With Saunders morale still hanging in the balance. Alexandra knew that she needed to keep attacking if she was going to get the attention of a food producer that was willing to supply them with food. As Kay's shenanigans had drained whatever resources left, Alexandra knew she needed to make due with the few resources she still had left and try to attack once more. After the disaster at Count High School the day before, she was determined not to screw up twice. Lola entered as she decided to sit down.
"Cold today huh?" Lola began. She was shivering while carrying one of the Winchester M1895 rifles.
"Yeah it is, we're getting snow again though for the last week or so it has been relatively mild. I think if we have attacked in the south, we should attack in the north near Riga, plan is to try to attract Kuromorimine's attention while Azumi retrains and reorganizes Count High School." Megumi described the plan of what was going to draw Kuromorimine to them while their allies prepared themselves better.
"Okay looks like a plan is in place. The Latvians are ready to go with the Winchester rifles." Lola told them that riflemen are ready to be thrown into the cauldron of the battle as they had been formed up to fight Kuromorimine." Alexandra decided to put it humorously. Megumi rolled out a map of what was going to happen regarding the offensive they were going to launch.
"We'll be launching an attack through the swamp. There are fortified Kuromorimine positions around the area that we need to knock out. One of those is Machine Gun Hill or as Alexandra calls it Ložmetejkalns and if we can capture it. We can easily dominate the area around it. Hopefully with the cold weather, we won't get bogged down in the mud as it will create a hard enough surface for us to try to use some of the artillery and armored cars maybe, I'm not entirely sure. We have no grain to feed the horses so cavalry is out of the question." Megumi described where they were going to be launching the attack for this offensive. "Lola, your job is to take the Latvians and advance westward and capture Jelgava and Mangali. Alexandra and I will advance to Tirelpurvs and Ložmetejkalns. After that we'll try to think of other objectives as we don't have any more to think of at this time." Megumi laid out the plan of attack. The plan was to launch attacks to take and destroy positions but there wasn't much room for a follow up plan or a need for it. This was supposed to be a limited engagement.
"Okay but we don't know what we're going to be doing before then? I say we continue using the tactics we learned during your offensive Alexandra. We should also try camouflage as we are getting snow." Lola told Alexandra that they were willing to use what they learned and try out new tactics. Alexandra began to think about it for a moment before she began to speak.
"Okay. Get ready to move out." Alexandra told the others. Lola picked up her Winchester rifle and left. Megumi rolled up the maps and left as well. Alexandra was alone. She wasn't fond of Kay and needed to take out her American Legion as fast as possible in this battle. Maybe she could have her ordered to take the machine gun hill, who knew. She was going to be directing the battle with her.
The next day came and snow was beginning to fall. Lola and the Latvian battalions were dressed in white to keep them warm and to help blend in with the snow. They were all equipped with Winchester lever action rifles. Alexandra had a pair of binoculars out as she was getting ready to shell the defensive wall that Kuromorimine had made.
"Kuromorimine got the entire area fortified with sand and bunkers. I think we need to blast the bunkers open before we can advance on Ložmetejkalns." Alexandra explained her plan. She turned to see Kay carrying a flag with her as the other students were preparing a cookout.
"Will you tell all of Saunders to pledge allegiance to the flag?" Kay began as she placed the flag. Alexandra was dumbfounded by Kay's request. The flag? What was she going to say it for? "There will be a cookout while we wait for the match to happen. Plenty of burgers and coke for everyone." Kay told Alexandra.
"First of Kay, no I will not do that and second, are the people going to get this stuff back home?" Alexandra told Kay that she was not going to pledge to her flag. Was the food she cooked just for her or the people back at Saunders? Kay wanted to scoot around the question and not answer it.
"You're not allowed to eat it then if you're going to ask if I will be feeding anyone else." Kay retorted. She then turned away and walked off. Alexandra was infuriated that Kay was ordering her around like that. Alexandra knew that if she was going to get rid of Kay, she was going to throw her directly at the machine guns then. Megumi meanwhile was watching the positions as the terrain was hard for them to walk on but for armored cars it was impossible.
