A couple of days would pass as the routine of the school was beginning to quiet down. The students were waiting outside of the school as a transport plane came in as another Vickers six ton tank came out of the hatch. The tank came to a short stop afterward as Ami poked her head out of the tank. This tank had very similar markings to Pug team's vickers. Almost identical. Ami got out of the tank as she began to walk over to students that were waiting for her arrival.
"I see that you have been waiting for me Pomorie and this is a gift from Darjeeling herself as she had been observing your matches. You gave her the money so she made you another Vickers in the process so that would be the new pug tank." Ami began as Pomorie's group looked on.
"I understand but what will happen to our tank?" Pomorie asked Ami if their tank was going to disappear or get scrapped. Ami laughed as she knew none of those things would happen.
"All that your tank will be receiving is marking changes as it deserves to represent the unity of the school." Ami responded as she showed the picture of a white paw print that was going to be on the turret of the tank. "This paw print will represent all the dogs and cats that the school has fielded over the year. I am proud about what the school has managed to pull off in the event of something like this and you definitely deserve another tank because of it as well as your current one getting the unity marker."
"Who will still crew the tanks?" Rila asked as she was seeing clearly with her glasses.
"That's up for you to decide as of next year as this year is winding down and hopefully summer vacation will come June fifth I believe. The next year will begin in September as you will have plenty of time to relax." Ami told the students about what was going to happen. She then turned to Rila as she had some news for her. "A special someone would wish to visit." A yap was heard as the pug that Pomorie and her friends had rescued came running to Rila as it hopped into her arms and began licking her face.
"Aww." Rila responded as the puppy was cuddling with her. Pomorie and Varna looked at Rila as Ami looked down to Rila.
"What do you plan on naming it?" Ami asked. Rila began to think of what to name her puppy.
"Kaloyan, the emperor pug of Yogurt." Rila decided on the name. Ami laughed as she managed to catch her breath.
"Okay it seems that you know your school's history. Now I am off to see if I can get Popovo to paint the new logo on your tank." Ami responded as she walked away. Srebarna was watching from a distance as she decided it would be nice if she could have Pomorie talking to her for a second.
"Pomorie, can I speak to you?" Srebarna asked her if she was free. Pomorie walked to a corner where Srebarna was as she was wondering what she was looking to say. Once they were alone. Srebarna began to speak.
"I wanted to talk to you as I have been thinking and I guess I was right and wrong. I was right about Erika but wrong about the control that I should have over my students. I wanted to ask next year when I'm gone and off in university, do you want to take over as president of the student council?" Srebarna asked Pomorie if she was going to be up to the task to take over for her. Pomorie seemed to be over the moon with this request as she was going to be given control of the school. She didn't know how to respond.
"I… I… I don't know how to respond to this question. I know you want me to take over but the answer is, is it the right thing you want me to do?" Pomorie asked as Srebarna was handing her a once in a lifetime opportunity but she didn't know if she was willing to take it.
"It might seem to be a daunting task at first but you will eventually get used to it, maybe even make a better leader than me as I have been foolish for this year." Srebarna told Pomorie that she would do a better job than her.
"Okay I'll do it." Pomorie responded as she finally gave in to her demands. Srebarna smiled with glee.
"I know you will say that since you're the one that has brought us so far, to this victory." Srebarna told Pomorie that she had brought the entire school to where they are now from just a small Sensha-Do team to a decently sized group for a minor school. Who knows, Yogurt Academy will continue to grow in the future. The two of them began to walk back as they had made a decision.
Srebarna approached as she was ready to give one last meeting with her crowd. Pomorie stood in front of her as Srebarna was above with Popovo and Kamchia beside her.
"All students of the Sensha-Do club." Srebarna began. The students looked at Srebarna as they wanted to see what she had to say. "I am going to make one last announcement to my group as the student president of the school. In June when the year is done, I plan on stepping down. We have had a year of ups and downs, ins and outs, forming one alliance to the next. And as I would bid farewell to those I've participated with, I will make Pomorie, the commander of Pug team and eventually the leader of the Sensha-Do team as a whole, the new student president starting next year." Srebarna told the group. She then walked away as the students clapped and cheered for their new president. Suddenly the Vickers that they had known for so long from the start of the year pulled up as it no longer had its pug markings but instead a large golden paw marking on the turret of the tanks. Ami got out from the tank as she began to speak.
"Students I would like to say for all the trials and tribulation of the school, I am happy to see that you've all come this far and I wish you luck for the road ahead as the road will be a bumpy one with many holes ahead but good luck." Ami gave some final closing remarks. The students then clapped and cheered in celebration. They knew they wouldn't be here without Pomorie.
