AN: A little idea that I have decided to put on paper. Might sound a little bad, truth be told, but I am going with it. The idea is rather creative.

This is going to be a co-operative work between myself and The Dead Baron if your on FFN or Burning Baron if you are on Sufficent Velocity. Who is admittedly probably better informed about some things than I am. Note in the author's notes Baron's segment is in italics while my section isn't.

Hello there. I will admit, the last time I wrote something even approaching this was high school English class. I got a C. I was never very good at creative writing.

Nothing is ours save the OCs and plot. Enjoy!

Onboard an Unknown School Ship somewhere in the Pacific

June 8th, 2045

A young woman wearing a knee length blue and green dress, with an insignia of some kind on the left arm is sitting on a bench in a park, underneath a large Oak tree. Birds were chirping in the background. Her face wasn't seen as it was in the shadow that was being cast by the tree, but she had her hands resting in her lap, which was heavily scarred, one of which went up her arm till it was lost in the shade.

Off in the distance the rumble of tank engines, the clanking and clattering of tracks, the thundering discharge of tank cannons, and the distinct rat-tat-tat-tat of machine guns echoed off the trees and buildings. Signaling that the school's Sensha-dou team was out doing practice in the form of maneuvering and firing, as well as most likely doing maintenance to the various tanks.

"Them? Yeah, I knew them. You might want to take a seat, it's gonna take a while. It all happened years ago." The young woman said, looking directly at the person who had asked the question.

"Did you know that there are several types of tank crews and commanders?" she said with the slight ghost of a smile on her face. "Those who seek pride, those who seek strength, those who trust their teammates with their lives, those who will sacrifice everything to protect their teammates, and those who can read the tide of battle and make a decision that changes it's course?" She said, counting them off with her fingers.

She was a loader that some called 'Lightning', she is a colleague of the group I seek. Twenty years ago, there was a war that engulfed the entire region: The Dragon War. A vicious five year long conflict with Japan, South Korea, and the United States of America on one side and People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the other. When the invasion of Japan started, with the Chinese dropping airborne infantry and tanks into Japan, something incredible happened. Several Sensha-dou teams were caught behind enemy lines, in an amazing display of bravery, ingenious tactics, and sheer determination managed to get the safety of the Ibaraki pocket. It inspired respect and admiration in many people on both sides. They are the ones I seek. And so with the words of 'Lightning', and the tankers, soldiers, and aces who took part in the conflict, the curtain rises.

"Semi-finals match area of the 64th Annual Sensha-dou Tournament, Niigata Prefecture… it was such a cold and snowy day."

Niigata Prefecture, Japan

December 20th, 2025

The ground was covered in snow, with more falling at a rather steady rate of two and half centimeters every three hours, plus there was fifteen centimeters of snow on the ground already. Yet that didn't faze the tanks and tankers of the Ooarai Girls High School Sensha-dou team. Ten tanks were moving in a loose wedge formation, in the formation was one Panzer IV Ausf. H Medium Tank, one StuG III Ausf. G Tank Destroyer, one Hetzer Tank Destroyer, one Type-3 Chi-Nu Medium Tank, one Type 89B Medium Tank, one Porsche Tiger Heavy Tank, one M3 Lee Medium Tank, one Valentine Mk X Infantry Tank, one P.26/40 'Fast' Heavy Tank, and one KV-85 Heavy Tank.

Each tank was emblazoned with a different emblem besides the Ooarai Girls High School Emblem denoting the various teams of the school. There was a variety of animals from a Pink Anglerfish to a fierce looking Kodiak Bear.

The crews of the tanks were in good spirits and for good reason, they had made it to the Semi-finals for the 2nd year in a row, completely and utterly routing Maple High School in the Quarter-Finals two months ago.

Still, this year they were facing in the semi-finals Kuromorimine Girls High School. However this time around, the overall commander of the Ooarai Sensha-dou team Miho Nishizumi knew that Kuromorimine and drastically changed its lineup just because they were facing Ooarai, because this time around instead of the normal mix of German Late War Heavy Tanks and Tank Destroyers, they were fielding mainly medium tanks -granted still late war ones- but it was clear they had learned that big unwieldy tanks plus unorthodoxed tactics and strategies equaled trouble. Thus they were fielding only one Tiger I, two Panther IIs, six Panzer V Ausf. Gs, one Jagdpanther, four Jagdpanzer IV/70s, and a single Panzer II Ausf. L. That was an extremely different lineup from what Kuromorimine usually brought which meant that while her mother didn't like the idea of Miho developing her own style, she probably was secretly impressed by how skilled Miho's Tankery team was and just how effective her own style was even if it was unorthodoxed and completely counter to the Nishizumi Style.

"Alligator Team, how are you doing?" Miho asked, referring to the P.26/40 Italian 'Fast' Heavy Tank, it was a new addition and was armed with a lethal 7.5cm/L34 main gun and two Breda 8mm machine guns. The armor wasn't the greatest but it was still respectable. Plus it was decently quick with a top speed of 26 miles per hour on the road and 16 miles per hour off road.

"Not bad commander! The gearing is a little stiff, but nothing we can't handle!" The commander of the P.26/40, a first year by the name of Isa Sayo said.

"Understood, let me know if anything breaks." Miho said over the radio.

"No problem ma'am!" Sayo replied.

Miho then decided to check on the 2nd new addition. "Bear Team, how are you doing over there?" She asked.

"Surprisingly well, commander, considering how cold it is! The tank also seems happy, the cold isn't getting to it. Although, I am thankful that Yukari told us to each bring at least one thermos filled with either Hot Chocolate, Hot Tea, Coffee, or hot Apple Cider; because it's freaking freezing out here." The commander of Bear Team, a third year by the name of Tsuga Ino reported crisply.

"Tell me about it, Tsuga. I understand you there." Miho replied, she fully understood what it was like to be in weather like this without a heavy coat. "Mallard, how's the new Panzer treating you?" she asked.

"Not bad commander, still getting used to the fact that I have Pazomi in the turret with me but the Valentine has the same amount of armor as the B1 Bis so there's that, the fact we actually have a decent armament now doesn't hurt, my biggest complaint is that it's a little cramped inside the turret, but we will manage." Sodoko said, although there was a sense of nostalgia in her voice as if she missed the B1 Bis. Which was understandable, after their win against University Strengthened Team where they succeeded in saving the school from being closed. There had been a large influx of new students and funds, but while the financial situation of Ooarai Girls High School had been improving, it still wasn't the greatest. They had found two more tanks just lying around: the P.26/40 and the KV-85, but they had sold the B1 Bis and that had gotten them enough money to purchase the Valentine Mk X Infantry Tank, which had the same amount of armor as the B1 Bis had but it possessed a fair amount more firepower in the form of a 6-pound gun.

