I do not own Girls Und Panzer in any form. This is a work of fanfiction.
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Ch6: This is where it gets real
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Everyone was sleeping relatively sound in their bunks when they were jolted awake by the dreaded air raid siren. The ladies all jumped up and got dressed quickly, some of them thinking it may be a drill, the others thinking something really bad was about to happen. Once dressed, everyone ran to the hangar where they were met by JGSDF, PLA and some American troops who were also getting ready. The ones who thought it may be a drill suddenly realized that this was the big one. Everyone ran out to ready their tanks for battle. They did not load any practice rounds at all, they only loaded HEAT, APFSDS (armor piercing, fin stabilized, discarding sabot), HEF (high explosive, fragmentation) and some white phosphorous rounds. Major Riley came over to address the girls. "All of your tanks are fueled, repaired and ready to go." He said, loading his rifle.
"Beg pardon, sir." Midoriko spoke up. "We would like to help out. What can we do?"
"For now, you can help reload and refuel as units come back in. We've got support coming in from all around. You'll soon be in your own vehicle, as the French Military has sent over some armor. The AMX Leclerc will be available later today."
Mallard team saluted the Major and went over to help with the resupply teams. "Sir, what kind of forces are we going up against?" Miho asked.
"General Wanquan called it. We have reports of Korean Mi-24 Hind attack choppers coming in from the south. The Chinese anti-aircraft units have started to engage them, and we think they're about to change direction, since they can't get past the triple A fire."
"They're really going all out." Captain Chono started. "Spotters have seen what appear to be Korean bombers, such as the B-5, and a couple of transport planes."
"What do you mean, transport planes?" Katyusha asked.
"They're likely bringing in paratroopers."
All the girls started to feel uneasy about how bad things were looking, but knew they had to do something. Everyone boarded their tanks and started leaving the hangar. All of the vehicles were equipped with night and thermal optics, so they were fully capable of fighting in the dark. General Kiyofumi called out over the radio and told all of the ladies to head into the nearby city. "Civilian population has been sent into bunkers for protection. Use of all weapons in the city limits is authorized. Try to minimize collateral damage, but fire if it's an absolute necessity."
The tanks stormed out of the hangars and started heading for the city. Not long after getting off the base, the girls saw the transport planes dropping the feared paratroopers. One of the transports was struck by anti-aircraft fire and started going down in flames. When the surviving troopers started jumping out, the Chinese AA units started firing at the open parachutes, making the troopers fall to their deaths if they weren't killed by the explosions. Oarai started fanning out along the streets to the west, Pravda went straight up north and to the east. Hippo team took their PzH2000 down the freeway, allowing them more room to turn and fire. They were soon greeted by a Korean armor column of 4 tanks. Caesar and Saemonza loaded one of the 155mm artillery shells and Saemonza took aim at the lead tank. She fired and the vehicle again rocked back on its parking brake. The round hit and blew the lead tank to pieces, making the turret fly up out of the hull and hit one of the other tanks as it came down. Where the turret landed jammed it, making it unable to turn without turning the entire tank. The second tank in the column fired an armor piercing round, which only buried itself in the armor of the PzH2000, just as it had done on the M103A2, but didn't get penetration. The girls started hearing a loud jet engine droning overhead and a terrifying 'brrrrrrrrt' sound as they saw sparks flying all around one of the other tanks. One of the American A-10 Warthogs had shown up and started engaging the Korean armor with its GAU-8 Gatling gun. One of the tanks' magazine was hit, which made the ammunition cook off and the tank blew itself apart. The Warthog fired one of its Hellfire missiles at one of the other tanks. The missile hit dead on the top of the turret and finished it off, similarly blowing the tank to bits. Caesar and Saemonza loaded again and took aim at the remaining tank, which had the jammed turret. Just as Saemonza was pulling the trigger and the firing mechanism was moving, she saw what looked like a small white handkerchief waving from out of the commander's hatch, as if the commander was trying to surrender, but it was too late. The gun sounded off and the tank was completely destroyed.
