Earlier
After the announcement of the breakaway the boy's schools were aware that the Federation might try to hold them by force. To prevent that Kyousuke ordered some teams to roll out and build up defensive positions around the confederate cities. After the presidential order Kiyoshi, the new commanding general of the confederate army and his teams took their tanks and went to defend the fields around Niigata. So did Stromboli in their neighborhood. The german school's commander still remembered the president's words.
"Don't let yourself my brothers! Build barricades on the roads, encircle your cities with tanks, defend your schools with honor and they'll not break through! The foe could send even the hell's armies, they can't break through! If they decide to storm us we'll shake them awake with the thunder of guns! And when the smoke clears up let them know my friends: SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!"
A calm before the storm was in the air. Shortly after the proclamation of the Confederacy the boys didn't hesitate and they removed the federal institutes and administrative bodies from their territories with the huge indignation of the JSF workers. Kiyoshi still remembered when he and some of his comrades suddenly walked into the local office of the JSF in Niigata and said to the surprised "instructor": "Ma'am according to the order of President Hamada Kyousuke I put this building into confederate property. I call you and your stuff to leave now." The woman leaved due to the boy's numerical superiority but not without a lot of cursing.
A few days later Kyousuke visited all the army groups, the Shikoku Battalion, the Kyushu Battalion, the I. and II. Honshu Battalion and the Hokkaido Battalion. He knew it was not impossible that he'll need them in the near future if the federal girl's schools start to move. When he visited the I. Honshu Battalion (including Landsknecht and Stromboli) he constituted Kiyoshi as the overall commander of the whole confederate armed force, as a reward for Landsknecht for being the first boy's school to succeed. The german school's commander was surprised even if he was also pleased. He didn't really expect this. He walked to the president with hard steps before the lined up german and Italian tanks and crews and said: "President! In honor of the Confederacy of Independent High Schools the I. Honshu Battalion has lined up!" Then Kyousuke stepped forward and suddenly made him a commanding general. Wow.
Now the president was sitting in his office in Matsuyama and doing the paperwork. He was confident but also bit nervous. Since the moment when they removed the flag of the JSF and raised the confederate banner in the yard of Conquistador he was waiting for signs of enemy activities. It didn't last long before De Gaulle High from the II. Honshu Battalion and the closest boy's school to Tokyo, the JSF's HQ reported that St. Gloriana amassed ammunition and supplies. Diamondback from the Kyushu Battalion stated that both Saunders and Kuromorimine were still anchoring in their ports, and their tanks gathered together near the exit ramps.
After he gave his permission for the siege and the Hokkaido Battalion took over the Nakajima Island he knew that now it was really only matter of time when the Federation will attack them.
After he finished that certain speech he went home to his apartment and continued his work. He just finished it around midnight when the phone rang.
"Hello?" he asked.
"President! I'm Akio." Akio was the vice-president of the Confederacy.
"What is it Akio-san?"
"Napoléon-san just called me. He says federal tanks are on their way from Tokyo." Silence lapsed between the two.
"Thank you Akio. Call the cabinet to my office for 02:00 a.m."
"Is that all President?"
"Yes, that's all Akio. Bye." After a few seconds of thinking Kyousuke took the phone and called Shimada Chiyo herself for an explanation.
"Yes?" He heard the female voice.
"Shimada-san, I'm Hamada Kyousuke. Did you attack the Confederacy?"
"I'm sorry Hamada-san?"
"Federal tanks are on the roads and they are heading to Shizuoka. This is what De Gaulle High School told me."
"What tanks Hamada-san? You are misinformed."
"You say so?"
"We have no intention to attack you. You may sleep peacefully tonight."
"I hope I can believe you Shimada-san. Good night." Then he put down the phone. Actually Chiyo said the truth but also not. They didn't begin to move against the boys. Well, at least All-Stars University didn't. But St. Gloriana and Chi-Ha-Tan were already heading towards west and towards De Gaulle.
