The Panzer IV lurched forward as Mako gunned the engine. The air inside the tank was thick with tension—oil, sweat, and the acrid scent of gunpowder seeping through the vision slits.
Miho gripped the edges of the commander's seat, her breath steady but shallow.This isn't a match. This isn't a match.
"Loaded!" Yukari shouted, slamming a Pzgr.39 shell into the breech.
Hana's hands stayed firm on the traverse wheel, the turret grinding toward the oncoming T-34s.
"Range?" Miho asked, binoculars pressed to her eyes.
"Eight hundred meters," Hana murmured.
"Too far. Hold fire. Let them come closer."
The T-34/85s opened up, their guns more than capable of turning the Panzer IV into a burning wreck. Only Miho's tight commands and Mako's skillful driving kept them one step ahead.
Elsewhere, Winter and his Panthers had turned to engage. Their long 75mm guns, deadly at distance, barked from the treeline.
As they closed in, Miho issued another order as she ducked inside the tank and closed the hatch."Saori, start firing tracers—keep the line at about two meters. We're not aiming to kill infantry, just pin them down."
The hull-mounted MG-34 chattered to life. Red tracers arced above the heads of the advancing Soviet infantry, kicking up snow and earth in controlled bursts.
"Good—just like that," Miho said, eyes still scanning. "Keep their heads down."
The effect was immediate. The infantry broke formation, ducking for cover. Without their support scattered, the T-34s became isolated.
Winter's Panthers took full advantage.
From the treeline, the Panthers surged forward. Their engines growled like wolves unleashed, and their cannons snapped with lethal precision.
One T-34 exploded in a column of fire and twisted metal, its turret launched skyward like a discarded cap.
"Panther Two, confirmed kill," came a calm voice over the radio.
But the Soviets didn't sit idle. One Panther caught a direct hit from an 85mm round—ricocheting off the mantlet and detonating inside the turret.
Miho saw the tank erupt. "APHEBC," she muttered.
"BR-365A," Yukari confirmed, grimly impressed. "Soviet blunt-nose. If it gets through the mantlet... well..."
She didn't have to finish. The crew didn't make it out.
Still, the rest of the Panthers held their line. Winter's voice came over the radio, cold and clipped."Panthers, tighten formation. Aim for the gunner's sights—blind them."
Mako swerved hard, treads tearing into the frozen ground as another T-34 shell screamed past, close enough to blister the paint.
"They're adjusting!" Hana warned, already shifting the turret.
"Loaded!" Yukari barked.
"Hana, traverse left—lead tank, aim for the lower glacis!"
The turret turned like a dancer, and Hana fired. The 75mm roared. The shell struck, but the T-34/85 didn't return fire. Instead, it slipped past in a tight drift and turned its cannon—not on them, but on a Panther covering German grenadiers.
Miho watched it fire. The Panther took a hit, smoke pouring from the front, but miraculously didn't explode.
"Miho... that T-34..." Hana's voice was tight. "It looks... different."
Miho focused on the tank through the slits. The paint job was pristine. The movements—sharp, professional. The aim—too accurate for any standard Soviet crew.
Her breath caught. "That's not Red Army."
The tank's movements were too fluid, too deliberate. Its camo was fresh, the star on its turret a four-pointed version, not the Soviet five. Its target priority—first armor, then infantry—was tactical, not brute-force Soviet doctrine.
Then it fired again. Another Panther was hit. Smoke bled from its vision slits. The crew bailed.
Winter's remaining Panther fired back—but the T-34/85 dodged, swerving with uncanny precision. The German round missed by inches.
"No regular crew moves like that," Mako muttered, eyes locked forward.
Hana through her gun's optical sight realised the distinct four pointed star mark on the tank instead of the regular five, something she knew she has seen before.
When informed, Miho was also worried about the tank's identity.
Then a jolt—the Panzer IV's side rocked. A 76mm shell clipped their schürzen armor, forcing Miho to refocus.
Soviet infantry and supporting 76s had gotten dangerously close. Winter spotted it too.
"All units, defensive positions!" his voice snapped over the radio. "We're abandoning this line. Romanians as well."
"Fall back by sections! My Panther will cover the withdrawal. Mädchen-Panzer—cover the left flank!"
The battlefield devolved into chaos. The Panther reversed in tight order, firing as it went.
Mako threw the Panzer IV into a rough turn, retreating in sync. Saori kept the MG blazing, the red tracers slicing through the haze.
Infantry—German and Romanian—clambered onto the truck and the half-track without any clear grouping as the line fell back under fire.
One Romanian 38(t) took a direct hit, vanishing in a fireball. The once-organized column of 6 tanks and to infantry vehicles now down to just three tanks and a third of the infantry though the truck and half track were still okay.
Winter called for support from the rest of the division. While, Miho was left to cover their backs. Panthers could only reverse at eight kilometers per hour—too slow without cover.
"Panzer, halt!" Miho ordered.
They stopped behind a low stone wall of a destroyed barn. The Panzer IV crouched like a predator, gun trained on the Soviet line.
"We can't hold forever," Mako muttered, wiping her brow.
"We don't have to," Miho said, peering through her binoculars. "Just long enough."
The mysterious T-34/85 had vanished, refusing to engage them. But the rest of the Red Army was still pressing forward.
"Saori, keep suppressing! Aim to disrupt, not kill!"
As Saori fired, Mako kept the tank moving—angling, dodging. Hana tracked a nearby T-34.
"Traverse right—suppressive fire!" Miho commanded.
"Loaded!" Yukari called.
The Panzer IV fired. The shell struck the enemy's mantlet, shattering the periscope and forcing the commander inside.
Saori's MG kept biting into the advancing infantry. But the Soviets had learned. They advanced in bursts now, smart, using cover and wreckage.
"They're adapting," Hana muttered, adjusting her aim.
"Mako, reverse another fifty meters—keep us angled!"
The Panzer shuddered backward. A shell missed them by a whisper, slamming into the ground behind.
Then came the radio crackle—Kruger's voice.
"Get out of there, Mädchen. Artillery inbound."
"Verstanden!" Miho snapped. "Full retreat, now!"
The engine roared. Mako reversed hard. Yukari secured loose ammo, Saori kept firing, Hana scanned their rear.
Then came the thunder—not tanks. Artillery.
Shells screamed overhead and slammed into the battlefield. Fire and smoke swallowed the Soviet advance.
"That's our cue!" Yukari shouted.
The Panzer IV joined the retreating line. Winter's last Panther covered them, its gun spitting death at any pursuers.
As they reached safe ground, Miho looked back one last time. The battlefield behind them was hell—fire, smoke, burning steel.
Back at camp, Kruger met them with a firm nod.
"Gute Arbeit, Mädchen. Without your quick thinking, we'd have lost the entire column."
Winter and his crew, along with the Romanians and the German grenadiers, came forward to thank them—not just for spotting the ambush, but for staying behind and buying them time.