Episode 7: Into the Fire
"We're keeping them busy, but we're running low on ammunition. If you can get us into some tight areas, we can at least attempt to make it harder for them to hit us." Cole yelled to the tank commander as Natalie and Ania disembarked and ran towards the city center.
"Where the hell are they going?!" Cole yelled.
"They have an agenda to keep. Natalie's wife is locked up here, being tortured by Alpha. So there's a decent chance that she is heading there to bust her out." Lucia explained.
"She could have mentioned that…" Cole spat as he turned his eyes back to the sky, scanning for more planes with his machine gun. Finding none, he gave his orders.
"Everyone disembark and take up your weapons. Anyone capable of carrying radio equipment will be designated as squad leader. Break off into groups and begin moving towards the city center. Avoid engaging hard targets like pillboxes and gun emplacements. Squad leaders, if you come across hard targets, relay their location to the Yorktown. Nimitz will be there ready to relay information to our other carrier. We can see those targets destroyed." Cole yelled as a report from a massive coastal battery was heard.
Lucia slid off the Pershing to pursue Natalie as Gneisenau popped out of the driver's hatch on the Tiger.
"Komm Carina, hier entlang!" Lucia shouted, motioning to Carina.
Watching Carina slide off the tank, Lucia took off after Natalie and Ania. Running accross an open square, the two dodged a blast from a mortar shell a few feet off to their right. Taking a few potshots at a bundle of SS troops, Lucia pulled Carina down behind a pile of rubble.
"Dort!" Lucia shouted over the gunfire.
Accross the street, Natalie and Ania were being pinned down by one of the many pillboxes containing infantry guns. As soon as Lucia had pointed out Natalie and Ania's position to Carina, the two of them came under fire. A fusillade of bullets peppered the chunk of cement that Lucia and Carina were taking cover behind. Bits of cement fell on their heads, and they realized this wasn't a machine gun firing at them.
"Sie setzen Flugabwehrgeschütze gegen uns ein!"
Lucia poked her head around the debris, and caught a glimpse of the anti-aircraft gun that was trained on them. Sitting atop the pillbox, a 2cm Flak 38 sat, trained on the square they had just run through. Just as she was about to make a move toward Natalie and Ania, another storm of 20mm rounds peppered the debris Lucia was hiding behind, and she pulled her head back behind cover. Her heart pounding, Lucia glanced at Carina, who nodded her head in agreement.
"Natalie!"
Lucia saw Natalie's head turn in their direction, and Lucia pointed first to Ania, then to the pillbox, and finally back in the direction the four of them had come from. Natalie seemed to understand, and turned and quickly said something to Ania.
"Was versuchst du zu tun?" Carina asked.
"Nimm die Pillendose raus." Was Lucia's reply.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Driver, head towards that courtyard on the left. Call for fire support against hardend enemy defenses."
"Yessir Hutch." Skip shouted over the roar of the Chaffee's engine.
"Pete, load WP. That'll smoke 'em out." Logan said, turning to the loader.
"On it Logan." Pete said, grabbing one of the white-tipped shells.
Logan pressed his eye against the gun sight as the Chaffee rounded the corner. Spotting the Dutch women and siren that had come with them hunkered behind a pile of debris, Logan figured this was the right spot. Elevating the gun until he found the offending pillbox, Logan settled the sights on the opening of the pillbox, and hovered his foot over the trigger pedal.
"What are you waiting for? An invation?" Hutch asked, "Shoot the fucking thing. Fire at will."
Logan smiled, that was just what he wanted to hear.
"On the way!"
Logan's foot fell hard on the pedal, and the seventy-five on the Chaffee jumped backwards. A burst of fire spat from the barrel as the white phosphorus shell streaked towards the pillbox. Logan watched through the sight as a giant ploom of white smoke billowed out of the front of the pillbox. Men crawled through the opening in the front of the pillbox, only to be mowed down by the coaxial and bow mounted .30s of the Chaffee.
As Logan released the trigger, the Chaffee came under return fire. The machine gun nest from above the pillbox fired back at the Chaffee.
"That doesn't sound like a normal MG42 hitting us!" Skip shouted up to Logan and Hutch.
"Doesn't look like one either." Logan shouted back as the hailstorm of bullets subsided.
"Seems like they've turned one of the AA guns into a heavy machine gun." Hutch commented, "Logan, get rid of it would you?"
