With each battle, I collected more handbooks from fallen tankers.

However, I was having problems storing them all.

Worse, they weren't exactly centralized.

So, in an effort to centralize them, I just created a handbook of my own, writing down all known information about each tank I found, using material from all the handbooks.

It took me a while, but I eventually finished my new handbook and discarded most of the ones that I had collected.

Also, to make things easier for myself, I left plenty of room for expansion should I come across any new tanks.

Having done that, I set out on another trip, this time, to the Steppes.

Here, I encountered a company calling themselves "Les Internationalistes".

They were mainly a Soviet company, but they also had a good number of Frenchmen in their ranks.

They believed that Communism had taken a wrong turn under Stalin's rule and wanted to return to the old Marxist-Leninist style of communism and in the process of doing so, to form an international brotherhood with all men.

As a means of carrying out this goal, their company included KVs (both KV-1 and KV-2s, none of which had the same cannon as mine), T-34s (76mm and 85mm variants), ARL-44s, AMX-12ts, SU-85s, plus a few more tanks that weren't familiar to me.

At the start of the battle, I took a brief look at the battlefield.

It didn't take me long to figure out that simply going straight across was suicide, so I opted for another approach.

To my west, there were some rock formations sticking out of the ground that looked like they would provide good cover, so I chose to go there.

At another rock formation just north of it, there was a T-34-76, an AMX-12t and an unidentified light tank in Soviet colors waiting for me.

I knew that the AMX had a powerful cannon, so I fired at it first.

BOOM!

That tank was now just a pile of burnt metal.

I backed off, when suddenly, an AMX 13/75 snuck up behind me and put a round into my turret.

Luckily, Goliath was still okay, so I tossed an anti-tank grenade at the AMX while I was waiting for the cannon to reload.

The AMX wasn't killed, but it was set on fire, which did destroy it.

When my cannon reloaded, I poked out around the corner to find that the T-34 was coming towards me.

The 152mm cannon showed him the error of his action.

As for that mystery tank, I wanted it alive, so I simply charged towards it, his shells bouncing off of Goliath.

He tried to back away, but he backed into a rock formation.

Perfect.

I jumped out of Goliath and hopped onto the mystery tank.

Just as I had done before, I opened the hatches and blew away all the crew members with my Tokarev.

However, I had a battle to attend to, so I quickly got back to Goliath and continued the carnage.

I got back just in time to see another T-34 bearing down on me, with an ARL-44 in tow.

I backed away around the corner, but not before the ARL-44 scraped my tank with one of its rounds.

Goliath was hurt, but not too badly.

I waited a few more seconds before deciding to come back out.

For some reason, the T-34-85 was gone, but the ARL-44 remained.

Almost immediately, I worried that the T-34 would be attempting a sneak attack.

The ARL fired again, but luckily, he missed.

I didn't.

His tank was severely damaged, but still alive.

I knew it was risky, but I just felt like charging after the wounded ARL.

For some reason, though, while I was charging it, it didn't fire back.

I wondered: Was their gunner killed? Did their gun jam?

I didn't stop to ponder all that. Rather, I just gave the enemy tank a nice, hearty ram, which knocked it out for the remainder of the battle.

I turned around just in time to find the T-34 I was looking for.

The T-34 fired at me, but the shot bounced.

Mine didn't.

Now that both T-34s were junked, I needed to find the other tanks.

I passed through the second rock formation and surveyed the area.

Nothing.

I was a little hesitant to go any further because they may have set up a trap, so I turned around and headed for the eastern flank.

On my way there, I ran into an AMX-40 plus another one of those unrecognizable Soviet tanks.

This one was different.

While its hull was unrecognizable, the turret bore a resemblance to the T-28's cylindrical turret.

I killed the AMX-40, but the other tank was not so easy to take on.

This one did quite a bit of damage to Goliath, so I had to dodge him.

I wanted it alive, but I felt that capturing it posed a significant risk, so I simply torched it.

Moving on, I encountered yet another odd tank painted in our colors.

This one had a long, rectangular hull with a somewhat small turret.

Its first shot bounced, but in short order, it was able to fire off another round, which did some damage.

I decided that this thing was also a danger to Goliath, so another 152mm round made sure that it would no longer endanger my tank.

However, shortly after I blasted this thing, I encountered a KV-1.

