So, anyone ready for a Tank Battle?
The violent, deafening roar of guns woke the girls of RWBY up in a mess of limbs, panicked and confused. After all falling to the floor, they quickly untangled themselves from each other and briskly threw redressed out of their pajamas and into their new outfits. Ruby, after throwing on her hat, holstered the handgun that the Field Marshal had given her, a "Mauser C96" as he'd called it, and rushed out the door with her team.
On the street, they saw a few townsfolk in the streets, calmly going about their business despite the roar of guns. Confused, Ruby and her team looked left and right for any signs of combat, any sign that they were being attacked, but found nothing, nothing except the blazing guns nearby. The scene was peaceful, like the people there didn't even know that nearby, probably just over the defenses, a battle was being waged! Approaching one of the townsfolk, whom was carrying a few stacks of wood through the street, Ruby decided she'd do the talking herself.
"Ah, excuse me, sir?" She said somewhat meekly, gaining the man's attention. "I was wondering, what exactly is going on?"
"Huh? Oh, you must mean the gunfire. Yeah, that's become rather common of late. Rommel's been here about two months, but the White Fang have been attacking for about three. Our defenses were about to fail when he showed up, turned our situation around, showed our guards how to properly fight, got our smithies and tailors working overtime to make e'm proper gear and had a bunch of our field workers build up those mounds. Those Terrorists attack three, sometimes four times a week, and have always left in tatters. Just don't worry about it, the Field Marshal and his men will crush these guys, like they always do." Nodding, Ruby looked to her team, who themselves seemed to have calmed down a bit. Looking back to the man and quickly asking for directions, he nodded his head to some steps going up to the top of the mound.
Reaching the base of the mounds, they soon saw several artillery pieces, and a lot of 88mm rounds waiting to be used on palettes. The men and women using them wore military uniforms that looked similar to theirs, except theirs were more fitting for that of an infantry man rather than a tank operator. Their uniforms matched the look of the "German" soldiers exactly as what Rommel had shown them in his sketch book, helmet and all except instead of swastikas they all had the flag of their settlement proudly displayed, that being of a twin-headed wolf. Their guns were much the same, almost as though the development of the Field Marshal's military was copied and pasted from military unto town.
Climbing up the steps of the large mounds, they saw what must have been two interior levels, all with cement halls like they were bunkers that snaked into the mounds. Ruby noted the defenses, stating that the defenses were even sturdier than she'd initially thought. Finally, upon reaching the top they could see that they'd entered a sort of trench network, only more sophisticated than those seen in the Great War. They could see a proper, working drainage system, several hatches that'd lead into the lower levels, and above them a camouflage net hung over the trenches and their sandbag barriers. Looking around some more, they spotted Rommel's side down the trench, leaning over a table and talking to... someone.
Going at a brisk jog down the trench line, making sure not to bump into any of the town's defenders, they quickly reached the Field Marshal, who only looked at them with some mild surprise...
"Ah, guten morgen. The gunfire didn't wake you up, did it?" he said, a slight chuckle following his question. Looking to the woman standing at the other side of the table, he merely nodded his head, before pointing to a spot on the map laid out across the table. The woman nodded, before delivering a crisp salute and jogging off back down the trench line.
"That was Lieutenant Mira, commanding officer up here when I'm not present. I expect you girls to show her the utmost respect, isd das klar?" he received a full nod from the girls before returning his attention to the map. The map had been marked up, highlighting several different locations with markings they did not understand yet. It was clear that this attack must have been expected, so they chose not to worry about it, content with focusing their attention on Rommel and back to the trench line...
"Brauchst du etwas, meine Damen?" the Field Marshal said, catching them off guard for a moment. Looking back to the older man, they didn't quite know what he'd said, but had a slight idea.
"O-oh! No, we just, ah... we wanted to know if there was any way we could... y'know... hep out..." Ruby said hesitantly, before looking back to her team. A nod of confirmation assured her that she did indeed speak for all of them, before looking back to Rommel who was looking at her quizzically.
