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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
→History
During [[Operation Redrake]], the initial phase of the [[Sabbat Worlds Crusade]], Formal Prime was one of the four objective worlds chosen by [[Warmaster]] [[Slaydo]] for the Crusade force's initial advance into the Chaos-held territory. Of these four, Formal Prime was the most strategically important, thus Slaydo chose to command the assault in person.{{Fn|1a}}
Slaydo initially estimated that it would take six weeks for Formal Prime to fall, but reckoned without the difficulty of the terrain, or the competency competence of the enemy commander, [[Shebol Red-Hand]], who commanded a core of soldier-fanatics known as the [[Charismites]]. The attacking [[Imperial Guard]] forces became bogged down in the labyrinths of Formal Prime's [[hive]] cities; at one point, it was calculated that two hundred [[Guardsmen]] were dying for every metre of ground taken.{{Fn|1b}}
When the fighting dragged on into its eleventh week (almost twice Slaydo's original estimate), Slaydo became frustrated and deployed the [[White Scars]] [[Space Marines]], who quickly annihilated the entrenched [[Chaos]] forces.{{Fn|1c}}