Caen
2043hrs July 18th, Operation Charnwood
3rd Battalion, "Boudicca's Boys"
A lone Sherman Firefly, (A variant of the Sherman tank that has had a British 17 pounder anti-tank gun fitted as its main weapon, typically used by British and Commonwealth forces) was hunkered in a hull down position, facing down the road that it was positioned on ready to fire at any unsuspecting German tanks. Inside was its crew of four: Angus Brown the driver, Archie Davis the loader, Duncan Miller the gunner and Lachlan Kent the commander. They had been ordered by Major Blackmore to keep the road east of the Cathedral where they had their HQ set up, clear from any German armour. The four men sat inside their tank as the storm outside only got worse.
"For Pete's sake when will this bloody rain let up?" Angus asked to no one in particular as he rubbed his forehead.
"We're Englishmen Brown, I thought we were used to the rain," Commented Duncan after hearing Angus moaning.
"He's on about the piggin noise it's causing in here Dunc," Archie said as he knocked the top hull of the tank with the side of a fist. "All I've been hearing for the past half an hour is the bleeding plinking it's causing 'ol Doris to make."
They had decided to name their firefly Doris after Lachlan's mother due to the fact she could deliver a slap to any man, with the equivalent force which the 17 pounder could deliver an armour piercing shell to the frontal armour of a Tiger. So far, the name had proved to be a sound decision as it wasn't often for them to have too much trouble when facing a heavily armoured German tank.
"I have to agree with Angus on this one lads, the sooner this infernal rain lets up the better," Lachlan said as he changed the radio from the IC, (intercom) default setting to the A set. "Seen any movement up north lieutenant?" He asked through his microphone.
"Just rubble, rubble and more rubble," The voice of his lieutenant reported. "Also rain but I think you already know about that," The lieutenant chuckled.
"I'll keep an eye out for any Jerry rain clouds then," Lachlan laughed back. "What about you Scotty, anything happening down south?"
"Ah thought Ah tauld ye tae gonnae-no callin' me 'at!" A thick Scottish voice replied in annoyance.
"Can you please speak English-English Wallace. If you wanna speak highlander then you're more than welcome to drive all the way back to your fellow Scots at Hill 112," Lachlan joked.
"Nothing happening down here," The Scottish voice replied with its accent not sounding as thick as it was before.
"Now that wasn't so hard wasn't it corporal?" Lachlan asked rhetorically.
"Ye never gonna let me get over the fact that you're a higher rank than me now?" Wallace rhetorically asked back.
"Not a chance," Lachlan answered despite Wallace not wanting an answer.
"Come on lads, we can crack more jokes later but right now stay focused on your positions," Ordered their lieutenant.
"Yes sir," replied both Lachlan and Wallace.
Lachlan then tuned the radio back to the IC and placed the headphones around his neck. Not long before the initial battle for the city, Lachlan was promoted to sergeant for managing to save an infantry platoon from a troop of Tiger tanks with only his tank. He did like to rub it in Wallace's face a little at times due to the fact that he knew that Wallace was also after a promotion. It also didn't help that Wallace's sourness was also caused by the fact that after Lachlan's promotion, it meant that he was made the second in command of their own troop.
"Still no signs of movement from the lieutenant or Scotty, and I'm guessing that James is still on his perimeter sweep," Lachlan informed his men.
"If only we weren't on guard duty," Angus complained. "Then I'd be able to catch a wink cause we've been fighting all bloody day."
"But we've been fighting pretty much every day for the past three years," Archie added.
"Please don't remind me," Duncan said as he dropped his head, causing it to make a thud as it collided with the main gun's sights.
"Don't worry lads, once we've got Caen properly secured it's straight to Paris and then Berlin to give Adolf a good old British bashing," Lachlan said to try and lighten the mood.
"Yes, but how long is it going to take us to get to Paris, kick out Jerry and then get all the way to Berlin and crack that nut?" Angus asked him.
"Do you always have to be so pessimistic?" Asked Lachlan.
"I ain't the one who started this bloody war," Replied Angus.
"All the more reason for us to get to Berlin as soon as possible then, and see the bloke who did," Archie said, trying to make a point.
"I'm with Archie on this one men, the first thing I'm gonna do when we get to Berlin is plant a Jack on top of the tallest building that I can find," Duncan said with a determined tone.
"You see, that's the spirit which you lack Angus," Lachlan said with a laugh.
Angus just rolled his eyes and went back to watching the road in front of them, whilst trying not to die from the insane amount of boredom. Not long after knocking could be heard coming from the hatch above Lachlan.
