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Northern France, Le Havre, September 19, 2015, 1000 hours:
The sun was blocked by the cloud, as there was an overcast over the region. Not much light was seen on the ground. Birds were heard chirping on the trees, while some were flying in the sky. There wasn't much activity in the town itself either; there were no cars passing by or people walking on the streets. A small amount of rain began falling to the ground. The silence was broken as the sounds of engines from the skies were heard but barely seen due to the thick clouds covering the sky.
Five Halifax bomber aircraft were among the clouds, sporting a roundel of pale pink on the outer layer and pale blue on the inner layer, each carrying one Hamilcar, flying through the very thick overcast. With one Himalcar in particular having a different pattern, that being having yellow stripes on its wings. Then, a feminine voice with an English accent came through the radio.
"This is Pegasus leader to Stingray leader; we'll be within the dropping zone in 30 seconds; prepare for dropping." Said the pilot of the Halifax, wearing a dark blue coat with a rank pad on her shoulders showing 4 golden stripes, with a white shirt on the inner layer with a black tie, coupled with that wearing a dark blue trouser with black boots. Along with wearing a headphone helmet on her head and dark gloves on her hands, with the rest of the pilots beside her and the rest wearing the same thing, except some wearing different shoulder rank pads with either one or two and a half stripes,
"Roger, that Pegasus leader. I'm hoping you have a good trip back home over the channels." Said one masculine voice in an English accent, replying back. He was wearing a thick wool tank suit with an English flag patch on his right shoulder and the country of origin, with the St. Bennett's school logo on the left shoulder, which is a lion colored gray and black, with a letter below that says 'St Bennett Tankery'. There is also a name patch with his name written on the front patch, along with a pair of black boots with a beret on top of his head with the ANGSCOT union pin attached to it, which consists of a half English and Scottish flag in a roundel, coupled with a headset on his head.
"Godspeed Commander. Over and out." The feminine voice was then cut and switched to talk to the other aircraft beside her, just 15 meters away. "All Pegasus elements, keep the aircraft steady and on course. Do not in any circumstances wiggle or move out of course, or else our boys back there will be having a strong headache or falling out of their intended landing zone."
"Yes, ma'am, I mean Pegasus leader." Said one nervous feminine voice through the radio.
"Hey, take a deep breath; just follow my orders, and it'll be alright." Said the feminine voice in a reassuring tone.
The aircraft continued streaming through the thick overcast for several seconds, until an order came in through the radio from one of the Halifax's. "Stingray's on my mark for release. In three, two, one. Release."
The rope that was attached between the Halifax's and the Hamilcar's was disconnected as the pilots from the Hamilcars pulled the lever that held the rope between the Halifax and the glider down. As such, the Halifax's began to distance themselves away while the Himalcar's began diving down the clouds. No sound can be heard aside from the heavy breathing from inside the Himalcar, as the occupants inside were waiting for the glider to touch down to the ground. The Himalcars reached below the clouds, where they spotted the French plains and a town in the distance.
"Right there. That's our landing zone." Said the co-pilot of the glider while looking at the map, that being the commander of the St. Bennett tankery team, Tom Smith. He was pointing his index finger at the window, pointing towards one plot of the square plain field in the chess like plain terrain. He then reached towards the radio, contacting the other five gliders that were released alongside. "All Stingray elements form up behind the leading aircraft. With the yellow stripes, if you have forgotten."
"Yes, Sir." The other aircraft responded to what Tom ordered. The yellow-striped hamilcar was soon followed by other hamilcars, which had black and white stripes on their wings instead. Following from behind as they ascended from the sky. There was a long moment of silence during the flight, until finally, the Hamilcar's were about to touch the earth.
Tom leaned into his radio, announcing it to the crews. "Good morning, passengers; we are now about to touch down on the ground. Please hang on tight, because it'll get a bit rough. Thank you for flying with St. Betty's Airline." He said it in a sarcastic tone. Many giggled in response, but some remained quiet without much reason.
