GuP Skirmish No.1!

Cassino Girls High School(PoV)

vs

Anzio Girls High School

Cassino Lineup:

1x P.43 Heavy Tank

4x Fiat 3000 Light Tanks

2x Fiat M13/40 Medium Tanks

Anzio Lineup:

1x P.40 Heavy Tank

3x Semovente 75/18 Assault Guns

6x L3/35 Tankettes

Uptop a hill overlooking the valley below, a tank stood idle, watch for activity or at least something to shoot at. "Two hours into the match...no activity...no tanks… just us…" The commander was sticking out the tank hatch, donning field glasses and her school's beret.

"Come on Parme, why do we have to be forward recon?" Their loader spoke up from the turret. "We've got the biggest gun and we're sticking ourselves out for what?"

"Romano, we have to do this because no one else can, they're all too fragile to do this." Parmesan buttoned back up into the turret, Romano sat nearby. "Either way, you have the shell loaded?"

"Yeah I do, I'm hoping we get to expend it soon enough." From in front of the tank, their driver looked back.

"The more we sit the better chance someone is going to spot us, not like our paint does us any justice."

"Calm down Mozza, we can get out of this if we want to, we've got that slope behind us to race down." Parmesan took a look into her gunner sight. "In any case, I'm going back up top." She opened the hatched and gripped the sides to get up, then took out her field glasses again.

"I don't we're going to find anything here, we gotta be more active." Romano leaned back on her chair.

"Says the one who sits in her room all day doing who knows what." The Radio Operator watched from her position at the rear.

"I can go outside anytime I want Asiago! It's just that I don't want to."

"Are you shooting digital tanks all day? Doesn't particularly help your case." Asiago giggled.

"S-shut up, I'm not addicted to that game, I'm going to check the ammo rack." She got off her chair and started to take inventory.

"The fight is with Anzio, not amongst ourselves…." Parmesan scanned the horizon when she caught sight of something. "What could this be…" She focused onto the point, a L3/35 tankette zipped right by.

"What do you see?" Romano came back from the rear and sat again.

"Enemy movement, tankettes, get the tank moving, we're mobilizing." She quickly zipped back into the tank and got into the gunner chair. The P.43 backed off from the hill and parallel turned into the direction of the reported position. "Link up with Aprilia and Anzio, we're going to need back up this, Asiago give me radio clearance."

"We're live now." Asiago looked back.

"Oregano, Rosemary, get those M11s ready, we've spotted movement." Parmesan started to ready the gun.

"We've got it, already moving." Oregano, commander of Team Anzio looked down. "You hear that Saffron?" A M11/39 backed out of some bushes in front of the P.26 and quickly lined up behind it, on the left flank.

"This is Aprilia, we're on our way." Rosemary tapped on Basil's, their driver, back. "Get us moving." The other M11/39 back out of a bush and joined into formation and took the right flank.

"Okay, move us up to maximum speed, we can't let them get away." The three tanks sped up enough that they could make quicktime to their destination. They maintained formation quite well at those speeds, the M11s kept up easily. They closing in on that area when they neared a rather large opening.

"This seems rather sketchy, I'm slowing us now." Mozzarella pulled back on the speed as they started to move through.

"Aprilia, Anzio, stay on alert, cover our sides." Parmesan, stared through the gunner sight for targets. "Sometimes I wonder about the design of this tank." She commented on how the Commander had to be gunner. Just then, she spotted something in a bush, a tank perhaps? She took the chance and fired into it, waiting for something to happen.

"Why'd you fire?" Romano scrambled for another round.

"I don't know! I saw something!" Parmesan panicked and popped out of the hatch. She watched the bush very closely, expecting something of it. It wasn't until she saw a piece of wood fall from it that she realized her mistake. "It's a trap…" She went down into the tank. "Mozza, get us out of here!"

"Got it!" Mozzarella started to reverse the tank back out of the opening. The tank then began to turn slightly so that they could forward out of there. The M11s followed suit, carefully matching every move.

"Come on…" Parmesan crossed her fingers and hoped that Anzio hadn't found out that their ruse didn't work. However, her wishful thinking wasn't enough, as three rounds flew out of the foliage and barely missed. "They've made us out! Full speed out!" The P.43 shifted to max speed and they started to make a retreat.

"The shell is loaded, we can fire if we can!" Parmesan rotated the turret so that it faced their rear, but found that they were now being pursued. Five L3/35s were hot on their tail and the larger caliber rounds were still being fired.

"Asiago, tell the others that we have to take evasive action!" The three tanks loosened up and broke formation, Parmesan took a shot at one of the tankettes but hit dirt. From the far rear, she saw three Semovente 75/18s were starting to come after them after they realized how few tanks they had.

"Round loaded!" Romano was picking up 75mm rounds like they were practically nothing. The two created a lot of fire onto their pursuers, but they were moving in such a fashion they it was rather hard to get anywhere close.

"We're almost out of here." Mozzarella took note of the foliage coming up. However, their dreams were cut short when a sixth L3/35 drifted out of a bush and rammed Team Anzio in the side, stopping them completely.

"Since when do tankettes drift!?" Anzio's gunner and loader, Sage yelled out as she loaded a round.

