Russians won't surrender no,
Striking fear into their foe!
Split them into small divisions,
Rip them off the conquest visions,
Motti tactics used with great result.
While Odin was desperately trying to save Sendai from Viking Marine High School, the biggest pressure was on Tsar Peter Boys High School. After Pravda punched a hole on their line of defense they flanked them again and again continuously pushing them northward. Mannerheim was still on the way so they could only count on themselves.
As they were losing more and more occupied northern territory in Honshu they saw that in this situation they had no chance to turn the tide of the attack. Their only hope was that they can stop Pravda at a strongpoint and hold their advance until reinforcement arrives.
"All tanks, fall back and take positions on Mt. Kurikoma!" ordered Ivan his troops. He decided to make a stand on this 1626 meters high mountain to gain time. The T-34s, JS-2s, SU-100s, ISU-152s and SU-14-1s ceased fire and turned tails while Pravda was chasing them through the valleys between the hills.
When the units of the Russian styled boys' school reached Mt. Kurikoma, Ivan sent the artilleries to the pike and lined up the tanks and TD's in the mountainside.
"What do you think our chances are командир?" asked Igor as his T-34 got positioned in the high grass.
"Russian tanks can barely depress their guns, so it could be problematic to aim at the enemy. Still, having the higher position is definitely an advantage. Capturing this mountain will be far harder for Pravda than holding it."
"Can we stop them?"
"We have to hold our ground until Mannerheim reaches us. Then we can try a counterattack."
"Actually, I honestly didn't think that the girls would be able to surprise us this much. I have to admit that they've got guts."
"They say Igor: a good soldier doesn't fight because he hates what is before him. But because he loves what is behind him."
"Well, technically, Aomori is before Pravda now."
"You know what I'm talking about."
"Of course I know командир. That is why I'm here as well. However, just as the girls, we must do our duty. We're fighting because we love Tsar Peter."
"Huh. When this war has started I've wanted to punish our opponents for what they were doing with our schools for decades and laugh in their face. Now I see that mostly it wasn't their fault. It was their damn directorate what provoked this conflict."
"I guess it means that the war would end sooner if they lost their power." said Igor.
"That's right. But for that we have to reach Tokyo."
"Tokyo…" sighed Igor. "Will we reach it ever?"
"Believe in it and one day we will march down the streets of the capital. Believe in victory and we will win by our own efforts or when the enemy gets fed up."
"For which I see little chance."
"Pity. But continue this conversation another time my friend. We have company."
Down in the valley the tanks of Pravda came out of the woods and proceeded to engage their confederate counterpart.
Katyusha opened the hatch of her tank and took her binoculars. Luckily for them the enemy could install only a few barricades before they arrived. But even with this circumstance she knew exactly that they face a hard task. Capturing a mountain is always dangerous and sometimes almost impossible. But they had to do it.
"Katyusha. All units are ready. Shall we try it?" asked Nonna.
"Do it or don't do it." said Katyusha. "But do not try."
"Which option you choose then?"
"We do it. Be quick! Get close to the mountain as fast as we can. There we will be more or less protected from their self-propelled guns. Once we are there surround the Kurikoma. It will be easier to win if we build up a siege."
"Yokai."
As soon as she said that the first 152 millimeters artillery shells impacted in the valley, uncomfortably close to Pravda.
"Go go go! Speed up everyone! They will slaughter all of us here if we don't move! Charge!" shouted Katyusha and the tanks increased their speed in the rain of the ballistic grenades.
When they reached the foot of the mountain they split into two columns and went around it. An hour later they managed to make a circle of iron around Mt. Kurikoma.
"Alright girls, you may begin to climb!" radioed Katyusha. The tanks turned toward the mountainside and the duel began between the sides.
Pravda faced strong resistance, especially by the TDs of Tsar Peter. They could barely leave their covers and they could merely gain a few meters of land. On the other hand however the boys were not able to force them to turn back and surrender the blockade either. The afternoon then the evening found the armies in the positions where they were at the morning.
Katyusha stopped the attack for the time of darkness. But she commanded a few of her tanks to fire sometimes to disturb the enemy in their sleep. The boys were not slothful either and fired back each time when a shell flew away between them. Still, the night was spent in relative calm.
