Foricaan Campaign
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The Foricaan Campaign was a battle of the Horus Heresy waged in 013.M31.[1]
Overview
A loyalist fleet of reconstituted fragments of the Salamanders and Iron Hands arrive in the Foricaan System, having abandoned any hope of breaking the traitor blockade of Terra. The loyalists found the system under the control of the Iron Warriors, who were scouring it of resources. However the Iron Warriors were now largely distracted by the imminent Siege of Terra, and their stronghold on Foricaan III was more lightly defended. The loyalists thus struck first, penetrating Foricaan III's orbital defenses by using their fleet led by the Iron Hands Battle Barge Asteronia to run a gauntlet of fire. Due to the automated nature of the orbital defenses, the Iron Hands and Salamanders were able to rapidly make planetfall and establish a beachhead.[1]
Initially, the loyalists encountered little resistance, and the Iron Warriors resorted to setting their own fuel depots ablaze to deny them to the Salamanders and Iron Hands. It also served to shield his forces and create a barrier of pyroclastic hell in order to stall the loyalist advance. Nonetheless, the vengeful sons of Vulkan and Ferrus Manus launched an armoured spearhead across a hundred-kilometer wide front, engaging in a brutal and costly battle against the fixed Iron Warriors defenses.[1]
In the tumult of Horus' defeat at Terra, the fate of the Foricaan was forgotten. Whatever side claimed victory there had so few survivors left that it was deemed irrelevant. No banners of either allegiance remained on the world by the time the last fuel depot finally burnt out.[1]
See also
Sources
- 1: Campaigns of the Age of Darkness: The Siege of Cthonia, pgs. 14-15