ВЕРНУТЬСЯ В РАЗДЕЛ

The enemy in sight. Targeter scan of a Tau Hammerhead.

The Adeptus Administratum decision that the recapture of the Taros system was instrumental to the continued effective operations of Stygies VIII forge world and, to a lesser extent, other dependant lorge worlds, meant it was now the duty ol all servants loyal to Emperor to help bring these misguided sublets back under Imperium's rule and protection. The first step was to appoint a Command start to organize and oversee the planning of the operation.

The man chosen to lead the start, and take command ol the entire invasion operation, was Lord High Commander Otto Ivan Gustavus: a man with long military record who had risen from the officer ranks of the Imperial Guard into the upper levels of the Imperium's military hierarchy. Gustavus' first task was to appoint his own Command staff and prepare tor the invasion. He was given two major questions to answer. When could he be ready to invade Taros, and then, where should that attack fall? His instructions made the matter clear: the invasion should come as soon as possible. By Adeptus Administratum standards this could mean anytime in the next five years Gustavus intended to begin within a standard Terran year.

Appointing his staff was no simple matter. The upper echelons ol the Imperium's military hierarchy is rife with politics, intriguing, favours owed, debts to repay and self-interest. Gustavus had not risen this high without making a few enemies, or without calling on a lew favours that he was now in a positon to repay.

Selecting his command start took several weeks ofhard work and hard negotiations The first position to be filled was not ol Gustavus' own choosing. Commissar-General Mordred Van Horcic would be Gustavus' shadow and right-hand man lor the duration of the campaign The high-ranking Commissar was tasked with making sure all the officers of Gustavus' force did their duty, or laced the consequences! A powerful man in his own right, Van Horcic had the power of life and death over many of the Imperial servants involved in the campaign.

Whether by choice or coercion, over the subsequent weeks Gustavus made the following appointments Not all were men he liked or even trusted, many were decisions forced upon him by other political factors. It was Gustavus' job to bring all these lections logether and make them work together towards ultimate victory.

The High Command staff would include: Venerated High Magos Zadakine Volta, a high-ranking Adeptus Mechanicus representaive from Stygies VIII forge world. Fleet Admiral Kotto, appointed by the authorities on Kar Dumash to command the Invasion fleet. Lord Marshal De Stael, the overall commander of all Imperial Guard regiments, who would bear the brunt of the invasion fighting. Provisioner-Prime Nymus Dree, a bureaucrat from the Departmento Munitorum who had only been granted a place on the High Command staff after his initial investigation into events on Taros Others included Air Marshal Denvell, Staff Colonel Scheja,  Deacon Gotz. The appointed representative of Cardinal Astral Velas and Curator Adept Skel. Many others would follow including any Space Marine commanders or Titan Legion princeps to be involved in the campaign.

The High Command staff would be required to organise and plan the invasion, each member would have his own area of responsibility, and each would have their own staff, aides or retinue to assist them. In all, the High Command staff for the invasion, including all the sub-departments and functionaries would number approximately three thousand souls.

Before any military plans could be put in place first Gustavus and his staff needed to know what they were facing. Nobody on the staff, except Dree, had ever even heard of Taros until now, let alone knew anything about the planet or system Gustavus wanted information about the planet. Climate population, industrial capacity, rulers, topography, history anything. It was a huge research task to be undertaken by the Adepts of the Administratum. In charge of the information gathering would be Curator Adept Skel, an Administratum official promoted from the Archive Historicus. Curator-Adept Skel had access to thousands of archives throughout the Segmentum and across the Imperium, including the great archives on Terra itself. In those archives, thousands of curators, prefects, archivists and menial workers went to work, finding out anything about Taros. From ancient records a picture of the planet and its population was slowly compiled. From tithe levels and tax records a picture of the planet's mining industry was built. Old censuses revealed the planet's population growth. No piece of data about Taros was to be considered too trivial.

A team of Lexmechanic and Logis, under the command of Magos Volta, was also assigned to the information gathering task. They worked with computer speed to compile all the data Skel was producing. The Adeptus Mechanicus' part-human,  part-machine servants forecast the planets population growth, weather patterns, climate, volcanic activity, atmospheric conditions, orbital cycles. Information stretching back as far as the Great Crusades was found. Even a scrap of the original Exploritas report on the planets suitability for terraforming and colonisation where found. In all millions of fragments of information where gathered to create a complete picture. Satellite survey images, language studies, missionary reports, journals of long dead servants who had visited or been stationed on Taros. There were old genetic studies on the population and the ruling households, carried out by the Ordo Famulous seeking evidence of genetic deviation or mutation. Adeptus Arbites crime rate reports, geological and seismic surveys. No detail could be ignored, anything that might inform Gustavus' staff decisions was included. In all, it took six months to compile all the information the High Command staff needed before the invasion planning could get started.