Inside the Panzer IV, it was fairly cold and nippy but that was something the crew, particularly the loader of the machine, Yukari Akiyama, were used too. Still, it was pretty cold and thus she was wearing a heavy coat to help keep herself warm. Still, something about today felt off, she had noted that there had been several heavy crates with a heavy duty padlock on them in the ammunition depot that had been set up when she had gone to retrieve Sensha-dou Regulation AP and HE shells. More to the point, they had been marked as containing live ammunition of the High-explosive anti-tank, High-explosive, Armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot, Armor-piercing, canister, and smoke variety. Plus there were several crates had also been marked in that they contained can upon can of 7.92x57mm Mauser, .30-06, 7.62x54mmR, 7.7x58mm Arisaka, 7.7x56mmR, 6.5x50mmSR caliber machine gun ammunition, plus it was steel-cored AP, tracers, and steel-cored API rounds. She couldn't figure out why there was live ammunition being stocked up, particularly for the Sensha-dou tanks.

"Miporin! You're gonna want to listen to this!" Saori, the radio operator of Anglerfish Team shouted.

"Mako stop the tank!" Miho ordered sharply.

Saori then turned the volume up on her phone up to max, allowing for all the occupants in the Pz. IV Ausf. H to hear it. "For those listeners who are just now joining us. We have breaking news coming out of the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan. The Chinese have entered the war in Korea and launched a devastating attack on both the JMSDF and the USN just four hours ago. The Chinese, using a combination of DF-21D Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles, Air Strikes from carriers, and according to what information we have received, a brilliantly executed Cyber warfare attack, have sunk the JS Kaga, JS Ise, JS Hyuga, USS Bonhomme Richard, and USS Ronald Reagan. Reports also indicate that the JS Izumo was also hit and heavily damaged and is now currently limping back to port. While we don't know at the moment how this will affect the war, analysts are already saying that the with the sudden removal of Carrier-based Air Support, the forces currently fighting in Korea will likely be forced to abandon Seoul to the North Koreans who already control roughly 75 percent of the city. Worse, the loss of these valuable ships will also leave what's left of JMSDF and USN as well as the entirety of the ROKN in the area of Japan at the near complete mercy of the Chinese Navy. We will update you on the situation as we get more information." The reporter said, explaining a sudden and unexpected turn of events in what some were already calling the 2nd Korean War, which had started five months ago when a massive North Korean Artillery barrage rolled across the DMZ and was then followed by a massive rush of North Korean Pokpung-ho and Chonma-ho MBTs with BMP-1s, BTR-70s, BTR-80As, and M-2010s right behind them, they North Koreans advanced quickly and efficiently using simply sheer brute force and brutal tactics, the fact that they had support in the form of Mi-24Ds, Il-28s, H-5s, Su-7s, A-5s, Su-25s, MIG-23s, MIG-21s, and F-7s didn't help. Within two and half weeks they were fighting in close-quarters combat in downtown Seoul where the fighting has begun to even out.

Still, now that China has entered the war on the side of the North Koreans and that most of the American and Japanese Surface units have been destroyed, with all but one of Japan's Helicopter Destroyers sunk, an American Amphibious Assault Ship sunk, and most incredibly an American Supercarrier sunk. The Americans and South Koreans fighting in Seoul and elsewhere across South Korea were now at the mercy of the largest navy in the world in terms of major surface combatants.

"Saori, keep me updated. Mako, drive on!" Miho said.

Saori nodded and at the sametime the Pz. IV lurched into motion. "What was that about Commander? You suddenly stopped." Anzu asked over the radio.

"Anzu, you're not going to believe this. But the Chinese have entered the war in Korea. According to a breaking news alert that Saori received, China has sunk three of Japan's four Helicopter Destroyers, an American Amphibious Assault Ship, and an American Supercarrier. Which means that the forces fighting in Korea have lost a lot of their theater support, plus the People's Liberation Army Navy is likely moving ships into position to support the North Korean ground forces." Miho explained.

"Oh, I see." Anzu replied, stunned.

We meet in the Victory Park, quite by accident. He's there to give thanks, because he owes much to the Tank Maidens. He seems happy to give an interview.

"I don't remember much before the landings started. The news broadcast seemed unimportant."

He looks off into the distance, like what he recalls is happening just across the way.

"When the planes flew overhead, most of us in the crowd thought that is was JSDF planes on alert. Keeping an eye on what was almost a national sport. At least, until men and machines started falling out of them."

Decmeber 20, 2025

In the air heading toward Niigata Prefecture

Flying at an altitude of 4,572 meters and steadily descending to an altitude of 2,000 meters, a large formation of Xian H-20s rumbled across the sky. These aircraft were carrying the proud men and women of the 15th Airborne Corps A grand total of 50,000 fighting men and women plus their equipment. Four 12,500 strong divisions, plus all of their equipment.

This was more than enough firepower to tie down the entirety of the JGSDF and a large amount of the JASDF. Of course, the equipment that they were bringing was top notch, with ZBD-03s, PLL-05s, ZTD-03s, PGZ-95s, and other pieces of equipment. Best of all, the infantry and vehicle crews could be dropped from the air in their vehicles.

However inside one of the ZTD-03 Light Tanks was Lieutenant Fang An, a thirty-two year old man from Shanghai. He had short black hair and eyes as remorseless as a shark. This was his first combat action, the hatches of his tank were open, but he was ready to close them at a moment's notice. He would be able to show the Capitalist puppets of Japan who were superior in tank-on-tank combat. His tank was easily a match for the JGSDF's Type 74 and could kill Type 90s and Type 10s from the side with it's powerful 105mm rifled gun.

The ZTD-03's chassis was eight meters long, three point six meters wide, and two point three-four meters tall. It weighed in at twelve tons and had a crew of three. But it's armor was nothing to write home about, but it could have ERA and Applique armor packages applied, which his tank was equipped with.

"Begin final preparations, we are approaching the drop point." The voice of the platoon leader called out over the radio in sharp crisp Chinese. That was their cue, Fang reached up and closed the commander's hatch and locked it in place with a sharp click.

He then peered through the panoramic commander's hatch, giving him unparalleled vision while he was inside his tank. It was nearly as good as being unbuttoned, key word being nearly. Having the hatch closed meant that it was a little harder to hear incoming threats like artillery, jets, and on occasion gunships.

