“General Halfrich,” the Crown Prince pretended to be offended, “the army of Strosvald is not an army of apes that all it can do is stand upon a wall and beat its chest. It is a modern army, and modern armies control the flow of battle by attacking. We are not a nation of spears and sieges, we are one with tanks and airplanes.”

Halfrich knew plenty of modern tactics and strategy. He knew that Strosvald’s interpretation of them was merely aping that of the Reich, who had pioneered such warfare. The War of Emrean Liberation was an important lesson in their nation’s capabilities, revealing how important the Emrean heartland had been to extended warfare. The Reich had lost due to being unable to win the war before they petered out and grew weak while the Emrean revolutionaries were able to rely on their vast natural resources. Strosvald had read the Reich’s books, but knew little of executing what they taught. Such thought flew through his mind, but to challenge the Prince would be pointless.

“Very well sir,” he said instead, “I have no further questions.”

You are Lieutenant Richter Von Tracht, and you are quite a few things. Tank platoon commander, recently commissioned officer of the 2nd Royal Guards Division, petty nobility and professional princess smuggler. Or whatever you’d call Maddalyn, the noble spawn you had picked up all the way back at the beginning of the war. Nothing had the same punch as princess.

You had recently found out about a smattering of peculiar happenings. Oversized invasive fauna and secretive wizards being the particular things, which would have been incredibly interesting if not for the fact that the Grossreich of Czeiss was devouring the country. For the purposes of staying focused on the more pressing matters, you had shoved thoughts of the mysteries of soulbinding and their elusive practitioners to the side. From what Bertram, a soulbinder whom you had once thought was a normal if quite skilled soldier of Strosvald, had said, he would be taking care of most of it anyway. He had been averse to answering more questions that had appeared since you had reunited anyway.

The afternoon of the day you had met with Bertram again, it was time to move out of the capital and back to the front lines. A major battle was said to be coming up; a battle where the armies of the Archduke would rout the Kaiser’s hordes and turn the tide of the war. The call had gone up, and your platoon moved out with the rest of their new company to load their tanks onto trains to Messingplatz, the assembling area of the Siegfried Army, named for the Crown Prince who was leading the counterattack.

There was one last issue of Maddalyn making herself troublesome as usual.

“That woman never stops belittling me!” she complained to you. She had changed from her usual fashionable apparel to the coverall of an army mechanic. She had no experience in mechanical upkeep or repair, but she had agreed to assist your new platoon mechanic, Elli, after your recommendation. You presumed it would result in far fewer headaches in the future as she would stop trying to hurtle herself into the frontlines. As much as she liked to pretend otherwise, she knew as little of soldiering as she did of mechanics.

“I don’t mind working under her, I’m not too proud for that. I just need some…time away from her. Please?” She made pleading eyes at you like a small dog would. She was a relatively cute girl, with shoulder length red locks and blue eyes, but you knew more than enough about her to not be swayed by a pretty face.

As a lieutenant, you would be quartered in the officer cars along with all the other commissioned officers. She would not be bothered by the officers as she might be by the enlisted men, as most of the officers were of noble bearing similar to her own.

>You may come along with me if you are that bothered

>Nothing will improve between you two if you avoid each other at the first opportunity. Stay with Elli.

>Perhaps your relationship will improve if her superior is around. I will come with you to your car.

>>44396913
>Perhaps your relationship will improve if her superior is around. I will come with you to your car.

>>44396913
>Nothing will improve between you two if you avoid each other at the first opportunity. Stay with Elli.

>>44396913
>Perhaps your relationship will improve if her superior is around. I will come with you to your car.

“She can’t be that bad.” You shrug, “I’ve already done the requisite paperwork and the train ride will be short. I’ll make sure she doesn’t bully you.” Maddalyn’s wide eyes narrow astonishingly quickly. “Unless, you’d rather enjoy your company with her.”

“What? No, uh, no that’s fine. Good.” Maddalyn replied, flustered. “They haven’t loaded the big trucks yet, so we haven’t gotten on yet. We’re supposed to be back here.”

