Chapter 36: A Clash on Top of the World
The M1932 kicked up a blast of light snow as it sped forward on the river's icy surface. Its engine roared as it picked up speed and before the river tapered off, it lifted off the ground and into the air. "We have lift-off, happy hunting on the ground everyone!" Melitta called out over the radio. In the spectator stands, people stared in awe at the tank as it climbed higher and higher.
Meanwhile, the ground units separated into their groups and spread out. Duck Team's PT-1A was their flag tank for the match and followed the rear of the east flank. Behind them, the Gun Carrier Mk. 1 trudged on through the snow at the brisk speed of 3 miles per hour with the T34 Calliope ahead of it. "Man, this snow's really giving you guys trouble huh?" Canaveral radioed to Victoria.
"Yeah well, this thing isn't built for speed," Victoria quipped back.
Canaveral laughed. "Clearly," she joked. She refocused on her vision ports when an idea to her. "Hey Miho," she radioed, "we know Pravda's not too far from their starting point. Why don't we give them a wake-up call?" she suggested.
"Alright, Victoria fire a shot at Pravda's starting location," Miho replied.
"Yes ma'am!" Victoria exclaimed excitedly. She looked at her map and scribbled some numbers into her notepad as the gun carrier came to halt. Once she was finished with the math, she handed the paper to Seiji, who loaded the powder charges. He handed the paper to Isao, who went to work inputting the numbers into the gun. While he worked, Kyo placed a shell on the loading tray while Seiji put a powder charge behind it. The two pulled the loading tray up to the breech and shoved it in. Once the shell was loaded, Seiji closed the breech and allowed Isao to set the gun in place.
The 8-inch gun pointed into the sky and settled into position. "Ready," Isao warned. A moment passed as the rest of the crew cover their ears. "Fire!" he shouted and tugged the firing cord. The gun fired and the gun carrier shook with its power. An 8-inch shell flew over Oarai's tanks and into the sky. "Clear!" Isao shouted. Seiji opened the breech and the spent powder casing fell onto the loading tray.
Further south, Pravda's forces advanced in a perfect V formation of T-34s with two KV-2s and a single IS-2 following it. A faint whistling sound caught Katyusha's attention as she stood in her commander's hatch. "That must be Oarai's artillery," she predicted. "Artillery incoming hatches closed!" she ordered and retreated into her tank. Any commanders that were looking out of their hatches retreated into their tanks as well. The whistling intensified before the shell crashed into the ground ahead of the formation and exploded with a flash of fire that was shrouded in a veil of disturbed snow. "Drive around the crater and keep advancing," Katyusha ordered.
At the gun carrier, Victoria reactivated her radio and connected to Meadowlark Team. "Hey Melita, do you see if we hit anything?" she asked.
"No, we still haven't encountered anything yet," Melitta replied over the howl of the wind. She scanned the ground once again but picked up nothing when the wind started to pick up and slow the flying tank's airspeed.
Miho pulled out her binoculars and looked into the distance. Her face paled and she activated her radio. "Meadowlark Team, you need to land immediately! There's a storm on the horizon!" she ordered urgently.
Melitta squinted at the horizon where she saw a wall of white heading towards the battlefield. "Affirmative, we'll find a good spot to land and regroup with the closest group," she replied.
"Alright, everyone be aware we'll be facing some severe weather soon, so we'll have reduced visibility. Slow down it hits us and be prepared for the match to be paused if it gets bad enough," Miho informed.
The tank groups continued spreading out and let the forward team break away from their line. William stood at the spearhead with his binoculars out looking for enemy units. In the distance, he saw the silhouette of a tank against the advancing snowstorm. Just as he caught a glance; however, the tank disappeared into the wall of white. He lowered his binoculars and flipped down the microphone on his headset. "Enemy tank spotted directly ahead, but it disappeared into the snowstorm. Slow down and prepare for combat," he ordered. The forward group slowed down to a cautious crawl with their guns spread out to cover the area in front of them.
"Do you think they could be laying a trap?" Joseph asked.
"Maybe, but we've got the flank teams to prevent an encirclement. We'll be fine," William assured. Right as he finished speaking, a shell flew through the haze that was starting to set on the battlefield. It exploded between Atrox and Hyena Team who formed the left and center parts of the spearhead. Snow was kicked up across the spearhead like dust in a sandstorm.
"That looked like an artillery caliber shell!" Laika shouted over the radio as snowflakes hit her face and melted.
