Hell On Tracks
Part 4

The Saunders-Astoria match was actually taking place in a larger than usual area. Most matches take place in a roughly 2 kilometer by 2 kilometer box, with changes being made to the area depending on natural features and city limits. This one was taking place on Cape Disappointment, from the coastline up to about where downtown Ilwaco was, in an area that was roughly half again as large as usual, though not quite as wide or squarely shaped.

Astoria's tanks started on the northern edge of the arena, in the middle of the forest. It was going to be a great defensive boon to their slower but very well armored Matildas. Saunders had started further south, closer to the beaches and the tip of the cape. There was about a kilometer between the two start points (the captains had gotten transport back from their meeting point, Kay via a Willys Jeep, and the Astoria girl by a helpful mom), which meant that if the two groups charged head on, they would meet reasonably quickly and could have a no-holds-barred brawl in the forest.

Such a fight would benefit Astoria, with their heavier armor and weaker guns needing to get closer to punch through a Sherman's armor and disable it. The longer ranges of the open fields on the southern part of the map would give the Shermans an advantage, with the heavier shells in the short 75s having better power at range over the Matilda's 2-pounder guns.

Kay must have recognized as much as well, since she split her forces into three platoons, keeping the flag M4A1 back and behind, driving up the western beaches to keep fairly open sightlines as they advanced. Astoria was moving into the forest in a large wedge with the KV front and center, their two StuG IIIs hanging back with one on either flank. Their Pz. 38(t) was acting as a scout and was moving west, en-route to intercept the platoon of Shermans that was furthest inland.

The first twenty minutes or so of the match were fairly quiet, as the two teams moved to positions they felt would be advantageous. There was a brief moment of excitement when the 38(t) ran headfirst into the Sherman platoon as I had expected, but it turned and ran after receiving a hail of fire from the trio of M4s.

Well, it didn't run so much as disengage and then start shadowing Saunders' platoon from a different angle. Neither team fired shots at each other, though the Saunders tankers had to have seen the panzer.

"Why aren't they taking out the scout?" Rachel asked, scratching her head.

I didn't have an answer for her until we watched the other two Saunders platoons stop and let the one being shadowed pass before heading into the forest. That's when it clicked for me. "Which is more dangerous, a scout that goes silent, or a scout that's giving wrong information?"

"So they're feeding Astoria wrong information, hoping to catch them off guard as they move into the forest." Rach said. "Very clever."

I nodded, and the helicopter-mounted camera zoomed in on the trio of Shermans just in time to catch their turrets swinging around in a synchronized fashion, and drop a trio of rounds on the target of the 38(t). All three rounds missed, but the M4s simply peppered the panzer with coaxial machineguns until their main cannons were all reloaded. Three rounds later, the cute little panzer had its tracks on one side blown off, and a hit to the rear hull knocked it out, confirming first blood for Saunders.

"Right now, Astoria has the advantage of their main force being currently undetected." I observed towards Rachel.

"But Saunders has the mobility advantage right now, and since they fed some misinformation to Astoria before taking out the scout, Astoria is blind to where their striking force is, too."

I looked around the crowd, and noticed that a couple of other fans were giving us weird looks. Feeling suddenly very self-conscious, I gave Rachel a nudge with my elbow, and she drew silent. That seemed to do the trick, as most of the people around us refocused on the screens with the tankery, rather than us. I followed suit, since the tanks were more important than nerding out about them right now.

Darned heathens. Part of the fun of tankery was nerding out and dissecting what the teams were doing before we saw the results. The cheering and freaking out and carrying on was also part of the fun, but somewhat less entertaining to me.

There was another lull in the match after the Pz. 38(t) went down. The three Saunders platoons were on the move towards the general location of Astoria's starting point, coming in a three pronged pincer formation, with their flag tank hanging back behind the center group, close enough that it would be able to assist or be assisted, but not close enough that they would be detected with the platoon and could be accidentally taken out early.

On the other hand, Astoria had dug in to a low spot off to the eastern flank, where they were likely to come into contact with Saunders' third platoon, the one with the Firefly. If Astoria could take out the Firefly, Saunders would need to commit their flag tank to the battle as a proper heavy killer, as it was their only other tank that could pen the KV from any reasonable range.

Not that any sort of fighting in the forest would be at a reasonable range. From the looks of things, the Firefly's platoon was going to pass very close to the main Astoria force, and that could be bad for them.

"If Saunders goes to Astoria piecemeal, they're done for." I commented. Rachel just nodded, keeping her eyes on the screen.

Rachel's actions proved to be the right choice, as mere moments later, someone opened fire. I wasn't sure who reacted first, but within moments, a half dozen Matildas were opening up on the two M4s and the Firefly, peppering the Saunders tanks with 2-pdr ammunition. The Saunders tanks shrugged the smaller ammunition off, and angled their armor slightly as they brought their much larger guns to bear.

One of the Matildas went down almost instantly, taken out by the Firefly and some very good shooting, and while the M4s focused their fire, they didn't manage to do much more than scratch damage against the heavily armored Matildas.

Things very quickly escalated from there into a full on firefight between the Sherman platoon and the Matilda force, with fire being exchanged very rapidly. One of the M4s lost a track, but wasn't knocked out and continued firing. The two remaining mobile Saunders vehicles began falling back, until a shot from a hidden StuG III in the rear knocked out the basic M4, leaving just the Firefly as the only mobile tank in the group.

Further north, things also began heating up, as the other two platoons of Shermans rushed to assist their fighting and fallen comrades. Astoria's second StuG wasn't quite as well hidden as their first, and Saunders knocked it out as they charged face first into the KV-1's hiding place.

The surprise was rather brutal for the six M4s, losing one of their own to a 76mm shell from an unexpected angle. The remaining Shermans scattered. Kay's group, at least, I hoped it was Kay's group, circled around the KV-1 as it tried to retreat, trapping the heavy tank.

It was about this point where the crowd went crazy, cheering on every direct hit scored, and cheering even harder when a tank was disabled. Though the Astoria fans and the Saunders fans were more or less separated into their own bleacher sets, I couldn't tell who was cheering for who. Everyone was cheering every which way, now. The fight was more entertaining than who was winning or losing.

There were two firefights going on at the exact same time, and the only unengaged tank being Saunders' flag, which was loitering at the back. All Saunders had to do to win was get a good shot at the weaker side or rear armor of the KV, or even just get stupidly close to the front of the KV, and they'd win the match. Astoria had to knock out the Firefly and the tracked M4, and then rush to the aid of their flag tank, and if they managed that, they still had to hunt down and catch the M4A1 (76), and knock that out.

I think everyone knew how the match was going to turn out at this point. The KV took another M4 with it as it was taken out trying to make a breakout, and the Matildas took out the tracked M4 but not the Firefly, losing another two of their own in the process.

With the disabling of the KV-1, Saunders officially won the match. It was a pretty close game, and with a little bit of luck, Astoria might have been able to seize the win. The recovery trucks began the process of hauling out the damaged and disabled vehicles, and those which were still operational drove out of the forest side-by-side, the Saunders girls trying their best to cheer on the defeated Astoria girls, despite the language barrier.