After six months of work Gustavus had as good a picture of what was facing him as the Adeptus Terra could provide. He knew what the planet was like, how big the population was, and how this might translate into the Planetary Defence Forces' military strength, given the equipment that had been supplied to Taros down the years. He knew how the planet might be able to re-equip or resupply its forces, or create new units. He even had a forecast of what the criminal population of Taros was likely to be (often the first supply of manpower to be used as replacement troops). What he didn't know was anything about the Tau's strength on Taros.

Finding information about what the Tau might be planning was far harder, and not a task the Adeptus Terra could help with. The man on the Lord High Commander's staff assigned to this task was Staff Colonel Scheja, Gustavus' Director of Intelligence. A secretive individual, Scheja was a spy-master with former experience of working with the Inquisition. The Tau, with their philosophy of 'the Greater Good' where a difficult prospect. There were lew informers or spies on the inside of the Tau Empire. There were a few humans, mostly merchants or mercenaries, whose loyalty could be bought by the Imperium, but most humans within the Tau Empire were simply traitors who had abandoned the Emperor. By assessing information from other planets along the borders of the Tau Empire, studying previous estimates of Tau military strength and historical presidents, Colonel Scheja could himself make an educated guess at how strong Tau forces might be on Taros, but without people on the ground, he had no confirmation.

Whilst the information gathering was going on, the other members of the High Command staff were not idle. The Departmento Munitorum officials on the staff began the long process of finding the fighting forces and supplies needed for the invasion.

Imperial Guard regiments needed to be raised, trained and transported across the Imperium. This was no easy task. The demand for troops in the build-up around the Cadian Gate was vast, particularly now, as the 'Plague of Unbelief around the Eye of Terror continued to spread. The Imperial Guard might be huge, but still demand for regiments is always far greater than supply.

To counter the effects of increased demand Gustavus devised a scheme to overestimate the troops strengths need. He knew all along that he would not get all the forces he requested, but this way he might get close to his actual requirements. As yet he could give no definitive numbers, but he set the logis to work making an initial statistical analyse, and this gave him a starting point. Over the coming months the numbers would be modified and gradually evolve into a final figure, but for now it was enough to have a figure with which the Departmento Munitorum could base its work on, and so get the slow turning wheels of the Departmental bureaucracy rolling.

The Imperial Guard force needed for the invasion of Taros was founded as the 4621st Imperial Guard Army, and this large unit would be under the command of Lord Marshal De Stael. Bearing the honorific title 'Chief of Arms', De Stael would be in overall command of all Imperial Guard ground forces on Taros. All the Generals and Colonels of the Imperial Guard regiments constituting the 4621st Army would report to De Stael and his staff.

Gustavus, in consultation with De Stael, began to draw up detailed orders for the forces he would need for a successful war. The Imperial Guard might be vast, but with demand for regiments currently so high, it was not infinite. No commander ever has enough troops, and Gustavus and De Stael were no different. De Stael's initial request to Gustavus for twenty-one regiments was turned down as over cautious. That size of force could not be found in the tight timescale that Gustavus had devised for the invasion; Gustavus himself was under pressure to speed up the invasion, each day that passed was lost production that had to be found elsewhere. De Stael, rebuked, had to think again and revise his figures.

The Lord Marshal returned with a more moderate twelve regiment request, which Gustavus accepted, taking it in turn to the Departmento Munitorum. However they refused, offering an absolute maximum of ten regiments. Even then it took much bartering with the Munitorum officials to get them to agree to find ten regiments. Gustavus only agreed to attempt the invasion with ten regiments after receiving an oath from High Magos Volta that at least one Titan legion would be committed to the invasion force. Consoled by this promise, Gustavus informed De Stael that the 4621st Army would consist of ten regiments, and, for ease of administration the army should be divide into two corps, designated X Corp and XI Corp.

After the prolonged arguments over the size of the imperial Guard force, Gustavus and De Stael got down to the specifics of building it. The first regiments Gustavus requested were those recruited from Tallarn. Given Таros' desert climate, the men of Tallarn (itself a desert world) would quickly adapt to the conditions. They would make the most effective soldiers when it came to important skills like desert survival techniques and water discipline. Fighting men are lighting men, and any Imperial Guardmen could be made to adapt to the conditions, but the famed Desert Raiders of Tallarn would be the logical choice.

