Chapter 3 murphy’s law

“No plan of operation reaches with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy’s main force.” - Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

Bunker somewhere south of Cuxhaven

8 December 1945

06:28

Slowly stretching, Gertrud looked around the bunker and half-expected to see sunlight until she remembered where she was. The Karlsland naval communication bunker was pretty worn down but to Gertud, she didn’t mind as long as the basic necessities were operational. In the bunk next to her, the Liberion witch she had rescued was still fast asleep. Not wanting to bother her, Gertrud walked out into the hallway to a high-hanging pipe, the Karlsland witch tested it’s durability to hold her and satisfied that it would, began to do some pull-ups. It was a routine she usually did mostly every day back at base and she wasn’t about to let the fact that she was behind enemy lines stop her from conducting her daily exercise to make sure she was in top shape. Getting a feeling she was being watched, she turned around to see that the Liberion witch she had rescued last night was awake and walking.

“You get some good sleep last night?” Gertrud asked.

“Yeah, thanks for saving me last night.” the Liberion witch said.

“No problem.” Gertrud said as wiped some sweat off her brow. “I was out doing some scouting on the Neuroi when I saw you got shot down. Your name's DeBlanc right? I remember you from that mock battle between the two 506th units.” Gertrud said as she remembered being a judge of that match.

Jennifer nodded, “You can just call me Jennifer. What is this place?”

“I think this is a Karlsland naval communication centre, I found some naval code books in the radio room.”

“Wait, is the radio room working?” asked Jennifer hopeful.

“Unfortunately no, I don't have the technical expertise to fix it.” Gertrud replied.

“I can try to take a look at it.” Jennifer relied. Just then, her stomach growled as she remembered that it was around this time she usually had breakfast back at base. Gertrud noticed and went over to where half a chocolate bar was laying on some stacked boxes and handed it to her.

“Have some, soldiers have to eat in order to function properly.” Gertud said as Jennifer graciously accepted and snapped a piece off and chewed on it to savour the taste. 

“I’m going to go prepare for breakfast, I brought in some snow for us to boil water. I found some canned food in some of these boxes.” Gertud said as she held up a can of food which had some rust on it, but the seal was still intact. 

“Let me start the fire on the stove Flight Lieutenant, go get dressed.” Jennifer offered. 

Gertrud nodded, “Sounds good. Kitchen is the second room on the right, I’ll prepare the food. Oh, and you can just call me Trude.” 

Jennifer nodded as she headed off while Gertrud went back to her room and got dressed in her uniform she had let dry and headed to the bunker's kitchen. Jennifer was already near one of the Feldofen bunker stoves in the corner of the room and had put in some firewood and discarded paper as the stove began to heat up nicely.

Grabbing two cans of beef stew, Gertrud pried them open with her bare hands and poured the contents into a mess kit. She grabbed another mess kit that she had collected snow in the night before and hung both kits from the side of the stove, Gertrud and Jennifer watched the stove and smelled the stew as it began to cook. 

“Looks done.” Gertrud noted after ten minutes as she carefully took out the mess kits from the stove and placed it on the table. Both witches happily began eating the warm meal, while the stew lacked flavor probably due to sitting in a bunker for several years, both witches didn’t really care as it provided them  with sufficient nutrients to keep her going. Drinking the boiled snow water as she finished her meal, Gertrud’s thoughts dwelled back to her friends. Right now Erica was probably still asleep and Gertrud wondered who would have to go into their room and try to wake her up. Minna was probably up and getting ready a sortie to rescue her. She just hoped Minna wasn’t getting too emotional that she was behind enemy lines. She could hold her own on the ground as long as the Neuroi didn’t know where she exactly was and she rationed the limited amount of food she had. Gertrud knew the statistic that the chances of rescuing a shot-down witch reduced by nine percent everyday that went by.

As Gertrud continued to ponder, she could feel her heartache, it was only less than day, but she could feel a bit isolated with no one else to interact with. Shaking her head, she shifted her attention to thinking of the two Neuroi witches that had shot her down, running through the dogfight in her mind several times, analysing what went wrong. The enemy had baited her, she had never seen two Neuroi witches on the battlefield together, much less coordinated their attacks to attack her from her blind spot. But one question still nagged at Gertrud that she had no sufficient answer, “Where were they taking me. Why didn’t they simply just kill me? They had the chance to.”

 “Is something wrong?” Jennifer asked. 

The Karlsland witch looked up, “Did you get shot down by a human looking Neuroi?”

Jennifer nodded as she regaled what had happened the night before, afterward Gertrud did the same. Both of them were struck by how similar how both of them were shot down in similar situations.

“Why would they shoot us down and then try to take us alive?” Jennifer asked out loud. Both witches racked their brains for a few minutes as they continued to eat but neither of them could come up with a sufficient answer as to what these specific Neuroi were doing. Finally, Gertrud finished her meal and got up.

“Where are you going?” the Liberion asked.

“Going to scout and try to find some more supplies for us. You stay put, you aren't going anywhere with that wounded leg” Gertrud said as she pointed to the bandage on Jennifer’s left leg.

