Author's note: To clear up confusion before this starts if by some chance that the characters speak with the following: ("quote") it means that they are speaking in a foreign language albeit different from their own.
The language barrier is going to be a huge factor in this story so remember it well readers and send me reviews of what you guys think either format wise or story, it helps alot thanks.
Another note that i want to add is that this story is gonna be featuring characters or inspired sequences from multiple films, video games or series, props to y'all if you are familiar with these and if not do check em out.
1944 (estonian film about estonian soldiers in ww2)
Generation War (german tv series of ww2)
Company of heroes 1 and 2 (Video game, Main crossover)
Stalingrad (2013, main inspiration of the setting and battle sequence)
August 1942
10:20 AM
Outskirts of Stalingrad, Soviet Union
The invading german armies of the third reich have conquered western Europe with the low countries and France falling in a matter of weeks because of the vicious Blitzkrieg tactic employed by the germans.
The germans soon turned their attentions eastwards towards the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 with their rapid advance taking the soviets by surprise as they intend to reach the city of Moscow and most importantly the City of Stalingrad. The city sits in their advance towards the vital oil fields in the caucasus which can supply the germans for their conquest, Hitler has ordered a full on assault to the city in an effort to capture it by any means.
The german 6th army has been called to action in their task to conquer the city, among the thousands of Infantry were the formidable Panzer tanks and their crew as they face the dreadfully underequipped Soviet Infantry and their T-34 tanks. Stalin had decried that no soviet civilian or defender is to leave the city and it shall be defended to the death, any and all who would run is to be considered a traitor of the people then subsequently shot or executed as this order is known infamously as "order 227.".
Among the thousands of Crewmen of these Panzers was Klaus Wulff, a lieutenant tank commander no older than the age of 21 in the 14th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht in charge of a Panzer IV. His crew consisted of: Bruno Scholler (Fahrer/Driver), Hans Brauer (Funker/Radioman), Otto Schultz (Gunner) and Reiner Brauer (Loader). Their Panzer designated 415 has been tasked to lead the advance alongside the infantry as they break through the soviet lines in their first day of advance towards the city.
The Panzer IV.G is advancing steadily along the slopes of the hill accompanied by a platoon of other Panzer IVs and some mechanized infantry Half-track following close behind filled with grenadiers. Their tank stopped at the top of the hill, as Wilhelm popped from the hatch to survey the area with his binoculars.
Wilhelm to his radio: "All panzers this is 415, Prepare to advance on my mark!"
Otto: "finally some real action! We've been stuck for too long in the countryside."
Reiner loaded an armor piercing round into the chamber as he manned the MG34 Coax gun, looking through the scope.
Reiner:" you wanted to add more scores than the division, you shouldn't have made that bet for our smokes!"
Otto:"Don't worry fraulein! This tank has the best gunner in all of the wehrmacht!"
Bruno simply scoffed and crossed his arms, looking back at his fellow crewman.
Bruno: "don't forget you bet the entire crew's stack of smokes, I oughta kick your arse for that."
Hans: "These smokes are all I have left from our tangle with the British, the Russian and Polish stuff is utter horseshit."
Hans stuffed a small pack of British branded "chesterfield" smokes into his breast pocket, adjusting the radio to a better frequency to get a clearer signal. Wilhelm hopped back inside the commander seat of the tank, closing the hatch.
The soviet defence consisted of at least 2 anti-tank 45mm tank guns guarding both ends of a road and one T-34 sitting in front of a village hut. In addition they had a trench line hastily dug armed with conscripts and Maxim machine guns but in contrast to the Germans, these low morale soldiers were ready to duck and run instead of fighting.
It was a prime opportunity too since the reds in that small defence weren't expecting the germans to come from their left flank with the road being laid with mines as well as the right flank.
Klaus: "Quiet! All of you! we're pushing forward and Otto, target that T-34, 100 metres at 5 degrees right."
Otto:" Jahowl kommandant!"
The barrel of the 7.5 cm main gun turned towards the sitting T-34, Otto lined up the barrel nicely to the thin side of the armor and then simultaneously the other Panzer IV's moved into position at the hill.
Klaus: "Feuer!"