The big trucks she was referring to were Handelwagen Model 10 Half Tracks. Designed for moving incredibly heavy payloads, they were the largest utility vehicles in Strosvald, if not the world. Like much of Strosvald’s heavy equipment, they were a licensed produced model from Naukland, who had originally commissioned them from Handelwagen to move their heavy artillery; an important element in Naukland’s defense. Their incredible size and strength made them well suited to towing tanks as well, and moving them with a special trailer. You recalled seeing one in the platoon motor pool with a large crane, presumably for moving heavy parts in and out of tanks such as the engine.

As soon as you arrive with Maddalyn you see Elli jump down from a flatbed car, recently burdened with the crane bearing Handelwagen.
“And where have you been?” she drives a finger into Maddalyn’s chest, “The entire division is understaffed, what made you think you could take a break?” Elli looks up, her stern expression loosening somewhat. “Hello, Lieutenant. Are you returning my assistant?”

“…Yes.” You say, “Maddalyn had some concerns”

“She’s not your subordinate, Lieutenant.” Elli grits her teeth, “If she has a problem she can take it up with me, instead of hiding behind a big strong man.”

“See?” Maddalyn hisses in your ear, “She doesn’t do anything but get on my case!”

This was going to be a long ride.

Maddalyn talked your ear off for the first half hour after the train got started. She repeated points and dragged on topics even she didn’t seem interested in, anything to distract from having to interact with Elli, who would come around and leer at her from around a corner every so often.

Eventually you had to try and make some progress here.

>What is your problem with Elli?

>What do you think Elli’s issue with you is?

>What have you been doing while we were back in the Capital?

>>44398028
>What do you think Elli’s issue with you is?
"Might be your upbringing."

>>44398107
Second

“What do you think Elli’s issue with you is?” you interrupt Maddalyn as she uncertainly tries to start a conversation about how awkward it was to board the Hanswagen when one was as short as she. “She’s experienced and well trained. She doesn’t seem to be the arbitrary sort, so why do you think she dislikes you?”

“My ravishing good looks.” She says sarcastically.

“You think she doesn’t like you because you’re a noble, don’t you.”

“I can’t help that-“

“I don’t think that’s all of it,” you continue. “If it were just because you’re a Von, then she wouldn’t like me either. I haven’t been around her as much as you have, so tell me what you think.”

“Well, I can’t think of too many other reasons. She’s Stein’s sister, right? It is only natural for the common person to envy the lords.”

This wasn’t going anywhere quickly. “Gefreiter Beck!” you shout out.

“She has a rank?” Maddalyn asks incredulously.

“Everybody has a rank. The pencil pushers and the truck drivers have ranks the same as the soldiers do.” You explain slowly as Elli responds to you call. “She might not like that you aren’t referring to her by her rank, when you are below her.”

“Below her!?” Maddalyn stiffened, but she looked up and shut up.

“Yes, Lieutenant?” Elli stood in front of both of you. “Does the brat have more concerns?”

>Maddalyn would like to apologize for her insubordinate behavior

>Maddalyn would like to know the root of your dislike for her

>>44398428
Root dislike and maybe an apology if nescesary

>>44398428
>Maddalyn would like to apologize for her insubordinate behavior

>>44398428
>Maddalyn would like to know the root of your dislike for her

“A few more than she had before,” you say, “To take care of one, Maddalyn…”

“What?” She glares at you.

“Address your superior by rank.”

Maddalyn stares back at you for a second then looks down. “Gefreiter Elli.”

“Beck.” You correct her.

“Gefreiter Beck.”

Better. “Is missy going to swallow her pride?” Elli said in mocking surprise, “What a shock! Maybe next she’ll treat the rest of the company mechanics like they aren’t snails in her garden.”

Maddalyn glances back at you. She is about to say something, but you say it before she can suggest it.

“Gefreiter,” you begin, “I cannot have you fighting with your assistant at every opportunity. Maddalyn does not know what she is doing for you to act this way towards her.”

Elli frowns, and takes a wrench from her pocket and begins to twirl it. “Nobody else is doing it. Father did not treat me any differently than his sons, and I became stronger for it. Does this strawberry shortcake want to become strong or not? She’s used to other people solving her problems for her, and if you will pardon my criticism, Lieutenant Von Tracht, your treatment of her will not change matters.”

With that she wings the wrench at Maddalyn’s head.

