Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament
Chapter 10: Big Guns
30 minutes ago - South side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
The flare went up into the air from the referee section.
"All companies, move out!" Daniel said into his radio.
"All tanks move out," were the responses coming in from the radio traffic as each company leader directs their platoons to their assigned sections. Four divided groups were made of the team, making each company rather pitiful in size. Daniel like to think of it as "two platoons per section". In truth, the 30 tank limit had hurt their uniformity in the companies, everything was rather mixed.
The three tank Battalion Headquarters, or "Mickey" as per code names, was following Company "Donald" on the west side of the map. A large desert area with nearly no cover except bits of rocks here and a sand dune there. Donald was composed of eight tanks. Three M4A3E2 Jumbos, and another Jumbo with a 76 mm instead of the standard 75 mm. Three more were regular M4A3 tanks with a 2-1 mix of 75 mm to 76 mm cannons. The last one was a simple M24 Chaffee light tank, which carries a role greater than its weight. Having Mickey tag along help bolster the west side strength to 11 tanks.
Company "Chip" was assigned the center mountain road. Their tank composition was the same as Donald. The variety of the terrain made movement complicated but Daniel gave them a simple job. Stop their advance. Thus, Jumbos took the center road with an objective to block them with their broken hulls if they must and the Shermans and Chaffee taking the high roads for firing support.
Company "Pete" was a tank destroyer group, outfitted with newly refurbished M18 Hellcats taken out of the U.S. Army inventory. Most of the new tanks replacing their older M4 Shermans and Stuarts were taken out of nearly forgotten depots across the states, but the Hellcats were from a special place.
Hopefully, the National Armor and Cavalry Museum didn't have anything planned for those in the coming months. Daniel thought about the acquisition. There wasn't any protest, but there wasn't any consent either. He shrugged, he hoped their efforts won't go to waste.
Four Hellcats made up Company "Pete". Small in comparison to the others, but their role was to stop enemy from advancing straight through the east side, not hunt them down aggressively. Their armor prevented them from using it in that way anyways.
"Mickey", the headquarters group, was made up of three M4A3E8 tanks. Daniel's own tank, Hatin' Love, was alongside the two other Shermans Heathen's Den and Harold.
The M4A3 (76) W HVSS Sherman Daniel and his crew affectionately named Hatin' Love, a name they had used on their previous M4 Sherman, would not have been recognized now from how it was when they first received it. The sand skirts on the suspension sides had been removed for easier access to the suspension bogies and idler wheels. The aforementioned machine gun was mounted for Daniel's personal liking, the M2 Browning on the back was simply out of his reach to use when the moment arrives. A painted decal of the Armored Cadet's emblem was painted on the both sides of the hull, a triangle imagery of a bald eagle's head facing towards the front with an intial "A.C.A." under the eagle. The decal was made up of red, blue, and a dark yellow-orange color, a throwback to the armored division's symbol used in World War II. The tank's name was plastered in bright white paint on the gun barrel about a third from the gun mantlet.
The crew also added their personal items to the tank's exterior. Some were simple canvas bags, tarps, or a bundle of ponchos. Something each and every crew member valued and kept safe right behind the turret was the "woobie", a poncho liner that can serve not only as a form of blanket, but also a pillow, tent, jacket liner, mattress, and even as concealment thanks to its camouflage color. It's was invaluable, even in comparison to food.
The back rack of the personalized M4A3 had gasoline fuel in jerry cans, fuel containers derived from the German Wehrmacht in World War II. The M4A3 had enough fuel for a whole day and a half worth of fighting and movement, though that was considering if the crew was acting conservative. Despite the M4A3's rather reasonable fuel mileage, fuel disappears if one doesn't pay attention to it.
Inside the M4A3 was another story compared to outside. The crew have decorated the inside however they desired with the only requirement being that they be easily removed if need be. Thus, chalk drawings were made in the inside hull of various creativity. Pictures were taped on the side of the crew's family, such as Noah's girlfriend back home or Ethan's extended family in Canada. Aside from that, everything else was stowed with ammunition, food, water, and their personal weapons. Each cadet was issued a league-approved M1911A1 pistol, though the driver and bow machine gunner were also supplied with a M3 "Grease Gun" and the Commander with a Thompson. Of course, each crew could also bring their own personal league-approved weapons if they wanted, but sometimes standard-issue worked the best.
The tanks rumbled alongside each other. They were behind Donald by a good 400 meters, far enough to bug out if it was necessary, but close enough to bring support if needed to. The Shermans already pack a big punch with their 76 mm cannon. However, Daniel was still skeptical of whether he prepared enough for this fight. They've trained all week with these new equipment before the fight to get familiar with the new equipment. It's been satisfactory, but was it enough? Many of the crew were instilled with what they believed in their old tanks, could they get used to their new ones?