Epilogue:
Four students from four schools have met online as they were going to discuss the recent turn of events. Miho, Kinuyo, Darjeeling and Katyusha were there as the meeting was well underway.
"I feel sorry that Kuromorimine got themselves wrecked in the end, at least the school is stable in the end." Kinuyo began as she was well aware of the disastrous results that had been taken from the year. Miho began speaking.
"At least Maho is doing okay despite her goal was to have a match with Pravda and win to get rid of bitter grievances of two years of losing, I think Kuromorimine's golden age is over at this point and the school is beginning its decline." Miho decided to give her guess on what was going on with Kuromorimine.
"We know that Ooarai is probably a one trick pony, the school will collapse without your leadership Miho." Katyusha decided to put it between them. Miho nodded.
"Yeah you're right about that." Miho told Katyusha about what she said before.
"Yeah we had a fun year as it was Miho. The old proverb is that it doesn't matter about the victory or defeat that most people think, it's the journey from start to finish that matters to a commander on the field." Darjeeling responded as she took a sip from her tea. The four girls began to look at each other.
"Well we can't compete with Darjeeling in terms of who's smart with words and who will slip them out with the tongue." Kinuyo told the group as she had no opinion. "Also did anyone notice that Pomorie from Yogurt Academy has just been promoted to president of the student council?"
"I have but it won't go into effect until next year, I will be gone before then." Darjeeling responded as she just recently heard about it. The others nodded as they had something they needed to do. "Now that all of these trivial matters are out of the way, I say we should hold an end of year match to celebrate this year so far when June rolls around. We will have a good time before then." Darjeeling told them that she wanted to organize one last match before the year concluded.
"Good idea." Katyusha called out with excitement. "We just need to choose the judges and we should be good with ourselves."
"I bet Mika would make a good judge though." Darjeeling responded as she finished her tea. "I'll see you all in June."
"See ya." Miho responded as the four students one by one logged off as they had organized one last match together.
[A/N]: Woo boy! This is probably the longest thing I have ever written and we managed to hit the 400k word mark. I wanted to tell you this but I've been writing this since september and it has really drained me, I was taking breaks here and there to gather more information and energy to write this and I feel like I want to take a break and go back to something a little more familiar and probably dumb as this had taken far too long to make.
Without further ado, let's break this down into the three things I wanted to talk about:
Errors:
Aside from minor grammatical errors as I was working with a partner for the first eleven or so chapters so after the wheels of the plane lifted off from the runway, I just typed the rest of it up myself as I felt like I had fun even if it was a bit jarring. There are still two major errors in forms of actual continuity.
The first one has to do with the arsenal of Yogurt Academy. According to the GuP wiki, Yogurt academy received the tanks before the main events of the anime were shown, aside from the timeline being confusing and leaving many windows open for interpretation, this can open a whole bunch of possibilities of what you want to do and exchanging this for a bit of creative freedom is something I'm willing to take. Plus the wiki doesn't mention the school having Vickers six ton tanks despite them being present in the Bulgarian army along with the Panzer 35T's and the R35s. We decided to throw a couple of soviet tanks in there to boost up their numbers. It was also kind of necessary if they were going to have more firepower.
The Second error was the fact that the Bulgarians never really participated in the war against the USSR until they were at their very doorstep, which they decided to switch sides and fight the Germans thought the second part where Yogurt Academy joins Pravda and goes against Kuromorimine is correct though I didn't want to leave out the entire school and let them miss out on all of the fun.
Scrapped concepts/Ideas:
While I wanted to cover the entirety of the Eastern Front, I couldn't do all of the battles due to limited information, not being interested in them and/or keeping focus on one front where all the action is taking place.
Bialystok & Minsk: The first two major encirclements of the war but they are mentioned so I can assume that happened when Katyusha said "We got encircled twice."
Uman: This one snuck up on us as it's something not many of us would notice as soviet divisions got encircled when Army Group South swung to the south, trapping Soviet divisions at Uman itself.
Odessa: Mentioned numerous times but never really came around to it. Lack of information was the culprit as I know little about the siege.
Siege of Leningrad (Or Nataschagrad as it's mentioned): I think I left all of this out due to it being boring and not much going on as it bogs down into 1942-1943 with nothing much happening other than trying to relieve the city. Army Group North has the least interesting operations out of all the army groups.
The pockets around Vyazma: The encirclements of Vyazma and Bryansk are not mentioned as that would eat away at the tanks as the Soviets got reinforcements from the far east to begin the counter attacks, there were also three pockets surrounding Vyazma as the Soviets tried to cut the main railway supplying the Germans and failed to achieve that goal. While interesting, I just glanced over due to being focused on the southern part of the front.
