On the way there, I found a supply stash that happened to contain some fuel plus a few 152mm shells.
Newly refreshed, I kept going towards Finland.
As I got closer to the Finnish border, it started to snow.
By the time I got to the infamous Mannerheim Line, the landscape had been blanketed in white.
I kept my eyes open for enemy tanks.
All of a sudden, I was hit by a tank that I couldn't even see.
As I had learned back in the Urals, I kept moving in order to increase my chances of losing him.
A minute later, I actually spotted the outline of a T-34 in the snow.
It was pretty difficult to spot because it was painted in a "winter" camouflage scheme.
However, having faced T-34s before, I knew that his paint job wouldn't do much to stop a 152mm shell, and it still proved true when I destroyed his tank.
Knowing that there could very well be others trying to hide in the snow, I proceeded cautiously.
Going around a corner, I spotted an American medium tank painted in a similar "winter" camouflage.
I thought it was a Sherman, but something about it told me that this was a different tank altogether.
Regardless, my cannon was fully loaded by now, so I took aim and…
BOOM!
With two down, I proceeded further.
A few artillery shells landed close behind me, and one broke my track.
A track wasn't much of a challenge for me to fix, so I had Goliath up and running in no time.
By this time, though, a group of two T-34s had broken silence and were closing in on me.
One of them seemed to have an unnaturally fast rate of fire, so I took that one out first.
The other one was closing in rather fast, so I rammed into it going downhill, which severely damaged it, but did not destroy it.
I didn't dare fire my cannon at close range, though, so I left Goliath, opened up a hatch on the T-34 and killed the surviving crew members with my Tokarev.
When I got going, I saw a rather open area to my right, which meant certain death for me.
Rather than being suicidal, I went left, going up a small hill similar to the one I climbed in Karelia.
Up here, I took some time to observe the battlefield.
Goliath didn't have a full-fledged spotter's scope, so I used a pair of binoculars to observe the area.
I could see a few T-34s and one of those unknown American tanks attempting to hide in the snow, but some of them were very difficult to make out against the snowy backdrop.
I actually spotted a couple of T-34s because they stood out against the horizon.
Well, looks like their special paint's not gonna help them out there, is it?
To the east, I thought I spotted something that looked like a tank destroyer, but maybe I was seeing things.
Just in case, I decided to back away a little to make Goliath harder to hit
Then, I aimed at one of the T-34s, and…
BOOM!
Gotcha!
I concentrated on the tanks closer to me for the sake of accuracy.
They started to investigate their fallen comrade, but I don't think they saw me yet.
Another T-34 seemed to be headed in my direction, though, so I waited for my cannon to load, and promptly destroyed the tank when I got another round in.
You know, I heard a legend that a KV-2 once held up an entire tank column.
While I wasn't going to discount that legend entirely, Goliath and I had been having enough trouble with smaller teams, so it might be false.
In any case, I decided to take a risk and wait here a bit longer.
It might not have been such a wise idea because one of those unknown American tanks came into view when I was still reloading.
I only had a few seconds left anyways, so I got my cannon sighted in and fired.
The enemy tank managed to get off one last shot before it was knocked out, but it bounced.
A couple of seconds later, A T-34 pulled up alongside the burning wreckage of the American tank.
I wasn't ready to fire, though, so I threw an anti-tank grenade at it and knocked it out.
Fearing that they might have something especially powerful coming my way, I backed down the hill and decided to flank around to the right.
It was a good thing I did that, too, otherwise I'd have been destroyed in a fierce engagement.
I knew that it was going to take me into the more open area, and possibly into certain death, but I'd decimated enough of them already, so I figured it was worth the risk.
On my way towards the area where I came from, I was attacked by another T-34.
However, it wasn't like any other T-34 I'd seen.
True, it did have the T-34's hull, but the turret was larger than any T-34 turret I'd seen before, I mean, it wasn't like the T-34-85's extended turret, it was large all around.
I didn't think it could be much tougher than an ordinary T-34, so I took a shot at it.
BOOM!
Amazingly enough, it actually survived my shot!
However, given the nature of the 152mm cannon, I didn't think that this guy was faring so well.
After all, both his tracks were shattered.
Despite his generally poor condition, he seemed well enough to take a shot at me, which missed.
Of course, that tank could reload faster than me, so Goliath ended up taking a hit.
Goliath bounced another shell before destroying this odd T-34.
For a few moments, things were going well until one of those American tanks snuck up on me.
He didn't do too much damage, though, so I simply cranked the turret around and steered Goliath until I had a clear shot.
BOOM!
Now that he was gone, I was free to destroy the rest of them.
In the southern sector, I spotted what appeared to be an SU-85 or SU-100, so I drove over to a nearby rock sticking out of the ground.
Goliath took damage from the tank destroyer, but it was still good.
The tank destroyer took damage from Goliath, however, and it was no longer good.
I considered pressing further, but they might have another trap set up for me, so I threw the camo net over Goliath, and seeing as how it looked a bit obvious out here in the wintry landscape, I threw some snow over the net to cover it up a little better.
Artillery rained down near my general area, but none of the shells hit me or my tank.
