Siege of Toros Tertium

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Siege of Toros Tertium
Conflict Infinite Citadel[1]
Date M42[1]
Location Toros Tertium System[1]
Outcome Ongoing[1]
Combatants
Iron Warriors[1] Imperium[1]
Commanders
Warsmith Kravek Morne[1]
Warsmith Bakur[1]
Warsmith Greiss[1] 		Lord Castellan Ursula Creed[1]
Governor Margravale Ostwynne[1]
Captain Darnath Lysander[1]
Castellan Zweiland[1]
Strength
8th Grand Company[1]
17th Grand Company[1]
Legio Mortis[1]
Legio Fureans[1]
Temporia Dark Mechanicus[1]
Traitor Guard
Cultists & Mutants[1] 		See Order of Battle
Casualties
Heavy Heavy

The Siege of Toros Tertium was a battle waged by the Iron Warriors as part of Perturabo's Infinite Citadel campaign.[1]

Overview

Following his victory against the Black Legion at Cadia, Kravek Morne was next moved on the Imperial holdout world of Toros Tertium. Maintained by Pylons in the way Cadia had, the world was protected by the swelling Eye of Terror and a key remaining stronghold of the Imperium in the sundered Cadian Gate. It maintained a massive garrison of Cadian Shock Trooper and Mordian Iron Guard Regiments of the Imperial Guard as well as a staging post for Battlefleet Obscurus. Toros Tertium's Governor Margravale Ostwynne had followed her emergency orders to the letter and received substantial aid from the Imperium to hold her world, including the famed Cadian 8th led by Ursula Creed herself.[1]

Toros Tertium had been overlooked by Abaddon as he focused on the Nachmund Gauntlet, but other Chaos forces had still attacked the world previously. This included Ukhtor Skulleater of the World Eaters and Harrowmaster Shrive of the Alpha Legion, but Toros Tertium had withstood both under Creed's and Ostwynne's direction. Despite its formidable nature, Morne was confident he could claim the world eventually, but not within Perturabo's unforgiving timetable within the Infinite Citadel plan. Thus Morne planned to command the theatre long enough only to complete the siege of Toros Tertium before moving on to his next objective: Agripinaa. After that, Iron Warriors forces left behind would reduce the Toros System slowly as additional reinforcements arrived.[1]

Morne began his assault on the Toros System like a battering ram. His warships swept aside the vastly outmatched Imperial Navy outlying presence as elements of the 16th Grand Company under Warsmith Greiss split off temporarily from the main advance. Supported by Traitor Guard Regiments of the Styxx Hatemongers and Legio Mortis Titans, they deployed onto Toros Quartum and Toros Septarius to tie down and crush the Imperial resistance on those planets. Meanwhile, the Iron Warriors main fleet moved on Toros Tertium itself. The battle in orbit was bloody buty short-lived as Toros Tertium's orbital defence platforms and warships were boarded or destroyed over six hours.[1]

The Iron Warriors then moved Grand Cruisers into orbit and unleashed a withering orbital bombardment as waves of landing craft made their landings. They were met by massive Imperial counter-fire from Defence Lasers, anti-orbital missile silos, and anti-aircraft batteries alongside swarms of fighter craft. Several Iron Warriors vessels were lost, spreading debris over Toros Tertium's surface and reaping massive destruction. But despite the defenders' best efforts, the Iron Warriors 17th Grand Company was able to swiftly establish initial beachheads on the Aquilane Plains south of Greyfathom then in the Austeraine Heights and suburbs of Bellicosta Hivesprawl. In their Legion's typical fashion, the Iron Warriors then dug-in and prepared to meet the inevitable Imperial counterattack.[1]

