With Pravda having secured themselves for now, they knew they needed to start stamping out the enemies that lay before them. Katyusha and Clementia were sent southward to try to defend some of the key cities that lay before them. Lisa's troops that she sent out to crush the Gregor Legion However these troops weren't reformed meaning they had no commissar with them for their morale. They had a couple hundred students and an armored train with them. The Gregor Legion meanwhile were short on supplies, they only had four hundred students on hand they were going to use against them but out of the four hundred, only forty of them had rifles. There were also a couple students that had an artillery gun they had found with a limited number of shells. They didn't know what they were going to do with these meager supplies.
"What's the plan? We don't know how we are supposed to win with these weapons?" Lola asked as if the situation was looking grim. Nelly looked at the first year as if she wasn't going to give up just yet.
"Okay, I have an idea on what we can do if we are to win against the enemy." Nelly began. "There is some tall grass that the students with rifles can hide in, take the artillery gun with you as I think Pravda will bring an armored train with them. Use the artillery on the train only. Do not use any of the ammunition on the students as they aren't the ones whom I'm worried about. It's the train."
"Sounds like a plan." Lola explained to Nelly that this plan will work out for them. "Who will be leading it?" Lola asked curiously that she didn't know who was going to be leading this operation.
"It will be you. I am heading off with another group on another mission so you're going to be handling the students that are armed and could defend themselves." Nelly explained to Lola that she will be leading this operation while she pursues completely different objectives.
"I'll see what I can do." Lola softly told Nelly. Nelly nodded before she got up and walked away.
"Good luck then." Nelly told her as she took a group of fifty while Lola was going to fend off an attack that was larger than she had anticipated. She was extremely nervous about this.
Lola had set up the students in the tall grass with twenty of the riflemen on either side, The artillery piece was hidden behind the bush as Lola was looking out with the binoculars.
"Okay artillery, don't fire until I give the signal to." Lola ordered the artillery to hold its fire until the gave them the go ahead to fire. Lola held her rifle in one hand while looking out with the binoculars with the other. Then she spotted something, a couple hundred students coming up as they had brought the armored train with them. "I see them." Lola told the group. Lola then placed the binoculars down while looking out ahead. "Okay and fire!" Lola gave the order for the riflemen to begin shooting.
The patrol of reds heard the crack shot of a rifle as one of their students had been struck and collapsed. The other students began firing wildly, trying to figure out where the enemy was. Lola was still in a crouch as the barrel of her rifle poked from the bushes and she took the shot. The pellet struck another student in the neck and caused her to collapse. She grabbed the bolt and cycled it, ejecting the spent casing.
"Where are they?" One of the reds would ask her friend. The rifle fire was coming up alongside the train tracks as more students were getting struck with pellets.
"They must be hiding in the grass." Her friend explained, She was then struck in the neck with the pellet and collapsed. The Gregor Legion was winning the fight, Lola aimed again and fired, taking out another student while cycling the bolt.
"Bring up the armored train!" Their commander shouted, now their grand weapon was moving forward. Sensing that the battle was turning against them, it was now all or nothing if they were going to turn it around. The armored train began firing its machine guns away at both sides of the bushes trying to flush out the enemy. "Choo Choo capitalists!" The commander would shout. The artillery of the armored train began firing away as the machine guns were proving to be ineffective when it came to flushing the enemy out. A couple of firecrackers exploded as their shells landed around the area, taking out portions of the tall grass and starting small scale brush fires. Lola meanwhile saw that the armored train had joined the fight and now she needed to resist this new threat. Fortunately for her, she had a trump weapon that she could use to turn the tide of the battle.
"Artillery, prepare to fire on the armored train!" Lola called out to the artillery. The artillery gun hidden in the bush opened fire with the first shot. The shot struck the armored train near the machine gun. Lola raised herself up and fired at the machine gun to get its attention on her. "Fire again!" Lola shouted again. The artillery gun opened fire again as it struck the armored train again, near the wheels, it nearly destroyed the bogie of the armored carriage and if it was destroyed, the Reds knew they were going to be stranded.
"Fall back!" One of the students shouted that they needed to get out of there. Artillery had struck the armored train twice and now it would make sense for them to withdraw. The commander was furious as her troops were fleeing from the field of battle, the armored train also began to withdraw from the field, fearing that its bogie was damaged.
"You girls are very shameful!" She shouted. "Call Omsk for reinforcements!" She also shouted that they needed more troops if they were going to win this battle. Lola raised herself from the grass as she and the forty riflemen gave chase to the damaged armored train. The student controlling their telegraph began to buzz in the message.