“Alright, just be careful out there.” Jennifer said. Gertrud nodded as she went back to her bedroom and donned a winter coat and boots. Going over to a wooden table that was in the room, she grabbed a pencil and paper in addition to a pair of binoculars. Finally checking her MP-40, Gertrud stuck spare magazines into her coat as she headed out. Once she was sure she had everything, Gertrud met Jennifer at the door as the Karlsand witch gingerly opened the door to the bunker. The area was still dark as the sun had not yet risen over the horizon yet. Gently climbing on top of the bunker, Gertrud scanned the horizon with her binoculars. In the distance, she could just make out several Neuroi turtle tanks trundling around the countryside. Continuing to look around, Gertrud didn’t see much, jotting down any Neuroi positions, what types she saw and how many. As the sun rose, she put away her binoculars lest the lens glare gave her position away. Breathing in the cold air, Gertrud slid down the side of the bunker to take a look around the area of the bunker. Carefully making her way through some dense trees, Gertrud came across what looked like downed wreckage of part of a bomber. Slowly approaching, Gertrud realized she was looking at the tail section of a B-24, the bomber had probably been bisected by a Neuroi laser. Peering into the interior of the wreckage, Gertrud gingerly stepped in and carefully scanned around with her submachine gun. Stepping deeper into the wreckage, Gertrud rummaged around for the escape kits the crew were distributed with in case they were shot down. Gertrud found some canned food, chocolate bars, syringes of morphine, pills to sterilize water, and bandages. Continuing deeper into the tail section, Gertrud opened an ammunition box and found what she was looking for.

“Bingo. Thank god, they carried duck tape on this aircraft.” the Karlsland witch thought as she breathed a sigh of relief and had renewed hope of getting into contact with friendly forces. Safely tucking the tape into her coat pocket, Gertrud looked at where the tail turret was and jumped back slightly. 

With the rear turret door slightly jarred open, Gertrud could see the frozen corpse of an airmen, his head in an awkward position. Inching closer, Gertrud approached the dead crew members and felt a pang of sadness. The gunner had probably been trapped in his position when his bomber was shot down. The two waist gunners had likely either been killed or were thrown out of the wreckage as it tumbled to earth, leaving this unfortunate gunner to be by himself as the bomber hit the ground. And the horrifying thing was it seemed that the airmen had survived the impact as in his right hand was an M1911 that was empty. It seemed that the man had fired his pistol before he expired from his wounds. Gertrud had seen the death of many soldiers throughout her years of service but it was still never easy to know that people such as this young gunner would never see their families again. Recomposing herself, Gertrud grabbed the dog tag from the deceased airmen and stuffed it carefully into her coat.

“I’ll report the position of your body so that you can get a proper funeral. You don’t know it but now you gave me a better chance of surviving.” Gertrud murmured. 

Hearing several twigs snap outside, Getrud pulled the charging handle on her MP-40 and carefully made her way to one of the bomber’s side windows to see several Neuroi infantry units slowly making their way towards the wreck. 

“Damn, I can’t let them spot me.”

Going prone on the floor of the fuselage, Gertrud listened intensely as the enemy drones slowly approached, their legs digging into the frozen snow. As they approached Gertrud realized she was breathing quite heavily and told herself to calm down to slow her breathing. The Neuroi slowly passed by with some mingling around the wreckage for a few minutes. one of them looking directly into the wreckage but thankfully did not see her in the early morning light. As the enemy slowly walked away, Gertrud could feel her heart still hammering away in her chest from the ordeal. Deciding not to push her luck, Gretrud took the bounty she had collected and quickly made her way back to the bunker. She didn’t stop until she had slammed the bunker door behind her. 

“You okay? You look like you saw a ghost out there.” Jennifer said as she brought Gertrud a warm cup of water.

“I’m good, just had a close call.” Gertrud said as she organized the resources she had collected.

“Six syringes of morphine, two chocolate bars, two cans of food, eight pills to sterilize water, and a roll of duct tape. Considering everything, this is a pretty good haul.” Gertrud thought out loud. Taking the roll of tape with her, Gertrud handed it to Jennifer as they both went over to the naval radio set, and began to set to work.

Den Helder

07:20

The witches settled into their seats as they waited for Minna to begin the briefing. On cue Minna dimmed the lights in the room and activated a projector that showed a picture of the battlefield near Hamburg. 

“Operation Nordwind will be taking place this morning. According to the intelligence of a scouting unit that made contact with her, Barkhorn is around this area.” Minna gestured at an X marked on the map. She then pointed to a blue line that earmarked where Allied ground forces were. “As I told you before, we have Flight Lieutenant DeBlanc from the 506th shot down to the north though we do not have an exact location. The plan is that we will support a ground attack that will help clear out the Neuroi on the ground and allow us the time to locate Barkhorn and DeBlanc.”

Everyone listened intently to the briefing as Minna went on to describe the latest count on the number and type of Neuroi expected to be in the area. “Be aware of the two humanoid Neuroi. According to Sanya, they are extremely manoeuvrable and heavily armed. They can mimic a friendly aircraft’s signature and may try to ambush you when you are off guard so we can’t fully count on Allied radar in the area to be totally accurate. If you come across them, do not go alone, call it in and wait for backup.”

Nobody argued against that point, these Neuroi took down Gertrud and Erica and they were the best aces in the unit. They had also heard about the battle Sanya had last night. Eila was particularly ecstatic to hear that she was safe on board a warship heading back to port.

“Sanya will be unavailable for this operation and Erica is still recovering. Therefore, it will be up to the rest to sortie for this mission. Any questions?” 

No one did, their orders were clear and everyone was all motivated for this mission. Minna nodded, 

“All right, we take off in half an hour at 07:50.”

“Understood!” everyone else in the room yelled.

The witches dispersed to do their own preparation. Shirley and Lucchini headed to the hangar to tune their Striker Units. Perrine, Yoshika, Lynnete, and Shizuka milled around discussing the humanoid Neuroi. Minna decided to go visit Erica before they set off. Standing outside her room, Minna knocked before she entered. The blonde witch was lying on her bed looking up at a set of pictures she held in her hands. Walking over, Minna took a seat on the bed and put a hand on Erica’s shoulder. 

