"Hold the Line! Artillery and mortars concentrate on the center! Let no Ork pass!" yelled the Watchmaster through his gas mask, saber raised towards the heavens and pointed beyond the trenches towards the rushing greenskin infantry. On his order Lucius 88 Lasguns topped the trenches with mounted bayonets and sighted the enemy infantry for long range sharpshooting. The Orks fell by the hundreds as Götterdämmerung Howitzers lined up in artillery pits behind the main defensive breastworks ruthlessly bombarded shell after shell into the no-mans-land beyond the crest of the siege lines.

As the artillery fire continued with ruthless carnage upon the Orks the greenskins brought forward their real threat. Guardsmen felt the soil tremble beneath their feet before they say it. Scouts had reported this advancing metallic monster hours before the battle and already the men of Krieg knew the horrors soon to be ventured upon them

The assembled Death Korps Guardsmen nodded in approval behind their trenches, some probably smiling behind their iconic gas masks, as the Ork Great Gargant lumbered forward step by agonizingly slow step.

"It is truly a great day to die for his lordship," said one Death Korp Grenadier as he popped up out of the trench to strafe a jogging Ork mid-trot. The soldiers standing by his side nodded in approval and then continued firing at the Greenskin Horde. Ork Warbikes drove wildly towards the lines, but most were shattered by mortar fire well before they reached the trenches. The other Orks lucky enough to survive that far were shredded by repurposed Blitzen anti-aircraft fire. Bullets and Lasblasts tore the Orks apart, but still the lumbering Gargant continued its advance and in the wake of such a mechanical beast the defensive artillery shield provided by the Götterdämmerung Howitzers was all but useless.

"What is the situation Leftenant?" asked a Death Korps Officer as he stepped foot outside the command bunker to survey the battlefield in person through his gas mask and a pair of primitive binoculars, his grey trench coat blazing behind from the wind giving greater airs to the ornate gold trim of his officers chest tunic.

"Colonel Zollen, the Ork Gargant threatens to break our lines, and they will break. All the Watchmasters have agreed to hold the trenches to the last man in order to guarantee the successful withdraw of our Siegfried and Ragnarok Units under the command of the local PDF."

"What of Corporal Heinz Gärtner?" asked the Korps Officer as he put away his binoculars?

"The Corporal has yet to check in and report on the situation with the Colossus Cannon overlooking our left flank. We suspect that the Greenskins have cut him off and that he is most likely dead."

The Korps Officer chuckled, a rarity for warriors of such stoic grim nature, "Leftenant… of that I seriously doubt. I don't know if you have been informed, but the Corporal is the luckiest man alive."

"Lucky… sir?"

The Korps Officer looked at his subordinate and nodded curtly, "Yes Leftenant. Corporal Heinz Gärtner has served in four armies of conquest and participated in a grand total of thirty major land engagements, all without being wounded once. As if that wasn't enough he has also been a Grenadier four times. That man… is not dead… mark my words."

Both officers nodded, gave brisk salutes and prepared for the final Ork on-slot. This day would be there last for there was little that they could do against the enemy Gargant assuming the Colossus cannon overlooking the trenches was indeed out of operation. Even then, considering the range and shire armored gullet of the advancing Gargant, it would take one hell of a lucky shot to break the enemy momentum.

….

"Now let's see here… what did that manual say again?" said Corporal Heinz Gärtner as he stood atop the bluff overlooking the Death Korps siege lines. The view was stunning, with the gunfire and numerous explosions crushing stone and earth into a mesh of blackened dirt and green globs of flesh. There was no doubting that the Kriegmen were really bending the Orks over backwards with a vicious beating even with the slow advance of the Gargant towards the trenches.

Heinz was holding a crude schematic of the Colossus cannon, as expected the Orks had disassembled several of the components when they had taken the ridge. This was of course before the Corporal had stormed in with a Lucius Pattern Mk 22c Semi-Automatic Shotgun and killed nearly twenty of their number with his unique flare for arms. Even now, there green corpses littered the ground alongside numerous spent artillery shells and sandbags.

"OK, so first I have to insert this here, and then… right this should just about do it…" he said while using a wrench to screw in several bolts for the firing mechanism and alter several gyros for wind, height, and elevation. The total repair time had been three hours and despite the delays the cannon was at last operational. That having been said, there was a downside. The Orks had looted most of the mortar shells, except for a single long range timed delay charge. This was all he had to fire at the Gargant, one shot, a single shot against a giant mechanical beast. Even if he was lucky enough to hit the towering monster at such extreme range in all likelihood the shell would just bounce off and not pierce beneath the machine thick metal hide where it could do its real damage. Still, he had to do his part just like any Kriegman by putting the many before the one, Via Imperator.

Heinz used all his might to lift the shell into place and slam it home, a task that usually required four guardsmen, but given his stature such a task was easily accomplished by pushing the shell with his back until he reached the auto-loader from which once the ammunition was rolled down into its oblong holding basket the Colossus did the rest through hydraulics.

With care he used the swivels to turn the cannon towards the Gargant, held up his thump like an artist to measure distance, and hit the firing switch with his closed gloved fist.

The Colossus roared and jerked backwards, sending the man-sized artillery shell clear across the battlefield. At first it looked as though he would miss, a little to the left, a little to the right, and then the artillery shell hit home at the base of the Gargants neck echoing a resounding, 'DONG,' across the battlefield. The shell itself passed right through a weak spot in the armor and did not detonate due to its time delay charge.

"Wait for it…" he said, "Wait for it…"

…..

Inside the lumbering Gargant marching towards the Death Korps lines several green skins were fighting over a chicken leg when a giant hole was suddenly and unexpectingly blown through a nearby patchwork of metal plating. Whatever the object was, it drove a green gory path through four Orks, turning them into soggy fleshy paste that splashed upon the poorly welded walls. This object, an artillery shell bounced off of a steel bulkhead and started to roll down a flight of stairs echoing metallic thuds with every bounce until it passed through an opened doorway at the very bottom of the poorly crafted shaft and rolled gently to the feet of the Ork Warboss standing in front of a giant mound of ammunition. This warband leader looked down, surprised at the massive artillery shell, and more so at the words stenciled on its side, 'The Emperor Protects.'

Before the Warboss could respond, the world turned white as the timed delay charge on the artillery shell ignited. Seconds later, the giant mound of ammunition in the Gargants central chamber exploded into a hellish inferno that roared deeply inside the Ork creation. From the outside, a massive moan echoed across the battlefield as the Gargant halted its slow yet steady pace towards the Death Korps Lines. It was as if the machine had a stomach ache, more accurate than most knew at the time. Then, its head erupted with flames causing Orks to tumble out of burning eye sockets in order to escape the exploding ammunition.

Corporal Heinz Gärtner laughed and clapped his hands with glee as he watched the towering mechanical beast tilt sideways and collapse into a ruin of burning steel wreckage. What remained of the Orks started to withdraw from the engagement as Kriegmen in grey trench coats raised their Lasrifles in salute and roared with applause. They then topped the trenches in droves and pursued the Orks with a massed infantry counter attack. Even from Heinz's position he could make out Watchmasters with raised sabers motioned their men forward through the no-mans-land left behind from the prior vicious artillery bombardment.

"The bigger they are…" Heinz tilted his gas mask up to show his chapped lips before removing a cigar from his pack and lighting it, "The harder they fall…" gritting the Imho stick in his teeth with a wide smile, chuckling in amusement at the hell marry shot that had won the battle.