HH3节译:四十二号城门之战
The Battle of Gate Forty-Two
It was the need to conduct war in a more conventional manner that led to one of the greatest setbacks in the Legion's history, and one that would foreshadow the terrible events at Isstvan V only a few years later.
四十二号城门之战是暗鸦守卫军团历史上最为惨重的挫折之一,导致这场惨剧的是以更为传统的方式发动的需要,这次事件也预示着仅仅数年之后便会发生在伊斯特万五号上的悲剧。

Soon after Horus was declared Warmaster, the Raven Guard were recalled from operations along the coreward edge of the Ghoul Stars and ordered to take their place in the line alongside several other Legions under the Warmaster’s direct command. The Akum-Sothos Cluster had been brought to Compliance by the Luna Wolves in the opening years of the Great Crusade, but its people had fallen to a form of mass-psychosis and violently rejected unity with Terra. This unheralded secession was later determined to have been caused by xenos parasites which matured within the eye sockets of their hosts, in this case the unfortunate population of the cluster. As they matured, the parasites gained rudimentary control over their hosts and formed what amounted to a wholly alien, gestalt consciousness focused on a cabal of primary hosts dubbed the 'Unsighted Kings’. The newly ascended Warmaster refused to see the cluster of worlds he himself had brought to Compliance slip from the Imperium's grip and so he vowed an Oath of Moment to reclaim its worlds no matter the cost.
在荷鲁斯宣布就任战帅不久之后,暗鸦守卫军团被从沿着食尸鬼群星核心边境进行的作战行动中召回,他们被命令和其他几个军团共同接受战帅的直接指挥。在大远征的初期,影月苍狼军团使阿库姆-索萨斯星丛归顺于帝国,但当地的居民大量堕落成为某种灵能宿体,并且暴力拒绝泰拉的统一。这次突如其来的分裂暴乱在之后被证明是由某种在宿主的眼窝中生长发育的异形寄生体造成的,这片星丛中的不幸居民们便遭遇了这种厄运。随着他们发育成熟,这些寄生体基本就会控制住宿主,形成一种完全等同于异星人的存在,将格式塔意识集中在一群被称为“无明之王”的最重要宿主身上。新晋升的战帅拒绝看到自己亲自使其归顺的星丛脱离帝国的掌控,所以他发下即刻誓言,要不惜一切代价收复这些世界。

Horus had formulated a plan to cast down the Unsighted Kings in a lightning war that would purge the afflicted population while retaining the cluster's highly developed infrastructure for future re-population. Furthermore, a rapid victory would demonstrate to Horus’ brother-Primarchs that the Emperor had been correct to elevate him to so high a rank. The Warmaster's plan called for the bulk of four Legions —the Luna Wolves, Space Wolves, Iron Warriors and Raven Guard— to converge on the heavily fortified lair of the Unsighted Kings before a final, overwhelming assault was launched.
荷鲁斯已经制订了一个计划:用闪电战对无明之王们进行斩首,这样在净化当地饱受折磨的民众的同时,也能保留下星丛中高度发展的基础设施用于未来的再次定居开发。另外,一次快速的胜利将会向他的原体兄弟们证明:帝皇把他提拔到如此高的地位是正确的。战帅的计划要求影月苍狼、太空野狼、钢铁勇士和暗鸦守卫四个军团在发动最终的压倒性进攻之前把自己的大部分力量集中在(进攻)无明之王高度强化的巢穴上。

Having brought the outer worlds of the cluster to heel in a matter of weeks, the Warmaster called a council of his brother- Primarchs, one part of his plan calling for the Raven Guard to make a frontal assault directly into the guns of the defenders of Gate Forty-Two. Corax argued against what he denounced as a waste of resources and a needless squandering of his warriors’ lives, countering with a strategy of his own. The Raven Lord proposed that his Legion should draw off enemy forces in a series of feints, allowing the three other Legions to overwhelm what defenders remained at the walls with comparative ease.
在短短几周内战帅便令星丛外侧的世界们屈服于自己,他召集兄弟原体们举行了一次会议。他计划中的一个部分就是要求暗鸦守卫军团对42号城门防御部队的炮阵进行直接正面进攻。克拉克斯进行了争辩,他谴责这种浪费资源和无谓挥霍暗鸦守卫战士性命的计划,并以他自己的战略进行反驳:渡鸦之主建议应该由他的军团用一系列的佯攻引开敌人部队,这会允许另外三个军团相对容易地压倒依然驻守在墙边的敌军防御部队。