Five minutes later, a dull red illumination filled the cargo compartment. The get ready light, soon the great campaign to take Japan would begin with a powerful aerial invasion in the most unexpected location, the Niigata Prefecture of Japan. The back ramp of the massive Chinese Strategic Lifter opened. A few moment's later a bright green light filled the cargo bay. The door opened and then with a sharp bang a drogue chute deployed and with sharp force yanked the ZTD right out the back of the Airlifter, several seconds later another tank came out the back, followed by another, then another, and finally the fifth tank came out the back of the Airlifter. All dropping gracefully from the sky slung beneath a trio of red parachutes.

As they fell, Fang noted that there wasn't a single piece of AA fire coming up to meet them. Which meant they had caught the Japanese completely by surprise. Which meant that while they were scrambling to put together a response, that gave them adequate time to secure as much ground as possible so the main invasion force coming in multiple An-225s could land. The Invasion Force was composed of the entirety of the 38th Army, with elements from the 54th and 65th Armies of the Central Theater of Operations. This would be a glorious campaign, one that would show to the world that China wasn't weak, they instead had massive force projection capabilities now, one that while it wouldn't match the capabilities of the United States of America, it would be more than enough to retake Chinese land and to conquer new ones.

Fang glanced at the altimeter and noted that they were just forty meters off the ground. "Brace for impact with the ground." He growled.

Everyone in the tank grabbed their respective handholds. With a thundering, jarring, thud the ZTD-03 hit the ground. "Driver, advance! Let's figure out where we landed." Fang ordered. A few moments later. the 402 horsepower engine came to life, growling like some hungry predator, the tank lurching into motion; the engine noise increasing dramatically in concert.

It didn't take long for Fang to collect the rest of his Platoon, four other ZTD-03s, each with a powerful 105mm main gun, a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun, and a 12.7mm commander's cupola mounted machine gun. Sometime after that he managed to track down the rest of his company, ten more ZTD-03s all were heavily armed and ready to rip. These tanks were ready to utterly decimate anything they came across, or barring that, run away in case they ran into heavy enemy armor.

"Let's meet up with the nine IFVs we are supposed to be protecting." Fang ordered and then moments later. Fifteen tank engines came howling to life, they roared forward. But very quickly Fang noticed that they weren't where they were supposed to be, which meant either that the H-20 driver that had flown them needed to get his eyes checked because the bastard had misjudged the wind or they had just had bad luck and got scattered by the winds because they had shifted during the drop. At least their plane hadn't been forced to do evasive maneuvers because of AA fire, then it might have gotten ugly.

December 20th, 2025

Main Kuromorimine Column, Niigata Prefecture

Maho Nishizumi, heir to the Nishizumi style and Kuromorimine Girls High School; not to mention, the older sister of Miho Nishizumi, her adversary in this match, just that fact alone made her worried. Mainly because their Hetzer could go trolling again, which would likely end with the thing earning an HE-round to the face from Ritaiko's Jagdpanther as payback for getting tracked, twice, by the damn thing.

Suddenly the radio crackled. "Kuso! This is Tank 10! We've thrown a track! Christ that's the third time this week!" Geshiko, the commander of the Panther driving in the tenth slot in their formation suddenly called out as the tank lurched violently out of formation from having suddenly lost a track.

Not going to make the same mistake twice. Maho thought as she gave the order for all of the tanks to come to a halt, so that way they didn't wind up spreading out and thus weakening them as a group and making them more vulnerable. Though she was grateful that they had decided to go light, otherwise most of their heavy vehicles likely wouldn't have started in this biting cold weather.

Still, something about today felt off, she couldn't tell what it was though as they were in a forest and couldn't see the night sky because of the canopy. The thundering roar of a bunch of low flying jet aircraft was one those things that certainly helped to add to those feelings of unease. However she didn't know it, but those fears about something not being right, were completely accurate.

"Kommandant! We got our track back up! Ready to, CONTACTS! CONTACTS! FOUR O'CLOCK!" Geshiko said over the radio, before suddenly shouting as several streams of hot green tracers streaked in. The rounds hammered hard into the hulls of the Tiger, Panther IIs, the Panthers, the Jagdpanther, and the Jagdpanzer IVs. But, they also caught the gunner and loader: Oe Yoka and Miura Kayo as well as Geshiko out in the open. The results were horrific, two rounds caught Oe, they ripped her head and right shoulder completely off, pulping them in an instant and causing bright red blood to spray violently and just about everywhere, darkening the snow, adding a splatter 'paint job' to the side of the Panther she normally rode in, and splashing onto the other two crew members who were outside of the tank.

Geshiko and Miura began screaming, seconds later Geshiko's screaming turned from one of horror to one of downright agony as a shell tore the entirety of her left leg off. She fell face down into snow shrieking in agony and clutching what was left of her left leg in an attempt to stem the loss of blood, which fortunately wasn't much, the sheer brute force of the round must have lacerated and pinched the veins, the artery, and capillaries that the thing had torn open with its passage. But the pain was still tremendous.

Miura began to try and drag Geshiko so they could get on the other side of the tank and to relative safety. But that didn't happen as two maybe three rounds caught her in the upper torso and utterly pulped it. Moments later their was a high-pitched scream with a streak of fire and smoke and something slammed into the side of Tank 10 and the whole Panther erupted like a fiery volcano. Seconds later a cataclysmic explosion tore the turret off the tank and tossed it like it had been thrown by an angry god. The burning flaming turret landed some six meters away from the destroyed Panther. More streams of tracers slashed in with a lot of anger behind them.

"BUTTON UP! GET INSIDE!" Maho yelled, both into the radio, and the open air. How could someone do that? Open fire on a Tankery Team, especially defenseless students who weren't even in a tank. The League, and especially the parents would be on the warpath. It couldn't be Miho. There wasn't a hateful bone in her nearest kilometer. She respects Tankery too much to do such a thing. Hearing the fire slacken, Maho made a decision. "All students, remain inside. I will take a look." Ignoring Erika's almost certainly tearful pleas to the contrary, Maho popped the hatch, and grabbed binoculars. To call her reaction a surprise would be like calling a Maus a light tank. Maho quickly got over her shock and brought her binoculars to her eyes and her jaw promptly dropped at what she saw.