With the engine shut off, I waited for someone else to come around.
After a few minutes, I saw an IS-2 come by to my location.
The tank sat there looking for me, but I don't think it spotted me because it continued driving a few minutes later.
Maybe the crew mistook me for a rock.
When it got suitably far, I dismounted the camo net, restarted Goliath's engine and progressed into a valley to the east.
The valley turned left to a hill, which was unguarded.
However, the area at the top of the hill was nice and open, with some "dragon's teeth" for good measure.
Here, I could see an SU-100 looking out for the west side plus an SU-8 in a far corner.
I set my sights for the SU-100 first, when something else caught my eye:
It was an unknown Soviet tank destroyer that appeared to be mounting a large-caliber gun.
I got the machine in my sights and fired.
BOOM!
Surprisingly, this machine was destroyed in one hit!
Weird, I expected more from that thing.
The SU-100 was too close to wait for reloading, so I used an anti-tank grenade to knock it out.
Furthermore, that SU-8 had started firing on me.
Its first shot didn't hit me, but it came too close.
The way I saw it, as long as I kept moving, it couldn't get a good hit on me.
Besides, I had to get closer for a better shot.
When I got closer, I sighted in quickly and destroyed the SU-8.
Now, there was the matter of the IS-2 still remaining.
Having learned my lesson from facing one before, I decided to stay low rather than engaging it in a direct confrontation.
To this end, I nestled in to the corner and put the camo net on.
With the engine shut off again, I waited for my prey.
Just a few seconds later, I noticed the tank entering from the northern end of the area.
He paused for a few moments, then started searching the area.
He got rather close to me, but I don't think he spotted me.
Rather, he just turned away and continued the search.
Perfect.
I threw the net off, cranked the turret around and fired.
BOOM!
Of course, the IS-2 survived, but I wagered that it was badly damaged.
After re-starting my engine, I ducked back into cover before it saw me.
I waited for my cannon to reload and then drove back out.
By now, the IS-2 had its gun pointed in my general direction and fired.
Goliath took a serious hit from that one, but I used this opportunity to fire back.
Still, the IS-2 was not destroyed, but judging by the broken left track, I didn't suppose it was doing so well.
I ducked back into cover and waited for the cannon to reload.
However, I got a radio call from the enemy tank:
"It's all over now! We have you cornered, heat lover!"
"No, it is over for you!" I countered. "If you want me so badly, you'll have to come over here and stop me!"
"You first!" they responded.
"No, you first!"
"I said 'you first' first! Now come out of there and die like a hero, heat lover!"
"Very well. Just don't expect me to go quietly!"
I turned my turret to the left and started going out to face my foe.
Naturally, he was expecting this, so he shot Goliath and broke its track.
Speaking of tracks, the broken track on that IS-2 had been repaired by the time I came out.
Guess the crew repaired it while I was in cover.
That aside, though Goliath's track was severed, Goliath was still operable, so I took aim and…
BOOM!
I finished off the IS-2!
As usual, I investigated my freezing foes.
True to their nature, they were known as "The Winter Warriors", a hardy gang who was one with Old Man Winter.
I'm sure that if a particularly heavy blizzard came along, then it wouldn't be much trouble for them.
As we have seen, a great deal of them used T-34s, but they also had an American medium tank called a Ram-II.
Actually, it probably wasn't American.
See, I investigated the Ram-II crews and found that they had a maple leaf insignia on their uniforms.
When I checked their identification, I found that they weren't American, but Canadian!
Hmmm…I never particularly thought of Canada as being a major player in this conflict.
Moving on, I found out that a tank that I had thought was a T-34 wasn't really a T-34; it was an up-armored variant called a T-43.
All that armor wasn't much good against the 152mm cannon, but the T-43 could mount a variety of cannons, including the D-10T.
And finally, the new tank destroyer that I spotted was called an SU-152.
It was based on a KV-type chassis and mounted a 152mm ML-20 howitzer, though it was capable of mounting other guns as well.
Suddenly, I had another revelation:
Around the time of the fall, I had heard rumors about a fearsome new weapon.
They called it "Zveroboy", the "Beast Killer".
It was said that it had enough power to blow a turret right off a tank.
This had to be the one they were talking about!
Goliath was equipped with a similar weapon, but I didn't always blow off a tank's turret with Goliath's weapon.
Whatever the case, I knew that this was something that I didn't want to be caught on the wrong end of.
Before I left, I acquired a note from the commander of the IS-2:
"Agent 813:
Congratulations on maintaining control of the northern sector. You are truly a valuable asset to our clan. However, there are still pockets of resistance to the west, near the Barents Sea. If our grand plan is to be fulfilled, then it is required that you eliminate all who would dare to conspire against us.
Remember, the light of glory shines brighter than all the stars. Make us proud.
-With regards,
W.G."
Him again!?
Wow, these guys are more serious than I thought.
Or…at least they were.
Well, so much for their so-called "light of glory"!
Unfortunately, despite the field repairs that I did to Goliath, I felt that it was too damaged to keep going.
After all, who knows what's waiting for me in Western Scandinavia?
So, I went back home for the time being.
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.