“We’ll get Trude back. I promise.” 

“I know you will Minna, and you’ll get the other witch as well. You always get everyone back alive. Just promise me one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t let your emotions blind you into making rash decisions. I want Trude and the other witch that was shot down back safely as much as anyone else but I don’t want you to take unnecessary risk like you did last time. It’s not like you to do that.”

Minna sat there as she took in what her friend had said. Erica was always light-hearted and didn’t say much on most occasions but when she did say something important, it was to help others around her. 

“Remember when we had a ceremony for when I got my 300th kill?” Erica mentioned as her attention went back to the photo she held in her hands.

Minna gave a soft smile, “How could I forget? You were almost late for the ceremony and Trude literally tore apart the base to get you ready. I thought she would lose all her hair from the stress.”

Both witches looked at the picture which had Erica wearing a black air force visor cap along with a wreath around her neck while giving a big smile at the camera. Beside her Gertrud looked quite proud of her wing mate and showing no signs of the utter chaos she had to endure just to get Erica ready for the cameras. 

“Trip down memory lane for you too?” Perrine asked as she, Yoshika, Lynette, and Hattori entered the room to visit. The four witches joined their two counterparts to look at the other pictures to pass the time, regaling in various memories that the images told. Eventually, Minna looked up at a clock that hung in the room. 

“We got ten minutes before we sortie. Let's get to the hangar.” Minna said. The other witches nodded and left the room. Minna was about to join them when she felt Erica grab her arm. 

“Don’t forget to watch your six out there.” Erica said gazing directly at Minna.

Minna nodded, “I won’t, I nearly lost you due to that mistake.”

Satisfied, Erica let go and smiled, returning her composure to what she normally was as Minna walked to the hangar. As she disappeared from the room. Erica looked back at the pictures and slowly touched a hand to Gertrud’s face on the picture.

“Hang in there Trude. Minna and the others are coming to get you.”

Near Neuenwalde

08:27

Looking down at his watch David wore a scowl look on his face. The attack was about to commence but the situation was less than ideal. Returning his gaze to the sky, David could see no trace of blue sky as the weather was a severe overcast. He muttered a slight curse at the weather officer who had promised today was going to have clear skies. His platoon of Sherman and Panzer IV were part of the attack force to attack the right flank as the main force of heavy Karlsland armor would punch through the Neuroi defences along the autobahn. 

“All units, prepare to move out” Oberstleutenant Pieper’s voice was heard to say over the radio.

“But the Strike Witches haven’t arrived yet! Push back the attack time so they can get here.” one of the other tank commanders protested.

“Nein, we will have the element of surprise. The Neuroi won’t expect us to attack in such dreadful weather.” Pieper retorted. “Artillery, commence attack!”

In the distance, the artillery rumbled to life as the morning’s silence was broken by the bombardment. David looked on as the bombardment lasted five minutes and once the shelling had stopped, Pieper gave the order. “Angriff!”

The men in David’s unit looked toward him for orders. After a few moments, David made his decision, “Hold position lads, that blowtorch bastard is a fool and I ain’t going to follow his order and lead you guys into whatever mess he is about to inflict on his own forces.”

“Ja, those Königstiger he has made him think he can take Berlin with those alone.” one of the Karlsland tank commanders commented. David couldn't argue against that statement, compared the tanks he had in his platoon, the Tiger II was the latest new Karlsland armored vehicle and it dwarfed the Sherman and Panzer IV in terms of size and firepower. Looking through his binoculars, David watched as the heavy tanks commenced their attack, occasionally stopping their advance to fire their 88mm KwK 43 L/71 cannon at the enemy. Taking out his field camera, David snapped a few pictures of the Karlsland panzers along with their supporting panzergrenadiers advancing.

“Graham, you haven’t advanced with that idiot?” David’s commanding officer asked over the radio.

Putting his camera away, David quickly grabbed his radio transmitter. “Negative Colonel Gallant, I’m holding in position. Don’t care if Pieper outranks me, his orders are akin to suicide.”

“Good call on that. General Von Richer is trying to reign Pieper in but it looks like his units along with a couple from Hawkin’s units are bent on breaking through without the witches.”

“Copy that sir. I’ll pass on any observations I see on the attack.” David said signing off and proceeding to look at the ongoing battle while keeping his headset on to listen to Peiper’s forces as they attacked. Scanning the battlefield, the Farawayland tank commander observed several Neuroi turtle tanks attempting to oppose the advance but were cut down by concentrated disciplined Allied tank fire. The advance seemed to be going well as the attacking forces continued to press on while only suffering light casualties. 

“Ha! Another Neuroi tank destroyed!” boasted another Farawayland tank commander that was part of the attacking force. 

“We don’t need the witches for this battle, the enemy is already scurrying back like the rats they are.” a Karlsland soldier added over the radio.

The attacking force soon disappeared over the horizon out of David’s view, but he continued to follow the progress over the radio as they continued to make headway. For David, on one hand, he was relieved that the offensive was going well. However, his combat experience told him that this was not typical Neuroi behavior. They were always aggressive against any substantial Allied attack and were excellent in organizing counterattacks. But as this attack continued to go on, there were no reports of the Neuroi defences stiffening. 

“I don’t like this, I sense a trap.” a Karland officer assigned to David’s unit said. 

“Yeah mate, this attack is going way too well, it’s like the Neuroi aren’t even trying.” a Farawayland soldier chimed in. 