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Anglerfish team went through the business district to hunt for enemy armor. When they arrived, they found the streets to be completely deserted. The girls heard a jet engine overhead and then a whistling sound. Miho looked up through the periscope and saw a strange looking aircraft, which was one of the Korean B-5 bombers. Three businesses about a quarter mile down the street erupted as they were struck with the 1,000lb bombs. "Oh my god, why are they attacking a civilian area?" Miho asked out loud.
Her curiosity soon changed as she saw a QW-2 surface to air missile fly up and smack into the bomber, knocking it apart as it fell from the sky. "I guess that serves them right for going after civilians and their businesses." Saori spat out over the radio.
Much to the girls' fright, the AT threat indicator woke up and pointed out portable weapons to port side. Hana started spinning the turret and gave the range that the threat was coming from. Saori set the fuze on a HEF round for the distance and loaded it into the breach. When the turret was lined up, the girls saw what appeared to be 7 North Korean SOF (special operations force) troopers in the street, each with a Type 69 RPG on his shoulder. They all fired at the same time, all of the rockets hitting the Leopard 2A1. Only 3 of the rockets actually detonated, the others were presumably duds. Even the rockets that did explode didn't cause the intended damage, but the troopers didn't care. They dropped the RPG launchers and started charging the tank. Hana fired the main gun and the round went down the street, blowing up right over top of the troopers' heads, killing all of them. "D-did I do the right thing?" She asked, a quiver in her voice.
"Yes. If you didn't, those men would have killed us when they got to us." Miho replied.
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Pravda's lead T90A was casually rolling down the city streets in what Katyusha decided to call a "bait and switch" operation. They would drive down a street, occasionally shooting the machine gun at areas where the Korean troops were taking cover, but never firing the main gun. Katyusha was calling out locations to the Msta gun to fire on as they drove past. The Korean troops were confused as to the tactic of just driving down the street and not engaging them with the main gun. Their confusion soon turned to regret for not moving as the whistling sound of incoming artillery started cutting through the air. The rounds fell exactly where the troops were hiding, taking out entire squadrons at a time. "What do you think, Nonna?" Katyusha asked.
"About what?" Nonna replied. "Killing them? They're hostile invaders in our country who don't seem to mind attacking civilian homes and businesses. I can't say I'm happy, but I'm certainly not going to cry for them."
"You had better not! You'll fork over 50 Rubles if I see even one tear!"
Just as their conversation was wrapping up, the AT threat indicator woke up and the automatic smokescreen kicked in. They were being tracked on thermal by aircraft. The unit description came up as "Helicopter, Soviet, MI-24, active tracking thermal/radar". The indicator then displayed the message "weapons launch detected, radar lock broken". Since the tank was still moving and obscured by the smokescreen, the 9M17 Fletya ATGM that was tracking them hit the ground where they were when the missile was launched. Nina cycled the autoloader with a white phosphorous round and aimed at where she thought the Hind was. Once the T90A moved out of the smoke cloud, she dialed in the Hind and fired. The round burst and covered the helicopter with burning material. The engines sucked some of it in and the material made the engines stall out, locking the rotors up as well, which prevented autorotation from saving them. The Hind fell like a bag of hammers and exploded on impact. "Our tanks can do anything. Even function as anti aircraft." Nina said.
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Rabbit team was encountering stiff resistance in the residential block, mostly from Korean BTR-80 armored personnel carriers. They were more of an annoyance than anything else, as the 30mm rounds couldn't cause significant damage to the Abrams. The 120mm gun made very short work of the APCs, only needing one shot to destroy each one. Their biggest concern was running out of ammunition. They finally met two of the Korean P'okp'ung-Ho tanks, which made them feel uneasy right away. The lead vehicle fired a HEAT round at them, striking the turret and blowing off several ERA blocks. Aside from being jostled around for a moment, there was no permanent damage done. Azusa told Saki to load a HEAT round to return fire with. Once the round was loaded, Ayumi took aim at their assailant and fired. The round hit right where the gun came out of the turret, which blew inside the turret, causing the ammunition to cook off and destroy the tank. The second tank was lining up a shot, and just as they were about to fire, their engine compartment blew out. An Italian C1 Ariete came from between some buildings and circled the Korean tank, keeping its main gun trained on it. The Korean tank fired at the C1 with an armor piercing round, which bounced off of the sloped armor of the turret. The C1 fired back at the tank, finishing it off. "Looked like you could use a hand." A familiar voice came over the radio. "Besides, we can't let you have all the fun."