"We need reinforcements from Omsk and fast, the fight is going badly and we need help!" She said while buzzing the message to Omsk. The message was being radioed to Omsk as the message was coming in, Someone else was going to get it.
"The Reds are calling for help? How lovely." Nelly told herself while a couple of students had finished tying up the local reds in the station. It turned out, Nelly's objective during all of this time was to capture the station of Omsk and seize its armory. She was relatively successful and with her students now having rifles, she was quick to dispatch reinforcements for the Reds, Gregor reinforcements. A few students stayed behind to guard the prisoners they had captured while Nelly sent out the reinforcements.
Nelly spotted the Reds retreating from the field and the plan was to lure them into a trap. The students set themselves up in the field while the Reds were fleeing from Lola. Now equipped with more rifles, they decided to hide in the grass along the tracks, as the Reds retreated, Nelly spotted them and decided now was the chance to attack.
"Now!" Nelly shouted. The students began to open fire with the rifles as the retreating Reds were struck down. Their commander looked to see that they were now surrounded.
"Quick, fight to the last…" Her order was cut short as Lola who had been following her had shot her off of her perch. The remaining students without their commander decided to disperse and fled the scene. Nelly spotted Lola whom the latter waved to her.
"Wow I never knew this battle was easier than we expected, I never knew you decided to capture the communications building." Lola began. The two of them walked over to see each other.
"Yep, that was our plan for the time being. The students there scattered as we had a free hand with that building. Once it was captured, we decided to send the reinforcements to help you out. Now that we have an armored train, we should repair it and repurpose it to begin making more offensives, which I will hold off for the time being until we get outside help which I've assigned Megumi to do. At this rate if we are successful, we can own one of Saunders most vital transport routes." Nelly explained that their offensives if they were going to keep up what they were doing, they could easily capture and own a very important railway route, however they weren't going to begin racing westward until Megumi got the attention of the other schools and would ask for them to start sending supplies to help push up and round up the rest of the legion.
"We'll just have to wait for Megumi then if she is able to send the help we need." Lola told Nelly. The Legion wasn't going to make any more moves for the time being and they just needed to wait for help.
Even though the Reds were able to occupy the Don, this occupation was going to be short-lived. What they didn't know was the fact that they had alienated the Kazakis so much that they raised another army of four thousand students to oppose them. The two students were sitting nearby while they were figuring out what to do. The students had gathered their rifles and horses they had as they prepared to launch another attack. The Red Guard students who were guarding the river, didn't realize the fact that the students were coming right at them. They turned to see the students with their sabers out, ready to strike. The guards fired a couple of shots at them but the Kazaki were swift moving despite them not being on their horses. The first students had been shot while her friend looked like she had been hacked to pieces with a plastic saber. With the students having control, they quickly launched an offensive straight into Pravda territory. Local commanders were nervous but for Katyusha, she felt confident.
Katyusha and Clementia had staged themselves for the defense of the city of Tsaritsyn. They were dug in and had machine guns and an armored train at their disposal but they were heavily outnumbered. They were going against an army that outnumbered them ten to one. For them, to stand and fight was the only option. The Kazaki's had quickly surrounded the city but their defenses were thin. For Katyusha this was going to be what they needed.
"Enemy is closing in on all sides, we should be able to hold out." Clementia explained to Katyusha. Katyusha smiled happily while holding her Mauser C96. She was ready to meet this enemy and to fight to the last student.
"Okay everyone! We must defend the city if we are to defend the revolution. Pravda is counting on us to hold this city and its industrial centers!" Katyusha shouted as if she was giving a bold speech to encourage the students to fight to the death. The students were enamored by Katyusha's speech that they were fired up to fight their enemies out. Finally, the Kazaki's arrived on the horizon, they charged in a loose formation as they were getting ready to fight for everything. "Fire at the enemy! Make sure they don't move!" Katyusha gave the order. The students with their rifles began to open fire. The Kazaki's began to drop one by one as the machine guns and artillery pieces of the armored train began firing next. For the students, they continued to charge at the enemy, desperate to try to take the city. Within a few minutes, the siege was lifted as most of the enemy was now in the front, for Katyusha now was the chance for a counter attack. Clementia however rose up carrying her Nagant revolver and drew her saber.
