The Emperor's finest Chapter nine
The world of Gulgath outskirts of the city of Kursk
The sound of gears churning and exhaust sputtering into the air permeated the air around as infantry and tanks marched steadily in formation. Tension filled the air as the formation slowly approached their destination. Jeffrey reviewed the mission parameters in his mind as both a way to focus and to pass the time, as he found the lead up to combat almost as bad the fighting itself. He been informed the previous day during the last day of rest that they would be redeployed, this time to the front and for the first time in proper formation with other tanks and expecting firm, established resistance.
High command decided it was time for a major offensive, ostensibly to try and break the Orks on Gulgath once and for all. Captain Hoel Ronan had suspicions that the real intent behind the action was to give the guard operational initiative, for he believed that the Orks had been gearing up for an offensive of their own. Their own experience defending fort forelorn hope seemed to corroborate this theory. Whatever the reason was, the guard would be going on the offensive and they would be doing so as the guard did best, as crude hammer to bludgeon their foes under fire and death.
For this offensive, nearly three quarters of a million guardsmen were marshalled, divided into thousands of regiments and being supported by many thousands more of support personale. All across the continent of Jhul were the forces of the Astra Militarum mobilizing, taking advantage of the final months of good weather on Gulgath before the brutal winter set in. Jeffrey wasn't privy to the full plan and neither was Ronan, but from what they could gather, the offensive would take place in some form across the entirety of Ork held territory. The greenskins would be pressed in on multiple fronts, namely the south and west.
Thoughts on the wider war were however, quite distant at the moment as they approached their objectives. The indomitable was assigned to the 102nd Armored regiments, but for the time they would be using standard imperial urban fighting protocols and would thus be attached as support for 203rd,223rd and 240th infantry regiments. Captain Hoel Ronan was given command over the three other Russ's accompanying them for this battle.They were given the task of recapturing the city of Kursk, the smallest of the major cities on Gulgath, but still a considerable task.
Kursk was a relatively small city compared to the massive cities he was used to seeing on his home world of Aerobolia, but it was horizontally based rather than vertically based like those hive cities. It was more akin to the cities of old Terra, or at least the legends he heard of old Terra. The city was roughly 300 square miles, or at least that was the records indicated and thus it was likely to take a while for them to recapture it if they could recapture it at all.
But it wasn't the size of city that bothered him, it was the danger of urban fighting. It didn't take a genius to figure out that tanks and cities don't mix. There are so many hiding spots and angles of attack that danger could come from. Add in the lack of mobility and you had a dangerous concoction on your hands. Or at least that was what Jeffrey assumed to be the case by what Ronan briefed them on the way and what common sense dictated. The thought of being crippled by a rocket they couldn't see and then ripped apart by savages sent shivers down his
spine, and he thought of any potential way out of the situation but ultimately resigned himself to do as he was told.
His thoughts briefly drifted to that of the fate of the local population, only to be repressed as the formation neared the city. The city had clearly seen better days, as most of the buildings were ravaged to some extent or another. The thought of the civilians being butchered by Orks unnerved him, but causing him to imagine their screams and terror. He twitched as he thought of innocent children being torn asunder, before he was brought back to attention by Ronan. "Status" he ordered candidly.
One by one the crew sounded off, and all systems to appeared to be in order. They had twenty rounds of HE (high explosive) and twelve rounds AP (Armor piercing), plus three thousand heavy bolter rounds. It was quite a bit of ammo,though it was also a certainly risk should a hit penetrate the vehicle and ignite the shells. And as tempting as the thought of an instant death via explosions would be compared to being set upon by Orks, he wasn't keen on either.
As they approached the outskirts of the city, Jeffrey dared to hope that the city had been abandoned by the greenskins. This hope was quickly dashed as a hail of bullets of erupted from the outermost buildings. The greenskin fire was inaccurate at this range, which by Jeffrey's estimation was 1,000 yards. The indomitable was in the middle of the formation, with one standard Russ behind and two Russ's in front, one standard and the other equipped with a punisher canon on its turret and a plasma canon on its hull. The infantry were marching on their flanks and quickly spread out. The foot sloggers were forced to go prone and use the elevation of the ground as cover, as well as wrecked civilian vehicles dotting the main road they were marching on.
Ronan sharply ordered his crew to spread out alongside the other three Russ's. Ronan then ordered the other Russ's to open fire and cover the infantry as they slowly advanced. The indomitable's first shot hit and collapsed a small scorched black building, housing a handful of machine gun nests, crushing the green skins under tons of rubble. A few more volleys took out targets of opportunity, as the imperials gradually advanced under the weight of super fire. A more suitable target reared it's head as the indomitable narrowly dodged a massive impact, shot from a hastily concealed canon shot from the north west portion of the city.
Jeffrey scanned for threats and found the canon situated on a rooftop, from the looks of it, it was an earthshaker canon, though it didn't seem to from a natural emplacement and instead was likely place there by the brutish aliens. Jeffrey quickly zeroed in on it and with sweat dropping down his face, he fired. He did so just in time as the diminutive greenskins manning the canon were about to open fire. Instead the indomitable's shell hit their canon and detonated the enemy's shells in a brilliant plume of black and orange death that took down the surrounding buildings as well. Ronan gave him an approving nod, as he continued to direct the other tanks.
The closer they approached, the more machine gun nests and hidden canons were revealed, already taking the lives of dozens of guardsman. Jeffrey's trepidation grew as the daunting nature of the battle to come donned on him, feeling that would only grow as they looked to skies for a brief moment and saw what appeared to be aircraft flying in for a sortie. Cheers turned to horror as the aircraft opened fire on the imperials, several missiles raining down on one of the other Russ's, piercing the top armor and exploding the vehicle. The unfortunate crew would
stumble out of the tank, suffering from severe burns. The sight of charred flesh revolted Jeffrey, and it took all he could muster to not vomit from the smells of their cooked flesh even if was filtered through own tank.
"By the Emperor" he cursed as he realized the hell they about to get into.