Nine ZBD-03 IFVs were advancing on them, firing their 30mm Autocannons and coaxially mounted machine guns as they did so. However around the IFVs was also advancing was a bunch of infantry at least a full company of men, they were armed with various weapons, including what looked like to be rocket launchers. Maho paled, each IFV but they had a lethal looking missile as well on a rail next to the autocannon, except for the leader, it's missile was gone. We need to get rid of them, or scare them off. She thought.

"ALL TANKS TRAVERSE! TRAVERSE! RIGHT STICK! LOAD HE AND FIRE AT WILL!" Maho screamed, her composure having simply shattered under this withering barrage of live ammunition that had just torn apart three of her tankers as well as an ATGM that had claimed the lives of two others, not to mention utterly obliterating a Panther Tank.

The thirteen remaining tanks rotated almost as one and then formed into a V shape and then opened fire. A thundering barrage of Sensha-dou regulation High-Explosive shells roared away from the barrels of the German Panzers and slammed into the Chinese formation with devastating effect. Enormous plumes of snow and dirt were hurled skyward, the thundering crash of multiple shells exploding rolled over the group of Panzers. As the dust, dirt, snow, and smoke began to settle it revealed something incredible. Not a whole lot of the figures that had been outside of the IFVs were still moving, plus one of the shells from the looks of it had been guided by vengeance and had utterly decimated one of the hostile IFVs, the one that had fired its missile, that machine was burning quite happily.

Seeing that sight made Maho very happy, which was almost equalled by disturbance. She toggled her throat mic. "All tanks, target those IFVs and fire on my command. Load HE." She ordered coldly, she wasn't going to show them any mercy at all, because they hadn't shown Geshiko's crew any mercy so why should she show any?

"UTE!" Maho snapped several moments later. A thundering salvo of thirteen HE shells erupted from as many barrels. It seemed like the IFVs some 900 meters down range simply ceased to exist. They exploded into brilliant fireballs, their turrets being hurled skyward as the ammunition and fuel simply exploded, flames simply engulfing what remained. Hot aluminum shrapnel slashed out cutting down any infantry who was still standing as effortlessly as a razor sharp guillotine blade cutting through a man's neck.

Watching all of this, Maho contemplated what this meant. How are there vehicles like these on the field, with crews willing to kill? Something is wrong. Quickly keying in to the frequency reserved for emergencies, Maho declared an all stop, casualties on the field. While directing those with the requisite knowledge to begin first aid, she quickly ran through what happened. The judges were, dubious.

"YOU FIRED ON SOMEONE, WITHOUT CHECKING IDENTIFICATION?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS COULD MEAN FOR THE LEAGUE?!"

"Forgive me, but I believed returning fire to be the best course of action after witnessing four fellow students killed by gunfire, another critically injured, and one of the tanks under my command obliterated. Not simply knocked out, mind you. It has been completely destroyed." Maho retorted, insinuation flowing freely. "If you would kindly vector an aircraft to our position, we have wounded. We have begun first aid measures. And please, warn the other team as to what has transpired. Ooarai may also be in danger."

Before long, the drone of a twin engine aircraft soon grew in volume. Looking to the skies, Maho, and the others, now more vigilant, spotted the referee's aircraft. It came close, flew several passes, then began to turn away. Maho received a call over the radio. "Paramedics are enroute via helicopter now. ETA 8 minutes." "Thank you. They've managed to staunch the bleeding somewhat." The relief was paramount in Maho's voice. Looking back towards the wreckage of the assailants, Maho's concern grew further. 'The JSDF would never fire on us, no matter what. Furthermore, those aren't Japanese vehicles. Who were they?' Shaking off her melancholy, Maho refocused on the reality of her situation. Four people had died, with a fifth in critical condition. She needed to be strong, for her sister, and her comrades.

Realizing that they had to contact Ooarai, Maho got on the radio. "Tank 15, are you with us?" Maho asked, referring to the Luchs of the group, which at the moment was off scouting, the crew of that tank always got some good-natured ribbing simply because they crewed the 'Cutest Tank in the world.' It was also one of the faster tanks of the group, as well as the lightest.

"Ja, Kommandant, we are! You got orders for us?" The commander of the Luchs, a young second year by the name of Himi Kao asked in response.

"Affirmative, I want you to find Ooarai's Tankery Team and alert them of the situation. I don't care if you have to approach them completely unbuttoned with a large white flag flying from the commander's hatch, you just find them and tell them." Maho ordered.

"Ja, Kommandant! Consider it done! But, uh, Kommandant. We saw a medical helicopter flying towards your position at high speed a few minutes ago, is everything alright?" Himi asked nervously.

Maho quickly explained what had happened, her voice shaking slightly as she did so. She realized that the encounter with those IFVs had severely rattled her, then again it had been the first time someone had been shooting at her with live ammunition. It had been terrifying, hearing those rounds bounce off the hull and turret, knowing that if they had penetrated the results wouldn't have been pretty. Seeing three tankers mercilessly cut down in the open and watching an ATGM utterly destroy a tank and the two crew members inside of it. Right now it looked like Geshiko would probably survive, but her school year and season were most certainly over, not to mention the loss of her ability to walk unaided. The trauma from taking a hit from a 30mm AP round was simply horrific.

She sat down heavily in the commander's chair of her Tiger I and began to contemplate what she should do next. But even as the medical helicopter came in for a landing, Maho had a feeling that this first encounter was just beginning.

Ooarai Girls High School Main Column

"Contact, two o'clock! Looks like Kuromominie's Luchs! That's strange, it's coming at us with it's crew unbuttoned." Nekota, the commander/radio operator of Anteater Team announced.

Miho grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked in the direction that Nekota had indicated. Sure enough, there was a Kuromominie's Panzer II Ausf. L coming toward them at a relatively slow speed, the crew completely unbuttoned. The fact there was a white flag visible, meant that something was very wrong.

"All tanks halt! Do not fire!" Miho ordered sharply. Something here wasn't right, Maho wouldn't send their only scout to find them and then to approach them with it's crew completely unbuttoned. Complete with a white flag, this whole thing was setting alarm bells off inside Miho's head and not the fact that this could be a trick. Mainly because that she knew that using a trick like this would go against everything the Nishizumi Style stood for.

The column came to a sharp halt. Miho noted that even though she had given orders to not fire, Anteater was tracking the thing with it's turret as it approached, obviously ready to knock the tank out if it tried anything funny. The small Panzer's fifty millimeter cannon could penetrate the frontal armor of most of Ooarai's Panzers, but only at ranges less than 500 meters.