The 1st half of the first Kiev match: I mainly started with the tanks having three sides though I wanted Erika to run into the "Katyusha Line" (In reference to the Stalin Line) so they decided to flank around when they couldn't take the city outright.
The Murmansk Railroad operations: While mentioned by Erika, this was scrapped mostly due to limited information surrounding these operations.
Demyansk pocket: While interesting as it sounds, it's too basic of an encirclement, plus all the Germans evacuated it in the winter of 1942/1943.
First and possibly Fourth battles of Kharkov: The first battle I just mostly glanced over the first battle as that was captured relatively quickly by the Germans. The Fourth battle occurred shortly after the Kursk battle so I could assume that Pravda retook Kharkov shortly after the Kursk match concluded when they went on the offensive and took out Kuromorimine completely.
Rostov: While strategic, I just cut this one out due to it not being anything interesting.
Push to the Dnieper river: Basic offensive so nothing is going to grab my attention plus it formed that bubble seen in chapter 19.
Kerch Peninsula: While mentioned and seen action in chapter 14, this is kind of mentioned in chapter 20 as I wanted to split this up while Kuromorimine decides to eliminate the peninsula first before going in for the killing blow. Cut due to the open steppe being perfect for Olivia's tactics. It was also the last match where T-26's and BT tanks would be used as they tried to desperately counter attack. Also wanted to bring the guns of the Black Sea into this.
Rzhev Meat Grinder: Now that I look back on this, I wanted to do this as this battle has grown on me as it's one of those battles I wished to include but decided not to due to limited information again. Plus Rzhev wasn't continuous so it would make for a nice multi chapter series of matches and could give debut to the SU-122's but I don't think that many tanks would participate in Rzhev. I also wanted to do Operation Mars where they try to take back Rzhev to no success though Katyusha mentions them capturing Veliky Luki in chapter 24.
Kuban Bridgehead: While something like this would rumble on, it didn't really catch my attention compared to Caucasus and 3rd Kharkov.
Ships: I actually originally wanted to make the ship Yogurt Academy's school was based off of the Drazi's torpedo boat but scrapped it for a grain freighter due to how small the boat was when multiplied by 30. Came to be under a mile. I also wanted to do the river monitor for Gregor but size once again has barriers. So freighters it was.
Trivia/references (Strap in because there are a ton of them)
The ships: Out of the entirety of the alliance, the schools actually got their ships mentioned were, Yogurt, Gregor, Magyar and SSISSN.
SSISSN's ship is based off the helicopter carrier Leningrad.
Yogurt's ship is based off the grain freighter MS Vasil Levsky
Gregor's ship is based on the Merchant Ship Dukla
Magyar's ship is based off of the
Szent István, the ship where the Hungarian dictator Miklós Horthy was serving with until it was struck by an italian torpedo and sunk causing the dictator who was serving with the navy at the time to abort the mission.
The title of the fanfic is based off of the motto for Yogurt Academy.
The first quote is pretty much what happened to Kuromorimine, specifically Erika, whether be a craftsman or a sports plan to victory, be hasty in it then it would be shameful for the person making the project.
This is a Girls Und Panzer fanfic mostly focusing on the Minor Axis nations as those nations aren't really mentioned in the grand scheme of the second world war opposed to Germany, Italy and Japan. If there is a Minor Allies tank meme video posted onto Youtube, I will do something centered around that.
There are also numerous Company of Heroes 2 references scattered throughout the fanfic as well as a couple of memes.
Chapter 1:
The school mentions that they grow crops for export so it's clear the school isn't really industrialized and has a mostly agrarian economy, though the loads of money they get from crop contracts kind of explains why they don't have many good tanks as the other schools want tons of money from them.
The footage explaining from the beginning was most likely last year's competition as the girls get the inspiration thinking they could be the one to do such a thing so they were pulled in.
When I mentioned they weren't in a true alliance and working towards common goals, this was the same with the actual countries as they were just mostly a bulwark against the USSR as they weren't treated the same as true allies would be. The schools in this fanfic are no exception to this as they received very outdated tanks from Kuromorimine in small numbers.
Gregor being a Kuromorimine puppet is based on the German Puppet state of Slovakia as Gregor is still Czechoslovakia so Kuromorimine will have a puppet they can control. The same could be said about the Croatian Gang but I will explain in more detail further down the line.
Chapter 2:
The characters mentioning graduating are just the canon characters that are leaving their respective schools so when I do Das Finale, these characters would have already graduated and would be in university.
Also this is picking up where the last fanfic left off so Saunders is in a bit of a recovery.
