Siege of Vraks - The Attack on Armoury 55-46: The most heavily undermined area of the entire front was in sector 55-46, with both 12th line korps and 46th line korps making constant use of engineer companies to attack enemy positions. Here the main objective was the capture of the large underground armoury, known to be located at 554-467, which was still being used as a stockpile and a safe shelter for enemy equipment. It had already been heavily shelled by the siege guns, but with little effect as the important war materiels were buried deep underground. As the engineers dug forward they attempted to work their way towards the armoury with the objective of effecting a break-in and over-running the facility in a surprise assault. But the enemy detected their approach and counter-mined the area heavily. Soon, deep below Vraks’ shell- tortured surface, a second war was raging in the darkness. It soon became clear that the enemy was aware of the target and taking every step it could to stop the engineers’ progress. A labyrinth of shafts, galleries and tunnels was soon forming and with the element of surprise lost, the heavy tunnelling equipment was brought in to speed up the digging.The fighting underground in this sector was equal to that above ground, with casualty rates amongst the engineer companies even exceeding those of the infantry. Tunnel fighting was a daily occurrence where the mines and counter-mines collided, battles could rage for days as both sides fought to capture enemy tunnels and exploit any gains. Slowly, by strength of numbers, the Krieg engineers gained the upper hand, pushing the enemy back and on790825.M41 reported that they were finally in a position to attempt to breach the underground armoury. In all, five full strength companies would be dedicated to the task of breaking in and then securing the breach. Behind them more companies were ready to exploit their foothold. These were stiffened by grenadiers squads, themselves equipped with melta-bombs and demolition charges to aid in the mission.The enemy knew the attack must come soon and had prepared to meet it when it did. Reinforcements had been rushed to the armoury, including a warband of the Berserkers of Skallathrax, whose lust for hand-to-hand combat would be well sated in the close, room-to-room, tunnel-to-tunnel fighting to come. Unknown to the Krieg commanders, most of the enemy’s heavy equipment and stores had been evacuated to safety, leaving the armoury almost bare. The stage was set for a savage isolated battle beneath Vraks, where no tank, artillery shell or mortar bomb could aid either side.To assist the underground battle, 150th and 471st siege regiments were ordered to launch attacks in the neighbouring sectors. Although just diversions, they were to push hard and drew in more enemy forces, stretching their resources. The 27th artillery company was positioned with orders to fire a box-barrage over the attack, to help seal it from further reinforcements. The 27th Company's guns were in position and well stocked with ammunition when the time for the engineers’ attack came.Deep below sector 55-46, the lead companies filed down the shafts and tunnels, all carrying heavy loads of equipment and rations for a sustained battle. Two tunnels had been excavated under the armoury and inside each of these a huge breaching charge had been laid. Hundreds of tonnes of explosive had been packed in, then the tunnels sealed with thick sandbag ‘tamps’ to contain the blasts. When the detonations came, it would smash wide holes through to the armoury above and annihilate any enemy forces within. Then, as the dust settled, the engineer squads would rush in and start the job of clearing the armoury's galleries, warehouses, storerooms and barracks.The armoury itself was a huge ferrocrete construction, a warren of cavernous warehouses and storerooms, along with barrack facilities for its guards. Most of its defences were on the surface. Inside, the defenders had built barricades from rubble-filled fuel barrels, flak board, sandbags, boulders and anything else solid that came to hand. These barricades blocked the vital corridors and positioned heavy weapons to cover the approaches. Defending a barricade, one militiaman manning a heavy bolter or stubber could rake a corridor with fire, turning it into a killing ground. Every corridor would have to be stormed at a high price in blood.On 803825.M41 the order to detonate the breaching charges was given. Captain Garis of 98th engineer company pushed down the plunger, the electronic signal raced along the wires to the detonators and then the world collapsed. The explosion could be heard in the trenches above ground, rumbling like approaching thunder, shaking the ground like an earthquake. Within the 55-46 armoury, the twin charges demolished two storerooms, the force of the erupting explosion sending chunks of rock as large as a Leman Russ battle tank hurting through the area to shatter on impact with the crumbling walls. The ceiling collapsed in a landslide of ferrocrete and earth, shaking the entire complex. The emergency lighting failed and plunged all into darkness, and the smoke, fumes and dust rolled out down the corridors like an enveloping fog. Those defenders caught too close to the epicentre were crushed by the shockwave or trapped in the rubble. The battle had begun.The first squads through the twin breaches clambered into a world of eerie darkness, shrouded in a thick choking fog. Rubble lay everywhere, piled metres high. The squads spread out, flashlight beams flickering as they climbed over the rubble scree. Whatever had been in place to defend these rooms had been destroyed and for now the engineers could advance against no resistance. In minutes engineers were swarming through the breach.In the darkness the militiamen were holding their nerve and waiting, fingers poised over triggers, as the shock of the breach charging subsided. Then, the echoing retort of a heavy stubber shattered the silence. A long stream of bullets ricocheted down the corridor and tore through the engineers, more guns opened fire, bright muzzle flashes in the darkness, grenades exploding with ear shattering force. Men were hit, cut down with nowhere to hide, their bodies piling up in the corridors. The Krieg engineers returned fire, shotgun blasts ringing and echoing. The traitor gunners continued to fire at the engineers attacking down each corridor, or across each storeroom. The Krieg engineers threw grenades back, trying to dislodge each gunner in turn, but they were protected behind their barricades and any wounded defender was quickly replaced by another gunner. Each barricade took its toll in dead and wounded. Flamethrowers were brought forward, filling each corridor with blazing promethium that consumed the