02:00 a.m. Kyousuke's office
Dead silence was all that was there. The representatives all tried to avoid each other's glance. None of them wanted to say anything that could pledge them. They had to decide if they wanted to confront the federal army or not. All of them knew that this meant war. Even if they wanted full independence from the JSF it was not an easy task. It felt like eternity but only a few minutes passed.
Finally, Kyousuke spoke up.
"Alright. I authorize you."
Those who were awake in Japan at that time that evening they saw the confederate president in the TV saying: "The Confederacy of Independent High Schools will take any necessary steps to defend its sovereignty from the Japan Sensha-Do Federation."
Shizuoka
"Come on boys, let's go, let's go! Take cover in your firing positions!" Napoléon shouted to his company as they were preparing themselves for battle in the dark of the night east from the city. The boys were sitting in their tanks and waiting and waiting until silhouettes of Matilda tanks appeared in front of them near the roads.
"Steady boys! Let THEM start it!"
It didn't last too long before the thing started what the world of Sensha-Do will later know as the first battle of Shizuoka.
Darjeeling's POV
Darjeeling heard Rukuriri's voice from the radio.
"Commander Darjeeling, here is Matilda squad! Targets in the crosshairs!"
"You may start it Rukuriri." Darjeeling said calmly and the four Matildas fired.
Napoléon's POV
One of the shells bounced off the ARL 44 of the French schools commander.
"They made their statement brothers! TIRER!" De Gaulle's line erupted as dozens of French tanks unleashed their salvos. The initial fire yielded immediate result as half of the Matildas were took out of the fight immediately, including Rukuriri's. At that moment St. Gloriana's main force arrived and a mid/long range tank duel begun.
It was the first time for Darjeeling in her life when she felt herself truly in disadvantage. St. Gloriana's main tactic was marching fire. But now they marched right into De Gaulle's reign of steel. Furthermore the british school had only have the Churchill with a gun of pretty big caliber. The Matildas and Crusaders could easily penetrate the light tanks and SPG's but not the heavy tanks. On the other hand the ARL's slowly reduced the number of St. Gloriana's force one by one as the night was lit by muzzle fleshes of cannons. But also the federal team could reach results. More and more of the French AMX lights were taken out of the fight. But still none of the French heavies.
"Nishi-san! We'll need your assistance!" Darjeeling radioed Chi-Ha-Tan's commander whose team was waiting to intervene behind St. Gloriana.
"Yokai Darjeeling-sama! Totsugeki!" she ordered. But as the Japanese tanks started to move a shell coming from nowhere exploded between them. Kinuyo didn't know that a pair of enemy eyes was observing them from the distant shadows.
A lonely AMX scout sneaked near the battle and stopped between the trees. When its commander saw that Chi-Ha-Tan was about to attack he ordered his radioman to call the artillery.
"Yes?" called Marcel the platoon leader of the Lorraine 39L AM's.
"Distance 2500 meters. Give them hell man!"
"With pleasure bro." he said and his self-propelled gun unleashed a test shot.
"Fix the coordinates!" the scout commander said. "They are closing to you slowly!"
Eight Lorraine fired one after another and the high-explosive shells were detonating between Chi-Ha-Tan's tanks.
"Kinuyo-taichō! I'm hit!" Tamada shouted in the radio.
"Damn! What was that?" As she said that another eight shells came from the sky.
"The artillery fire is effective mon commandant." The AMX commander informed Napoléon.
"Very well. Stay there and let me know if something new happens!"
"Je comprends!"
Then Napoléon called Marcel.
"Aim four of your guns on St. Gloriana! They are still the bigger risk."
"That's a bit risky commandant. You are a bit close to them."
"Just do it mate!"
"Alright!" Half of the Lorrains changed their angle and targeted the line of St. Gloriana.