Chapter 3:
Free For All Matches are basically still Flag and Annihilation matches but without MEXT's interference which gives the students the creative freedom to decide on what matches they could do and who they wanted to be teamed up with.
Chapter 4:
Although no wars happened with Romania, Count High School losing a bit of everything between Yogurt, Pravda and Magyar is in reference to Romania having its territories taken away by the USSR, Hungary and Bulgaria. Since schools can't take a chunk of another's school ship without a lot of metal welding and cutting which can take a long time, money and resources are the way to go.
Chapter 5:
When Magyar and Count wanted to join Kuromorimine in the alliance, it could be a reference to Hungary and Romania joining the Axis.
When Solti mentioned that Pravda took more than agreed to, it could be referring to the fact that the Soviets also took Bukovina in violation to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact along with Bessarabia.
When Pepperoni mentions to Anchovy that they invaded Egypt to take the Suez canal and the fact that St Gloriana's pulled off Operation Compass is in reference to the first operation of the North African campaign. I also want to mention Anzio's failing against Olive's school for girls in reference to the Greeks actually fighting back against the Italians. But that's for another story.
Chapter 6:
It's rumored that Mika and Alice are related though I don't see much to say that they are related, so that Varna and Alice are kind of related by blood would be the better explanation though they will remain half sisters. When I get around to making Der Film, this will be explained a bit more when Miho questions Varna about Alice when she first runs into her.
So the story behind where the students from both schools stand are as I quote: Join us or be invaded. Yogurt Academy having received the tanks decided to show their thanks to Kuromorimine by accepting their invite to Kuromorimine so they could help Anzio out and to put an end to SSISSN because why not.
SSISSN is Yugoslavia to reference that much like how Magyar is Hungary.
SSISSN collapsing within an hour is in reference to Yugoslavia collapsing in eleven days.
Darjeeling getting counterattacked and pushed back is in reference to the arrival of Rommel and his tanks pushing the British Commonwealth back to where they started.
Wallaby holding out against Ooarai would be in reference to the Australian troops holding out in Tobruk for eight months while being resupplied by sea.
When Piyotan answered War Thunder to be the next game they play, it could be wrong as Girls Und Panzer is sponsored by World Of Tanks. Out of the two games I find War Thunder a lot more fun and having more meme potential with the Kv-2 and the Milk Truck which are my go to vehicles in War Thunder.
When Pravda mentions their victory against Chi-Ha-Tan, this could be in reference to Khalkhin-Gol as it was a victory in an undeclared border skirmish. I will explain this a bit more when I do the other side with St. Gloriana's.
Grigori is basically Rasputin, a holy mystic healer that could cure people with his healing hands. However, he just screwed everything up in the end.
Chapter 7:
The School's gangs are based off of the various states that Yugoslavia is made up of. So each gang is justified. I also wanted to make a portion of the gang based off of the Government of National Salvation which is a german puppet government along with Croatia but decided not to as they didn't have any tanks compared to Croatia.
Some of the events will be explained some time in another story and if they are explained there, then they will be recalled back to this, when Erika talks to the head of MEXT about shutting down Ooarai.
Having SSISSN sell off most of its tanks and letting the Croatian gang keep a few represents the fact that Croatia only got a small portion of the very small Yugoslav armored force. Selling off the rest was justified if they were to improve conditions of the school.
Chapter 8:
When Erika says that the Croatian gang's main role should be war crime, Dalmatia immediately says Anti-partisan activities, possibly the Yugoslav partisans in reference.
Chapter 9:
The cold weather could be referencing the last story I did as the early snow and frigid conditions could show what's to come for a good chunk of the story.
The first use of the schools to test out their new strengths of what they are capable of is slightly referencing the british campaign in Iraq but that will be explained a bit more when I get there.
Miho's birthday is mentioned and they get to celebrate which is a reference to her character as a whole.
Chapter 10:
Kuromorimine is preparing for their revenge against Pravda, so a bunch of operation names are individually explained at their meeting.
When Erika mentions that the Swiss sit back and eat popcorn while the rest of the word explodes, it's in reference to swiss neutrality.
When Pomorie references to name the operation after Frederick Barbarossoa, the holy roman emperor that went crusading.
When Erika mentioned "We only have to kick the door in and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down." She thinks Pravda would be in a weakened state so they could quickly invade them and crush them in five matches due to how exhausted they are so she knows that resistance from them is futile. Them struggling against Jatkosota shows Pravda in her eyes as incompetent giving her much more of a context to hold the matches against them.
Operation Barbarossa was the German codename for their invasion of the Soviet Union which called for its collapse in four months. Thus beginning the Great Patriotic War.