So to say that Miho was surprised when the Panzer came to a stop only some thirty meters away and then the commander dismounted was understating the situation immensely. So much so that it caused Miho to blink in surprise, she now knew in her gut that something was just plain wrong. She stood up and dismounted from her Panzer IV herself.

"Nishizumi-dono! Where are you going?" Yukari called out after her. Before she fully pulled herself out of the commander's cupola she answered. "Something's not right here, Yukari. I am going to find out what that is."

She then pulled herself out of the Panzer and dismounted herself. She strode over to the Panzer II Ausf. L Luchs commander, who, for her part did look a little cold. "Commander Nishizumi, I assume?" She asked tersely.

"Yes?" Miho answered, not entirely sure what this was about.

"I am Himi Kao, commander of the Panzer II Ausf. L behind me. Something has happened. Kommandant Nishizumi," she paused before an amused look came across her features for but just a few seconds before it passed, suddenly replaced with hard stoicism. "About twenty minutes ago, the main Kuromorimine Column was engaged by nine Chinese ZBD-03 Airborne Infantry Fighting Vehicles as well as Infantry. They killed four crew members and critically wounded a fifth, and destroyed a Panther Tank with an ATGM. We're not sure what's going on, but whatever it is, it can't be good." Himi said.

Fifteen hundred meters away from the Ooarai Main Force

In a treeline a mere fifteen hundred meters away from where the Panzers that Ooarai were fielding sat. Fifteen ZTD-03s approached, ready to engage anything they saw.

Lieutenant Fang growled as he got report from his radio operator/gunner that they had lost all contact with the IFVs they were supposed to protect. According to their last report, they had run into tanks of unknown type and had engaged. Just before they had lost all contact, he had received a partial transmission that had said "Oh fuck, are those fucking Panzer V Pan-" before being cut off amidst a large explosion.

"Commander, contacts!" Someone called, thinking quickly Fang ordered all tanks to a halt. He then peered through his commander's viewport and couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a mixture of World War II era Tanks of varying types, mostly mediums but their was what appeared to be a couple of heavy tanks, an assault gun, and even a pair of light tanks.

However, partially due to the weather and the fact that both the two commanders that had dismounted were pretty close to the Luchs which meant their shapes on Thermal somewhat blurred together, Fang couldn't see them. Still, he had a feeling that those were Japanese Sensha-dou tanks, which meant school children. But before he could bark out orders, there was a thundering boom as one of his platoon commanders opened fire. The remaining four tanks in that platoon then promptly opened fire as well. Shells landed amongst the tanks which promptly began to button up and rotate toward them, except for one of the tanks.

It had been hit by what appeared to be a HEAT round and it had blown the entire backend of the tank apart in a hellish explosion, whatever the thing had been, Fang just couldn't identify it, the tank had been that badly mangled, pieces of it were all over the place. It's trashed hulk was now completely wreathed in flames and thick black smoke was drifting skyward, marking the grave of the machine.

"3rd platoon, cease your bombardment goddamnit! I didn't give any orders to open fire!" Fang snarled.

"But sir! Those are enemy tanks!" The platoon commander shot back.

"NO! YOU ASSHOLE! THOSE ARE JAPANESE SENSHA-DOU TANKS! THEY ARE CREWED BY SCHOOL CHILDREN!" Fang roared angrily, even as muzzle flashes erupted from the barrels of the fifteen tanks that one of his platoons had opened fire on.

As Fang watched, three ZTD-03s in third platoon were hit within a matter of seconds each other. Two tanks had their ammunition explode almost instantly which threw the turrets of those machines right off the hulls and to the ground while the third one began to brew up, the crew of the third ZTD managed to bailout before the tank became an inferno but he could tell that everyone in that crew was injured in someway.

Those school tank crews were good, really good. Considering that they had managed to hit three tanks without thermal imaging or night vision just by back-tracking muzzle flashes at night. In response the other remaining two tanks fired as Fang watched the two glowing tracers through his scope. They were both spike rounds judging by the velocity, both of the rounds to his surprise actually bounced, one hit the turret cheeks of what appeared to be a IS-1, maybe a KV-85 and the other hit what appeared to be a Tiger Tank in the turret cheeks as well. Fang grimaced, the ring from those rounds bouncing must have been incredible inside the fighting compartments.

The fifteen tanks fired again, this time they had a little less success, but they still scored hits. As he watched several rounds impaled a ZTD-03, it's engine erupted into flames, both tracks were blown off, and the main gun barrel got ripped in half, the crew promptly bailed out and ran for another tank that hadn't fired. The other tank took several grazes and one direct hit which ripped the turret apart.

Fang told himself right then and there if the commander of 3rd Platoon had survived, he would shoot the fucking bastard himself. At least, from the looks of it, none of the School Panzers had been hit, apart from the two bounces he had seen, and of course that one tank that had become an inferno. He actually pitied the ears of the crewmembers of those tanks, mainly because tanking a bounce from a regulation round was one thing but taking a bounce from a live round was another thing entirely.

"All tanks pull back, let's get out of here. Also someone tell me if the commander of 3rd Platoon survived. I want to execute the fucking bastard myself." Fang growled. Moments later his tank lurched into reverse and sped away from the edge of the treeline, heading deeper into the trees.

Several minutes later, Fang ordered the platoon to halt and noticed that yes, the commander's vehicle for third platoon had survived. It's turret had been wrecked but it was still movable. Still Fang was pissed, his company was down five tanks, with three destroyed, one immobilized and having been forced to abandon it, and one combat ineffective. He dismounted from his tank and stormed over to that combat-ineffective ZTD, he found to his pleasure that the commander of third platoon had indeed survived, albeit a little battered from when his ZTD had been hit, but not that Fang minded.

He dragged the man out of the tank dropped him onto the snow and pulled his QSZ-92G handgun out of it's holster, racked the slide chambering a 5.8x21mm round, disengaging the safety and then firing the weapon once into the back of the man's head, the powerful handgun round blew the man's brains out. "LET THIS SERVE AS A WARNING TO ALL OF YOU. DON'T ENGAGE ANY FORMATION OF VEHICLES WE SEE WITHOUT MY DIRECT ORDERS!" Fang bellowed angrily, mainly because just of one man's foolish actions his company was down a third of its tanks not to mention committing a war crime and making it clear that he wouldn't take such insordbourination again.

Back at the Ooarai main column

It was to put it simply, hell back at the Ooarai column. Even as Miho slowly crawled out from under the Panzer II Luchs she could tell that whoever had engaged them had done so with live ammunition. Mainly because the sound from the incoming had been incredible, sounding totally different from even the 128mm that the Jagdtiger and Maus mounted when they fired at you.