As soon as he gave the order, the whole platoon of Panzer IVs fired their guns as their shells find their targets. A round managed to pierce into the armor of the T-34 as it soon lit up like a candle with the round hitting its Ammo compartment before finally exploding blowing its turret off and the bodies of its crew.
Other shots were ranged out as they hit the two Anti-tank guns, the crew of those guns were doomed as they either perished from the high-explosive rounds or mopped up by the machine guns fired from the coax or front side.
The platoon of tanks raced forward charging through the clear side at the bottom of the hill, their machine guns firing accompanied by the Grenadier Infantry with shots from rifles, Submachine guns and Machine guns being heard. The soviet defenders are surprised by the attack as they struggled to maintain the fight, several deserters were already shot by the commissar who attempted to hold the line.
Soviet commissar:( "Hold the line you cowards! Not one step back!")
Soviet soldier 1: ("They're coming at us with Halftracks!")
Soviet soldier 2: ("THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!")
Panzer 415 races forward as Bruno turned the tank against the trench line, Otto fired his turret at any soviet machine gun nest that are hiding in the huts of the village. Reiner continued to load rounds in and Hans fired their respective machine guns at any defender out in the open while Klaus gave orders directing them.
Half an hour later…
In a matter of minutes the entire soviet defensive line was shattered as the germans were victorious, nothing was left with most of the corpses are the soviet defenders and very few were german accompanied with the wreck of a T-34 and destroyed anti-tank guns.
The mechanized Convoy was speeding forward to the soviet city in an open field with a forest being sighted up ahead, Panzer 415 was ahead of the convoy as Klaus kept a lookout at the hatch.
Klaus in his thoughts: "the soviets have been making it easy for us, this battle for the city should be a breeze since our glorious german steel can outmatch theirs but i can't help but feeling that something strange might happen today."
His thoughts were interrupted as he spotted a fellow panzer IV stuck with their treads down in a ditch just up ahead but it had a strange symbol on its side and turret as he looked closely. The Panzer IV in front of them was the same model as theirs but it had a darker camouflage and a symbol of an anglerfish at their rear armor.
Klaus: "Driver! Stop!"
The tank then grinded to a halt, as Klaus hopped out of the tank intent on helping their comrades which are stuck up ahead.
Bruno lit a smoke as he looked at his commander walking to the stuck tank.
Bruno: "these amateurs can't even get themselves out of a ditch, what a bloody joke."
Hans: "yeah, these new guys probably got lost on their way over here."
Otto: "ahh! They can't even shoot a stag even if its still just a few metres in front of em!"
Reiner: "why in god's name are we here to help em? We should just leave em to figure it out on their own!"
Bruno:"you know our dear Klaus Reiner, he always wants to be a fucking saint."
As Klaus approached the stuck tank, he announced himself in german.
Klaus: "you guys need any help? Hello?"
The hatch popped open and what the tank commander alongside his crew saw shocked them, a young light brown haired highschool girl in her uniform popped out staring at the dusty faced german who was awe struck.
Miho: ("Did we just travel back in time?")
As the girl said that, the hatches on her tank opened up and several other of her crewmen popped out, wearing the same uniforms as her.
Yukari: ("Nishizumi-dono, It looks like we're somewhere in Europe? Most likely in France maybe?")
Saori:(" Dang! Now I can't impress the boys at our match! Ahhh!")
Mako:("as long as i get some sleep i don't care anymore…")
Hana: ("Mako-san, this isn't a good time to be sleeping.")
The stunned german tank commander didn't know what to do but evidently seeing it wasn't his own countrymen, by instinct he grabbed the Walther P38 from his holster pointing it at the girls before yelling out commands in german.
Klaus:"HANDS UP! DON'T MOVE! HANDS UP! NOW!"
The girls were all stunned and they raised their hands in the air not understanding a word of what the young german officer is saying, Miho turned her head to see that a tanker from the Panzer behind them pointing his MP-40 against them alongside with the main gun and Machine guns.
Klaus:"Bruno, keep your gun up, round them up to the back of the tank."
Bruno:"Jahowl herr leutnant."
Bruno held his MP-40 high and pointed to the girls to step out then sit down.
Bruno:"Raus! Raus! Jetzt!"
Saori:("Whats going on?!")
Hana:("We're not the enemy here!")
