A 75mm shot clipped off the hull of the Churchill Mark VII, ricocheting into the dirt shaking the inhabitants of the tank, Orange Pekoe paused in her loading of the Churchill's main gun to look at her commander and Lady, Darjeeling who was usually so composed and calm had her fist clenched around the microphone of the tanks communication set and her blonde eyebrows were furrowed in frustration and annoyance. Assam turned her head to see where the next shot was, took one look at her commander, shook her head and poked Pekoe with her foot. Two pairs of light purple eyes met, and simultaneously rolled upwards in exasperation at their commander, who was oblivious to what her crew were doing as she stared intently at the radio.
Another shot bounced off the Churchill's front armour, rattling the tea cups that were stacked neatly behind the radio, they'd been stuck in this position for so long that they had ran out of tea, and Darjeeling was missing the feel of the warm cup in her hand, it provided her with a sense of calmness and grounded her in the here and now. She broke her silence with a mutter,
"What is taking that reckless fool so long", she almost growled in anger, but remembered her manners and stopped herself before she could do so 'A Lady must always be composed in front of her team, it sets the example'.
Her stare was snapped by the sound of four sets of quiet chuckles, all of her crew members were facing her with smirks on their faces and knowing glints in their eyes,
"What?! Why are you looking at me like that!" She quickly fired off the question.
"Oh nothing" that was Assam, "Just that you're always like this when" she sniggered again "-He's- involved" placing great emphasis on the "He".
Darjeeling folded her arms in front of her "I don't know what you are talking about, I am perfectly calm", just then another shell hit the turret of the Churchill, knocking her off balance. Darjeeling screamed internally 'This is all his fault, him and his thrice damned chevalier personality'. Just as she was about to start snapping out orders to her girls, the radio crackled to life and a masculine, English accented voice came out of it,
"Sorry we're late to the party Darling, Richie here decided to take a short cut, that wasn't either short or a cut" a muffled protest came from the radio and the sound of multiple men laughing at their drivers expense. Darjeeling grabbed the Microphone from Pekoe who'd taken it back from her after she'd let it go, "How many times have I told you to -not- call me Darling, especially on an open radio channel!" 'The impudence of him! I wish I could throttle him right now' .
"Oh but I think her Ladyship doth protest too much, don't worry anyway Darling the cavalry is here to pull you out of your mess again" A burst of laughter from the radio again, then a crackle as the channel switched so all tanks were receiving the message "Hello dear ladies of St Gloriana, fear not for the chaps are here! Tally ho lads and into the buggers!", with that the radio went dead, Darjeeling sighed and swivelled in her chair to look at her crew waiting for orders, "Well go on then! You heard him"
The Turret of the Comet I
Henry Fordwaith, affectionately nicknamed the Iron Duke by his commanders and crew, pushed the radio microphone down onto its holder, ending the call. The Comet I sped forward, traversing the open field where the St Gloriana women's team was pinned by both Saunders forces. Shermans began to reverse as they took fire from the men's anti-tank squad, 2 Avengers and 1 3-Inch Gun carrier laid down cover fire as the main force of the men's team sped hastily across the field to their compatriot's aid. Henry looked at his crew, his driver Richard "Richie" Warrington, focused on the field ahead, expertly avoiding the inaccurate fire of some of the panicking Sherman gunners, another Richard, also known as Dick to his friends, and his twin brother Arthur Price, served as gunner and loader for the Comet respectively, and finally, the stock of ginger hair that was Timothy Perkins, who operated the turret's machine gun and served as Henry's batman, not dissimilar to Pekoe's role with Darjeeling.
Both Richards had their eyes pinned on their target, the Sherman Firefly that was desperately trying to turn it turret to get a good angle on the approaching thundering charge of the men's team. The Comet was accompanied by 4 Cromwell V's and 4 Valentine XI's, all medium tanks that packed a good punch, perfect for the style that the men's team had perfected over the years, a glorious sweeping charge, accompanied by a bombardment from the Anti-tank squad, who were currently performing their job admirably despite the long distance, two of Saunders Sherman M4s were already smoking and had the white flag raised.
Henry cracked his neck, "Why does she always get snappy with me, it's always just me! I'm an innocent soul" he protested to whatever crew members were paying attention to him. "It's just your charming personality my Lord", Perkins said with a deadpan face. Henry waved his hand around, "Bah she doesn't recognise good tactics and skill when she sees it, anyway!" he picked the Microphone back up "Norton dear boy, could you potentially start raining good old British steel on that Firefly for me, shake Naomi's aim up a bit" without waiting for a response from Clarence Norton, the commander of the Gun Carrier, he put the Microphone down, and used his neck mic to relay commands to the tanks near him.
