Hell On Tracks
Part 8
"This is gonna suck…" I groaned in English. "We're five seconds in and Training Company has already lost."
"Hmm? Why do you say that?" Kay asked, also in English. A few of the others around us gave us a look, but nothing near as bad as Rach and I had received at the Astoria game.
"Look at where the teams are going. The Practice team is coordinating into two groups and going for objectives, the pass in the eastern end, and the hill in the west. On the other hand, the Training team isn't working as a team. Two of them are rushing the hill, with another coming slower and more cautiously. One more is going straight for the bridge in the middle, with no backup. Others are going for the pass, or staying back at their spawn point and waiting. No cohesion to their forces." I explained, gesturing to the Jumbotron with the map on it.
"I see…" Kay said. "So what would you do?"
"With the Training team? Use the numbers advantage, group my forces, and take the high ground. That hill has a very commanding position, and a breakthrough in the pass would get slaughtered by a hail of fire from up there." I paused in my analysis as the two Training M4s rushing the hill ran straight into the four Practice M4s, and got absolutely slaughtered. The first one was met by a hail of 75mm fire, which bought the second a moment to crest the hill, get its gun on target, and eat a shell from the lead Practice Sherman.
"Very good, Tali!" Kay cheered. "So now you've lost the hill and your two scouts. What would you do?"
"Is this a normal sort of questioning?"
"Nope! But I think you have a good tactical mind."
"Oookay." I drawled out, thinking for a moment as I watched the group on the hill rain fire down on the tanks that had remained near Training team's spawn. "Assuming I had gotten the information that my opponent had committed half of their forces to seizing the hill, I would take my remaining forces and try to push through the pass if I had the time to get there before the hill forces could open fire. If not, I would full commit to rushing the hill and seizing it. The one-hit kills mean that my numbers advantage is even more pronounced, and even if I lose a tank or two on the approach, if I can get even trading up top, I have the forces to take out any push through the pass or across the bridge in the middle."
"What about the riverbed?" Kay asked. "It's low enough to be protected from incoming fire except from directly above, and shallow enough that driving through the water won't bog down your vehicles."
"And it has very minimal ability to retaliate and command the battle. Taking the riverbed concedes control of any location of tactical significance, excepting maybe the central bridge." I countered. The ongoing and terribly one-sided battle was forgotten as I focused entirely on the theoretical wargaming. "Going into the riverbed except as a way to cross the river is asking to be defeated."
Kay nodded along, though she was more focused on the match. "Ooh, that has to hurt…"
That was enough to get me focusing back on the match, where the Training team was down to only a few tanks, where the Practice team had only lost one tank while pushing out from the pass. One of the remaining Training tanks had tried to break out of the encirclement via the central bridge, but had been knocked out and had actually fallen off, landing on its side in the shallow riverbed.
In fact, there were only three Training M4s left, compared to Practice only having lost the one. Two of them were caught in the encirclement and were reversing as fast as they could to avoid getting knocked out. The other was… what was it doing all the way over there?
"Which tank is that one?" I asked Kay, gesturing vaguely towards the sole Training M4 not in the encirclement. It was well behind Practice team's lines, and was circling in behind the hill platoon.
"Training Company M4 Sherman medium tank number five." Kay recited. "Working with a three woman crew and no permanent commander right now."
"That's the one Naomi recommended I join?"
"Yes. They need a semi-permanent commander to help reign them in, and their brand of crazier strategies seem like they will mesh well with your ability to analyze a fight and strategize." Kay explained.
"So you're throwing me in with the crazies to help reign them in while hopefully learning something from them in the process?" I deadpanned.
"Yup!" Kay gave me a wide grin and a thumbs up, before turning back to the screen just in time to see the Five Tank knock out the hill platoon's rearguard and advance upon the apparently oblivious rest of that platoon.
While the Five Tank was being sneaky in the back lines, the two remaining Training M4s tried their luck and pushed out, rushing towards the hill platoon. They didn't last particularly long in the headlong charge, but they bought enough time for the Fives to cap two more Practice tanks. The fourth and final member of the hill group caught on after losing their two friends, and greeted the Fives with a 75mm cannon hidden by rocks and brush.
The result was predictable. Training lost all of their tanks, though they managed to kill half of the better coordinated and crewed Practice team. Far better than I had expected, but still a pretty awful showing, all things considered.
"So why is tank Five stuck with the Training Company? They fought their tank just as well as any of the Practice Company tanks, and even better than some." I asked, as Arisa officially called the match.
"Because they don't get along with others or work well with a team." Kay explained. "All three of them are… independent spirits who prefer each other's company to anyone else. Brave, courageous, and utterly impossible for me to command. Otherwise, they would be Combat Company material."
"... oh."