"If you would excuse me gents," Lachlan said as he opened his hatch and emerged from the waist up out of the turret. He turned around to see Captain Cutting, Major Blackmore's right-hand man standing behind the turret on the back of the tank whilst holding an umbrella above both of them.
"Sir," Lachlan said as he gave a salute to the captain.
"At ease Sergeant," Cutting said, causing Lachlan to lower his hand from his head and into a more casual position.
"So what brings you to 'ol Doris?" Lachlan asked the Captain.
"The Major asked me if I could go and see how some of the men are holding up," Cutting explained to the tank commander. "So I thought that it would be a good idea to come see how our tankers were doing."
"Well, despite the rain and the lack of anything for us to do, we're all okay here," Lachlan told the captain.
"I hope you don't mind the rain, reports from high command tell us this weather isn't clearing up any time soon," Said Cutting.
"Bloody brilliant," Lachlan said sarcastically to himself.
"I'd best be off now and see how the other lads are," Cutting told Lachlan as he began to make his way off the tank.
"Chat with you later Sir," Lachlan said as he went disappeared back into his tank, closing the hatch behind him.
"Who was that?" Duncan asked from the other side of the breach of the gun.
"Just the captain going around checking on how everyone is," Lachlan told him.
"Did you ask if the weather's gonna get any better?" Asked Duncan.
"Only going to get worse I'm afraid," Lachlan reluctantly told him.
"Perfect," Archie said sarcastically after overhearing his response to Duncan's question.
Half an hour later
The storm had grown much worse, to the point where the rumbles of the thunder and the crackling of the lightning in the distance. This had put all the men inside the tank on edge, fearing that worse was yet to come. Suddenly a thunderous boom could be heard, followed up by a whistling passing over the top of the tank. Duncan quickly sprung to life as he looked down the sight of the turret to see a Tiger tank 500 metres away from them.
"Jerry Tiger 500 metres in front engaging us sir!" Duncan yelled to Lachlan
Instinctively, Archie loaded an armour piercing round, quickly closing the gun breach afterwards. Lachlan then looked through his periscope to see that the Tiger was facing them square on, giving him an idea.
"Duncan, launch one through the driver's sights I want that Tiger immobilised now!" Lachlan ordered.
"Right you are sir!" Duncan replied as he depressed the Firefly's gun to line up with the driver slit on the Tiger. "Here's one from Winston!" Duncan taunted as he pressed down on the trigger, sending a shell straight towards their adversary.
It hit square on target, obliterating the poor target on the other side instantly. However, the fight wasn't over yet. Another shot came from the Tiger, signalling that it wasn't out of the fight just yet. Their shell glanced the side of the Firefly's turret causing it to ricochet off to the right, striking a destroyed building nearby.
"Jesus Christ! Angus exclaimed as the tank shook after the initial impact.
"Duncan put one through their turret, put their gun out of action," Lachlan commanded.
"Right you are," Duncan said as Archie loaded in another shell. "This one's for my old gaffer!" Duncan yelled as he pressed down on the trigger once again.
The shell whizzed through the air at considerable speed, striking to the left of the Tiger's barrel. Black smoke started to emerge through the various openings in the tank and seeping through the Tiger's main hatch. It then slowly swung open as one German tanker followed by one other crawled out of the husk of their tank, and made their way away from the smouldering wreck.
"Nice work lads" Lachlan as he relaxed a little in his seat. He then went to turn his radio to the B set, when a loud crack of thunder caused by a nearby lightning strike caused him to hesitate.
Suddenly another much louder crack of thunder came straight after the first one, as a bolt of lightning streaked straight towards the earth hitting the Firefly right on top of its turret. Small arcs of a light blue lightning spread throughout the entire interior and exterior of the tank.
"Bloody hell!" Angus shouted in panic as he jolted back in his seat.
"We're like a massive conductor just sat here," Archie stated.
The four men managed to avoid having any of the strange looking lightning, arc onto them. However they noticed that they should have been shocked through their seats, but for some reason, it delivered no shock what so ever. All the men just sat there in confusion as the arcs of lightning dissipated.
"Shouldn't we be dead?" Angus asked as he slowly looked towards his comrades with an extremely confused look plastered on his face.
"Count yourself lucky that you're alive Angus," Said Duncan. "To think you made it all the way through the deserts of Africa, the largest amphibious invasion in military history, only to be taken out by a lightning strike," He joked.
"I'm dying of laughter," Angus said sarcastically as he gave Duncan a two fingered salute over his shoulder.