"Comrades of Pravda, the chance to attack is now!" Clementia shouted. Clementia raced ahead while the students fixed their bayonets and charged out after her. Katyusha followed suit. Clementia then flicked her hand, ordering the armored train forward. The remaining Kazaki's looked on to see that Pravda had launched their counter attack and they had brought the armored train with them. For them the attack was going to be swift. The Kazakis tried their best when they turned around to fight back. For them however. Clementia and the others were to crash upon them like a tidal wave of incoming fire.
Clementia charged in and swung her saber around, taking out the first student she saw. Another one charged at Katyusha but she was shot with the Mauser C96. Two more students charged at Katyusha but she quickly turned on her heels and dispatched the two of them with the pistol she had. Clementia and the other students continued to clash as she swung her saber around and brought down another enemy. Then the armored train began firing again as the huge firecrackers exploded, taking out many of the enemy. Clementia fired her Nagant again as she had brought down another enemy student. Finally, the Kazaki's had enough and fell back, they had been brutally beaten in this fight. Clementia, Katyusha and the others that had survived the fight cheered as they had driven the enemy out from where they were.
"The fight was brief and brutal at the station of Kalach but we managed to pull through." Clementia explained with a huff to her voice. Katyusha began to reload her Mauser C96 pistol with a stripper clip. She too was exhausted.
"Yeah It's been one hell of a fight and this is only the beginning. Good work out there." Katyusha congratulated Clementia for the fight she had managed to put up.
"You too." Clementia huffed. "Let's get back to Tsaritsyn and rest up, the enemy might come at any moment." Clementia ordered everyone back. The students along with the armored train began to pull back, the fighting had managed to pull all of their energy out and they had withstood their first attack. Many more were going to come around the corner for them.
When Denikin reached the Don with the survivors from the siege, he knew he needed to find help and launch a second Kuban campaign. He looked around to find most of the students had deserted or gone on an offensive against Pravda. Whoever was left was going to be the help he needed.
"Hello?" Denikin called out. There was nothing but silence in the air as no one was around. He had just 350 people and he needed all the help he could get. He looked around to find some Kazaki students hadn't gone on the offensive and they hadn't attacked as of yet. "Looks like you girls are still here, where is everyone else?" Denikin asked if they had any idea about what happened to the rest of their forces. The students looked around before they shrugged their shoulders.
"We don't know." They said, Denikin decided to do a headcount, there were a few hundred Kazakis and students that hadn't sided with the Reds, this was the only help he was going to get. Might as well use them.
"Well come along with me if you want to fight to free Saunders from Communism." Denikin told them if they were to win themselves a chance to get free, they might as well join him.
"Wait sir." A voice called out, Denikin looked to his side as a man carrying the black Karakul hat on his head. "I was going to ask these students to come along with me to launch an offensive to secure the Caucasus." The man turned out to be Wrangel who was going to use the recruits for his own gain and where he was going to take them. Denikin was surprised as he had a similar plan in mind.
"Well since we both need students to fight the reds, I say we should try to work together if we are to win this." Denikin explained to Wrangel that they needed to fight and with the two of them wanting the same lot of students, they were going to need them. Wrangel knew he needed to think this over. Denikin and his students would be a major help if he was to establish his goals but sensing he just wanted to take the Kuban and not go further. Wrangel knew he needed to make a decision. Finally, after giving some thought about it, he began to speak.
"All right." Wrangel began. "On one condition though, I will control the students afterward when we get ourselves set up in the Kuban for the next couple of days once that is done, we should have the territory and the resources we need to begin fighting our way into the Caucasus, that could be fertile ground for counter revolution and when we get them into our ranks, we can begin going on the offensive. However, we can't do this alone, we need to get into contact with some form of outside help if this offensive is to succeed. We can't be crazy about this, think on your toes Denikin." Wrangel told his commander that they needed to strike without thinking if the moment was right but they needed help as in their current state, they couldn't do much and they would alert the entirety of Pravda to where they were. Denikin began to think about it for a moment, Wrangel was offering help to him and if he was right, they could win the civil war.
"Okay Wrangel, you have convinced me. I will let you into my ranks but not only that, I think you have yet to prove your skills as a leader, want to be in charge of your own group?" Denikin asked Wrangel if he wanted to help out when it came to leading the army if they were going to succeed.
"Really? Thank you sir. I would be glad to lead my own army into battle." Wrangel told Denikin that he was glad that he was going to be helping him out when it came to leading his own army. Denikin nodded.
"Good, off to the Kuban to take it back from the enemy. I want to have it under my control if we are to set up a base and then I can let you do what you want." Denikin explained to Wrangel.
"Okay." Wrangel replied. Denikin's reinforced army now numbered about 900 students and staff. They were still small but they still had a significant number of students for a small army. They were now off to the Kuban steppe as a mix of Saunders students and Kazaki cavalry ladies.
