Approximately two months had passed by and I was doing pretty well for myself.

Sure, there were times when food and firewood had practically run out, but overall, I was doing better surviving in the cold of winter than I was in the heat of the desert.

By now, I decided that the time for vicious snowstorms had passed and that it was OK to continue forth.

I removed the camo net from the entrance to the cave and strapped it back to Goliath.

Once that was done, I took some of the meat with me, packed it in an improvised icebox for the journey, and headed on.

I bypassed Sweden and instead went directly to Norway via the northwestern border of Finland.

While fuel dumps weren't as ubiquitous as the Swastika, they weren't in short supply, either.

Aside from these supply stashes, the landscape of Norway was absolutely pristine, as if the apocalypse had never happened.

It was so beautiful, in fact, that it made me cry.

It was probably the first time that I'd cried in a long while.

I wasn't crying a whole lot, mind you, but it wasn't a minor sob, either.

However, it actually felt liberating, in a way, and I felt a bit more confident after I did it.

Pressing on, the relative tranquility of the surrounding area was interrupted when I was attacked by some German tanks.

I noticed that they had a black shield insignia with some sort of design on it

Where have I seen that before?

I soon realized that this meant that I was facing one of the infamous SS panzer divisions.

Having realized that, I decided to be more careful.

Actually, despite being an SS division, they weren't too tough.

They did have a Panther and a VK 3001, though that was the full extent of the danger posed to Goliath & me, aside from an artillery gun, of course.

Goliath simply shredded everything else, and in the case of lesser tanks such as a Panzerjäger I, ran into them or ran them over and crushed them.

Having routed them thoroughly, I decided to find out which division they belonged to.

These guys were part of the SS panzer division "Vidkun Quisling", named for the infamous Nazi-sponsored president who ruled Norway prior to the breakdown of order.

Though they were primarily a German company, some of their members were Norwegian volunteers.

Fittingly enough, a few of their tanks were foreign-built models such as the SOMUA S35, plus some Czech-built tanks.

One was a light tank called a T-15

Another was a medium tank called a T-25.

All of a sudden, I got quite angry.

Why?

Why!?

WHY!?

Why are non-Soviet tanks using designations with the letter "T"!?

Are the others trying to deceive us!?

Then again, maybe not.

In any case, I pressed forth, trying to avoid further enemy confrontations.

At a certain Fjord in southern Norway, I saw another set of the SS panzer division "Vidkun Quisling" taking on an unknown enemy force.

The opposing gang was composed of a mix of American, Canadian and French tanks, plus two British tanks in Soviet colors.

Though the Germans were putting up a good fight, their opponents had better equipment, so they eventually prevailed over the SS panzer division.

Meanwhile, since I was waiting for one side to decimate the other, I decided to take on this mysterious coalition.

That was easier said than done.

Though many of their tanks were of an equal or lesser tier to Goliath, they also had heavy tanks such as the T29 and the AMX M4/1945.

Except for a French tank destroyer and SPG, though, these guys didn't have anything that I hadn't seen before.

After blowing up the SPG, I turned to find the Terrible 29 and the AMX M4/1945 bearing down on me.

At that point, I thought Goliath & I were done for, but all of a sudden, somebody blew those two tanks up!

They also made mincemeat of the rest of my opponents.

Pushing Goliath as hard as I could, I tried to dodge the crossfire and get into hiding.

Nobody else targeted me, though, so I hid in a nearby town until the shooting stopped.

By now, an ordinary tanker would've fled this place entirely, but I still wanted to find out who the coalition was.

They were called the "Telemark Expeditionary Force", a special task force commissioned for the liberation of Norway, which naturally started in the Telemark region.

Actually, when I found a message on the commander of the T29, I found that they actually had ulterior motives:

"MESSAGE TO LIEUTENANT SANFORD FROM ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF MARSHALL:

The development of substitute materials is well underway. However, our agents report that the situation in Europe has become terribly unstable. Owing to this situation, German material production is likely to have become more closely guarded. One material that we are especially interested in is deuterium oxide, also known as 'heavy water'. Intelligence reports indicate that Norway is one of the foremost producers of heavy water in Europe.

Your mission is to organize a special task force in order to cripple Germany's heavy water production capabilities and to seize a few supplies for our own purposes. This mission is to be organized under the pretense of liberating Norway from German Control. Nobody else but you and your crew are to know of the mission's true purpose.

Remember, should you or any of your crewmen be caught or killed, the secretary of defense will disavow any knowledge of this mission.

Good luck, Lieutenant.

-Sincerely,

George Marshall,

US Army Chief of Staff"

Heavy water?

What's that supposed to do?

And if this mission is supposed to be top-secret, then why was he even carrying this message around?

Also confusing was that the Soviet tanks in the force were being operated by American crewmen.

Ah, maybe they were just on loan.

After all, the Americans did start that Lend-Lease Program.

Furthermore, the new French vehicles may not have been as French as I thought.

Their tank destroyer was based on the chassis of a tank called the FCM 36, but the gun was a PaK 40, a German gun.

The SPG was based on the Char B1 chassis, but its 105mm cannon, an leFH 18, was also German in origin.

Those two tanks were painted in French colors (barring the TEF insignia), so why the German-made guns?

With some new questions in my head, I started my journey back home.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.