Miho:("you guys! Calm down, just raise your hands up and step out slowly.")
Miho,Saori,Hana and Mako stepped out slowly from the tank but Yukari stared down the german commander who kept his P38 pointed at the young girl. She kept her hands up, looking straight into the eyes of the dusty faced lieutenant.
Klaus:"Didn't you hear him?! Move!"
Yukari:"we are not the enemy…"
Klaus and Bruno were stunned at her words, she spoke in fluent german but this only made them wary keeping their guns pointed.
Klaus: "you speak german?"
Yukari: "just a little, we're not the enemy"
Klaus: "who are you? And where did you come from?"
Yukari: "my name is Yukari and these are my friends, we're students from Ooarai girls academy in Japan"
Klaus looked at his friend with confusion, the thought of young girls driving a tank causes more than enough concerns.
Klaus: "schoolgirls? How did you get ahold of this tank? This is property of the german army and for now we will take you to our command post as prisoners, where you will tell us who you really are."
It didn't take long for the rest of their mechanized unit to come along, a group of panzergrenadiers in a halftrack looked at the young girls in awe and confusion as Klaus explained to their commander about the situation.
The anglerfish tank is taken over by a group of Tankers from the column with Panzer 415 leading to the front, the girls were loaded up in an opel blitz stared down by a pair of german soldiers with an older soldier staring at Miho gripping his MP-40 tightly.
Miho: ("yukari, what was he saying earlier?")
Yukari: *retanslates what Klaus has told her*
Saori: ("thats crazy! I can't go to jail! These ropes are ruining my nails!")
Hana: ("they'll probably have us bound in a cell, I cant begin to imagine it!")
Hana's face turned bright red burying her face to her knees curling into a ball, Mako is sound asleep but Miho tries to keep them calm.
Miho: ("Shhh! hey you two calm down! We're just going to talk to them and i guarantee we will be alright, Yukari since you're the only one of us that speaks german i want you to help us along the way!")
German guard 1: Quit that racket! Shut up and sit quietly!
He swayed his MP-40 at the pair of them, Saori was terrified and Hana as well staring down the barrel of the gun.
Yukari: "please sir! they don't understand anything! they are just scared!"
The german soldier backed off tucking the MP-40 back in his place but still kept an eye on them, the eerie silence was interrupted with a growling noise.
Mako:("mmm…thirsty…hungry…")
German guard 2: "you got to be kidding, she's hungry?"
German guard 1: "don't worry about it, there's food back at camp besides that chocolate is precious and don't even think about giving her your water."
The young german soldier couldn't help but feel guilty and as soon as his partner fell asleep, he screwed the top off his canteen offering it to Mako.
German guard 2: "Wasser."
Mako stared at the soldier for a bit before looking back at Miho and Yukari.
Yukari:("its ok Mako-san, he's just offering you water.")
Mako was hesitant but she took the canteen proceeding to drink a mouthful before returning it to the young soldier. The girls were terrified and soon the convoy entered into the city, they could only see it from the back of the truck passing signs of obvious carnage and destruction due to the war. The city was bombed heavily by the luftwaffe just days before with bombs still raining down on the soviet defenders, civilians are stuck between the invading germans and red army who refuse to let anyone leave the city via the volga river ordering that each man,women and child to defend it to their last breath.
Hundreds of german soldiers are seen resting amongst the rubble of destroyed buildings with bricks littered on the sidewalks and roads, large buildings were on fire as the convoy races onwards to the german headquarters in the city. Saori glimpsed to see a group of german soldiers tossing the corpses of dead russians into a truck, the sight was too much as she soon puked at the back of the truck.
Miho: ("Saori-chan! Calm down!")
Yukari saw a row of wounded german soldiers boarding an opel blitz ambulance, one german private was missing his right arm and his face was half bandaged covering his right eye staring back at Yukari untill the truck started moving with him still gazing at her hauntingly.
It didn't take long for the convoy to arrive at their headquarters, the headquarters was sit inside a once grand hotel and the convoy began disembarking. Some soldiers were awe struck seeing the strange girls in their uniforms, the soldiers were all dusty and dirty from the carnage as well as the heavy fighting that happened with the frontline just being several minutes away.