The Reds outnumbered Denikin about eight to one but with Denikin and Wrangel in charge, they were going to show the Reds what they were truly made of. The scattered students came along as they were going to fight Denikin's force of nine hundred. The Whites stood by with a third of their army acting as bait. The Red tidal wave came upon Denikin and Wrangel. Denikin drew his saber and swiped at a Red and he swiftly pulled out his revolver and fired at another Red. Wrangel, much like Denikin, was fighting viciously. Even though the Reds had numerical superiority, they were getting crushed by the fighting spirit of Denikin's white army. Wrangel had shot up a few of them before the Kazaki's arrived with the cavalry. They used their lances to break up the remaining Reds and sent them scattering. Denikin looked on as he was victorious. He had managed to annihilate an enemy that numbered in their thousands.
"I can't believe we did it." Wrangel began with a huff. He was victorious regarding what happened. "How did we win even though the enemy was numerous?"
"About a third of these are experienced officers, in fact this army of mine might be too elite. Even in this battle, the colonials had to perform the duties of privates so crushing the mob of the reds was easy." Denikin began while he polished the saber he had. "Now with the Kuban secured, we can begin growing our army. Wrangel, I want you to go into the Caucasus, defeat the Reds there and find those that are willing to fight for us while I try to contact outside help for extra supplies to get us to launch an offensive, once we have a big enough and well stocked army, we can begin the attack and end this civil war." Denikin explained the plan of dividing and conquering, Wrangel was going to find troops while Denikin was going to get supplies. Wrangel began to think about this for a moment while Denikin's was organizing their camp. If they could grow their army to a few thousand or possibly the tens of thousands, they could force the enemy to their terms and begin running Saunders the way Nathalia had envisioned. But for now, they were focused on the Kuban steppe and the Caucasus.
"Okay, I'll do it." Wrangel told Denikin, they were going to get their supplies and soldiers if it meant that they were going to have an army that was willing to fight for them. They were going to have to work together to achieve this.
Meanwhile with Fumie, she was busy reading over what exactly happened from her front commanders as of today, then the door opened with Lisa stepping in, she had urgent matters to talk to Fumie about.
"Fumie, it's clear that the first few battles were a terrible shock, we tried to disarm the Gregor Legion but they ended up capturing one of our armored trains, and we also lost the Kuban region to an army of less than a thousand." Lisa began with the news that their red guard wasn't winning the first few battles and they were getting crushed.
"Is there any good news to come out of this?" Fumie asked while she was reading her paper. Lisa began to think as she had remembered something.
"Yes there is some good news to come out of this. Katyusha and Clementia have defended the key city of Tsaritsyn and driven the attackers back, fierce fighting occurred around the station of Kalach and they were victorious." Lisa described what had happened. Fumie was surprised, the first attack came and they had defended a key objective from getting captured.
"Good, tell Katyusha that I'm sending reinforcements down there in case another attack occurs. We need to hold onto the caucasus and the remaining districts that are producing food for us. We need to make sure every worker is able to feed itself." Fumie told Lisa that they needed to begin tightening their grip on whatever land they still had left if they were to keep holding. Feeding people was their biggest priority as if their revolution still wasn't able to feed anyone, there would probably be another revolution to boot them out of power and they could make a deal with their enemies.
"Much appreciated, the reforms that we made to the army are starting to kick in but it would be a few days before everything is completed and these next few days will be crucial to the survival of Pravda, if outside help arrives to assist either the whites or the Gregor Legion, we could face a potential catastrophe." Lisa told Fumie that the reforms were starting to come online but this was going to be a bit of a process and for now, their enemies were going to use this to their full advantage.
And Lisa's words were coming true, outside help was coming for the White Army.
[A/N]: This took longer as motivation for this story is waving around. Outside help is indeed coming but for Pravda, they are starting to panic. I might as well take a bit of a break to come up with more ideas or write something else to relax my mind. Either that or I'm just becoming really tired and wouldn't want to do anything productive yet I still want to finish this fanfiction. I hope everyone is okay with that.
We're also at nearly 4.3k views and I'm pretty excited, this would probably make this the 4th most viewed fanfic I've ever written and the 2nd longest in terms of word count so far as that will probably change in the future. I hope we can continue seeing those numbers change and this story gets more views. I'll probably rant like a mad man when I start the next GuP fanfic that I'm starting to tease in terms of its ideas. Anyway, I'll see you all later. Goodbye.