"Ok chaps, form a V formation on the Comet, I want two Valentines on either side, and two Cromwells on the flank, when we hit them I want the Valentines to follow us through, but the Cromwells will split off as we hit, swinging around their flank and hitting those damn Yanks in their soft underbellies, understood?" A chorus of "Yes my lord" followed through the radio, Henry smirked and turned off the mic with a click, "Oh dear Kay isn't going to know what hit her…"
A volley of shots caused him to turn his head, as three Shermans exploded into smoke as the Churchill and Matilda's finally decided to start returning fire now that the Saunders forces were shook up by the appearance of the rest of St Gloriania, Darjeerling had lost her entire Crusader force of 6 tanks to Saunders to a pincer movement, that even a commander as reckless as Rosehip couldn't break out of, so she had reverted to her usual defensive formation and turtled on the field, hoping the weather the storm out with her 5 Matilda's and her own Churchill.
The Saunders line finally started to reorganise as Kay and her male compatriot, who's name Henry still couldn't recall for the life of him, started to grasp hold of the situation, half the Sherman line peeled off to meet the oncoming rush of tanks charging down the field, whilst the others, including Henry's original target, the Firefly, turned back to St Gloriania's heavies. Henry peeked his head out of the turret, the wind rushing through his dark brown, almost auburn hair, making his bright blue eyes water, he could make out of the bushy platinum mess of a hairstyle that was Kay, standing out of her M4's turret, yelling orders into her tanks radio, just like he was. He activated his throat mic again
"Davenport, Hamilton, take a sharp left, flank round now" Two Cromwells peeled off from the advancing line, as three Shermans turned to face this new threat, Henry spoke again "Dick if you don't mind chap, take out the middle Sherman", the gunner nodded, glaring down his scope at his target, Richie slowed the Comet ever so slightly to give him a clearer shot, "On the way!" the 77mm main gun exploded with fire as the shell flew through the air and buried itself into the weak side armour of the Sherman, causing smoke to billow from the engine and the pop of the white flag. The empty shell quickly was removed from the breech and the next one was swiftly inserted and locked by Arthur,
"Ready My Lord!" Henry nodded "Gentlemen" he spoke into the mic "Fire at will", this time there was no response, just the echoing wave of shots being fired from his flanking tanks, as they were on the move, the accuracy was quite off, the other crews not quite in tune with each other as the two Richards when it came to moving and firing, but a couple of shots from the Cromwells landed, immobilizing one of the remaining Shermans facing his charge which and they rapidly started to withdraw. 'Hmmm, that makes 6 down, and it looks like Darling didn't make much of a dent in the initial fight, seeing as both teams had 24 tanks to start with, looks it's our 18 vs their 18 now, much more even' Henry smirked, he knew that Kay would be loving this, a shell flew past and hit one of the Valentine's dead on, causing it to screech to a halt, the dreaded white flag popped up, his radio crackled "Sorry my Lord, we're out of it" that was George Bradford, "Don't worry about it Bradford, happens all the time, everyone ok in there?", "Just a few bruises that's all, win this for us my Lord!" the line went dead and Henry sighed, he'd been hoping to make this a free run but apparently not, he popped his head back up and scanned the line for the culprit and of course it was the Firefly, he rolled his eyes imagining Naomi with a small smirk on her face as she chewed that damned irritable bubble-gum of hers.
"Browning, Fawcett, take that Firefly out the picture", The two remaining Cromwells fell out of line and sped towards their target, moving too quickly for the Sherman Gunners to pick them off. "Line halt!" The Three Valentines came to a halt next the Comet, their guns adjusted. "Norton, I want these Shermans down now if you please", the Anti-Tank squad had moved ever so slightly forward into accurate range, and began to pick off the Shermans, who were firing at the Cromwells. Kay had 8 Shermans left facing the men's team, the two left flanking Cromwells began to pepper the Saunders tanks with shells, plinking off armour and making dents where they could.
His radio snapped, and Darjeerling's voice came through his headset, sounding like her usual self this time. "Time to wrap this up Hal, let's get to it, I need my tea", he grumbled to himself, he hated being called Hal, both of them were very good at pushing each other's buttons in just the right way to get a reaction, he sighed, 'no time to petty bickering now', flicking his mic on "Very well Darling we'll wrap it up quickly, Perkins my good fellow, I think it's time for a good old tune, I think 'The Girl I left behind me' for today". Perkin's saluted, and turned to the radio, soon the tune was emitting from the radio "All tanks will advance across the field!" Both Henry and Darjeerling spoke at the same time, receiving a Chorus of "Yes my Lord and Lady". Leaning down into the tank proper, Henry tapped Richie on the shoulder "Straight for the flag tank if you please", Richie nodded in response, pushing the tank forward.
Popping back out of the turret he scanned the smoke blackened battlefield, as the St Gloriana tanks advanced forward, Shermans began falling left right and centre as Kay desperately tried to protect the flag tank, the Cromwells carved out a path for the Comet, as the remaining Matilda's formed a protective box around the Churchill, their flag tank. The Comet sped through the smoking remains of the Sherman line, scope lined up on the flag tank, Dick took a deep breath, before gently squeezing the trigger….