Gisela was waiting impatiently while trying to figure out what she was going to do. She didn't know how her next plan was going to pan out but she hoped she was going to collapse the entire Saunders front. She was now waiting for Manami to come along as they could discuss the plan. A knock was heard on the door as someone wanted to come in. Gisela glanced to the side to see who it was.
"Come in." Gisela would tell whoever was at the door to come in. The door opened as if it was Manami. Manami stepped in before taking a seat right across from Gisela. "I see you've received my call regarding what you want to do, and you are willing to have our backing for this?"
"Yes, that's about right." Manami told Gisela. Gisela turned her chair to face Manami and she began to speak to her. "So, what's the offensive?"
"The plan for us is to push to Lemberg in the hope of collapsing the Saunders front. Once those front collapses, we should be able to roll up the front and defeat Saunders and claim victory before we focus on the Serbian gang and your allies to the west." Gisela explained the central objective would be to capture the city of Lemberg before launching powerful offensives to drive Saunders out.
"That's good, I think you guys can handle this yourselves." Manami told Gisela before she got up and walked away, Gisela had no idea what she was going to do as Manami thought that Gisela had control of the front. Gisela knew that she needed to get Manami to help her as this was a task that she didn't want to do on her own.
"Manami, don't leave me alone to do this task, I am dealing with Saunders and their allies, and my school is too weak, much like the enemy. I want help to break through and cause a collapse of the front. I can't do this myself." Gisela pleaded for Manami to be the one to deliver the main blow if it meant getting Saunders to collapse and retreat from the front. "If you don't, I'll sign a separate peace treaty with Saunders." Gisela also threatened Manami that she would take the Dual Alliance out of the war if Manami didn't give into her demands.
"Okay fine Gisela." Manami huffed. She was being caved into the pressure of what Gisela wanted to do. Now with her friend needing her troops and expertise, they knew they needed to move in and strike the enemy where they were at its weakest. "Now about that strike towards Lemberg?" Gisela began.
Kuromorimine was shifting its focus to strike Saunders from the south. The Dual Alliance was preparing to flank around and lead the charge. Saunders meanwhile had no idea what was coming her way. Lola was busy playing her violin while her regiment was trying to perform river dances, they were laughing while Lola was trying to speed up the tempo, but she was falling out of sync. Nearby Konstantina and Nathalia were sitting by while they were discussing an intellectual's game. Konstantina was part of the regiment for now before she was going to join Alexandra's cavalry as Alexandra was still setting herself up.
"How do you play this game, Master-at-arms, Nathalia?" Konstantina asked. Nathalia looked at her friend before she began to speak.
"It's too complicated for you! It's chess, my friend. A special game." Nathalia told Konstantina that she wouldn't be able to know how to play this complicated game. "It requires thought. You're better off at the kitchens, go help peel potatoes!" She looked at Konstantina's medal she won a few battles back, she thought Konstantina was brave but she wasn't intelligent as she was after all, just a mere first year student. Nathalia had plenty of years of experience however and she knew when the situation called for it, she would rather act smart.
"Fine. Don't tell if you don't want to." Konstantina told Nathalia before she got up and walked off, the tone of the music had stopped playing as Lola looked at her violin, she had played it a little too roughly and broke all of the strings. Konstantina walked over as Lola began to speak to her.
"Got it in the neck from the rear of our intellectuals? Never mind her." Lola began speaking to Konstantina, she definitely needed new strings for the violin. "I'll definitely teach you how to play chess myself." Lola told Konstantina that she shouldn't feel down based on her interactions.
"I'd like that." Konstantina told Lola. The two of them looked at the snow as this was something they definitely liked to do. Lola got out the gramophone and placed a record in it to begin playing some music to replace the one she had with the violin. The students all huddled around to hear what it was.
"Everyone in Kay's sector is probably at the beach now." Nathalia began as they were still settled down in their break.
"That's okay, Kay said the war will be over in a couple more weeks." Lola told the group she wasn't sure about her statement, but she decided to remain optimistic about victory. The students continued to settle in as the gramophone's music drifted around. "We'll head home when we finish off Kuromorimine when this month is over. Or that's how Kay puts it." Lola didn't sound optimistic about it. The music continued to drift along as Lola knew she needed to change the topic of the conversation. She began to whistle to the tune of the music, trying to bring some comfort to herself. Nathalia walked over to Lola as she had to ask her a question.
