As the Siberian Front collapsed, things weren't going well for Kay either. After the disaster of the Moskva directive, the entire group had fallen back and they were heading back to where they started in the Kuban steppe. Wrangel was one that didn't want to speak to anyone. Denikin only had Assam for company and Kay disliked everyone at this point.
"Well Kiev has fallen back into the hands of the Reds and even though our cavalry had performed a successful attack, all that did was delay the inevitable." Denikin told Assam that the news on the front wasn't holding and despite a successful attack, it wasn't going to change much.
"The Black Army doing damage to our rear was what destroyed the offensive. Out of the sixty or so tanks we had started with, all of them had been captured or had been damaged. So we have no tanks left." Assam told Denikin of what exactly happened and why the rear was in shambles, the Black Army had attacked and managed to deal significant damage to them.
"Yes I understand. We have to try to hold onto whatever territory we have left to prevent The Red Army from completely breaking through. We have to dig in and defend the front." Denikin explained to Assam. He didn't know what to do as the entire front was falling apart. "The Red Army is preparing to launch an assault on Tsaritsyn to take that back and Wrangel doesn't want to work with me especially since I didn't want to remove Kay from the front."
"Why Kay though? I say she did the best she could but it turns out we can't solely place the blame on her. The commanders wanted to take resources and not end the war. Sometimes people just want to see their foes suffer." Assam tried her best to rationalize with what was happening. Denikin began to think. Assam was right. Some of the command was sadistic and wanted to see The Red Army suffer from starvation but the Black Army had to ruin everything even though they were acting on their own.
"Wrangel wanted Kay removed as she wasn't responsible for anything unlike Wrangel. Wrangel also pushed for Land Reform that we just didn't have the time to implement. It was either implement reform now and lose or attack now with the possibility of winning. I now have neither." Denikin explained to Assam that reforms could only go far compared to making a victory.
"The Red Army will continue growing stronger and stronger as the days go by and now we just have to fight this war the best way we can." Assam told Denikin that all hope was not lost but they couldn't turn anything around at this point with the Red Army's strength only increasing from there.
"We just have to keep holding on. We need help." Denikin told Assam. Darjeeling then entered the room as she had something to say to Denikin.
"Denikin, we just got the news that Kolchak has been executed." Darjeeling explained that one of the fronts was no more. Denikin knew that the front was going to take a beating, his ally had just been killed and now there was nothing going to be stopping the enemy.
"Do you think we could be able to hold on?" Denikin asked Darjeeling if they had any ideas about how they were going to dig in and hold the enemy off. Katyusha meanwhile was with Clementia and Nadezhda was watching from afar. She turned to them and she began to devise a plan.
"Want to form an alliance so we can take back the Caucasus?" Katyusha asked.
"Yes. We should be able to break Denikin now that the front is falling apart. Once he has been broken we can take the rest of the Caucasus mountains." Clementia explained the plan to break the weakened White Army. For Katyusha she was ready to grab the opportunity. For Nadezhda, she was ready to go.
"I'll go get the cavalry ready, get the armored train prepared." Nadezhda explained to Katyusha and Clementia. For Katyusha, they were preparing a massive strike.
"For the front line, the White army was demoralized as they had been steadily pushed back over the past few days. Katyusha was also getting reinforcements from the recently victorious Siberian front that they just arrived. With the victory against Kolchak, we should have this civil war over within a few days." Katyusha explained that they were going to win. Clementia walked over and she had to ask:
"What about Pravda's other enemies, is winning against them possible?" Clementia asked.
"At this point, not really. The Saunders Civil war is the only war I want to end with the Red's victory, the Nationalist wars are only dragging us down into an unwinnable war. As long as Pravda doesn't make any more enemies then we should be fine." Katyusha explained that they needed to go on the offensive and finish the white army off. The artillery began firing away. The White positions began to get hit. The Red troops were getting ready to storm ahead as they were going to begin their storm tactics to knock out the thinly fortified line. "Who wants to take the lead?" Katyusha asked. Clementia stepped up as she was going to be leading the infantry.
"I will." Clementia explained to Katyusha that she would wish to take the lead. Katyusha nodded with approval. Now was the time to attack. Clementia walked off, ready to launch the first wave.
The first wave had received armored car support from the armored cars they had captured from the whites and managed to repair. For Clementia, this was going to be the breakthrough elements. The Armored train was going to be their support and Nadezhda was going to help exploit the gap.
"Cease fire!" Clementia shouted to the artillery. Clementia grabbed her revolver and was ready to charge.
"We will do this in the name of our beautiful city of Tsaritsyn, we had defended it before and now it's our duty to take it back. Those whites lost all of their breakthrough elements and with their tanks out of action, we should be able to break open their lines." Clementia told the group while she raised her revolver. She grabbed a whistle with her other hand. As the artillery stopped firing, now it was time to break the nut open. Clementia blew the whistle before she raced her way out of the trench with the other troops and the armored train following behind. As Kay was holding this section of the line. She attempted to prepare the defense but the Texan Confederate Legion had taken a beating during the Moskva directive and was at a fifth of its strength, even with a few new troops, this wasn't going to be enough.