>Try to jump in the way (Roll 1d100)

>Do nothing

>Try to yank Maddalyn out of the way (Roll d100)

>>44398857
>Try to jump in the way (Roll 1d100)

Rolled 27 (1d100)

>>44398857
Attempt to catch the wrench.

Rolled 44 (1d100)

>>44398857
>>Try to jump in the way (Roll 1d100)

Rolled 62 (1d100)

>>44398857
>Try to jump in the way (Roll 1d100)

You reach forwards towards the whirling steel bar, not thinking about how senseless this act seemed. The wrench twirls in your palm as it strikes, and what could have been a skillful catch turns into a slap. The wrench twirls away, and it makes a soft clapping noise against the floor of the train car, uncharacteristic of its metal appearance. When you struck it, it felt remarkably light, as well.

Maddalyn blinks a few times and then recoils as soon as she realized what had happened.

“Did you just throw that at me!?” She almost shrieked.

Elli doesn’t acknowledge her, and merely continues to star at you, her face drawn in disappointment.

“I see,” she sighs, “If that’s how it is, then fine.” She walks forward and picks up the wrench, bending it in her gloved hands, then letting it snap back. “Maybe it was naïve of me to expect you to trust me.”

Elli then walks past you without another word.

“…Thanks for that,” Maddalyn says softly after a minute, “Maybe she didn’t like it but I wouldn’t have appreciated getting hit in the face with a wrench, fake or not.”

You were about to say how it was nothing, or some other recognition of her gratitude, but she continued.

“I think she was right though. You’re not always going to be here and I shouldn’t expect you to be.”

She smiles at you. It’s an awfully pretty smile, and not something you have seen her do often. “I’ll be fine now. You have other places to be, don’t you?”

You bid her farewell and get up to go back to your place on the train. As you head for the door, you hear a sharp WHAP, and a shocked yelp that sounded like Maddalyn.

“If you have time to flirt then you have time to work!” You hear Gefreiter Beck shout, “Come over here and check the latches on the Handels!”

One of the cars between the vehicles and the officer cars is a car full of members of the newly created 2nd Penal Division. You enter to an unnatural silence. All of the soldiers in the car appear to be lost in thought. A few hushed conversations take place in the corners; it is far less lively than a typical car. It was understandable; these men were hardly comrades. Penal battalions were never organized the way the intact units had been; it was theorized that breaking up the subversive elements would prevent further trouble.

As you go onwards, you are roughly halfway through the car when you hear a rasping voice.

“You! I know who you are!”

You were not sure if you should respond or not. The man was clearly addressing you, but that may or may not have been a bad thing coming from a penal soldier. Anybody who was not a part of your platoon or the 2nd Royal Guards thus would have to have been a member of one of the turncoat formations of the Von Blums, your former patrons. You didn’t know if any of your old comrades knew of the actions of your platoon, or if any of them had acted similarly when they had found out they were suddenly on the side of the Kaiser of the Grossreich rather than the Archduchy of Strosvald.

>Acknowledge the voice

>Keep going

>>44400222
>Keep going

>>44400222
>Acknowledge the voice

>>44400188
>throws metal wrench at untrained noblewoman
>b-but its okay, it was made out of rubber all along, why didn't you trust me?

what the fuck m8

>>44400222
>Acknowledge the voice

>>44400222
>>Acknowledge the voice

You turn around to look at whoever is talking to you.

The man is thin and bony, his eyes sunk deep into his skull. He does not seem to be starving or in poor health, but his face is oddly skeletal all the same. His face is stretched between smiling and grimacing as he speaks to you.

“Yes, you! You were on the border. You gathered those around you and struck back at the Reich when the hour was dire. Then…we never saw you again. What happened to you?” His expression became uncomfortably dark, “Why aren’t you in here with the rest of us? What are you doing out there,” he touches a finger to the silver magnolia flower on your tunic, “With one of these?”

> I did not turn traitor by the whims of those above me. I made my own decisions, instead of blindly following decisions I knew were wrong.

> I was sidetracked, and came back to strangers

>Write In: Other

>>44400651
>I did not turn traitor by the whims of those above me. I made my own decisions, instead of blindly following decisions I knew were wrong.

>44400651
The prince protects. Fight well, and you too shall wear this.

