troop numbers

+Transmitted: Karlack Bureau Ordinate Primaris
+Received: 3773816.M41 [adjusted for localised temporal distortion phenomena]
+Telepathic Duct: Alphos Terminus
+Transcriptor: Auto-logister Savant Madistcka
...
The true scale of the Achilus Crusade is staggering beyond belief, and many adepts, even those with high-level
clearance continue to voice the belief that our audits must be in error. Needless to say, the very suggestion is a
matter of grievous concern to those of our division, and so I must address this matter directly.

I have seen with my own eyes the staggering scale of this endeavour and as such I can attest that the data
presented to the bureau to date is, if anything, an over-simplification of the truth. The resources expended in
the Crusade on a daily basis are astronomical, for the task at hand is herculean. Only a man as gifted as Lord
Militant Tetrarchus could conceive of such an expenditure of blood and treasure and not be driven insane by the
figures involved.

By way of an example, consider the numbers of Imperial Guardsmen serving in regiments assigned to the
Crusade's combat arms, bearing in mind that these represent less than twenty percent of the total commitment,
the remainder serving in combat support, internal security, occupation, reserve, lines of communication and rear
echelon roles.

At the outset of the Crusade, approximately one billion Guardsmen were assigned to front line combat duties.
Within one year of the launch of the Crusade over fifty percent of these had sustained injuries that took them out
of the front lines for more than a week, while an estimated twenty two percent fell in combat in the first year. This
rate only increased as the Crusade pressed on, and by the time the true extent of the enemy presence around
the Hadex Anomaly was discovered, an estimated four billion Imperial Guardsmen were deployed in operational
front line service—and remember, these represented but one fifth of total manpower deployed to the Reach.

As vast as these numbers undoubtedly are, they have only increased with the arrival of Hive Fleet Dagon. As
casualty rates in those units facing the Tyranids have soared, so too has the throughput of units assigned to relieve
those that have become combat ineffective.

By my best estimates, something in the region of six billion front line
Imperial Guardsmen are now deployed to the Jericho Reach, with the largest numbers serving in the Cellebos
Warzone against the forces of the Great Enemy. It is my belief however that the Orpheus Salient will soon have
to be reinforced significantly, by redeploying units from the Acheros Salient, re-tasking second line formations,
or by the deployment of yet more forces drawn from beyond the [[[DELETED]]].

While we are wont to think of the Imperial Guard in terms of regiments, for it is at that level that histories are written
and battle honours preserved, we are forced to consider the numbers involved in far larger terms. Divisions, armies
and even entire army groups are fed into the meat grinder, existing at full strength one day and being struck from
the orders of battle the next. I can attest that I have seen senior generals issue orders to formations I know to have
been destroyed weeks before, the chain of command taking weeks to obtain an accurate accounting of the units
under its command, and that picture lasting only days before it is out of date.

If this illustrates the true extent of the Crusade's raw manpower, consider its relation to the supply of the essentials
of war. How many lasgun power packs pass through the fortress worlds of the Iron Collar each day simply to keep
the six billion Guardsmen firing their weapons? How many shells are expended by the hundreds of thousands
of tanks employed in the Crusade's armies? How many millions of tons of fuel and spare parts are required to
keep those and other vehicles moving? And what of the consumable foodstuffs and medicinal supplies each
Guardsman needs each day? Needless to say, the flow of supplies, ordnance and other materiel through the
[[[DELETED]]] is constant, for but a single day's interference might result in the loss of entire worlds.

The simple fact that such supplies are kept constant is made even more remarkable when one considers the
necessity to obscure the true nature of the Achilus Crusade from the rulers of the [[[DELETED]]] from which so
many tithes are taken. In many cases, the simple fact of interstellar travel serves to protect the secret, for even
the most mundane of supplies travelling between sectors is ordinarily marshalled at multiple supply and storage
nodes throughout its journey, being composited with the stocks of mass conveyance haulers. In the case of
supplies bound for the Jericho Reach, this process is compounded, with multiple staging points existing along
the supply route. No single hauler ever plies more than a single stretch of the route, and most loads pass through
several dozen nodes and staging points between their point of origin and their final destination. That being the
case, no single crew is aware of the origin or destination of its load, and neither would its members ever stop to
consider the matter during the course of their routine duties.

How long this situation may be sustained of course remains to be seen, and I pray that the faithful hosts of
the Emperor may hold the Great Devourer at bay. If they cannot, then more regions than the Jericho Reach
may fall.

Deathwatch: Achillus Assault