"Trier!" Marcel ordered and four artillery shells struck the forces of the british school. The girls of the hit tanks climbed out and ran backwards while the machineguns of the enemy tanks were firing on them. The bullets were not lethal, they only stunned the victim by electricity, but naturally, the girls didn't want to be electrified and maybe captured.
"Keep firing!" Napoléon said to the radio. "We'll defend each square centimeters of confederate soil!"
"There's no need commander!" A boy from one of the other tanks said. "They're retreating!"
"I confirm it commander!" The AMX scout radioed. "Both Chi-Ha-Tan and St. Gloriana are turning back!
"EEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
"THAT'S HOW IT'S DONE"
"VIVE NOTRE ÉCOLE!"
"Inform the president and the commanding general!" Napoléon ordered with a satisfied grin on his face. "The first battle is ours!"
Kiyoshi's POV
Kiyoshi was standing in the cupola of his Königstiger in his black uniform and watching the forest before him with his binoculars. He knew that four girl's school, Bonple, Anzio, Viking Marine and Jatkosota was heading towards the lines of Landsknecht and Stromboli. Four against two. But two things stood on the side of the I. Honshu Battalion. First, they had a lot and more strong tanks than the named girl's schools (especially Landsknecht). Secondly, moral was far better among the two confederate schools. Just one hour before they learned that their side has won the first major battle of the war at Shizuoka and the federal girl's schools fled back to Yokohama.
Now, Kiyoshi was waiting for the enemy. He thought a lot about this whole thing. He couldn't really hate the soldiers of the JSF, just the directorate and other leaders. As he was catholic, a thought of Pope John Paul II. came to his mind: It's never too late to understand each other." Kiyoshi must recognize that it was true. Situations like this come to existence because of the blindness of people. Deep in his soul he felt that humanly it was not right to start a conflict but after all he was also just a fallible human. And he felt that he and his comrades were doing the right thing. He will defend their freedom at all costs.
"Is Pravda still in Aomori?" He asked his radioman.
"Yes commander. It looks like they want to send them to Hokkaido." the boy replied.
"Great. Then we only have to count with a group of tin cans now. Damn. Our first battle will be a joyless victory."
Present time
The Semovente fired and the shell hit the ground between the german tanks forming a long line.
"FEUER FREI!" Kiyoshi gave the permission to fire. Tigers, Panthers, Jagdpanthers, Panzers and Stugs sent their shells flying towards Anzio and Viking Marine.
"SPARA!" So did Augustus west from Nagaoka and his P40s, Semoventes and M15/42s started to shoot at Bonple and the lonely BT-42 of Jatkosota.
Just as Kiyoshi expected, the lightly armored federal tanks didn't last too long against them. He saw that they wouldn't need wouldn't need the artillery at all.
"We have to retreat from here!" Ingrid, Viking's commander said into the radio in her V while the white flags popped out one after another on the Panzer Is, IIs and IIIs of her school. They didn't have much so they had to save as many as possible.
"What?" Anchovy shouted back. Her P40 was still operating but Pepperoni got hit and Carpaccio's Semovente was badly damaged. "We can't give up that easily! We'll show we're not just a joke!"
"Do you see what's before you?! Tanks of ours are standing disabled and crews are running backwards! What do you want to do? Running forward direct into the jaws of Tigers?"
"Oh shit!"
The battle ended as sudden as it started. At the side of Stromboli it lasted for a few more minutes but the polish and Finnish federal school have also left the neighborhood of Nagaoka and got back to Kaneyama where the meeting point with Anzio and Viking was settled.
"Man, this was a pretty anemic attack. Augustus commented a bit disappointed. Not fair! I want a real fight!"
"Keep cool mate!" Kiyoshi radioed him. "They'll be back soon or later."
"But their leaders must be complete idiots if they send tin cans like these against us. We surely outnumber and outgun them." said Augustus while he watched the wrecks of the hit federal tanks.