"I do not see how you could assist with this fight. Nor do I see any reason for you to do so. These fools are being beaten back and cut down at every turn, so there's really no reason for any of you four to get involved. Besides, I don't think any of you are trained to command things such as this, nein?" None of the girls responded, merely looking somewhat blankly at him before slowly nodding.
"Look, if you want to learn something right now, observe the battle, the tactics being employed." He said quickly, getting an equally brisk nod once more from RWBY, before they all went over to the edge of the trenches and looked over.
To say the White Fang's attack was sloppy would be an understatement. They seemingly just rushed headlong towards the defenses, and were using craters and fallen trees for cover against the bullets raining down on them. They saw about two dozen bodies lying in the dirt, unmoving, and another seven or so laying down beside their dead comrades in critical condition, being their stomachs or chests blown open, dismemberment, or they just had many bullet wounds. It was a grisly scene to the girls, that much was certain, one they weren't totally used to yet.
Weiss emptied her stomach of what little was still there in a trash can, with Blake only being phased in the sense that misguided brothers and sisters were wasting their lives attacking this town. Yang only paled somewhat at all the blood shed across the scene in front of her, and Ruby stared onwards, eyes widened in horror. 'Is this the reality of war?' She thought solemnly, taking in every small detail of the... massacre.
"It is beautiful, in a sad and dark way." Rommel said from behind them, earning all the girls' attention and almost their ire too. "An artist of my world, though not my generation, Michelangelo, was once asked how he sculpted so well. His response was along the lines of simply removing everything unnecessary."
The girls were silent for a moment, merely looking out on the field where faunas died in the dozens.
"In that way this scene is beautiful. It is war. It is man against man. It is life, and death." Slowly, the girls nodded. The man had some point, in a grim way, but that didn't change the fact that it was all unnecessary...
"But... why?" Ruby asked. "Why attack here? Why make such a situation here?"
"I cannot give you the reason that these terrorists attack for I do not know it. I could wager a guess and say it is because the mines of this town are so rich, but there could be other reasons such as strategic value in the region. In any case, they're attacking us, so we fight back."
Blake was appalled not by the man or any of his actions, but that her own people were stopping to such low levels. Had it not been for the Field Marshal, this town would not have put up much resistance, and there were plenty of faunas in the town, too. The White Fang weren't punching up in this case, against people who oppress them, they were punching down on people they knew they could overpower... it was not something she'd stand idly by and watch happen, this injustice.
"Ruby..." Blake called to her leader, who turned around to see her raven haired friend. The look on Blake's face was stony and firm, a look Ruby knew all to well from her. "These unprovoked assaults cannot go unanswered. We must find out what the White Fang want and stop them here!" She boldly proclaimed. The reaper nodded firmly in agreement, knowing well that they'd be neglecting their duty as huntresses in training if they were to ignore this. Returning her gaze to the Rommel, she spoke with determination in her voice.
"Field Marshal, we are huntresses in training. It is our sworn duty to fight injustice wherever it may be, and today it is here. We must-"
"Must do what? Get in a Panzer you know next to nothing about and wage a 1 tank war against who knows how many terrorists, who have heavy weapons? You may be skilled individual fighters, that much is not in question, but none of you know the first thing about truly operating your vehicle. Yes, you can drive and shoot, but there's much more to using a tank than simply driving and shooting. Until you're all properly trained, which, if fortune favors us will be within a month, maybe two, that tank will not be leaving the training grounds." The Field Marshal countered swiftly, cutting Ruby off and giving them all a stony and stern look. "You want to do well, I can understand and respect that, but running out and getting yourselves killed won't do any good for us, or for you. You'll get the chance to fight, but not today."
His statement to back up the first was met with slow, reluctant nods from the girls. Sighing, he waved them off, looking back down at the planning board in front of him as the girls ran off. The modifications on the tank would be done by today, of that being improved modules and the sort. With this their tank wouldn't break down at the worst of times anymore, or at least that was the thought. The engine was being improved and the tracks modified slightly to prevent them from digging into the dirt so much. Still, he was unsure whether or not it'd ultimately live up to the standards the grease monkeys said it would.