William nervously looked around him, trying to find a clue as to where the enemy tanks could be. Then, in the distance, a flash of light burst through the haze, and another shell flew their way. Once again it exploded in a spectacular fashion between the tanks, but this time it got close to hitting Atrox Team. "Quinn, did you see that light?" William asked.
"Yes! Traversing right now! Permission to fire?" Quinn requested.
"Permission granted, Addison, load armor-piercing. Fire at will!" William ordered, "all tanks, fire at will!"
The Tiger H2's turret slowly rotated right and the 75mm gun aimed at the general area where the light came from. William heard the breech click shut. "Ready!" Addison shouted.
"Fire!" Quinn followed. The gun roared as flames erupted from the barrel's muzzle break. The round flew with incredible speed into the haze and exploded in the distance, illuminating the silhouette of five tanks.
With the split second of light, William could only identify the silhouette of the center tank. A silhouette he could easily identify. "Was that…" he whispered with shock.
"Atrox, that center tank looked kinda like your tank. Do you think-" Ross started before a gust of wind cleared the haze momentarily to let the sun break through and illuminate both sides.
In front of them, on a slight incline were five tanks. Four had the chassis of a Panzer III with casemates built on top with large guns fixed to them. On the outer flanks were two Su-85i tank destroyers with long-barreled 85mm guns. Next to them were two SG-122 assault guns with short-barreled 122mm guns. In the center was the most intimidating tank of the group.
It had the same hull as Atrox Team and the same turret as a regular Tiger E. But the gun was unique. The gun lacked the usual muzzle break and was larger than the Tiger's regular 88mm caliber. As it stared down Atrox Team, William scrambled to give another order. "Angle the hull quickly!" he ordered.
Leslie barely managed to turn the Tiger H2 enough so when the other Tiger's gun fired, its large shell barely ricocheted into the air away from the spearhead. "All tanks, return fire!" William ordered. The first gun to respond was Eagle Team's 75mm gun, followed by a chorus of return fire from the KV-1K, T1E1, and Type 100. Shells flew through the air towards the enemy and exploded with a fiery flash, kicking up snow in front of the enemy.
The Su-85i's returned fire. The first 85mm shells bounced off the T1E1's turret with a horrid screech while Leopard Team barely missed the second shell. Then the haze started to move in again and shroud the tanks in a cloak of gray. "All tanks, reload and advance!" William ordered. As the guns were emptied of shell casings and reloaded with fresh shells, William radioed over to Anglerfish Team. "Miho, this is Atrox Team, we have come in contact with enemy tanks, probably Pravda's transfers since they are using captured German tanks converted into assault guns! We've identified two Su-85is and two SG-122s, but they are also fielding a variant of the Tiger E with no muzzle break and a larger gun. Can you see if Yukari can identify it?" he radioed.
At the east flank's spearhead, Miho stood at her post, defying the haze and snow. "Yukari does that sound familiar?" Miho asked.
"No muzzle break… bigger gun…" Yukari murmured to herself, deep in thought. Her eyes widened in surprise and fear. "That's a T-IV-100! It's a captured Tiger refitted with a Russian D-10T 100m gun, the same gun used on the T-54 and virtually identical to the gun on the Su-100 and T-55!" she answered.
William clenched his jaw and nervously examined the haze again. "Alright, I hope you all got that!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah, we got it!" Jody radioed over, "how the hell are we supposed to take a shot from that monster?"
"You can't, so take that son of a bitch out!" William ordered, "machine gunners, ready up! When you see those gun sights, light 'em up! Let's show them what Freikorp Stoßtruppen can do!"
The forward group's engines roared back to life as they surged forward. "Mongrel Team, use your rockets to surprise them!" William ordered.
"Affirmative, Alexei, fire the rockets at will," Laika ordered.
Alexei nodded in response as the tanks closed the gap. Right as the enemy came into sight, the KV-1K slid to a stop. Alexei released the left lever and reached out to activate the KRAST-1 system while the tank slowly rotated to the left. The rockets flew off their guidance rails with a hiss and flew towards the enemy units.
The enemy tanks barely reversed in time to avoid getting hit, but the large explosion rocked their tanks, giving the forward team time to close in. The hull machine guns rattled to life to fire a hail of bullets into their foes.
Katrina grabbed onto the cupola walls of the T-VI-100 as it shook from the bombardment. "Return fire!" she ordered, "knock them out!"