"It's no use, the tracks are broken, we're not going anywhere." Saffron dreaded. Two other L3s stopped by to riddle the M11 with 8mm AP rounds until the white flag spout out from the turret.

Oregano sighed and spoke out over the radio. "Team Anzio, we've been knocked out." Parmesan couldn't believe it, they were so close out of the thick of it. The remaining two tanks made into the foliage but they didn't stop the tanks behind them from staying hot on their tail.

"We have to lose them or make a trap of our own." The two made a sharp turn right out of the bushes. Seeing as it wasn't going to help any in the first place. Parmesan stuck her head of the turret to examine their surroundings. That's when she took note of the road leading into the valley. "I've got a plan…" She buttoned back up and turned to Asiago. "Get me the Fiat 3000s, we need them."

"Live." Asiago leaned back, trying to relax herself.

"Gaeta, Nettuno, Latina, get yourselves perched somewhere overlooking the valley. We're going to need you for something."

"This is Gaeta, we're moving out now." Sicily of Team Gaeta nudged her driver, Naples, into getting them moving. Far away, three Fiat 3000s were waiting for the their orders. Now they were moving towards the valley, at a fine speed too, despite being relics of their time.

"Nettuno to Gaeta, what exactly are we doing?" Sardinia, the commander of Team Nettuno spoke out.

"I don't know, but we're fire support for a reason." Sicily readied the gun, the turret was only one man, she along with Sardinia and Venice of Team Latina had some of the more tiring position. "Just remember that we have to fire as quick as we can." The Fiat 3000s lined themselves up on a perch overlooking the lower part of the valley.

"Well, we're here." Naples looked up.

"Okay, Parme, we've made it to our destination, waiting for additional orders." Meanwhile, the other two had been chased for quite a long time, in fact, the tankettes that took out Anzio had caught up.

"Good to know, we'll be moving into the valley shortly, just remember to fire as soon as you can and as quickly." By this moment the tanks of Anzio had started to gain on them. "They're catching up, Mozza can go any faster?"

"No, we can't our time trying to stall them has started to pucker out the engine."

"This is Aprilia to Roma…" Rosemary contacted them. "We're going to buy you some time, just get out of here."

"Rosemary, what are you talking about…" Suddenly, Team Aprilia made a sharp turn and stopped behind them. Two L3s rammed into the tank and were instantly knocked out. This effectively slowed them back a bit.

"Just go! Don't come back for us!" The M11 turned its hull and started to fire back, hitting and knocking out at least one tankette. "Team Aprilia, we're going to be knocked out soon enough."

"Lest not their sacrifice be in vain...Mozza, get us into that valley." Parmesan got out of the turret and looked back. The M11 was already knocked out, victim of a 75mm shell. But they couldn't relax, the tanks were still on their tail, despite their losses.

"Okay, I'm going have to do something risky." Mozzarella sharply turned the tank towards the direction of their pursuers then sped up the tank. The P.43 dodged the torrent of tanks that were chasing them. One of the Semovente 75/18s was so close that it scratched the paint off of the side. The tanks realized that their target was now behind them and quickly recovered to give chase.

"Okay, aside from almost giving me a heart attack, you did good." Parmesan turned to Asiago. "Tell the fire support to get ready." The P.43 slowed down just enough for them to catch up before starting to speed off into the valley. "Let's just hope this works." The P.43 crossed into the range of the Fiat 3000s and soon enough so did the L3s and 75/18s.

"FIRE!" Sicily yelled on a channel to the other Fiat 3000s. Together they unleashed a rapid barrage onto the tanks of Anzio. Accomplished by the fact that the driver assisted loading by handing up the ammo. The 37mm shells rained down from above, mostly not hitting their marks, but nonetheless pounding them.

"Perfect, Mozza, as fast as you can, we're finding their command tank." The P.43 sped off at maximum speed again, leaving their pursuers confused and devastated by the barrage. It left them stuck in the valley, trying to engage the Fiat 3000s. Eventually, the shells started to get more accurately, grouping a bit more closely now.

"Haha! We're leaving them crippled!" Venice yelled out from her tank. Leaving her driver, Florence, scared for their own safety. The shells kept coming down taking out the tanks one by one. However, one of the Semoventes managed to fire a shell off, breaking the rather weak tracks of Team Nettuno.

"Did you hear that?" Papal, the driver of the tank noticed the sound of the tank tipping of the perch.

"Yeah...get of the tank!" Sardina yelled as the two evacuated out the top and got onto firm ground. They watched as the Fiat 3000 tipped over the edge and fall down, the flag actually was broke when it shot out, one end hanging from the other.

"Oh dear…" Papal stared at it. Sicily had actually noticed this as she was looking through the gunnery sights and took out the radio.

"This is Team Gaeta...we just noticed that Team Nettuno's tank just went over the edge, we've lost them." Then she went back to loading and firing the gun. Their score was three tanks taken out, leaving a L3 and a Semovente cowering behind cover.

"That's not good…" Parmesan was resting for the moment, especially after the chase they were given. "We're still searching the grounds for their command tank, tell me when you've finished them off." The P.43 was a match for match with the P.40, 75mm guns and good speed meant that they had to get the shot off first.