Suddenly, a massive explosion erupted over the horizon that caught everyone’s attention. Keying his headset, David listened to the chatter that only moments before had been filled with overconfident boasting and mocking of the Neuroi.

“What was that?”

“I don’t know, it wiped out Fredrich’s platoon. Wait what is that! … it's massive, watch out!” another voice warned as another massive explosion cut off the transmission. 

“Shit, shit! Pieper’s forces are gone! Damn more of those turtle bugs three o’ clock, they’re counterattacking, retreat!”

Hearing all the frantic cries of desperation, David could see that the situation had completely flipped on their head. Gritting his teeth, the lieutenant realized that the Neuroi had purposely drawn their forces into a masterful ambush. 

“Graham, Reid! Get your companies moving. The Neuroi just moved some of their forces to cut us off from our remaining frontline troops! Push them back, I’ll try to get you the Strike Witches and CAS once they get here.”

“Colonel why is it that the forces around us get in hot water and we end up being the ones to try to bail them out?” Major Reid asked.

“Because for some people, they can’t get it through their thick skulls that witches are the backbone of a successful strategy against the Neuroi and they think some new tank or aircraft will make those girls obsolete. We can mope about this later, move it both of you!”

“Roger that Colonel.” David replied. Turning to his units, he could already see the other tanks revving their engines and the supporting infantry running to their assigned halftracks for the imminent attack. Making sure his own crew were all set and after doing a quick call-in to ensure everyone else was ready, David gave the order.

“All right lads, let's move into the attack, advance!”

Airspace to the west

08:47

A formation of four Typhoon and four FW-190 aircraft droned through the sky at, their pilots responding to calls to provide close air support for the ground attack underway. As the pilots busied themselves with preparing to attack, they neglected to notice a red glow of light that sparked ahead of them until it was too late. 

“Huh what’s that….”  the lead Faraway pilot said before his aircraft was torn apart by a direct hit.

The other Allied pilots tried to evade the incoming fire that seemed to stem from a single Neuroi that took out two more of them before screeching by at incredibly fast speeds, then doing a sudden reverse in direction and began mercilessly pursuing the Allied aircraft.

“It’s fast, I can’t shake it …” warned a Karlsland pilot as he too was killed.

Two of the surviving Typhoons cut their throttle to allow the Neuroi to overshoot and attempted to draw bead on the Neuroi, firing their 20 mm cannons but the nimble alien evaded their fire. Easily outpacing the Farawayland fighter-bombers the Neuroi shot up rapidly into the sky leaving the two Typhoons and two FW-190s behind. As the pilots strained in the cockpits to regain sight of their enemy, the Neuroi dove straight down on them with the sun behind it, killing three more aircraft in quick succession. 

“Schiese!” replied the last surviving pilots as he threw his FW-190 into a steep right banking dive in a desperate bid to shake the pursuing Neuroi. At a glance, it looked like a witch clad in all black which unnerved the pilot as he watched his opponent easily keep up with any maneuver he thought up. Realizing he wasn’t going to live for much longer, the pilot keyed his intercom to broadcast a warning. “All units, this is Gleb 9! Some type of humanoid Neuroi is roaming the battlefield and tearing us apart. Do not engage it!” Ending his message, the Karlsland pilot proceeded to open his canopy and bailed out. As the pilot pulled the ripcord of his parachute, the Neuroi seemed to continue to follow the pilotless aircraft before it suddenly stopped and slowly turned it’s gaze at the pilot and the alien raised it’s two hand cannons. The pilot could only put up his arms and scream as the laser eviscerated him.

South of the main battlefield

08:51

“It’s a trap! Fall back, fall back!” 

“If your vehicle is disabled, leave ‘em and hoof it. Go, go go!”

“Our bombers are getting torn apart! Somebody help us!”

The various desperate communications over the intercom were indicating a battle situation becoming worse and worse as Allied forces became overwhelmed by the Neuroi. For the witches they were fully engaged with Neuroi aircraft that were impeding their path and despite taking down several dozens of enemy aircraft, dozens more were still being sent their way.

“The Neuroi are really aggressive today.” Perrine shouted as she fired her entire magazine at a horde of drones.

“And we still haven’t reached the main battlefield yet.” Eila moaned as she nonchalantly dodged incoming fire and returned fire with her Karlsland made machine gun.

Shirley flew over to Minna, “It’s like they knew we would be coming. Minna, we should split up so some of us can support the ground troops. Minna held up a hand as a radio transmission was coming through for them.  

“Colonel Gallant to witches, come in, what is your status?”

“Still engaged with Neuroi craft, I thought Lieutenant Colonel Pieper or Colonel Hawkins would be the point of contact for this operation.” Minna replied.

“Lieutenant Colonel Pieper is probably going home in a soup can as that’s what is left of him. Colonel Hawkins was killed by some unknown Neuroi striking his command post. I’m taking charge now. Rescue mission is being aborted. I repeat, rescue mission is to be aborted, all frontline units are in full retreat.”

For the 501st witches, the order hit them in the gut, they had been engaged in combat with the Neuroi for the past 20 minutes and had fought all the way just to get to the battlefield only to hear the operation had already failed. Looking around Minna realized everyone was now looking to her for some guidance and orders.

“What do you need us to do Colonel.” Minna asked as she managed to put her thoughts together.

“Lieutenant David Graham, callsign Baker 1 is holding a pathway for the advance units to fall back to friendly lines. Right now his company is the only thing keeping a corridor open for the frontline troops to escape. I’ll get you girls in touch with him right now.”

The witches listened to their intercoms as sudden gunfire and explosions filled their ears as they were connected to the ground battle occurring.

