Crack of the lightning splitting the ground,
thunder is sounding, artillery ponding!
"All units, load the new shells!" ordered Miho and the loaders placed the special shells into the guns.
"Loaded!" said Yukari.
"Ready to fire." reported Hana.
"Alright girls. Five minutes and the dance starts." said Miho.
"I'm scared. I've never did anything like this before." said Noriko timidly.
"Let's hope that our own weapon will not turn against us like it happened with the Persians at Dura Europos." said Caesar inside the Stug.
"At where?" asked Nakajima.
"Never mind it…"
Miho felt like she had nausea because of the nervousness as she watched her wristwatch. Will this attack be successful? Will it turn the tide? Will it help to end the war earlier?
Finally the time came. Miho opened the hatch of her tank and shot a signal rocket. Her Panzer IV fired. Then all the other tanks from Oarai then their comrades from the other schools. They didn't have exact targets; they shot blindly between the trees. Where the shells landed white clouds of smoke appeared and it started to cover confederate frontline.
Miho watched. It was one of the scariest things she's ever seen. And in mean time she felt big remorse that she's doing such a dishonorable deed. Is this still the real Sensha-Do she knew before?
Kiyoshi's POV
The commanding general of the Confederacy looked through his binoculars.
"Tanks in the frontline! What is happening?"
"The enemy is shooting smoke grenades general." a boy from Landsknecht answered in the radio.
"Strange." frowned Kiyoshi.
Those who were in the first line watched as the white smoke begun to surround them. But they had to realize immediately that it wasn't just simple smoke when it entered their tanks. They started coughing unstoppably and tears begun to stream down on their faces.
"Gen… EH! EH! General! Gas… EH! It is gas!" a Jagdpanther commander warned Kiyoshi even though he could hardly breathe.
"Verdammt! Masks up everyone!" yelled Kiyoshi. After what happened on the southern front the confederate High Command supplied all the boys' schools with gas masks to have protection if such an attack happens again. But it was too late for those who were in the first line. They didn't expect this horrifying weapon to arrive in shells. When they reached for their masks the tear gas already filled their vehicles and they were unable to fight.
A minute later they heard the sound of advancing tanks and soon real shells exploded around them taking them out one by one.
Kiyoshi got shocked when he saw what was coming. The JSF army grew much bigger during one night. Pravda, Maple and Viking had more tanks than they had before and this huge armored mass charged at them with its full power.
"Feuer frei! Stop their advance!" yelled Kiyoshi his orders. However the boys were not prepared for a Blitzkrieg like this. After all those successes this was too sudden for them to handle.
The girls concentrated their main attack on Landsknecht and Tsar Peter in the middle to punch a hole in the confederate line but also kept Stromboli and Odin busy in the west and the east. They knew exactly that the german tanks are in disadvantage at close quarters therefore they didn't let them to fight from a distance. They charged right at them, broke between them and fired from only a few meters. Before the boys could blink a group of Panzers and T-34s were already white flagged and the girls' schools were just closing and closing. This kind of fight was excellent for the girls of Oarai; they could use their magnificent maneuvering skills. In the chaos they often managed to get behind the enemy heavy tanks and fire on their rear armor, taking them out. The artilleries were barely saved, Landsknecht for example lost a G.W. Tiger and three Wespes before the SPGs got into safety. The boys tried to hold their ground but after a bit of time Kiyoshi saw that he has no choice.
"All units! Fall back and regroup!" he ordered.
"We give up so easily Kommandant?" Aoto complained.
"A good soldier knows when it's time to retreat! We cannot win if we lose half of the army here!"
The boys pulled back, giving up the occupied land. It turned around that the situation was worse than they thought. They were ready for a counterattack in every minute but this was a powerful counteroffensive. After only a few hours Landsknecht and Tsar Peter found themselves fighting at Lake Inawashiro, 40 kilometers behind their starting point. Here the federals divided their forces. Pravda and Viking Marine pushed Tsar Peter and Odin toward the north while Oarai, Maple and Bonple High School forced Landsknecht and Stromboli to retreat toward the northwest and their home cities, Niigata and Nagaoka.
The sides fought each other through the whole night. By the middle of the next day it became so serious that Pravda and Viking were about to conquer Sendai. The boys had to mobilize Mannerheim and command the Finnish styled high school to Honshu. When they arrived to the front half of Miyagi Prefecture was already lost.
This was obviously not a joke.
Miho's POV
Even Miho was surprised by the speed of their advance. On just the second day of the offensive they were about to liquidate the enemy resistance within Fukushima Prefecture. However they had to enter a large area covered by woods. Even though they knew it more or less since they fought before on this very land when the confederates pushed them away from Niigata, fighting in an environment like this is always difficult.
