I figured it was time to make another trip to Germany, this time, to the northern sector.
Here, I ended up in a small fishing village near the border of Denmark.
It was here that I also witnessed another strange event:
A German company of some sort was conducting some unusual rituals.
I got there just in time to witness a T-34 being blown up by them, not during combat, but as part of the rituals.
However, rather than disrupting the ceremonies, I decided to stay back and observe them for a while.
They appeared to be dressed shabbily, like barbarians, perhaps.
Aside from the dead T-34, they had quite a few Soviet tanks in their stocks.
Most prominently, they had an ISU-152 that was being used as some sort of shrine.
They were making random offerings to it and bowing before it as if it were some sort of god.
Hmmm…maybe they thought this ritual would protect them from destruction at the hands of the machine.
Other Soviet tanks they had were a KV-2 with 152mm, an SU-85, a T-34 with 76mm gun and a KV-1 with what appeared to be a German 75mm.
The KVs and the T-34 appeared to have additional commander's cupolas installed.
The KV-2 also had an odd device attached to the rear, probably a rocket launcher or ammo rack.
Their SU-85 looked unmodified except for paint.
All other tanks were German: Tigers, Panzers, Panthers, etc…
This was a most peculiar company.
Despite the religious nature of the ceremonies, they were not the dark hooded figures I'd been looking for.
I was somewhat disappointed, but then again, considering the mind powers of the other folks, I was somewhat relieved, knowing that I wasn't up against someone more powerful.
I continued to watch the ceremonies until I'd decided I'd had enough.
Once I did, I opened fire, choosing their KV-2 as my first target.
BOOM!
The explosion seemed bigger than usual, no doubt fueled by the device attached to the rear.
Of course, they were in a frenzy to get to their tanks, so I opened fire with one of the DT machine guns while the crew opened fire with another.
However, since we were further away from the other guys, we didn't zap as many of their crewmen.
Oddly enough, nobody took control of the ISU-152.
Good for me, I suppose.
When the 152mm on Goliath reloaded, I took aim at a Tiger, damaging but not killing it.
So, I waited at the top of this hill and attempted to pick off any other tanks until it looked as if they were getting too close.
Having torn up a Panzer IV, I made tail for the main part of town in the east.
To any other tanker, this would've been absolute suicide against a whole group.
However, I came well-prepared for this.
I spent some time covering the entry points to the town with anti-tank mines.
However, as I was doing this, I encountered another unidentified vehicle, possibly a tank destroyer judging by the lack of turret.
Whatever it was, it proved small enough to run over.
I barely even finished setting mines before they started detonating.
Paying attention to which ones had gone off, I drove to a new spot and prepared for any enemies to drive on through.
Most were smart enough to turn away, but a T-25, Panzer III and KV-1 decided that they really wanted my blood, so they tried to push into the town.
In my opinion, the KV-1 was the biggest threat, so I blew it up first.
The explosion also damaged the other two, so I finished the T-25 off with an anti-tank grenade and waited for the 152mm cannon to reload as the Panzer III made a pathetic attempt at trying to kill me with its flak gun, and then toasted it when I was finished.
I waited around for others to try to enter the town, but after a Panther foolishly sacrificed itself, it appeared that they'd had enough with trying to catch me there.
After heading north, I caught a round from an SU-85 hiding in a bush, but Goliath didn't take too much damage, so I simply finished it off and hid in another bush while the others looked for me.
A few moments later, a T-34 showed up, but I held my fire because I spotted a Tiger coming in afterwards.
I shut the engine off and waited.
When the Tiger was in suitable range, I fired a round and hit it.
However, this may not have been the same one I tagged earlier because it survived the 152 shell.
Having done that, I started up Goliath's engine, backed off and threw down the last mine I had on the road beside the bush.
I drove away with the T-34 in pursuit.
A shot tagged Goliath's turret, but didn't do too much damage.
As I'd expected, the T-34's pursuit of me was so determined that it didn't notice the mine and got blown up.
Of course, I was in such a hurry to get away from the T-34 that I almost didn't notice the Tiger.
I was a faster shot than it, so I blasted it and put it out of action.
I was going to press further, but when I spotted a Panzer III/IV coming in with the other Tiger, I decided to fall back.
Compounding the problem, there was an unseen opponent firing upon me.
Goliath took a couple more hits, but the old machine was still operable.
The Panzer III/IV tried to cut me off, so I destroyed it with a grenade.
The other Tiger soon caught up to me, at which time…
BOOM!
Only one more to go!
After a risky search, I finally located a JagdPanzer IV and wrecked it.
Now, who were these folks?
They were the Vandal-Visigothic Strike Force, a largely nomadic company, who, like their namesakes, just went around destroying and pillaging.
Though originally hailing from southern Germany, they headed up north when the southern regions were exhausted.
As we also witnessed earlier, when not ransacking the countryside, they also conducted pagan rituals.
Though they possessed captured enemy equipment, the only thing I hadn't seen before was a TKS, which was actually a light tank of Polish origin and designated "Leichte Panzer TKS (p)" by the Germans.
Hmmm…I didn't think the Germans placed much stock in the Polish equipment.
I know we didn't, although we really liked the Polish armored trains.
Now, before going home, there was just one more concern:
I had to go back and deactivate any unused mines that I'd placed.
To do that, I hid Goliath and went out on foot looking for them.
The original design for these mines had no way to disarm them safely, so I'd incorporated a secret disarming switch on them for this sort of thing.
Once I collected all the mines, there was one more thing I had to do:
I took control of the ISU-152 and drove it off the pier in town, being sure to jump out before it went in the water.
When my job was done, I went back home to fix up Goliath.
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.