"Yep we need to be able to destroy the sand fortifications." Megumi told Lola. Lola was still gripping her Winchester lever action rifle. She had the others ready to go with her.
"Okay the Latvians are ready to go." Lola told Megumi. Megumi nodded while Lola pulled out her sixteen inch rifle bayonet and attached it to her rifle. Megumi gave a soft nod as she observed what was happening.
"Okay, artillery begin firing!" Megumi gave the order. The artillery guns began to open up as they needed to take out the defensive sand works.
The firecracker shells began to land all over the sand barricade that Kuromorimine had built to prepare for the attack, the sand flew everywhere as if they needed to take out the fortifications if they were going to launch a successful attack. The Kuromorimine students meanwhile were on break and they didn't know they were getting assaulted. They just assumed Kay's cook out was going to last all day and there was no need to rush forward to defend. The weather grew worse as the artillery targets became harder to spot. Within the hour, it was nearly impossible to see as the blizzard grew worse. It was a nearly complete whiteout when Megumi knew she needed to stop firing.
"All stop." Megumi ordered. Lola and the others had bundled up in white to mask their movement when they were going to be crossing the trenches. She got up while holding the lever action rifle in her hands. The Latvians were going into battle as the others followed her. Lola turned back to Megumi before she spoke three words to her.
"Wish me luck." Lola's muffled voice came from the white snow covering around her face. She was trying her best not to get frost bitten. Megumi just waved as the Latvian units disappeared into the blizzard.
Kuromorimine meanwhile had rushed to their positions expecting that an attack was able to come. They prepared in their smashed pillboxes while trying to salvage whatever machine guns they had. Two students were busy trying to set up an Mg08 nest.
"It's so cold out, we don't know if the enemy will be attacking in such conditions?" One of them began. She grabbed the ammo belt and inserted it into the machine gun.
"We should be able to. Maho hasn't given the order as of yet." Her friend replied. She was still trying to make sure the action of the machine gun was trying not to freeze up.
"We would have this battle over quickly if it wasn't for the snow." The first one told her. Lola meanwhile had infiltrated through the snowstorm without a peep. The white out had masked their movements and they were about to break into the scene. Lola motioned her hands giving the signal for wire cutters. She was trying her best not to say anything fearing that her voice was going to give the entire group away. The wire cutters were handed to her and she began to snip away at the wires. The barbed wire was becoming undone as the snipping was heard. The snipping sound was heard as some of the Kuromorimine students were becoming confused.
"Did you hear that?" Her friend told the first one while the snipping was heard.
"It sounds like someone is cutting something with a scissor. There is nothing to worry about." Her friend gave the answer. Lola had snipped her way through the barbed wire and the group tore down the barricades. Now the infiltration could begin. Lola and the others continued to creep inch by inch forward, using the white camouflage uniforms to blend in with the snow.
"It sounded like someone was cutting through wire, is the enemy using the snow to get in close to us?" The first one asked again. Lola and the others continued to creep forward as they were now no more than thirty feet away from the enemy trench and defenses.
"I thought no fighting would occur in these conditions so we should be relatively safe." Her friend replied. There was no way they were going to be fighting Saunders in a blizzard. Lola got up as the enemy had been distracted.
"Charge!" Lola shouted, She began to rush at the enemy trench with the others following behind. They had used the blizzard as a cover to get past the machine guns. The two girls on the Mg08 turned to see that Saunders students were charging in. They pulled out their grenades and chucked them into the enemy defenses. The two students scattered as the grenades exploded, taking out the machine gun. The other students tried their best to either flee or put up a defense.