Miho stopped the tanks before the woody hills. She took her binoculars to observe the area in front of them. She saw no enemy tanks; all of them took cover between the trees.
"Listen up girls! Stay always together and watch out! Panzer vor!" she ordered and the army group moved forward. Their goal was to capture the outpost of Landsknecht at Aga, on the bank of the Agano River.
They advanced following the road E49 with the Tiger P at the lead. They didn't have to wait long; a shell has bounced off the turret of the heavy tank, followed by others.
"Nakajima-san! Can you see the enemy?" asked Miho.
"It's four Panthers dug in on either sides of the road taichō." the Tiger P's commander reported. That was a problem. Miho knew exactly that Panthers can be just as dangerous as Tigers if they are well positioned.
"Rabbit Team, Turtle Team, Hippo Team and Shark Team! Draw their attention! We attack them from the side! Trout-san, could you give support here?"
"Of course Miho-san!" replied Maple's commander.
"All other teams come with me!" ordered Miho and the rest of Oarai turned right and drove into the forest. "Duck Team, go ahead and scout for us! We will be waiting for you here." she said when they got a bit away from the battle and it was quiet.
"Understood commander!" said Isobe and the Type-89 soon disappeared in the dense vegetation. As they were waiting the girls looked around. This place was very depressing. The enemy could be lurking anywhere without being noticed.
"Just like the Argonne." said Erwin quietly.
"Or Teutoburg Forest." said Caesar.
After only a few minutes Duck Team came back driving very nervously. "Taichō!"
"What happened Isobe-san?"
"We have a problem! There's a dug-in Königstiger at about 800 meters in front of us!"
"Damn. We have to take it out first. Everyone, line up and follow me!" The small tank column begun to move again. They wanted to attack the heavy tank from behind. But suddenly an 88 millimeter shell struck the front of the turret of Miho's tank. Luckily it was not a direct hit and bounced off. It looked like that the commander of the Königstiger aimed blindly following the moving of the bushes. But it was still enough to cause panic among the girls.
"All tanks, back back!" shouted Miho and the tanks begun to roll backward.
A few hundred meters away
There was a small gap between the bushes and the gunner of the Königstiger saw the back of a Char B1 appearing in it.
"Auf Wiedersehen." he whispered with a grin and fired the fearful gun.
The girls' POV
Sodoko heard a loud whistle then in the next moment the tank of the public moral committee shook as the shell of the german heavy tank tore through its side armor.
"Nishizumi taichō! We got white flagged!"
"Don't worry girls, we bring you out of here!" said Miho. "Lion Team, stand between Mallard Team and the enemy until we tow them away! All other units return fire!"
"Yokai!"
"Mako-san, please drive us to the B1!"
"Hai." nodded the sleepy driver. Meanwhile the other tanks lined up to shield their friends. They fired but even if they hit the target, they had no chance against the Königstiger's turret.
"Saori-san, please help me with the tow lines!"
"Yes Miporin!" replied the radio operator and the two girls climbed out of the Panzer IV. They took the two lines and hang them on the hitches as the duel continued nearby. Just when they finished and were about to go back inside the tank they heard that sound which resembles to a closing train.
"Saori-san, down!" yelled Miho and just as she pulled down her friend artillery shells begun raining down from the sky. "Run! Saori run!" Both of them sprinted as fast as they could to get out of the targeted area. The tanks were under heavy fire so they couldn't go toward them. In the chaos they got separated and run to different ways.
When the shelling was behind her, Miho stopped breathing heavily. Her adrenalin level was on the wing. For the first time in her life she felt how dangerous Sensha-Do really can be.
When she looked around she didn't know where she was. She got lost in the forest. Worse was the fact that she didn't know if she was on JSF or confederate controlled territory. She had no better idea than going where she thought she'll find the others. But after a few hours of walking in the woods she was still alone. She didn't want to yell because she was worried that the enemy can hear it too.
When it started getting late she became really worried. Where is the army? In the gloom of twilight she suddenly missed a step and fell down on a slope. When she stopped she was covered with fallen leaves. She stood up to clear herself and remove the leaves and twigs. As she was doing this he heard a strange, metallic sound behind her back. Miho turned around and saw dense bushes. But what is that between the branches? Is that a… a cannon? She realized that she was facing an 88 millimeter KwK 43 L/71 gun. Then the tank itself moved forward a few meters. Miho got paralyzed. A Königstiger with the two headed dragon of Landsknecht stood before her. She just forgot to move.
The hatch of the turret opened and a familiar face appeared on top of the heavy tank.
"H-Hasegawa-san?"
"Guten Abend Nishizumi-san." said Kiyoshi in a neutral voice as he stood up on his turret. "May I ask what are you doing here?"