The glider continued to ascend until the wheels made contact with the muddy terrain. The glider slid through the muddy terrain until it came to a complete halt. The nose then opened up, and a Mk. VII Tetrarch lurched out from inside, its tracks making contact with wet, muddy earth. Tom, meanwhile, was climbing down from the cockpit's ladder after the pilot dropped down, where his two crews were waiting on the Tetrarch, waiting for him, wearing pretty much the same clothes as him.
"That was a splendid landing, I'd say." Said Bill while sitting in his driver's seat, the frontal hatch still fully open.
"Well, thank you, Billy." He jumped on the tank before hopping inside the Tetrarch from above, looking down at his gunner, Benjamin. "How's the equipment? Is it in good shape?"
"Yeah, it's good." Benjamin lifted the said equipment from the tank's floor, which was a large box with multiple switches, levers, and tunings. Coupled with multiple thick black antennas. "Ready to be used, sir."
"Alright, rev up the engines and let's get moving; those frogs might've seen our drop earlier and are probably on their way here." Tom ordered.
"Right, Sir." Bill acknowledged and pulled out a key, plugging it inside the keyhole and switching it to the right. The engine roared to life as it was revved up. Bill then pulled the brake lever down and pushed his legs on the pedals, moving the tank out of the wooden airframe. Where the tank touched the muddy earth, other tanks were seen waiting and moving out. One aircraft even just landed a few meters away. It was when the commander looked around that he noticed something was off.
"We came in with five gliders; there's only four here. Where's the other one?" Tom went down inside the tank before coming back out with a binocular in his hands. Looking around with a frantic look. "Agh, no good." He then reached for the radio. "This is the stingray leader for all stingray elements; report in."
"Stingray 1-2 to the Stingray leader, reporting in."
"Stingray 1-3 and 1-4, reporting in."
"Stingray 1-5 and 1-6, reporting in."
"Stingray 1-7 and 1-8, reporting in."
"Static: This is Stingray 1-9 and 1-10. We had a little turbulence and have no idea where we are now. Requesting guidance, over." The radio transmission was not too crystal, but not too static for Tom to hear and understand by hearing only a few words.
"Stingray 1-9, sitrep of your surroundings?"
"Well, uh, it's plain out here. The weather here is absolutely miserable, just like home." Stingrays 1-9 described the environment around them.
Tom chuckled. "Yeah, the weather's awful. God really blessed those ladies for flying us in, or else we'll be just meat shields for the main force. Anyway, look around for any landmarks or road signs." He then took out a map covered in plastic wrap. Small ticks of rain touched the wrap, causing him to react by wiping the water off before looking at the map and waiting for any new information to come in.
"Uh, Sir. We might want get out of here; those frogs might be heading towards here soon." Said Stingray 1-6 through the radio.
"Oh, right." Tom took out a flashlight to illuminate the map better. "Alright uhh." He looked around and noticed a small castle in the distance. "Stingray 1-9 and 1-10, hold wherever you are. The rest form up on me." Soon, the Tetrarchs began to line up behind the leading tank, their tracks leaving a noticeable mark on the muddy soil. Engines roared as the group of eight Tetrarchs began making their way towards the church. "These muds might be the end of us."
"Well, if it isn't obvious..." Bill looked through the open frontal hatch from his driver's seat, towards the mud. "Leaving trails behind."
Eventually reaching the church, Tom looked around and attempted to recognize the castle for him to use as a reference on the map. He looked around and saw road signs and the castle's name itself written on concrete with a wooden board: 'Château de Gromesnil'. He looked back towards the map, looking for the castle on the map, before finding it. He then reached for his radio once more. "Stingray 1-9 and 1-10. Where are you now?"
"Static- Uhh.. We found a village with its inhabitants and asked them; they said we're in the village of Eletot." Said Stingray 1-9.
"Eletot?" Tom looked closer to his map to check for the village that was mentioned over the radio. He hovered his index finger on the map, dragged it from his current location, and looked around the map. He found nothing at all. "Stingray 1-9, I see no village with the name Eletot; please re-check once more."
"There is the village of Eletot," said Bill. "They're in the no-engagement zone; they can still fall in with the cavalry if they're fast enough, assuming they have enough fuel."
"Really?" Benjamin looked at Bill. "How did you know?"