Lola was the first to enter the trench after a Kuromorimine student missed trying to take her down. She then jabbed the student with the plastic rifle bayonet she had and took the student down. Another student tried to fire on her and ended up missing too. Lola picked up a trench club and rushed forward. She swung the club around as her foe ducked to get out of its way, she then swung it down, bashing the student on the head and took her down. She placed the club to the side and decided to work on the rifle. The supporting trench's machine guns were firing away as they were attempting to break up the advance of the students trying to break into the trenches. Lola pointed the rifle and fired away before cocking the lever action to prepare another round. The other students flooded their way through as they continued to break their way through and take trench positions. With Lola having the element of surprise on her side, she was going to take full advantage of it. She continued to press on through while finding machine guns to suppress and students to bash with a trench club. They would quickly overwhelm the supporting trench before moving to the artillery trench. The Kuromorimine students holding the artillery trench noticed that Lola had infiltrated deep behind their lines and was getting ready to take over the last trench.
"Retreat!" Maho ordered, she was going to save her troops for another day while the students began to fall back while they were going to reorganize for a counter attack. Lola looked on as she ordered them to cease fire and hold the trench line for now.
Megumi was getting ready for phase two of the assault when the news began to be returned to her by some of the messengers that were running back and forth between the lines. Nelly was serving as one such messenger as her legion was resting up.
"Megumi I got news." Nelly began. "Rumi, Lola and Konstantina have broken through three sections of the Kuromorimine line and a large gap has opened up. If we can continue to use the snow storm to our advantage, we should be able to assault the hill and take it over." Nelly told them that the line had been broken and now they needed to advance and take the next objective. Megumi nodded as she was happy to hear the news.
"Okay the Ložmetejkalns is the next objective." Megumi told the group that they needed to advance and take the hill. Alexandra polished her revolver and saber as she too was going to be leading her assault.
"Well we're going to have Kay to lead from the center while we flank around and help take the hill." Alexandra told Megumi that Kay was going to be going in first with the attack. "Kay always likes leading from the front."
"Okay Kay, you're up first. You will be advancing with Himari to take the machine gun hill." Megumi ordered Kay that they were going to be advancing to take the hill.
"We're not going." Kay told Alexandra. She was going to stand there defiantly and hold her ground. "We're not advancing up that hill since you didn't pledge allegiance to our flag."
"Your flag? What about Megumi's orders? She wants you to go first to take that hill." Alexandra's voice began to raise as if Kay was rejecting her command to take the hill. Kay smirked while she crossed her arms.
"Our flag is something Saunders will keep sacred, stripes of 13 and stars of 50. You can't make us do orders that we're not comfortable with." Kay told Alexandra that she wasn't going to follow along with advancing. Alexandra was beginning to fill up with fury as if Kay was going out of her way to not advance. She knew she was going to explode if her demands weren't met.
"Advance or I'm disarming your legion." Alexandra warned Kay that she was going to take her legion away if she didn't follow her superior's orders. Megumi walked up as she stood by her friend's side.
"Come on Kay, we need you for this advance. We don't want to be the ones to go alone. I'll advance with you." Megumi pleaded with Kay to not stand her ground. Himari looked at Megumi, wondering if she could bargain a deal with Megumi and get a deal with her.
"I will only advance if my friend Yuri is freed from jail." Himari told Megumi that she needed her friend back if she was going to advance. Megumi falsely nodded. She just needed Kay to advance. Alexandra glared at Himari as she didn't want her to follow along with the demands that she placed and wanted to keep Yuri in prison.
"Okay I will." Megumi told Himari. Megumi looked away for a moment to reflect on the words she had just said. She didn't want to let her go now for what she did to her in the beginning of the year or rather chapter 28. She wanted her to live out her prison sentence and they could try to figure out something to do. Megumi knew now was the chance to try to take the fortified hill. "Come on." Megumi called out. Alexandra had moved off to flank and help surround the hill where Konstantina was already flanking the hill.
Konstantina and her Latvians were involved with heavy fighting to mostly take pressure from Megumi when she brought the main assault up the hill. Megumi gripped her revolver before looking at Kay and Himari.