"That tune seems familiar. Was it?" Nathalia asked Lola, she didn't know the lyrics and asked Lola for some clarification. Lola began to speak to the song.
"Dark clouds cover the skies, Strong wind stirs up the garden leaves." Lola began before she paused. She began to think about what the song was called before it popped into her head. "It's the Autumn Dream waltz. It was very popular before the war." Lola told Nathalia and Konstantina.
"The one by Archibald Joyce?" Konstantina asked. Lola began to think about it before she turned to her friends.
"Yes' that's the one." Lola replied. She paused before getting a text from Alexandra. "Konstantina, Alexandra needs you in her sector of the front, you better get yourself down there."
"All right, it was nice talking to you." Konstantina told Lola and Nathalia. She walked off to get her horse to see what Alexandra needed her for.
Konstantina arrived at where Alexandra had needed her to be, Alexandra's cavalry was waiting by the section of the forest. She got off and began to figure out where Alexandra was. Mika was playing her Kantele while Jajka was freezing in the snow. Konstantina walked over to the office before she peeked into the window. Kay was busy organizing the paperwork. Alexandra walked in, smacking her gloves by her hand to get Kay's attention.
"What do you want Alexandra?" Kay grumbled as she didn't like her. Alexandra knew she needed to make her request clear. "Got your gloves smeared?"
"Fur jackets. For the entire 3rd cavalry corps by noon. Today." Alexandra made her request clear; they didn't have much to do to fight against the bitter cold. "I'm sick of my troops freezing out there and the enemy is preparing to attack."
"No, we are the ones on the attack. I won't be able to get you fur jackets until… never." Kay told Alexandra that she wouldn't be able to hand her the supplies that she needed.
"Never? How about form that detached train car? You get the idea?" Alexandra asked Kay if she did and if she decided to do it, she would most likely not follow through with the demand. Kay stood up as she was outraged.
"How dare you? I won't, I'll send a complaint to the front's headquarters, to the high command and even to myself!" Kay shouted; she was willing to submit a complaint to herself. Alexandra continued to speak while smacking her gloves against her hand.
"Go ahead, go on." Alexandra told Kay that she wasn't to be intimidated by the one running the school. "But if I don't get those fur jackets by noon today, I'll personally send you this." Alexandra told Kay before tossing a bullet over, still in its casing onto Kay's desk. "Get on with it, it was my pleasure." Alexandra told Kay. She got up and left the scene. Konstantina was watching the entire scene. Alexandra definitely wanted warm jackets for the entire cavalry corps to wear and Kay wasn't going to let her demand be fulfilled. Alexandra needed to be firm with Kay to get what she needed. Another student handed her paperwork for her to fill out, but Kay's eyes were on the bullet, was Alexandra out to get her? She didn't know what this meant.
Alexandra finally had her wish; the fur jackets had arrived on time that she had wished along with a matching number of fur hats. The cavalry squadron had been reformed as Alexandra was the only person taking the war seriously. A detachment of Ausztria-Magyar students moved up along the hills. Alexandra spotted the detachment, about twenty students in total. She knew she needed to decimate the detachment if she was to prevent them from having her position be found out, once the students had made their way to the spot where she wanted, she knew now was the moment to attack.
The cavalry leaped from the forest as they were going to mount hit and run tactics to keep the Dual Alliance occupied on her. Alexandra drew her saber and charged down. The students turned as they were getting shot at, several students were taken down before Alexandra swung the saber around, almost as if the plastic was slicing someone open like a blade of steel. The cavalry continued to attack relentlessly against the small group and within a few minutes, the detachment of students was down. Alexandra looked at her work as she was rather pleased with it. However, Alexandra was the only lucky one.
Kuromorimine meanwhile was using the Ausztria-Magyar and Dual Alliance students to tie Saunders down while they were preparing for the main attack. The plan was to exploit Himari again as she was the student who was the least likely to fight and if they could break her and Kay, they could easily roll up the entire front. Maho was in her Panzer 3, getting ready to lead the charge as Runa walked over and began to speak to her.