>>44400800
Second this

>>44400651
>> I was sidetracked, and came back to strangers

>>44400800
>>44401202

We don't want to seem like we're berating him for simply being a soldier and following orders when he likely had no choice in the matter. That would be a dick move. We were just lucky enough to be in a position where we could make that choice.

>>44400651
>I was sidetracked, and came back to strangers

“I was lucky,” you lie, “I got separated from the rest of the regiment, and when we finally found out where we were, we were on the side that won in the end. I was even investigated when I returned to the capital, but because I was in the right place in the right time I avoided what has happened to you.”

“Damn your luck,” another voice says, his voice thick with spite, “Twice a traitor more like. I don’t know what sort of man kills his former comrades and calls it luck.”

You feel a hand on your shoulder and you turn to see a man with a massive burn scar on his face. You do not remember him clearly, but he must have remembered you. “Why are you here then? To shoot us in the back when we’re done doing the killing for you? You don’t make threats to a man’s family like your lot did and let them live after they’ve done what you want.”

“Comrade, please,” the bony man gently lifted the scarred soldier’s massive hand off of your shoulder, “We were all confused. We are here, and all we can do is try to redeem ourselves.”

“Redeem ourselves in the eyes of the Archduke?” the scarred man sneered, “I only did what I was told. Perhaps the Kaiser should take over our country after all.”

“Thought of treason are hardly the ideal attitude to have in your position,” you retort, “Perhaps if you had thought of what you were doing instead of blindly following, you would be wearing a badge of the Archduke instead of conspiring against him.” You normally wouldn’t have said this, but the man’s confrontational nature was beginning to rub off on you the wrong way.

“That’s it,” the scarred man threw off the skeletal man and stared viciously at you, breath heavy. You were both roughly the same height, but he appeared to be somewhat slimmer than you. “I’ve had enough of being told I’m just some stupid asshole for fighting for my friends. Traitor or not I’m going to beat the shit out of you.”

He certainly knows you’re an officer, but he seems to have avoided noticing that you are armed, or he presumes you will actually have a brawl with him.

>Hash it out of his system. Show him his place on the food chain with a fist fight

>Draw your sidearm and tell him he can piss off

>Try to defuse the situation (Write In)

>>44402319
>Hash it out of his system. Show him his place on the food chain with a fist fight
"When words and weapons fail, only a man and his fists remain."

>>44402319

Tell him that beating the shit out of an officer is an inadvisable way of relieving his frustrations. If he wants to fight he'll have plenty of opponents when this train gets to its destination.

>>44402319
"Funny, The von blums ordered me to shoot my friends too, know what i did?"

>>44402319

Seconding >>44402958

So I need to sleep, but I don't feel like I'm done with the weekend yet. If anybody interested wouldn't mind keeping the thread bumped if need be until I get back later, that would be nice. If not, whatever.

--------------
--------------
“Fighting me would prove nothing,” you say, “I thought about the consequences of just following orders. I didn’t just shoot my countrymen without thinking about it.”

“When did your former comrades stop being your countrymen?” the scarred man shot back, “You didn’t seem to object to shooting up your former allies without any questions. What makes you so different from us? You could have just run away, but instead you chose a side. You aren’t so high and mighty, so you can shut your mouth!”

You hadn’t considered yourself high and mighty, you wanted to say. It had just been the right thing to do. You knew that was a lie though. It had really only been fortune that had brought you to where you were now, not any moral superiority. You were just a pawn for a different player.

You didn’t have any time to finish your thoughts before the scarred man drove a fist into your left cheek. Before you know it, you were flat on the hay covered floor, staring up at the crooked roof of the railcar. You sat up, swearing loudly and guarding your face, but your assailant didn’t follow up.

A quick peek through your hands showed that the scarred man had been tackled to the ground by a band of his comrades. The bony man helped you to your feet quickly, looking sternly into your eyes.

“You should leave,” he said gravely, “We’re all like to be dead in the coming battle anyway.”

You try to sputter out an apology but the man ignores it. “Leave,” he repeats.

The place where the scarred man struck you quickly turns into an ugly bruise, covering the lower left half of your face. You think about tying your kerchief high on your face, but it proves to be useless. The bruise is impossible to hide. Hopefully, you’ll be able to lie about where it came from to your crew and platoon.

