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[[Category:Battles (Word Bearers)]]
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|Location =Space around [[Colchis]]
|Outcome =[[Imperial]] victory
|Combatant1 =Loyalists[[File:Aquila1transparent.png|30px]] [[Imperium]]|Combatant2 =Traitors[[File:WB Icon.png|30px]] [[Colchisian Satrapy]]|Commanders1 =[[File:IH Icon.png|20px]] [[Medusan Council]]{{Fn|1a}}<br>[[File:IF Icon.png|20px]] [[Castellan (Imperial Fists)|Lord Castellan]] [[Evander Garrius]]{{Fn|1b}}<br>[[File:UL Icon.png|20px]] [[Space Marine Captain|Captain]] [[Remus Ventanus]]{{Fn|2}}|Commanders2 =Unknown[[File:WB Icon.png|20px]] [[Yshaan Tur]]{{Fn|4}}|Strength1 = [[File:IH Icon.png|20px]] [[Medusa (Planet)|Medusa]]-based [[Iron Hands]] faction{{Fn|1a}}<br>[[File:IF Icon.png|20px]][[File:TS Icon.png|20px]] [[Evander Garrius|Garrius]]' [[Imperial Fists]] and [[Fifth Fellowship|loyalist Thousand Sons]] fleet{{Fn|1b}}<br>[[File:UL Icon.png|20px]] [[Ultramarines]]{{Fn|2}}<br>[[File:Inquisiton.png|20px]] [[Inquisition]]{{Fn|3}}|Strength2 =[[File:WB Icon.png|20px]] "Significant" portion of the [[Word Bearers]]{{Fn|1c}}<br>Numberless hordes of [[Lost and the Damned]]{{Fn|4}}|Casualties1 =Significant{{Fn|4}}|Casualties2 =Massive{{Fn|4}}
}}
The '''Bitter War'''{{Fn|1a}} was a campaign that began in 010.[[M31]] during the [[Horus Heresy]],{{Fn|1a}} pitting various Loyalist forces of the [[Imperium]] against the [[Word Bearers]] defending [[Colchis]] and the outlying [[Colchisian Satrapy]]. The conflict was concluded in 032.M31 when Colchis was destroyed in the [[Great Scouring]].{{Fn|2}}
=== History ===The "Bitter War" began in 010.M31 when the [[Medusa (Planet)|Medusa]]-based faction of the [[Iron Hands]], commanded by their [[Medusan Council]], initiated an offensive against the [[Word Bearers]] [[Homeworld]] Colchis. The operation saw the Iron Hands unleash an array of proscribed weapons from the {{Fn|1a}} This was in response to [[Vaults of MedusaBroken Key|a raid]], including the [[Nano-PlagueTraitor Legion]]slaunched against Medusa in 007.M31, in order to claim the [[Amalgam Bioautoma]], and [[Rad-PhageKeys of Hel]]s.{{Fn|1a}} In response, "Though only a significant number" few of Word Bearers warbands from across the [[Galaxy]] Keys were recalled stolen before the attack was stopped, it galvanized Medusa's Iron Hands and led the Council to join wage the defense of ColchisBitter War against the Word Bearers.{{Fn|1c5}}
The operation saw the Iron Hands unleash an array of proscribed weapons from the [[Vaults of Medusa]], including [[Nano-Plague]]s, [[Amalgam Bioautoma]], and [[Rad-Phage]]s.{{Fn|1a}} In response, "a significant number" of Word Bearers warbands from across the [[Galaxy]] were recalled to join the defense of Colchis.{{Fn|1c}} The Word Bearers put up a fanatical defence, and the campaign for the worlds of the wider [[Colchisian Satrapy]] included such bloody struggles as the '''Adramite Purges''', the '''Narasima Dissolution''', and the '''Cull of [[Sarcosa]]'''.{{Fn|4}}
====Sundering of Milhand====
The Sundering of Milhand took place in 271010.[[M31]] as part of the conflict. The [[Iron Hands]] sacked a dozen systems in the outer sphere of the Colchisian Satrapy as the Word Bearers continued to hurl numberless hordes of fanatical militia and entire fleets of [[Fire Ship]]s in their path. The Word Bearers were in the midst of a massive reinforcement effort, withdrawing troops and material from distant planets to the heartland of their domain. The [[Forge World]] of [[Milhand]] was one such planet, which produced a large amount of the war material for the Word Bearers. The Word Bearers were in the midst of evacuating much of the worlds industry and supplies as the first Iron Hands vessels arrived. With much of Milhand's [[Taghmata]] away or devastated from the Heresy and the [[Legio Ablutum]] having taken the path of the [[Blackshield Legio|Blackshield]], it fell to the Word Bearers under [[Yshaan Tur]] aboard the [[Battle Barge]] ''[[Exegesis]]'' to resist the assault. Due to the devastation and chaos of the Heresy, only a small Word Bearers skeleton force existed on Milhand to defend it.{{Fn|4}}