"Okay Maho you and two other tanks will be traveling along to seize Gorlice. Erwin Taketa will be behind you with the infantry to exploit the breakthrough. Once you have created a hole in the front you will help us seize Lemberg and roll up their front." Runa explained to Maho what their plan was. Maho nodded before she leaned down from her Panzer 3.
"We don't know what tank strength Saunders might have but we suspect that they won't have many." Maho replied, she was being backed up by two Jagdpanzer 4's to help her deal with any tanks that might get in her way.
"Hopefully next to nothing. We don't know if Saunders will have the strength to counter the fifteen or so tanks moving in groups of three?" Runa asked. She paused before getting a call. "Yes? Okay. We'll send Maho over to help clear the ditches."
"Who was it?" Maho asked. Kirishima and Manami walked over carrying a couple of small crates.
"It's Erwin Taketa, he said he's beginning the assault against the ditches where the Saunders students are hiding in and he's running out of grenades as he's using them to clear the ditches." Runa explained to Maho that her friend was already going on ahead and attacking while running out of explosives to break through. "Bring these crates over to him so he could resupply plus have you assist him in breaking through." Runa explained who it was that was on the attack.
"Running out of grenades? Tell him we're on our way." Maho told Runa that she was coming to help him. The three tanks started up before they began to roll forward.
"Okay, he's trying to break through." Runa instructed Maho.
Erwin tossed a grenade as the maxim guns were still firing away on him. The grenade landed in the ditch and exploded, taking out the defenses inside. Azusa was firing her Gewehr 98 at one of the maxim guns and missed.
"We're almost out of grenades and whoever is defending the ditches is tough." Azusa began. Some of the students who brought their Mg08's forward had set them up and began firing away, they had taken the outer ring of ditches and they needed to press forward.
"Kuromorimine better get here and provide support to taking out these maxims." Erwin told his friend. He tried looking for another grenade, but he realized he had none left. He raised his rifle and fired at one of the students in the ditch ahead. The shot landed square in the student's head. The student fell over as Erwin knew they needed help or progress was going to go very slowly. He turned his head to the left to see a tank and two tank destroyers join the battle. Maho was in the Panzer 3 as the machine guns from the tank began firing away, "Kuromorimine is here!" Erwin called out.
"Okay don't get too excited about it, we're going to blast a hole through the enemy." Maho told Erwin, she turned to her gunner after spotting one of the maxim guns which was firing away at her tank, the plastic pellets bouncing off of the tank wherever they landed. "Fire." Maho commanded. The gunner opened fire, the firecracker found its mark as the shell landed in the maxim nest and exploded, the two students were sent flying as their maxim gun had been obliterated. Maho signaled the loader to load another HE shot while the gunner looked for the second Maxim gun. Once locating it, Maho tapped her shoulder, signaling her to fire. The gunner fired and took out the second maxim gun ditch. The crew were reduced to scattered debris while the third maxim gunner tried to take out the Panzer 3. Maho's tank turret turned and focused on the gunner. "Now." She told the gunner, the gunner fired as the last maxim gun was taken out. The remaining students began to fall back as their position was untenable.
"They're falling back, we should press the charge." Erwin instructed his group; they got out of the ditches and began to make their way across the cratered landscape. Maho opened the hatch to her tank, and she began handing out more grenades to the middle schools to replenish their supplies.
"Okay good, we should be able to continue the advance from this position." Maho told the students while figuring out what they were going to do. Suddenly, an M4 Sherman appeared, it was alone and had been dispatched to help the defenders hold. The Panzer 3 decided to hang back and instead used the Jagdpanzer 4's she had to take care of the tank. The two Jagdpanzer 4's moved up, trying to see what the Sherman was going to fire at first. Maho knew that she needed to protect her tank hunters from the Sherman, so she tapped her gunner to fire. The gunner did and the shot ricochet off of the armor. The Sherman thought the fire was coming from the Panzer 3 and decided to focus on it. The Sherman fired at the Panzer 3 and missed. Maho knew exactly what to do to coax the tank into her attention. The Panzer 3 machine guns began firing at the Sherman in an effort to distract it. The Sherman fired again and much like again, it missed. Maho was feeling more and more confident. Suddenly two shots came from the side, knocking the Sherman out completely, the Jagdpanzer 4's had gotten into position and fired at the tank's sides.