The smell of burnt cordite, diesel fuel, and another far more horrible smell, the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Miho looked for the source of that horrible smell and quickly found it. The Type 89B I-Go, Duck Team's tank had been hit and had simply been turned into a funeral pyre. No one had managed to bail out of the Type 89B I-Go in time before the thing had been turned into an inferno, hell it was nearly unrecognizable, having been blown to utter bits, pieces of the tank were strewn all over the place. With a sudden cataclysmic boom, the ammunition cooked off and lifted the turret right off the tank, further tearing apart it's hull. The trashed turret came to rest some four meters away from the rest of the tank.

Miho sank to her knees and started crying, several of her teammates/classmates were dead and there had been nothing she could do to stop it. How could she call herself a tank commander if she couldn't even protect those under her command?

She felt someone put an arm across her shoulder. "Come on, Miss Nishizumi; we've got to get out of here. They could return." Yukari whispered into her ear, pulling at her. Trying to get her to stand up, but Miho didn't want to leave. She had failed as a commander. Not that it stopped Yukari from trying to get her to stand up, she kept on pulling.

"I don't want to." Miho muttered through her tears.

"We have to! Those tanks must have had thermal imaging and night vision equipment to land a bunch of near misses, one direct hit, and two glancing hits!" Yukari said as she tried to heave Miho to her feet.

"Yukari-san, let me try." Someone said, it sounded like Piyotan.

"Alright, Piyotan. Give it a try." Yukari said letting go of Miho and taking a few steps back. Miho felt a hand grab her arm and with a grunt, she was lifted to her feet. "Come on commander, we need you to be strong for us. Because you're the glue that holds us together." Piyotan whispered into her ear.

"What sort of commander can't even protect her subordinates! How could I have let this happen?" Miho whimpered in response.

"It was an ambush, it happens. I doubt that even if you hadn't been talking with that Luchs commander that you would have been able to prevent the loss of Duck Team. Not that it says anything bad about your capabilities as a commander. You did manage to beat a University Team, who were using Pershing's, a Centurion, a couple of Chaffees, a T28 Super Heavy Tank, and a Karl Mortar; with a scratch team that had no practice before hand working together, plus it was an annihilation match. If anything it speaks wonders about your ability as a commander." Piyotan said. "Miho, we need you now. We need you to lead us. You'll keep us safe. I know it."

"She's right, Commander. You'll get us to safety, no matter what." Yukari agreed.

"But, how? I've already failed in keeping everyone safe. How can I trust myself to get everyone else to safety when four people have already died and we didn't even fire a shot to try and prevent it?" Miho whispered her voice incredibly weak as she was lead to the Panzer IV Ausf. H.

"Because you are strong, Commander. You would risk yourself for your teammates. For us." Piyotan whispered to her. "You're the strongest of all of us."

Miho simply gazed at the burning Type 89B as she contemplated the words of both Piyotan and Yukari. They both had brought up excellent points, but she couldn't bring herself to admit that while she was an incredibly talented Tank Commander, she had failed in protecting teammates from hostile fire and not of the sort from Sensha-dou regulation rounds either. It was so fast, but more than that, it had been so cold, so heartless. One moment the crew had been alive and smiling and the next, they were burning to death inside their tank.

There were some truly terrible ways to die on this world. Drowning in a tank was one, burning to death inside a tank was another. As with both cases one was often helpless because tanks could brew up into an inferno frighteningly fast, and with the other, when the tank flooded, the pressure difference meant that one had to wait till the compartment filled completely with water, which could take a distressingly long time. All the while one could be banging on the hatches trying frantically to open them, wasting precious air in a panic.

Miho shakily climbed onto the Panzer IV Ausf. H, pulled herself into the commander's cupola, and sat down heavily in the commander's seat. "S-s-saori, switch the radio frequency to the emergency freq. We need to contact Kuromorimine and figure out our plan of action." Miho said stuttering with seemingly every other word.

"Hai!" Saori replied crisply before beginning to fiddle with the radio. This was terrifying, Miho just wanted out of here. We have to get to high ground so we can see better, otherwise we are helpless. Miho thought grimly. It was simple fact, they needed to get to higher ground.

"Got it Mipiron!" Saori called out, even as the radio crackled to life. "This is Nishizumi Miho, commander of the Ooarai Academy Tankery Team, declaring an emergency. We have been attacked by vehicles not part of the Tankery League, causing fatalities. To repeat, we have had an incident with non-League forces, resulting in fatalities. Please advise." Choking back tears, Miho awaited a reply.

"Commander Nishizumi, we copy your declaration of emergency. We are vectoring an observation aircraft towards you, and will send medical services as soon as possible. Currently, medical services are assisting Kuromorimine, but we are getting reports of large aircraft passing by, deploying airborne troops and equipment across the Niigata Prefecture. We are evacuating the viewing grounds now. It may become impossible to send medical services to you." Match control replied.

"Negative on the medical services. We don't need doctors here, but a priest." Miho replied, barely able to keep her composure.

"...Would you like us to pass a message to your family on the field?" The voice inquired.

"Hai." Miho replied weakly.

"Rōgā." Match Control replied quickly. "Go ahead."

"Maho. We were also attacked. I and my crew are okay. But we lost some as well. I need to see you." Miho stuttered out, trying to maintain her composure, but it seemed that with every passing minute it was becoming hard and harder to do so. "Please, onee-chan. Please." Now, she didn't even try to hold back the tears. They flowed freely down her cheeks, as her grief and sorrow for Noriko Isobe, Taeko Kondou, Shinobu Kawanishi, and Akebi Sasaki simply become too much for her to hold back. Names that would be seared into her mind for the rest of her life because of her failure to do anything to save them.

After what seemed like an eternity a very familiar and welcome voice came over the airwaves.

"Miho. It's okay. I agree, we need to meet up. Grid number F6. Climb the mountain ahead of you. And please, take care, Miho." Maho said, comfortingly.

"Rōgā." Miho replied tersely, still weeping slightly.

"Mako, please drive us over to grid number F6, all Panzers follow us." Miho ordered over the radio, her voice still somewhat shaky. With a jerk the tank rumbled into motion, Miho watched solemnly as the still burning remains of Duck Team's Type 89B I-Go began to recede behind them. She didn't even notice the Panzer Luchs getting in line with her Panzer formation and following like a loyal puppy until the Panzer IV crested a hill and began to go down the other side, shielding the Type-89's corpse from view.

