Hell On Tracks
Part 3
Kay spent the next twenty minutes showing us various tanks in the Sherman arsenal, and the Suanders history that they might have had. A particular M4 with the short 75 that had been her predecessor's command tank, and had scored a kill against one of Kuromorimine's Konigstigers by driving up to point blank of the heavy and hammering AP into the turret ring until it popped the white flag. This Sherman Jumbo had only survived a match because it got bogged down in mud at exactly the right time to avoid taking a flank shot from one of BC Freedom's ARL 44s, and BC Freedom's flag tank was disabled before the ARL could take a second shot. Their other Jumbo was undergoing significant repairs after taking a KV-2 152mm shell to the rear, ruining its engine and engine deck even with all of the safety measures that Sensha-do had in place.
There were more stories than you could shake a stick at, and it sounded like Saunders often used their sheer number of vehicles to field multiple teams in multiple tournaments all at once. Rachel near melted into a puddle of gooey giggles at the thought of the hordes of Shermans all going at once, though I was less prone to fits of that kind of fangirling and the random screams of "haha, tanks!" than her.
Sooner than any of us tank nerds would have liked, someone's phone beeped, and we had to leave if we wanted to catch the ferry back to shore. Kay offered to drive us in one of Saunders' authentic Willys Jeeps, but Rachel declined, since we had to get her pickup ashore anyways. Kay and I instead climbed into the bed of the truck and talked tanks as Rachel zipped along towards the docking bay for the ferry.
"So, what's your favorite tank?" I asked, already expecting the obvious answer.
"M4 Sherman. It's a well rounded tank with reliable armor, weapons, and mobility." Kay answered readily. I nodded, having expected that answer. "However, it's also very useful to have a number of the exact same-looking tanks. If you hit-and-fade from one direction, and then hit them again from a different direction, you can convince the opponent that you have more tanks committed than you actually do, while your other operational platoons are may think we use overwhelming numbers, but we actually use tactics, strategy, and misdirection to make people think we use overwhelming numbers."
"And then you have your specialist tanks to deal with problems as necessary, while keeping supply and maintenance simple because they're all Sherman variants." I said, nodding along with the thoughts. It was clever. Didn't make me like the M4, but it was clever thinking.
"Exactly!" Kay cheered, though anything else was cut off as Rachel took a turn rather sharply and then came to a dead stop, throwing Kay and I around a little bit. Not badly, but enough to make my head spin.
The trip back to shore was fairly boring, though Rachel and I used it to get to know Kay a little better, talking things other than tanks. Favorite foods, favorite classes, fun things to do in free time that don't involve tanks. Apparently, Kay was licensed to fly a C-5M Super Galaxy as part of Saunders' Airlift Division, though she preferred to let Naomi (the Firefly's commander and sometimes gunner) do the actual flying.
We parted ways with Kay when we hit shore, as she needed to go meet up with the Tankery team while they warmed up. Rachel and I went and picked up some lunch that was slightly healthier than the burgers and other assorted fast food that seemed to be common fare onboard Saunders.
"Looking forward to the game?" Rach asked, as if I wasn't.
"Of course! High school Sensha-do is fun and all, but the Japanese practically invented the sport. It's like comparing American soccer to European football, they're both the same sport but one is clearly a more refined art." I said after swallowing a mouthful of my salad.
"So you expect Saunders to win."
"Probably." I admitted. "The Fishermen have a KV-1, but their lineup is otherwise pretty uninspiring."
"You say that, but they're being compared to a lineup of Shermans. That's almost the epitome of boring but practical." Rachel deadpanned.
"And they're more capable than Matildas or StuGs with their howitzers. And that's ignoring the 38(t) scout."
"Point conceded. Should be an interesting fight, though. What do you expect the flag tanks to be?"
I didn't answer for a moment, taking another bite of my salad as I thought. "Saunders uses the A1 as their flag, though I'm not sure about Astoria. A Matilda or the KV would make the most sense."
After lunch, we set off to the seating arrangements for the Sensha-do match. Due to the scale of the games, it was impossible to have seating that could watch the whole field like at a football or baseball game, so the bleachers were set up just off of the marked off Tankery field, with a pair of massive screens set up. One of the screens had a live updating tactical map that showed the locations of each of the tanks, as well as showing a list of the tanks for each team off to either side. The other was a live camera feed that was streamed from a helicopter following the action, wherever that may be.
The lineups were pretty much what I expected. The M4A1 with the 76 was Saunders' flag, commanded by the vice captain, Arisa, while Astoria had decided on their KV-1 to be their flag.
"Welcome to the non-league match between the Astoria Fighting Fisherladies, and the Saunders University High School Tankery team!" The announcer began. On the main screen, the team captains, Kay and some girl from Astoria, shook hands, bowed, and received rides back to their respective teams. "This will be a flag tank battle, where the winner will be decided by who eliminates whose flag tank first. Captains, are you teams ready?"
Down in the field, Kay gave a big thumbs up, and called an affirmative through her radio as soon as she was aboard her M4. Moments later, Astoria's captain did the same from the KV's TC's hatch.
"On your marks, get set, roll out!" The announcer called, as one of the judges fired a flare into the air, signifying the start of the match.