their mission had originally been to attack the defence laser bastion but already most of their ten platoons had been savaged in the gully fighting. Lacking the firepower to suppress the hardened enemy outpost, their subsequent assaults soon failed.Only by the end of the third day was an objective that should have been secured in the first hours in Krieg's hands - with more men arriving to turn it into a solid base of fire for next apring forward. The mouth of the ravine was guarded by twin strong points, each a complex of pillboxes, bunkers, trenches and firing pits. Bombard shells were already targeting each, supplemented by direct tank fire from the gully, but with the attack behind schedule there was no time for a long bombardment. It was time to go again, and the lines of new Krieg guardsmen sprang out of the gully and headed south.The expected three day battle for the ravine was into its fifth day before any of the Emperor's forces actually made it into the ravine. On the right the attack against the defence laser bastion had failed again, and the regimental commander had requested the aid of Titans to help his third assault. Even the arrival of the Reaver Titan Astor Tyrannis could not get the infantry onto their objective.In the ravine itself the attackers soar found themselves in a nightmarish labyrinth of trenches and minefields with tank traps thick as trees in a forest preventing tank support from posting forward. The Steel Brethren had again been at work, and progress towards the gate was measured in metres. Furious fire from the gate towers and walls swept the service road, now little more than craters. The enemy fought for every position. To the rear, artillery ammunition was running low, the base had now outrun its dedicated supplies. The suppressing fire on the Citadel above had been forced to slacken. The result was murderous plunging fire from the cliff tops from which there was no cover. Companies expended themselves for no gain in the ravine - which had earned itself the name “the death pit”.It was seven days into the ongoing battle before Inquisitor Rex gave the order for the drop pod assault to begin. Originally scheduled for day two, it had been delayed, then delayed again. Finally given permission to go, the Ordo Malleus Inquisitors and the Red Hunters strike force plunged into the ravine preceded by a wave of Deathstorm drop pods that scoured the drop zone with random fire. With the low black clouds and the ravine lip blocking their view, the attacking Krieg officers could not see the Space Marines arrive, and so failed to make the planned coordinated push against the wall and gate to strike from two directions at once. The four inquisitors and almost 150 battle brothers on the Red Hunters Chapter descended into a trap. They were isolated from all support, trapped in a cauldron of fire with no escape route. It quickly became apparent that the enemy had expected just such a move and prepared a counter-attack.Out from the massive armoury doors marched a Reaver Titan, around its feet a swarm of degenerate creatures and sub-human scum, all baying for blood and desperate to earn their master's rewards. The hordes threw themselves at the Red Hunters, who gunned them down mercilessly with the purifying fire of their sacred bolt guns. Hundreds died, but they were just the first wave, expendables that allowed the Chaos Space Marines to close in. Again it was the Khorne warbands and their Berserkers that struck, again led by Zhufor and his bodyguards.Against the traitorous Legio Vulcanum Reaver even ceramite and adamantium armour provided little protection. Trapped in their own isolated battle, the Red Hunters requested assistance, and eventually the Krieg guardsmen were ordered to attack the gate in a desperate bid to break in. The gate itself was vaporized by multiple plasma blasts from a Stormblade, but the guardsmen could not force a passage inside. A heroic charge by the entire 35th and 36th Death Rider companies was cut down to the man - now the last reserves available for the assault had been used up.Without relief the Red Hunters strike force was wiped out. All were lost, including the four Inquisitors leading the courageous assault with them. Those not lucky enough to be killed by the followers of Khorne faced a fate worse than death. The wounded and prisoners were dragged away by Zhufor and handed over to the Sanctified, the Traitor Marines with an intimate and deep knowledge of daemonancy. The prisoners would be offered up as daemon-vessels, fodder for hungry daemons to consume. They would soon return to the battlefields, unrecognisably deformed as Possessed.The bad news for the 269th regiment did not end with the failure of the assault on the ravine, or the failure of the assault on the defence laser bastion, or the annihilation of the drop pod assault. Out to the north-east during one of the many company-strength diversionary attacks that had supported the main efforts, disaster had also befallen the regiment. The 17th infantry company, skirmishing through the outskirts of the now ruined manufactorum had advanced into an ambush. Arkos the Faithless Alpha Legion warband had somehow infiltrated into the bombed-out manufactorum, most probably using unknown underground passages, and set up a trap. The Traitor Space Marines had managed to surround and annihilate the entire company before any forces could be freed up from their own attacks to hep. A full strength company had found itself surrounded by the Alpha Legion and been overwhelmed. Over 700 guardsmen had been lost, many no doubt captured and returned to the Citadel for some horrible fate. Such spoiling tactics were the hallmark of the Alpha LegionThe offensive was called off a day later. The 269th regiment had suffered the same fate as the 261st. Butchered, most of its infantry manpower now lay dead on the fields, the ravine itself was choked with the corpses of guardsmen and Death Rider steeds, along with the wreckage of tanks and guns. The regiment withdrew but left a strong ad-hoc force of survivors to garrison the two captured strong points and form a stopping force at the end of the ravine to prevent an enemy break-out. It was the only gam they made from the entire attack. Eight days of hellish fighting had seen a second regiment devastated, it was no longer an effective fighting force. Inquisitor Lord Rex had little alternative but to again disband the regiment and move its survivors into the two remaining regiments of 30th Line Korps. It had seen its fighting strength halved in the two attacks.