They'd left the defenses with a strange feeling. Sure, they'd fought the white fang on several occasions, last being when they'd blasted them apart in the shantytown, before that when the White Fang partnered with Torchwick at the docks, but this battlefield was quite obviously different. Their tank was their only hope at winning this fight, and they weren't anywhere close to mastery with it yet. The Field Marshal was right, but that didn't change the fact that while evil was making itself known, here they were training, just training. It was irritating, to say the least.
The garage was a short distance away, though they were told that Der Verteidiger wouldn't be finished until the afternoon around 12:30. Until then, there wasn't much they could do besides wander the town and fix their uniforms, previously a bit haphazardly affixed from being thrown on so quickly. The town wasn't very large, though to say it was small would be a mistake. In the center stood the town hall, it was fortified with concrete pillboxes, field guns, machine guns, and sandbag emplacements, along with barbed wire lining the bases of the gun emplacements. With the mines chugging out material as quickly as they were, they could see heavy machinery laying down an actual road instead of the previous gravel pathway. They'd very soon realized that the town was set up as a sort of grid, and that the areas they'd previously been in were only the outskirts of the town. From the center outward the people were renovating, instead of structures of iron and wood they were now laying down actual foundations, utilizing bricks, mortar, cement, steel, wood and insulation in the buildings.
"I can't help but get a sense of deja vu, here." Weiss stated to nobody in particular. "This town looks akin to old atlesian towns, similar architecture and all... though this is all markedly more advanced."
"Yeah... I think I can see that." Blake said, looking around to see the people busying themselves with their work. "Though I doubt they'd be even half this prosperous without the Field Marshal. After all, they said they were about to capitulate under the attacks until he showed up, and you can't develop a settlement when constantly being raided of your resources."
Ruby herself was only listening to their conversation with half an ear, more interested in analyzing the terrain, making note of how the town was set up. It was obviously optimized for a stiff defense, with all the locational opportunities for a defender to ambush or hold the line. Rommel had certainly worked quickly, whipping the town into shape.
After wandering the town for about thirty minutes, they found themselves in front of a rather large garage. They could hear machinery on the inside, what sounded like welding, among other sounds. Upon entering the garage, they saw one thing that had them somewhat confused. Here stood several more men, clad similarly to Rommel if a bit less decorated, and they all were working on another tank. Ruby quickly shook off her momentary surprise, though couldn't shake the thought of how long things from Rommel's world must have been falling into theirs.
The tank Weiss had pointed out was a Panther ausf. G, and looked to be under modification. The original engine had been taken out and was seemingly under examination from some of the town's mechanics. The men dressed akin to the Field Marshal also seemed to share his language, and looked to be conversing freely among themselves as they worked on their tank. After a few seconds of silent observation, they saw the men look over in their direction, though were caught completely off guard when they all rushed to the front of the tank, lined up shoulder to shoulder and gave a crisp salute. Ruby had begun to stutter when she'd suddenly felt a firm grip on her shoulder.
"Nein, nein. They do not salute you, Rose. They salute me." Came a firm voice. They looked back to see the very Field Marshal himself had walked up on them without them noticing. "Crew, are the improvements finished?"
"Ja, Herr Kommandant! Die Module wurden mit dieser neuen Technologie verbessert und sollten weitaus besser sein als das Original." One said, earning a large grin from the field marshal.
"Wunderbar! Well test out the new modules on the range later, for now-" The man spoke, only to be cut off by a loud boom, accompanied by several loud screams.
"Was zur Hölle war das?!." Rommel yelled, to be met with one of the town guard bursting through the door to the garage.
"Commander Rommel! Intelligence on enemy forces was wrong, they have Panzers!" The man yelled, being cut off by another loud boom.
"Verdammt! Crew, steig auf! Mädchen, zu den Zinnen jetzt! Wir müssen wissen, was wir jetzt kämpfen!" Rommel yelled to the girls. They didn't understand his exact words, but had a relative idea of what he wanted.