Daniel didn't think too much of that. The simplicity of parts made adapting to the newer Shermans definitely easier than if they had, say, gotten the M26 Pershing instead. The Jumbos and new M4A3 and M4A3E8 models were almost similar internally with the older Sherman models. Not to mention the Chaffee had the same drive, power, and transmission of the older Stuarts. Therefore, driving in these new tanks is easy, its just a matter of getting use to the newer armor and firepower.
After some time traveling up north towards the enemy, Daniel took up his radio, "All units this is Mickey. Status report, over."
"This is Donald 1! Donald 8 has found the enemy tanks! North of us! 1,000 meters! Out!" Daniel heard the commander of Donald, SGT Brian Jackson, report.
"This is Chip 1. We've taken position in the center mountain road. Identified moving targets roughly 1,100 meters north of us! Out!" SGT Kyline Lee of Chip reported.
"This is Pete 1. Still maneuvering into positions, we've got- Enemy sighted! Shoot that bastard!" SGT Maurice Montana of Pete reported. "Mickey 1! We've gotten contact with… what appears to be a tankette! Out!" The report was sent in with machine gun fire from the commander's M2 Brownings in the background.
We're in the shit now… Daniel thought as he took the radio. "All units this is Mickey! Enemy contact at all fronts! Prepare to engage and eliminate hostiles!"
"Donald copies!"
"Chip copies!"
"Pete Copies!"
"Minnie Copies!"
All the companies acquired the order. Then Daniel sent out a specific order.
"Observers, prepare to call it in!"
Still South side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
CPL Lewis Benningham lazed on his vehicle in what little shade the makeshift roof cover the crew made with a tarp.
The vehicle was a complete shift in their usual doctrine in Tankery. Such a forgotten theory that they had to reinvent classes for it, talk to old hardened veterans, practice at the gunnery range for almost the whole day, learning the new commands. It was just tiring and honestly, he was surprised that the sergeant major didn't get any orders to cease for the heavy efforts needed to make it all work.
He was part of Minnie Company, a company laying back in the rear of all the three regions of the map. The company was a strange one, composed of two groups of six vehicles just like the one he was in and the one far in the back that Sergeant Isabelle Bradley was commandeering. As the commander of the company, the sergeant was in charge of receiving information from the other companies. He and his three vehicle platoon were assigned to assist the companies in middle and the west region. Benningham's sure the other group is assigned to the other side and the middle as well.
But so far, nothing has come yet. Being far from the front-lines this early in the match, Benningham is not concerned with any enemy infiltrators. Even if they did, the vehicles have an assortment of ammunition to deal with them as well. So with that, the company had been in a relaxed state. Some were playing little games like cards and such. Benningham didn't care much about that so decided to take the time to get some rest.
About 25 minutes into the match from start. His radio came to live. "Minnie 2. This is Minnie Actual. Fire Mission. Over!"
"Look alive ladies! Game time!" Benningham screamed towards his crew to get back to order. He takes the radio. "Minnie Actual, this is Minnie 02, Ready to receive. Out."
"Grid Echo 515 229. Over."
"Grid Echo 515 229! Out!" Benningham repeated the coordinates, shouting so the crew could hear.
"Nine tanks. In the open. Over!"
"Nine tanks in the open! Out!" Benningham confirmed.
"H.E. in effect. 3 rounds out. Over!"
"H.E. in effect! 3 rounds out! Over!" Benningham confirmed before turning to his crew. They were orienting the large cannon piece on the vehicle. The driver had turned the now active vehicle towards the grid direction while the gunner serviced the piece. Benningham then turned to the platoon radio. "All guns! Fire Mission! Grid Echo 515 229! H.E. in effect! 3 rounds out! Over!"
The platoon came to life as Benningham sent the orders. Amidst the motor engine and clattering of metals inside his vehicle, he could hear the crew of the other vehicles shouting out commands.
"Gun sighted!" The gunner cried out.
"Fire!" Benningham cried out, followed by the cannon firing. The vehicle buckled lightly with the gun's recoil. As it fired, a breech operator to the right of the gun opened the manual breech, letting the spent casing fall out of the cannon as a loader quickly loads in another round.
"Up!" The loader acknowledged.
"Fire!" Benningham said again before the gunner triggered the gun. The cycle continued once more until the three rounds were fired.
A pause followed. A few seconds followed from the firing before Benningham heard the explosions of the rounds landing a good distance away. The grid coordinates weren't very far from their location.
Benningham's company radio came alive again. "Fire for effect, over!"
"Roger that! Firing for effect! Out!" Benningham replied. With that, the crew took up a ready stance for a mass repetition of reloading and firing. "All units! Fire for effect!" Benningham finished with the platoon radio.
The clatter of 105 mm shells as they rolled on the vehicle's floor came as the loader maneuvered his way to the 105 mm stowages on the sides. The tank, no, the self-propelled gun, was now an important part of the Armored Cadets battle style in this match. The loader sent in another 105 mm HE shell into the breech, which the breech operator closed shut. The M7 Priests artillery platoon was primed and ready. Training for the last week on their proper usage, they used it confidently to rain death onto their opponents.
"Up!" The loader said.
"Fire!"