But Tallarn is only a single world, with a limited supply of men. Most of its existing regiments were already committed to other warzones, and ten new regiments could not simply be raised. The tithes on the planet did not allow for such a sudden massive drain. A single new recruitment could be ordered from Tallarn and that process was instigated. The Tallarn 331st regiment would be raised, equipped and shipped to Taros to see its first action. Three other Tallarn regiments could be withdrawn from their current commitments  and  embarked  for  Taros, although all had recently been engaged in battles and they also needed replacement men and equipment finding. A fifth regiment, the Tallarn 3rd Armoured, was currently on garrison duty on Balle Prime. If a replacement garrison force could be found it too would join the invasion force. In all, half the Imperial Guard regiments destined for Taros would be from Tallarn. These would be combined to form X Corp.

The backbone of the Imperium's assault. Tallarn Armoured companies would match their firepower and armour against that of the Tau.

XI Corp would be composed of the other Imperial Guard regimenls that the Adeptus Munitorum  would  commit  to  the  Taros campaign. Five more regiments still needed to be found The first was the 23rd Elysian Drop Troop regiment. This regiment was unlike any other in the 4621st Army's order of battle, being an air mobile unit equipped with Valkyrie airborne assault carriers. Against the Tau  mobility would be important. Tau forces, with their Manta's and a preponderance of grav-tanks, drones and battlesuits are fast and highly mobile. Conventional Imperial Guard infantry and Armoured regiments could not hope to match their speed, and because of this they would be continually forces to fight on the aliens terms. A Drop Troop regiment, although lightly equipped for airborne operations, would help redress the balance and give Lord Marshal De Stael the chance to match the Tau mobility on a strategic level.

The second unit was one of De Stael's own request. The Sarennian Assault Engineers were, in his opinion, some of the most useful troops in the Segmentum. They were equipped for close quarters combat and for assaulting fortified positions, clearing minefields and breaching defence lines. Few in number, the Sarennians would not be required to fight as one regiment but, before the invasion began, be divided into platoons and companies and attached to all the other regiments of 4621st Army. This way they would provide a core of assault troops when, as predicted, the time for hard street fighting in Tarokeen arrived.

Other regiments scheduled to join the 4621st Army on Taros were the 114th Cadian Shock Troop regiment, an entirely mechanized unit under the command of Colonel Stranski. Then would come to 8th Brimlock Dragoons, a regiment with experience of fighting Tau raids around the Damocles Gulf. The final regiment was harder to find, several were considered and either rejected or found to no longer exist. The 12th Manninen Rangers regiment was transported, but on arrival turned out to be only the strength of a reinforced company. On Commissar-General Van Horcic's orders the regiment was disbanded and the survivors enrolled with the Tallarns. The 42nd Mordian regiment was also embarked for Taros. only to be diverted to face Hive Fleet Kraken on the Eastern Fringe. Gustavus' deadline for the invasion was closing, and the tenth regiment remained elusive. Eventually, the 19th Krieg Armoured regiment was requested, but it would take lime to find their current location, get new orders to them, and embark them for Taros. They  would   not  be   available   for  the initial invasion.

X Corp would also be reinforced by two companies of Storm Troopers. These troops were the elite of the Imperial Guard, well trained and equipped. They would provide a useful strengthening of the front line regiments. Like the Sarennians, the two companies would be divided as squads amongst the other Imperial Guard regiments.

In De Slael's strategic plan for the campaign XI Corp would act as the support to X Corp. The Tallarn regiments would be required to do the bulk of the initial fighting, and would also lead the landings. XI Corp would follow on and be fed into the ground campaign once it had started. The actual invasion fleet would only be carrying X Corp when it arrived in the Taros system. It would be the Tallarn's job to get a secure lodgement area established on the planet for XI Corp to reinforce. Once the entire of X Corp was established, the next priority would be to get the 23rd Elysians 'in country' to give 4621st Army the ability to strike just about anywhere anytime. Behind them would come the Cadians, the Brimlock Dragoons and eventually, the men of Kreig.

The Imperial Guard are not the only fighting forces in the Imperium. When the Adeptus Administratum committed itself to an invasion of Taros, it also sent requests throughout the other fighting arms of the Imperium. It would provide the Imperial Guard forces - the backbone of the mission - but the Imperium has many fighting forces and each might be expect to do its duty.

