*Some days later after Italy surrendered*
At the Kuromorimine HQ:
Maho and Erika were sleeping peacefully knowing that their artillery attack made a huge impact on the Allied HQ, what they didn't know was that Anzio surrendered after the failed attack on Alexandria. Outside the tent were both Commander and Vice-commander were sleeping there were some soldiers and officers that were arguing about who should tell them that now they were cornered in the HQ.
"You should tell them" One of the officers said to the radio operator
"Nope, I won't enter there." The operator refused
"Shouldn't we wait until they wake up?" One recruit asked
"We can't wait, the allies are on their way" The officer answered
"Fine! I will go" The operator finally accepted the request and entered the tent
The operator saw that the tent was a mess of maps and books, perhaps both commander and vice-commander stayed until late planning strategies. The operator cleared her throat and called
"Commander…" She said as she poked Maho
"Hm?" Maho made a lazy answer
"We… We need to talk about Anzio" The operator said as she feared the response of Maho
Maho didn't say anything, she got up, got her hat and went outside the tent to meet the nervous captains and officers that were outside. Maho didn't know what was happening, as she asked about the situation the officers would make silly answers or lie about the real situation.
Maho didn't believe anything, she finally knew about the situation when they heard the first bombs impacting. All the soldiers ran into the trenches and dugouts, Maho ran into the tent to wake up Erika and make her seek shelter in one of the trenches. The allies were using the Italian artillery against the Axis, the objective was to bomb them for 2 days and then attack them from North, South and East.
The bombing lasted 4 hours. When the bombing ceased, most of the soldiers remained in their trenches as they feared another bombing, the bombing killed 30 soldiers, wounded 60 soldiers and destroyed most of their anti-tank weapons. The prisoners were also moved to the trenches by the German guards even under the threat of Erika and her bad experience with those prisoners.
"So we have them cornered huh?" Maho asked annoyed to one of the officers that lied to her
At the allied outpost:
Lucy was mounting guard in one of the guard towers that aimed for the allied HQ, she had a strange dream in which she was older and had children but she didn't know if she had a husband, or if she was a single mother.
"Hey…" Mark said as she touched Lucy's arm
"Shouldn't you be resting?" Lucy asked as she saw Mark
"The medic said that I was okay to make activities today, and also the American commander wanted to talk to you" The British soldier answered
Lucy came down stairs and went to the building where kay was waiting for the order of attacking Kuromorimine's HQ, as she walked outside she heard the mix of Sophia shouting "Fire!" followed by the cannons unleashing hell on the Axis HQ. Lucy arrived at the HQ office, took a deep breath and entered the building.
"Wanted to see me?" Lucy asked to Kay who was looking at the maps and listening to the radio alongside the radio operator
"Yeah, wanted to know if you are alright" Kay asked as she offered the Australian soldier a seat.
"I'm fine, it's just that I'm really worried" Lucy answered as she sat next to Kay
"We are all worried" Kay said
"I don't really think you called me here just to ask me that" Lucy asked as she got up
"Nope… I want to know if you would like to guard Alexandria and attack with them" Kay said "Don't get me wrong it's just that the Italian commander said that the flank that we are going to attack its more fortified than the other two" Kay added
"Okay" Lucy answered as she walked outside and saw the truck that was waiting for the soldiers that were going to Alexandria.
The trip was short, all the soldiers started patrolling around and getting into their positions as there might be an attack by the Germans. Lucy stayed as Christian's guard in his HQ, he only stayed there and only got out to ask something to the radio operator or to smoke as smoking inside was prohibited.
*After 2 days*
It was today, today they would finally take the HQ and claim victory in El Alamein. At first everything started as planned for the allies, the allies were squeezing the Germans from all the fronts. The plan started to fail as they were at the outskirts of the HQ.
Maho ordered the troops to hold their fire until they were really close so they could make heavy casualties, the first to engage against the heavily fortified position was Darjeeling's and Naomi's platoons, the first casualty was the only surviving crusader tank that offered themselves as a protection for the infantry.
During the firefight Naomi and the American troops made an advance taking one trench but with heavy loses, half of the soldiers were killed before they got to the trench. Naomi's tank got damaged on its tracks so now they were a big target for the enemy to destroy but the surviving cannons were focusing their fire on Darjeeling's tank knowing that their tank was the real threat for Maho and Erika. So Naomi's tank crew managed to repair the tracks and get back into action as they were supported by the infantry who were giving suppressive fire through the trenches.
Christians platoon still didn't engage, their flank was strangely clear. They were able to take part of the HQ, what they didn't know was that they were in middle of an ambushed settled by Erika who wanted revenge.
From the buildings the German soldiers started to shoot the allied troops that were know surrounded from left and right by the entrenched German soldiers. Lucy ordered the soldiers to enter the houses and take cover there, she entered a house alongside Christian and Mark. A sniper was waiting for them upstairs, Mark was the first one to enter the room only to be stabbed in his stomach by the sniper. Lucy reacted by punching the sniper and trying to disarm her, the struggle continued 5 minutes before Lucy managed to finally disarm the sniper after punching and kicking each other.