West side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
Katyusha couldn't hear anything. Her vision came in and out, lines were disoriented and colors faded. She looked around, her gunner was clutching her ears hard and the loader on her right seemed like she was crying.
But why? Katyusha couldn't make anything out of the situation at the moment. Only that something was now calling to her. The voice grew louder, her hearing was coming back. Her vision too, she looked out through the vision ports of the cupola. She could see the rolling dunes of the desert.
Mojave… She thought. She shook her head. Everything was disoriented. Knocking herself on her head a few times, she looked back up. Colors were back, the noise. Explosions. Finally, she registered to the radio.
"Katyusha! What happened?! Answer me!" She could hear Nonna's frantic cries for her.
She took the radio in her hand. "Er.. eh, I'm here…"
"Katyusha?! Are you okay?!" Nonna continued.
"Eerrgh!" Katyusha grasped reality back into her head. "I'm fine! What's going on here?!"
"You took an artillery shell to the front!"
Katyusha looked around, she noticed her front vision ports were damaged beyond usability. She peeked out of her cupola. The front of her T-34-85 was all busted and blasted. The gun mantlet was a mess, but the gun was surprisingly still fine. She got back into the tank. "Hey! We got to move forwards! If one's come down here, there's more to come!"
"Understood," Darjeeling said over the radio, "All Sunflower units. Move forwards."
"I cannot." Nonna's voice came in.
"Huh?" Katyusha was concerned. "Nonna! Why not?!"
"The tracks…"
Katyusha looked at Nonna's direction. The IS-2 was fine physically, but the right tracks…
"The tracks been destroyed by the artillery spotting fire…" Nonna replied.
"Nonna!"
"Katyusha! Klara! You must go!"
"No Nonna!" Katyusha cried out. "Not again!"
"Katyusha!" Klara called to her. "If we stay here, we are all done for!"
"Go Katyusha!"
Katyusha looked back and forth. At the disabled IS-2 and forward. Katyusha gritted her teeth. Not again…
"Driver! Forwards!"
The T-34-85 quickly lurched forwards, Klara's tank following. 75 mm and 76 mm shells from the Shermans downrange came towards them, but the T-34 shrugged them off. The other tanks followed.
Nonna looked from inside her IS-2 at the fleeting tank group.
"Take care, Katyusha…"
Moments after the position was abandoned. A barrage of thundering explosions came from where they were. Loads of shells pummeled that speck of land constantly with explosions every seconds. Katyusha looked back at the destruction. Maybe, just maybe, Nonna would make it out of there.
The barrage increased, bright glares flared up from each impact, explosions burst in the air. When the initial barrage settled, Katyusha looked again.
She could see the white flag hanging off Nonna's IS-2.
"Nonna…" Katyusha said bitterly. Once again, she had to leave someone behind to save her own skin.
No, now wasn't the time for these thoughts! Katyusha looked forwards again. She saw the Shermans and Jumbos still a distance away firing at them. She mustered strength and resolve. "Grrrr! Look, if we can't fight that artillery, let's make them unable to use them! Close into those Shermans!"
Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
"Artillery…" Miho looked at the situation. The Panzer IV managed to get itself a view of the west region of the map. She saw the explosions landing area, then the mangled IS-2 tank. The loss of Nonna's tank is an impact in Sunflower's firepower, but… they still had a chance with the salvation of the rest of the group.
"Wow…" Yukari looked at the carnage with awe. She hadn't seen an effect of American firepower like that before. The usage of 105 mm in tanks was rare due to the sacrifice in kinetic armor-piercing power, velocity, and slow reload in the assault Shermans, but now that self-propelled guns were legal, people were truly exploiting it to the best of their abilities.
"T-That's not going to happen to us will it?!" Saori asked frantically.
"I wouldn't like that," Mako puts it simply.
Miho took the radio, "Dandelion and Jasmine! How are you guys doing there?"
"Still struggling against these blasted yanks!" Kay screamed over the radio. "Go! Go! Go!"
Miho looked down the center mountain roads with her binoculars. Saunders and Chi-Ha-Tan, also recognizing the artillery presence in the Americans, has moved as close as possible to the Shermans. They were only about 200 meters difference now. Close, but still vulnerable to the artillery.
"This is Jasmine!" Anzu said. "These M18's are real buggers! They've taken down Mallard!"
We're down by two tanks now… "We need someone to push through…" Miho said to herself. The best solution for a more easy playing field now would be to destroy the artillery area. Unfortunately, that would be far behind enemy lines, probably at their starting point. Pushing through west and center is out of the questions with the artillery and Shermans, but the east only had Hellcats so far, it would be easier to push through there than the other two. However, the Hellcats were playing tank destroyers and simply attacking whenever Jasmine's tanks came into sight.
"Miho! This is Rabbit Team!" Miho heard Azusa's voice come through the radio from the M3 Lee alongside the Panzer IV.
"Yes?" Miho responded.
"We and Duck are requesting for permission to support Jasmine team!" Azusa said.
