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What is this?

Some while ago I played a game of Ultimate Apocalypse as the Imperial Guard. I fought against the AI, and, having a narrative in mind, played a succession of games with particular restrictions or add-ons to characterise the state of my forces and my enemy's forces. One particular battle became worthy of note, and was reported to my discord server. This is that battle.

The map was "City of Stormgrad". The below image is a developer's view of the map in an earlier version, and is somewhat inaccurate.



H-Hour Plus Forty-Five

"It's a simple operation, really. Should be a walk in the park." - Gen. T. Kora

In the city of Abdurabad there are five major causeways. Each is guarded by a regiment of Imperial Guard, with attached armoured elements and Mechanicus entrenchments. An Ork incursion routed the Imperium from Abdurabad, and created many isolated pockets of Guard defenders. Relief forces were to be driven - or airdropped - progressively into the city, eventually linking up with all Guard posts. Our story begins with Battlegroup Landshark on the western side of the imaginatively named "Second Causeway", a triple-bridged affair connecting a military-residential sector to an industrial sector. Battlegroup Landshark had been forced into a fortified parade square on the south-westernmost corner of the above map, in which they had been protected from radiation bombs dropped to clear out the Orks. With the Orks now removed, they would take reinforcements by air, capture and fortify the (damaged) bridges, and then march across to link up with more Guard.

The start of the operation, H-Hour, would drop a continuous supply of arms, armour, and soldiers into the parade square. Battlegroup Landshark was expected to have an easy march to the bridges. The expected time for reinforcement, fortification, and crossing was one hour. This was not to be the case. Within fifteen minutes, Battlegroup Landshark met resistance.

By the forty-five minute mark, they had lost 3,455 men.




Breakout

Handy tactical map.
(1) Parade Square
(2) Fortifiable Ruins
(3) The Park


Aerial footage of the operation was not recorded before the battle had gotten long out of hand, but reports from officers who survived the incident tell the tale. Parade Square began the engagement well-fortified. Early movements sent guardsmen in Chimera APCs to scout the bridges and quickly claim them before anything else got there. Enginseers at the square placed automated gun turrets at the entryway, in spite of accusations of paranoia by commanders on the ground. The second wave of reinforcements to arrive quickly scouted nearby features and set up watchposts. Before much could be made of these, however, a large number of guardsmen from another outfit marched westwards along the bridges.

The men of Battlegroup Landshark could be distinguished by their standard Cadian green and khaki uniforms, those crossing the bridge came dressed in red. No Guard unit on the planet had been issued red uniforms. The Landsharks hailed the oncoming red troopers by vox, but failed to get a response. As they approached, the Landsharks could see why. These men looked half-dead, covered in so much blood it was hard to believe they were still standing. One among them cried "fix bayonets!"

Back at Parade Square, the Commanding Officer, Captain Fuchs, received garbled reports of contact at the bridges. He assumed the Orks had somehow survived the radiation bombs, and ordered the creation of a firebase at the aptly named "Fortifiable Ruins" just to the north of Parade Square. Enginseers quickly assembled a prefabricated bunker and even more turrets, while infantry took positions in and around it. No sooner had the fortifications been outlined, a wave of some hundred or more red-uniformed soldiers assaulted the firebase. This was swiftly cut down by lasgun and autogun fire, but just as the last of those soldiers fell, a larger stream of soldiers poured forth. This appeared to be a column of men rushing wildly at the defenders from the bridge, with the kind of wild abandon you might expect of a meth-head (or an Ork). These people were not right in the head.

By H-Plus-Thirty, the attacking troopers had begun bringing in APCs, light tanks, heavy weapons teams, and even managed to call in fire from some hidden Basilisk artillery emplacements. Nothing short of outright suicidal determination to build and repair the firebase's defences, and an unmitigated stream of reinforcements, kept the enemy at bay. The assault finally lessened at H-Plus-Forty-Five, revealing a grim scene. Some three and a half thousand Landshark casualties, and a comparable number of enemy dead. During the assault the enemy had taken the western side of Second Causeway, and their grip on the bridges would only tighten the longer the Landsharks delayed. The ensuing battle was to be one of bitter assaults and constant, merciless bombardment.

A flyover two and a half hours after the start of the operation, just after the enemy had been pushed back to the bridges revealed the final defences of Parade Square and Fortifiable Ruins:



There is more to this epic battle, and once I have written it I shall post it below to avoid over-filling the OP