"Are you sure about this Giertler-san?" asked Kiyoshi as the two generals were discussing.
"Once we enter Tokyo you can't use the self-propelled guns anyway in that heavily urbanized area, that would be too destructive." replied Gustav. "The enemy resistance here is still tough. The artilleries can open the way for us, then we'll do the rest."
"So, you're saying we shall stake one's all upon a single cast?"
"Yes. You fire each and every artillery shell you have, and then we will launch the offensive."
"That would be a bit daring. If we do that the SPG's will fall out of action for a long time. They wouldn't be there to help us if the attack fails." said Kiyoshi.
"But if it succeeds we can push them back once and for all. Consider this." said Gustav.
"I'm aware of that. The question is whether we want to take the risk or not."
"Hasegawa…"
"Just call me Kiyoshi Giertler-san."
"Kiyoshi. What would have happened if the Americans didn't choose to send their aircraft carriers to Midway, even when it still wasn't sure that the Japanese want to attack at the atoll instead of the Coral Sea? What would have happened if the Greeks chose not to make a stand at Salamis?"
"Guess everything would have been different."
"Definitely. In 1915 the Royal Navy didn't return to the Dardanelles because they didn't know that the Turkish coast defense almost completely ran out of ammunition by the end of the first battle. On 5th June 1944 Erwin Rommel thought that nobody would launch an invasion in that weather so he left Normandy to visit his wife. We shall try not to make a mistake like these."
"I know what you mean. Well then … Let it be."
"How long is your artillery ammo enough?"
"With continuous fire, for about sixty hours."
"That will hopefully be enough." said Gustav.
"I'll give the same order to the II. Honshu Battalion. Now I really want to force St. Gloriana and the other girls' schools there back to Yokohama." said Kiyoshi.
"Once we are all at the border of the Greater Tokyo Area we'll be finally able to start cleaning up the city."
"Giertler-san."
"What is it Kiyoshi."
"I have request."
"What is it?"
"Let us, the Sensha-Do team of Landsknecht Boys High School and the other confederate schools conquer Tokyo alone."
"…"
"Giertler-san. We appreciate that you came to help our cause. We will be forever grateful for that. And after this war we wish to become members of the International Martial Arts Federation. But this is mostly our fight against the JSF. We seceded from it and chose to defend ourselves with guns for the sake of our schools. It is OUR affair. We started it alone and we'd like to finish it alone as well."
"We've also had reasons to come here." said Gustav.
"I know that. But you mostly reached your goals; all Japanese IMAF facilities are now safe. But for us it's not over. We want the JSF to recognize us and our freedom. For that we have to bring the fight into their core. If you help us capturing Tokyo, that would damage our prestige. We want to gain our victory alone. Do you understand that?"
"I see your point Kiyoshi. Though I'm not sure about it, I'll discuss it with our leadership."
"Thank you very much." bowed Landsknecht's commander.
Next day, early morning
Dozens of self-propelled guns took positions at Shirakawa and more than 200 kilometers away from there at Odavara. Their cannons were already looking up at the sky; they were only waiting for the order. Their crews were very excited. If everything goes well, they can help to reach the next turning point.
Exactly at sunrise Kiyoshi fired a signal rocket, so did Eugen at Odavara. The artillery guns roared, and breathed fire. The earth was shaking under their tracks. That morning came with earraping gunfire and exploding ballistic shells instead of twittering of birds.
The girls' teams had no choice but try to seek cover. However it wasn't easy and soon many tanks of theirs got taken out of action. Another stress-factor for them was that they didn't know what was happening. They experienced brutal, several hours' long artillery bombardments before but this time it just didn't want to stop. Not by the morning, not by noon, not by the afternoon, not by the evening. Its intensity did not subside during the night either. No need to say that they couldn't get much rest.
Anzio was able to find a small hill and hide behind but 24 hours after the attack started they were also at the edge of madness due to the psychological effects of the bombardment.
Anchovy was leaning against her P40 with crossed arms, listening to the thunder of guns. Then suddenly she heard whipping. She turned there and saw a younger first year student sitting on the ground near a CV.33 with watery eyes and shaking. Anchovy walked to her and sat down next to her, wrapping one of her arms around her shoulder.
"Hey, take it easy. There will be no matter as long as I'm here."
"How long will this keep going?" asked the other girl worriedly.
"Not much longer I promise." said Anchovy kindly and patted her shoulder.
If only she could promise something like that. The shooting continued without an end in sight.
Another day passed like that. It was tiring for the boys as well; they were constantly loading and firing. Despite of this it was obviously much worse for the girls.