Firstly, the Adeptus Astartes. The Avenging Sons Chapter had already been engaged on Taros, but they were now rebuilding their strength after their heavy losses. They would have to wait to avenge their defeat on the Tau. The other Chapter to make forces available was the Raptors. A strike force of two companies and a battle barge from the Raptors Chapter would contribute significantly to the Imperium's combat power, both on the ground and with the fleet.

Next, High Magos Zadakine Volta had already promised the aid of a Titan legion, but delivering on the oath prooved more difficult. Stygie VIII was the natural forge world to provide the aid of Legio Honorum. But the legion was already fully committed. There were no battlegroups available to lend assistance. To fulfill his oath, Volta had the difficult task of finding replacements. In the end he turned to the rulers of Mars, travelling to the heart of the Cult of the Machine to personally request the aid of Fabricator General. He had only limited success. Titan battlegroups were already being committed to the Cadian Gate; the need for the Imperium's greatest fighting machines was pressing if the tide of Chaos was to be stemmed. Volta argued that he had sworn the aid of a legion, and the Adeptus Mechanicus stood to gain much from the recapture of Taros. In the end the intervention of the Fabricator General secured Volta a small battlegroup from Legio Ignatum under the command of Princeps Jernay. The battlegroup consisted of just four Warhound Titans, hardly the force he had hoped for, but enough to satisfy Volta's oath to Gustavus.

The Departmento Munitorum, as well as raising and transporting regiments, could also provide assistance in form of indentured engineering and labour corps. These were not combat troops, but units for the rear area, to dig and build. It was valuable work that helped released Imperial Guard infantry from such arduous and time-consuming duties.

The Ministorum could also provide assistance, but not in the form of combat troops. Cardinal Astral Velas was not inclined to lend military aid to the Taros Invasion Force. He only attended the first High Command meeting in person, after that he left a representative to speak for him, one Deacon Gotz. The Cardinal made it clear he was not in favour of this expedition. To him it was a waste of resources that could be put to better use fighting heresy elsewhere in his diocese. Taros was a dust-bowl planet of just twelve million souls, there were still wars to be fought on hive worlds to save the souls of billions. The Cardinal felt it was only the malign influence of the Adeptus Mechanicus lobby that had forced the Adeptus Terra into sanctioning this attack, and he did not trust the Cult of the Machine and their mysterious ways. The Cardinal would supply no fighting forces, but would do the duty required of him. Priests and Confessors would be found for each of the Imperial Guard regiments, to guard the souls of the men of the Imperial Guard. The Orders Dialogus would supply useful support in the form of Tau language experts. The Order Hospitaller would provide some medical care for the injured, but the contribution was, in truth, small.

Power politics within the upper ranks of the Ecclesiarchy probably had much to do with the Cardinal Astral's reticence. A powerful man in his own right, in shadowy corners it was spoken that Velas was not a supporter of the current Ecclesiarch. To be lending aid to the invasion might be seen to be responding the Ecclesiarch's recent anti-alien sermons. The Cardinal liked to think of himself as his own man, with far greater concerns that twelve million wretched miners. He might also be seeking favour with those factions within the Ministorum that had their own plans for the succession to the Ecclesiarchal Throne on Terra.

Gustavus' command had been almost a year in pre-invasion information gathering and mustering the forces, now it came to planning the actual attack. How would they commit the troops they had requested, and how would they keep them supplied once on the ground? One immediate consideration for Gustavus was the longer he spent planning and mustering the more likely it was that information might leak out. A traitor from within his ranks with access to classified information might sell it to the Tau for a vast price or the promise of safety within their Empire. Pre-warned, the Tau would be in a far better position to defeat his attack. Security around the planning needed to be tight. Colonel Scheja, whose efforts so far to infiltrate a spy onto Taros had come to nought, was given the task of maintaining internal security.

He would establish a network of informers and spies within the High Command and Imperial Guard regiments, people paid by Scheja to keep their eyes and ears open, arid report to him.

A map showing 'the Aestus', the temperate zone bordering Taros' major seas which would be the focus of the invasion and the subsequent campaign. All the fighting took place within these four million square kilometres of rugged desert.

To aid with the internal security, Gustavus ordered that the gathering invasion force should not be concentrated just yet. The men would be scattered about surrounding sectors. This way it would seem many other small warzones were being reinforced. Hopefully the build-up would go unnoticed until it was too late. Imperial Guard regimental commanders would not be informed of their actual destination until the last moment.

