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[[Category:Battles (Iron Warriors)]]
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The Warmaster planned to launch a rapid blitzkrieg strike by the Luna Wolves, [[Space Wolves]], [[Iron Warriors]], and [[Raven Guard]] that would converge on the heavily fortified lair of the Unsighted Kings before a final overwhelming assault was launched across the entire Cluster.{{Fn|1}}
After conquering the outer worlds of the Cluster in a matter of weeks, Horus called a council of his brother [[Primarch]]s. He called for the Raven Guard to make a frontal assault onto the guns of the defenders of Gate Forty-Two. [[Corax]] argued against this waste of resources and squandering of his warriors ' lives, countering with a strategy of his own. He proposed that his Legion should draw off enemy forces in a series of feints, allowing the three other Legions to overwhelm the defenders who remained at the Gate. However [[Perturabo]] suggested that Corax was simply seeking to avoid battle. The two nearly came to blows, and only the intervention of [[Leman Russ (Primarch)|Leman Russ]] prevented bloodshed. However the Space Wolves Primarch told Corax to heed Horus' plan, as he had been the one the [[Emperor of Mankind|the Emperor]] himself had put above any of his brothers. Reluctantly, Corax conceded to Horus' plan. He placed committed many of his [[Terra]]n-dominated [[Space Marine Company|companies]] to the frontal assault, in particular those whose [[Space Marine Captain|Captains]]s appeared the most willing to support Horus' strategy.{{Fn|1}} Corax had long maintained a disfavor with his Terran officers, mostly due to their use of brutal terror tactics before his arrival.{{Fn|2}}
The assault that followed was hailed as the Legion's darkest hour, a grim honour that saw entire [[Assault Marine|Assault]] companies decimated in the face of heavy enemy defenses. Corax himself led the bloody attack that saw Gate Forty-Two finally taken. The Luna Wolves, Space Wolves, and Iron Warriors moved into the Unsighted Kings fortress soon after. Bitterly for Corax, the glory of slaying the Unsighted Kings themselves went to Horus and his Luna Wolves. But despite the victory thousands of Raven Guard, most of them Terran-born, had lost their lives.{{Fn|1}}
Another effect of the battle was that the Terran-born officers of the Raven Guard had largely been killed. Many of these officers had served under Horus at one point and some suspected their loyalties to their true Primarch was lacking. Thus the battle allowed Corax to consolidate his power over the Raven Guard, and erased the Luna Wolves influence over the Legion.{{Fn|1}}
==See also==
*[[Battles of the Great Crusade (List)]]
==Sources==
*{{Endn|1}}: [[The Horus Heresy Book Three- Extermination]] pg, pgs.133-135
*{{Endn|2}}: [[Corax: Lord of Shadows (Novel)]] - Chapter 4
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gate Forty-Two, Battle of}}
[[Category:Battles (Great Crusade)]]
[[Category:Battles (Iron Warriors)]]
[[Category:Battles (Raven Guard)]]
[[Category:Battles (Sons of Horus)]]
[[Category:Battles (Space Wolves)]]