Miho looked at the two tanks that made up her headquarters group of the team. "Right, you two aren't doing much here," She responded through the radio. "Move and support Jasmine in clearing the east side!"
"Roger!" Azusa cried out. The engine of the two tanks roared as they sped down the mountain road towards the rear to go around to assist Jasmine.
"Jasmine team, Rabbit and Duck from HQ are going to join you from the rear. Beware for friendly fire please!" Miho said.
"Roger that!" Anzu's voice came through.
"We won't get anywhere though until we can weaken their forces…" Miho said.
"Don't forget Miho!" Saori said, "We only need to take out their flag tank to win!"
"Right!" Miho responded. "But we haven't seen it yet…"
Kay was not having as much fun as she wanted. The Americans were doing things very different than how she interpreted just last year. Why would Daniel wanted this big of a change? Kay can't grasp the reasoning.
Kay then remembered what Miho said. How everyone called her a "legend". Does that really warrant such a disproportionate firepower change?!
As she thought that, a large screech can be heard from the air. Recognizing that dreadful noise, she got into her M4 Sherman and closed the hatch. "All tanks!" She cried to her radio. "We've got incoming artillery! Button up!"
The first round came in a blasted a few meters to Kay's side. Then came some more. "We've got to move! We're sitting ducks here!" Kay said to the team.
"Move up! I'll cover!" Kay heard Satoko from Leopon Team call in. The Tiger Porsche at the back fired its 88 mm toward the enemy. When it showed up, some of the Jumbos tried to move to some cover in the rocks, still dreading the 88 mm cannon.
"Okay! Let's go driver!" Kay shouted as her Sherman moved. Artillery were now dropping in more readily. It's only a matter of time before they sent in the heavy rain! Kay thought. Looking from her vision ports, she could see Alisa and Naomi's tanks were also on the move away from the impact sights of the artillery. Taking cover behind some rocks, or on the road side if there weren't any available, the tanks attempted to fire at the Jumbos downrange. Even now at a distance of 200 meters apart, not damage has been done to either side other than shell scrapes.
A stalemate, no one was going anywhere if they can't take each other out.
"Curses!" Kay beat herself up a bit. Maybe if she'd know, she'd bring a few more 76 mm. No, maybe even a 90 mm, but it's all too late now.
Suddenly, a large shell bursted to her side. The artillery had shifted position closer to their area now.
"Damnit!" Kay slammed onto the turret side, her gunner and loader looking at her concerned. "We've got to take out that artillery!"
Miho heard Kay's transmission. Unfortunately, so far without any way of knowing where the artillery are aside from the blast echos, they can't counter attack the artillery. Right now, she could only assume they are in the back near the starting place, the farthest away from the enemy. If that's the case, a breakthrough in one of the three regions was necessary to reach that area.
Not only that, Miho thought, we don't even know where the other team's flag tank is.
If that was found, the problem would be much easier to solve. Where could they be?
"HQ, this is Sunflower." Miho heard Darjeeling's voice in the radio. "We've spotted the enemy flag tank."
West Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
"Charge! For Nonna!" Rosehip cried out as the Cromwell platoon moved at full speed towards the Shermans waiting down range. The Shermans and Cromwells fired wildly at each other, the shots barely registering on the armor. Rosehip and her trained group knew what they were doing, hit them hard close-up.
The Sherman commanders, however, are in a state of panic. They have no idea why in the hell are these respectable tanks charging so close towards them. As they inched closer, the crew got a bit more nervous. Now they were only about 50 meters apart and the crews were about to have a breakdown. They just couldn't believe high school girls in tanks would be suicidally confident in an attack of pure insanity.
Rosehip's Cromwell platoon, consisting of only three tanks, got close enough to the tanks and swerved to their sides. In panic, the Shermans traverse their turrets to the sides to get to the pesky Cromwells.
Exposing the weaker side armor of the turret towards the main force, the tanks fired. 85 mm, 17-pounder rounds slammed into the sides of the two Jumbos on the right side of the platoon line. The second to the left suffered the blast of the KV-2 152 mm howitzer round, travelling in a very distinctive trajectory slow enough to see the shell travel all the way onto the side. The Jumbo blasted by this anti-concrete charge was blasted backwards from the explosions. The whole Jumbo was torn sideways, facing the right hull side towards the main Sunflower force, terrible exterior damage as the gun mantlet was shorn off its standard mounting. A white flag on the three hit Jumbos shot up for each one.
"That's right!" Katyusha cried out. "That's for everything we've been through!"
"Next!" Rosehip cried out as they moved on the rest of the American team on the west side.
Darjeeling's Black Prince was still crawling across the sandy terrain. The satisfaction of finally knocking out the enemy's tank came in, but she was focused with the tanks at a distance from where she was… Three Shermans were a distance away from the forces, one had a very distinctive shape hanging on its turret.
"HQ, this is Sunflower. We've spotted the enemy flag tank." Darjeeling reported to Miho.
"On the west side? Hunt it down!" Miho came in.
