The rumble of tank engines echoed around the square, the chatter of soldiers nearly drowned out. The most asked questions were aimed at the unknow tanks and their drivers, each British soldier wondered why the Brigadier was allowing these tanks to leave, and why he allowed high school girls to command them.

"Do you understand your orders Major Howard?" asked the Brigadier

"Yes sir, ensure that these girls get to Dunkirk, and make sure they are evacuated to England, with their tanks."

"That is the most important thing Major, with their tanks. These tanks cannot be left behind for the Germans. Take this letter and give it to whomever is in charge."

"Yes sir."

"Well don't just stand there, get going."

The Major saluted before turning to the tank called a Churchill, it was the tank with the most space and the one he would be riding in to Dunkirk.

Once settled in the tank, he nodded at the commander, Darjeeling if he remembered her name corretly, who nodded in return and gave the order to advance. The tank lurched forward sending him flying back. The girls around him chuckled slightly and he blushed in embarrassment. The tank rumbled slowly through the town, taking the tight turns slowly, but always moving. Before long they had left the town and were heading down the road to the north. The tank had a top speed of 25mph, he remembered the girls saying that historically the tank was slower, but the engine was improved to make it legal for the sport they called Senshado, or Tankery in English.

Trundling down the French roads, Major John Howard, of the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry, began to relax, the likelihood of encountering a German force was low, but he noticed that the crew of the tank were still on guard. He voiced his observation to the loader, who had been introduced to him as Orange Pekoe.

"You can never truly relax in a war zone Major. You never know when an ambush will occur."

"But we are behind allied lines, the only danger is an attack from above."

"Continuous effort is the key to unlocking our potential Major," said Darjeeling, taking a sip from her tea, "Tea major?"

"Yes please, Earl Grey, black."

"Of course, Orange Pekoe, please provide the Major with tea."

Turning he watched as Orange Pekoe reach towards a device attached to the engine. It's function became obvious as boiling water poured from a tap into a waiting cup. He was then handed a boiling hot cup of Earl Grey tea, "Is this a newfangled future thing?"

"In a way Major, I believe the bivvie was first applied to the post war Centurion tank due to a large number of losses during tea breaks for British tankers."

"Well, if we can get this introduced to earlier models, maybe we can prevent these losses," said the Major, taking a sip of his tea and smiling at the taste.

#

The atmosphere in the Panzer IV.H was much more tense than the Churchill, Miho was still apprehensive about this course of action, but she understood that there were few options. Yukari however was geeking out at the chance to see British tanks in development. Hana was as composed as usual, Mako was still half asleep, and Saori was chattering away about finding a British boyfriend.

Despite the quiet and relaxed nature of the journey, Miho remained on guard. She knew enough about the war to know that them being attacked was possible, as such she remained out of her cupola, watching her surroundings closely.

It was this ... that allowed Miho to notice that something was wrong, and immediately react, "Enemy at 2 o'clock, in the trees."

Trusting her commander, Hana span the turret, took careful aim, seeing the discolour in the trees, and fired. The live ap round shot through the air, into the trees, and hit the target right at the join between turret and tank. The 75mm round easily pierced the weak armour, and detonated inside. The explosion detonated the ammo in the tank, sending the turret high in the air.

Hana came to her senses a few seconds later, realising she had just killed someone, she fell back into her chair, chest heaving. She didn't have much time to think about it though as suddenly the tree line came alive. Shells shot out from the trees, landing all around the convoy. A few scored hits on the larger tanks, but bounced off the superior armour.

Any reservations the senshado teams had had about fighting, disappeared under the hail of shells flying towards them. Using their instincts, each tank turned to face the threat, aimed carefully, and fired. The sound of three 88m, several 75mm, and a 6pdr echoed across the field. Each shell flew straight into the trees. It wasn't easy to see how many hit, but it was obvious that some did, as there were several explosions of varying sizes.

Another volley of shells cam flying towards them, some hitting, but thankfully bouncing. Rosehip pulled her tank behind one of the Tigers, despite wanting to use her speed she knew that now wasn't the time.

This time, the response from the girls was even more devastating, as they had made sure to aim at the muzzle flashes from the previous bombardment. The tanks fired again, and the tree line exploded, every shell had hit its target. The girls remained alert, ready for another volley but none came.

On Darjeeling's order the tanks returned to the road and carried on towards Dunkirk. But any positivity was long gone, as the girls come to the realisation that they had killed people. Yes they were under fire, but it was still a new sensation for them. The girls would need reassuring that they did the right thing.

#

Arriving at Dunkirk was an awe inspiring sensation, the girls had all heard about the miraculous evacuation that saved the British army and ensured Britain's survival, but too actually be there was another thing entirely. Thankfully it had only taken a few hours to reach Dunkirk, and after the one situation, there were no other attacks.

