Chapter IX: The Five Tiger Generals
After breaking the Bagua Formation of Chinese Team, Miho quickly order her troops to march and pursue the retreating enemy forces. Some M4A4, T-34/85 and IS-2 fall prey to the advancement of Japanese forces. Meanwhile, Shizuka and other teams managed to white-flagged their third Hellcat, and end the terror to Erika's Company.
"Shizuka to Itsumi-dono, the coast is clear," said Shizuka.
"Thank you very much," said Erika, "now all Westfalen Company, let's get out of this entrenchment."
"Just scale down the east cliff, we'll be waiting and protect you there," said Emi.
"You've fixed your tracks?" asked Erika.
"Yes, we're ready to go back to battle," said Emi.
"Thank you, we'll go down right away," said Erika.
"Erika-san, once you got out, converge to the river plain," said Miho, "the enemy is retreating there, and we'll meet them there,"
"Wonderful! There's not much landscape features in the river plain. Let's settle this in an open battle," said Erika.
"Alright. Erwin-san, Shizuka-san, please converge to the river plain," said Miho.
"Roger that!" said Shizuka and Erwin at the same time.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Team, currently retreating, trying to regroup with their remaining forces.
"Report, casualty status?" said Liang'er.
"We lost 3 IS-2s, 2 M5A1s, 1 BT-5, 3 M4A4s, and 2 T-34/85s. Three Hellcats lost and one is unaccounted for," said Yu'er.
"So, we only have five of you with 9 other tanks. This is much unfortunate," said Liang'er.
"What now, Gongzhu?" asked Yun'er.
Liang'er smiled and recite a saying:
"Opportunistic relationship can hardly be kept constant . The acquaintance of honorable people, even at a distance, does not add flowers in times of warmth and does not change its leaves in times of cold : it continues unfading through the four seasons, becoming increasingly stable as it passes through ease and danger."
Everyone listened and nod their heads, as if a new resolve enlight their hearts.
"Those SU-100 is their biggest guns, get them first!" said Liang'er.
"Roger that, I, Cao'er and Fei'er would get them," said Yu'er.
"And Zhong'er, lead the remaining forces to pick up their strays. Attack where they least expected," said Liang'er.
"Shi, Gongzhu!" said Zhong'er.
"And Yun'er you stay by my side," said Liang'er, "to all of you, no more fancy strategy, just do your best,"
"You mean took the gloves off this time, Gongzhu?" asked Fei'er.
"Yes, get them when you see them, and give no quarter," said Liang'er, "show them the true might of The Five Tiger Generals!"
"Shi!" said all of them.
An IS-2 of Yu'er, T-34/85 of Fei'er, and M4A4 of Cao'er separate from the forces. Zhong'er's BT-5 also separate with the rest of the tanks, leaving Yun'er in M5A1 and Liang'er's Chi-Ha.
At that time, all the Japan's SU-100s are in the way to regroup with others. The turn of the tide, the breaking of the trap and survival of Japan's flag tank bolster Japanese Team morale that they decide to go on an offensive. Hippo Team and the other team wish to take part on the offensive, but without support from the other tank, they're vulnerable right now due to their turret-less configuration.
"Alisa, where's your pack right now?" asked Erwin.
"We're currently converging on Point OX, I believe the ETA would be 3 more minutes," said Alisa.
"Let's hurry up, I don't like being here in the open without any assistance," said Erwin.
"Okay, but please be calm, the enemy is in retreating and..."
BLAAAM!
Erwin looked back at the cupola and see that Alina, in the rear tank, is white-flagged. Before she realize what happened, an IS-2 of Yu'er jumped out of the greeneries.
"Scheiße! We're under attack!" said Erwin.
"What the hell? Hang on, we'll be there!" said Alisa.
Alisa, Kinuyo, and Tamada then turn their tanks to meet with distressed Erwin's Company earlier than the meeting point. However, coming right to them are Liang'er's Gongchen Tank and Yun'er's M5A1.
"Enemies up front!" said Kinuyo.
"Charge them! They're lighter than us!" said Arisa.
"Yosh! It's time for the legendary Chi-Ha-Tan Charge Attack! Charge!" said Kinuyo.
"Yun'er, I'll take these ones, if you may," said Liang'er.
"Shi, Gongzhu!" said Yun'er.