"You two better cooperate and go first in the assault. I will be leading behind with the second wave." Megumi told the two of them that they should work together by taking the hill. Kay was growing impatient as she felt the clock was ticking down.
"What are we waiting for then? Now!" Kay shouted. She jumped from her position and gave a holler out. She began to charge straight up the hill. The others followed behind as Himari grumbled, did she really want to fight, she just wanted to surrender to Kuromorimine and not have her unit fight at all. Konstantina and the Latvians were pinned down under machine gun fire while the artillery continued to blast off. They needed to be able to take out those artillery guns and dominate the hilltop. Megumi and her group looked on from the rear, advancing along with them. They pulled out their grenades and began to chuck them at the machine guns. The Kuromorimine students trying to defend the hilltop looked on while the grenades landed around them. They scattered as they exploded. Another batch of grenades were tossed as they came from Alexandra's group. This next batch was much more effective as they exploded and caused the students to scatter in panic, it also helped that both sets knocked out the machine guns on the hill top. Now they needed to storm up and take the hilltop.
The three groups began to make their headlong rush up the top while the Kuromorimine students desperately tried to defend it. Chucking grenades while firing from their rifles in an effort to hold the enemy back. Megumi's group was receiving the brunt of the fire as she had three groups going up the hill at the same time. Kay and Himari were also taking heavy fire but they moved forward. Finally, Alexandra bursts onto the scene from the side and begins firing her revolver at the group while the students storm the hilltop.
"Retreat!" Kirishima shouted. The Kuromorimine students began to make their headlong retreat off of the hilltop as they had managed to take it over. Megumi and the other groups had arrived as they noticed Alexandra and her group were at the top. Konstantina arrived a couple moments later to see what they had been able to do.
"Well, Kirishima has been forced off of the hilltop and it is now in our hands. We should dig in and prepare for any sort of counter attack that may come before us." Megumi reported to the group that Kirishima and the remainder of Kuromorimine were now gone and all they needed to do was hold out until the timer for the match ran out or Manami called it quits. They were being prepared. "Get those machine guns up here and set up. We definitely captured some artillery guns too."
Maho and Kirishima had retreated back to their second line as they were giving the reports of what exactly happened.
"They infiltrated through the storm and they attacked. We weren't able to use the machine guns as they had blended in with the snow. We need additional forces to take back the hill and the territory we had lost." Maho told Manami that she needed a large enough force to begin the counter attack and take back the territory they had lost previously.
"Blended in, the snowstorm is clearing up and maybe we can launch a counter attack to drive the enemy back." Manami told Maho that the weather was starting to turn and there could be the chance to attack back. Maho nodded as the snowstorm was getting lighter and lighter. Runa came running onto the scene with her troops as she was panicked too.
"Lola had broken her way through to Mangali and had taken some of the artillery. We need to begin the counter attack." Runa explained to Manami that the chance to counter attack had to be right now. Manami nodded before she rose from her seat.
"Tell the middle schoolers to prepare for the advance. I want their artillery guns roaring with shots to break their defenses. I want to force them back to their starting positions." Manami explained to them that they needed to launch an attack now if they were going to prevent them from losing any more ground. Maho got up.
"I'll tell them to get ready." Maho explained that she was going to prepare the counter attack. Manami nodded as Runa watched her apprentice leave the scene.
Lola meanwhile had her students dug in on the second line of trenches, the snowstorm had cleared up and this meant they were going to be easier to spot if they tried advancing further. They had lost a few students attacking the second line of defenses but they had been breached as well. Lola was sitting around and cleaning her rifle. She had finished putting it back together when she heard a sound she didn't want to hear.
"Fire." Erwin told his students. The artillery fired away as they were targeting Lola's forward positions. Lola looked ahead to see the artillery shells landing all around them.