"Who are you?" Azusa called out over the radio.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten me." The voice continued. "We're in an Italian tank. Get it?"
"Anchovy?"
"Yep! Now, let's push these invaders back."
The C1 Ariete centered its turret and started rolling down the streets, the Abrams sweeping through opposing streets. Both teams were using their coaxial controlled machine guns to fire at infantry units as they acquired them.
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Anglerfish team went back toward the base to refuel and rearm, as a FARP (forward arming/refuel point) in the city had not yet been established. They pulled up near the hangar and Mallard team came over with the hose to refuel them and powered carts with ammunition on them. They looked on in awe at the multiple scratches, chips and burn marks all over the Leopard 2A1. "How many times have you been hit?" Midoriko asked as she passed 120mm rounds up to the crew.
"I dunno, probably about 20." Miho answered, nonchalantly. "I really like this tank. We've been hit by RPGs, other tanks and grenade launchers. I don't want to get cocky, though."
The tank was still being refueled when they started hearing gunfire and explosions coming from near the infirmary. Everyone could feel their heart sink when they started hearing the reports in the distance. "They're monsters! Why are they going after the hospital?" Myoko asked.
"We'll find out when we get there. Hurry up and pass us the ammo." Miho replied.
Once done refueling and reloading, Anglerfish team started rolling toward the infirmary. Upon coming into view of the main building, they saw sandbags piled up near the front, with JGSDF, PLA and US troops firing machine guns out toward the field. At Miho's request, Saori loaded a HEAT round to fire at any Korean armor. The AT threat indicator informed them that there were anti tank weapons in the area, in the direction of the infirmary as well as in the field. They saw what were FGM-148 Javelin anti tank missiles fly up from where the infirmary was, and they came down on the advancing Korean tanks, destroying most of them. Hana aimed at one of the tanks in the field, which didn't look like a Korean vehicle. The IFF system identified the vehicle as friendly, and the AT threat indicator identified it as "Heavy armor, British, Challenger II, passive tracking thermal/radar/sonar, friendly unit". "British? Do you mean St. Gloriana?" Miho asked, stumped.
"It is British, and it fits their theme." Saori noted. "Calling friendly unit. Please identifiy yourself."
"I read you, Anglerfish. This is Darjeeling. We showed up to quite a mess, didn't we?" Darjeeling responded over the radio. "Now, could you please top tracking us? The darned AT threat unit keeps saying we're being tracked by a friendly unit."
Hana broke the lock and panned the gun to the field to pick an enemy vehicle to fire at. Just as she was preparing to fire, St. Gloriana fired at their target, destroying the Korean tank. "Aw, that one was supposed to be mine." Hana huffed.
"We're like salt to snails." Darjeeling replied, her riddle confusing Anglerfish team for a moment. "We kill the enemy? You know, salt is deadly to snails?"
"Typical Darjeeling. Even in war, she has time to crack off riddles." Miho chuckled.
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To be continued next chapter
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New vehicles
Korean: Mi-24 "Hind". Main armament (as shown here): Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23, 23x115mm. Secondary (as shown here): 9M17 Fletya ATGM, S-24 240mm unguided rockets. Crew: ~11 (pilot, weapons systems officer, optional technician, up to 8 troops with gear). Armor: thickness varies, hardened steel throughout, titanium protecting cockpit. Engine: 2x Izotov TV3-177A turboshaft, 1,700 hp each. The "Hind" (NATO reporting code) attack chopper was originally developed by the Soviet Union. Thousands were produced, with numerous variants. Many countries produce the aircraft under license, as well as a handful of unlicensed variants. The Hind is fast, boasting a top speed of right at 200 mph, and the armor protects the crew from all small arms fire and some heavier arms fire from all angles. The Hind is fearsome in combat. It can only carry 8 troops with gear, but its weapons systems allow it to engage armored units and fixed positions to provide support for infantry units.