The Diphtheria Outbreak and the rescue plan that would be in reference to the Great Race of Mercy aka the great Nome Serum run as many dogs were called up to help out, Erwin's dog Togo was named after the dog that handled the toughest part of the journey. (This reference goes on for the next few chapters.)
Despite Togo the husky being the main hero the characters are quoting Balto, and this goes on sporadically Chapters 10-15, 28 and 57 I believe. (Anyone still watch that movie?)
Chapter 11:
Principal Antonescu is named after the Romanian Dictator Ion Antonescu.
When the principal said they crushed the rebellion in four days, this is in reference to the legionaries rebellion that lasted for the same amount of time against the Romanian government which was put down by the Germans.
When Varna said:
"Tiny Germans and Soviets duke it out near Dubno. It's day two of von Kleist's Soviet vacation, but Zhukov has 3,500 tanks." She is probably referencing that one video that is up but since Fanfic website doesn't allow you to post links, you might need to find this yourself. This could also be in reference to battles of Dubno and Brody, Probably the largest tank engagements of the entire war, I can be wrong.
If you were expecting Pravda to bring T-34's and IS-2's to the field, you're dead wrong, I just instead threw everything else Pravda had at their disposal at Kuromorimine, the old T-26's, BT's, T-35's and all the other lesser known tanks you see trashed on the side of the road in all of those pictures in Operation Barbarossa. When T-34's and KV tanks were met, it was met with an oh god, take it out fast type of moment.
When the Kv-2 was first introduced in the match. The students had no effective way of taking out this monster, and it was perfectly demonstrated with this quote. "We sent the first shell into them, it struck the turret. The second shot was another hit but the lead enemy tank kept advancing. What was going on? We had always joked that all we had to do was spit at a Russian tank and it would blow up."
The Kv-2's rampage has two references in mind. The first was when the Kv-1 in that video I mentioned takes on two tanks and three anti-tank guns before being taken out by a 88mm anti-aircraft gun. The second reference was the Battle of Raseiniai where one Kv-2 (or Kv-1) advanced far behind the German lines and took out tanks, anti-tank guns and possibly an 88mm Anti-aircraft gun. The Germans were surprised that the Soviets fought so hard that they were buried with German honors.
Pravda organizing their command could be in reference to the red army generals rearranging themselves to fill the gaps filled by the purges.
Kay sending them tanks could be in reference to Lend Lease being sent to the Soviet Union along with many other nations during the war.
Chapter 12:
Not much to reference other than Katyusha plugging up the gaps with her pre-war reserves but the performance was lackluster and they couldn't get the students free from the pocket.
Chapter 13:
The match mainly consists of Kuromorimine and the allies taking the rivers to cut off Pravda and take out the pocket.
When Katyusha said "Klara was too cautious about sending her tanks and as a result got her entire team encircled and destroyed. 452,700 troops would be trapped and captured." It was in reference to the encirclement of Kiev which resulted in roughly 750,000 men getting cut off from the main army. It was the biggest encirclement of the entire war and the chronic shortage of tanks was revealed, just fifty tanks had been captured from Kiev.
Chapter 14:
Pravda was clinging onto the port of Odessa before but in order to save the Crimea, Odessa had to be sacrificed.
Batteries 30 and 35 Ie the Fort Maxim Gorky fortresses, were used in the siege of Sevastopol which the siege dragged out for many months.
When Brook and the others landed at Kerch and Feodosyia, it had the intention of dragging German reserve armies away from Sevastopol to help deal with this new threat.
Chapter 15:
Pravda losing to Jatkosota is in reference to the Continuation war.
When Erika prepares for the final push, she calls it Operation Typhoon.
Operation Typhoon and Pravda's operation are both referencing The Battle of Moscow. Kuromorimine and its allies began getting pushed back from the gates of the Kremlin. It was also the first victory Pravda was able to pull off.
Chapter 16:
Nothing goes on but a raffle to win two tanks which Nina wins over.
Chapter 17:
Grigori is murdered by being poisoned, shot, beaten and thrown into the river where he drowns, in reference to Rasputin. Plus one of the men was named Felix in reference to Prince Felix Yusopov while Kay was Dimitri Pavlovich
Also there is an Among Us reference in this chapter and in chapter 35
Chapter 18:
This chapter is mostly the holiday themed chapter as the students are celebrating. Olivia's story is based on the 1914 truce that happened. Plus pretzel rods can serve as cigarettes as you can play around with them and get creative with them.
Chapter 19:
The first battle to begin the new year as the match stopped Pravda in its offensive tracks.
Chapter 20:
Battery number 30 has been stormed and blown up. The match follows the conclusion of Chapter 14's match when the city has finally fallen.
Fall Blau or Case Blue intel's with the capture of the Caucasus and therefore all the oil.