The guns of Pravda's forward units returned fire as the two lines of tanks traded fire in an intense battle for supremacy. Outside the battle, Miho analyzed the situation. "Given that there are only five enemy tanks in the center, Pravda must have the rest of their force either further behind them, or advancing around them, possibly to encircle our own forward units," she considered.
"Do you think we should continue with our original plan? If we advance on the center, we could probably knock out the T-VI-100 and the other tanks before Pravda could respond and encircle us. T-34s aren't known for having the best transmissions and the IS-2 and KV-2s won't be able to move as fast cross-country," Yukari added.
"That's possible, but if Pravda has the later variants with the five-speed transmissions or if they fixed the problems with the four-speed transmission, they could probably make an encirclement work," Miho stated.
"Right, but that's assuming their tanks are 1943 models or they've fixed the four-speed transmission's problems. There are also other problems with the T-34's reliability like poor quality steel and craftsmanship. It's probably why the transfer students converted their Panzer IIIs instead of using T-34s," William countered, "we should take out this group now, we've already completed a partial-encirclement. We should be able to regroup before Pravda's main force reaches us."
Miho slowly nodded. "Alright, flank groups, turn towards the forward group and advance to assault the side and rear of the enemy forward units. But still, be prepared for Pravda's main force," she ordered. The tanks of the flank group turned inwards to support their forward forces.
Further to the west, the M1932 descended closer to the ground. Right before they were enveloped in the snowstorm's haze, they touched down. The treads spun rapidly and sent up clouds of snow on both sides of the tank as it slowed to its ground speed. "So, what now?" Manfred asked.
"Miho, what are our new orders?" Melitta asked.
"Join the western flank group and prepare to support them for the attack on the center," Miho ordered.
"On it!" Melitta replied. She slammed the right lever back to spin the tank around so it would face east. "Let's go!" she exclaimed as she pushed the left lever down to match the right lever. The tank sprung forward and accelerated to regroup with the west flank. It sped across the snowy wasteland, using its 1,000 horsepower engine to its fullest.
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Another horrid screeching sound ripped through the Tiger H2 as a 100mm shell bounced off the turret roof. "Fire!" William shouted in response. The 75mm gun poked over the top of a small hill that provided a small amount of cover for the center force from the opposing team's fire. Consequently, they had taken cover behind another rolling hill several hundred meters from them, forcing both sides to poke out and shoot at the other before retreating back to safety quickly.
This game of back and forth produced many small craters of missed shots that littered the battlefield. A pair of large explosions rocked the center group again as the 122mm howitzers fired together. Their tanks shook but did not falter. "Miho, how far out are you?" William asked.
"Not far now, hold on!" Miho answered.
"We're not far either, just keep them occupied for a few more minutes," Erwin added.
"Don't get too hasty William, we're on our way!" Azusa followed.
William scowled and open his hatch before standing out of it. He could just barely peak over the hill, where he saw another face looking over the opposite hill. His and Katrina's eyes met. Immediately, William felt the heat of her glare, something that he hadn't feared before. This time, though, instead of an underfunded early model Panzer III, he was staring down a Tiger that was arguably superior to his own. He clenched his jaw and gripped the cupola. Where'd they even find something like that? Deep in the mess that is Soviet archives? he thought bitterly. Suddenly, instead of a pair of fiery blue eyes, he found himself staring down the barrel of a 100mm gun. He quickly ducked into his cupola and slammed it shut.
"Seems like our days of kicking in East Union are over," Quinn commented.
"This ain't East Union High anymore, this is Pravda High School and I guess beating her for three years straight has made Katrina a little bitter," Addison added.
"And now she has the guns to back it up…" William whispered, "hey Casey, have you found our location on the map so we can call an artillery strike?"
"Nope, the haze is preventing me from getting an accurate estimate. I could give them something, but it could hit them, us, Miho, or some frozen lake 20 miles away," Casey replied.
"I hate snow…" William muttered. "Forward and fire again!" he commanded.
The Tiger lurched forward above the hill and stared down the opposite foe again. Quinn slammed the trigger down and a shell blasted from the barrel. But the T-VI-100 slinked back behind the hilltop and the shell flew overhead. As it passed, the T-VI-100 sped up the hill again and fired.