The Iron Hands fleet was led by the titanic ''[[Memorius]]'', and as the loyalists arrived the Word Bearers were rapidly attempting to evacuate everything from Milhand. The Iron Hands [[Strike Cruiser]] ''[[Unalloyed Hate]]'' made a mad rush through the Traitor flotilla cordon, launching a wave of [[Drop Pod]]s and orbital landers above Milhand before being ripped apart by the ''Exegesis''. The Iron Hands succeeded in landing hundreds of troops on Milhand as the ''Memorius'' grew ever closer. The Iron Hands directed their landing towards the largest remaining forge-fan where the Word Bearers were overseeing the evacuation. Without time to established a fortified defense, the Word Bearers had instead seeded the landing zone with large number of [[Araknae]] and [[Tarantula]] sentry batteries. These reaped a heavy toll on the first wave of Drop Pods, those these were largely unmmaned [[Deathstrom Drop Pod|Deathstorm]] models. In the wake of these came [[Kharybdis Assault Claw]]s, which penetrated the central rotunda of the forge-complex and landed directly on parked Word Bearers gunships. Iron Hands [[Breacher Marine|Breacher Squads]] and [[Rapier]] carriers then emerged, being met by frenzied Word Bearers defenders. The determined Word Bearers defense prevented the evacuation from becoming a rout.{{Fn|4}}
The Word Bearers repurposed a number of grounded gunships into gun emplacements, cutting through the flanks of the Loyalists before their Rapiers were able to destroy them. Despite the Traitor efforts, the Iron Hands made a relentless advance and continued to push forward against the Word Bearers. The Iron Hands unleashed [[Despoiler Squad]]s to mercilessly butcher any surviving Milhand aircraft crew, [[Tech-Priest]]s, [[Servitor]]s, or logistical personnel they encountered behind their newly captured lines. A quartet of Iron Hands [[Deredeo Dreadnought]]s were used to defend the dropsite from incoming Word Bearers aircraft as the Loyalists set about destroying cargo craft full of precious wargear, such as [[Sicaran Tank]]s, [[Leviathan Dreadnought]]s, [[Mk.VI Power Armour]], and [[Warp-flask]]s. Not all of the Iron hands encountered success however, as seen when a group of their [[Contemptor Dreadnought]]s were mauled by Araknae and Tarantula batteries.{{Fn|4}}
As the battle raged, 56 Iron Hands [[Terminator]]s moved into the heart of the forge-complex, meeting the remaining Milhand Taghmata such as small numbers of rusted [[Castellax Class Robot|Castellax]] and [[Scyllax Class Robot|Scyllax]]-class [[Automata]]. Despite their poorly maintained state, the [[Robot]]s were still able to wage a vicious defense before being overcome by the Iron Hands Terminators. However as the Iron Hands advanced further into the forge, they encountered a Word Bearers arcane ritual that made the very factory come alive, assailing them with servo-arms and [[Mechadendrite]]s. By now, the Word Bearers had been reduced to around 50 surviving Space Marines, but were still able to blunt the Iron Hands attack at the landing zone thanks to a handful of newly commissioned tanks as they desperately sought to save their remaining war material by loading them on waiting [[Stormbird]]s. The Iron Hands managed to regain the initiative and advance once more by landing a massive [[Saturnine Dreadnought]] as well as newly [[Teleport]]ed [[Saturnine Terminator]]s, which had enough firepower to overload the Stormbird's [[Void Shield]]s.{{Fn|4}}