"Roger," Darjeeling replied. Just as she was about to say an order to the crew, another explosion crashed next to the Black Prince.
"Rosehip," Darjeeling called to her rather impulsive Cromwell platoon. "The artillery shifted location, there must be forward observer nearby radioing our location. Locate and destroy them."
"Roger!" Rosehip called in. "Vanilla! Cranberry! With me!"
"All other units, continue forwards. Enemy flag tank is just ahead of us."
"Captain! Enemy tanks closing in our position!" Noah observed through his periscope.
"Bullshit! How'd they break through the Jumbos?!" Conner cried out.
"Calm down! All Mickies! Reverse!" Daniel shouted in his radio. The three Shermans of Mickey reversed. "Donald! Status report!"
"This is Donald 5! All Jumbos been knocked out! It's just us normal ones now!"
"Damn," Daniel said rather nonchalantly. "Pull back, get some distance between them!"
"Roger!"
"Driver! Continued backwards! Gunner! Watch that dune!"
South side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
"They're breaking through the west side, sarge!" CPL Henderson said to Isabelle.
She got up and took a binocular and looked at the distance. About 1,000 meters out, she could see the Shermans reversing away from the incoming threat.
"They're about to get into our line of sight…" She said. "Aimer, get ready!"
"Roger that Sarge!" Henderson said as he sighted in the gun.
"Everyone else, get ready!" Isabelle said. The rest of the crew on the piece disembarked the vehicle as the Henderson brought the gun to its view area. As he did that, Isabelle looked through the binoculars again. Judging from the way the Shermans are pointing their guns, the opposite team were just on the other side of that large dune in front of them. "Aimer, get it towards that hill."
"Roger!"
East Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
Janne peered carefully out of the circular hatch of the KV-1. She was stuck inside the KV the whole time and she couldn't see a damn thing. She decided she'd rather get a bullet to the face than accidentally lead the tank into an ambush so she opened the hatch. "Matti, turn right."
There was always a delay between the order and the tank response. Janne could hear clanging and cursing inside the tank before the tank shifted towards the right, barely swerving away from a large rock formation.
She looked out for any concealed tank destroyers. According to the Ōarai commander, there were three more Hellcats on this side. Three was enough to make every turn point anxious, choke points were present all the way the passage south.
"Janne…" the commander heard her gunner cry out.
"Stay focused Petri…"
"That's like five corners already, my eyes are about to melt onto this optic here…"
"Stay focused… the moment we loosen up, the cats will strike."
"We should just wait for them to come to us," Aatami the loader said. "It'll be a lot easier for us."
"We don't even know if they'll move from their position Aatami…" Janne replied.
"I'd like the idea… of waiting!" Matti said as she struggled with the driving bars in the KV-1. "God damn!" She said as she took the hammer near by her and whacked the shift bar to the position she wanted it at.
"Relax, we'll get through this an-" A shell clashed onto the KV-1 turret's turret ring, creating a terrific noise as Janne briefly glimpsed the shell tracer bouncing off and hitting the rock formation to her right. "Petri! Left side! 9 o'clock! Matti! Left turn!"
"God damn it!"
The KV-1 turret traversed slowly even with the aid of the tank turning left. Janne could see the concealed Hellcat downrange. It had the desert foliage covering its hull and some at the roof area. It was backing up already. By the time the KV-1's gun got into alignment, the M18 had already retreated to cover.
"Mika! This is Janne!" She got onto the radio. "Spotted enemy! All the way to the right!"
"Roger, sending reinforcements," The commander of Continuation calmly replied.
"Need it now!" Janne requested urgently. She looked around for the M18. Surely it could out maneuver the KV-1 if it wanted to. The KV-1's armor was respectable, but not invulnerable to the 76 mm guns. "Petri! Aim at the left opening of the rock formation!"
"Roger!" Petri said as the turret traversed slowly. The M18 would surely pop out at another location other than its shooting area. It would give the KV a chance to at least acquire target.
Janne waited patiently for about a minute. Then the M18 came out… on the right side. "Gah! Petri! On the right!"
"Where?!" Petri couldn't see it. The M18 just inched forwards a bit and took aim. It fired, the 76 mm shot came in and hit the angled front hull. In a diagonal shape, the 76 mm shell simply ricocheted off to the right. As it prepares to back up, Petri got it in her sights. "On target!"
"Fire!" Janne called out. The 76 mm gun of the KV-1, not as powerful as the ones the American have at the moment, but still powerful enough to destroy a M18. It grazed the lower front glacis of the M18, but the round broke the left tracks of the M18, which began to rotate as it was backing up with its remaining track set. The commander on the M18 was crying frantically as the M18 turret traversed towards the KV again. "Aatami! Load faster!"
"I'm trying! Gu- where's that shell!" Aatami frantically searches within the KV-1 hull for a suitable shell. Finally firmly gripping one, she takes it up and loads it into the gun. "Up!"
"Fire again Petri!"
"Firing!"