Lachlan blocked out the bickering between Duncan and Angus and instead focussed on his radio set. He tried to make contact with HQ to let them know that they had knocked out a Tiger on the east road, however, all that was coming through his headset was static. He gave the radio a once over to make sure that it hadn't sustained any form of internal damage, and much to his surprise it hadn't. Thinking that HQ must be having radio troubles he tuned into the A set to see if he could contact anyone in his troop. However, no one was answering him, as he only received more static.
"Archie," Lachlan said getting young adult's attention. "I want you to get one of the lads outside to make a runner to the Major and let him know that we've knocked out a jerry on the east side of town."
"Right you are sir," Replied Archie.
He squeezed his way last Duncan and popped open the hatch above them. He then moved to get out of the tank and got the upper half of his body out when he suddenly stopped.
"Sir, you're gonna wanna see this," He said to Lachlan almost stuttering as he did.
Curious, Lachlan emerged from his hatch and what he saw completely baffled him. It was no longer nighttime and there was no storm. Instead, it was daytime and they were on the edge of a hill overlooking a town. He didn't know how, but he knew that they were no longer in Caen. However what he saw next left him in near disbelief. Out of the far end of the town, he could see some sort of vehicle slowly emerging so to get a better view he quickly snatched his binoculars from inside the tank. He looked through them and to his surprise saw an old British landship following the embankment of a river towards what looked like a train station of sorts. The landship was painted black and had the name 'Black Bess' painted in red on the side that he was looking at. Lachlan watched it in silence along with Archie, when something else caught his eye.
On the other side of the river, he saw another vehicle coming into view but it wasn't another landship. It was a German A7V 'moving fortress'. The looked as if it hadn't seen the German tank and Lachlan knew that he had to act before it was destroyed.
"Archie load AP!" He shouted to him.
Archie looked a confused when he was asked to do so, but knew it was best not to argue with his commander. He quickly sunk back into the turret and loaded an AP shell into the breach.
"Why yah loading a shell Archie, little premature don't yah think," He said as he jabbed Archie with his elbow.
"Ask the commander," Archie replied as he got back into his seat.
"Duncan, target across the river in the opposite hill to us be ready to fire on my word," Lachlan ordered.
"What are you on about s.." Duncan began to say but stopped when he looked through the gun sight. "You know what, I'm not even gonna ask," Duncan stated.
Lachlan then gave out the corresponding coordinates to Duncan, who lined the gun up on the A7V.
"Fire!" Lachlan yelled.
"Take this you outdated tin can," Duncan taunted as he pressed on the trigger.
The 17 pounder roared to life as the AP shell whizzed and struck the right side of the gun located on the front of the A7V. It wasn't long before the thing set up like it was bonfire night.
"Good shot Dunc," Lachlan said as he gave the man a single pat on his back.
Before Duncan could thank him and Angus could ask about what had just happened, the same lightning from earlier suddenly returned and added throughout the tank, shocking the men once again.
Lachlan waited, knowing that they would now either be back in their old position in Caen, or they would be somewhere else completely different. Unfortunately for him and his crew, it would be the second outcome.
Once the lightning arcs had gone away, the four men didn't do anything for several minutes, not knowing whether or not they were back where they should be. Their trains of thought were interrupted by the sound of knocking on Lachlan's hatch. Lachlan undid the latch on his revolver and held the handle in one hand, but kept in its holster as he opened the hatch.
What he was greeted by, was a man in some sort of uniform that he had never seen before. However, the grip on his revolver was released when he saw a Union Jack on the man's shoulder.
"So, do you mind telling me who you are and how the hell you appeared out of thin air in a bloody tank of all things," The man asked with a hint of weariness in his voice.
"I'm Sergeant Kent, 3rd Battalion British Army," Lachlan answered.
"Well, I'm sorry to say that 3rd Battalion has been disbanded for around 90 years now," The man told him.
"Well then, you'd better catch me up on the past ninety years me and my men have missed out on," Lachlan asked the man.
"In time I will, but first let's get you and your men back to the HQ," The man explained to him. "But you're gonna have to follow me over the trenches you see."
Lachlan looked over the man's shoulder to see a network of makeshift trenches dug out behind him. They looked nothing like the trenches that he had seen in the photos of the Great War, however, he knew that the terrain behind him probably looked like a spitting image of no man's land.
"Angus, 180 degrees to the the right if you'd be so kind," Lachlan shouted down into the tank, as the soldier hopped down into the trenches. Within several seconds the tank rotated 180 degrees to the right and was making its way to the rear of present forces, just being able to get over several individual lines of trenches. Eventually, they had made their way to an area which resembled a headquarters of sorts that was being used here.
"Dismount lads," Lachlan said down into the tank.
One by one each man came out of the tank and dropped down to the side, grouping together awaiting further orders.
