Hello everyone! Please see the note in chapter 18 of Road to the IS-7 for information on my disappearance. THat story will be coming back soon but for now here's a short one to get you guys ready. It's the light tank battle mentioned in chapter 15 of Road to the IS-7

November 19, 1941: 1350; Malinovka training grounds – somewhere in the field

The crew of the T-50 bearing the callsign Eagle Eye 4 had been fighting together since the war began. Today they had the important task of guarding their comrades from pesky German scout tanks. The small light was sitting in a bush in the middle of the training ground's massive field, engine off, while the commander scanned the horizon for anything out of the ordinary. He thought to himself that his senses were starting to dull from staring at the same terrain for hours on end. Moments later his fears were confirmed when he detected another tank, not by seeing it but by hearing the engine. "Blyad'!" he cursed under his breath as he saw the VK 16.02 "Leopard" scout tank pass within 50 meters of his vehicle. "Contact, Leopard, 2 o'clock, less than 50 meters," he told his crew. "Stay quiet, I don't think they know we're here."

The leopard drove past the T-50 and turned left, staying uncomfortably close to the Soviet tank. "If they know we're here, they're being rather cool about it," The commander said to himself. "Driver, start the tank, but keep the rpms low, let's try not to make too much noise. Gunner, prepare to fire on that leopard."

The silence inside the T-50 was broken as the 300 horsepower engine roared into life. "Fire!" the commander ordered. The tank's 45 mm cannon spat an armor piercing shell at the passing leopard, which somehow managed to pass between the tracks and the hull, embedding itself in the dirt underneath the tank.

"You have got to be kidding me!" the gunner shouted in frustration. "Here they come," he asid as the leopard turned its turret towards the now revealed T-50 and unleashed a storm of 30 mm shells, none of which hit the target.

"Guess we're not the only ones with gun problems," the commander observed. "Driver get moving, then swing around that cyka. We'll blast him from behind."

The T-50 lurched forward, flying past its German counterpart. The driver of the Russian tank pulled hard on the right brake, locking the track and swinging the vehicle sharply around to the right. A horrible scraping noise could be heard as the Soviet vehicle broke traction and skidded sideways across the dirt. The free spinning tracks caused the engine to redline momentarily before the driver could get the vehicle back under control. When the tracks finally found something traction again, the light tank rocketed forward once more "Fire! Fire!" the commander shouted. The tank's 45 mm gun fired once more, this time hitting one of the Leopard's road wheels.

"Really?!" the gunner exclaimed. "Again?!"

"Keep at it, we'll get him eventually" the commander said. However unbeknownst to the Russian tankers, their shell had cracked the Leopard's road wheel, which started to come apart under the immense load as the German tank maneuvered aggressively. The resulting vibration panicked the crew, who decided to retreat and save their tank. "They're running!" the T-50's commander shouted, seeing this. "Mayor Burkatovskiy will probably want to have our tank looked at before we get sent out again, and we probably damaged our suspension with that slide."

Hope you enjoyed the latest installment of the World Of Tanks Chronicles. The next chapter will probably be a different viewpoint of the Battle of Smolensk from chapter 5 of Road to the IS-7.

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