"Take cover!" Lola shouted, She ducked down as the students ducked down as well, trying their best not to get hit by the incoming artillery shells. Lola peeked her head to the side to see what was going on beside her. She kept her head down as an explosion ripped its way through the trenches beside her. She looked to her right to see bits of the wooden defenses had been torn to pieces. Now the attack was going to be coming. From experience Lola knew that once the artillery stopped firing, the infantry would rush them if they were going to take over. She kept her head down while the artillery guns continued to hammer their trench away. Lola didn't want to bother lifting her head up to see what kind of damage was going to be done if they were going to do. Finally after five minutes of firing the artillery. Lola lifted her head up to see what was happening.
Erwin and the others were beginning to surge forward as they were going to attempt to take the trench and begin the long awaited counter attack. Lola looked around to see that they were too few in number to properly mount a successful defense. She knew she needed everything to make sure she was able to counter the threat. Grabbing her lever action rifle, she prepared to hold off the enemy coming forth.
"Call the artillery." Lola told whoever was left to begin shelling the enemy that was coming to them. The Saunders artillery guns began firing as they were concentrating from two locations, the guns close by and those they captured on the heights. The ones they used in the beginning were too far back to make a significant impact. Eight artillery guns began firing on Erwin's group as they advanced. Erwin looked around to see his students getting pummeled by artillery fire as they advanced. Lola continued to look on as they were getting closer, they were losing a few students but with the flood of enemies coming in. Lola knew they needed to fight as much as they could. "Now!" She called. Lola raised her rifle and fired into the masses. The others did so before Lola tipped the lever down and ejected the spent round. She closed the rifle back up and fired. The Maxim machine guns fired away too as they were joining the blunting of the advance. Erwin looked around as many of his students were getting cut down by rifle and machine gun fire. The Kuromorimine students got out their grenades and chucked them at the enemy trench. Lola and the other students scattered as they began to fall back. The machine guns were covering the retreat as the grenades exploded, taking out a couple of them. The machine guns were down and they were now pushing on through. The second line of trenches tried to put up another fight but they rapidly fell as more students were taken out. Lola pulled back to the first trench line and hastily dug the remaining students and machine guns in. She was desperate for a successful defense. She opened her lever action rifle before feeding another stripper clip inside. She closed it up before the middle schooler's appeared, hot on Lola's heels. Lola raised the rifle and began firing away. The other students began firing away as well.
The second set of trenches were going to hold out for as long as they could while trying to wear the enemy down. They did a good deal of damage at the first set before falling back to the second set. As Erwin and his friends approached the second set of trenches. Lola raised the rifle and fired away, the Maxim gun crews that had joined to hold this second set had also joined in. Erwin continued to lead the charge, encouraging the students to move forward while Lola and the others were busy trying to shoot them all down.
"Keep going!" Erwin called out. He flashed his luger into the air to give the students the courage to keep advancing. Lola meanwhile was desperate to hold these trenches as it would mean a good amount of ground they could have gained. Lola was reloading before she looked to see that the enemy was getting closer and closer to her. She knew there was only one thing to do, withdraw and use the artillery cannons again to try to push back.
"Fall back." Lola gave the order. The students began to retreat as there was no way they were going to be holding this line. The Maxim crews finished their belt off before packing up and leaving with Lola firing away to cover their withdrawal. Once the students had gotten away, Lola retreated as well, following her friends in advance. Erwin arrived at the next trench where the few stragglers fought to try to hold him back. Erwin turned and fired his pistol away, taking out whatever stragglers there were.
"All stop, we pushed Lola back to her starting position and if we attack, she might have a trap set for us." Erwin told the group that the advance should stop where they were. Now was the chance to set up some defenses to keep the line reinforced.
Meanwhile on Ložmetejkalns Alexandra, Konstantina and Megumi had withdrawn to the slopes facing away from the top; they hoped they would catch Kuromorimine by surprise in case they tried to retake the hill. It certainly was the case with Manami and Runa as they were going to prepare to take the hill back,
"Okay we should have this hill back, Saunders looks like they are barely defending it. All we need to do is chuck a bunch of explosives up there and blow a way into the hill. Once that is finished, we shall storm in there and take the hill." Manami explained to the group what their objective was. "Thanks to the artillery bombardment that had just happened recently, we should be able to take back this position."