Operation Pike is similar to Case Blue but it involves bombing the Caucasus by Air.
Olivia's strategy is called CAS in reference to Close Air Support.
Operation Crusader is referenced where Anzio and Ooarai have been pushed back again.
Chapter 21:
Nothing really much to reference but the drive to the Caucasus has begun.
Japan is also mentioned to have imported most of its oil, I've done the research on that so Erika's crusade for Oil is justified.
Chapter 22:
There are three references, the first one was the blowing up the beaver dam which is referenced the blowing up the
Veselovsky reservoir dam. Originally I wanted to have an SSISSN Partisan member blow up the dam and Kuromorimine would find it flooded which would hold them up for most of the day.
Darjeeling and her friends had been pushed back again by Anzio and Ooarai.
The I-153 Seagull biplane is used to judge the matches from above as it was slow and maneuverable through the mountains and ravines.
The Refugee of the Eleven makes an appearance as it was captured by the Germans along with Mount Elbrus, Erika regarded it as a mere stunt to impress her and she wanted the drive on Oil. The Refugee of the Eleven has been unfortunately lost.
Nina's attempt to recapture it pushed the turning point of the match as the entire group had been wiped out though the 100 man strong force was nearly wiped out with only four men returning back alive.
Darjeeling blowing up the chunk of the mountain as she was tired was an honest mistake on her end as you shouldn't be operating machinery when you are tired and would fall asleep, if you fell asleep, you would have died as something wrong could happen, when she blew up the mountain side, I can't help but reference this: "Our pilots were not only skilled, but knew the mountains. First they attacked the convoy itself but the results weren't great. So they bombed the slopes above the road. Huge great stones blocks fell down towards Hitler's convoy. The slope disappeared in a thick cloud of dust, and when it cleared, we saw that the convoy had been devastated.
Chapter 23 & 24:
Katyushagrad is the GuP version of Stalingrad.
I've already explained the Volgograd tractor factory in another fanfic but I also wanted to give light on two other locations that I've referenced in this: The Stalingrad grain elevator and Pavlov's house.
Kuromorimine struggling among the rubble is also justified as the Germans undermined themselves by bombing the city into oblivion.
When Katyusha called for a second Operation Uranus, it curtailed the surrounding of the city itself and cut it off from outside help. The Romanians and Croatians were guarding the flanks but they quickly crumbled because of it. Then the Italians and the Hungarians were obliterated after that.
Olivia's tank had been taken out because field mice had gnawed on the wires, breaking the tanks down so they couldn't move. The mice belong to Nina.
When Vodka has been parachuted in, it's referencing the cargo being delivered by an obsolete biplane bomber, the U2 which its loads would crash to earth except for Vodka.
Erika and her group were taken out in the end, having been numbed by the cold and lack of food was the similar fate to the German 6th army under command of Friedrich Paulus in 1943.
Chapter 25:
Nina's pet mice are named George and Lenny, in reference to John Steinbeck's novel that was around at the time. Spoiler, Lenny dies thinking he will tend the rabbits.
The battles of El Alamein are mentioned, so the turning point is here.
Chapter 26:
Kuromorimine's retreat is in full swing but they manage to push back and retake Kharkov after it falls again. This can be the disaster that is looming overhead.
Olivia's defensive plans are often baiting and luring the enemy to where they overextend themselves and where she could fall on their flanks.
Chapter 27:
Alice centered though the girls get to participate in this fully.
The North African campaign wraps up here.
Chelyabinsk is mentioned and there are a few references surrounding it:
Chelyabinsk is called Tankograd as it produced a large number of tanks during the war.
The parts where the city is dirty, polluted, and radioactive are also true.
There has been a meteor that flew past the residents in 2013 which fortunately no one was harmed.
A famous youtuber lives in Chelyabinsk.
This chapter is a reference to Bald and Bankrupt when he visited the city. (I would still watch Boris and Cousin Anatoli over this any day of the week.)
Chapter 28:
This is the first match referencing the Yugoslav Partisans, I don't know if they have tanks but they were incredibly hard to dislodge.
Chapter 29:
This chapter is kind of surrounded by the Winchester 1907, it's a nice intermediate powered carbine used for the French air force in WW1. It is used as a prize.
When Anchovy and her friends mow down the Irish themed club, it's referencing the St. Valentine's day massacre where seven irish people were mowed down.
The last scene with Olivia and Maho, the reference is the song they are singing which I don't know who made it but it is in sync with the Winchester 1907 for some reason but I know the lyrics to it as it's very old.
Chapter 30:
Operation Citadel is the codename for the Germans to attack the Kursk Salient. In fact when Maho mentions that her stomach would turn over, I think it would be in reference to it not working out and it doesn't work.