Kinuyo and Tamada's Shermans rushed forward to meet the challenge. Chi-Ha or Gongchen Tank and M5A1 is absolutely lighter and weaker than Shermans, especially the Easy Eight. However, they seems forget that this Chi-Ha has Liang'er inside, the commander of Chinese Team.
"If we could destroy the Chi-Ha, then victory would be ours, de arimasu!" said Fukuda.
"Yes! Finally we could make a name for Chi-Ha-Tan Academy!" said Kinuyo.
"Charge!" said Tamada.
"Charge like there's no tomorrow!" said Hosomi.
Liang'er smiled. She tapped her fan gently to her driver, and the Gongchen Tank then make a tricky maneuver, avoiding combined shot of both Sherman, drifting to their side, shot Kinuyo's Shermans on the turret ring in point blank range and white-flagged her in an instant, while quickly serpentines straight to Alisa's Sherman in the back. Alisa couldn't had chance to react when the Gongchen slipping close to her tank and again shot the turret ring in point blank range.
"What the..." said Tamada while watching the Gongchen, in high-speed turn and goes in her direction.
Tamada tries to speed up the reload process, but it's too late, Gongchen already in her point blank range and shoot her turret ring, white-flagged the Sherman in the process. After finishing the three Shermans alone, Liang'er quickly get out of the scene with Yun'er.
"I don't know if I should upset or rejoice after being beaten by a Chi-Ha..." said Tamada.
"Yeah, but what kind of Chi-Ha could move that fast and that agile?" asked Kinuyo.
"That's not a Chi-Ha, but a Gongchen Tank. Let's just say that it's basically a Shinhoto Chi-Ha with Karkyv 500 Hp engine of T-34," said Miho.
"What? A Chi-Ha with T-34's engine?" said Alisa.
"A 26-tonnes T-34 could run up to 53 kph, but if you put the same engine in a 16-tonnes Chi-Ha..." said Miho.
"Then you'll got a Chi-Ha with lightning speed..." said Shizuka.
"That's right, that's why she's able to outrun you in the first time," said Miho.
"But how is that possible? Why a Gongchen Tank could enter the exhibition match?" asked Shizuka.
"Let's worry about that later. Erwin-san, what's your status report?" asked Miho.
"This is Hippo Team, we all got wiped out, Dai Taichou. Beside the IS-2 with green band, the T-34/85 with red band and M4A4 with yellow band also join the party and caught us off guard. I'm very sorry,"
"Are you alright? Nobody hurts?" asked Miho.
"Yes, we're alright. Just keep on fighting, Dai Taichou. Avenge us!" said Erwin.
Miho is silent and contemplating. In one stroke, 8 of their tanks got wiped out, all by what Liang'er called as Five Tiger Generals. Liang'er herself even taken out 3 Shermans in the blink of an eye.
"Dai Taichou, could we ask permission to seek and destroy their flag tank?" asked Shizuka.
"That's very dangerous, you know what she can do," said Miho.
"Yes, I understand that, but our Crusaders is the only tank fast enough to matched that Gongchen. Sending a slower tank could risk falling prey to her again," said Shizuka.
"Alright, but please be careful. Meanwhile, we'll try to clear up your way," said Miho.
"Thank you, Dai Taichou!" said Shizuka.
"Erika-san, what's your status?" asked Miho.
"I still have 7 tanks in here, I think we would be alright," said Erika.
"I can't take that risk, I'll send Mika-san and Eclair-san to your position to be safe," said Miho.
"No, really, I think... Scheiße!"
Frantic static occured in radio, which forced Saori to readjust the frequency.
"Erika-san, what's the matter?" asked Miho.
"They're here!" said Erika, "4 BT-5s and 1 M5A1! They tried to harass us!"
"Be careful, their bigger gun might be there as well!" said Miho, "Mika-san, Eclair-san, go assist Erika-san's Company!"
"Understood, Taichou!" said Mika and Eclair.
"Taichou, me and Seshka would try to divert their attention," said Emi.
"Don't waste your time! They're just light tanks, their attack won't do anything serious on us! Stay on the formation!" said Erika.
The remaining Tigers then forming round formation with Erika's tank in the middle. Chinese light tanks still shadowing them, shooting some shells just to harass, but not making any extreme maneuver. Emi are full of anticipation, trying to guess what's the intention of Chinese light tanks in their proximity.
