General Dunehill had set up her headquarters in Shacksville. With the line holding and attacks diminishing, plans were being drawn up for an offensive, its primary objective; to reclaim lost territory. Dunehill had approached the Matriarchy in order to commit some of their forces to an offensive and, despite ongoing combat, the mood was optimistic. But they were wrong. The drop off in attacks was not a lessening of the enemy’s forces, but a regrouping. A massive tendril launched an attack on Shacksville, with conservative estimates suggesting that the Swarm forces outnumbered the entire population of the settlement ten times over. Moreover, the Swarm forces began acting in a much more controlled and tactically aware manner, avoiding obvious traps and defensive emplacements. Dunehill, knowing there was no chance of holding against such a force, abandoned the settlement, seeking to preserve as much of her military force as possible. The civilian population did not survive.
The line was then breached in three further places. Once through the line, the Swarm forces spread out again, making containment impossible. Defensive forces were put entirely on the back foot, forced to fall back and regroup, and vast swathes of the FTU where abandoned to the Swarm.