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The Battle of Gaduaré was one of the last battles of the Unification Wars that took place in Europa on Terra. It was also known as the Massacre of Gaduaré, for it was less a battle than it was a brutal slaughter.[1]
Prelude
By the mid-600s.M30,[2] the Unification Wars gradually came to a close, as nearly all of Terra had been unified under the Emperor of Mankind's rule, often by brutal force. Most of the great techno-barbarian hordes, militant nations, and warlords that had endlessly fought one another for dominion and resources had been wiped out or assimilated into the coming Imperium of Man.[1]
The Battle of Avelroi
However, in the city of Avelroi in the land of Franc, unrest still bubbled and finally boiled over when a man named Havuleq D'agross claimed to be wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Avelroi's appointed governess. Before a firing squad could execute him, his allies fell upon the army unit sent to kill him; during the fighting, some civilians were killed by Imperial forces, including the son of a local Arbiter. This and Havuleq's gift for fiery speeches against the Emperor were enough for a hastily-formed militia to storm the local Army headquarters, seizing weapons there and massacring the soldiers garrisoning it. Havuleq then rallied nearby townships to his cause, and the militia grew to nearly forty thousand men and women within a few months. Rather than training for the inevitable retaliation, they regularly paraded and reveled in their high spirit of optimism and triumph.[1]
Not long after, the Imperium sent a force from the East to put a stop to the rebellion. Hearing of this, Havuleq led the militia to meet them, further growing their ranks as they marched. After a week's trek, they took up defensive positions in the hills of Gaduaré, which would give the battle its name, holding the high ground between the ruins of an old castle and impassible marshes, waiting for their enemy to appear. By this point, the militia's ranks had grown to around fifty thousand.[1]
The Massacre
A force of around five thousand of the Emperor's own elite Thunder Warriors arrived and took up a line opposite the militia at about a kilometer's distance, waiting for them to make the first move. Bolstered by their numbers, the untrained and ill-disciplined militia charged en masse down the hill towards the armoured giants, firing weapons and uttering war cries as they rushed forward in a line as many as seven men deep.[1]
The Thunder Warriors held their ground, waiting for the militia to come close before loosing volleys from their bolters. The first five ranks of militia were gruesomely obliterated by the explosive rounds, including Havuleq whose entire lower body had been blown away. Their momentum shattered, the rebels stood frozen in shock before they broke and fled screaming back to the hills. Despite routing the enemy with the first volley, the Thunder Warriors gave chase with their chainswords, butchering everyone in their path. Those who tried to surrender or beg for mercy were also methodically slaughtered.[1]
Aftermath
Within less than an hour, the once-bold horde of fifty-thousand Avelrois militia, who saw themselves as the noble spark for rebellion around the world that would see it throw off the Emperor's collar, was utterly annihilated, with possibly only one militia survivor: Uriah Olathaire. It would also be revealed that Havuleq had indeed assaulted and murdered the governess, exposing him as a charlatan who merely exploited those around him and ultimately led tens of thousands to their deaths.[1]
Among other monikers, Arik Taranis would become known as "the Victor of Gaduaré" as a result of this battle.[3]
The end of this battle marked the successful completion of the unification efforts in Europa, where only Scandian raiders were still known to remain independent of Imperial rule.[1] The massacre also marked one of the last battles of the Thunder Warriors as, with the nature of the wars to come different from the previous campaigns of slaughter and given their fundamental flaws, they now became as much a threat to the stability and ascension of mankind as they had to its enemies, leading to their betrayal and destruction[1] in 669.M30.[2] The Unification Wars continued for several decades, but the Imperium had already become firmly secure in its control over most of Terra.[2]
Sources
- 1: The Last Church (Short Story)
- 2: Horusheresy.com Galaxy Timeline (last accessed 2/6/2022)
- 3: The Outcast Dead (Novel)
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