ARC II chapter 1

Traf looked at the gathered commanders from Chi-Ha-Tan and sighed in exasperation, when another one of them suggested Banzai charge against the enemy Flag, even after he shot down the idea several times already.

"Listen, guys!" he shouted to quiet down the excited yells of: "Banzai! Totsugeki!" that came from the eighteen gathered non-Oarai commanders (except Nishi). And it worked... somewhat.

"Pravda has the advantage in both maneuverability and firepower, while St. Gloriana surpasses us with armor. We should rely rather on hit and run and/or holding a strategic position, rather than simply charge them down," he pointed out and saw that at least four of them seemed to listen to him.

"I see that you're making some progresd with them," Miho's voice suddenly stated from behind and Traf jumped in surprise at that, while also immediately snapping into attention with an audible click! of his boots and saluting her.

"Jawohl!" he answered and took a deep breath to tell some rather surprising news. "George got just yesterday an intel that Pravda would bring some new T-34/76s, a KV-85 and a BT-7, while St. Gloriana got an A34 Comet Cruiser."

Traf looked at Miho and saw a surprised look for a split second, before she somehow managed to do some kind of a neutral expression mask. I had the exact same reaction as her... he reminded himself with a sigh. After all, their enemies got new tanks that no one would expect them to buy.

"Anyway... The battle starts in ten minutes," Miho announced after a while and Traf nodded in response. "Remember, no charges!" he said to the Chi-Ha-Tan commanders before he walked back to his Tiger I.

Meanwhile, the Pravda-St. Gloriana meeting point

Vladimir put the last shell of his BT-7 into the ammo racks and smiled. Today'll Pravda win against Oarai no matter what would Nishizumi and Trafalgar Jameson do to turn the battle. And he'll be a part of it, even as the distraction for the Type 89B I-Go that he is.

"Are you nervous?" his driver, Dmitri, asked suddenly. "Да. A bit. It's our first battle after all, товарищ," Vladimir answered with a small smile. Dmitri slightly nodded at that and closed the hatches that were in front of his seat.

"Well, I thought that you'll bring something... better than a BT-7, but I guess that it's late to complain," a voice said behind him and as Vladimir turned, he saw Henry, which was the commander of that A34 Comet Cruiser tank.

"Says the guy with a slower tank," Vladimir countered with a bit of humor in his voice. Henry chuckled a bit at that. "Counters the guy with weaker armor and gun," he mused after a while. "Have you heard this saying? The pot calls the kettle black," Darjeeling's voice interrupted them before any of the duo had a chance to think of a retort.

This time, the two boys simply nodded at each other with small smirks forming on their faces. "Hey kettle!" they called out in unison and laughed at their small succesful comeback at the overall commander of their joint forces.

Suddenly, Vladimir felt a hand impacting with the backside of his head. "Do not cause infighting, товарищ," a cold voice, that belonged to Vadim said and he nodded in response.

He turned to his superior and saw that he was walking away, like nothing happened at all. I wonder, on which side you're on, товарищ, he thought as the brother of Nonna slid inside his KV-85 like a giant cat. Нет. No ordinary cat. A Siberian tiger, Vladimir thought and shuddered at that idea.

Three minutes later, outskirts of town of Oarai

Darjeeling smiled, when her Churchill and four Matlida IIs reached the small hole, she chose to lure her enemies' attention from Pravda and focus on her, while the rest of her forces was supposed to take hold of the city with the KV-2 as support, in case that the enemy heavies manage to break through Pravda's attack.

And... Most of her enemies were soon after that trying to snipe her perfectly defended Churchill, but it caused only some scratches and dents, which were fine to get, sans the sound of deflected rounds.

"How long, until your force arrives, Katyusha?" she asked the small commander of Pravda with a bit of concern in her voice, when she saw the Tiger I E of Trafalgar Jameson move in for the kill.

"Two minutes at best! Keep Jameson and Mihosha at bay until then!" Katyusha replied after a few seconds and Darjeeling sighed at that. She knew that with Trafalgar Jameson and Miho Nishizumi here, her plan might fall apart faster than she anticipated.

"Damn it!" Henry suddenly shouted into the comms. "What happened?" she asked the boy commander with a bit of worry in her voice. "One of their new toys got Mike's Matilda!" he answered and Darjeeling almost let her mug of tea fall on the lower hull of her tank. That was something she didn't thought of before: one or two Oarai tanks sneaking in the city itself, while the rest gathered their attention.

"Not bad," she muttered with a small smile, "but it's not good enough to beat me. Rosehip, take your Crusaders for a ride to smoke out the cats."

"Gladly! Knight 1 through 4! Go search the west side. Rose 1 through 6! The east side is ours!" Rosehip shouted excitedly and she could swear that she heard all ten Crusader Mk. IIIs' engines over the shell bombardment from Chi-Ha-Tan and Oarai.

And then it came. The shells stopped raining on her squad and it got replaced by the sounds of Type 95s and Type 97s charging at her encampment. "Fire," she ordered calmly, but only two 2-pounders instead of the original four she brought, fired alongside her tank's own OQF 75 mm.

Oh no... she thought as she realized, that her plan failed. And with that, she prepared to give the order to retreat, when she noticed the light green BT-7 speeding into the enemy line and wreak havoc.

BANG! The unmistakable sound of the 8,8 cm KwK 36 L/56 suddenly sprang to life and the BT-7 did several flips, before it finally stopped and the white flag popped, signalling the kill.

But, it wasn't a complete loss. No, it was quite the opposite. A single BT-7 managed to take five Chi-Ha-Tan tanks with it. And so, she used the distraction, created by the fast tank and gave the order to retreat into the city, knowing that Rosehip would take care of the Panther before she gets there.

And with that in mind, she almost didn't hear Katyusha's minor annoyance with Klara and Nonna speaking in Russian about her being cute etc.