Driving through the town, the convoy drew strange looks, partly because of the strange tank designs, and obvious German tanks, and partly because of the high school girls hanging out of several hatches.

The girls watched the British soldiers as they passed, it was obvious that this was an army on the run, from the dirt caked uniforms, to the weariness on their faces. But the girls kept going, luckily they had arrived at the beginning of the evacuation so equipment was still being loaded onto some ships.

The convoy pulled up to the pier, and was greeted by Commander Bolton, a middle aged British commander, "What's all this then?"

Major Howard disembarked from the Churchill and came to attention before the Commander, "Major Arthur Howard, 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, reporting under orders from Brigadier Somerset."

The commander raised an eyebrow, "And the tanks behind you?"

"Individuals bearing special intelligence sir. Brigadier Somerset has requested that both they and their equipment be sent to Britain as soon as possible."

The other eyebrow went up, "What makes them so important?"

The Major produced the letter given to him by the Brigadier, "I believe it's all in this letter sir."

Opening the letter, the Commander's face went through an array of emotions, mostly centred around shock and surprise, now and then he glanced up at the girls before returning to the letter. When finished he handed it back, "I can't say I fully believe it, but technically the Brigadier outranks me. The next ship capable of taking you will be in a few hours. You'll have to wait until then."

"Understood Commander, where should we wait?"

"There's a large park half a mile down the road, pull in down there. I'll send a runner when the ship is here."

The Major saluted and clambered back aboard. The engine roared and the tank began to clatter down the road towards the park.

It didn't take long for the tanks to arrive and pull up around each other. With the crews finally somewhere relatively safe, they all disembarked their tanks. Some of the girls broke down, the stress getting to them finally, others sought comfort in their friends whilst others tried to remain strong.

Leopon team took the opportunity to look over each of the tanks and make sure they were still working, it was a way of keeping their minds of other things.

Hippo team sat atop their Stug discussing the pros and cons of their location, and the best way to change things.

Turtle team didn't have much of a chance to do anything, as they were trying to comfort Momo Kawashima who had broken down in tears once again.

The girls from Kuromorimine were trying their best to stay calm, but they felt uncomfortable at the looks their tanks were getting from passing British soldiers, given their obvious German nature.

The girls from Saunders were laughing and joking, and playing games. Alisa was being distracted from their situation by Naomi, lest she break down in tears.

The girls from St Gloriana were probably the most comfortable, each held a cup of tea and were watching the British soldiers with interest.

#

Time passed slowly, from where they were the girls could watch as ships came and went, each one carrying as many men as possible. Air attacks by the Luftwaffe made them panic the first few times, but after a couple of hours they grew used to it. It amazed them how normal things became in war, and how quickly that happened.

Currently, the commander of each tank was gathered with the Major around the Churchill, trying to decide what to do when they reached Britain. They all agreed to help the allies, but they were unsure how to. They were certain that they needed to warn them about the Italian declararion of war, and the inevitable Battle of Britain, but they couldn't predict anything beyond that given how much may have changed by then.

The group was clamouring, each speaking over the other, only Miho remained quiet, thinking. Finally she spoke, "It all boils down to one thing, Do we want to play an active role in the war? Are we prepared to fight, and quite possibly die, to defeat the Nazis."

The question silenced the group, making them think.

"I'm prepared to," said Maho, drawing looks from her friends, "Millions died in this war. If we can save even a single one of them, we should."

"And imagine the bragging rights we'd have, saying we played a pivotal role in ending the war," Kay shouted boisterously.

Shaking her head at Kay's enthusiasm, Darjeeling spoke next, "I've spent my entire school life immersed in British culture, I'd rather not see it crushed by Hitler."

Similar statements of agreement were made by each commander and, when asked, the crews all agreed. In the end it was decided that, if allowed, they would join the war against the Nazis, wherever necessary. With their course of action decided, the girls dispersed to await the runner saying the ship had arrived.

#

"All right, bring her forward, put her near the tower. The next one along side, then behind, then alongside, and carry on until they're all on." The captain of the transport ship was eager to get all the tanks on and get underway before the Luftwaffe returned. Luckily there was a lot of smoke cover after a German bomb had hit the oil depot nearby.

One by one the senshado tanks boarded the transport and pulled into position. The crews made sure to remain in their tanks until each one was on.

The captain had been hesitant to allow them on when asked by Commander Bolton, but once he'd seen the tanks her changed his mind as he realised the impact they could have on the British war effort. With little fuss he got the deck of his ship cleared and room made for them.

As the last tank boarded the ship the captain smiled, happy that he could finally leave. The quicker these girls got to Blighty, the better.

Returning to the bridge, he addressed the helmsman, "Take us out, ahead one third."