After sunrise the battle intensified again and now Pravda could conquer the lower parts of the mountain.
Just as they were about to proceed further, suddenly a T-34 got white flagged. But not by the defenders. It was hit from behind. In the chaos it took a bit of time for the girls to realize that the shot came from somewhere else. A moment later the track of another T-34 got destroyed by a next grenade.
"Where the hell is this coming from?" yelled Katyusha. Immediately after she said that they had minus one tank again.
"I think from the other hill commander." a girl said.
Katyusha took her telescope again. "I see, it's a goddam Stug III! Give him hell!" Some of the tanks turned their turrets around and fired at the enemy tank-destroyer on the neighboring mountain.
"They found us general! We are changing our position!" reported the commander of the Stug.
"Copy that sniper unit!" replied Törni as he was standing in the turret of his Panzer IV. "Keep them under fire! We're engaging!"
In mean time Katyusha frowned because of her thoughts. A Stug III could only mean one thing. Mannerheim High School must be somewhere nearby. She didn't have to wait long.
"Commander! Several enemy units are approaching from the northeast!" the girls on the other side of the mountain radioed. This was bad. The last thing Katyusha wanted was turning into besieged from besieger.
"Half of you keep up the pressure on the mountain! The other half will take defense positions and face Mannerheim!"
"Understood!"
But it wasn't as easy as Katyusha thought. The boys of the Finnish styled school didn't carry out a frontal attack. Instead of that they used a hit and run tactic. They constantly raided the lines of Pravda in small groups, taking out one or two tanks then they disappeared again in the forest. This was very annoying and stressful for the girls. They couldn't know when and where they will be attacked from behind. Katyusha had no choice but take away tanks from the mountain to fight the Panzers. Her fear came true. Her blockade itself got surrounded. Like in the case of Miho and her comrades, the Blitzkrieg of the JSF stuck here as well and a protracted battle began which Katyusha wanted to avoid at all cost.
What gave her hope was the fact that Tsar Peter was slowly running out of ammunition. If they could force them to fight on and use up all their remaining ammo it will be no problem to overrun Mt. Kurikoma, destroy the enemy then turn around and chase Mannerheim away. She needed time. She counted on this strategy.
Ivan's POV
"Have you brought ammunition? Over." asked Ivan.
"Yes. Over." replied Törni. They had to keep their radio messages short in order to prevent Pravda from intercepting their broadcasts. "What's your situation up there?"
"Not good. Only a few shells left."
"We find a way to get the supply to you. Over." said Törni.
"Be quick. Over."
"Aaron!" Törni turned to his vice-commander.
"Yes General?"
"Send out scouts. Find an ideal place for sneaking between the enemy forces and getting the shells to our comrades!"
"Understood General!" saluted Aaron and he sent a group of Panzer IIIs on their way. It was the middle of the afternoon when they came back.
"We've found no holes on the enemy line." said the commander of the unit. "But we have found something else."
"What would it be?" asked Törni.
"A cave."
"A cave?"
"Yes General. It's only a few meters away from the foot of the mountain on the eastern side."
"And how can it be useful for us?"
"You may say I am crazy General, but we could dig a tunnel to our friends."
"You are right Eino, you are crazy."
"Let me explain it. We went inside and found out that there is a softer, earthy part on the stick basalt wall. We can gouge it easily and get to the mountain undetected."
Törni turned to Aaron then to Eino again. "Sometimes we need crazy people too Eino. Alright. You may start it."
"Yes General! When?"
"Right now. We and especially our friends from Tsar Peter do not have much time."
"Yes sir!"
Then Mannerheim's commander took the radio again. "Ivan-san, do you hear me?"
"Yes Törni-san!"
"I'd like to ask you to hold your ground for two more days. Is it possible?"
"I think yes. But two days is the final limit until we can hold on. Why?"
"We have found a way to resupply you with ammunition. That takes 48 hours."
"What did you figure out?"
"I don't want to risk that Pravda learns our plan. Just wait patiently please."
"Okay. Please hurry!" sighed Ivan.
"We are coming!"
Two days later
The night came and with that the breaking point of Tsar Peter's force. Each of their tanks now had only four or three rounds. They were sitting silently in the dark waiting and waiting. Where are their friends?
