Girls Und Panzer: Euro League

Chapter 11: Hannibal (Franco-German Schools vs. St. Gloriana Girls High School and Saunders University High School)

It was a nice sunny day. The fields and rolling hills welcomed the coming of spring. When the match flare went up, the silence was broken by the sounds of tanks. Our Indien-Panzers stayed in a bow formation. We are the first line of attack, "I see something coming up the hill...it is a scout tank, a Crusader," radioed in Commander Wolf to us.

"We have a shot, Commander Wolf, Madsen, Shultz take the shot when you are ready, make sure they are in sight of the main gun," radioed Anna from the turret, and a 9.0cm shot hit the cruiser tank in the front of the tracks, and flipped it on it's side. Commander Wolf gave us the order to hold our position. This is another 'wipe-out' match.

"Nice shooting, Bunnies!" I cheered in the turret, and we got our orders from Wolf, "alright, we take it slow in the advance, once we take the high ground we will have the momentum of this match," I gave Monika a nudge in the back to signal for her to advance on the hill. Commander Wolf was the middle tank. Spear and I guarded the flanks.

I looked through the viewport, and saw another Crusader advancing on us, but this tank was not coming alone. There was a Churchill and a Matilda II, "Main vanguard is approaching, let's go Wolf Pack!" radioed Commander Wolf, and her crew made a shot at the Crusader which nearly missed the road wheels, and it fired back at the turret.

The shell bounced off the turret, barely making a scratch. A shell from Commander Spear's tank hit the front of the tank between the hull and the turret, "Good shot, Spear," I radioed back, until the Matilda decided to pick our tank as a target. There was no penetration, but it did shake the turret a bit. A shell from Wolf's tank hit the gun pivot.

"Still no sign of the flag tank though," said Commander Spear, and we surrounded the Churchill tank and put three shells effectively took the Churchill out of the match. My shell hit the tracks, Lillianna's hit the hull, and Claramond's hit the turret. We saw the white flag come out of the tank, "Wolf, Ehrenreich, Saunders team is coming in fast,"

A shell flew in from the distance, and hit the viewport of my tank on the turret. The shockwave from the shell shook the turret like an earthquake, "Looks like they saying hello," I radioed back to Commander Wolf after picking my self back up, and my crew were back into battle stations. I had to rely on the gunner's sight to get a closer view.

"Let us move in, and engage them, Ehrenreich, Spear, guard my flanks and I will inform the French and the tank destroyers to advance and flank them," Commander Wolf ordered as we advanced on the hill to take on the Saunders vanguard. The Saunders tanks were mostly Sherman tanks guarding the flag tank in a wedge-style formation.

"Firefly, Firefly, angle your armor, Wolf!" I radioed to Commander Wolf as Anna and Melissa were loading a shell into the breech. As we had planned, we broke off from our bow-formation and began to surround the Saunders tanks. Our first shell disabled the suspension on a Sherman medium tank, and effectively taking it out of this match.

"Break off and surround them, we will distract them until the French and the tank destroyers arrive," said Commander Wolf, radioing our orders. The plan was to trap the Sherman tanks in so they would have very little room to move around, and if they try they will meet our 9.0cm guns. Gaius Terentius Varro would be turning in his grave.

That Sherman Firefly was not going down without a fight. The 7.6cm gun almost hit the gun pivot Commander Spear's tank, and hit the front of the hull of my tank nearly missing the machine gun port. My crew were shaken by the shock of the shell, but they regained their composure and took a Sherman tank out of the match in retaliation.

With our tanks acting as the first wave on Saunders, the French and the Tank Destroyer teams attacked the Saunders Tanks from the rear just in time. Our 'Blond Bunnies' cheered as the ELC-AMX Bis light tanks were running amuck in the Saunders armored formation. From the thunder of guns to the rumble of engines, we secured our victory.

Commandant Filion's tank rushed in, and fired a shell into the lower armor of one of the few Sherman tanks still standing up to fight while the mighty AMX 50 Foch and the 'Jagermeister Panther' offered fire support taking out four more Sherman tanks hitting the tracks or the weak rear armor. White flags soon emerged from the defeated tanks.

The AMX 50 Foch commanded by Commandant Peneaux of Team St. Martha was the equalizer on our combined teams. The 12.0cm gun and the heavy frontal armor held steadfast against an onslaught of Sherman tanks. By the end of the match, there were many wrecks of Sherman tanks and British tanks littered across the rolling green hills.

Commandant Peneaux and Commandant Filion went to meet with the leaders of St. Gloriana and Saunders. The head commander of the Saunders teams was a young blond named Kay whom resembled Noemi's driver, "You ladies know how to put up a fight, those are some of the meanest tanks I have ever seen," said Kay enthusiastically to us.

"Hannibal would be proud to see his tactics in a sporting match, no?" said Commandant Peneaux tapping the front armor plating of her tank destroyer like a faithful hunting returning a pheasant to the hunter. We shared handshakes with each other. Kay is an energetic type of commander. A good quality to have under the high pressure of battle.

"With tanks like yours? Even if it was a capture the flag match, I would want to see what you ladies are made of," Kay replied, the other commander was Darjeeling whom I had the chance to meet and shake hands with. Judging by the way she speaks in riddles and quotes, I wonder if she has aspirations to be a poet? She might be good at that.

"As one might say, it is not the size of the dog in the fight, it is the size of the fight in the dog," said Darjeeling sipping at her tea, "Godspeed out there, ladies," Darjeeling is right. There are some very skilled teams here in Japan. Yet I feel our skills will soon be put to the test. I shook Darjeeling's and Orange Pekoe's hands for a very good match.

"We know you ladies will be facing Ooarai and Kuromorimine, you give 'em hell, ladies!" Kay cheered to us. We used our Katzchen to help Saunders and St. Gloriana clear the area of their tanks and helped them back to their base ships. Some tanks had been turned on their sides while others had their tracks blown off or had damage to the turrets.

As we expected, our final match is the most challenging. I feel my team are more than up to it. There was damage to the turret and the hull of our Indien-Panzer from that Sherman Firefly. They are battle scars for a tough and resilient tank with an equally tough crew under my command. I am proud to be the commander of the 'Blond Bunnies'.

There were hugs going all around between us and the French. We were that much closer to winning this competition. There was still one more mountain left for us to climb. For now, I needed my team to be rested and well informed for what we might be up against. If it is Kuromorimine, that will mean we are facing our own kind, German tanks.

The thing is between us Germans and the French is that we have faced these kinds of tanks before in European armored sporting matches, and we know the ins and outs of these tanks. We know their strengths and weaknesses. Our knowledge is going to be a key factor against Ooarai and Kuromorimine. We work very well together. We can win.