Leslie slammed the tank into reverse and it fell behind the hilltop again. William nearly punched the commander's periscope in frustration. But a few hundred meters away, the Panzer IV crested another small hilltop and came to a stop. "Enemy straight ahead, take the shot Hana!" Miho shouted. As the gun came to rest, Hana placed the gun straight at the closest SG-122. With a quick flick of the trigger, the 7.5cm Kwk 40 L/48 gun fired.
The shell soared through the air precisely towards the assault gun. Its left side burst into flames with a fiery explosion that destroyed the upper section of the tracks. The giant black scorch mark left behind on the metal and the white flag popping up from its roof signified a clean elimination.
Next, the Stridsvagn crested the hill before the enemy could respond to the knock-out. Its 37mm Bofors gun fired and its shell scraped the roof of the Su-85i. "You missed again Momo-chan," Yuzu informed.
"I know!" Momo replied angrily.
The B1 Bis and LVT-(A)24 stopped at the top of the hill. The 47mm and 75mm guns of Mallard Team fired, launching their shells at the enemy. Following it, the LVT-(A)24 fired its own main gun. The collection of shells assaulted the enemy tanks and the Su-85i burst into flames when Mallard Team's shells hit its weak side armor. Baiji Team's round crashed into the left side of the T-IV-100's turret and exploded but only left a large scorch mark.
Across the battlefield, the western flank group came to a stop as they entered their tank's combat range. Hippo Team's 7.5cm Stuk 40 gun aimed straight at the enemy ahead of them, completing the semi-encirclement. Rabbit Team stopped next, with their 37mm and 75mm guns ready to fire. Luca and Pheasant Team moved to guard the flank of the west group to protect the longer guns from enemy fire if they were attacked. Rabbit Team's guns fired, with the 37mm gun aimed at the remaining Su-85i and the 75mm aimed at the SG-122. The pair of shells flew through the air and crashed into the side of the enemy tanks, knocking them out with a decisive blow.
"Fall back and deploy smoke!" Katrina ordered. From the side of the turret, grenade launchers spat out a handful of smoke grenades around the Tiger. They hissed into action, leaving a cloaking cloud of smoke for the tank to retreat into.
Atrox Team rose over the hill with William standing tall in the cupola. He caught one last glance at Katrina before she shrank away into the smoke. To his surprise, the determined fury he saw before was gone. Instead, he saw a sly smirk and a look of victory on her face as she disappeared into the smoke. "What's with that look on her face?" William wondered.
"Alright everyone, let's reform into our groups and-" Miho started before she was interrupted by a deep, incredible roar that sounded like thunder. Suddenly, a pair of massive 152mm shells erupted from the smoke that Katrina laid. They landed in front of the forward tanks and blasted a wall of snow and frozen soil over them.
Patty raised her arms to protect her face from the debris as it rained over her. "Jesus! Way to make a fucking entrance!" she shouted. She turned around and unstrapped her bazooka from the roof of her turret. "Next time, just ring the doorbell!" she shouted before firing it into the smoke. The rocket flew forward with a hiss and detonated against a hull just behind the smoke wall.
"Return fire!" Miho commanded. Before they could carry out her orders; however, a wave of shells flew from the edge of the smoke and haze that battered the entire team.
The dual guns of the MTLS-1GI4 came to life first as they spewed a flurry of small shells at the approaching enemy. However, they all bounced off the front of the tank closest to it as the IS-2 emerged from the haze. Luca Team's eyes widened as they stared down its 122mm gun. The gun came to life and blasted the poor light tank with its large shell directly in the frontal armor. When the smoke settled, a small white flag waved over Luca Team.
"Light tanks, fall behind the heavies, Duck Team retreat away from the enemy and join the artillery tanks to the north! I want all tanks to deploy smoke shells and grenades until our defensive line is reorganized!" Miho ordered, "Mako rotate so our frontal armor is facing them, Hana fire on any tank you see emerging from the haze."
Oarai's tanks began to fall back as T-34s began to emerge from the haze. In the center directly in front of William, Katrina's T-IV-100 emerged again and fired. Atrox Team fired back and the two shells bounced off both tank's turrets. A pair of KV-2s flanked Katrina on both sides, frightening Atrox Team as they tried to fall back.
Eagle Team fired from the edge of the front spearhead, but its shell couldn't penetrate the closest KV-2's armored at that angle. However, the KV-2's turret slowly rotated to fix itself on the T22E1. "You want a piece of me?!" Patty shouted. She slammed another rocket into her bazooka and hoisted it over her shoulder. The KV-2 fired first and its massive shell destroyed Eagle Team as it detonated on the T22E1's front armor. Patty's bazooka fly upwards and fired its rocket harmlessly into the sky before it fell from her shoulder.