The Henschel and Porsche Tigers are the trials of the Tiger 1 to see which would be the better design. The Henschel design turned out to be better so no complaining there.
When Katyusha said she was going to dig in some of their T-34's she literally meant to dig them in and have them buried up to the turret. It turns these mobile beasts into easily defendable anti-tank guns, the large size negates them being spotted and Kuromorimine would have to hit a much smaller target. And coupled with the mobile T-34's this would prove to be infuriating and with the turret of the T-34 being so stoutly constructed, even a blow from a single Tiger tank wouldn't be enough to take it out.
When Nina says to Katyusha that they will make the enemy pay in blood, she meant let Kuromorimine attack first before starting their counter attacks.
Chapters 31-34
Pravda's suicidal resistance was demonstrated by the sheer determination of the Soviet soldiers to not let the encirclement happen.
Yukari's quoting the Kursk video as many of us view it as nothing more than a German Hail Mary.
Operation Kutuzov was declared which caused the entire northern part of the front to collapse in on itself leading to the forces pulling back. This led to the liberation of Orel.
The Panthers and Ferdinands tanks catching themselves on fire due to engine failure is present especially with the Ferdidnands as they were some of the most lackluster tanks that the Germans could field.
When the rain set in, this caused a lot of tanks to bog down as this caused several Panthers to flood their engines which caused them to get taken to the rear for repairs.
Katyusha tries to attack but is beaten back with her reserves but it shows that the tanks are starting to push Maho back.
Operation Citadel fails but Maho continues for a southern offensive named Operation Roland and that bogs down almost immediately.
March of the Soviet Tankists are being sung as Katyusha orders Operation Rumyantsev.
Operation Rumyantsev was pretty much the operation that destroyed the Southern Bulge which in turn led to the liberation of Kharkov.
Chapter 35:
The song for the Tetris game is Korobeiniki or that is what it's called.
Chapter 36:
Nothing really happens other than continued partisan attacks.
Chapter 37
The push back to liberate Smolensk happens in this chapter:
Chapters 38 & 39
Maho mentions them pulling back to a defensive line known as the Panther-Wotan line which was used by the Germans to defend their territories from the oncoming Soviet attacks.
The Count and Croatian students mention the Little Entente which was an alliance between Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Romania backed by the French to stop Hungarian aggression.
Klara driving her tanks across the river was in reference to the T-34's crossing the Desna river by Andrey Kravchenko by making the tanks water tight and driving them across the river. However with the Dnieper being wider and deeper than the Desna, this wouldn't be a possibility.
Brook decided to take Kiev outright by crossing the bridge head and entering from one of the streets, named "Tank Street" after the tanks that crossed it to take Kiev.
All three of the crossings are named after Meerkats in the Whiskers Mob.
Erika, unaware of the facts, saw one of the places as a launch pad for a counter offensive but it ended up getting her trapped.
Chaos Brigade could have been numerous references but it was referred to the Army Men Assault Squad series where they form the brigade to free the tan leader.
The fact that the remaining tanks get taken out is in reference to the Germans losing most of their heavy equipment when they get freed.
Chapter 40:
Nothing really much to really reference here but it's mainly purchasing and testing out new tanks.
Chapter 41:
This saw the Soviet army recapture much of the Ukraine, Pomorie and her group got encircled in reference to the Korsun-Cherkassy pocket though all the divisions escaped mostly intact.
Chapter 42:
The liberation of the Crimea takes place. Pomorie and the others used dummies to have the enemy eat up most of their ammunition before going in for the killing blow, the OT-34 was mentioned as it sprayed glue.
Kuromorimine expected to hold out for many matches much like Pravda has done before in references to the Germans hoping to hold out like the Soviets but they were ultimately unsuccessful and were driven out of the city.
Chapter 43:
Beli references this: "My ministers are Anglophiles, my generals are Germanophiles and my people are Russophiles. I'm the only one who has remained a Bulgarophile."
Why would I bring Doctor Hax into a fanfic where he has no business being there? Probably in reference to all of those old Gmod videos that I watched growing up. I wonder if Gmod has GuP characters but I feel like they would be scarce.
Chapter 44:
Third partisan themed match as there isn't much either aside from a few jokes.
Chapter 45:
The reference here is the fact that the Soviets wanted to knock out Finland first since they weren't in a true alliance with the Germans and Finland managed to leave the war with fewer concessions.
The second half is referencing the Germans getting expelled into Norway by the Finnish and Soviet pursuit which they escaped from.
Chapter 46:
The Chapter's name is in honor of the Liberation of Belarus.