“Colonel, where is the air support? I haven’t seen a friendly aircraft in ages!” Baker 1’s desperate voice shouted over the cacophony of explosions happening around him.

“Baker 1 this is Wing Commander Wilke, how much time do you need to get those men out?”

“Uh ... twenty minutes.” the Farawaylander said somewhat at hearing a witches voice. 

Minna looked at the other witches who nodded in approval and readied their weapons for what she was planning, “I’ll send some witches to help you Baker 1, the skies over you will be clear.”

“Roger that.” came the reply and the witches heard the tank commander issuing orders to the evacuating troops, his voice now filled with more confidence “All right lads, if you want to live to see tomorrow I suggest you get your arses moving! Move it!”

Minna pointed to Shriley, Francesca, Yoshika, and Shizuka as more Neuroi fighters and drones approached them.

“Get over to cover the retreat. The rest of us will try to hunt down those special Neuroi that are reeking havoc behind our lines. We will link up when we can. Shirley, you’re take point on this.’”

“Roger.” Shirley nodded as she slung her BAR and used her right hand to grab onto Francesa. She then looked at the two Fuso witches with her outstretched left hand, “Grab on, we are getting over there fast.”

Shizuka blinked, “Wait what?” as Shirley grabbed her and Yoshika grabbed onto Shizuka as Shirley used her magical boost to accelerate past the Neuroi to help the ground forces. After a few minutes, the four arrived over the battlefield. They could see streams of troops making their way along the autobahn back towards friendly lines. A rearguard was being held but the innumerable amount of Neuroi coming in from the ground and the sky would eventually overwhelm them.

Taking a second to look at the situation, Shirley took stock of everything before deciding on a course of action. “Lucchini, we are gonna take out the enemy aircraft. Miyafuji, Hattori, use your heavy cannons to take on the enemy ground forces. Use hit and run tactics.”

Both Fuso witches acknowledged as they peeled away to commence their attack. Looking back, Shriely gestured to Francesca who grinned back and shouted “Lets go!”

Shirley grinned back as both charged against a swarm of Neuroi head-on and blazed away with their weapons, decimating them before quickly reversing direction and pursuing the survivors and finishing off the rest. Climbing to regain altitude, Shirley watched as both Yoshika and Shizuka blew apart several infantry ground units threatening the right flank. Coming around, Francesca pointed out three Neuroi medium bombers being escorted by two swept wing Neuroi fighters. A Wirbelwind on the ground attempted to engage the formation, the 20 mm cannons managing to strike one of the bombers but hit nothing vital. The cylindrically shaped bombers which had a distinct feature of seeming to have two bubble-like canopies near the front of the bomber, simply used it’s nose mounted laser to destroy the self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicle.

“We got to get past the fighters, so you know what that means.” Shirley said.

Francesca nodded in excitement as the Liberion witch grabbed her and flung her around several times before releasing her in the direction of the bombers. Speeding past the enemy fighters, Francesca used her Light Heat Attack in front of her and heated the hull of two of the bombers to a point that both of their cores were destroyed by the intense heat. The last remaining bomber who managed to barely dodged the attack accelerated and opened its internal bomb bays in preparation to strike. Simultaneously, the enemy bomber fired at Francesca in an attempt to ward off the witch’s attack.

Francesca aimed her Liberion made machine gun and fired, her bullets striking the Neuroi just in front of the four surface cruciform tail of the bomber where the core was and blew the bomber apart. Cheering, Francesca looked around to find Shirley but could not find her. Before she could set off, several bolts of laser fire came up from the ground as two Neuroi tanks concentrated their fire on the Romanga witch. Raising her shield, Francesca defected and dodged the attacks but was unable to get closer as the fire was too intense. One of the Neuroi that was shooting at her was then hit by an explosion that caused it to stagger. A series of more explosions impacted and caused the Neuroi topple over and be blown apart. Emerging within her view, Francesca saw two Shermans and three Panzer IVs continue to fire at the other Neuroi who shifted it’s attention at the incoming tanks. Taking the opportunity, Francesca aimed her M1919A6 machine gun, and blazed away at the Neuroi, blowing apart the armour around the core  and finishing off the job. 

“Yahoo! Thanks for the assistance Mister Baker 1.”

“Anytime, keep up the covering fire.” the Farwayland tank commander replied to the Romanga witch.

Flying over the group of tanks Francesca grinned and gave them a thumbs up to the Sherman Firefly commander, who returned the gesture. The battle continued as the four witches and the rearguard continued to hold their position as Shriley and Francesca cleared the enemy aircraft while Yoshika and Shizuka continued to strafe enemy ground forces. Soon, parts of the rearguard fell back by platoon until Baker 1’s platoon was the only ground forces left on the battlefield. As Yoshika and Shizuka accelerated away from an attack run, two red shells shrieked past them at incredible speed and exploded among the Allied tanks, flinging several high into the air.

“What was that?” Shizuka asked her counterpart as she looked back at the destruction. When her counterpart didn't respond, Shizuka was about to repeat her question when a large delta-winged Neuroi warship came at them and while it did so, it dropped several large box shaped object that upon impacting the ground, broke apart to reveal Neuroi turtle tanks. 

“We got to destroy that aircraft or it will keep deploying more forces. Come on Shizuka!” Yoshika said as she accelerated to battle the new opponent. She aimed her cannon and fired at the underbelly of the enormous aircraft. The alien craft fired back with it’s defensive turrets but could not punch through Yoshika’s shields. Coming in from above, Shirley and Francesca joined in, taking large chunks on the right wing that caused the Neuroi to let out a shriek and tried to bank left and climb to escape. However, the four witches continued to chip apart the large capital ship with hit and run attacks that wore down the enemy’s defenses. But the ship continued to deploy more reinforcements on the battlefield.

