Vraks Prime

Vraks Prime was a Departmento Munitorum Armoury World in the Vraks System of the Scarus Sector of the Segmentum Obscurus and the site of the Basilica of Saint Leonis the Blind, a saint of the Imperial Cult. The Vraks System comprised four worlds, Vraks Prime, Vraks Secundus, Vraks Tertius and the gas giant Uryx of which only Vraks Prime had been settled by the Imperium. Vraks was besieged by the forces of the Imperium of Man in 813.M41, after the attempted assassination of the heretical and traitorous Apostate Cardinal Xaphan by the Officio Assassinorum failed. The Imperial Guard's 88th Siege Army was raised from line regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg to undertake the siege of Vraks and bring the renegade cardinal down in a campaign of attrition that the Administratum's Adepts calculated would take 12 standard years to successfully conclude. At the conclusion of what actually turned out to be a 17-year-long Imperial campaign of attrition called the Siege of Vraks that required 34 Regiments of the Imperial Guard to re-take the planet in 830.M41, 14 million Imperial Guardsmen had been lost and Vraks Prime's entire original population of 8 million souls had been consumed in the violence or exterminated after they fell to Chaos corruption. The world was then declared dead by the Imperium and placed under an interdiction to cordon it off from the rest of human space as ordered by the Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Lord Hector Rex.

Vraks was a barren and drab world, covered in a layer of old volcanic dust and pumice-like rock. It was first discovered and logged into Imperial records by Imperial forces during the Great Crusade at some point after the Age of Strife. A supply base was established on Vraks by the Rogue Trader Van Meer for stockpiling materiel for future exploratory expeditions around the rim of the Eye of Terror. It had a single starport, which was destroyed during the siege by the Dark Angels under Supreme Grand Master Azrael in 821.M41. This area was surrounded by an Imperial city of approximately five million workers. Smaller settlements were scattered across the Van Meersland Wastes. Vraks was one of a network of Armoury Worlds established across the Segmentum Obscurus by the Departmento Munitorum to stockpile arms and munitions for the Imperial Guard that would be needed in the event of a major incursion from the Eye of Terror, such as a Black Crusade.

Background to Conflict
After the previous Cardinal of the Scarus Sector in Segmentum Obscurus died, his successor, Cardinal Xaphan, took his place as the cardinal of the Scarus Sector. Over the course of many years, Xaphan undertook a pilgrimage across the Scarus Sector, his new domain. He wished to see the places he would preside over, and he wished to bring a spiritual revival to the people. Where he and his entourage passed, he amassed ever more followers in a series of religious uprisings. Criminal governments and oppressive tyrannies were shattered with each world he traveled to. Whispering into his ear was the Cardinal's favored advisor, Deacon Mamon, a secret devotee of Chaos. After years of pilgrimage, Xaphan went into seclusion on the Imperial armoury world of Vraks, also the site of a popular Imperial Cult shrine dedicated to Saint Leonis the Blind. Here, Xaphan chose his battlefield. Believing that corruption was eating away at the Imperium, he thought himself a messianic figure destined to ignite a holy war and give the faithful a chance to purge the galaxy of darkness. Believing the Cardinal to be amassing far too much popularity and power, an agent of the Officio Assassinorum was sent by the Ordo Hereticus of the Inquisition to assassinate Xaphan during one of his sermons. After the failed attempt on his life by this operative, the Armoury World of Vraks erupted in full-scale rebellion against the Imperium. It wasn't long until the Citadel and the industry of the armoury world were under Xaphan's control. By seceding Vraks from the Imperium, Imperial forces in the sector and, in some cases, the entire Segmentum, would be left without adequate resupply of arms and armour. By breaking the Imperial supply chain of which Vraks was a part, forces as far removed and important as the Cadian Imperial Guard Regiments guarding the Eye of Terror would be sparsely armed, allowing a potentially major Chaos incursion to occur in or around the Cadian Gate. The Administratum deemed that Vraks must be returned to the Imperium's fold. By the time word reached the Imperium of the rebellion on Vraks, it was already too late. Millions of Traitors and heretics were now dug into meticulously planned, constructed, and reinforced defences, with massive orbital lasers protecting the world's Citadel from orbital bombardment and assault. It fell on the Imperial Guardsmen of the Death Korps of Krieg, united under the umbrella of the Imperium's 88th Siege Army, to dislodge the traitorous forces of Cardinal Xaphan in what would become a grinding war of attrition that would consume millions of lives across 17 standard years of battle.