"Do you think they are really able to reach us?" asked Igor from his commander as they were sitting on a big rock near their tanks.
"You should know them Igor." said Ivan. "If they promise something they'll keep their word. Trust them."
"I trust them commander. But anything can go wrong and…"
"Wait!" interrupted Ivan.
"What?"
"Did you hear that?" They harkened and suddenly they heard a quiet, repressed, scraping sound. "What the hell?"
A few seconds later the earth at their feet began to disintegrate and falling inside a hole.
"And yet it moves." whispered Igor. In the next moment to their surprise a head appeared in the pit.
"General Ivan! We came to the rescue!" the figure said while saluting.
"Wait. What is happening here?" asked Ivan.
The boy in the hole climbed out. His uniform, his face and his hands were full of dirt. "We couldn't approach you over the ground. So we came underground."
Earlier
The boys of Mannerheim High School were working were working in twenty-four hours in the last two days. They did everything to finish the tunnel in time. Luckily for them they had to work with simple earth not with hard, volcanic basalt. They were digging three-four meters under the surface in darkness, only their lanterns gave a bit of light in the stifling air. Above them their friends diverted the attention of the girls and the battle raged on. But down there it was just cold earth and the toneless music of pickaxes and spades. Finally, when on the night of the second day they measured the distance they knew that they were under the positions of Tsar Peter and they started digging upwards.
Present
"You sure have ideas soldier." said Ivan. "Do you have what we need?"
"Sure we do!" nodded the other boy. "You may come guys!" he shouted into the pit. Slowly, one by one other boys in Mannerheim's bluish grey uniform emerged carrying heavy wooden boxes with them. "Here you are General."
"You can't imagine how grateful we are boys. Спасибо."
"We are only doing our duty. Thank it by giving them hell in the morning." said Mannerheim's student while gesturing with his head toward Pravda.
"You bet we will! Be prepared!"
Early morning
Though the Sun has already raised, on the southwestern side of Mt, Kurikoma it was still dark for Katyusha for the mountain stood between her and the star of our solar system. It was silence on the mountainside as the girls of Pravda were preparing for their final charge. All of them were in their action stations hoping that they can take the next step on the road to get their hometown back. Katyusha herself stood in her cupola.
The attack would have started in only two minutes. Then out of nowhere the confederate artillery on the peak unleashed its full power on them, much intensively than in the past few days. From the north other high caliber HE shells have arrived from the sky. The short commander of Pravda didn't even have time to give orders when she noticed all the armored vehicles of Tsar Peter storming down on each side of the mount.
"Commander Katyusha! Mannerheim High School is proceeding from behind us! We are surrounded! What shall we do?" radioed Nina desperately.
"Damn it! Break out of the circle! Join us in the south and retreat!" commanded Katyusha. She couldn't imagine what happened. Tsar Peter should have run out of ammunition by now. Despite of this they were constantly firing without a break. Katyusha couldn't risk heavy losses so she pulled back her tanks. Pravda has regrouped around her then they tried to hold the conquered ground but the assault of the Hokkaido Battalion was too intense.
At the end of the day they were pushed back with an entire kilometer.
"Katyusha. The enemy has stopped the advance." reported Nonna when it was evening once again.
"I don't understand. How were they able to do this?"
"I can't give an answer this time. Anyway, what are your orders?"
"Obviously we fight back. I promise you that somehow I will take you girls home."
"Home…" muttered Klara silently.
"Oh yes… I forgot it."
"Never mind it Katyusha-san." said the Russian girl. "I want to fight for Pravda and my comrades too."
"I wish everyone were so honest and loyal like you." sighed Katyusha.
"I'm just who I am. No need to praise me so much мой командир."
"That's exactly what I'm talking about." said Katyusha.
In mean time none of them knew that behind in the hinterland something was about to unfold. Something that will drastically change the future of the war and the sides fighting in it. Something that will make this conflict to escalate.
Hi there folks! Here is the next chapter with the newest battle of the Sensha-Do War. Hope you enjoyed it! Expect more thrills to come soon! As usual: leave a follow or favorite if you like what you read, and write a review if you have opinion, idea or suggestion!
Panzer vor!