“We are getting hammered by those reinforcements that transport Neuroi is dropping.” the Farawayland tank commander complained.

“We’re taking care of it.” Shirley responded. “This thing is tough. Can you fall back?”

“Negative on that, me and Baker 6 threw a track and the Neuroi are streaming past us. They think we are dead but I don’t think the ploy will work for long. Wait, I finally got artillery on the line, Yoke 3, requesting artillery on Grid F219.”

“Baker 1, how close are you to the enemy?” the artillery observer inquired.

“I could open the hatch, chuck a grenade and it would hit six of them. Hit my location with everything you got.” Baker 1 calmly replied over the radio. 

“Graham, you realize what you are asking?” protested Colonel Gallant.

“I understand Colonel, it’s my call on the field. Do it.” 

“Affirmative Baker 1. Artillery, you have the green light on the strike. It has been an honour 1st Lieutenant.” the Farawayland Colonel stated in a shaky voice.

“Likewise sir.” 

For the witches, they were shocked at the calm nature of the tank commander’s voice and before they could protest, the artillery barrage began as 140 mm shells rained down onto the area. The witches reluctantly watched as the ground shuttered under the weight of ordnance being delivered in the area. Occasionally, the distinct sound of Neuroi screeching could be heard among the carnage, confirming that some of the artillery support had found their mark. 

“Come on guys, we got to finish off this Neuroi, we can’t do anything for Baker 1 right now.” Shirley ordered. 

The witches refocused their energy on the Neuroi, now with some anger infused in their attacks.

Yoshika’s and Shizuka’s fire finally exposed the core on the top of the Neuroi. Before they could land the finishing blow, the large craft dive under them to deny the two a clear field of fire at the core. Fortunately, Shirley took this opportunity to dive in and with a short burst of her BAR, shattered the core and caused the rest of the bomber to disintegrate.  The whole battlefield was now silent, the dust still hanging in the air due to the ordnance delivered from the artillery strike.

“What was the status of the strike?” Colonel Gallant reported with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“All targets destroyed, no Neuroi in the area Colonel.” Shizuka replied.

“But what happened to Mr. Baker 1?” asked Francesca as she tried to see through all the thick black smoke. “Wait I think I see their tanks!”

As the smoke dissipated, the rest of the witches finally saw two Sherman tanks, both of which were knocked on their side, partly buried in dirt, snow, and smouldering.

“There might be survivors. We have to look for them!” Yoshika said as she headed for the area where the smoke was as Francesca followed suite.

“Wait Miyafuji!” Shizuka said as she followed her down to the battlefield.

Yoshika landed near the tanks and ditched her Striker, running over to the closest Sherman tank which had a longer barreled cannon, Yoshika could see one of the crewmen who had gotten out via the loader's hatch and was trying to open the commander’s hatch. Rushing up next to him, Yoshika helped grab the latch on one of the tank’s hatch and pulled on it, that part of the split-hatch gave way and allowed for the other split hatched to be opened as well. A gloved hand reached out and Yoshika and Francesca joined in and carefully grabbed the hand and pulled the tank commander out, who was dressed in a light brown Pixie suit covered in dust, and blood gushing from a shrapnel wound in his thigh.

“Bloody hell!” the loader cried as he put pressure on the wound to stem the bleeding.

“Yoshika, can you help him?” Francesca asked. 

“Give me a second, I can heal him.” said Yoshika. The loader gave the young witch a surprised look, “You can?” Yoshika nodded as she extended her arms out to the tank commander as she glowed a blue aurora. As she did so, the loader releases the pressure on the wound to see it begin to fully heal up. The commander began to stir as he regained consciousness.

“Wha… what happened?” the tank commander asked.

“Though we lost you there for a second David, thank her for saving you.” the loader said as he gestured towards Yoshika as she smiled. 

“I’m just glad to help out.”

“Ah Miyafuji!” Shizuka said as she helped the tank driver who had a visible broken arm towards them. “Can you use your magic to help him as well?”

“Yeah same for some of these guys as well!” Shirley shouted as she helped the other tank crew out of their disabled tank.

Nodding, Yoshika used her healing magic to heal all the life threatening wounds while Francesca and Shizuka provided aid by using the first aid kits from the tanks to handle minor wounds. Shirley then went about to radio Minna of where they were and what they were doing.

“Thanks Miyafuji, we sure owe you one.” David replied as he sat up.

“Not at all, I’m just glad I was able to help you out.” said Yoshika somewhat tired out with all the healing she did in the short period of time.

“How could you be so bold as to sacrifice yourself?” asked Shizuka.

David ran his hand through his brown hair. Didn’t have any other course of action, besides, its not the first time I’ve called down for artillery on friendly units.”

The witches looked surprised at what David said, as they stared at him. He realized what he just said and stayed silent, but the tank loader spoke.

“Back during Schedult estuary campaign, our superior Captain Walsh along with his company got caught by a superior Neuroi. We tried to relieve them but the Neuroi were too numerous to break through.”

“Walsh said to call in artillery on his position, he knew they were dead and wanted to take as many Neuroi with them as possible.” David said as he looked down at the snow. For the witches especially Yoshika, the thought of such self-sacrifice seemed unthinkable. 

“What… happened next?” Shizuka said somewhat hesitantly.    