"You seems uneasy with those light tanks, Senpai?" said Seshka.
"I have a bad feeling about them," said Emi, "one of their weaker tank has killed 3 of our Shermans in a row,"
"But we're stronger than Sherman, are we?" said Seshka.
"Just keep on watching," said Emi.
Suddenly, a BT-5, the one with purple band dashing away to one of the Tigers, belongs to BC Freedom's officers. She doing it so fast that the BCF girls unable to react. Emi has time to shoot her, but the BT-5's cleverly position herself by using BCF's Tiger as a cover.
"Nagisa, shoot her!" said Emi.
"I can't, she's behind the BCF's Tiger! If I shoot her, I'd risk friendly fire as well!" said Nagisa.
"Scheiße! Marie-sama, please watch the BT-5 on your..."
Too late. Though Marie has also order her tank to turn her turret, it doesn't traverse fast enough, and BT-5's of Zhong'er already at her blind spot. She then carefully place her 45mm gun to the slit below the turret and fire the turret ring, sending Marie's tank white-flagged. Meanwhile, other light tanks also perform series of extreme maneuver to engage the Tiger.
"Seshka, fire at them!" orders Emi.
Emi and Seshka's Tiger start firing the light tanks, white-flagging two of them. And the other one, a BT-5, make evasive maneuver and detached from Erika's tail.
"Taichou, get out of here, we'll hold them," said Emi.
Erika didn't answered as she tried to suppress her rage after those light tanks able to kill her heavy tanks. Despite, Emi knows that Erika endorse her action, she has no other choice anyway.
Now, there's two Tigers against two BT-5s. This is actually not a fair fight on paper, but these BT-5s could accomplish things that otherwise impossible on paper.
"Seshka, these BT-5s are fast, watch where they go and avoid being outmaneuvered. Don't let them getting close to you," said Emi.
"Jawohl, Emi-senpai!" said Seshka.
"Keep your eye fixed on a single target, don't let them confuse you,"
Despite the BT-5s superior speed, Tigers could see their speed and agility just fine. This battle is like watching car battles: speeding, engaging, avoiding and all different kind of extreme maneuvers between these tonnes of steel. Despite their best effort to getting close on point blank range, the two Tigers worked together to keep the threat away. However, this also meant the Tigers don't have fixed target to shoot at. A speeding BT-5 is still too fast to keep up.
The BT-5s then changing tactic, instead of taking one-on-one, they both now tried to approach a single Tiger, that is Seshka's. One BT-5 is in Seshka's front left side, while another is in Seshka's front right side, both are seeking partial cover on Seshka's tank from Emi's line of fire. The angles are also too obscured for being shot by Seshka's tank herself.
"Be careful, they're trying to press you," said Emi.
"I can't shake them off , Senpai," said Seshka.
"Nagisa, could you fire on one of the BT-5?" asked Emi.
"No, too risky, Senpai, I could hit Seshka-san instead," said Nagisa.
"Wait, could you do grazing shot?" asked Seshka.
"What?" asked Emi.
"Firing the shell so that it only grazed the side of my armor and bounce back. If we do it right, we could take one of that tank," said Seshka.
"Gottesweilen, are you nuts? If the angle wrong, we could hit you instead! The power of 88mm shell is enough to penetrate a Tiger from the front glacis, moreover, the side!" Emi shouted.
"Then please don't hit it wrong," said Seshka.
Emi breathes heavily. She then tap Nagisa in the shoulder.
"Senpai?" asked Nagisa.
"Could you do this?" asked Emi.
"Yes," said Nagisa.
"Good, I have faith on you," said Emi.
"We all have faith on you, Nagisa-chan," said Hitomi.
Emi smiled, while Hitomi load the next shell. Emi's Tiger is in the left rear of Seshka's tank, so Nagisa is aiming for the BT-5 in Seshka's front left side.
"Seshka, maintain your lining, don't make any sudden move," said Emi.
"Alright, ready when you are, Senpai," said Seshka.
Nagisa put her eye on the side. This is tricky shot since the shell would've been traversed grazing Seshka's tank side armor. If there's any sudden move or miscalculation, the shell would've been obliterate Seshka's tank instead.