Drawing on the good work of the previous year the High Command began the invasion planning process. In order to satisfy the demands of the Imperial Guard regimental commanders and Lord Marshal De Stael, three key objectives had to be considered.

Firstly, the invasion would need to quickly capture an operational spaceport. If not in the initial assault then in the following few days of ground operations. A large spaceport would be vital in maintaining the flow of supplies needed by the forces on the ground once battle was joined.

Secondly, the invasion should be undertaken by at least three regiments simultaneously. This would be a force large enough to overwhelm all but the very strongest resistance and would mean a firm bridgehead could be established between orbit and the planet's surface, strong enough to resist all immediate enemy counter-attacks. Without a secure lodgment area the invasion could be defeated in its first few days.

Thirdly was the water supply. On a desert world like Taros water was a valuable commodity; water was supplied from hydro-plants and recycling. The ground forces would need a secure supply of water rapidly, or the fighting men would be unable to operate effectively.

These three reasonable objectives contributed much to the planning process. Firstly, Taros had only one spaceport, in Tarokeen. Hence a direct assault on the city was considered in some detail. Tarokeen was also the centre of the planet's industry and administration. If the war was to be won then Tarokeen would have to be captured. Whilst the traitors or the Tau held the city the war would go on, and the mineral resources would be unable to leave the planet. The enemy also knew this. Tarokeen and its immediate hinterland, the Iracunda Isthmus, would be the strongest defended part of the entire planet. A direct assault, under the guns defending the city would invite disaster. Too many enemy ground forces would be waiting for them, too many orbital defences could threaten the invasion fleet. The direct approach was disregarded as too risky.

The landing zone would have to be close enough to the ultimate objective to keep supply lines short, but not so close as to risk too much enemy resistance. The practicalities of landing on the far side of the planet and then transporting every man, gun and shell around the world were impossible to overcome. With the invasion fleet in orbit it was only prudent to get as close to the final objective as possible. As for the spaceport, it would be the priority once landed. In the meantime an entire Engineer corp would be tasked with constructing a landing site suitable for the delivery of supply ships.

Secondly, the main restriction on the initial attack would be the number of drop ships and assault transports available. Fleet Admiral Kotto had the task of organising the Imperial fleet's role in the invasion. He had to find the landing craft needed. This was no easy task, and it was unlikely that enough could be found to  simultaneously  land  three   regiments. Anyhow, Gustavus wasn't convinced it was needed. Three regiments would give the invasion force the flexibility to attack several locations at once. De Stael argued for this plan, but Gustavus overruled him. To split their forces would be to give up their biggest advantage as attackers. Even if Taros was expecting an attack (a reasonable assumption), they would have to defend every possible location an invasion might fall. This would cause Taros and the Tau to spread their forces thinly. Gustavus' plan would allow their forces to concentrate at a single point in overwhelming numbers. If the landing was to succeed then they had to hit one place so hard it could not be repulsed. Although it might be a tempting option, even if only used as a diversion to draw anyway enemy forces, splitting the ground forces over several land zones would mean each regiment risked becoming isolated from support and destroyed in detail in subsequent battles. In the end, a single landing zone strategy was settled on. It would include as many troops as Fleet Admiral Kotto could find transports for.

The invasion location still needed to be considered. Somewhere within the Aestus, either north or south of the city was the best option. North would mean increased exposure to the high temperatures and violent storms of the Great Sand Sea. South would be slightly cooler and more stable, but the enemy also knew this and may well be better prepared there. In the end Gustavus preferred the later option.

Thirdly,   the  water  supply  situation.  An unopposed landing in the uninhabited and undefended deep deserts with their high temperatures and lack of any water supply, as well as the risk of desert storms and the huge distance to the objective rapidly ruled this option out. Where ever the landings eventually occurred water would have to be supplied from off world, shipped-in on the heavy tankers in vast qualities, at least until sufficient supplies could be captured. Standing orders were to be issued to all Imperial Guard regiments that any moisture extraction equipment or hydro-plants capture during the course of the campaign were to be undamaged and turned over to High Command. In this way the advance could help meet some of its own water requirements. There was no easy answer to this tricky problem. Life on Taros was harsh because water was so scare, they would have to be very careful distributing it, and make sure a secure supply line from off-world provided enough for the ground troops. Extra water evaporation equipment would also be loaded.