Ursula Creed responded swiftly, launching a large Cadian armour and mechanized infantry attack that encircled and overran the Iron Warriors beachhead at the Aquilane Plains as at the Bellicosta Suburbs the Chaos Space Marines were pounded to ruin by massed artillery. Meanwhile, the Iron Warriors at the Austeraine Heights could only hold their own position. Yet thanks to their sustained orbital bombardment as well as masses of Daemon Engines summoned by Warpsmiths, the Iron Warriors were able to prevent being forced from the surface and established six more landing sites. As the Iron Warriors made a slow and grinding advance, Dark Mechanicus Servitors and Cultists consolidated their positions. Hour by hour, fortifications spread outwards from the Iron Warriors beachheads until they linked up with one another. This offensive network was able to withstand all subsequent Imperial counterattacks as Titans from the Legio Mortis and Legio Fureans were able to land.[1]

Backed by Titans, the 8th and 17th Grand Companies made their advance on the mightiest bastion on Toros Tertium: the Tower of Detestation. Housing both Creed and the Governor, the tower was the size of a Hive city and surrounded by hundreds of miles of defensive networks manned by millions of Imperial soldiers and hundreds of thousands of war engines. Overlapping Void Shields protected it from orbital bombardment, forcing the Iron Warriors to commit to a siege. However this type of battle was precisely the type that the sons of Perturabo excelled in.[1]

The Iron Warriors attack on the Tower of Detestation began with a massive bombardment launched by biomechanical field guns tended to by Dark Mechanicum from Temporia. Launching megatons worth of explosives, the Iron Warriors eventually launched their first assaults on the outlying defensive networks. The Imperial defenders launched localized counterattacks supported by Knights of House Hawkshroud, but these were not enough to turn the tide. 10 days after the bombardment began, the Iron Warriors launched their full-scale assault. From the east came the Traitor Guard tanks and super-heavy engines as Warsmith Bakur's 8th Grand Company launched a two-pronged attack from the south. Morne attacked from the north from his Land Raider Harpaxus, leading an enormous armoured spearhead over the trenchworks towards the outer walls of the western fastness. Over hours of fighting, the Iron Warriors tanks and Daemon Engines took heavy losses but slowly advanced. During the fierce fighting, Knights of House Hawkshroud destroyed the Banelord Titan Repugnant Vermis. Its Plasma Reactor overloaded, destroying everything in a quarter-mile radius.[1]

Morne's own assault had been the most successful, and thus far was the only one to fully breach the Tower's defenses. The Traitor Guard's advance to the east had been halted by the Cadian 8th, while in the south Bakur had lost momentum beneath the walls. It was then as Strike Cruisers of the Black Templars and Imperial Fists arrived, landing loyalist Space Marines into the battlezone. The Marines deployed Impulsors, Gladiators, and Repulsors alongside Terminators and Dreadnoughts under the command of Darnath Lysander, hated enemy of the Iron Warriors. The Space Marines outflanked the Iron Warriors positions and inflicted heavy losses upon them. Lysander and his elite were even able to board and destroy one of the Iron Warriors Daemonic siege towers. Elsewhere, Castellan Zweiland of the Black Templars smashed his forces into an unprepared horde of siege troops, slaughtering them. Revitalized by the new arrivals, Creed was able to rally the defenders.[1]

With Bakur's forces foundering against the new arrivals, Morne's line was at risk of being severed, encircling his soldiers in the western fastness. However the Imperial Fists and Black Templars were still too few to fully end the siege, and now faced a grinding war of attrition. With that, Morne ordered a retreat from the Tower of Detestation as the loyalist Space Marines withdrew into the fortress to recuperate.[1]

With the arrival of the Imperial reinforcements, any hope of an Iron Warriors swift victory was shattered. Still following Perturabo's timetable according to the Infinite Citadel, Morne departed the warzone for Agripinaa while leaving Bakur in charge to oversee the war of attrition.[1]

As Morne unleashed his Siege of Agripinaa, Bakur reported that 67% of Toros Tertium was now his. This included capturing 45% of the Tower of Destation, 28% at Greyfathom, and 80% at The Gauntlet.[1a]

Imperial Order of Battle[1]

Sources

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