What was common in them was that both of them had to keep their mouths at least slightly open or the incredibly intense gunfire and the blast would have seriously damaged their ears.
48 hours passed and nothing changed. Despite of the direct order of the JSF directorate some team commanders pulled their team back, away from the front.
The third say dawned. "When, when, when will this stop?!"screamed Rukuriri in the south, covering her ears in one minute then burying her face into her palms in the next.
Darjeeling seriously wanted to help her somehow. She really wanted. But she just couldn't. In fact she wasn't in a better condition like the Matilda commander. And it hurted her. Not physically, it hurted her heart, her soul. She felt lost. Hopeless. And she felt alone even if she was surrounded by her comrades. She felt and knew that she was now only one step away from her limit. She was seriously about to contradict herself and scream at the top of her lungs because of the frustration. She didn't care anymore. She didn't care if the boys had right to break away from the Federation or not, she didn't care about the JSF's "sacred cause", this "crusade", she didn't care about her directorate, she didn't care about Tokyo and maybe… she couldn't care about even Yokohama by now. Darjeeling had only one wish: to go home finally. Is this something too big to ask?
It was noon, two and a half days after the beginning of the artillery attack. Near Shirakawa the crew of a SU-14-1 loaded and fired the very last artillery shell that the Confederacy had. As soon as it impacted the tanks and tank destroyers began to move.
The shattered JSF line collapsed almost immediately. The decimated Pravda, Anzio and Yogurt were practically fleeing.
In merely three hours the coalition forces made sixty kilometers. Even the generals were surprised how fast the advance was.
In the blink of an eye they were at Hitachiota where Oarai was defending.
Miho's POV
"Look at that army…" murmured Miho. Her face went pale. She usually remembered to keep her brave, determined mask on, but now her face was full of fear. And fear is catching. It quickly infected the rest of the team.
"Like the 300 heroic Greeks against Xerxes and his Persians at Thermopylae, isn't it taichō?" asked Erwin.
"Something like that Hippo Team. But the heroism is not changing the fact that all of them fell." said Miho tiredly.
"Miho-san. Can we…" Hana couldn't finish her question because Miho slowly looked at her.
"I can't lie to you girls anymore. I think we all know it."
"If there's really no hope… why do we have to keep fighting?"
Miho was silent for a minute then she reached for her throat microphone. "Everyone. I'm sorry. At the beginning I thought that our fight has a point. I thought we can win. I was wrong. I thought we can at least save Oarai if we can't save the unity of the Federation. But there are too many of them. I was wrong. I hope you can forgive me."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"There is nothing for us to forgive commander." replied Isobe.
"She is right taichō." said Azusa. "I've never regretted following you, no matter what happened."
"Cheer up Nishizumi-chan!"
"We are with you commander!"
"Aye aye Admiral Nishizumi!"
"Girls…"
"They are right Miporin." smiled weakly Saori. "You are our hero."
Miho was at the edge of tears. "Listen here team! If we can't save our city from occupation, then save it from the war at least."
"WE ARE IN!"
"Okay then. Wait until we reach Oarai."
The JSF teams were soon forced to the southern bank of the Naka River, the very last natural barricade before Oarai. On the outskirts of the city Miho ordered all crews to stop the tanks turn the turrets backwards then get out of the vehicles. Then they were waiting, waiting and waiting.
It didn't take long before the first enemy tanks appeared. They were Dutch Panzers. The girls raised their hands into the air and started waving. Miho had a white sheet in her hand.
The IMAF tanks stopped and hatches opened up. The European tankers were shouting various things toward them, some of them in Dutch, some of them in English, until their commander silenced them and climbed out of her Panther.
Miho went to meet her. They stopped before each other in the middle and saluted.
"Isabella Timmerman." said the blonde Dutch girl.
"Nishizumi Miho."
"What would you like to discuss?"
"Timmerman-san. We would like to surrender to you."
"Really?"
"I couldn't be any more serious."
"Unexpected. But not unwelcomed decision. I accept your capitulation."
"Well then. I hand this territory and the tanks of the Sensha-Do team of Oarai Girls Academy over to you. Together with my teammates we hope you'll treat us well."
"We are not barbarians Nishizumi. All of you can return to your peaceful, civil lives. However your tanks will be under our supervision of course for an indefinite period." said Isabella.
"I understand that." nodded Miho, looking down. "And thank you."
"For what?"
"For freeing us from this war."
"Oh… well… it was… really nothing."
"Can I bring my friends home now?"