David continued to look down as he spoke, “I followed through with the order and ordered the strike.” he said quietly. “I was never the biggest fan of Walsh but he didn’t deserve to go that way.” 

“But wasn’t it a direct order from a superior officer?” asked Shizuka.

David looked at her somewhat frustrated, “Can you call it a victory if you had to personally order a sacrifice a company of soldiers that you fought alongside for? Tell me you wouldn’t have second thoughts afterward of what you could have done differently.”

Shizuka didn’t have a response as David put his head in his hands. The tank loader put a hand on the shoulder of his commander to comfort him. 

The witches exchanged glances at each other. None had really seen or heard much about how ordinary frontline troops fought Neuroi first hand. For the witches, they always seem to be able to pull out a victory at no casualties to any of the witches. Being responsible for the death of another person, that would be devastating to them as well.

Yoshika finally knelt down beside David, “I’m sorry for your loss, I lost my father in this war as well. The pain never really goes away no matter how hard one tries.”

David looked up, “You never realize how much you miss someone until they are gone. It’s a wound that never fully heals.”

Yoshika nodded, thinking back to how much she missed her father after he died in Britannia and the frustration at not knowing the details of his death. It had driven her to become who she was today. 

“That’s why I became a witch, to use my powers to protect as many people as possible, my father may be gone but every time I fly, I do it to keep his memory alive. I’m sure Walsh is proud of you and you’re drive to help others back to friendly lines.”

The tank commander stared at Yoshika for a few seconds before he gave a small smile. “

“Thanks I needed that. I’m glad you took time to chat with me.”

“It's just my nature to help others. I can’t not help.”

“I apologize for my unprofessional questions, please accept my apology.” Shizuka said as she bowed.

The tank commander held up his hand, “It’s fine, as long as you understand the main message I was trying to get across. Orders are all fine and dandy but you have to take it with context with everything else happening.”

Shizuka nodded as David returned his attention to Miyafuiji, “I’m just sorry we couldn't reach your downed friends. I can’t imagine what you’re going through. If I had one of my tankers behind enemy lines and had the power you guys had, I’d blow through every Neuroi standing in the way to get to them.”

“We’ll get to them, we just try again some time later.” Yoshika interjected determination in her face.

The tank commander smiled, “I like your enthusiasm. Always nice to have someone willing to try again.”

“That’s Miyafuji for you. Giving up is not in her dictionary.” Shriley noted.

David smiled as he looked at Shirley, “Never thought I would meet the Speed Queen as well. You’re pretty fast in the sky up there, never seen a witch be so fast so often.”

Shirley laughed, “Yeah, I’ve always been enamoured by speed, it's a thrill that you can’t get anywhere else.”

“Didn’t you break the sound barrier back in Romanga?” Yoshika asked.

Shirley scratched her chin remembering that incident, “Well no one witnessed it so it doesn't count.”

“That kind of sucks, I thought it was impossible to break the sound barrier but I guess for a witch nothing is impossible.” David chimed in.

Shirley waved her hands, “It’s fine, there are still plenty of opportunities. I managed to get in contact with Major Reid, he said he is on his way to get you guys back to your base.”

“Thanks for everything. You gals should head get airborne and re-join your squadron. We’ll be fine.”

The four witches nodded as they all got back into their Strikers and took off. As they did, the troops either waved or saluted, thanking them for what they did. It was a minor victory and happy moment in an operation that had overall been an utter failure.

09:07

For both witches, it was painful to just sit there and watch as the Neuroi defeated the rescue force. Though it was too far for them to visually see the battle, they could see smoke rising from the destroyed remnants of the ground attack and when the battle died down, it didn’t take a genius to surmise the outcome had not gone in the Allies favor.

“Damn, guess we are stuck here for the foreseeable future.” Gertrud said as she gritted her teeth. 

“Those poor guys. All those losses, just trying to get to us.” Jennifer said with sadness in her voice. 

For both of them, they just could not stop watching the battlefield even though it pained them to do so. Gertrud convinced Jennifer to go back to repairing the radio. For a few more minutes, Gertrud watched the skies as more Neuroi droned high overhead heading south, noting their type and how many there were. Sighing, Gertrud finally decided to go assist Jennifer.

“How is it looking?” Gertrud asked.

“Got some of the wires spliced back together.” Jennifer said as she went to grab another piece of duct tape. 

“Here, let me help you out.” Gertrud said as she joined in to help. After about a half hour they had reconnected all the appropriated wires. Holding their breath, Gertrud then flipped the power switch of the radio equipment and to both witch’s relief the machine hummed to life.

Taking a seat in front of the radio set, Gertrud put on a headset and tried to figure out what frequency to try first. Trying a random channel, the Karlsland witch spoked into the transmitter hoping for a response. For the first three channels she tried, the only response received was silence or static. 

“Here, try this naval frequency, it was the one me I was operating last night, they might still be in range.” Jennife suggested as she turned the dials. Gertud nodded and transmitted a message, initially heard nothing and was about to switch frequencies once more until a garbled message came through. Adjusting the settings to try to strengthen the signal, Gertrud spoke once more,

“This is Squadron Leader Barkhorn, is anyone reading me?”

“This is USS San Juan, reading you loud and clear Squadron Leader, what can I do for you?” a male voice responded.

USS San Juan

09:14

Walking through the sick bay, Sanya took stock as the wounded lay in any space available. Many of those here were survivors from the destroyers that had sunk in the night and had to tread freezing water until they were rescued. Some were quite badly burned while others had shrapnel wounds. Sanya knew these were the lucky ones, even spending a few minutes in the icy cold seas could induce hypothermia and death.