Petri fired the gun, but the M18 fired as well. The two shells passed each other and struck their respective targets. The KV was hit first due to the high-velocity nature of the American 76 mm, but the damage was done on both sides. The KV was hit right in the turret ring, no grazing this time. The M18 was a dead tank either way it was hit. Both shot up a white flag signaling a knock out.
"Damn it," Janne said softly to herself.
"Sorry…" Aatami apologized to her crew. "If I loaded faster, things may have been different..."
"It's okay," Janne said, "Now it's up for them to finish this."
Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
"Sunflower is breaking through!" Saori reported enthusiastically to Miho.
"Really?!" Miho was surprised. She'd expect the west side to be even more contested with artillery and America's forces there. She didn't think a simple change of offensive was enough to gain good ground in the desert terrain.
"And Jasmine got another Hellcat! Only two more to go!"
"That's great!"
"Should we start pushing up from here?" Yukari asked Miho.
"No, it'd be different here. There's only one direction through and we'd have to close in to the enemy tanks to get to their side armor." Miho explained. "If we could use those mountain roads, that'd be great…"
"But those Shermans are blocking them…" Yukari finished.
"Why don't we go on the offensive?" Hana stated.
"Hmm…" Miho thought about it. The commander's tank in attack mode of course means another tank in play, but there's a risk that she'd be knocked out, causing them to outright lose the match…
But the American cadets seemed to have put their flag tank into play, as Sunflower encountered them. Miho looked out and see the Shermans at the distance from where she was. The ones on the mountain roads were fighting Chi-Ha-Tan. Chi-Ha-Tan's tanks were in no condition for an upfront confrontation with the Shermans, their best caliber being the 47 mm, and that requires a side shot to work. However, those M4A3 Shermans would be easy prey to the Panzer IV's 75 mm KwK 40 cannon…
"Okay, let's go!" Miho said. "We're going to go support Chi-Ha-Tan!"
"Okay," Mako replied as she started towards the gear shift to reverse.
"Dandelion! This is HQ! We're moving up from behind!"
"Roger!" Kay and Nishi was heard.
Mako pulled a lever and the Panzer IV suddenly was moving along the western mountain road.
West Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
"Push forwards! Not one step back!" Katyusha roared from inside her T-34-85. The Sunflower forces were now on the offensive again!
Six Shermans laid in front of them, one was the flag tank. Victory was in their hands!
"Ms. Katyusha!" Klara called out to her. "We should circle around and see if we can get them from the sides!"
"Right!" Katyusha said. "Darjeeling, we'll take the detour route to their weak points!"
"Understood," Darjeeling came in through the radio. "Prioritize the flag tank."
"Right! KV-tan! Klara! With me! Let's go!" Katyusha pointed out the direction as the driver made the turn. As the Black Prince, Churchill crossed over the top, the rest of Pravda went around the dune to hit the Shermans at their sides. Moments later, they cleared the dunes.
The two T-34-85s and the KV-2 showed themselves at the Sherman's 10 o'clock location. Katyusha scanned the targets. Flag tank's most likely in the rear! She looked at the rear most Shermans for the flag sticking out.
Katyusha found it. It was still reversing at the rear, right in the middle of the tank line of three. She grinned. They hadn't realize they were there yet. "KV! Finish this round!"
"Yes!" The crew inside the KV replied. To Katyusha's left, the KV-2's turret oriented slowly towards the Sherman Katyusha had pointed out. They also could see the flag. They were about to win! Right after getting one of their first kills ever in a match, they were going to deliver the winning shot!
Katyusha waited eagerly for the large howitzer to unload its payload onto the poor unfortunate Sherman. "Hah! We win!"
A most ear-screeching noise followed on Katyusha's left side while it was simultaneously brightened by a large ball of light. Katyusha only saw a glimpse of it, the tracer as it came in. The next thing Katyusha saw was KV-tan flying backwards. The force of the shell impacting the poor, poor KV-2 had sent the 50 ton tank not only throttling backwards, but had taken it off the ground, sending it a few inches in the air before landing again on the ground with a most sickening crash. The KV-2 landed tilted, and moments later the KV-2's tall structure sent it hurtling to the ground, digging the turret into the ground.
A feeble white flag came out of the side hull.
"B- B- wha-?" Katyusha was at a loss. What?!
With what little hearing she had left, she heard the piercing echo of the sound report from the piece that had done the kill shot.
Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
As the Panzer IV headed down the mountain road, Miho heard the blast.
"What was that?" A concerned Saori asked. Even with her radio headset, she could hear that monstrous sound.
"Sounds like trouble," Mako simply said.
"Double?" Hana said. "This sounds worse than that artillery barrage."
But Yukari was going through a phase. Not of concern or despair, but of a glee phase. "Oh man! They actually have that?!"
Miho looked at the horizon dreadfully. "Things just gets worse and worse huh?"
Kay heard the blast through. Amidst all the firing against the cadets down range, the blast stuck out even louder than the artillery raining now.
"What the hell?" Her response was.
"Kay…" Naomi radioed in.
"Y-Yeah?" Kay replied.
"That sound signature… that's a big gun they have."