The tanks continued rumbling along. Every now and again a fighter jet would roar over the battlefield. The thunder of artillery was beginning to resound in the background. War had arrived in Japan, the Chinese were landing in force, plus it was likely that they were going to commit even more forces to the Korean Peninsula, now that their intentions were clear. That would allow the North Koreans to launch their own invasion of Japan.

Is it going to end, with my Team desperately fighting off a bunch of enemy infantry and MBTs? As much as I hate to think about it, infantry we can take care of, but MBTs we have no chance of penetrating unless we get behind them and hit them in the exhaust. I don't want to fight at all. Miho thought bitterly as the tank began to rumble up a steep slope. She looked up and saw that they were beginning to rumble up a hill. She glanced at the map and saw that it was the hill where Maho promised to meet them.

It didn't take too long for the machines to reach to the top. "Let's dig in. Get some defensive works going, I want everyone hull down." Miho ordered, regaining some of the confidence that she had lost.

"Maho, we are at the top of the hill. We're waiting on you." Miho said.

"Rōgā, we will be there in probably two hours, we had another encounter with enemy vehicles. This time it was ten ZTD-03s, we destroyed four for sure and landed hits on three others. But they managed to in return to blow off the tracks of my Tiger, Erika's Panther II, Rikato's Jagdpanther, and two of the Jagdpanzer IVs. No more damage was sustained, however. It was strange, almost as if the enemy commander recognized we were Sensha-dou tanks and ordered immobilization shots instead of kill shots." Maho reported tersely.

"Is anyone hurt?" Miho cried, a weight settling into her stomach.

"Negative. They disabled our vehicles, then moved away." Maho replied crisply and Miho sighed a long and heavy sigh of relief at hearing those words.

Some thirty minutes later though, with a roar like thunder, two jets screamed overhead. They quickly snapped around as if doing another pass. "Yukari what are those?!" Miho asked nervously as the two jets roared overhead. There was a distinctive red and yellow emblem on them.

Yukari's answer surprised them all. "I don't know, they were moving too fast! But judging by the emblem, those were most certainly People's Liberation Army Air Force planes!" Yukari replied quickly.

They most certainly saw us. Miho thought as she remembered the planes and their emblem. "Everyone prepare for enemy attack." Miho ordered sharply, realizing that they could come under attack.

As it turns out they didn't have long to wait. "Anglerfish Team, Leopon here! We've got movement! Distance is approximately 5000 meters. It appears to be Chinese Tanks! Christ, there must be at least ten ZTD-03s, plus five more tanks leading the formation, though I can't identify them, plus we got a bunch of tracked vehicles coming in behind them." Nakajima said sharply.

"Yukari!" Miho barked, knowing that she was the best thing they had when it came to figuring out tanks and other vehicles.

"Hai!" Yukari replied, undoing her hatch and grabbing a set of binoculars. As she swept her eyes over the enemy force approaching her heart sank into gut. "Bad news Nishizumi-dono. There are approximately ten ZTD-03s, fifteen ZBD-03Bs, and five ZTZ-59Gs inbound." Yukari said her voice barely a whisper.

Not again. I don't want to lose anyone again. Miho needed options. "Yukari, is there any way we can defeat them? I know we won't be able to destroy them" Not that she wanted to. She just wanted everyone safe.

"Just one Nishizumi-dono. If we can hit their tracks and then their turret rings or main guns we might be able to go for a mission-kill. But without live rounds that's going to be tough. In fact, with Sensha-dou regulation rounds, it's just about impossible. But, even our Sensha-dou AP and HE rounds will have no problems dealing with the enemy light tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. But I am worried about what they might have for infantry weapons." Yukari replied sounding worried and for good reason, they were up against no less than five Main Battle Tanks which also had ten Light Tanks supporting plus fifteen Infantry Fighting Vehicles each with seven passengers in them.

Which meant that besides the vehicles they would also have to deal with one hundred and five men, which equaled to almost a full company of infantry. The ZBD-03s stopped and disgorged their loads of infantrymen, each armed with either an Assault Rifle, a DMR, an LMG, or, worst of all, an RPG. Combined with the large number of tanks that they had to deal with, they were likely in trouble.

"All tanks, target the light tanks and IFVs first. Open fire on my command." Miho ordered as the tanks began to rumble up the hill, with the infantry following behind them. Steeling herself for what she knew she was ordering, what she was telling her friends to do, Miho took a deep breath. "Commence bombardment!" Miho shouted.

The ground erupted as multiple guns of varying calibers opened fire, lobbing shells down range. Plumes of snow and earth erupted skyward as shells landed among their targets. Several machines were hit in the first salvo and promptly erupted into plumes of fire and smoke, coming to a dead halt in an instant. The enemy vehicles returned fire, which was largely ineffective, the enemy had to be just as scared as she was. The guns of Ooarai's tanks finished reloading and fired again, more plumes of dirt and snow were churned up by the high-explosive shells. More enemy vehicles were hit.

"Commander! We've succeeded in tracking one of the ZTZ-59s! It's dead in the water!" Erwin reported gleefully.

Miho peered through her vision ports. Sure enough, one of the ZTZ-59s had lost a track and its idler wheel was bent almost all the way off by the force of the hit. "Hippo team, knock that thing out. Put a shot into the turret ring and then the gun barrel so it can't return fire!" Miho ordered sharply.

"Jawohl Kommandant!" Erwin replied.

The 75mm gun on the Panzer IV fired again and this time Hana let out a bit of cheer. "Nice shot Hana!" Yukari cheered happily as a ZTD-03 exploded like a plastic toy, it's turret being thrown into the air as if it weighed nothing. Then there was a heavy boom that rang through the hull causing a terrible ring. "Jesus Christ!" Mako hissed.

"What was that?!" Saori asked in alarm twisting around in her seat to look at Miho.

"We got hit! From the sounds of it by a 100mm HE-FRAG shell from one of those ZBDs!" Yukari shouted as she slammed a round into the breech of the 7.5cm KwK 40 L/48 gun. "Up!" She announced.

Several seconds later, Hana barked "Firing." and she pulled the firing stud. The gun fired, a deep thundering boom that caused the turret to rock back slightly at the sametime the empty case was now ejected out the back of the gun. "Damn, missed!" Hana whispered as the shot landed just to the left of a ZTZ-59G.