In answer, Perturabo accused Corax of seeking to avoid battle, a crime verging on dereliction for a Primarch of the Legiones Astartes. The two very nearly came to blows, with only the intervention of Leman Russ staying bloodshed. The Wolf King counselled Corax to heed the words of the Primarch who the Emperor had set above his brothers. Russ urged Corax to smother his bitterness, but not to extinguish it, and from that guttering flame kindle the fire to carry the battle through. Taking his leave of the council, Corax mustered the Raven Guard before Gate Forty-Two. Knowing their particular demeanour would carry them forward, Corax assigned many of his Terran-dominated companies to the van, in particular those whose captains appeared the most willing to play their part in the Warmaster's plan.
作为回应,佩图拉博指责克拉克斯是在试图避战,对于一位阿斯塔特军团原体而言,这是一种近乎渎职的罪状。两者几乎就要开始爆发决斗,只是因为鲁斯的介入才止步于流血。狼王劝告克拉克斯要留意帝皇对于原体们的告诫,他力劝克拉克斯吞下自己的苦楚,但不要憋在心中,而是要在战斗中发泄出自己燃烧着的怒火。在离席会议之后,克拉克斯在四十二号城门之前集结起了暗鸦守卫军团。由于克拉克斯知道军团中的泰拉裔们会发扬他们独特的举止,他将军团中多数由泰拉裔支配的连队指派为先锋,尤其是连长似乎最为愿意扮演好他们在战帅计划中角色的那些连队。

The assault that followed was bailed as the Legion's darkest hour, a grim honour that, tragically, would be displaced just a few years later at Isstvan V. At the height of the battle, the assault companies decimated and the attack faltering in the face of overwhelming fire, Corax himself led the forlorn hope, his battle cry firing the Legion to such efforts that the breach was carried and Gate Forty-Two taken. The honour of slaying the Unsighted Kings was claimed by Horus as Warmaster and at the moment of their execution, the xenos' hold over the population was dispelled. The Akum-Sothos Cluster was delivered and the Warmaster's prize was reclaimed. The cost was terrible however, for not only had countless millions of hosts been crippled in mind and body, but thousands of Raven Guard, the bulk of them Terran-born, had given their lives before the shattered walls.
之后的进攻被证明是军团中最为黑暗的时刻,(只有)仅仅几年后发生在伊斯特万五号上的惨剧才能可悲地取代这份残酷的荣誉。在进攻的高潮,攻击连队损失惨重,攻势面对着敌军的压倒性火力艰难推进。克拉克斯亲自将凄凉的希望带给子嗣们,他的战吼激励着第十九军团突破并夺取了四十二号城门。荷鲁斯以战帅的身份索取到了杀死无明之王的荣誉,在他们被处决的一刻,异形们对于民众的控制也被驱散了。阿库姆-索萨斯星丛被交付回了帝国,战帅的骄傲也被夺回了。但损失也颇为严重,不仅无法记数的数百万宿主成为在精神或生理上致残,而且有数千名暗鸦守卫战士在破碎的城墙前献出了生命,其中大部分都是泰拉裔。
Though the Battle of Gate Forty-Two was counted a victory by (and indeed for) the Warmaster, its effects were far reaching.The Legion's numbers were sorely depleted, leaving only 80,000 Legionaries under the Primarch's command and making it the smallest of the Legiones Astartes. Corax removed himself and his Legion from his brother's command, swearing bitterly never to serve alongside the Warmaster again.
虽然四十二号城门之战被战帅记录成了一场胜利(事实上也是),但它的影响是深远的。暗鸦守卫军团的人数严重下降,在原体的指挥下仅剩了80000名军团战士,他们成为了最小的阿斯塔特军团之一。克拉克斯把自己和第十九军团从他兄弟的指挥中移除,并痛苦地发誓自己再也不会侍奉在战帅身旁。

One last consequence of the Battle of Gate Forty-Two lingers still. In its aftermath, those line officers who, before the coming of the Primarch, had served for so long under Horus command were gone, and so the Warmaster was able to exert little in the way of influence over the Raven Lord's Legion. Many of these Terrans had been inducted into the warrior lodges, and with their deaths these unseen bodies all but vanished from the Raven Guard. It has been claimed by his detractors that in assigning the Terran- born Legionaries to the assault wave that would suffer the greatest losses, Corax did his Legion a service, consolidating his power and paving the way for a future more in line with his own vision. As a result, the Legion was largely spared the wave of insurrection that was transmitted through so many of the Legions by the hidden auspices of the lodges.
四十二号城门之战的最后一项成果仍在徘徊。那些在原体回归之前长期在荷鲁斯指挥下作战的前线军官们死掉了,这样一来战帅就几乎没有了对暗鸦之主的军团施加影响的途径。这些泰拉裔中的大多数都被纳入了战士结社,随着他们的死亡,这些看不见的团体也全部从暗鸦守卫军团中消失了。批评者们声称克拉克斯(故意)把泰拉裔军团战士们指派到了将会遭受最严重损失的攻击浪潮中,但他帮了自己的军团一个忙,巩固自己的权力,并以更加符合他个人愿景的方式为未来铺平道路,结果就是暗鸦守卫军团在很大程度上幸免于由战士结社暗中支持、在很多军团中传播的暴乱。