Preparations
The Fortress of Vraks housed the headquarters of the Planetary Defence Forces, the Master of the Administratum's offices, the great Basilica of Saint Leonis the Blind, the Cardinal's Palace and the Citadel's own garrison barracks. By the time the Imperial siege of the world began, 3 defensive lines had been constructed to the north, west and south of the Citadel by the rebel forces, with the rest of the area to the south and east defended by gorges and canyons, rendering it unsuitable for a massed attack. At the time of the uprising, work had not been completed on the outer defensive lines, providing the Death Korps' forces a target for the first strike against the heretics' fortress.

The Krieg lines were dug in 1000 miles away from the Citadel, making use of Earthshaker and Bombard artillery batteries. A Departmento Munitorum labour corps of 500,000 men was brought in from the Imperial penal colonies of Arphista to lay railway lines across the barren wilderness to support the siege.

Fort A-453
On 897814.M41 the 261st Krieg Regiment was ordered to conduct a probing attack along its entire front after six months of relative inactivity. The 9th Company of the 261st, under the command of Commander Tyborc, had been given the task of attacking a strong point in the heretics' line, designated Fort A-453. The Krieg forces were able to move quickly across the no-man’s-land, covered by the smoke from the preliminary artillery bombardment. Some Krieg troops were able to reach the enemy trench lines under heavy and indiscriminate bombardment. Sending a runner back across the lines to call for reinforcements, Tyborc and his men were able to gain a foothold in the entrance of a personnel shelter, hunkering down as enemy artillery was called in upon them. The runner, having taken several hours to return across no-man’s land, was eventually able to report the breakthrough to General Durjan in his own command post. The enxt day, grenadier units worked their way towards the fort while Tyborc’s men fought a fierce battle in the galleries and corridors beneath it.

The third day of the battle saw the deployment of 3 tank companies from the 61st Krieg Tank Regiment, augmented with a Baneblade super-heavy main battle tank. These units were accompanied by Atlas Excavators, equipped with dozer blades to fill in the anti-tank ditch that protected the fort and allow the tanks to cross. Meanwhile, underground, the Vraksian renegades attempted to burn out Commander Tyborc with Flamers. Grenadiers were able to force their way into the underground complex and captured the main access tunnel. From there, corridor by corridor, they were able to clear the complex of the heretics' forces. They ultimately secured the area, narrowly avoiding being attacked by their own men before establishing that they were friendly Imperial forces, members of the 88th Siege Army's 30th Corps.

With more men and tanks thrust into the breakthrough at Fort A-453, the heretics were no longer able to control the entire outer defence line. With the heretics' frenzied attempts to stem the tide, other sectors in the heretics' defensive lines soon became undermanned. The 8th Assault Corps made its way through these breaches and then completely rolled up the heretics' outer defence lines until they were no longer tenable positions. The Apostate Cardinal's units began to abandon their defences and move back to man the second defensive line. Death Riders harried the enemy hard as they fell back en masse. Once the mopping up of several heretical units trapped behind the breakthrough had been completed, the first objective of the Imperial Siege of Vraks had been won.

The First Battle of Vraks
The siege took an an unexpected turn for the Imperium when the Chaos Sorcerers of the Alpha Legion of Chaos Space Marines sent a psychic signal through the Warp to call old allies to the support of the Chaotic forces fighting for control of Vraks. Those elements of the Forces of Chaos lurking around the Eye of Terror were drawn like moths to a flame by the flickering psychic light emitted by the Alpha Legions' message that promised battle, slaughter and plunder.