oxygen, replacing it with toxic fumes. High above the rumble of the box-barrage could be heard, like a distant heavy drumbeat, it dislodged dust and mortar from the ceilings to rattle down on the engineers’ helmets as they crouched in the darkness.The first attack had stalled, each probe forward was cut down in turn in a blaze of automatic fire. The engineers had a slim toe-hold inside the armoury but could advance no further. The initial firefight died down, just the sporadic blast of shotguns reverberated through the corridors to harass the enemy and keep their heads down. Concerned with the lack of progress, Captain Garis of 20th company came forward to assess the situation and find a way of breaking the deadlock. He ordered his men to set melta-charges to blast holes in the interior walls. They could create their own corridors, blasting through into rooms from unexpected directions. He also authorized the use of corrosive gas grenades to dislodge the defenders.Garis’ intervention got the engineers on the move again, allowing them to cautiously make their way forward. Captain Garis led the way as one melta- charge revealed a dark narrow corridor beyond. Jumping through, with squads at his back, he advanced to a set of steps leading downwards, the bottom of which was sealed by a heavy metal blast door that had been welded shut. Quickly he had a melta-charge placed and fell back to a safe distance as it detonated in a bright orange flash, the door itself becoming molten and steaming violently before the centre collapsed inwards in a pool of liquid slag. Behind it the enemy were waiting, crouched behind a barricade in the darkness, shielded from the melta- charge’s superheated blast. They were ready, poised to pounce, chainaxes gripped tight in one power-gauntleted hand, bolt pistols and plasma pistols in the other. As Captain Garis advanced again, climbing through the now cooling breach, the enemy sprang up and charged. Screaming an unholy curse to their god, their bloodlust over took them. The Khorne Berserkers counter¬attacked in a rush of blazing bolt pistol explosions and the shriek of chainaxes as the spinning blades bit deep. Captain Garis was the first to die, torn into bloody offal in seconds. The engineer squads behind recoiled as one after another they were cut down, their blood spraying the walls and running along the floor in rivulets. The corridor was a slaughterhouse, Khorne laughed long and drank deep of the massacre wrought by his favoured followers. The engineers were no match for these fearsome warriors, each a towering superhuman, strong and fast, protected within blood-encrusted red powered armour, psychopathic with the desire to kill in their master’s name - insane for blood and skulls. In the darkness they killed uncounted numbers and left the mangled bloody corpses to rot.The violence of the counter-attack halted the engineers’ advance again. They sealed the breaches against the Khorne Berserkers who were now stalking the corridors at will, and fought to hold onto the ground they had captured. Their gas grenades had little effect against powered armour.For the rest of the first day the deadlock could not be broken. The next day the grenadier squads were sent into the attack from reserve, hoping that they could succeed where the engineers could not. Again they had to face a headlong rush along fire-swept corridors and be cut down. But in some places they did dislodge the defenders with a well-aimed grenade, and turned the barricade to their own defence. Again the Berserkers counter-attacked, charging the barricades, heedless of the enemy fire slashing about them. At one barricade defended by grenadiers, the madmen charged as hellgun shots ricocheted off their powered armour, leaving deep scorch marks but doing no real damage. Grenades exploded but the Berserkers barely broke stride. Then a heavy flamer fired, sending a burning torrent of promethium down the tunnel. The lead Berserker ignited, doused in burning fuel he staggered but ran on, a blazing in human torch, chainaxe raised to strike, still screaming Khorne’s name as he leapt the barricade, bright orange flames engulfing him. Those grenadiers who did not run were cut down. What could mere men, even the stoic men of Krieg, do against such insane and reckless foes?The third day of battle saw it take a turn for the worse. The enemy had expected the engineers’ attack and had prepared well, including the digging of counter¬mines in secret. They aimed to cut the enemy approach tunnels, and as the battle raged within the armoury, their miners stole ever closer to the Krieg tunnels. A sudden explosion collapsed one tunnel, an engineer squad on their way to the armoury was caught in the explosion and all were killed in the cave- in. Suddenly the flow of men and supplies to the battle was cut to just a single tunnel, if this should be attacked then all the troops ahead would be cut off and face annihilation. The engineers could not afford to have their last lifeline severed. Engineer squads were pulled from the front in order to dig new counter-mines and to man extra listening posts for enemy digging. The heavy artillery still drumming above made the task all the harder.For three days it had been a desperate fight. Of the first five engineer companies committed to the attack, all had taken horrendous casualties. Of the 600 men in each company at the start of the battle, many were now below half¬strength, Captain Garis’ 20th company was down to just 187 men. Many had been slaughtered in close combat with the Traitor Space Marines.After four days of no gains, the attack was called off. The enemy were digging again, seeking to attack the remaining supply tunnel. An attempt to dig through the first collapse had ended in disaster as the enemy had been waiting for the new miners and fired a second charge, causing a new collapse and trapping or killing more engineers. It seemed there would be no breakthrough here, and one by one the Krieg squads pulled back.Dirty, smoke-blackened and with many walking wounded, they emerged from the tunnels below into the frontline trenches, weary men that had been underground for four days, locked in a pitiless battle. For now they had failed to capture the objective, but they would try again. In all, three such battles would be fought for the armoury until it was finally overrun by advancing ground forces of the 471st regiment. The enemy forces that were trapped within by the advance were afforded no mercy. The exits were all sealed and guarded, then the armoury was pumped full with corrosive gas, entombing them below ground forever. Nothing could have survived in an environment so corrosive that it stripped flesh from bones in seconds and then melted the bones to liquid. The engineers had taken their revenge.