Korean: B-5 (Ilyushin Il-28N "Beagle") medium bomber. Main armament: varies, typically guided or unguided free fall bombs. As shown here: 6x 1,000 pound unguided free fall bombs. Secondary: originally, 2x Nudelman-Suranov NS-23, 23x115mm autocannons. As shown here: no secondary weapons. Crew: 2 (pilot, navigator/bombardier). Armor: thickness varies, forged aluminum. Engine: 2x Klimov VK-1 turbojet engines, 5,955 lbf thrust each. The Korean B-5 is derived from the Soviet Ilyushin Il-28 "Beagle" (NATO reporting code). It was originally designed to be able to strike out as far as mainland Japan, with payloads up to 6,600 lbs (3,000 kg) of guided or unguided free fall bombs. Even when loaded, the "Beagle" has a respectable top speed for a medium bomber, about 500 mph (804 kph), which is viewed as obsolete or slow when compared to modern bombers, such as the American B-1 "Lancer" bomber and the Russian Tupelov TU-160 "Blackjack" bomber, which can both reach speeds of around Mach 2.
Korean: Antonov An-24 transport plane. Main armament (as shown here): none, used for troop transport. No secondary weapons. Crew: ~52 (pilot, navigator, up to 50 troops with gear). Armor: thickness varies, aluminum. Engines: 2x Ivchenko Al-24A turboprop engines, 2,550 hp each. The Antonov An-24 was designed primarily as a troop transport plane, carrying up to 50 fully armed troops, of which many may be paratroopers.
Korean: BTR-80 armored personnel carrier. Main armament: 2A72 30mm autocannon. Secondary: PKT 7.62mm machine gun. Crew: ~10 (commander, driver, gunner, up to 7 fully armed troops). Armor: thickness classified, welded steel. Engine: KamAZ-7403 diesel, 260hp. The BTR-80 is essentially a BTR-70 with improvements made to the turret, parts of the hull and the engine. 8 wheel drive gives the vehicle excellent off road ability. It can climb up to a 60% grade and vertical step of 0.5m.
Oarai: AMX Leclerc (Mallard team). Main armament: GIAT 120-26/52 120mm smoothbore gun with autoloader. Secondary: Coaxial Browning M2HB .50 machine gun. Crew: 3 (commander, driver, gunner). Armor: thickness classified, SXXI composite, titanium, tungsten and semi-reactive layers. Engine: Wartsila SACM turbo diesel 8 cylinder, 1,500 hp. The French AMX Leclerc was essentially designed around its autoloader system, to prevent problems that can come up when dealing with such systems. Like many other autoloaders, once the system loads, it cannot remove the round until fired. Features a thermal sleeve with an automatic compressed air fume extractor to better purge weapons exhaust gasses. Considered to be amongst the best MBT in the world, at least in the top 10.
Anzio: Italian C1 Ariete. Main armament: OTO Melara 120mm smoothbore gun. Secondary: Coaxial controlled MG 42/59 7.62mm machine gun. Crew: 4 (commander, driver, loader, gunner). Armor: thickness classified, laminated steel/composite blend. Engine: Fiat-Iveco MTCA turbo diesel V12, 1,250hp. The C1 Ariete features armor that allows it to rival most other modern main battle tanks. It uses a ZF LGZ3000 computer controlled transmission that allows the tank to climb grades up to 60 degrees, and it can ford water up to 1.25m on the fly.
St. Gloriana: British Challenger 2. Main armament: L30A1 120mm rifled gun. Secondary: L94A1 EX-34 7.62mm chain gun. Crew: 4 (commander, driver, gunner, loader). Armor: thickness classified, Chobham composite, Dorchester level 2. Engine: Perkins CV12 diesel, 1,200hp. The Challenger 2 is one of the most heavily armored tanks in the world, comparable to tanks such as the American M1 Abrams and german Leopard 2A1. The only known severe damage incident was blue on blue (friendly fire).