22nd Hochtarn Mountain Jaegers Armoured Squadron

Rule and court

The squadron is led by Lieutenant Bohdan Bronowsk from the Leman Russ "Unverzagt", designation 911, assigned to the 9th Company, 1st Squadron. Beside him stands the Leman Russ Vanquisher "Psalm Neun", designation 912, under Corporal Ruslen Ambrozin, who commands the long-ranged firepower against armoured targets, and the Leman Russ Demolisher "Dritter Versuch", designation 913, under Corporal Lucenka Kessalova, assigned to close combat against fortifications.

Command follows the regiment's pit drill: short reports, loud counting, no vehicle moves without its neighbour knowing. A Commissar accompanies the company and rides with the lead tank during engagements to ensure bearing and discipline; the company's Tech-priest does not answer to him, but to the machine spirits alone, to whom he speaks his prayers daily in the maintenance halls.

The Mechanicus bond

Supply runs through a Forge World of the subsector assigned to Hochtarn's ore security, which in exchange for ore, coal and pit timber regularly delivers spare parts, gun barrels and consecrated components. The good state of spare parts is evident in that no vehicle of the squadron is out of service for more than a few weeks; even after Eldrach, the replacement tanks returned to the line within a single campaign, accompanied by fresh purity seals from the forge.

Strength and preferred patterns

The squadron fields a Leman Russ as line tank, a Leman Russ Vanquisher for combat against enemy armour, and a Leman Russ Demolisher for engaging positions and infantry under cover. The Leman Russ "Unverzagt" forms the squadron's centre and leads the advance, the Vanquisher "Psalm Neun" covers armoured targets from a withdrawn position, and the Demolisher "Dritter Versuch" breaks walls and trenches open when the infantry of the 14th Hochtarn climbs the slope.

The distribution across only one squadron is deliberately kept tight: all three vehicles of the 9th Company's 1st Squadron fight together, never separated, for the Line emphasis demands that the front be held as a whole, not in isolated engagements. Further vehicles of the same pattern serve in the company's remaining squadrons, but the table names only these three.

Doctrine and warfare

The squadron advances as a closed wedge, the Leman Russ in front, the Vanquisher and Demolisher staggered behind, so that each vehicle covers the other's field of fire. The deployment follows the infantry of the 14th Hochtarn: the tanks wait until the mountain jaegers have secured the flanks, then break straight through rather than going around—fully in keeping with the Line emphasis, which demands battle tanks in mass and no scattered advances.

A principle every crew learns states: whoever sees the gap in the front fills it before asking who ordered it. The Demolisher always advances last, as its short range makes it vulnerable until the Vanquisher has suppressed the enemy armour.