Conquest of Galaspar
The Conquest of Galaspar was a campaign waged by the Death Guard during the Great Crusade. It was the first major independent action taken by Mortarion after taking command of his Legion.[1]
Overview
Waged against Galaspar, the capital Hive World of a pocket empire, the human civilization there had refused to accept the rule of the Imperium and opened fire on Explorator vessels and Imperial envoys. Imperial officials were cautious of the power of Galaspar's Empire and given other fierce campaigns in the area initially put off waging the war for several years. However the recently rediscovered Mortarion instead volunteered his Death Guard, wishing to prove himself and seeing the tyranny of Galaspar's rulers similar to his own experiences on Barbarus.[2a] So it was without warning that the Death Guard fleet smashed through the outer defences of the Galaspar system.[1]
Defeating the initial enemy defenses of asteroid-fortresses and Fire Ships, Mortarion's fleet made a direct course for Galaspar itself, ignoring the surrounding planets. Reaching Galaspar's orbit, Mortarion led the invasion of the world from his personal assault barque, the Fourth Horseman. The three kilometer-long craft plowed into the upper Hives of Galaspar, toppling the city's spires and unleashing its deadly cargo of 11,000 Death Guard Space Marines. Galaspar's primary hive fell in a night and a day, the Death Guard killing any man, woman, or child who stood before them.[1]
The unprepared slave-soldiers of Galaspar found themselves reeling in terror at the Astartes onslaught. Falling back to defensive redoubts, the Galaspar force's Stubbers and Lasguns proved useless against thick Astartes Power Armor. The Death Guard seized ground, destroyed enemy counter attacks, and advanced in its wake in a cycle that broke the Galaspar defenders. The Death Guard also employed biological weapons, using Phosphex Bombs to sow death and terror. The enemy forces began a bloody retreat into the lower depths of Galaspar's hives but, even in this noxious and dark environment, the Death Guard found and slaughtered them. With Galaspar's primary hive in firm Death Guard control, the Legion's Techmarines took control of the main planetary orbital defenses, quickly disabling them. This allowed the orbiting Death Guard fleet to safely land even more reinforcements on the world.[1]
However, the rulers of Galaspar were not yet defeated, and the world's secondary hives spewed forth tens of millions of soldiers and thousands of tanks. The Death Guard met the enormous attack, using their orbiting warships to unleash devastating bombardments on the tightly massed enemy forces. With the bulk of Galaspar's remaining army destroyed in the open, each of the world's secondary hives were methodically encircled, besieged, and violently captured, the Death Guard ignoring any proclamations of surrender. Mortarion showed no mercy, dispatching forces to pursue and hunt down the scattered remains of fleeing enemy forces in the later stages of the battle. It is said that not one of the enemy defenders survived the battle.[1] However Death Guard losses were also heavy, including its First Captain Antavus Barrazin.[2a]
When Imperial support fleets arrived to take control of the planet, they were horrified at the slaughter and destruction the Death Guard had unleashed on Galaspar. However, the people of Galaspar, used to the oppression of their previous rulers, meekly accepted Imperial rule. Moreover with the example Mortarion had made on Galaspar, every other world in the surrounding systems quickly submitted to the Imperium, lest they suffer the wrath of the Death Guard.[1]
Related Articles
Sources
- 1: The Horus Heresy Book One - Betrayal, pgs. 136–137
- 2: Mortarion: The Pale King (Novel)