"All right!" The other Kuromorimine student enthusiastically called out in unison. Manami nodded before she got up to lead the advance up the hill.
Kay and Himari's groups had been hit hard by the artillery bombardment. Alexandra, Megumi and Konstantina meanwhile had withdrawn so they didn't suffer as many casualties compared to the two groups. Kay got up to see that Manami's group of students were now advancing up the hill.
"Enemy troops! Fire!" Kay shouted as she began firing her Springfield. The other students noticed and raced up to man the positions. Some of them began firing their Maxim guns on the advancing students. Manami turned back to see a few of her students were getting taken down while she headed up the hill. The machine guns rattled along as they were going to take down the enemy. Manami looked forward before giving the cry.
"Come on!" Manami called out. The Kuromorimine students began to charge up the hill as they were going to use it as a means of retaking the high ground. The crews did their best to keep Manami and her group suppressed so she didn't advance further up the hill. It wasn't very useful, although a few of Manami's students had fallen in the advance up the hill. The students pulled out their grenades and chucked them into the hilltop. Kay and the students attempted to scatter but with the grenades being chucked in and landing all over the place, it was impossible to escape this trap. The grenades exploded as many students on the hilltop had been taken out. Kay attempted to escape but one of the grenades exploded, sending pieces of hot firecracker into her legs. Kay fell over as it stung her legs. Manami and the group began to enter the hill top as Kay drew out her M1911 and began firing it. Within a couple moments, the students were getting taken down one by one. After seven or so shots, Kay heard a click click as it meant her pistol was now empty. Manami drew her luger before firing it on Kay, taking her out once again. "We did it, the hilltop is ours once more!" Manami shouted with excitement. She was happy they now had the hill back in their hands.
"Yep and Saunders has most likely retreated to their starting positions." Runa told her friend as she too was excited. However, what they weren't counting on was Alexandra and the other groups. While Manami, Runa and the rest of Kuromorimine were celebrating, grenades were chucked into the hilltop as these were Saunders grenades this time. Manami looked down as she began to realize her mistake.
"It's a trap!" Manami shouted. The grenades exploded as many students had been taken out. Manami and Runa looked at each other before trying to get out of there. The students who spotted Alexandra, Megumi and Konstantina's groups advancing up the hill noticed this and they turned and began to run away. Manami looked up and continued firing her luger at the students who were now retaking the hilltop. Konstantina raised her rifle and fired, taking Manami out quickly before flicking the empty case out with the lever action rifle. Manami had collapsed to the ground while the foe had managed to retake the hill once more. Kuromorimine was in retreat once again as Konstantina and the others went off to secure the rest of the hill. Alexandra and Megumi stopped by to take count of what happened.
"Hilltop is ours once again. Kuromorimine retook the hill for about… two minutes." Megumi began.
"Good, Lola has told us that she has been pushed back to her starting positions so her attack looked more like a raid." Alexandra added. "She definitely drew their attention and even though they had taken back 4/5ths of the ground they lost, we still have Ložmetejkalns."
"Great." Megumi told Alexandra.
The attack had made the Latvian units famous but overall, the battle had ended inconclusively. The situation regarding Saunders overall wasn't getting any better, there wasn't enough grain to feed the population and the students were getting fed first and not the people living on the ship. The school was about to explode.
[A/N]: Revolution is coming next chapter Tovarisch. I might go back into the earlier chapters to fix any grammar mistakes and add a few words. Some mistakes were made to get this written that flew over my head. Other than that, keep a look out for the revolution.
This chapter took a while as I don't understand Latvian but I gave it an honest try when making this and this turned out to be a longer battle than I hoped for. Let's see if we can get to 4k views when the second revolution fires off. I will see you then. Later.