You are able to see the assembly area as the train closes towards the city. It is in a relatively large depression in the land. A makeshift airfield has been set up, brimming with small planes of all sorts. Reconnaissance biplanes make their way up and down the runway one after another, the navigators of each rushing out as soon as they can towards a central building. Rows upon rows of armor, some of it clearly foreign armor that had been given a messy coating of Strosvald Field Grey paint. A forest of artillery barrels stuck up from the complexes; a massive flow of traffic coming in from the direction your train was heading for. Even now, as you came in behind all the other formations planned, there was more troops and materiel flowing in. It was not even all Royal Guards either; a smattering of flecked grey and white jackets betrayed the presence of Altöss mountaineers, far from their alpine territories of southeastern Strosvald but fierce fighters nonetheless. It was the largest concentration of Strosvald’s armed forces you had seen; it had an invincible quality to it, even though you knew the armies of the Reich far outnumbered it.

The awe evaporated as you realized you would have to move through that mess. You thought about what you would do when you arrived. The orders concerning what to do were quite vague, and you expected that, from the looks of the assembly area, nobody would care about the individual decisions of a lieutenant anyways.

>Get your platoon off the train as soon as possible and to the assembly area, and wait

>Let the platoon be handled by the company and go straight to division headquarters for briefing

>>44404003
>Get your platoon off the train as soon as possible and to the assembly area, and wait

Time to take the girl's advice

>>44404003
>Get your platoon off the train as soon as possible and to the assembly area, and wait

Who will take care of them if not us? We need to find good quarters and food before others do it.

Actually, do we have a platoon Sergeant or an equivalent to give this job to?

>>44404003
>>Get your platoon off the train as soon as possible and to the assembly area, and wait

Bump

bump for posterity

bump

Okay so I might have gotten slightly sick and died for the entire morning.

Better now. Writing.

>>44410879

This is what platoon sergeants are for.

You roused your platoon before the train had even stopped in the depot. The sooner you were off, the better, in these conditions. It probably wasn’t a good idea to wander back through the Penal cars, so you elected to wait until you could get off and go around them to organize the last part of your group.

For however slightly psychotic your platoon mechanic may have been, she was efficient. When you had come around, the Handels were already off the flatcars. It was as if she had had them driven off the side while you were pulling in; a possibility you felt you could not leave out of running.

Looking down at the chaos below the depot, which had been kept mercifully clear of the detritus of the last train, you wished there was somebody else who could take care of this, which would at minimum last for a couple of hours, while you went to find out what was actually going on. Something like a sergeant for the platoon.

You actually never bothered to appoint a platoon sergeant, stupidly, in all the chaos. You surely had one at the start of all of this, but your current platoon wasn’t exactly organized so much as it was smashed together. Having one would certainly prove to be for the best, however. It would certainly beat what you were doing before, which was running around doing everything yourself, even if it wasn’t really your job.

Best to remedy that now, you figure.

>Pick a platoon sergeant

>Tank 2 Commander: Has a slight hearing problem, presumably from the time a howitzer shell shattered his tank’s turret. Has his own way of interpreting things he is told; appears to fill in the blanks himself rather than asking again. Has served for over a year before the war broke out.

>Tank 3 Commander: A commander who is quick thinking, but leans on authority in times of pressure. A nobleman somewhat like yourself, but a bastard and thus unable to inherit. Served for a year and a half before war broke out.

>Tank 4 Commander: Was once the tank’s gunner, but replaced his commander after the commander was wounded during the Battle of Weissbrucke. Luckily, the gunner was meant to be a commander in the first place, before the company was gutted in the opening moments of the war. Seems talented, but got used to following orders instead of taking initiative, judging from his actions. Served for half a year before the war.

>Tank 5 Commander: Rash, impulsive, but able to reel himself in for orders. A sixth son, desperate to prove himself. Is as fresh off the boat as you were.