The enemy was returning fire in earnest. 30mm, 100mm, 105mm, and 125mm HE-FRAG, APFSDS-T, and HEAT-FS rounds were landing amongst them in earnest now. Suddenly a titanic explosion rocked the Chinese line, Miho looked through her vision ports and let out a cheer. A ZTZ-59G was out of the fight, it's turret laying a dozen meters away from the hull which now had flames licking out of it. "Yeah! That got him! Commander we got him with a shot trap into the hull!" Erwin called out her voice giddy with excitement.

A drumming like rain began to rattle against the hull of the Panzer IV, machine gun and rifle fire. The enemy infantry was engaging. Miho peered through the dust and smoke and spotted something alarming. "HANA! There's a man with an RPG at three o'clock! Take him out!" Miho screamed as he spotted the man hefting what appeared to be an RPG-7 right at the Panzer IV Ausf. H.

The turret rotated and then several moments later the coaxial machine gun came to life, a thundering rat-tat-tat-tat that filled the fighting compartment, the clattering of ejected shell cartridges hitting the floor of the fighting compartment also resounded. The man stumbled and then staggered before suddenly collapsing amid a red spray, as the man fell he fired his rocket, the shell screamed right past the commander's cupola so closely Miho could actually see the stabilization fins for the warhead, go blazing past.

We can't hold on like this. Miho thought as more and more tanks began to fire their machine guns at the advancing infantry. The fire that the enemy armor was putting out was overwhelming, mainly because they were starting to bracket the Panzers, plus their armor couldn't take hits. Autocannon, rifle, and machine gun fire began to drum on the hulls like no tomorrow as the enemy machines opened fire with nearly everything they had.

However this battle wasn't entirely one sided. Most of the infantry had been cut down or wounded, some squads were starting to pull back in the face of overwhelming firepower. Not to mention all of the light tanks and the majority of the IFVs had been hit and where now flaming wrecks, but the four remaining MBTs kept on advancing wading through the incoming fire like it was nothing. Could those monsters even be stopped? As shots from Leopon and Bear team both bounced off the front of one of the ZTZs, it wasn't even phased.

Saori suddenly screwed up her face. "Oh that's just mean!" She snarled angrily.

"What is it, Saori-san?" Yukari asked.

"One of the ZTZs just insulted us! Berating us for our lack of firepower and ability to fight." Saori said pouting. "Don't worry about it Saori, they are just trying to get under our skins, we've done a pretty good job in terms of stopping enemy vehicles." Miho said. Returning to the task at hand, Miho schooled her appearance, so nobody would see her concern. There was nothing they could do, except watch as the enemy tanks came closer and closer, heedless of the volume of fire being hurled towards them. It was only luck, and a small amount of foresight that had kept everyone safe thus far. But, the fighting holes could only do so much, and some of the other vehicles were very exposed, like Rabbit Team's M3 Lee.

What do I do? Everybody is counting on me. What can I do? Unfortunately, for Miho, the answer refused to manifest for once. However, it's been said that war turns seconds to hours, though in this case, it was quite the reverse. In a charge that would make Guderian himself jealous, Maho's forces roared out from the trees to the northwest, spewing fire and metal in equal, hateful measure.

"Miho, well done on holding for long enough. We'll drive them off. Stay vigilant, however. There could be more." Maho's voice was the greatest relief Miho had ever felt.

"Aww, I want to help rout the enemy!" Came the cry from the Sturmgeschütz III. Unable to formulate a response, Miho was happy to hear Erika of all people responding.

"Absolutely not! You are needed to hold the defensive line! Under no circumstances will you leave your position!" Came a screaming that forced Saori to turn down the volume. So much so, that they very nearly missed the response.

"Yes, Vice-commander Erika." Erwin apologized, embarrassment obvious in her voice.

After the last of the enemy had been driven off, with only bodies and burning hulks left behind, Maho returned. Once all tanks were safe inside the ring of fighting holes, everyone dismounted, and hugged. They all had something in common today. They all had to watch friends die, and had been forced to fight, and to kill. Sharing snacks, and words of comfort, everybody stopped to listen to the radio broadcast that was now coming in.

"This is Sergeant Bruce Wilson in Niigata, to all civilians in Niigata Prefecture. This is an evacuation order. There are currently Chinese forces landing all throughout the country. If you can hear this broadcast, try to make your way safely to Niigata proper. There is a defensive line established by the Self Defense Force, and United States ground forces around the city. Bring only clothes and food and water. The administrators aboard the school ships docked here have agreed to let refugees on board, as evacuation ships. To the Tankery teams of Ooarai and Kuromorimine, we have received reports of what has transpired. Please, use your vehicles to return to your Academy Ships. We will be departing from this area at noon, two days from now. This broadcast will repeat. Good night, good luck, and may God or the Gods bless you."

And there you have it. Yes, we killed Duck off immediately, but bear in mind, theirs was the weakest tank of the 'Battalion,' with armor values between 6 and 17 mm in thickness. To put that into perspective, there are tanks from The Great War with more armor. So, I guess we should discuss our roles. I will be the proofreader, the editor, and the technical advisor.

While I am going to be the main writer, but Baron will write some of his own sections as well. Now as you can tell, this will be a hell of a lot more terrifying, we are trying to accurately recreate war as much as we can. So expect to see blood, maybe some gore, most certainly swearing, and other things.

As for the Sensha-dou rounds penetrating modern vehicles, the AP rounds are designed to fragment and crush on impact, thus the shell doesn't penetrate the target but kinetic force is still transferred to the target. Yet these rounds are also very similar to military grade drill rounds meaning they recreate the trajectory of the round that they are very accurately. However the ZTDs and ZBDs we have seen in this chapter there armor is only rated to stop at most maybe some 20mm cannon fire. Which means that something like a 75mm or 88mm Sensha-dou round has way more velocity behind it than a 20mm round for example. HE on the other hand does have penetration but it is generally very poor, to the point that unless it hits in just the right spot it won't penetrate, but the spalling is what is causing the carnage when it does connect with an LT or IFV.

As for Erwin's StuG taking out a ZTZ-59G, he managed to pull off a nearly impossible shot, hitting the turret in such a way that the round bounced right into the top of a hull, which is very thin. Thus allowing it to penetrate, the top armor of tanks even today is incredibly thin, the fact that ZTZ-59Gs store ammunition all throughout turret, meaning that a penetrating hit can detonate the ammunition and incinerate the crew, while causing the turret to blow off in the Jack-in-the-box effect when all the hatches are closed.

In fact while we are talking about the StuG, the difference between the Ausf. F and the Ausf. G actually isn't that much, just Schürzen armor like on the Panzer IV Ausf. H plus an increase in frontal armor, but the gun is the same.

Translations:

Rōgā: Roger