Editing Al-Sherar Sector War (section)

==Invasion of Ciban IV==

''This is Nadine Dufort for the SVCR.  Saint-Vercy is still mostly in our hands.  Fusiliers and Militia are holding up the invaders all along the Sequana.  The Committee instructs every citizen to stay resolute: a free people cannot be conquered against their will.''

- radio transmission on the third day of the invasion


Only ''Ténacité'', an old Lunar-class cruiser gifted to the Fifth Legion by the [[Steel Marshals]], and her escorts were present to defy the Amatteir warships that warped into the Ciban system.  A terse discussion between '''Joso Nikolić''' on the ''Ténacité'' and his genefather on Ciban IV's surface saw the Imperial squadron withdraw before making contact with the invaders.  Nikolić travelled to [[Ghalhal]] to ensure that the Fifth Legion's allies would be aware of the budding calamity.

Unopposed in space, the invaders began their planetary assault.  The attack focused on Arcadia, Ciban IV's more heavily-populated populated continent and the site of both its temporary government at '''Saint-Vercy''' and the foundations of the new planetary capital, '''Ciban City'''.  Records indicate that the Xenos landed several army groups, with between two and four million soldiers committed to Arcadia and perhaps half as many to the smaller continent of Jolof.  This division of forces pitted the Amatteir's main strength against the [[Ciban Chasseurs]] and second-line Ciban Fusiliers, while Gaspard Lumey's Space Marines would face a much weaker force across the waves.


'''Early Operations on Arcadia'''

An Amatteir airstrike killed '''Jean-Davide d'Orléans''' and much of his command staff on the first day of the invasion, leaving '''Marie Fayolle''' in command.  Unable to resist the invaders' airpower, Fayolle immediately ordered his mobile forces - the Ciban Chasseurs - to only move by night.  This may have saved the Chasseurs, but it exposed the second-line Ciban Fusiliers guarding Arcadia's strongpoints and cities.

Xenos landings over-ran the second-class spaceport outside Saint-Vercy, but the Amatteir were stalled when they attempted to move into the city itself.  Commandant Drouet Sainte-Menehould's Fusiliers had been joined by an immense turnout of irregulars, many of them armed with the black powder arms that had overthrown the Gallian monarchy a generation ago.  Although the invaders had superior firepower and command of the skies, the stubborn courage of the Cibanese denied them access to Saint-Vercy's narrow streets.

If the Ciban Fusiliers were not as successful across Arcadia, the general pattern held good.  Contrary to the Amatteir's expectations, their human foes, including many civilians, were not intimidated.  Most of the continent's great cities remained at least partly in Cibanese hands and the Xenos had paid dearly for their gains.  Even in the few cities that were completely overrun, the militias quickly transformed themselves into partisan bands and set to harassing the invaders.

Despite their limited gains on Arcadia, developments on Jolof soon compelled the Amatteir to redeploy forces to the southern continent.

'''Jolof Campaign'''

The Fifth Legion was still a very small force by the standards of its star-going brethren.  In a contrast to most of their campaigns, the Fifth's records of the fighting on Ciban IV are terribly incomplete, an indication of the bitter fighting that took place.  However, it is known that [[Antoine Antonelle]]'s cadre of a few hundred Astartes were joined in the field by their first class of recruits, bringing their numbers up to perhaps five thousand.  Given the invaders' numbers, Gaspard Lumey initially refused battle and went to ground, letting the Amatteir seize control of Jolof's cities.  In contrast to their Arcadian brethren, the ordinary citizens did not form up in militias - but partisans sprang up and started picking off sentries and sabotaging the occupiers' equipment.

Initial Amatteir bombing raids on the Fifth Legion's '''Collegium Majoris''' in the interior of Jolof were an utter failure.  The fortress was impervious to their weaponry and its own armament took a toll on the Xenos aircraft.  A major strategic error was made in the wake of this setback.  The Council of Primates wrote off the Collegium Majoris as too distant from the campaign's strategic objectives to act as a base of operations and scrapped plans to storm or besiege it.  This left Remus Alsara and the scratch forces defending the Fifth Legion's base unmolested, while the tireless Space Marines were more than capable of the long marches to and from their fortress.

Three task groups, really nothing more than a superhuman interpretation of the guerilla bands from Ciban's Revolutionary Wars, were formed on Jolof and operated in close collaboration with the newly-formed partisan bands.  Lumey himself roamed the northern desert like a nomad chieftain, his warriors running more swiftly than the fastest horse.  [[Fabrice Diallo]], in the west, prowled the savannah with his two-legged lions.  And in the south, Antoine Antonelle's men moved through the swamps and rivers, more silent and deadly than the crocodile.  In all three theatres, the Fifth Legion launched sudden and unpredictable assaults on Amatteir strongpoints, inflicting massive damage and fading away into the wilderness.  The endurance of the Astartes allowed them to raid and move nearly constantly, giving the impression of an enormous and deadly army.

'''The Partisan Problem'''

If the Space Marines presented the more immediate threat, the civilian resistance had a severe effect on the Amatteir legions.  The Xenos warrior caste was used to dealing with humans as slaves, or as disorganised feudal or primitive peoples with little ability or stomach for resisting their raids.  Finding the Cibanese soldiers organised and resilient had been disturbing, but the sight of armed civilians - including the elderly and children - shook the worldview of the Amatteir warriors.  Many began to fear for their families at home, surrounded by human slaves.  Others simply despaired, seeing the whole foundation of their species' way of life eroded.  Drug abuse and suicide rates sharply increased among the units on Arcadia.  The redeployment of these compromised units to Jolof spread the rot and the Amatteir morale slumped towards collapse.

Beyond their moral effect, the partisans were busy sabotaging equipment and destroying supply dumps.  Ambushes greatly reduced the Amatteir mobility on land, forcing them to rely on airborne redeployment.  Use of dropships to ferry troops around Jolof was ended by [[Uli Dreier]]'s slaughter of disembarking troops at Trois Rivieres in the south of the continent.  Psychologically strained and under severe material test, the invaders were reaching the limits of their endurance.

'''Legio Cataegis arrives'''

The crisis on Ciban IV was catalysed by the arrival of an Imperial fleet.  ''Ténacité'' and Joso Nikolić reclaimed their honour by leading the reinforcements.  The whole of the Fifth Legion's naval assets had arrived from Kerstes VI, and alongside them warships from the Forge World [[Ghalhal]].  In the train were transports bearing the warhost of the techpriests, including a maniple of their mighty Titan Legion, ''Legio Cataegis''.  The Amatteir naval crews fought a long running battle across the system, attempting to disrupt the Imperial landings and, when that failed, to keep open the possibility of an evacuation.

On Arcadia, the Xenos legions broke under the impact of Ghalhal's Titans and supporting Tech-Guard.  Their scattered remnants were run down and slaughtered by the resurgent Ciban Chasseurs.  Rani Stolarz's IVth Corps was particularly notable in the Imperial counter-attack.  At the same time, Gaspard Lumey's Space Marines asserted their strength on Jolof, shifting from attacking the invader's weak links to direct attacks on strongpoints.  For all the heroism of the Amatteir sailors, scarcely one in ten of the warriors who had invaded Ciban IV escaped alive.