"Gladly sir." Logan responded, before turning to Pete, "Pete, load HE."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Gunner, three o'clock."
"On the way!"
"Hit, right tread."
"Up!"
"On the way!"
Irwin's finger pulled on the trigger and sent another armour piercing shell downrange. The shell nailed the targeted Tiger next to the gun mantlet, and Irwin could see the two hatches on the hull being flung open. All that came from the turret was dark smoke wafting from the gaps in the hatches.
"Scratch another Tiger." Maduri said, just before a ringing sounded reverberated through the tank.
Irwin clamped his hands over his ears as the ringing continued. Never in his life had he heard a sound as painful as this one. His mouth open Irwin squeezed his eyes shut in an attempts to get rid of the sound. As the ringing subsided, Irwin opened his eyes and found a slight bulge next to just behind him.
"We've been hit!" Irwin shouted to Maduri.
"How bad?" Maduri asked in reply.
"Non-penatration, it just dinged us." Irwin replied, turning the turret to the left
"See what hit us?" Maduri asked, shaking his head to clear it.
"Not yet…" Irwin said, just before the sights settled on a Panther a few streets down. "There it is. Panther, few streets down."
"I see him too. Gunner, clear to engage."
"Loader, armor piercing." Irwin shouted to the loader.
As the loader pulled a AP shell from the ready rack, Irwin placed the hull of the Panther squarely in the sights of the 90mm.
"Up!"
"On the way!"
Another lick of flame spat from the 90mm as the AP shell flew towards the Panther. Impacting the upper glacis, the shell tore through the armor, causing untold internal havoc. Through the gunsight, Irwin could see smoke pouring from around the edges of the hatches. As he watched, the turret was blasted off as a orange fireball shot up from the center of the tank.
"Target destroyed."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Heilige Scheiße!" Carina shouted as the white phosphorus poured out of the pillbox. Above the pillbox, the flak 38 began firing again, this time at something behind them.
Carina made a move to run towards the AA gun, but Lucia held her back. Whirling around to look at Lucia, Carina saw Lucia pointing back the way they came. Glancing at the opening to the square, Carina saw one of the Eagle Union tanks aimed at the pillbox, it's machine guns chattering away. A few moments later, the end of the barrell was engulfed in a cloud of smoke, and a few seconds later, the sound of an explosion behind her made Carina turn back to the flak 38 emplacement.
The emblacement was gone. In it's place, lay a pile of smoking gun parts and burning sandbags. Carina glanced over to where Natalie and Ania were, only to find them sprinting away again.
"Lucia…" Carina started.
"Ich weiss. Lass uns gehen!"
The pair of Iron Blood girls take off in hot pursuit of the Dutchwoman and the siren. As they run, the battle unfolds around them. They pass smoldering machinegun nests, Iron Blood, and sadly, a few Eagle Union tanks. Mortar shells explode around them, and multiple times Lucia has to pull Carina to the side to avoid being hit by a hailstorm of bullets. As they run deeper and deeper into the city, the distant booms get louder and louder.
Through the entire run, Natalie and Ania never leave their sight. As Natalie rounds a corner, Carina does the same and is surprised to see Natalie and Ania standing still. Looking around Natalie, Carina finds the reason.
"Was zum fick ist das?"
In front of them, sits the largest tank they had ever seen. Seemingly taller than Natalie, the beast sits in front of what could only be Alpha's headquarters. As the three girls stared and the steel behemoth, Ania seemed to be the only one still functioning properly.
"My Dutchess, we should find a way we don't that thing will kill us where we stand."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Wie weit sind wir entfernt?"
"Kommandant nicht weit. Wir sollten in ein paar Minuten da sein."
The Iron Blood gunner breathed a sigh of relief. They had almost made it to Wilhelmshaven, and could bring the wrath of the 1st SS Panzer Division down upon the Eagle Union troops who dared to attack Lady Alpha's headquarters.
"Da ist es." The commander said, "Wilhelmshaven."
The Iron Blood gunner peered out through his gunsight. It was bounceing up and down, but he could see it. As he continued to look out of the gunsight, the distant booms of massive artillery were heard from within the tank. Glancing over to the commander, the young tanker saw his commander nod his head as if reading the gunner's mind.
'Lass sie haben es. Feuer frei.'