"Christ, would ya look at this place," Angus said, commenting on the general state of the HQ. "Looks like it has definitely seen better days."
"Well after fighting the Omnics here for as long as we have, you could say it could use a spot of paint," The soldier said, trying to make some form of humour out of the situation. "Anyway if you'd just follow me," He instructed to which the four tankers complied.
The soldier, (which Lachlan identified to be a Captain after seeing the insignia on his uniform) took them into the building that had been made into the HQ. They made their way through the place, with each room having at least one person in them showing it awhile scale of the operation. They finally made it to a different room which had a makeshift sign outside which read "Major Smith". The Captain then promptly knocked on the door.
"Come in," A voice from the other side.
The Captain opened the door and entered first, letting the four men follow after him to which afterwards he closed the door to the room.
"Captain Brown, any news on that convoy of armour that is to arrive?" He asked as he examined a map on his desk.
"I'm afraid the convoy was ambushed by Omnic troops, no one made it out," Brown told the Major somberly.
"Bugger it all," The Major cussed under his breath. "Do you have any other news?"
"A friendly tank appeared out of thin air," Brown replied.
"What?" Major Smith asked in confusion as he looked up, noticing the four men with the Captain. "You're not joking are you?" Major Smith said after seeing the men with him.
"I wouldn't have told you if I didn't believe it was important news," Brown told the Major.
At this point, Lachlan and his men stepped forward and saluted the Major due to his ranking. They also had to introduce themselves and explain their situation to him.
"I'm Sergeant Kent and this is my crew," Lachlan said speaking up.
"Do you mind telling me how in God's name you got here?" Major Smith asked, still puzzled by the current circumstances.
"To be honest sir, I have no idea," Lachlan answered.
One expositional back story later...
"And that brings us up to speed," Lachlan said, finishing his explanation of how he believed he and his men got to where they are.
"Well Sergeant, some would find that hard to believe," Major Smith said after a moment of taking it in. "But for what it's worth, I believe you."
"Really?" Lachlan said in a little disbelief.
"You have to understand I've grown up with robots, then AI, now crazy AI that wants to kill all of humanity. At this point, I'm willing to believe anything." The Major explained.
"Well then seeing as me and my men appear to be stuck here for however long," Lachlan said, trailing off a little. "What can we do to help?" He then asked.
"I'm right to say that you heard that we have no armour correct?" Asked the Major.
"Yes, I did."
"Good, because I was going to use those tanks to take out an Omnics artillery piece on this hill here," The Major said circling an area on his map. "AA fire has made it impervious to air attack so an air strike is out of the question."
"So how are we meant to destroy the thing with just our tank?" Duncan asked the Major.
"All you have to do is destroy the guns main power regulator. It should cause the gun to overload and take out anything on the hill," The Major explained to Duncan. "I'll have my men attack from this point here away from you in order to draw the as many Omnics forces away from you," The Major explained as he pointed to his map.
"Good, the less of them we have to get through, the better chance we have at knocking the thing out," Archie commented.
"The Captain will be coming along with you, with a team so you don't get outnumbered too quickly and so that you can make the shot," Major Smith told the men. "Understood?"
"Yes, sir." They all replied.
It didn't take long afterwards for all the men to be assembled and ready for the attack on the Omnics position on the hill. Everyone was now making final preparations for the attack. Captain Brown was on the back of the Sherman, manning the that would be able to rip through any Omnic troopers they would come across.
Suddenly, a barrage of friendly artillery pummeled the defended on the hill, allowing the diversionary force to begin their attack. Angus revved up the engine and awaited the order to move up.
"High chance of death, small chance of success, I'm a bloody nutter," Angus muttered to himself.
"Full ahead driver," Lachlan ordered over the radio.
The tank then started to move forward and up the hill towards the main target, with two columns of me on following behind the tank for cover. Only about a minute of traversing their way up the hill, a wall of bullets opened up on the tank, causing Brown to duck down behind the turret and get as much cover as he could, whilst the men behind the tank tightened their columns as not to be picked off from the side.
"Archie load HE, Duncan blow those tin cans to pieces," Lachlan ordered over the intercom.
One by one, shells burst from the turret of the Firefly pummeling the Omnic positions at the top of the hill, turning the troopers there into nothing more than scrap metal. However, they were quick to reorganise whenever a hole was made in their defensive line, keeping the ascent up the hill at a slow walking pace.
Luckily for the attackers, however, the more they destroyed coming into the new positions, that meant less for the diversionary force. This would hopefully mean that they would start sending troops to the other side of the hill to try and stop the attack there, hence the diversionary force would have fulfilled its purpose and would've fallen back when things got too hot to handle.
