"The performance of the Randall exceeded my expectations."
When Soshyan left the Hearthborn battleship and came to the bridge of the Abyss-class ship, he immediately checked the combat records and images of the Nessen IV, especially when he saw that the Randall destroyed a ship of the Third Legion with one shot.
The queen of the battleship was even more amazed.
At this time, the company commander-level personnel in the legion are basically here. As for the reason, of course it is not just to let them visit the new battleship.
"Then let's organize an evacuation. There is no need to continue entangled with the Tyranids in this galaxy. The structure has been destroyed. We have time to deal with these aliens slowly. We couldn't afford to slow down before, but now we can't rush."
After returning to the Westeros galaxy, Soshyan immediately counted the battle reports and damage reports. In less than a week of fighting, the Empire lost another 64 battleships, including 6 capital ships, most of which were from the Silent Fleet.
, another Emperor-class was seriously damaged and needed to return to Hong Kong for overhaul. Counting previous losses, the Empire has lost 181 battleships in this galaxy. This is a loss that even the sector level cannot bear.
As for Tyran's losses, there is no need to talk about them, they are probably not even one-thirtieth.
The key to most of this is the performance of the Eldar warships.
In terms of personnel, during the defense of Westeros III, an additional 103 dead warriors were added, bringing the total number of Space Marine casualties to a whopping 724. If those killed in Operation Sondheim V are included,
20 Star Knights and 11 Death Watch, this number reached an astonishing 755 people.
In the 41st Millennium, this number was enough to cause all of Terra's Martyr Bells to ring seven times.
The number of legionnaires killed in action also rose to 309.
Fortunately, the Abyss class did not come in an "empty ship". Taking into account the needs of the battle, and the new batch of recruits who had completed preliminary training, Luko transferred the two transformation bases of Bracato and Neisen Systems to a total of 941
All the new recruits were brought over - now the legion recruits a group of soldiers every year, so since 978.M41, the legion has basically maintained a rhythm of one round of personnel expansion every year. In order to ensure the quality and running-in of the personnel, Soshiyang requested
It maintains a rhythm of transforming only a thousand people a year.
The total number of the legion before the war was 3,703. After the bloody battle and the replenishment of troops, the number did not decrease but increased to 4,335. For this reason, Soshyan made some personnel adjustments. Without changing the company's establishment for the time being, let
The personnel of some companies are temporarily overstaffed by 50% or directly doubled to accommodate the excess soldiers.
But a loss is a loss after all. There were so many soldiers, many of whom Soshyan watched with his own eyes as they transformed from boys to soldiers. When he saw their names appearing on the list of dead, he felt very sad and blamed himself.
Some people say that after experiencing a long war, people will become numb to life and death.
But in fact, this has never been the case. It's just that the rules of the Astartes require them to be tough at all times, especially for commanders, so Soshyan can also understand the fatigue shown by Dante.
, not only is it a heavy responsibility, but it is a heartbreaking thing to see the children you personally selected, trained, and led die in battle.
After experiencing it many times, the mind will not only become numb, but will become more fragile.
But the retreat was not only due to losses and changes in the battle situation, but also to Soshyan's personal reasons.
This was also the first time that Soshyan felt tired or even tired of a war.
It is now the year 983, and they have spent nearly three years fighting Tyranid in the Archdiocese. Although the Maelstrom has been fighting for nearly ten years, the battle situation is changing every moment.
In the past two or three years of fighting in the archdiocese, Soshyan can be said to have been irritated and helpless. There was no front, no point to counterattack, and no enemies to game with. There were only endless Tyranid creatures, and now they are all seen
There is no hope and no end.
After finally getting rid of the Tyranid structure, but when I came back, I saw that there were still so many enemies. Soshyan even had a direct extermination order and smashed it, destroying the whole archdiocese and making Tyranid give up the advance.
idea.
Of course, it was just a passing thought.
To put it bluntly, the current situation of this war is that it should not be lost, but it is also difficult to win. It is also a very typical imperial tug-of-war.
"...Chapter Commander, the evacuated people..."
Hearing Bahram's voice, Soshyan turned his head. The tenth company commander seemed to have just returned from the battlefield. He was dusty and the power armor on his body also had many scratches and wear.
"Evacuate as much as possible. The National Church has brought many transport ships and giant pilgrim ships, which should be able to take away most of the people."
Suddenly, Oscar, who had been silent until now, spoke.
"Chapter Commander, this time the Tyranids also sent gene stealers and bundle worms to infiltrate into the defended cities and strongholds. Many people were bewitched... and created riots."
"Is this happening?"
"This is the report."
Oscar is responsible for defending a mountain city, which is relatively less difficult, but the internal commotion is the most serious.
Taking the data pad handed over by Oscar, Soshiyang looked at it for a while, then frowned.
"...It seems that I have learned wisely and know that it is best to collapse the defense line from within, but the gene stealer cannot infect many people in a short period of time, right?"
Bahram immediately took over.
"Most people are being held hostage, mainly because the supplies are really too tight. No matter how we arrange them -"
Farzad suddenly snorted and retorted:
"What kind of coercion? A group of unfamiliar dogs will bite people if they eat less than two bites. I drove them all underground... The damn Mechanicus dug those tunnels too deep."
Soshyan blinked and turned to look at Bahram, who was the commander of the temporary combined battalion he appointed and should have a more detailed number.
"Approximately how many people were involved in the rebellion instigated by the Genestealers?"
"Several cities... Well, I was in a hurry and couldn't completely count them, but the total number of major cities is about 300 million... or so."
Bahram hesitated when he spoke, but it was not because he didn't know, but precisely because he knew.
He had already vaguely guessed what might happen.
Soshyan did not comment on this number, but asked:
"Where is Shili City where you are?"
"Similar situations have also occurred, but overall they are controllable. The rebellion has not spread to the ground. In fact, many people are not really against the empire. They also know the terror of Tyranids, but... they are in a relatively depressive environment.
During this time, people’s emotions may go to extremes more easily.”
"ha."
Ninth Company Commander Tershak suddenly laughed dryly.
"We are not nannies. We have to take care of the 'emotions' of mortals. The empire is not a welfare institution. We have to give them a comfortable life. If you rebel, you deserve to die. You deserve to be killed!"
His words immediately received approval from many company commanders, but Bahram pursed his lips helplessly.