"I checked the map of the arena and the limited areas that were given before we went up the glider. Eletot is 36 or 37 kilometers away from our objective. Well behind the supposed playing field, 10 kilometers from the Black Watch's starting point, which I think they've already started moving 20 minutes ago towards our objective in Le Havre."
"Capturing the flag and holding it for half an hour, yeah?" Asked Benjamin.
"Yeah." Tom folded the maps back before switching to other maps, which were the maps provided by the committee to them. His index finger was dragged from the position he was in towards the village of Eletot, measuring the distance before then spewing it out. "25 kilometers away, 25.5 to be precise. Tetrarch has a top speed of 40 miles per hour; that's approximately a 40-minute journey. There could be more because of the weather." Tom reached back toward his radio. "Stingray 1-9 and 1-10, proceed to regroup with the Black Watch and go along with them. I'll inform them, if possible, of your arrival."
"Copy that Stingray leader; we'll be regrouping with the Black Watch force, over and out." Stingray 1-9 ended the conversation with the sound of the radio turning off.
"Aw man, I tipped our thermos to them." Stingrays 1-3 complained.
"Oh, fucking hell, I also gave those to them." The frequency was then full of tankers complaining of their thermos and their cups being tipped to Stingray 1-9 and 1-10. Tom was about to break the whinings down, but all of a sudden, a rumbling noise and the sounds of tank threads, coupled with the sound of roaring engines, were heard in the distance. Tom lifted his binoculars to look around, to see a sight of 4 ARL's and 6 M4A4's moving towards his position.
"Christ, that's like almost half of their entire force!" Said Stingray 1-7 in a surprised tone.
"Guess they really learned from their previous failures." Tom commented before he ordered through the radio. "All Stingray elements form on me." As he delivered his order through the radio, the Tetrarchs began moving away and following behind Tom's Tetrarch, leaving the area while leaving trails of mud on the asphalt road.
"They're definitely going to follow us; those trails we're leaving behind are really going to be the end of us!" Said Stinger 1-2 in a panicked tone.
"Nah, not today." Tom stated this before looking down inside the compartment towards Bill. "Alright, full speed ahead!"
"Aye, full speed ahead." Bill placed his right hand on the gear handle, switching it to another, and hit his foot hard on the pedals, making the Tetrarch move faster, which was soon followed by other tanks, catching the leading Tetrarch that was moving faster than them.
"Make full use of Earl's blessed engine lads; like the air-steel cavalry we are, don't let her down." Tom gave a speech of encouragement to the rest of the team as they began to approach the large town ahead, which is Le Havre.
"Scramble!" Tom ordered the team through the radio, followed by the Tetrarchs beginning to scatter to other junctions and turns. Tom then looked at Bill. "Alright, you know where to take us."
"Aye.." Bill kept his vision to the front, moving the tank away from obstacles on the road and keeping his eyes wide open.
Tom, meanwhile, was looking around the tank from the cupola, his eyes looking right, left, front, and rear, along with keeping his ears wary for incoming enemies. He looked down toward Benjamin. "You got it ready?"
Benjamin was configuring the portable jammer, switching buttons and switches before nodding. "Ready to be used, sir."
Moving around corners and neighborhoods, the Tetrarch eventually reached a fort with a narrow gate, though wide enough for the Tetrarch to enter. The Tetrarch then took a turn around the corner before coming to a complete halt.
"Here we are, Fort de Tourneville, Sir." Bill took his sweaty hands off the controls, setting the gear to neutral and holding his foot on the brakes. Tom nodded and looked back toward Benjamin.
"Start jamming operations." Tom ordered Benjamin in a flat tone.
"Roger, starting jamming operations." Benjamin went down to the lower compartment, and began tuning the jammer's power higher and higher, causing a high pitch static noise on the radio. "Now we'll wait.."
As the broadcast of the static continued, cannon and machine gun fire could be heard all across the town. With thick gray clouds still covering the sky, preventing sunlight from reaching down, Thunder could be heard as darker clouds could be seen approaching from the north of the town, shadowing a formation of Sherman's and Churchill's on the highway in the outskirts of the town, followed by Bishop's following from behind, giving fire support from the rear, as the formation chased down groups of fleeing ARL's and M4A4's.