General Andreas Carnhide
General Andreas Carnhide was a senior Imperial military commander who served under both Warmasters Slaydo and Macaroth during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. Carnhide successfully re-took the rear echelon supply world of Lyubov in 778.M41, which had been lost due to the incompetence of Lord Militant Cybon. Despite a victory against the odds, Carnhide embarrassed the more politically powerful Cybon, who took his vengeance by orchestrating a whispering campaign against Carnhide at Crusade High Command.
Carnhide was accused of wavering and indecision, with his peers casting doubts on his strength of character and even his ability to command. Carnhide retired from active duty in the Crusade in disgust and eighteen months later he committed suicide in despair at the damage to his reputation.
History
Andreas Carnhide was a veteran Imperial Guard commander with a prestigious and long military career that pre-dated the start of the Crusade in the Sabbat Worlds. After serving under the Warmaster Slaydo during the Khulan War (752-754.M41), Carnhide had ascended to become one of the Warmaster's chosen on his High Command at the beginning of hostilities in the Crusade. Prior to the Lyubov Campaign, Carnhide's service during the Crusade remained unglamorous, as circumstances often found him commanding deployment garrisons or forces in transit. After the death of Slaydo in 765.M41, like many of his contemporaries, Carnhide found himself fallen out of favour with the new Warmaster, Macaroth. With nothing to prove in terms of loyalty and ability, many veteran commanders such as Carnhide found themselves relegated to the onerous chores associated with the Crusade's newly established "Second Front" Command.
General Carnhide was not selected for the job of liberating Lyubov on merit but rather as a result of circumstance. Lord Militant Cybon tasked the only senior officer he felt he could spare to the campaign, as the Khan Group was overstretched and beset by three significant conflicts. Though he was given command of a sizable liberation army of Imperial Guard units, they were an ad hoc formation comprised of disparate units who had not served together operationally. Many of these units had seen significant service on the front for an excessive amount of time and desperately needed to be either retired or reconstituted with fresh troops. Cybon more than likely intended for Carnhide's taskforce to be used only as a stopgap measure intended to keep the enemy busy on Lyubov until such time as the Lord Militant could eventually claim victory for himself. Cybon greatly misunderstood the threat the Crusade's forces faced on Lyubov, which would eventually prove to be a far greater danger than anyone had suspected.
Lyubov War (778.M41)
The world of Lyubov was considered a strategically useful location on one of the main jump routes towards the Crusade's front mid-wat through its third decade and was also believed to be a primary source of fuel, munitions and other consumables for the Chaos forces within the Khan Group. Lord Militant Cybon charged General Andreas Carnhide with the retaking of Lyubov in late 777.M41.
From the very beginning of the campaign, Carnhide had numerous obstacles arrayed against him. He was given a poorly supplied and equipped ad hoc force of mixed units and still managed to achieve what was thought to be an unlikely victory. Carnhide was a genius at understanding how to use the disparate parts of his command coherently and his command allowed them to function at their best. He knew how to play to the strengths of the various organisations under his command and make them an asset, bringing out the best in his troops through respect for their opinions and initiative, even as the Forces of Chaos often did the opposite.
General Carnhide should have achieved glory and honour in light of this great Imperial victory, but alas, it was not to be. Though he would achieve his assigned objective and drive the Chaos forces from Lyubov, ending their threat to the advancement of the Crusade's front across the Sabbat Worlds Sector, General Carnhide was accused of wavering and indecision, with his peers casting doubts on his strength of character and even his ability to command, largely as an act of political vengeance orchestrated by Cybon when it became clear that he had badly misjudged the situation on Lyubov.
Lord Militant Cybon even had the gall to berate Carnhide for allowing elements under his command, "to do as they will," which of course was the tactical flexibility that had allowed Carnhide to claim the victory in the first place. Carnhide was deeply wounded by this criticism. He eventually went on to publish his own account of the action at Lyubov and retired from the Crusade and Imperial military service altogether. Eighteen months later he committed suicide, dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Sources
- Tactica Imperialis, "Lyubov," pp. 25-46
