Cadian 34th Army Group: 20 - On the Edge

Their preliminary orders had come in via vox slate. The Lord General was still south in communion to attend the front briefing, but he had found the time to send word to his Colonels in advance of his return.

Colonel Spiteforth received the missive whilst he was in the turret of his command Leman Russ Furina. The high-power vox unit relayed information to a linked dataslate, which went on to decode the message for him. 

+++Operational Directives for all C34 Combat Units+++

>Leffin is confirmed as our next objective. 
>Continue to proceed to assembly areas and ensure all fighting units are fit to begin combat operations as soon as possible.
>Artillery assets are to be planned to be pooled and utilised at a front level. 390th and 202nd should prepare accordingly. 
>Vox traffic will be impeded. Communications will proceed under conditions B3/B4. 
>The railway has not yet been extended to the front. Spare manpower should assist the labour corps where possible. 
>Hold yourselves true to the Emperor.

+++Thought for the Day: Fear Failure, Not Death+++ 

+++Directives End+++

Colonel Spiteforth frowned as he read the message. Conditions B3/B4 meant a combination of field telephones and runners. The telephones would be near useless for his armour, especially on the attack, so it came down to runners.

It was not an unknown concept, the 21st had practiced it before using their Salamander Scout tanks as the messenger vehicles. It worked, but Spiteforth did not like it. It made his regiment less reactive than when using the vox, and sapped his reconnaissance strength. 

The artillery pool worried him as well. It made sense from a macro perspective, but being selfish about his regiment Spiteforth was worried about the potential of going into battle without the direct support of the short range guns of the 390th, which had been a key ingredient of their armored spearheads so far. Still, there had been no indication that Redlina would want the short range guns. And orders were orders.

Spiteforth turned back to his map, before looking back at the column of armour following him through the desert. Another ten kilometres to their designated assembly point, and he could brief his officers and get a meal. He wondered what the cooks were preparing on Escoffier today…

-

The harsh Trackold sun beat down on the troopers as they laboured in the desert. Having marched from D’Escar fortress to their new camp just behind the lines, the men of the 2nd company, 202nd Shock Infantry had been put to work alongside the Labour-Ogryns, prisoners and other unfortunates conscripted into the Munitorum work battalions in putting the track bed of the new railway in place. 

“Three, two, one, heave!”

Sergeant Anja cajoled the rest of third squad as they lifted the track section into place. Along the line other squads of third platoon were doing the same thing. Soon a section of track about a kilometer long had been laid, with the track sections knocked together by experienced railwaymen. There were still three tracks to go however.

Just as they were about to move a shout down the line until it reached third squad

“Third platoon, report for rest period!”

Grins abounded. Trooper Vichama gave Corporal Pavlo a friendly tap on the shoulder. Their work for the day was done, now was the promise of hot food and a bed. 

Pavlo lingered behind his squad mates, sparing a glance for the work gangs who continued to toil in the heat. 

Better them than me he reason to himself, before walking off

-

Colonel Helza Stern was in her temporary command post when the adjunct arrived. Her head snapped up from the documents detailing her ammunition reserves as the boy saluted. 

“Ma'am, Captain Kellan is here to see you.” 

Helza nodded 

“Send him in”

Still dressed in his infantry flak armour, the Captain marched in front of her desk and saluted 

“Captain Kellan, 202nd Shock Infantry, reporting as ordered Ma'am”

The Colonel stood to return the salute 

“At ease Captain, what is your gun strength and ammunition reserve?”

“Fourty-eight. We have enough rounds for one intense bombardment. Getting resupplied has been… tricky. Problems with the trains down south, and heavy traffic at Bracar I understand.”

Stern nodded. She did understand. 

“Rest your men and service your guns Captain. I will not put you on the line until I know what the plan is for the coming artillery battle. 

Given our new operating conditions, I will try and assign you a vehicle and crew from the reserves to act as a runner for your company, but if I am unable you will need to nominate one of your own.”

Kellan nodded

“Yes Ma'am”

“Very good Colonel, dismissed”

Kellan turned on his heel and marched out of the tent. Stern drew her eyes back to her ammunition reports 

Just how many rockets will I be able to get before this all kicks off

-

In his office at Fort Tarraco, Lord Commissar Gideon van Brangol’s face crumpled into a frown as he re-read the report. 

Junior Commissar Kalt had just finished debriefing him on the “incident” at the Fort Tarraco railhead, and he was now putting his own personal touches on the Junior Commissar’s writings before they were sent to Lord General du Montaal and Lord Commissar Ivchenka.

It was not happy reading.

The report concluded that the incident was almost certainly a deliberate attack, orchestrated by a group of traitor Minthelians that had turned some months before. 

However, the report mentioned that there was little evidence for this, pending the outcome of an internal Minthelian investigation. 

He sighed, and took a sip of his wine. The Lord General would want hard facts, not speculation and van Brangol suspected Ichenka would be the same. 

Still, he mused, the damage has not been lasting.

The tracks had been repaired very quickly, and he was informed that the damaged engine would be back in service soon. The biggest loss was in skilled operating personnel. Replacements would have to be shipped in on the next supply convoy. 

Gideon re-read the report one final time before signing it. He summoned an aide to prepare it for transmission, before sitting back in his chair and gathered his thoughts. The next train north would not leave for at least two hours…