The other KV-2 fixed its sights on Hyena and Leopard Team at the other side of the spearhead. Ross aimed his rocket gun where he thought the gun sights would be and fired. He fired a high explosive shell at the massive behemoth that exploded against the gun mantlet, giving him a brief moment of opportunity. "Now! Fire!" he shouted.
Jody eagerly pulled the trigger for the 88mm gun. It fired with a roar that was pitiful compared to the 152mm of the KV-2. The shell hit the gun mantlet and failed to penetrate. Ross's eyes widened in fear as the smoke cleared for the behemoth to look right at him.
Right before the KV-2 fired, the T1E1 of Hyena Team drove in front of the Type 100 at an angle, pushing it aside and obscuring the KV-2's shot. It fired anyway and the shell slammed into the T1E1's thick frontal armor. The explosion completely engulfed the front of the tank with a bright light and smoke cloud. "Take it out now Laika!" Joseph shouted over his ringing ears.
The KV-1K faced its distant relative and fired the 76.2mm ZIS-5 cannon. Its shell flew into the hull of the KV-2 and was just enough to knock out the behemoth. The rest of Oarai's front solidified with its powerful tanks at the front with T-34s around them joined by the remaining KV-2, the IS-2, and T-VI-100. Nonna overlooked the front from her position at the commander's hatch of the IS-2. "It would seem that Oarai's flag tank is not among their main force," she reported.
"Могли ли они ускользнуть во время перестрелки?" Klara suggested from the hatch of a T-34-85.
"Я полагаю, что это возможно," Nonna replied.
From her position in a T-34-76, Katyusha glared at them with annoyance. "I told you two, no Russian!" she chastised. She scowled and turned forward to overlook the battlefield. "All tanks advance and encircle the enemy!" she ordered.
A pair of T-34 groups rushed east and west to move around Oarai's lines. The furthest tanks from the center, Pheasant and Baiji Team began firing on them, but they weren't powerful enough to destroy any of the tanks. One of the T-34-85s came to a stop and fired a shell into the lower hull of the LVT-(A)24. The front of the hull exploded and became charred, while the white flag popped out. The T-34-85 that fired turned away and started moving again to catch up with its flank.
The 37mm gun of the Type 95 fired, but its shell bounced off the frontal armor of the T-34 they fired at. The hull machine started spitting out bullets at the enemy tanks as well, but they paid it no mind and continued maneuvering around them. "What? Why aren't they attacking us?" Hanoko asked over the rattling of the Type 97 machine gun.
"I don't think they even see us as a threat…" Fukuda answered with a hint of dejection. She activated her commander's radio and connected to Miho. "Miho, it looks like Pravda is trying to encircle us, but we don't have the firepower to counter them!" she exclaimed.
"Alright, western flank group, I want you to focus on keeping us from getting encircled! Everyone else, try to find their flag tank," Miho ordered. She stood up in her cupola and looked through her binoculars toward the western flank group. She could see the Hippo, Wolf, Rabbit Team start to turn to attack whatever tanks were moving around the parameter. Her eyes widened when she saw Nonna's IS-2 and a pair of T-34-85s zeroing in on them. "Rabbit, Wolf, Hippo Teams, the enemy is focusing on you from the south!" she hastily informed.
Rabbit Team stopped turning and faced south again to see the group of enemy tanks closing in. "We're going to need help taking out that IS-2, but we can handle the T-34s!" Azusa exclaimed. "Aya take out the right tank, Ayumi, left!" she ordered.
Rabbit Team's guns aimed at the T-34-85s as they came to a stop. For a tense moment, Azusa could only watch as the tanks came to a stop in front of her. Aya and Ayumi pulled their triggers and the duo of guns fired their shells at the T-34s in front of them. The shells impacted the frontal armor of the enemy tanks, but the shells bounced into to sky harmlessly.
"Fall back!" Azusa ordered in a panic. The three guns of the enemy tanks closed in on the M3 Grant as Karina began reversing the tank. Suddenly, Meadowlark Team flew over a nearby hill and crashed into the ground near Rabbit Team.