>Any other questions or concerns will be addressed before final selection

>>44411554

>need someone to boss people around
>not picking Maddalyn, who desperately needs to find a position she's useful in and, as a member of the nobility, literally her only useful skill is bossing people around
>not developing a reputation as the one crazy platoon that has a woman for a PSG but manages to always complete their mission despite overwhelming odds

QM pls

bump

>>44411554
>Tank 4 Commander: Was once the tank’s gunner, but replaced his commander after the commander was wounded during the Battle of Weissbrucke. Luckily, the gunner was meant to be a commander in the first place, before the company was gutted in the opening moments of the war. Seems talented, but got used to following orders instead of taking initiative, judging from his actions. Served for half a year before the war.

Thread dead redemption.

>>44411554
>Tank 4 Commander: Was once the tank’s gunner, but replaced his commander after the commander was wounded during the Battle of Weissbrucke. Luckily, the gunner was meant to be a commander in the first place, before the company was gutted in the opening moments of the war. Seems talented, but got used to following orders instead of taking initiative, judging from his actions. Served for half a year before the war.
>Tank 5 Commander: Rash, impulsive, but able to reel himself in for orders. A sixth son, desperate to prove himself. Is as fresh off the boat as you were.
I'm torn between 4 and 5. I want 4's experience, but 5's mindset.

I'll got with 4

Tank Commander 2. We need a man who can think on his own, and who has proven himself under fire. Orders can always be confirmed, but leadership is harder to transmit down the chain.

>>44411554
>Tank 2 Commander: Has a slight hearing problem, presumably from the time a howitzer shell shattered his tank’s turret. Has his own way of interpreting things he is told; appears to fill in the blanks himself rather than asking again. Has served for over a year before the war broke out.

Since it doesn't seem anymore votes are coming in, I hate to take a fat dump on you guys who voted later, but I already had the first vote scenario written out before I started doing a bunch of other crap, so I'm using that. If you have a problem with that, you have every right to, but I don't know of a way to do it that wouldn't be some bullshit coin toss.
---
---
The commander of tank 4 seemed to have dealt well with the turbulence thrust upon him. He might make a decent second in command to the platoon, if only you had bothered to learn his name. You knew the name of the last commander, just in time for him to take a hit and get tossed out of the war.

You find him among your platoon. He has a face that looks like it was smashed with a brick, and then molded into proper shape again with several more bricks. “Hey ugly” would be rather rude, if accurate, so you go with the usual method of acting like you know who you are talking to.

“Hey, you.” You point to him as every single person in the area looks up. “No, not you, you. Come here.”

“Lieutenant?” the commander stepped towards you, “What is it?”

You looked desperately over him for a nameplate. “Unteroffizier…Janssen.”

“Janssen is my gunner.”

Whatever. “I am designating you my second in command, in the absence of any higher decisions.”

“Really? I am-“

“Your first task is to take the platoon to the assembly area. Have fun.”

Your new second in command looks like you had just given him a bag of garbage, but he turns on his heel and begins to handle your platoon. He was at least prompt, if not from what you know, imaginative.

With that handled, you sought out your company commander, Hauptmann Otto Smitt. You had known Otto ever since you had run into him back in Blumsburgh, at the very start of the war. He had been a Lieutenant just like you then, but the battles his regiment endured required emergency promotions, which got him to where he was now.

File: messingplatz2.jpg (674 KB, 1500x1500)

674 KB JPG

The greetings were kept short and to the point. “Von Tracht,” he said after the formalities, “We don’t have much time. Reconnaissance parties have already engaged the enemy, and command has ordered an all-out assault by tomorrow. I’ll be briefing everybody at HQ in half an hour. You’ve left everything in capable hands, yes?”

“What? Oh, yeah.” You respond, thankful that you had just caught the lack of structure in your platoon. Doubtless there were other things missing, but what you had for now would be sufficient, especially if an attack was to come tomorrow.

“Right,” Otto said as soon as all of the platoon leaders had accounted for themselves, “This is the situation. It isn’t any secret that this operation is going to be a big one. This army- The Siegfried Army, is going to press the Reich’s 5th Army against the Plesschibe River and trap them. If the 5th army is destroyed, the Reich will be forced to cancel their operations to the north, in Plisseau, and retreat. The 5th Army, according to what we’ve been told by scouts and spies, is dispersed between here and the Plesschibe fork. The Plesschibe River has few bridges; the northern hook of the attack will cut off the enemy’s primary retreat, and the Penal corps will cut off their other avenue. Our work, the Duke’s Own, is…”

Otto drew a line with his finger into the Plesschibe Fork and tapped it, “To drive into their heart and destroy them, while they are occupied with our allies on their flanks. The Sudenberger Army of Plisseau will occupy the Reich’s 3rd Army until the operation is completed. The Crown Prince has high hopes for this battle, so, as I have been required to say, ‘anything but devastating victory will not be tolerated’. As such, the remainder of the Sosalian Air Force and any artillery that could be brought up are being committed here. This is where we stop the Reich.”