Inside the Forge-complex, the Iron Hands Terminators, all either [[Cataphrachtii Pattern Terminator|Cataphractii]] or [[Gorgon Terminator|Gorgon]] patterns, had by now encountered the cowering [[Tech-Priest]]s of Milhand, which were butchered in seconds. The commanding [[Iron Father]] emerged, and as he inspected the captured armoury a dozen Word Bearers [[Saturnine Terminator]]s of the [[Dark Heart Chapter]] teleported into the complex. Their Saturnine armour was modified with the [[Daemon]]ic powers of the [[Warp]]. Unleashing punishing fire upon the Loyalists, and to the horror of the Iron Hands they discovered that the Dark Heart Terminators were defended by warp-infused aetheric energy shields as opposed to the standard [[Refractor Field]]s. Though the Iron Hands outnumbered the Word Bearers almost two-to-one, the Dark Heart Terminators were too much and wiped out all of the Loyalists inside the forge-complex. Their mission accomplished, the Word Bearers Terminators the teleported out of the chamber.{{Fn|4}}
The Dark Heart Terminators then reappeared at the now-despoiled landing zone, though with far more dubious results. This time, the Word Bearers elite did not meet a shocked foe in close-quarters but rather a concentrated battleline including Dreadnoughts and [[Rapier]] gun-carriers. Taking heavy fire, the Word Bearers were then beset by the Iron Hands Saturnine Dreadnought. The Word Bearers lost a full half of their number before falling back via teleportation to the ''Exegesis'' in orbit. However this distraction had allowed a quintet of Word Bearers Stormbirds to evacuate with material. The ''Exegesis'' retrieved these craft and then sped for the System's [[Mandeville Point]] with surviving transport craft. Shortly after the ''Memorius'' and its escort fleet arrived in orbit to sunder the planet. In the aftermath, the Iron Hands enslaved Milhand to their own purposes.{{Fn|4}}
====Fall of Colchis====
At one point after the [[Siege of Cthonia]], an [[Imperial Fists]] and [[Fifth Fellowship|Loyalist]] [[Thousand Sons]] rogue fleet commanded by [[Castellan (Imperial Fists)|Lord Castellan]] [[Evander Garrius]] joined the "final cataclysmic battle for Colchis".{{Fn|1b}} This battle saw an invasion of Colchis itself which included [[Ultramarines]] commanded by [[Space Marine Captain|Captain]] [[Remus Ventanus]]. After breaking the Word Bearers, Ventanus symbolically planted the standard previously used in the [[Battle of Calth]] on Colchis in 032.M31. Having done so, he and his forces departed.{{Fn|2}} The war for Colchis was then concluded, when the Ultramarines and [[Inquisition]] destroyed Colchis with [[cyclonic torpedoes]]{{Fn|2}}{{Fn|3}} carried by the Ultramarines [[battle barge]] ''[[Octavius]]''.{{Fn|2}} At this point, the planet's government, infrastructure, and industry had largely collapsed.{{Fn|3}}
===See also===*[[Battles of the Horus Heresy (List)]] ===Sources===*1: [[Campaigns of the Age of Darkness: The Siege of Cthonia]]:
**{{Endn|1a}}: pg. 107
**{{Endn|1b}}: pg. 103
*{{Endn|2}}: [[Know No Fear (Novel)]], Epilogue
*{{Endn|3}}: [[Index Astartes IV]] — ''Word Bearers''
*{{Endn|4}}: [[Journal Tactica: The Forges of Saturn]], pgs. 23-28
*{{Endn|5}}: [[Journal Tactica: Skitarii]], pg. 24 - ''The Bloody Trials of the Skitarii: The Broken Key''
{{HHBattles}}
[[Category:Battles (Horus Heresy)]]
[[Category:Battles (Inquisition)]]
[[Category:Battles (Iron Hands)]]
[[Category:Battles (Imperial Fists)]]
[[Category:Battles (Scouring)]]
[[Category:Battles (Thousand Sons)]]
[[Category:Battles (Ultramarines)]]
[[Category:Battles (Horus HeresyWord Bearers)]] [[Categoryfr:InquisitionGuerre Amère]]