"Nicely done." Erwin commented, he had finished distributing the grenades before Maho began to give out new orders.
"Continue to push on as we need to take back Lemberg." Maho give the order as the tanks began to move.
Alexandra had regrouped after fighting off two more groups from Ausztria-Magyar and defeating them, she was waiting for more groups to find her, and she had every reason to remain confident. Konstantina however didn't have good news as her horse trotted over to Alexandra.
"What's the news on the front?" Alexandra asked,
"It's not good, Kuromorimine has broken through to Gorlice, Tanks are hunting down our Shermans as we lost about five shermans so far and they lost no tanks. Kay had them spread out and now this is proving to be a mistake. The only logical thing we can do now is retreat." Konstantina told Alexandra that the only thing they could do now was fall back. Alexandra knew that falling back wasn't an option but with Kuromorimine smashing its way through the back door, Alexandra knew that she needed to retreat.
"tell everyone that is at the most risk to begin retreating. I think it's time we begin falling back," Alexandra told Konstantina that the new plan this time around was to retreat and get out of there. Konstantina nodded before she turned her horse and began to gallop off and away; they were going to pull back some of the front to try to counter Kuromorimine. Lola meanwhile was holding Przemyśl, she hadn't received any orders nor the group of armored cars she had seen any action. Nathalia was listening to the radio as Kay was giving orders.
"Are you guys still holding?" Kay asked.
"We're still holding, we're waiting for the enemy." Nathalia told Kay that the fortress was still in their hands.
"Good try to fend off the enemy as long as possible so we can launch another attack to relieve you." Kay told Nathalia to hold the two for as long as possible. Then the radio buzzed with another much more panicked voice, it was Alexandra.
"Who's on this radio?" Alexandra asked. Nathalia began to speak.
"This is Nathalia." She replied. Alexandra nodded and spoke again.
"Get Lola now!" Alexandra barked the orders. Nathalia handed the radio over to Lola as it was Alexandra that was trying to contact her.
"Is the situation collapsing Alexandra?" Lola asked if this was going to be true.
"Yes, it is, Kuromorimine has broken through, and the situation is untenable. You're still in Przemyśl right?" Alexandra asked Lola if this was going to be true. Lola knew she needed to answer Alexandra.
"Yes I am." Lola told Alexandra. Alexandra had to give Lola new orders.
"Good, abandon Przemyśl at once." Alexandra ordered Lola. Lola was shocked, Kay had given her orders to fight until the last student to hold this fortress town and now Alexandra wanted her to retreat.
"But Kay will think we'll be cowards for abandoning Przemyśl, she doesn't want to give it up without a fight." Lola explained. She didn't know who to listen to. Alexandra had to make the order clear.
"Kay's orders are void, you are to evacuate to escape encirclement by the Dual Alliance and Kuromorimine, they're advancing to Lemberg, and you need to pull back to Warsaw." Alexandra told Lola that the only logical thing to do was to retreat.
"Okay you got my word." Lola told Alexandra before she placed the radio down. "Everyone, pack your things, we're pulling out of Przemyśl." Lola had given the order. The students under her command begin to make their headlong retreat using what they had in their disposal. Lola got in an armored car as the convoy of cars began to leave the city. Lola was the last to leave making sure that everyone had been evacuated. The armored car drove away as Kuromorimine entered the city of Przemyśl a couple minutes later. The front was truly collapsing.
Alexandra had given the orders for everyone in Galicia to withdraw to avoid combat. A small part of Galicia held on as they had dug in. The Dual Alliance had run into the defenses and knew this was as far as they were going to go. More bad news arrived, the battle was over. Kuromorimine had taken back Lemberg. Alexandra was in full retreat.
With the news of the retreat of Saunders, Kay wasn't pleased at all. Megumi and Lola were obviously to blame for their retreat but to Alexandra, this was her plan.
"You should have held those two cities like they meant it! I want you two replaced immediately!" Kay shouted to Megumi and Lola that they had retreated from their posts of leadership as they had abandoned territory. Lola stepped forward to try to defend herself.