"Maybe they are not COMPLETE idiots. I'm sure some of the enemy schools will be a bigger challenge."
Tokyo, JSF HQ
"Can I really rely on you my ladies?" Tsuji asked in a cold tone from the chairpersons and instructors of the girl's schools as they were standing around a table with a map of Japan lying on it. "As I remember you said that the rebels are not a serious case and we'll conquer them in a couple of days. Compared to that the very first two attacks of ours have ended with shameful defeat. I'm waiting for real plans."
"Sir I've been telling it from the beginning that demonstrations of force and weak attacks will not scare them." said Maginot's chairwoman. "If you want real plans, let me name you what has to be the major target for us. The confederate center, Matsuyama."
"You think so?" asked Lady Grey. "Just one big boy's school is based in Shikoku. I'd rather crush the majority of them here in Honshu."
"And do not forget that my school has been attacked first and they currently are forced back to Muroran and under enemy pressure!" said Maple's director.
"Together with mine school!" added Oarai's.
"Ladies, I agree with my chairwoman." Maginot's instructor said. "We shall take eliminate of their center. If Matsuyama is ours, everything will be ours soon after."
"Risky." said Anzio's director. "We have to go through De Gaulle, Habsburg and Bannockburn. Uluru can always intervene from the west. And then we'll have to conquer the bridges to Shizuoka too. Unluckily to us they chose a great place for their HQ. It would be a long ride."
"It we'll not if WE are going against them." Nishizumi Shiho spoke up. "Kuromorimine and Saunders are closer to Matsuyama and we have the strength to do it in no time."
"With respect Nishizumi-sama." Lady Grey complained. "Diamondback and Seinarukaze are standing in your way to Honshu. And again, Uluru Academy is right in the best place to move towards Kyushu or Shizuoka. Furthermore, the rebels are way too close to Yokohama. I want to remove them from the neighborhood of St. Gloriana."
"If we rush at them with the power of the Nishizumi way you'll have no worries anymore! But all of you can do things too. Just attack them intensively, especially the strongest ones, Landsknecht, Tsar Peter and the others. Force them into a war with several fronts!"
"That sounds great but they but they can also force US into a war like this if THEY attack first!"
"Then mobilize all that you've got now! Director! I suggest a general offensive!"
Tsuji was thinking for a minute then he said: "Alright. You have my permission."
Matsuyama
Kyousuke spent a lot of time, studying the secrets of Sensha-Do. He wasn't really a war chief but now at least he could give reasonable orders to his soldiers. The lessons were great because he was facing a problem. Shall they wait for a bigger attack of the Federation or shall THEY start an attack? If they wait for the JSF they could be in disadvantage. But if they begin a full scale war it can ruin their moral situation. They stated that they only want to free their schools from the tyranny of the Federation and defend themselves but if they attack first this time the public could see THEM as aggressors. Big deal, big deal. He was watching the map of Japan. Damn it, De Gaulle and the II. Honshu Battalion is so close to Tokyo. One big strike with combined forces and they'll be begging for a cease-fire and they'll have no choice but recognize the Confederacy. But still…
Next morning
Kyousuke just stepped into his office early in the morning when his phone rang.
"Yes?"
"President! All the scouts around the country say that federal forces have removed the camouflage nets from their tanks and they are preparing for something."
"Alert all the garrisons! Prepare for an attack! Shit! I knew it!"
"Wait a second!" Shouting was all at the other side of the line. "President, De Gaulle is under constant attack!
"Tell them make a stand! We send reinforcement immediately!"
"We've got other news! Diamondback reported that Saunders is closing towards them fast! Kuromorimine is behind them!"
"Take the best positions they can! Tell Seinarukaze that defend the bridge to Honshu no matter what happens! Uluru shall stand by!"
"Understand President!"
"Show me girls what you can do! With that Tsuji guy at your lead. Just do not think that we won't give you a hard time! No! You'll have to sweat and suffer for each centimeters of our soil!