"They're coming!" Kay shouted. A couple of students prepared the machine gun position as they were going to attempt to stop the attack.
"The Legion is weak! We have to retreat!" Another student called out, this defense was going to be impossible to hold.
"I'm holding this front line to the last student! We can't keep retreating!" Kay shouted, she was going to make sure the line was going to hold.
"How? We don't have any tanks left. The Reds captured all of them!" The same student shouted that they had nothing to try to stop this advance. Clementia and the others were closing in. Kay drew her pistol out and began firing. The students on the machine gun began firing away as well. Clementia and the others were charging in while the armored train kept firing. The defenses Kay had set up were getting hammered away as Clementia and her friends looked around to see their comrades in arms get shot up and fall to the ground. Clementia looked ahead and ordered for the charge to continue. Kay reloaded her pistol and kept firing to try to stem the tide of the attack. But this attack wasn't going to be stopped and for Clementia they were just about to reach the trench. "Pull back everyone!" The same student shouted as the members of the legion began to retreat. They weren't up for a fight. Kay fired a couple shots into the air.
"NO! Fix bayonets and fight back! We have to try to stem this attack!" Kay shouted. She turned to see one of the retreating students get shot by an incoming Red. Kay looked to her rear and saw more students getting shot and falling down. Kay got up and left the trench, there was no way she was going to hold. She fired her pistol in the retreat as Clementia and the others quickly captured the trench with some casualties. Nadezhda's cavalry galloped behind them in their wake. The cavalry charged through the gap. Kay's orders weren't getting followed and the legion was forced to make its retreat. Nadezhda looked at Clementia from her horse.
"Everything is going good, the white army has been split up. Aya and Nekota are attacking to retake Odessa, we're going to finish off this line and take as many whites as possible." Nadezhda told Clementia what the order was going to be. Clementia nodded.
"Good, tell them to keep up the push and to take out the remaining White forces." Clementia replied. Clementia got up and walked off while the armored cars drove to take as much territory as they could.
Kiev had fallen that morning. Lunch time saw the fall of Odessa and in the afternoon, Katyusha retook Tsaritsyn. The White army was back where they started in the Kuban Steppe but even that wasn't going to last. The White Army was attacked and pushed into smaller and smaller pockets of territory, they were rounded up and annihilated by the Red Army. When Nighttime came, The White Army only had Crimea left.
"Wrangel's evacuation of Novorossiysk has ended in disaster as many of the ships were abandoned as we didn't have the fuel left plus this has caused a large amount of bickering between him and Kay. Wrangel had screamed at Kay thinking she was a terrible commander and did everything she could to make them lose. We only have Crimea left and our commanders have fallen into infighting." Assam told Denikin what exactly had happened with the front.
"Where do you think Wrangel is now?" Denikin asked Assam.
"Probably at Constantinople in Kebab High School. He said he needed a break from everything that had just happened and because of what's happening, we don't know if this civil war is still on. We still have Crimea but the troops have been demoralized and Kay says she's willing to keep this war going until the very end." Assam told Denikin where Wrangel had taken off to Kebab and with Kay still thinking they could fight to the very end. Denikin knew that for him, it was over.
"This war is over and I know it. Even though we hold the Crimea, it's a trap, we're going to run out of supplies and if Kay continues to make her presence known, we're going to have cases of starvation within a week. It's best we try to find a new commander to conduct the rest of the war as honorably as possible." Denikin explained that there was no point in fighting any more. He removed his hat and placed it on his desk.
"Where are you doing Denikin?" Assam asked the commander where he was off to. Denikin turned his head around to see Assam as his words to her were grave.
"I'm resigning, Assam. It's best you find yourself a new commander. I'm making my escape while I still can." Denikin told Assam he was leaving his position and the fact that the infighting was going to get so bad that the civil war was going to end in a much more terrible way than it was now. They had to find themselves a new commander. Assam decided to head off and write a letter. She knew who exactly to replace Denikin.
Wrangel was in Kebab High School's ship and was preparing to flee to the mainland. He was having a restless night. He was sick of Denikin and wanted to see his wife and children once again. Then a mail-student came and handed Wrangel a message. Wrangel opened it up to see what it was.
Dear Pyotr Wrangel
I am writing this letter to let you know that our previous leader Anton Denikin has just resigned from his position as head of the White Army and has left the war. We're inviting you back to Saunders to help pick a new commander. We're also getting sick of Kay and we don't want her leading Saunders.
Yours sincerely Assam
Wrangel read the message with curiosity. Intrigued. Wrangel decided to make his way back to Saunders to see who the commander was going to be.
When Wrangel had walked in, many of the White Army troops ran in to give Wrangel a hug. Among them was Assam as she the other St. Gloriana Commanders were preparing to leave.