Klaus escorted the female prisoners inside intending to bring them to the commander in the area Oberst Voss, who himself was also a tank commander in the eastern front.
Klaus:"Soldier, where is oberst Voss?"
Soldier on guard:"he's in the trenches sir, there's a soviet counterattack massing. He wants to lead the defence himself."
Klaus:"Verdammt noch maal, alright bring these girls to the holding cell for now we need to defend this position."
Soldier: "Jahowl herr leutnant."
Soldier 2:"Marsch! Raus!"
One of the soldiers pushed the barrel of his MP-40 to the girls, they were terrified especially Saori as they were escorted down into the trenches.
Saori: ("Miporin! What is going on?!")
Miho:("Yukari-chan what did he say?")
Yukari:("he says we are being taken to a holding cell, they want us to meet their commander in the area.")
Yukari in her thoughts:("and just as i thought, we are in Stalingrad alright this must be their headquarters just close to the tire factory and judging from the looks of everyone here, it must the 20th of august where the red army will launch a suicidal charge and their commander must be the infamous Oberst Maximillian Voss of the 502nd Heavy panzer battalion.")
The girls saw rows of german soldiers armed to the teeth overlooking a large road junction, there were machine gun nests and a single panzer IV camped on the road just at the left flank.
The junction was sitting close to the city railyard as the rails separate each side, there were freight cars sitting nearby, beyond the junction was where the russians are hiding in the city center near the tractor factory and the infamous Pavlov's house. The soldiers in the trenches stared in confusion as the girls were escorted down there, some of them were just as young as the girls with one giving a close look at Saori.
Compared to the soldiers escorting them, the girls were small and shorter with the soldiers towering over them like statues shadowing them giving them an intimidating aura.
Yukari:("Nishizumi-dono this is not a good place that we should be.")
Miho:("what are you saying Yukari?")
Yukari:("Nishizumi-dono we are in Staling-!")
German soldier: "Deckung! Artillerie!"
The soldiers scrambled to duck down, the guards that are escorting them forced the girls to duck down with one putting his hand on Miho's head pushing her down to the floor. Soon the whistle of artillery shells dropped closer as it hit the german positions, barely missing them as it hit the building behind them or the ground in front.
Saori:("MIPORIN! I'M SCAREEEEED!")
Miho:("JUST STAY DOWN!")
Saori was clinging onto the arms of her guard tightly, the young soldier was confused but he tried his best to cover her. Mako was fast asleep even with the hailstorm of fire, she could sleep through it without much care as Hana held onto her tightly.
Yukari held Miho by her hand as the two cradled against each other shielding themselves from the falling shells as the dirt from the surrounding area fell on them, The german soldiers in the trenches were shielding themselves with some of the younger guys bracing while the older ones just kept a straight face.
The shelling must have lasted around 3 minutes or more but it felt longer for the girls still trying to bring their senses back together, the attack that Yukari knew that was coming came soon enough as the germans scrambled to put every gun they have forward.
Their escort were ordered to position as well as they push the girls to sit down, there was nothing but silence among the anxious germans as they held their gun muzzles towards the direction of the oncoming attack.
Klaus had an MP-40 in hand as he too held the muzzle of the gun on slit sandbags in front of him, he stared down the notch sights as he could faintly hear russian voices in the distance. The panzer IV miraculously survived the shelling as its 7.5 cm gun pointed forward, awaiting the onslaught as well.
The dust soon settled and the germans could hear a distinct battle cry then they see a human wave of russian soldiers likely conscripts charging at them, some of them had mosin nagants in hand while some did not. The germans waited coldly as they waited for the attackers to come closer, Yukari could see what was happening as she ducked up to see the scene unfolding.
Soviets: ("forward! Ura!")
German officer: "Here they come! Get ready men!"
The MG-42 gunners cocked their handles readying themselves and some of the soldiers readied the bolts of their Kar-98s. The girls were sat near an MG-42 team, the crew were anxious as the human wave came closer.
German officer:"Feuer!"
The entire line soon opened fired the human wave of russians soon came under a hailstorm of lead, bullets and tank shells. The MG-42 that Miho and the girls sat next to ejected its hot casing on them, the shells then the smell of gunpowder fell on them girls although they were used to the smell, they weren't when it comes to actual combat.