"I asked Alexandra about your orders to hold, and she said the orders were void meaning that we had to retreat. The only logical thing to do is straighten up the frontline and abandon Warsaw." Lola told Kay that the only thing they should do to avoid heavy casualties was to fall back. Kay didn't know if she was going to like the idea.
"We can't retreat, we have to keep fighting to make the enemy pay for every inch of ground they take. Ten casualties for every inch! Got that?!" Kay shouted as she was giving the order to not retreat. Megumi stepped forward.
"Okay that order will be impossible to maintain, we got news that your students that you have given the command to earlier today told me they were deserting their posts as they don't have any rifles, ammunition or artillery pieces to hold both of them back. Lola's correct as she is saying that we have to retreat, straighten out and stabilize the front, get more weapons and supplies to resupply the entire army and then we can attack and take back the territory we have lost." Megumi explained that abandoning Warsaw was most likely the best bet they had if they were going to keep a good chunk of the student army intact. Kay remained silent before she stood up. She flipped the chair over as this wasn't going to go how she wanted it to go. She then decided to walk outside as she couldn't believe it. Abandon Warsaw? Ridiculous. Then the door opened as Alexandra and Konstantina had entered the room.
"Kay's not going to listen to us, is she?" Alexandra asked Megumi if Kay was still going to call for a doggard defense of the front.
"Not one bit." Megumi told Alexandra. Alexandra decided to take a seat with Megumi as she had some news for her.
"We got some news: The Saunders War Economy is kicking in as we're getting more rifles now, artillery guns and ammunition are still our biggest concern so these rifles are going to be placed in storage for the time being and we still have a shortage of steel so I'm contacting other schools to see if we can get steel to make artillery guns and more rifles. Other students have been experimenting with their own designs to see if they could contribute to the war effort. That should be one of the things we need to do if we are to get ourselves to becoming effective again." Alexandra told Megumi about how they were finally getting new rifles, but these weren't going to be used until they had enough ammunition to use them with.
"So, what list of reforms are we going to have to do?" Megumi asked Alexandra.
"Getting more weapons is one thing, reorganizing our leadership is another. As for the weapons, Chi-Ha-Tan has told us that they were selling their Type 30 Arisakas on the cheap, so I used our cash to purchase a few hundred rifles and about fifty thousand rounds of ammunition." Alexandra told Megumi. Megumi was pleased.
"That's good. When are we expecting to get them?" Megumi asked Alexandra.
"Three days from now to next week. They also threw in some Type 38 Arisakas in as it's their updated version of the Type 30," Alexandra told Megumi that it would be a few days before they were going to get the new rifles.
"Okay, I'll take anything to be honest with you." Megumi admitted that she wanted to keep her army armed and ready to fight despite the shortages so purchasing these rifles was going to be a big relief.
"Also, we got the news that the Lusitania has been sunk enroute to St. Gloriana. This is due to unrestricted U-Boat warfare where they are trying to starve them out. They are hunting down and torpedoing cargo ships without warning." Alexandra told Megumi.
"They might hunt down supply ships heading to us if we get close to Kuromorimine. We have to try to do stuff to counter it." Megumi told Alexandra that their supply convoys could be in danger if they were giving supplies such as steel, weapons and supplies.
"I know, we need to try our best but since St. Gloriana is the only one with the navy to challenge Kuromorimine, there is sadly little we can do about it." Megumi sighed. Konstantina began to speak next.
"Well, there is some good news to come out of this Megumi." Konstantina began. "Anzio has declared war on the Dual-Alliance. Me and Alexandra were at the meeting and Riccioli has decided to side with Earl Gray and Azumi." Konstantina announced to them. Megumi's face lit up with excitement.
"We got ourselves another ally. I think Gisela is going to have a headache now with Riccioli in the war." Megumi told the others that she was happy with how this was turning out. Now with another ally, they knew that they could use them to weaken the enemy down.
"Let's hope so." Alexandra told Megumi. While their hopes were up, Kuromorimine was preparing a nasty surprise for them.
[A/N}: After taking another hiatus for a month, I'm ready to get back in it. Probably going to watch more documentaries about the Eastern Front during the so-called war I've been basing this part off of.
Anzio is now in the war. Hooray but I don't know how much help they will be to the overall effort, let's hope Luigi Cadorna knows what he is doing except well… you know… The Isonzo. I will see you later.