File: mess_op1.jpg (628 KB, 1500x1498)

628 KB JPG

“Our company’s first task is to advance with the rest of the Regiment and secure advance firing positions for our heavy artillery. Once they’re set up, we can make a forceful breakthrough and run amok in their rear lines while their strength is towards the Penal troopers. Anything too large to run over, we have annihilated by the guns. First, however, we must secure their hill. Each of your tank platoons will be accompanied by a platoon of panzergrenadiers. We don’t know exactly where or how many of the enemy are in the territory ahead, but scouts report that there aren’t many of them, and they’re weak. We should be able to roll right over them if it comes to a fight. Are there any questions? Concerns?”

>Questions and Concerns

As a side note, this is as far as I wanted to take the thread yesterday, so after addressing anything in context I'll be done here, since I have a lot of prep to do.

>>44416802
It legitimately took me this long to realize I hadn't informed you all of which platoon you are.

For reference, it's 4th.

File: cruiser.jpg (18 KB, 300x193)

18 KB JPG

>>44417846
>>44416802

>>44416802
>>44417846
>>44416802
Do we have a breakdown of our platoon? And what are the capabilities of the Grenadiers? Equipment, vehicles, etc...

What enemy forces and equipment can we expect to encounter on the hill?

>>44417902
woah, not sure why I got all the reply things there lol

>>44416802

Am I reading the terrain map right in that it slopes downwards in the center and then climbs up into hills 20 and 18? If so it looks like it'll be important that 5th company keeps pace with or is ahead of us, otherwise we stand to get demolished by the enemy positions below hill 18 as we enter the last phase of our assault.

>>44418044
Yes, that is how the terrain is. Big, but shallow valley


>>44417902

The platoon is made up of five Pz. m/32 tanks; medium tanks armed with 47mm guns, an 8mm coaxial and a 13mm hull gun. The platoon command tank is a customized variant with a longer gun and thicker armor.

Strosvald Panzergrenadiers are armed with bolt action rifles, submachineguns and light machine guns, as well as anti tank rifles, and ride in two ton utility trucks.

The enemy forces are unknown in exact quantity but are not composed of anything that hasn't been encountered before. They are mobile forces, and are unlikely to have heavy weapons that are not part of vehicle armament.

>>44418548
we know that the standard 13mm round will punch through the light tanks armor, what about purpose AP rounds for the 8mm?

>>44418829
That won't work on anything the Reich fields There are weak points on some of the armored cars but otherwise the armor is thick enough to defeat 8mm AP at combat range. Point blank may be a different story in a few cases.

>>44418548
Ok thanks, what does our tank crew have for personal weapons, and can they be fired from hatches in our tank?

>>44418900
what bout some more of that specialty cannon ammunition that we had before?
Can we requisition some more canister rounds, or some more exotic shit that they have? Incendiary rounds or something?

>>44419345
tanks have crew smgs and we have our personal pistol

I think the tanks may have grenades but I'm not sure

>>44419347
>>44419370
Yea, do we have anything that can burn infantry out of cover and concealment

>>44419345
One submachinegun and three carbines, not counting sidearms.

>>44419370
Three fragmentation grenades are standard for a tank, but considering the build up in the area, it is possible to grab extra, or even smoke grenades generally relegated to elite infantry.

>>44419347
If you were using a different model of tank there would be, but the 47mm cannon does not have a dearth of specialty ammunition due to being not only a newer model of gun but also an imported design. High explosive, armor piercing and canister is all there really is, and canister is hard to find. It is popular as well for obvious reasons, so while one could look for it there probably isn't much of it left if any.

>>44419445
On the tanks no.

Infantry flamethrowers are knocking about the place but they are old models.