The soviets naturally fired back with their own machine guns and rifles, some scored hits on the germans with some dropping dead and some wounded with tracer rounds from each side whizzing past the air.
The sounds of battle drowned out any sound it had as the girls kept their heads down keeping themselves as small as possible, covering their ears trying to drown out the noise of machine guns and artillery.
German gunner: "Scheisse!"
the machine gunner near Miho was hit in the chest, a sizable hole as big as a fist hit to the right of his chest barely missing his heart.
German soldier 2: "Karl! Sanitater!"
his partner called out for a medic as he tried to apply some pressure taking a rag from his pocket, just as he applied the pressure he looked over to see Miho shocked at the situation as she stared blankly.
German soldier 2: "Here! Keep pressure on it!"
the soldier grabbed Miho's hand placing it over the bloody cloth before running to find a medic, it snapped Miho out of her trance as she saw her hand red with blood keeping the pressure on the wound.
Miho:("Oh my god! Please stay with me!")
Miho tried her best to comfort the dying soldier as he tried to hold himself together, Yukari helped her friend by putting her hands on top of hers applying more pressure on the wound.
Yukari:("Nishizumi-dono! Keep pressing your hand! I'm here with you!")
Klaus hastily reloaded his MP-40 as he sprayed his gun at the russians coming in a little close, he ducked down to reload another magazine as he saw the girls struggling to keep the soldier alive of which he ran across to them.
Klaus:"Here! Use this! Keep the pressure on, they should be here soon!"
He put the MP-40 to the side taking a clean cloth out applying it to the wounded soldier, the girls kept the pressure on as he soon went up to fire another burst. The assault got intense as bullet to bullet hit soldiers from both sides and the russians were losing face as morale soon begin to drop among the conscripts, a large group were holding in the fountain, the same fountain where 6 children were dancing in a circle around a crocodile.
Instead its being filled with blood of dead russians as those without a rifle perished quickly and those with it struggle to fight, nothing lays there but a pool of blood and limbs as the Panzer IV fired another shell against them. The russians had no tank support neither any anti-tank weapons so the situation became desperate, waves of bodies soon began to fill in with some of the russians retreating dropping their rifles in fear.
Russian conscript: ("its useless comrades! Retreat! Fall back!")
The masses of russians soon turned back retreating, the fire and shots soon began to die down but the germans can hear in the distance of machine gun fire from the Maxim guns or PPSHs. According to army intelligence the russians have rearguard soldiers known as "blocking detachments", essentially soldiers under the command of the political commissars tasked with shooting their own comrades if they retreated further reinforcing order 227.
The wounded soldier's partner came back with a medic, he and the medic start attending to the wounded man, Miho took her hand off the bloody red cloth to see her hand red and dripping with blood but Yukari held then hugged her tight to calm her down.
As the dust soon settled the girls were huddled up together tight as they try to find comfort with each other, Miho was traumatised with the experience as she kept staring at her hands despite it being cleaned up with Yukari trying her best to comfort her, Mako was held on tight by Saori who now gets herself startled just by a slight bang or tick after what happened but Hana tried to keep her cool convincing Saori thats its alright.
Yukari:("Nishizumi-dono don't be scared, i'm here with you and i'm not going anywhere.")
Yukari tightened her embrace on Miho as she buries herself in her arms.
Miho:("i just hope that man was alright, he was bleeding so much.")
Yukari glanced over to see an older man in a german colonel's uniform surrounded by his staff escorted by Klaus, he wanted to see for himself who are the female japanese tank crew.
Klaus:"Sir, this is the crew that my column has captured sir."
Klaus stood at attention as the german colonel looked over the girls carefully.
Voss:"the women crew of a panzer IV? This day is getting stranger by the minute. Berger!"
Woflgang:"Sir!"
Voss:"bring them with the others to the command post, we'll question them there."
Miho and her crew looked in confusion as they couldn't but hear oberst Voss mentioning "others" as they soon were escorted away following the oberst, the girls were all the more confused and thinking maybe the others are in the same dilemma as them too.
Miho in her thoughts: ("if what they are saying about others is true then maybe onee-chan, Darjeeling, Kay , Katyusha and everyone at that match are here too! Just need to hold on and see i think.")