Observation station DM498-066 was just one of many secret Imperial listening outposts that maintained a silent vigil on the Eye of Terror. Vraks itself had been a collating point for some of this data, with its choir of Astropaths being able to relate any important information obtained by the listening posts to surrounding star systems as an early warning system against Chaotic raids or even an emergent Black Crusade. The station’s sensitive Auspex detected the passage of several large, unidentified vessels in its vicinity, well off the usual trade and patrol routes.

On 054823.M41, the Exuo Squadron of the Imperial Navy on patrol in the Vraks System detected fourteen different energy signatures as the Chaos warfleet called by the Alpha Legion by-passed the system's outer asteroid fields and made best speed for Vraks-Prime. Rear Admiral Rasiak led the Imperial Navy's defence of the system from the Lunar-class Cruiser Lord Bellerophon, leading Exuo Squadron's complement of 3 Sword-class Frigates and a hastily-assembled fleet of 3 Defence Monitors, 2 armed freighters, 1 heavy transport and 3 Fire Ships. Despite the reinforcement by the Cruiser Group Marhzur, which arrived not far behind the Traitor warfleet, the Imperial fleet proved unable to prevent several vessels of the Chaos warfleet from entering orbit of Vraks. The Chaotic vessel Aharon’s Bane was badly damaged during the orbital battle but crash-landed on the surface of Vraks, disgorging many of its surviving passengers across the west of the Chaylia Plateau. The Chaotic cruiser Blood Dawn was also able to enter orbit and managed to unleash its cargo of Dreadclaw Drop Pods onto Vraks, which were filled with a horde of savage Khornate Berserkers in the service of a warband of the World Eaters Traitor Legion. The Chaotic warship Ferrum Invictus unleashed a large warband of Iron Warriors Chaos Space Marines known as the Steel Brethren, whose expertise in siege warfare would aid the heretical defenders of Vraks greatly in their attempt to break the Imperial offensive.

Death from Above
With the arrival of the Chaos Space Marines, the situation rapidly deteriorated for the Imperial besiegers. The appearance of Khornate Berserkers stole the initiative from the Imperial Guard of the 88th Siege Army. Khornate warbands, including Traitor Marines from the World Eaters warbands called the Skulltakers and the Berserkers of Skallathrax, roamed the Imperial trench lines, attacking wherever they encountered the enemy. Fort C-585 was attacked by the Skulltakers, who arrived in Drop Pods and then began clearing the trenches of Imperial Guardsmen in savage close combat. The 468th Krieg Regiment was forced to withdraw down Mortuary Ridge. The Chaos Space Marines' sudden arrival forced the Imperial Guard's forces to return to their prior positions, effectively restoring the heretics' outer defensive perimeter and guaranteeing that the siege would continue to grind on.

Confusion Reigns
The arrival of the Chaotic reinforcements radically altered the momentum of the Siege of Vraks. A slow, static war of attrition had suddenly been transformed into a more fluid battle, as the deployment of the Chaos Space Marines provided the Apostate Cardinal's forces with the ability to strike deep behind the Imperial lines. But even the Traitor Marines' warbands lacked the heavy artillery and armoured vehicles required to smash the 88th Siege Army's deeply-entrenched positions, nor were they able to effectively hold onto the ground they had retaken from the servants of the Emperor.

Yet being pushed back on the defensive incurred a troubling cost for the men of the Imperial Guard on Vraks. Cut off from easy resupply efforts because of the Chaotic forces' constant and costly harrying pressure on their lines, the Death Korps' units were no longer able to get the regular resupply of men and materiel that was brought in from off-world by the Departmento Munitorum. Whilst the stockpiles of the 88th Siege Army were vast, these supplies could no longer be readily replenished and the Imperial forces on Vraks were now taking far higher casualties than the Administratum had ever expected when its Adepts had laid out the course of the siege.