"Too big!" Alisa came in as well.
Kay could still hear the sound echoing. Compared to the 105 mm artillery that was dropping down, this was something completely different. Kay narrowed down the few vehicles that would now by Tankery-legal that the Americans could have even remotely think of taking along with them. She came to one of them, well several, but her response was all the same.
"Oh you gotta be fucking with me…"
South side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
The fired gun was spewing out the rest of the smoke still left inside the barrel. The smoke came out like steam, slowly and steadily rising as though a flow of water.
Sergeant Isabelle didn't take the time to enjoy such small thing, the crew got to work the moment the cannon recoiled. The cannon had a massive recoil, coming back three feet from its initial position, but even before it returned to its ready position, the breech operator got to work. First opening up the cannon's breech as two crew members got an over-sized cleaning rod to ram into the cannon, cleaning out the residual of the powder charge and other waste inside. A few swipes in and out and then the operator closed the main breech, but leaving the breech plug of the Asbury mechanism open for the rounds.
While the two were cleaning, two more were grabbing a round from the rather small storage space inside the self-propelled gun. An APBC M112 round, weighing 100 pounds for the shell alone, was rolled out to the edge of the crew platform for the loading process. When the breech operator closed the main breech, three crew members worked together to get the heavy round inside the loading chamber, with one more holding a ramming rod to tuck the round inside the 155 mm chamber.
With the round seated, the last remaining crew member grabbing the powder charges and lobbing it into the chamber. Supercharge, no reserves on armor-piercing capabilities. Once the charges were in, the breech operator seals it, and the 155 mm "Long Tom" was good to go.
Isabelle was still inspecting the targets downrange the west side. The KV-2's impressive 152 mm howitzer made it a formidable target, but no one, no one, ups the Americans when it comes to boasting about big guns. The 155 mm dwarves the KV-2's firepower in caliber already by 3 mm, almost as if done purely out of spite. While the KV-2's standard anti-concrete round fires with an energy of 5,618 kilojoules, the "Long Tom" fires their standard APHE round with an energy of 15,888 kilojoules.
Because nothing say "fuck you" like a concrete buster gun capable of supercharge loads.
It was a hassle to get the vehicle. The 155 mm Gun Motor Carriage M40 was a one-of-a-kind vehicle in the Tankery business. The vehicle was not a tankery-legal vehicle until recently, so it's existent was improvised by the cadets working alongside the repair team. Taking a surplus M4A3E8, they've cut it up to the chassis and built it up into the assault gun. All it took then was the approval by the International League to get the vehicle into the field. A small debate started between the cadets on its role of use. An artillery weapon or anti-tank? With the acquirement of six M7 Priests, they settled on an anti-tank role to protect the rest of Minnie company. Overkill, yes, but a deterrent. Only the insane would not recognize the deadliness of the 155 mm field gun.
During the loading process, CPL Henderson had to raise the gun to allow the breech to be low enough to reasonably carry the rounds up and into the breech. This required the gun to readjust every shot, but in a direct fire role, accuracy was much better than the indirect role.
"Gun sighted!" Henderson yelled as he was viewing through the telescopic scope aligned with the gun. Isabelle looked down the desert and saw the potential targets. At this distance, the 1 kilometer distant targets were small, but the range was good for the 155 mm. She could see a vehicle traveling over the dune and in a clear line of sight to the gun.
"Alright, target acquired aimer?!"
"Target acquired!"
"Brace!" Isabelle warned the crew. Everyone got ready for the shock of the firing process, Henderson especially as the poor bastard was right next to the damn thing.
"Fire!"
Every particle and living thing around the vehicle was shaken about as the gun fired.
Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
Chaos returned to the radio feed in the Panzer IV. Now the report was coming in the Sunflower was being pushed back! They lost two tanks as well, their KV-2 and now the Churchill . The Shermans were also committing a counter-attack and would've gotten Katyusha had she not been pulling back.
Miho tried to make sense of this mess. The Americans were remaking their fame from World War II. She couldn't say much, what else other than "fight your best!"? She lacks the decision making factor as things were getting more derailed than even the University match.
"Miho…" Hana said.
"Huh? Yeah?" Miho came to attention.
"Sometimes it is best to focus at one things at a time," Hana gave Miho some advice. "If you look at the whole thing at once, you might get a big picture, but you won't get the puzzle piece that fits where it needs to go."
Miho looked at Hana, analyzing the words she meant. She nodded in acknowledgment, "Okay!" Mustering some will, she thought about her own region. The M4A3 were still pummeling Chi-Ha-Tan, the center road was busy with the Jumbos. The Panzer IV was headed towards this mess.
"Hana, do you think you can get those Shermans from here?" Miho asked.
"The angle… Yes! I think this is good!"
"Okay! Mako halt!" Miho said and then the Panzer IV came to a halt.