The M1932 sped forward in front of the enemy tanks before veering away from them. The tank drifted past Pravda's tanks while they stared in surprise as a blast of snow coated their tanks and blocked their gun sights. "Let's get out of here Asuza!" Melitta shouted. The M1932 sped away as Rabbit turn turned around and followed. By the time they had cleared their sights, Rabbit and Meadowlark Team were gone.
"Continue the encirclement, we'll deal with them later," Nonna ordered.
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Despite losing one of the KV-2s, Pravda's center still pressed on while the T-34s moved around and distracted the flank teams. "Alright," Katrina decided, "no more playing around." As her sight fell on the KV-1K, Type 100, and T1E1 in front of her, she gave another order, "take out that oversized tank with the two guns."
The 100mm gun aligned with the T1E1 as the turret rotated. It stopped and the gun was perfectly squared with the frontal armor. "Fire," Katrina ordered coldly. The gun roared and the hull of the T1E1 was again set alight with an explosion. "Get that 88mm next."
Ross stared with surprise at the now burning T1E1 beside him. "Jesus, that thing has a punch!" he exclaimed. Suddenly his ears were filled with the sound of cannon fire again. He snapped forward just in time to see a shell blast into the frontal armor of his tank. He fell backward into the turret as the tank was knocked out by a violent explosion.
A 152mm shell erupted from the KV-2 next to Katrina and crashed into the KV-1K to avenge their fallen comrade. The rocket tank was cleanly knocked out in the explosion. Katrina grinned sinisterly. "Finally! Finally, we're teaching those Prussians a lesson for years of embarrassment!" she cheered with exultation.
"Miho, we've lost Leopard, Hyena, and Mongrel Team! That damn T-VI is having a field day out here!" William radioed in a panic.
"We're being pushed back too!" Erwin reported bleakly, "we just can't contend with them!"
Miho looked at her map and came to a grim conclusion as Pravda's guns poked out of the haze and closed in on Oarai's center. They were completely and utterly encircled. The ground began to shake as Oarai's tanks began to concentrate together under Pravda's fire. "This can't be it!" Momo shouted.
Wolf and Hippo Team regrouped with the main force and came to a stop next to Anglerfish Team and faced the rear T-34s as they approached. "Then let's take them down with us!" Erwin demanded. The two 75mm guns of the assault guns fired and caused the approached T-34s to slow and take cover as the shells blew clouds of soot and snow into the air.
Miho took another quick look on her map, desperately trying to find their location to see if there was a route to escape. Only the massive snowy wasteland answered her. Her eyes fell on one grid square that had the smallest circle in it, indicating a hill. That must be the group of small hills we're on! She realized. "Artillery group, I have a firing order for you!" she exclaimed before telling them the grid square they were on. "I want you to fire ON us!"
"What?! You want us to fire ON you?!" Victoria exclaimed with shock.
"Yes! Fire on us!" Miho ordered, "just do it!"
Canaveral hastily wrote the coordinates on a notebook and calculated the inputs and handed it to Kennedy. Victoria followed suit and handed it to her crew. The artillery piece and rocket rack pointed into the sky as they quickly set them into place. "Fire!" the two commanders ordered.
The 8-inch howitzer fired first, sending its massive shell into the sky. Next, the rockets started flying out of the rack with a collection of loud hisses. Smoke built up behind the launcher as each rocket blasted into the air. "Reload and fire again!" Victoria ordered over the chaos, "don't stop until I tell you to!" As the rockets blasted off, the artillery gun was reloaded and fired again and again and again.
"Everyone, retreat north at full speed!" Miho ordered, "we're going to make a breakout!"
"Carpaccio, let's give them a way out with smoke shells!" Caesar shouted. The two assault guns drove forward, luring the T-34s from their cover. Still on the move, the assault guns fired smoke rounds at the T-34s. A wall of smoke covered them just as the first rockets arrived.
An ungodly explosion roared through the Alaskan tundra as the ordinance arrived. Practically every tank was covered in smoke as each explosion charred the landscape. The roar of each explosion pounded through everyone's ears and could even be felt in Utqiagvik. The ground quaked with every blast as both teams were consumed by the fire. The artillery played a grand orchestra of destruction over both teams.
Just as quickly as the hellfire began, it silenced. The smoke remained and mixed with the snowstorm to create an awful black haze that coated the sky and blotted out what little sunlight broke through the overcast. The polar day that would shine on the Alaskan lands for two more months was changed into a cold, dark night. A night that only grew colder.
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Next Time on Girls und Panzer: Tank Aces
Chapter 37: Last Ditch Offensive!