Ruby was the first to reach the battlements, her speed helping her reach the top much faster than the others. While waiting for them to catch up, she decided she'd at least mark targets for the field marshal. Thumbing on the radio, she patched herself in with the old man and started speaking. "Kommandant, I'm on the battlements, orders?"
"Rose, I need to know what tanks we're facing here so I can know how best to fight them."
"Right! Let's see..." Ruby said, taking out her binoculars, she began scanning the field for the enemy tanks. She took out a notebook as well and began writing down the tanks she was able to identify on the first sheet with a pen she had. After about a minute, she turned back to the radio and started her report.
"Rommel, I've identified 7 M4 Shermans, 3 Matildas, one Churchill III, and 17 T-34s... orders?"
"Scheiße ... Mädchen, geh in deinen Panzer, wir brauchen deine Rüstung, damit das funktioniert" came the response. Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose before sighing.
"Sir, please, I can't understand your language very well..."
"Apologies, force of habit. Get yourself and your girls in your tank, we're going to need your armor." The Field Marshal responded, before terminating the connection. Turning around, she spotted her friends just now getting to the steps of the battlements.
"Mount up! Get Der Verteidiger running, Rommel said he's gonna need our armor!" Ruby yelled down at her friends. They all nodded before breaking out into a sprint towards their garage.
The differences were plenty on the tank, for one there was now spaced armor on the sides protecting the tracks, and a quick look at the engine revealed many notable improvements, such as dust power integration.
The leading mechanic approached them, he was a tall, dark skinned man in an orange jumpsuit and goggles resting on messy hair just above his forehead. He had a toolbox in one hand and a wrench in the other, and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth in a lazy fashion. "Your Panzer is ready to go. It shouldn't be so fragile anymore, but don't supercharge the engine for any more than five seconds, else it'll catch fire and leave you with a dead engine."
"We can supercharge the engine?" Weiss asked, looking down into the tank's drivers' seat to find a new red glowing button with the word "supercharge" right above it, and a warning labeled below the button.
"It's something myself and the boys added, should let you get a great burst of speed in a very short time. Like I said, though, do not overdo it!" The man said, before waving them out the garage.
The sound of gunfire was progressively getting worse and worse, and Ruby, from her commanders' hatch could see fires spreading through the buildings not yet modernized. The battlements has taken serious damage, but we're still holding fast. She grit her teeth. She wasn't gonna let the White Fang win here, she couldn't. Silently but surely, she swore that she would make the White Fang pay dearly for this assault. There were people in the streets, many wounded, a few even had died, and the rest trying to make sense of what went wrong and what to do.
She decided that now would be best to restore their spirits. They already had White Fang to deal with, the last thing they needed was Grimm knocking on their door. Rising out of her hatch, she poked her upper body out of the tank to look down on the people before her.
"Everyone! Please, do not worry! The White Fang are attacking, but we are readying for our counterattack now! Please, attend to your wounded and dead, but do not despair, we can- no, WILL regain control of this fight!" She declared with steely determination, easing the fears of the civilians around her. After looking about for a few seconds, she cast her gaze back towards the fight. The White Fang's tanks wouldn't have been able to damage the town through the battlements, that means that the White Fang must have had mortars or Artillery in range to shell the town...
"Ruby, this is Rommel. The enemy has artillery to the south, and new reports from scouts suggest they may have a Panzerkampfwagen IV, Ausf H specifically, patrolling the area. Your primary objective is to end their bombardment, and if you can, I want that Panzer disabled, not destroyed. Panzer Vor!" The man finished, before thumbing off the radio. Ruby simply nodded before motioning for her tank to go forward. It was time to see what one day of training would do for them.
They were able to sneak out the back of the town to the North and circle around through the trees to reach their destination. Indeed, it was being guarded, but only by a Panzer IV, not much more to account for besides some foot soldiers and the artillery itself.
"Ruby, that Panzer IV seems to just be circling around at the moment." Blake said, her eyes trained through her gunner's sights. "We should load in an HE shell, blast it to bits as soon as it shows its rear."
