Kalidar War

The Kalidar War was but one of a series of minor conflicts between the Imperium of Man and its enemies that destabilised the Segmentum Pacificus at the time of the Macharian Crusade. With the Imperium's gaze fixed upon expansion, several key star systems were left severely weakened, one of which was the Kalidar System that was home to the strategic Industrial World of Kalidar in the Chiros Sector.

The conflict began in 395.M41 when an Ork invasion, a dreaded WAAAGH!, fell upon Kalidar. Led by the Warlord Gratzdakka Wur Mekdakka, the Blood Axes klan descended upon the unsuspecting Industrial World. The planetary capital of Hive Meradon quickly fell before the green-skinned invaders and the Orks gained access to Kalidar's most precious resource: the psycho-reactive Lorelei crystals. Under the direction of Gratzdakka's chief advisor and powerful Weirdboy, the Warphead Greeneyes, the Orks begin to amass considerable amounts of Lorelei crystals to power their strange, experimental technology.

Delayed by severe Warp turbulence, Imperial reinforcements took nearly two Terran years to reach their designated warzone. Spear-headed by the Paragonian Regiments of the Astra Militarum, the Imperial assault quickly encountered several setbacks. Having grossly underestimated the tactical abilities of the Orks and the psychic mastery of Greeneyes, the Imperial counterattack suffered from several well-planned ambushes that lead to high casualties. Only once Imperial tacticians became aware of these factors were the Imperial forces able to regain the initiative and ultimately defeat the xenos invaders.

Ork Invasion
"Orks are Orks are Orks, and we're the best in the galaxy! But us, we're the best yet, better than the best of the best. We're Blood Axes, Gorkier than Gork and Morkier than everyone. We are strong and we are smart! We're going to tear you all apart, snick snick! Better than a Goff, and sneakier than a Deathskull. We are strong and deadly, but we are cunning too..."

- Translated message from Warlord Gratzdakka prior to the Kalidar invasion

Imperial historians have struggled to reconstruct the events of the initial Greenskin invasion of Kalidar. Lacking any meaningful orbital defences, Kalidar made for a tempting target, but no Imperial tactician would have dared to predict an attack on the isolated Desert World. To this day, the highest echelons of the Imperium's military regard the Orks as little more than savages -- hulking, greenskinned thieves and pirates drawn to civilised worlds to seize their loot or to experience the military challenge they offer. Yet none of these criteria can be said to apply to Kalidar.

Kalidar was attacked either out of sheer bad luck because it was simply in the path of the WAAAGH!, or it was deliberately chosen as a target by the Orks for the very same reason the Imperium coveted its possession as well--the world's rich deposits of psycho-reactive Lorelei crystals. As the latter motivation would imply that Orks are capable of complex reasoning and able to grasp the very notion of strategic resources, it is often dismissed out of hand by most Imperial Adepts.

Whatever the reason for their arrival, the Orks landed nearly unopposed on Kalidar's southern hemisphere and quickly made for its administrative capital, the Hive City of Hive Meradon. Planetary Governor Lozallio Cann was soon besieged in his own city, but his Astropaths were able to project a distress call before the hive city was overrun. It would seem that instead of pressing their advantage, the Orks chose to linger at Hive Meradon, enslaving the local population of Humans and mutants to work the Lorelei mines and in the workshops of their Mekboyz. This gave the Imperium the opportunity to mount an effective response.

To Break The Stalemate
Recently freed for service by the successful conclusion of the Indranis Campaign, a sizeable Battlegroup of Astra Militarum regiments -- the Dentares Wargroup -- was rerouted to Kalidar following the Ork assault. Having suffered heavy casualties against the Aeldari, the Wargroup was expected to make a stop at the lunar colonies of Paragon from which many of its regiments had been raised.

To further strengthen the Imperial expeditionary force, two new regiments were raised, the 42nd Paragonian Armoured and the 63rd Paragonian Mechanised Infantry Regiments. While both regiments were made up of Paragonian troops, their officers were drawn from regiments depleted by the Dentares Suppression. It is a testimony to the organisational skills of the Departmento Munitorum and the Paragonian authorities under Planetary Commander Gondannick Lo Materiak that the raising of these two regiments did not delay the reinforcement more than a solar week.

Officially renamed Battlegroup Kalidar, the Battlegroup embarked for its scheduled 4 solar month journey to Kalidar. However, severe turbulence in the Warp-turbulence delayed its transit, so that by the time the Imperial reinforcements reached the beleaguered world, 2 Terran years had passed.

Battlegroup Kalidar was a motley collection of hardened veterans and green troops, which despite the harsh training provided by Training Sergeants drawn from the Cadian Shock Troops had yet to see their first battle. While most of the battlegroup's regiments were drawn from Paragon, its command rested with Captain-General Iskhandrian of Atraxia, a seasoned Astra Militarum general who had commanded the Dentares Suppression. The Battlegroup was further complemented by the addition of two regiments of Savlar Chem-Dogs, who were also veterans of the Dentares Suppression.

By 397.M41, when Battlegroup Kalidar finally reached its destination, the situation on the ground had changed. The Orks had tried to break through the subterranean transit network. But the valiant efforts of the local military forces had blocked the Orks' progress, forcing the Greenskins to move their troops above ground where Kalidar's fierce climate would thin their numbers and slow their advance. While no other hive city had fallen, the Orks had begun to roam far and wide from Hive Kimeradon, besieging several key mining facilities and threatening Hive Modulus.

Fully aware of the difficult conditions his troops would face once on the Desert World's surface, Captain-General Iskhandrian called for a quick war. The army group would land as close as possible to the enemy, in Hive Modulus, clear the surrounding parts of the Kalidarian desert before pressing straight for Hive Kimeradon where Imperial intelligence had located the leader of the WAAAGH!, Warlord Gratzdakka. From the start, the prosecution of the Kalidar War would heavily rely on the quick progress of the battlegroup's Tank and Mechanised Infantry regiments, especially since these formations could be adequately supported by no less than two Super Heavy Tank Companies, the Atraxian 18th and the Paragonian 7th, both at full strength.

The Kostoval Rout
On 3267397.M41, merely three days after having set foot on Kalidar, the Imperial troops launched their first counterattack. As some of the Battlegroup's regiments where still being shipped planetwards, this would be no great battle, but merely a limited operation involving the battlegroup's most mobile elements.

Their designated target was the Urta Mine Complex, a heavy duty refinement plant for the Lorelei-crystal harvested in the Kostoval Flats. Relatively close to Hive Modulus, the besieged Urta Mine Complex marked the furthest point of the enemy's advance. With one of Kalidar's fierce sandstorms sweeping in, Captain-General Iskhandrian chose to use the weather phenomenon to mask the tell-tale dust-clouds of a heavily mechanised advance. The battle plan was comparatively simple : advance under cover of the storm and surprise the Ork-held siege lines from two directions at once. Designated Formations Alpha and Beta, each salient of the Imperial attack would be compromised of two full companies of Leman Russ Tanks drawn from the 42nd Paragonian Regiment -- one of the newly raised formations -- as well as embarked Infantry from the Atraxian Regiments and the Savlar Chem-Dogs. Each formation would further benefit from the support of the Baneblades and other marks of tanks of the Super-Heavy Tank Companies, with the 7th Paragonian part of Formation Alpha and the 18th Atraxian allotted to Formation Beta.

Despite Kalidar's difficult atmospheric conditions which played havoc with the Astra Militarum's long and short-range communications, the Imperial troops were able to keep their formations together while advancing in the sandstorm.

Source
[[Category:K]]
 * Baneblade (Novel) by Guy Haley