No matter how they used the ruins and fortresses to hold out and maneuver, it could not change the fate awaiting the forces left behind at Helsreach Port: annihilation.
The Burna Boyz used their flamers to drive every Imperial defender out of the sturdy buildings, then danced an absurd, rhythmless dance alongside the Imperial soldiers whose bodies had been melted by the flames as they rolled and writhed, as erratic as dancing fire.
I'm fuckin' burnin'!
The Blood Axes' special-ops Boyz had locked eyes with the gang scum, attacking one another through the shadows of the building complex. From time to time, the corpses of the defeated fell from the high-rise buildings, smashing to pieces on the battlefield below.
Tanks fitted with enormous bulldozer blades and rubble rollers slowly cleared the ruins from the streets, opening up broad avenues wide enough for Ork vehicles to race through. The truly heavy weapons could finally enter the battlefield and crush all resistance.
The Ork Boyz followed behind what might have been freshly produced heavy tanks, firing their guns in the direction of the Imperial forces. In their eyes, this probably counted as infantry-tank coordination. Amid such massed firing, their wildly inaccurate stray bullets became deadly enough that the Imperial soldiers at the windows could not even raise their heads.
Once the artillery was loaded, the enormous shell painted with an Ork smiley face smashed through a wall amid the Orks' excited roars and embedded itself in the load-bearing wall behind it. The explosion tore open the fortress's facade. Flames, shrapnel, and chunks of Imperial soldiers sprayed outward together. Unable to bear the immense assault, the entire building collapsed completely, becoming the grave of the soldiers stationed within.
The defenses throughout the port were rapidly breached and purged by Ork armored firepower. At