This one appeared to be stock, and the 76mm round that bounced off of my turret only confirmed that.

However, I wasn't taking any more chances, so I fell back to cover while I waited for the 152 to reload.

By the time it did that, the enemy KV-1 was nearly on to me.

I drove up to it, and at point-blank range, I blew a large hole through it.

Around this time, another KV-1, this one with a longer 76mm cannon, had showed up to take me on.

However, seeing what I had done to his comrade, he simply turned and fled.

While he was fleeing, though, another tank shot and killed that one.

Wait…did I just witness that tank being killed by its own friend?

Funny, I didn't think these guys were fond of Order No. 227

As I investigated the source of the shot, I saw a KV-2 with a 107mm ZiS-6.

Remembering my last encounter with one at Malinovka, I took it slowly this time.

Unfortunately, at that range, my 152mm missed, so I ducked back behind the rocks and attempted to go around the other way.

When I got to the other side, I just waited some more seconds until the gun was reloaded, and then I drove out until I could see that KV-2.

Luckily, he was not pointing his gun in my direction, so I gave him another shot.

BOOM!

He wasn't destroyed, but his tank appeared to have taken heavy damage, and his track was broken.

I took this opportunity to go back around to the other side.

With my gun loaded, I went to take him on again, but he spotted me and opened fire.

He only grazed my turret, so I returned fire and…

BOOM!

That was easier than my last engagement!

Moving on to the north side, I could only see two tanks taking up defense: An SU-85 tank destroyer, plus a KV-1 with an odd turret that resembled that of the T-34-85.

I took out the SU-85 first, then let the KV-1 come to me.

When it got closer, I opened fire…

BOOM!

I actually felt somewhat disappointed by that kill.

I mean, I once hit a KV-1 using my 152mm cannon back at Redshire, yet that one survived the hit.

What was wrong with this one?

Of course, rather than ask questions, I pressed forward.

Soon, I encountered what I thought was another KV, but this one was even weirder:

It had a lengthened chassis, a conical turret and a long-barreled cannon that might have been a 107mm.

I got another radio call:

"You dumb Stalinist, you have stifled our cause long enough! I'll teach you a lesson about soiling the glory of Communism!"

I retorted: "Hey, I'm no Stalinist, but prepare to die just the same!"

"We will see about that!"

With a fresh round in the chamber, I fired at him.

Less than a second after I had hit him, he fired a round that missed me by a few centimeters.

My guess is that I shook his aim when I hit him.

I didn't want to find out what he could do to me, so I retreated to another rock formation.

His next round hit my track just before I got into cover, but didn't break it.

When the next round entered my chamber, I decided to let him come to me.

I heard him sneaking up behind me, so I tried to go around and get him in the back.

However, he too must've seen that trick because he went to back up when I went forward.

I tried backing away from him, but he followed my movements too well.

To stop him, I fired a round at his rear end, breaking his track.

Unfortunately, with the long reload time on the 152mm M-10, that meant he had plenty of time for a steady shot.

His next one hit me, and bad.

It was now or never.

When my cannon was loaded, I wasted no time in pointing it in his direction, and…

BOOM!

He was gone.

As usual, I took a couple of handbooks and checked the mystery tanks out.

The light tank that I kept intact was called a Valentine, a British-made tank with a 45mm cannon.

Like the Tetrarch, it also had one of those money printers one the inside of its turret.

The unknown medium tank with the T-28 type turret was a Matilda, also British in origin.

Curiously, it had a 76mm gun of Soviet design.

The rectangular-hulled heavy tank was also a British design, this one called a Churchill.

Though the Matilda and Churchill were destroyed, I also found that they had money printers inside the turrets.

Now, about those other heavy tanks.

The KV with the unusual turret was a KV-1S, also known as a KV-85, but it could mount other kinds of guns.

This one had thinner armor than usual, which must've explained why I killed it in one hit.

The KV with the longer chassis + conical turret was known as a KV-3.

The handbook said that it took a ZiS-6 as the gun, but that it could also be equipped with a 100mm D-10T or a 122mm D-2-5-T

Both of those sounded nasty.

I headed home, but as I headed home, I realized something about the British tanks:

There was once a program called the Lend-Lease Program where the Americans & British gave us some of their equipment.

That could only mean one other thing:

The British are coming.

But when?

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.