Ruby contemplated the idea given, but decided to shake her head instead. "No, that'll destroy the tank. We only need disable it..." Ruby gave a moment to think, weighing her options from their concealed location among the brush. "Load in an Armor-Piercing shell, Yang. Blake, take out their forward drive wheel first, get e'm dead in the water."
The two nodded, the former loading in the round and the latter calibrating for her shot. Blake had calculated the distance to be about 600 meters, so made sure to compensate for distance, height, elevation, wind direction and strength, which way it blew, the movement speed of the Panzer, and the weight of the bullet. After a good 4.7 seconds, she grinned as she'd gotten them lined right where she wanted them. Letting out a deep breath, she pulled the trigger, and loosed her round.
The shell impacted directly where they wanted it to, blowing the tank's forward drive wheel apart and knocking its track out. Looking back down into her tank, she motioned for Weiss to stay put. Their cover and concealment was still good, the Fang didn't know where they were yet.
"Yang, load in another AP shell. Blake, take out their turret ring." Ruby calmly ordered, before looking back out the cupola. The White Fang were returning fire, but most their shots, at least the ones that would have mattered, landed nowhere near them. Ruby grinned, before dropping herself down into the tank further to man the machine gun. Cocking the gun, she let out a small laugh as she began letting rip bullets down onto the White Fang grunts.
The sound of screams from the grunts was terrible, but she didn't let that steal her good mood. Taking bursts of three second trigger pulls, she'd swiftly made short work of many fangs. Not a moment later, the boom of their 88 mm gun resounded, destroying the enemy's turret ring. Pulling herself back up to spot as the Commander, she observed the devastated and panicked state of the fangs now more clearly.
Touching her finger to her radio unit, she stated issuing out commands to her team. "Weiss, advance slowly on the enemy. Blake, pay no mind to the remaining Fangs, they're all dying in the dirt right now. Target their artillery, it's automated so taking out the crews means very little. Yang, I want you to speed up your loading."
"Right!" the three girls responded through their headsets. Ruby grinned, before rising out of the cupola halfway, and thumbing her radio whilst extending her right arm outwards once more.
"Panzer Vor!"
Rommel laughed in German once more as his 75 mm gun exploded the engine of his third T-34. Taking a small sip of wine, he reached down to pat the gunner on the head before nearly dropping his drink from an HE shell landing dangerously close to them. Growling under his breath, he raised an arm out of his cupola before properly flipping his assailants off.
"Hans!" Rommel yelled down to his radio operator. "Holen Sie sich den Status von Ruby und ihrer Crew!"
"Ruby, Kommandant Rommel würde sich nach Ihrem Status erkundigen?"
"I've no actual idea what you just said, but I have some vague idea. The Panzer IV has been disabled, we're clearing the artillery right now."
"Kommandant, sie haben ihr sekundäres Ziel neutralisiert und zerstören nun ihre Artillerie. Weitere Bestellungen für sie?"
Rommel looked down at his glass of wine for a moment. These Terrorist Bastards had made him spill a little wine on his left boot, and wanted to make them pay for that. "Sag ihnen, genau wie ich sage, Mark the location for the town guard, and make your way over to the main battlefield."
Hans nodded before thumbing the radio once more for outbound communication. "Befehl des Kommandanten: mark the location for the town guard, and make your way over to the main battlefield!"
"Understood, tell Rommel we're inbound! ETA, three minutes." came the reply over the radio, to which Hans merely nodded before turning back to Rommel and holding up three fingers.
"Drei Minuten? Gerade genug Zeit für mich, um euch alle ein Glas Wein einzuschenken. Wunderbar!"
Rommel looked down to his crew before smiling to himself and beginning to sing, his team quickly falling in step.
"Ob's stürmt oder schneit,
Ob die Sonne uns lacht,
Der Tag glühend heiß
Oder eiskalt die Nacht,
Bestaubt sind die Gesichter,
Doch froh ist unser Sinn,
Ist unser Sinn!
Es braust unser Panzer
Im Sturmwind dahin!"
AN: Sorry for the terribly long wait on the update! Fanfiction hasn't been treating me the best on PC of late.
Next update will probably be out in either a week or a month