"We are nearing Anzio's beginning point, we'll find it somewhere close to here." Mozzarella was getting rather tired of the constant driving. She deserved some sort of break from eluding their pursuers earlier, but there was no time now.

"This is Team Gaeta, we've run out of ammo." The radio suddenly flared to life. "This is Team Latina, we've also run out of ammo." This shocked Parmesan, as she had forgotten about the ammo issue with these type of runs.

"How many did you take out?" She cried out.

"There's only one left, I don't think they're coming out anytime soon." Sicily looked out from her turret. "Hold on, I've got an idea…Naples, we're ramming them, slowly off the edge please."

"Okay…" Naples slowly drove the tank over the edge and unlike Venice's tank, they managed to keep themselves intact as the tank quickly rolled down the surface and drove off the cover the Semovente hid behind. Unlucky for them, as they were just getting their senses together and getting out of there. The Fiat 3000 flew straight into the side of its hull, taking both out in a rather interesting way.

"So...that was interesting." Venice watched the whole thing from her point of view from the turret.

"Team Gaeta here, we've been knocked out but we took the last Semovente with us!" Sicily leaned back and looked at Naples. "All in a good day's work." Parmesan was still on the edge of her seat, their tank was the only one that was operational and able to fire.

"So I suppose we'll be here…" Venice mumbled over the radio.

"Okay, we have to find that command tank, quickly." The P.43 scanned around the perimeter and adjacent area for the last of Anzio. It wasn't until they noticed a shot ring out that they found the general direction of it. However, Venice's voice came over again.

"This is Team Latina, we've been knocked out by a sniper." Sending chills over the crew.

"Their last tank must be something impressive at any rate." Romano looked over at Parmesan.

"I know, I know...we know where they came from at the least." Suddenly, a shell zipped through the bushes and barely missed missed them, slamming into the dirt. "We've been made!" The tank quickly made a turn through the forest. Parmesan was hoping they find the tank before it fired again. Parmesan stuck her head out the the hatch and looked around them, searching their mark. "I don't see anything out here!"

"By this point we must have closed the distance quite a bit." Mozzarella took off her beret and tightened her grip on the steering device.

"We can't operate buttoned up, Romano take control of the gun, Asiago, load for her!" Parmesan fully stuck herself into the open while Romano and Asiago took to their new positions. "Where are you…" She whispered to herself. Just then, she caught sight of something different and took up her field glasses to examine it.

"We're ready once you've spotted them." Romano focused through the gunner's sight. Parmesan couldn't particularly make out what she was looking at. It wasn't until she saw it was turning towards them that she found out what it was.

"They're behind us, rotate gun and make evasive maneuvers." She hung on for dear life as Mozzarella made multiple sharp turns to evade fire. Romano was firing the gun multiple times at them but they were nowhere near target. "Turn towards them, we're going on the offensive." The tank made a drift-like turn into the direction of the last tank.

"You know, it's hard to load when you're trying to be a drifter!" Asiago was struggling to keep up with their movements.

"Now you know how I feel!" Romano laughed as she fired another round. "Now that I think about it, we're wasting ammo." She looked back at the ammo rack and saw that it was getting closer to empty. Now above them, Parmesan was making effort to identify their target. Their tank quickly passed them by as she took note of what it was before buttoning back up.

"It's a P.40 heavy tank, we're going to have troubles, Mozza, head straight for them, we're dueling them."

"Roger." Mozzarella took another turn while Parmesan was relieving Romano and Asiago of their positions.

"Let's see what damage we can do." She whispered to herself as she made herself comfortable in the gunner seat. The P.43 made close contact with the P.40 as she fired a point blank round. The two engaged in a turn fight as they rounded each other. Both 75mm guns firing at each other constantly, it was getting intense as they came out of the foliage and into the open.

"I doubt we're going to hit them anytime soon." Asiago commented from the back.

"You're right, let's change it up a bit, Mozza, sudden stop." Mozzarella suddenly stopped the tank, forcing the P.40 in front of them and then starting it up again. Now the tables had been turned, Anzio was on the run now. "There we go, you're straight in my sights." However, the P.40 turned and made a stop in front of them. They were positioned in such a way that both gun barrels caught on eachother.

This messed up Parmesan's aim as she fired into the air. "Loading round!" Romano yelled out as she crammed another round into the gun. The two gun barrels were struggling to depressed because of their being too close to the turret roofs.

"Come...on...give me something to work with…." She then realized the easiest route of this. "Mozza! Reverse!" The P.43 backed up just so Parmesan could traverse the gun towards the other. Both guns were on sight when she pressed down fired the gun at the turret.

"Did...did we win?" Asiago closed her eyes when the round made impact.

"Let me check." Parmesan got out on top of the turret and checked on the P.40's status. It was knocked out, round penetrated the turret armor, directly right of the gun. Meanwhile, their armor was just dented, they were angled in such a way that the gun bounced off the corner of the side and frontal plates.

This match had gone to Cassino, after an amazing struggle between the two. They had just barely snatched victory out of Anzio's hands.