However, that didn't happen. Instead, the earth shock as over the crest of the hill an Omnic walker appeared, with a very large gun mounted on its back. It sank its supports into the ground and lined up a shot on the slowly approaching tank. Just before it fired its first shot, Duncan was able to get an HE shell to detonate on the walker's hull causing it to shake and misfire as its projectile scraped across the left cheek of the turret, landing on the ground behind the tank.
"Christ!" Angus yelled as he felt the entire tank shake from the force of the impact.
"A direct hit from that thing and we're done for!" Archie exclaimed worriedly.
"Hold fast gents, we've gotten through worse," Lachlan said to reassure his comrades.
"The legs, shoot the bloody legs!" Brown yelled down his radio that he had managed to integrate with the tank's radio.
Duncan aimed the sites on one of the back legs and launched an AP shell at it, causing a large hole to be made in the centre of the leg due to the shell being a solid shot. Soon after the damage was done, the leg couldn't support the weight of the walker and crumpled in on itself as the walker tried to distribute its weight across its other legs. However, Duncan was able to get off another shot, causing the walker to fall onto its back and not able to right itself, left vulnerable like a tortoise on its shell.
"Send one through its underside Duncey!" Angus yelled in encouragement.
With a blow, a shell punched right through the underside armour of the walker, causing thick black smoke to pour out through the hole the shell has made. After a few minutes of smoke, the walker's ammunition detonated due to an internal fire, sending fragments of metal flying and embedding themselves in some of the Omnic troopers.
"Cracking shot Duncan!" Archie exclaimed as he quickly patted him on the shoulder multiple times.
"Best shot in in the Battalion I tell you that much," Duncan told his friends in pride.
The rest of the advance up the hill was much easier now that the threat to the Firefly was out of the way. The two columns behind the Firefly spread out in equal strength to the left and right side and pressed their attack, as Brown suppressed the Omnic troopers with the .
They then reached the crest of the hill where they saw the artillery piece that they were sent to knock out. Its generator was visible as it occasionally arced with electricity. It wasn't long before it was totally annihilated by a HE shell. The barrel of the artillery piece momentarily remained in the air, before falling to the ground with a mighty thud.
Lachlan then emerged from the turret after the gunfire had died down drastically to assess the situation for himself. He looked to see soldiers already celebrating in their victory, so he couldn't help but feel satisfied.
"That was some great shooting there," Brown said as he squatted down on top of the tank so that he was more level with Lachlan.
"I'm just glad I've got the best crew," Lachlan said modestly.
"Well, you have helped us take out a priority target and with minimal losses. I would be lying if I said I'm not impressed," Brown replied.
Before Lachlan could thank the Captain for the compliment, he noticed that the Firefly began to arc with the same energy that it had done before they ended up where they were now.
"You'd better get off, I think we might be headed home," Lachlan said quickly to Brown, who did what he said.
"Once more unto the breach eh?" Brown asked Lachlan who was still sticking out the turret.
"I guess you could say that," He told Brown as he disappeared back into the Firefly.
The arcs of energy then began to escalate until to the tank vanished along with a bright light, leaving Brown to wonder whether or not they had made it back home.
Meanwhile back in the Firefly, the four tankers knew that they were someplace else, as they could hear the all too familiar noise of rain as it wasn't raining where they were before. Lachlan peeked through his periscope to reveal that he and his men were indeed back at Caen.
"Well we're back home lads," Lachlan informed in a relieved tone.
"That's good. To be honest, I've had enough of all that future robot mumbo jumbo," Angus told.
"As pessimistic as ever," Archie muttered to Duncan to which they both shared a chuckle.
Lachlan then tuned his radio into the B set to try and make contact with HQ.
"HQ this is Sergeant Kent are you reading over?" He asked, anticipating an answer.
"Sergeant Kent this is HQ, we lost contact with you for a moment, anything to report?" The commander down the end of the radio asked him.
For a moment Lachlan was confused and thought that HQ were under exaggerating how long they were gone for. However, he came to the realisation that they must have come back a short time after they had left.
"Just a Tiger on our side of town, expect further Jerry forces to commence a counter-attack soon," He told HQ.
"Roger that, we'll inform the lads, over and out."
The men in the tank then turned to Lachlan, wondering why he hadn't told HQ about what had happened.
"Just between us lads," Lachlan said as he tapped the side of his nose and prepared for the next battle.
A/N: So this was a one shot I had intended to have done by the end of Easter, however it took me a tad longer than In thought it would but I think it turned out okay in the end. Please let me know what you think and I'll see you next time folks.