The Croatian Gang got encircled around Vitebsk, Part of Gregor encircled around Mogilev. And Half of Kuromorimine is just east and in Minsk.
The Hungarians are in reference to the encirclement of the divisions south in modern Poland.
Chapter 47:
This chapter is centered around the liberation of the Baltic and the continued operation of Bagration.
The trapping of the divisions in Courland is in reference to the Courland pocket that was formed in 1944 Latvia.
The relationship between Pravda and Bonple and the argument was the Soviet's treatment of the Polish people.
What Jajka says at the end could be in reference to the Warsaw uprising but it was a quote from the novelist Eric Blair.
Chapter 48:
This is also another holiday themed chapter but Dimitri would reference our lord and savior rather than the springtime animals.
Chapter 49:
The last of the Partisan themed chapters as the team takes it to familiar ground.
The Warsaw uprising also happened but Bonple wasn't successful.
Chapter 50:
The Operation that Nina named was after the death of her pet Mouse Lenny. He said he'll tend the rabbits.
Olivia Kaya gets promoted into a powerful position and is given the name of Alter-san meaning the Other Sister, in reference to the title of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey being referred to as Alter-Rex or the Other King. Also all the stuff that Olivia says about Yogurt Academy and the fact that they couldn't fully trust them is how Germany felt about Bulgaria during the second world war.
Kuromorimine gets encircled again as she was unable to fight her way out.
Principal Antonescu has been arrested in reference to King Michael's Coup. That caused Romania to leave the Axis and join the Red Army. This was bad news for the Axis as Romania was its main source of Oil.
Chapter 51:
Although Yogurt Academy and Count High School join Pravda along with the SSISSN Partisans, it is unclear why Bulgaria switched sides even though they did none of the fighting.
Chapters 52, 53, 55, 56 & 57:
Okay this is where they begin the Hungarian Offensive in the war First with the Carpathians.
Then Debrecen,
Then the Danube River,
And finally Budapest.
Chapter 54:
This chapter mainly focuses on Gregor's doomed uprising inspired by the Slovak uprising where they attempt to turn their tanks on their masters to only get crushed by the Germans and Slovak loyalists.
Chapter 58:
Nothing much happens but more plot so nothing for you.
Chapters 59 & 60
Mainly focuses on the Vistula Oder Offensive as the Germans were pushed out of Poland and to the Oder river. They turned right before trapping the German divisions in East Prussia.
They also trap them in Poznan so it was up to Nina and Alina to clear out the city
There is also a reference to the liberation of Auschwitz and as a sidenote, rest in peace to those that died in the horrifying tragedy that was the Holocaust, those miserable killers got what they deserved when they tore up your homes and massacred all the villagers, we fought hard to drive the killers out.
They also manage to loot a house as Soviet soldiers did as they sent back stuff that was in short supply back at home like clothes and shoes for example.
Chapter 61:
This is a reference to Operation Spring Awakening and the Battle of Vienna, the only two battles were the Bulgarians are involved heavily in.
Bratislava and Brno along with Vienna are also captured.
Erika is also an addict to Pervitin but that will be explained more in detail in another story.
Chapter 62:
The Retro museum is based on the one in Varna, Bulgaria.
Dalmatia has probably watched Moomins with Molotoff about Finland beating up Ivans and since they're both finnish, so…
Chapter 63 & 64
Seelow Heights is the gateway to Berlin so the defenses there will be cobbled together.
The searchlights used in the beginning of the chapter were the fact that the soviets wanted to illuminate the battlefield among the fog but that ended up backfiring as they were the ones getting spotted.
The second reference would be forwarding in old FPS games where you would take the German capitol. Speaking of which:
Chapters 65-67
Yeah I wasn't kidding when I would say that, you would think I would have something like this but of course as I wanted to make the characters get used to street fighting.
Pomorie placing the flag on top of the parliament building was enough to signal the end of the matches upon which Erika shot herself with a paintball. The weapon in use was a Walther PPK as that was the weapon that the German Failure shot himself with when the Soviets were at the doorstep.
Chapter 68:
Despite the capture of Berlin, the city hadn't fallen yet so they had to capture Prague as well so that was the killing blow.
Chapter 69:
The title of the chapter is the same day Germany surrendered to the Allied powers.
This chapter:
The Pug's was named after Kaloyan, the Caesar of Bulgaria.
With the references out of the way, I will list the resources/inspiration I've used for this story.
Girls Und Panzer
Soviet Storm: WW2 in the East
Eastory
Potential History
Griffin Johnsen (The Armchair Historian)
OverSimplified
History Matters
I will be taking a bit of a break so thank you for those that helped me but I will still be active. I'll pop my head back out to see what everyone needs. See you later!