The distance was roughly 1,200 meters from where the Panzer IV was and the Shermans were. There were three regular M4A3 Shermans with 76 and 75 mm cannons along with one Chaffee. The group was divided into groups of two on both side of the mountains. Chi-Ha-Tan was down to three tanks, Nishi's Type 97 Chi-Ha, a Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha, and the Type 95 Ha-Go. Hana took her time to sight her gun, cautious to not hit any of Chi-Ha-Tan's tanks.
"Firing!" Hana finally said. For the first time in the match, the Panzer IV's 75 mm fired, its gun ringing true to its power. Miho could see the tracer go in a parabolic trajectory towards its intended target.
The M24 Chaffee.
"Huh? Why that one?" Saori questioned the target choice.
"It must be a forward observer!" Yukari explained.
"Huh? What's that?" Saori asked.
"It's a role where they transmit information to the back for intel. They must be the one that are directing the artillery, that's why the light tank is so far up."
"Oh I see! So that's why the artillery on Saunders changed to where they keep moving!"
"And now that it's gone, the artillery is either going to get less accurate or just stop." Yukari stated.
"Kay, this is Miho. We've knocked out what I believe is an enemy spotter. The artillery should be lightening up for you now."
"Roger! Thanks for the assist!" Kay replied.
"Okay Hana!" Miho said, "let's take care of a few more of those tanks!"
"Roger!"
East Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.
"Prez!" Azusa said as the M3 Lee reached the rest of Jasmine team.
"Hey!" Anzu greeted Rabbit and Duck.
"What's the situation with the Hellcats?!" Asked Noriko as she leaned on the side of the Type 89's cupola.
"There's two more Hellcats out there!" Anzu pointed with a knife hand. "We lost two tanks now, one in repairs, and we need to pin-point them out! None of our tanks are good enough for a quick response attack on the Hellcats."
Jasmine consisted of six vehicles before Rabbit and Duck got to them. Of the six, three were fixed assault guns and one was a tankette. It was too risky to recklessly march forward finding those two Hellcats without acceptable losses.
"Let's go then!" Azusa said.
"They might be in carefully concealed location, keep an eye out! I'll get the rest to support you!" Anzu said as Rabbit team sped away, Duck team following them.
"How are we going to do this Azusa?" Aya said from inside the turret.
"Don't worry, we've got this!" Azusa reassured. "I've got a plan." She said while gesturing to the Type 89. "Think you lots can handle it?" She shouted towards them.
Noriko gave Azusa a good thumbs up before the Type 89 picked up speed and bypassed the M3. Azusa looked around for the remains of Jasmine group. She could see Anchovy's P40 getting desperately fixed up on the field, Carpaccio's Semovente waiting nearby to cover the repair process along with Pepperoni's L3/33 tankette as a scout. So I guess Anzio is temporarily out of the picture, Azusa thought.
Some ways through, she found Anteater and Hippo team waiting idly, pointing their guns downrange. "Hey!" Azusa called out.
The crew commander stuck their head out of the hatches. "Aren't you suppose to be with Miho?" Caesar asked Rabbit.
"Miho should've said we were coming almost 10 minutes ago!"
"What?!" Caesar sounded surprised. "Hey Erwin! How's that radio!?"
"Must be busted! Never got a transmission!" Erwin could be heard inside.
"Oh..." Nekonya meekly replied. "That must be why it was so inactive despite all the noise..."
Out of range? Azusa thought when she saw this. "Anyways, we're here to help fix your, um, cat problems."
"Cats are cute!" Karina screamed inside the M3 Lee.
"Isn't there one more tank around here?" Azusa asked. "Where's Continuation?"
"Not sure," Caesar replied. "Looks like we've been out of the loop. How's the situation?"
"Could've been better. The Americans got fricken' artillery."
"Really? Nuts!"
"Artillery is the king of the battlefield," Erwin quoted.
"Well anyways! It's important we help you guys break through. So far we've confirmed that only the hellcats are here. If we can break through here, we can get behind the enemy and maybe even destroy the artillery!" Azusa stated Jasmine's situation.
"That sounds crazy..." Nekonya said.
"Almost suicidal!" Momoga said poking her head out. "I'm in! Where to?!"
"Sounds like a fine plan either way," Caesar reassured. "How we going to get those Hellcats out of hiding?"
"Like how you get any cat out of their hiding zone," Azusa said pointing to the Type 89. "With bait."
I mean, I didn't lie. I said no updates NEXT week.
Fun for you and fun for me right? Let's just say I wrote it in between my study times as breaks. It was getting exciting and I couldn't keep the words pent up so I wrote and wrote.
But man, managing three situations at once is hard! Imagine Miho now. Actually, imagine any commander who has to take control of a large area and manage it. It's tough to remember that you've got a unit here and there. I missed out on Jasmine, Rabbit, Duck, and Leopon that I wanted to put some details here to remind myself that they are still in play.
Now I'm really going to be studying. Nothing from me at all next week! I'm gonna knock these finals down like a boss!
Thanks for all the support! If you like what you read, don't be afraid to tell others about it! Follow and Favorite if you want to see what Ōarai Compound Team has in mind next! The battle finale is almost here!