"Sure. And you can drive your tanks home and hand them over to us there."
"Yes Timmerman-san." saluted Miho again and went back to her team. The girls were waiting for her with questioning looks. Miho stopped, looked into their eyes and simply said: "It's over."
"Over taichō?" asked Koyama while shaking.
"It's over for us. This time really. Once and for all."
Some of the girls screamed and yelled because of the overflowing joy, some of them were crying and hugging each other.
Isabella watched them from the distance. She was thinking. Just how much stress did these Japanese ladies have to experience?
Oarai's team started their tanks for one last time and with dozens of IMAF tanks around them they headed back to their schools ship.
Miho didn't know what to think. I fact she preferred not to think of anything. The battles, the anxiety, the war, the blazing cannons didn't want to leave her brain alone. It will take time to get herself rid of them. Then she found something to think about: the other teams. Those who were still fighting. How much longer do they have to endure this?
She knew that it was selfish, but she was glad that she and HER team have left the whole thing behind.
"Onee-chan…"
Earlier, Darjeeling's POV
The line of St. Gloriana, Maginot, Chi-Ha-Tan, Kuromorimine and Saunders was lying in ruins after the seemingly endless artillery fire.
Full of fear Darjeeling looked out of her Churchill. Habsburg and De Gaulle were charging them together with countless IMAF tanks.
What can they do against them? Stopping them here at Odavara was all but a dream.
"Darjeeling-sama!"
"…"
"Darjeeling-sama!"
"…"
"DARJEELING-SAMA!"
"Huh…?"
"What are your orders?" asked Pekoe worriedly.
Darjeeling looked back at the closing enemy. A part of her didn't want to believe that she's really going to say it. "Sound… retreat." she said her eyes locked on the other army.
"Retreat! I repeat! Retreat!" shouted Darjeeling's radio operator into the radio.
Where the JSF used to have the strongest defense their Sensha-Do teams were fleeing in panic. They lined up on the eastern side of the Sagami River. They could never imagine this before. That the enemy could ever get this close to the Federation's center. They were almost at the shore of Tokyo Bay, only a stone's throw away from Yokohama's outer parts.
Darjeeling wasn't naive. Whatever the directorate says, they were only delaying the inevitable.
"With all due respect Darjeeling-sama." said Assam. "I think our own George Washington/ Marquis de Lafayette like nemeses are coming."
"I'm afraid… we will soon suffer our own Yorktown." added Darjeeling and she sighed.
Tokyo, JSF HQ
While Tsuji was in rage because of Oarai's surrender, Shiho secretly couldn't be relieved. One of her daughters was now safe. If only she could get the older girl out of this mess…
No. She HAS TO get Maho out of there. And not just Maho, but the entire Kuromorimine team. If she can't do that, what kind of mother she is? What kind of master she is? What kind of headmistress she is? What kind of human she is?
And if she's afraid to counter a pencil pusher like Tsuji, what kind of Nishizumi she is?
Gustav's POV
Three days later they were at the Tone River. A big part of the Greater Tokyo Area in the north was already on their hands.
"Here we are Kiyoshi." said Gustav to his fellow general. "I have good news for you. The IMAF leadership agreed to letting you finish the job alone."
"Tell them please that General Hasegawa Kiyoshi sends his gratitude."
"Certainly."
"Well. We're going now."
"Viel Glück mein japanischer Freund!"
"Danke schön mein Lieblingsdeutscher." smiled Kiyoshi then took the radio. "Attention all forces of the provisional army of the Confederacy of Independent High Schools! We started this a long time ago! We went through many things! There were times when there was seemingly no hope! But the tyrant could never break us! We are on their doorstep! Never lose your faith! One last push and our schools and teams will be free forever! I'm ready. Are you ready to come with me?"
"Stromboli Boys High School is ready!"
"Tsar Peter Boys High School is ready!"
"Mannerheim High School is with you Commanding General!"
"Odin High School follows you Hasegawa-kun!"
"Diamondback High School is ready to enter Tokyo!"
"Bannockburn Boys High School is already blowing the pipes!"
"Sherlock Holmes Boys Academy is ready!"
"Seinarukaze Academy's katana is ready to stab!"
"De Gaulle Boys High Schools is playing the Marseillaise mon general!"
"Habsburg Boys High School is ready!"
"Szent István High School is with you general!"
"Conquistador High School fulfills its duty amigo mio, mi comandante!"
"Uluru Academy is waiting for you orders Hasegawa-san!"
"What else could I say? Armee! Geradeaus Marsch!"