"Feuer frei!" said Emi.
Nagisa beads, making sure her lining is correct before she finally made her shot. The 88mm shell flying in straight line and grazing Seshka's tank side armor, creating loud screeching sound in the cabin. Due to Nagisa's perfect positioning, the shell only caused scratch wound on Seshka's tank before flying straight into a BT-5's rear end and blast it white-flagged.
"Yes! We did it, Senpai!" Seshka rejoiced.
Unbeknownst to Seshka, the last BT-5, the one with purple band, dashing front and quickly make a U-turn before dashing toward Seshka's tank. Seshka didn't realize this until she find the BT-5 dashing so close on her. Surprised, Seshka's tank driver slam the drive to the side, and by sudden momentum, send the Tiger side-wheeling.
Without further wasting time, the BT-5 quickly aimed at the track used to support the side-wheeling and shot them till fall apart. Losing the support to the ground, the Tiger sink to the ground and rolling slamming the ground before crash landed, upside-down, white-flagged. Emi watched that scene in horror.
"Seshka-chan, are you alright?" asked Emi.
"We are alright, Senpai. Please continue fighting..." said Seshka in weak voice.
Emi doesn't have time to think of something else as the purple band BT-5 firing on her, which only managed to bounce her shell on Emi's frontal glacis. Takami drives the Tiger apart from the BT-5, but with their superior speed, the BT-5 going around once again and approach the Tiger from frontal side. Now Emi must conceive a plan to deal with this annoying speeder.
"I can't aim her, she's too fast," said Nagisa.
"Load the shell," said Emi.
"But..." said Hitomi.
"I said load the shell!" said Emi.
Hitomi nods and put the next shell in the cannon.
"Fix the cannon in 'lunch' position!" said Emi.
"What?" asked Nagisa.
"Just do it!" said Emi.
Still not understand, Nagisa turn the cannon anyway, so that the cannon now facing sideways. Emi then looking from her periscope.
"She's coming and she's coming fast!" said Takami.
"Maintain the course!" said Emi.
"But we're in collision course?" said Takami.
"Maintain the course, and speed up," said Emi.
"Wait, are you sure?" said Takami.
"Everyone brace for impact! Nagisa, prepare to fire when I said so!" said Emi.
This is turns to be tanks chicken game, and Emi now going to play her risky card. Zhong'er in BT-5 would want to repeat the way she took care of Seshka's tank, but this Tiger is challenging her to duel.
"Captain! We're going to crash her!" said BT-5's driver.
"Maintain course!" said Zhong'er.
"But..." said her driver.
"I'm not chicken out!" said Zhong'er.
Zhong'er expect Emi's tank to chicken out in the last minute because the collision force would be very devastating, even for a Tiger. However, Emi doesn't even twitch, and both tanks are heading for a fatal collision.
"Captain!" said BT-5's driver.
"Evade!"
Zhong'er ordered evasion in the very last moment before both tanks crashed. However, the momentum doesn't allow for a clean getaway and the BT-5 slammed by Tiger's front left track in full speed, sending the BT-5 flying while rolling in the air through the left side.
Emi tapped Nagisa's shoulder, and she instantly fire her cannon, just when the BT-5 flying right in front of her cannon muzzle. Everything seems happened on the slow motion. The power of cannon blast both send BT-5 blasted away while still in the air and pushed the Tiger circling, digging to the ground, shattering her already-damaged tracks.
Zhong'er tanks got white-flagged, even while still airborne. While the Tigers, circling around at the impact of the 11,5 tonnes "shells", shattered the tracks and creates engine failure and got white-flagged herself seconds later. Everyone in Emi's tank then dropped themselves in the tank floor, sighing relief while their heart still pounding after realizing the magnitude of the situation.
Emi then reach the radio.
"Dai Taichou, this is Emi. We got white-flagged, but we manage to take Zhong'er down with us. I wish you all good luck for the rest of the game, over and out."
She then dropped the radio and lean herself on the wall. Nagisa still shaking beside her, so she gently stroke Nagisa's head.
"Bloody well shot, Nagisa-chan..." said Emi.
Still unable to speak, Nagisa just leaned herself on Emi. Then Hitomi, Kita and Takami joins them. Emi hauled long and heavy breathe. Their battle is now over.