"Welcome back Wrangel. We want you to be leading the White Army." Assam began as she decided that Wrangel should be Denikin's replacement. Wrangel was surprised. Not only was he being asked to replace their previous leader but everyone had their support for not only the choice but Wrangel as a whole. Wrangel looked at Assam as he was curious.
"Why me though?" Wrangel asked.
"We held a vote and everyone said they wanted you to replace Denikin. I even voted myself asI think you would make a better commander." Assam told Wrangel that their decision was mostly due to everyone thinking that the next commander probably had a point in reforms. "Denikin didn't want to make any changes but you definitely do."
"Assam let's go, we're leaving Saunders." Earl Gray told Assam that they were leaving and they were no longer supporting the White Army with troops.
"Okay I'll see what I can do, take care, Assam." Wrangel told Assam that he wished her luck and Assam headed off to join her friends. For Wrangel the situation sat as followed 3,500 demoralized and understrength troops trapped in the Crimea. Now was the time to reform these emaciated units into full strength crack troops. The only person who wasn't happy with these changes was Kay. Her Texan Confederate Legion had been annihilated by the Red Army and she was the only person who made it out of there. For her, she thought that this Wrangel man, one who she hated a lot, was going to reform the White Army. She didn't know what she was going to do.
For the Reds, they were celebrating their victory as they had just crushed a large chunk of the White Army. Their commanders were celebrating.
"We have destroyed Denikin's White Army within a matter of days, they're now trapped in the Crimea which we need to take next. Once we crush what's left of the White Army, we should focus on the conflicts within and try to reform ourselves and merge our school with Pravda." Fumie explained that the enemy was scattered and they had retaken so much land within a day.
"There is no way that the Saunders White Army is going to keep existing. We should prepare for its take over. But the question remains, what are we going to do about the Black Army?" Ekaterina asked. "They helped us defeat Denikin plus they are purely anarchists but they're the only ones preventing us from defeating the White Army for good and had allowed them to escape into the Crimea."
"Well there is only one real communist government around here and that is Pravda. Once the Whites have been defeated, we disarm the Black Army and if they put up armed resistance, we just kill them." Katyusha told the group that putting violence against a group whose relationship was shaky at best was the only thing that was worth going forward.
"Well if you are serious about destroying the Black Army, you have my backing." Alexandra declared. The girls turned their heads to Alexandra, curious about what her reasoning was. "The Black Army is being led by two girls who were my sworn enemies since the year began. They helped create a terrorist campaign that nearly killed Megumi and the only way to restore order and peace was to stamp them out of existence. Since Black Students Matter is nothing more than an unorganized terrorist group, it's best we should stamp out the entire group from existence and hang their leaders and those who plan on resisting us."
"Okay. I'll put you in charge of anti-partisan actions if it means dealing with our internal enemies." Fumie explained that she was going to make Alexandra to be in charge of all the internal issues regarding the civil war happening until they could figure something out. "It's clear that some of our policies aren't working and we need to enact reforms if we are to survive going forward and get the people to stop rebelling against us."
"So who wants to get to work on that?" Alexandra asked. Then Lisa entered the room and she wanted to speak to Fumie.
"Natalia, I have some news for you." Lisa told Fumie. Fumie turned her head to Lisa to see what her friend needed to say.
"What is it?" Fumie asked.
"Bonple has just declared war on Pravda." Lisa announced. "It started off as a border skirmish and some of our middle school allies have been captured and now they've declared war on us."
"Is that so, send Katyusha, Nadezhda and Clementia to deal with the situation. We still need to figure out how we are going to finish off the White Army," Fumie told the crowd. Lisa nodded and walked away.
What Lisa had said ended up to be true. Several students from the Tricolor Middle School were involved in an incident by Bonple. This was conducted by Jajka as she wanted vengeance on Saunders. When it was Pravda that was going to answer their calls however, Jajka knew that Pravda must've been weak and they were going to have a fight with them. With Pravda's attention turned to Bonple, Wrangel knew there was a small window of opportunity to reform the White Army and get Saunders back into the fight.
A lot of work had to be done.
[A/N]: Wrangel is going to be reforming the White Army and Bonple has just declared war on Pravda. With Bonple now in the fight, Wrangel knows there is a lot of work that needs to be done if the White Army is to survive in the Crimea. Denikin resigned from his position and Wrangel left before coming back when he was declared their new leader. For you I might ask I have a bunch of questions if you were in charge how would you…?
Reform an army of emaciated divisions?
Keep your army supplied?
Be able to evacuate on limited resources?
Create a court which everyone likes and follows law and order?
Feed the people in a barren wasteland?
Create a functioning welfare system?
Create popular Land Reform bills?
All the while being a big threat to the enemy? Let me know what your opinion is. Next chapter will begin Wrangel's control of the remaining White Army forces and Pravda's war with Bonple. With Denikin gone, what could Wrangel do where the previous white commanders couldn't?