Taros Campaign - Battle of Giadamak: Giadamak was a huge strip mine where the ground had been torn up over centuries, its deep quarries leaving dramatic rends in the earth and huge strangely regular mounds of waste rock piled high. It was a desolate and dusty place, home to several thousand miners until the approaching tank columns forced most to flee to safety. Some hardy work-gangs vowed to stay and fight. The scattered quarries, buildings, workings and equipment hid the defenders, whereas the deserts provided little cover for the attacks. Where once there was the clanking and grinding of heavy machinery rumbling across the desert, all was now silent. Fire Warriors scanned the southern horizon for the tell-tale dust columns of approaching tanks.Lord Marshal De Stael suggested that General Ras-Aziz ignore the tricky mining complex and move around it, striking for the bigger prize of the Iracunda Isthmus and leaving the defenders isolated. The General disagreed, for he could not allow a strong Tau force to remain behind his frontline. His lead units might reach the Iracunda Isthmus, but the Giadamak defenders could then launch a potentially catastrophic counter-attack from their strong point, rolling through the regiment’s vulnerable rear areas. In his opinion, the mine had to be seized and the defenders killed, captured or forced to withdraw. An attack would then clear the way for the continued advance northwards. The veteran Tallarn General made this clear during a briefing onboard De Stael’s Leviathan. The Lord Marshal concurred with his frontline commander, and the attack would begin at first light the next day. With the briefing complete, General Raz-Aziz climbed aboard an Aquila shuttle and flew back to his forward command post to oversee the battle.As the first rays of light crept over the dark horizon, the rumble of heavy artillery fire once again rolled out across the desert. In the dawn light, Earthshaker and Mortar explosions blossomed all around Giadamak. The men gathered ammunition, ration supplies, and filled canteens before climbing aboard their vehicles and slowly moving to the frontlines. The regiment's attack plan was simple. Two tank companies would envelop the mines, circling to the west and east. When the tank vanguards had met, the mine would be surrounded and cut off from reinforcements. Then the infantry would move in, racing forwards in Chimeras behind a rolling barrage of artillery fire, before dismounting and closing the last few hundred yards on foot. It would be the dismounted infantry that would roust the Tau from their hidden positions in close quarters fighting, under the covering fire of their transports.The attack started well with the tanks moving out to the left and right unmolested by Tau fire. With the crack of artillery shells resounding, the Leman Russ columns bounded forwards in two wide arcs. In the centre, the Chimeras advanced in line abreast behind a wall of Earthshaker fire. With two hundred yards left, the artillery screen lifted and men dismounted to dash forwards and seize the objective. As the infantry closed in, the Tau opened fire, flaying the dismounted Tallarns with Pulse Rifle fire. The Tau had created a killing zone in front of their position with interlocking fields of fire. The leading Tallarn infantry were now caught in it, and men started to fall one after the other. As they attempted to advance, the men of Tallarn were dusty tan shapes running, falling, crawling, firing, rising again and falling again, wounded and writhing. The heavy pulse fire was punishing. Soon the flat ground was littered with the small hummocks of dead and wounded men. Second company, the first to attack, was repulsed with heavy loses. They retreated in disarray, leaving a hundred dead behind.His first assault defeated, General Ras-Aziz ordered a fresh Armoured Fist company forwards. This time it would be the Third company’s turn. Again muzzle flashes erupted from the defenders’ lines, scouring the desert with pulse rounds. Chimeras moved forwards to lend their fire, Multi-Lasers whining and Heavy Bolters chattering return fire. Leading the attack was Captain Hadid. His own Chimera was hit thirty five times by pulse rounds, eventually penetrating the front armour and killing his driver. Dismounted, the captain rallied his men and led the way, closing in on the objective. The weight of the Chimera fire and the platoon’s supporting Mortars were having an effect, suppressing the defenders as the first Tallarn platoons reached the edge of Giadamak. Now the fighting would become close and personal. With knives and grenades in hands, squads were stalking through the billowing smoke and rusting machinery, hunting down the entrenched defenders.Meanwhile, the encircling tanks had completed their envelopment against only light resistance. They took up positions to repel any attempted Tau breakthrough to help the force now surrounded amongst the deep quarries of Giadamak. There was little the commanders could do though as, in mid-afternoon, the Tau launched an aerial evacuation. From the east a formation of four Orcas, surrounded by a defensive shield of Barracudas, raced overhead, banked steeply towards the mine and came in to land. The Tau were withdrawing again.Fighting amongst the quarries was more like street fighting than desert warfare. The artillery could no longer fall as the forces were too close and intermingled. For three hours the battle was a brawl fought with grenades, knives and sometimes bare fists. The Tau had little stomach for such combat. The Hunter Cadre commander had called for an evacuation. He had inflicted his damage here, and it was now time to cut-and-run before his force was annihilated. The Orcas swooped in, Burst Cannons raking the sand, and the Fire Warrior teams withdrew under the covering fire of their sacrificial rearguard. Scurrying away, they loaded up and quickly took to the air. From his command post, General Ras-Aziz watched with magnoculars as one by one the Orcas lifted off and banked away northwards, chased by sporadic Hydra flak fire, whilst Barracuda circled above.The survivors of Giadamak moved to mop up the Tau rearguard, quickly rounding up the haggard, wounded and battle-weary alien prisoners. In all, sixty three prisoners were taken. The 3rd Tallarn regiment’s losses stood at 322 killed or wounded, and eleven vehicles destroyed. That evening, sixty-eight Tau bodies were piled into a mass grave and bulldozed over. After a day of heavy fighting, Giadamak was now a fire of scoured wilderness, dotted with artillery impact craters, littered with spent power cells, bloody bandages, smouldering wreckage and the dead of both sides.After another fourteen days of advancing after the battle, faced by daily Tau sniping on the frontline, Battlegroup A had closed to within fifty kilometres of its objective; but they were now running out of tanks, fuel and water. As the front line pushed forwards the lengthening supply lines felt the pressure. The second phase of Shas’O R’myr’s campaign plan was starting to reap its rewards. With so many units committed to the rear echelon raids, the Tau Commander might no longer have enough Hunter Cadres to stop the offensive; but the Imperial Guard was slowly running out of momentum due to its own logistical needs.