She got up and carried Mark to safety as he was wounded, a pair of soldiers assisted the wounded Australian soldier. Then, they heard a shot from behind them, Christian had shot Lucy on her back.
Lucy just fell to her knees as she started letting tears run through her cheeks, before being shot another two times of her back, the soldiers that were helping her rushed to Christian tackling him and arresting him.
"Do you know what you did?!" One of the soldiers asked
"This is considered betrayal! LET ME GO!" Christian shouted as she struggled to break free from the two soldiers that were holding him
"You just shot one of your soldier for the love of god!" The other soldier said as he pressed his knee on Christian's back
The shouting got the attention of a wounded German soldier that was still in the building, he walked towards the shouting and surrendered after he saw the two allied soldiers.
"What happened?" The German asked as he sat on the floor
"This fucker shot one of our teammates" One of the soldiers answered
"IT WASN'T ME!" Christian said
"Liar" The other soldier said
The other allied soldiers that were under the command of Christian were pushing deeper into the HQ, making Kuromorimine putting all their strength into repelling the Australian offensive. It was a big mistake for Maho making Darjeeling's and Kay's forces join as one and making a big hit in another position.
With Maho and Erika:
"Erika, I will deal against St. Gloriana, can you deal with Saunders?" Maho said as she got to her tank
"Consider it done!" Erika answered as she also entered her tank
Both tanks started their engines and rushed towards the battle, the battle was getting in favor of the Allies but now with Erika and Maho as a threat the situation was now difficult to determine a winner side.
"Darjeeling!" Alisa called through the radio
"Yes?" Darjeeling answered
"We have a problem here, Erika decided to join the battle… We are under-"Alisa said before being blown up by Erika's tank
"Alisa?!" Darjeeling asked before being distracted by an explosion in front of their tank. Maho finally arrived and was in their decisive battle St. Gloriana vs Kuromorimine
Meanwhile Kay's and Naomi's tanks stayed together as they were searching for Erika's tank that was still around. They found it after a shell bounced in Kay's armor
"Shit" Kay said as she tried to find out where the tank was hiding
Another two shells were shot by Erika's tank before Kay or Naomi finally managed to find where the shoots were coming from. Both American tanks turned and faced the heavy German tank that was shooting at them.
Naomi fired first followed by Kay, both shells bounced from Erika's tank. The German tank manage to damage part of the armor of Naomi's tank, both American tanks shot again damaging the tracks of Erika's tank.
Naomi shot down while she was trying to make her tank outflank the German tank, the tank managed to make a direct hit to the rear part of the Sherman tank. Now Erika had to fight against Kay alone, she didn't know that Naomi was just a distraction so Kay could outflank Erika. She knew it after they got hit behind them making the rear started to burn, the turret managed to turn and shoot at the American tank making both tanks explode and taking them out at the same time.
Meanwhile Maho and Darjeeling were still battling, both tanks couldn't hit each other. And infantry wasn't allowed to intervene for neither of both sides. The first hit was made by St. Gloriana taking out part of Maho's front shield making it a vulnerable side.
"Loaded!" Orange Pekoe said
Assam shot again but that shot missed as Maho's tank managed to damage the turret, making it more difficult to turn. Both tanks continued shooting at each other for a long time making all the surviving allied soldiers and the prisoners to stay in silence as they watched the battle from a safe distance.
A hit was made now in St. Gloriana's rear making the tank to stop moving. Now Maho had the advantage that Darjeeling's tank only needed one more shot to be destroyed.
Assam shot and impacted Kuromorimine's track, making the tank also be in a situation of danger. Both tanks looked at each other and shot at the same time. The first one to rise the white flag was St. Gloriana and then Kuromorimine, at first they thought that Kuromorimine won that match after all Alisa, Kay, Rukuriri and Rosehip were destroyed and Christian was "arrested for treason"
"Axis, surviving tanks… Zero, surviving infantry… Zero" The radio said "Allies, surviving tanks… Zero, surviving infantry…" She continued
Both allies and axis were silent as they were waiting for the announcer to finish talking, they didn't know that Sophia was still alive and was the responsible for capturing the antitank cannons.
"Surviving infantry… One" The announcer "The allies are victorious!" She announced
All the allies started to cheer as they rushed towards Sophia who was sitting next to the destroyed crusader tank. All the girls started cheering and laughing, they even invited Kuromorimine to celebrate even if they lost they made a great defense.
"Assam…?" Sophia asked
"Yeah?" The British gunner asked to the Australian commander
"Can you come with me please?" Sophia asked again as she guided Assam towards a building
"What is it?" Assam asked
"Lucy got shot, she wants to talk to you" Sophia answered as she left the room letting Assam and Lucy alone
Assam hugged Lucy and started sobbing
"Don't worry… I'm okay" Lucy said as she broke from the hug
"I'm sorry, it's just that…" Assam said as she tried not to cry anymore
Lucy just smiled and gave Assam another hug. The celebrations continued for a while before they made their journey towards the airport so they could travel to Ooarai to make the official ceremony and give everybody their condecorations.