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>>44419584
Our driver is the weird Northlander right? He seems to be rather capable and observant. Can we send him out and see if he can borrow a few of those items? And if he happens to come back with a flamethrower, well we can always use it to barbeque with at the very least

>>44419584
I suppose we haven't time or the materials to simply take a few 47mm casings and load ball bearings into it instead of loading up a standard shot/shell on top of it?
assuming we have 2 part ammunition, of course

>>44419861
That's pretty genius, I mean we have a talented mechanic around who could probably rig something like that up. I wonder if we could get pure tracer belts for our 8mm

>>44420019
eehhhh
we kinda pissed off our mechanic last thread
she's not going to be going out of her way for us after that

also are there phosphorous (white phosphorus) munitions in service?
I know accounts of a WP rifle-grenade knocking out a panther in the Hurtgen forest by de tracking it

>>44419861

I don't think ball bearings are something that are just lying around in large numbers outside of factories, and even if there are the mechanics probably need them and can't afford to give up dozens of them for the sake of specialty ammunition. I'd rather stick with conventional ammunition if it means having vital spare parts the tanks might need to continue to run. Plus, we have plenty of machineguns and won't be in urban areas, so we should be able to get along just fine without canister shot.

>>44420258
Doesn't need to be new good bearings, or even bearings at all
Chaff and lagrange is the term, I believe for loading what ever you have into a cannon and firing it, I believe there's enough scrap iron and broken glass around a military encampment this big for at least half dozen shells

>>44420362

That wouldn't work at all in a modern high velocity tank gun. Loading random debris into a cannon and firing it can work when you have a blunderbuss or smoothbore cannon using low power black powder loads. In a modern rifled cannon the debris that isn't evaporated by the powder detonation would gouge its way into the rifling and render the gun useless, and whatever pieces did make their way out the bore would have an abysmal and unpredictable dispersion and the chances of them hitting anyone not standing 10 feet directly in front of the gun are just about zero. Again, we have plenty of machinegun ammunition. None of this is necessary.

>>44420487
first off, assuming we actually do this we would take all that shit into consideration
secondly this is just fun postulation by while waiting for tanq to wake up from his nap

>>44419861
They're single part shells. I don't really know enough about shells to be able to say whether or not one could jerry rig a canister shell out of garbage, but I'll have to support the argument of why one would do it at all what with machine guns and high explosive shot.

>>44420019
For the first part, she's a mechanic, not a weapons engineer. Her focus is oil and moving parts, not explosives.

For the second, you could, yes, but you'd have to steal them from the anti air gunners and fighter pilots if you want more than you already have.

>>44420189
WP is used in smoke shot, but the calibers for it are only used by artillery and mortars and bombs in the army of Strosvald. The same is true for Bertholite, in case you didn't think that was being used anymore.

>>44420974
Wait, we can chlorine gas our enemies?

And do you dream up scenarios during your maps and then come back and implement them here tanqu?

>>44420974
I assume that the WP in the smoke shells is kinetically spread, and doesn't contain a he bursting charge?

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>>44420974
Have a shitty copy of our tank emblem

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>>44421369
My attempt lol

>>44421630
you make that independently of mine?
If so fucking hivemind with the coloring and shape and shit

>>44421797
No I was just following yours haha, is that the official emblem or did you just make it?

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>>44421888
based off of the suggestion from a previous thread

bump

bumping

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>>44418548
>The platoon is made up of five Pz. m/32 tanks
So we definitely lost the SPG that we captured during the weissbrucke city assault? and what about those kt-24? or that captured armored scout car?

>>44428084
Nice poster! Saved

>>44423623
>>44425124
As appreciated as this is, I did say I was done running unless there's more q&a.

Which it looks like there is.

>>44421060
You can gas your enemies, yes. The main character took up issue with that last time it was brought up though.

As for the second part, I guess so?

>>44421353
I don't know enough about the real sort to say whether or not they are. The smoke grenades are not WP though, to clear that up.

>>44428084
Confiscated for use by understrength units.

You're part of a proper formation now, instead of being a glorified warband.

>>44430028
What kind of air support are we expecting, and what AAA defenses do we believe the Reich has?

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>>44430028
>I did say I was done running

It's funny how you think you have a choice in this