"I… I got lost."
"I thought you are not wandering here all alone just to have fun." raised the boy his eyebrow and climbed down. "Was it us that scared you away from your fellows?"
"Your artillery… they fired on us… when we tried to tow one of our tanks away." said Miho timidly.
"Oh God, I always tell them to make sure that all enemy soldiers are inside their vehicles before they attack." sighed Kiyoshi. "Because I'm not like you."
"Not like me?"
"You know Nishizumi-san, even though you are a member of the JSF I've always felt respect for. Saving your school the way you did was such a great heroic thing that I must admire. I always thought that you are different than most of the Federation members who only care about benefits and money. I always thought that you care about the people and you have respect toward your opponent. Unluckily it looks like I was wrong."
"W-What do you mean Hasegawa-san?"
"What do I mean? Did you already forget what you did to us yesterday morning?" hissed Kiyoshi.
This struck Miho like a lightning. The tear gas. "Hasegawa-san I… I swear I didn't want to do it!"
"But you did. I thought you are nobler than that."
"What could I do? I'm just a soldier."
"Still you don't have to obey an order if you feel that it's wrong!"
"I … I couldn't deny it…"
"You are all the same. Can't you girls see what your precious directorate did to this sport? If you were so dedicated Sensha-Do participants you would have overthrown their power a long time ago!"
"All I want is to protect Oarai." sighed Miho looking at the ground.
"Normally I would offer to join us. But I don't offer it. Not after yesterday!"
"I can't blame you. I know exactly what your reasons to leave the Federation were."
"I know that you know. Then why do you want to take our freedom away?"
"I DON'T!" cried Miho. "I don't. I just… When you broke away from the JSF I was full of fear that you'll attack us. I didn't know what your intensions were. They told us that we will be in danger if we do not stop you. But now I see what we did. I see what we did with Sensha-Do and with the relations between us. And I did nothing to stop it!"
They remained silent for a minute.
"Sorry." said Kiyoshi quietly.
"You're sorry?" asked Miho surprised. "What?"
"I was too harsh with you. You are right. It would have caused only bad for you school if you turn your back to the directorate."
"Still…"
"Forget this. Let's get back to our duties and may the stronger prevail." said Kiyoshi and turned around. "Oh and you can find your comrades if you go that way." he showed the direction to Miho. "And Nishizumi-san!"
"Hm?"
"I'll never forget that Christmas." Kiyoshi said more gently when he was back in his cupola.
"Me neither." nodded Miho and walked away.
It was late in the night when she found the tanks of Oarai.
"Oh my God Miporin! What happened? We were scared to death!" Saori ran to her and hugged her.
"Forgive me Saori-san. I just got lost. I'm back, don't worry now."
"Are you alright Miho-san?" asked Hana.
"Y-Yes of course."
"Did you find any enemy positions in meantime?"
"No… No I didn't."
"What's the situation here?"
"We are still stuck. Those Panthers made our day hard."
"I see. Let's get a little rest now. You girls desire it."
And with that they went to have dinner and sleep to get prepared for tomorrow's battle.
Tokyo, Shiho's POV
Shiho was sitting at her desk with a paper in her hand completely frozen. It was a report from the northern front. It stated that Miho, her younger daughter went missing during a heavy artillery bombardment. In the moment she read it, that cold hearted, stoic woman disappeared and was replaced by a caring, worried mother. It cannot be. Nothing could happen to Miho! If anything…
"Ma'am! Your daughter has been found!" Shiho's secretary stormed into the office. Hearing this, the head of the Nishizumi household jumped up from her chair and took the new report. She let out the hugest sigh of relief of her life. Miho was safe and back with the others.
"Thank you." said Shiho weakly. Thanks God! In that moment so many thoughts have flown into her mind. For the first time she questioned the raison d'etre of this war. If that's the cost…
Vladivostok, Aleksey's POV
Aleksey roamed through the latest reports he got from Japan. A gas attack again. Furthermore another big offensive which only brings more problem, chaos and destruction. Since the war started the IMAF had to reorganize everything. Even if the JSF wasn't their member they used to cooperate, but now they had to leave them out of tournaments and other events. Aleksey followed the events from the very beginning. At first he thought that it was too radical from the boys to secede. But as time went on he started thinking otherwise. He realized that the biggest causative of this conflict was the JSF directorate. More specifically their hunger for power and as it turned out from the documents Ami found, the corruption. If someone would remove them, most of the problems will likely disappear together with them.
Aleksey took the papers and placed them into a large envelope. Then he took his pen and wrote the address on it: International Martial Arts Federation Central Directorate, Museumstraße, Vienna, Austria.