“Do you need anything else Mr. Tibbs?” Sanya asked the medical surgeon.

The surgeon replied as he wiped sweat off his brow. “Just make sure to change the bandages on a few of the wounded, other than that, thanks for helping us. Everyone’s exhausted, having you help us now is great.”

Sanya nodded as she went over to a tray and took some gauze and scissors and walked around before finding one sailor who needed his dressing changed. Sanya carefully snipped off the used gauze and applied a new set of gauze on the wound gently as to not agitate the wound.

“Thanks.” the sailor said, “You make a good medic.” Sanya was a bit surprised at the compliment, “I just learned from my squad mates, one was a medical school student and the other wants to be a doctor so they taught me a lot about medical care.”

“Wow, didn’t know the 501st had a good amount of prospective medical experts.” the sailor complimented. Sanya smiled back, interacting with others was never her speciality but here, everyone was nice and looking for human interaction after a long battle. The door to the bay opened as Sanya saw that Brett was now present, checking over the wounded. A few hours ago when she had woken up, he had greeted them and congratulated them on the night’s patrol. Looking around the sick bay, Sanya saw an officer come up next to Brett and whispered something urgently into his ear. The captain’s face showed visible signs of surprise as he gestured for Sanya to step out of the sick bay for a second. 

“Flight Lieutenant, were you aware that one of your squad mates was shot down behind enemy lines?” Sanya looked at the naval captain with a bit of bewilderment. She hadn't told outside of her own JFW that her wing’s squadron leader was shot down.  

“Yes, Squadron Leader Barkhorn was shot down yesterday. My unit was supposed to launch a rescue mission today.”

“Okay, from the way you were acting, I couldn’t tell if you knew. You were pretty calm throughout this entire day.” Brett said as he looked at Sanya before continuing. “My XO just told me the rescue operation failed and that Squadron Leader Barkhorn and Flight Lieutenant DeBlanc just made contact with us. Looks like both of them are together.”

Sanya was stunned as she processed the information she was just told. She was glad to hear that they were both still alive and that they had made contact with them

“Are they still on the line?” Sanya asked. Brett nodded, 

“Can I talk to them?”

“Absolutely, I’m sure they would be glad to hear one of their colleague’s voices.” 

Sanya’s heart began to race as Brett led her to the ship’s CIC where the XO and several other naval officers were huddled around a radio operator. The men parted for both Brett and Sanya as one of the officers handed them two spare sets of headphones. Putting on the headphones, Brett started the conversion first,

“Squadron Leader Barkhorn, this is Captain Wheeler, I understand you and Flight Lieutenant DeBlanc are hunkering down in a bunker around Cuxhaven correct?”

“Correct Captain.” Gertrud’s voice came clearly over the radio after a few seconds of silence. “I was shot down by two Neuroi witches and they were taking me somewhere but I broke free and escaped. Found DeBlanc last night. I saw that the rescue attempt failed. Damn it, it’s really aggravating being stuck here.”

“Understood, I’ll get your exact location to high command and your friends in the 501st and 506th. While we have you on the line, I have someone you might know that wants to talk to you.” Brett said as he nodded to Sanya. The Orussian took a deep breath before speaking, “Barkhorn, it’s Sanya, how are you and DeBlanc?”

“Sanya? You’re on the Liberion cruiser?” Gertrud said with clear surprise in her voice. “We’re doing alright. The Neuroi haven’t found us. How is everyone back at base holding up?”

Sanya hesitated for a second, unsure if she should tell Gertrud of everything that was happening but decided that she had to be honest with her Karlsland counterpart.

“They are doing the best they can, we all miss you back on base so everyone’s working hard to get you back safely.  Erica’s got hurt but is recovering nicely thanks to Yoshika’s magic.”

“What? Hartmann was injured by the Neuroi?” Gertrud replied as both Sanya and Brett could hear the Karlsland witch slam her hand onto a desk. “They’ll pay …” Gertrud said in a threatening tone.

“Don’t beat yourself over that.” Sanya replied to try to comfort Gertrud. “She wouldn’t want you to worry about her. Besides, you were knocked out at the time when she got injured.”

“I know but…” Gertrud tried to argue before Sanya interrupted, “Just focus on taking care of yourself and everything will work out.”

Gertrud remained silent as she processed what Sanya said before replying, “All right, thanks Sanya, I needed that encouragement. I’m going to take a breather after this.”

“We’ll maintain check in every three hours during the day, like Litviyak said, don’t be so hard on yourself, you can’t change what happened.” Brett chimed in. 

“Roger that, I really appreciate that someone picked up my signal to begin with. Got to thank DeBlanc for suggesting this frequency. Also your radio operator was great in helping to clear up all the static between us. ” Gertrud complimented

Brett smiled, “He was one of the guys who survived the attack back in 41 with me so he knows all the tricks in the book.”

“I’m just glad things mostly came out for you guys in the end.” Jennifer chimed in.

“Well we also have to thank you for calling in more backup to help defend the fleet, it really made a difference. Just hold on out there, we’ll find a way to work things out.” Sanya said. 

Both witches on the other line agreed and said they would report in a few hours. After signing off, Sanya and Brett walked out of the CIC back to the sick bay and while walking Sanya decided to ask a clarifying question, “Captain, were you there at the Neuroi attack on the Atlantic fleet?” The Liberion captain stopped and looked at her and Sanya could see that the mention of that was bringing back painful memories. “Unfortunately, I still really don’t like talking about but I try to take some positives from that experience. I got to talk to your Wing Commander about the formation of your JFW and actually met Barkhorn and Hartmann because of that.”

Sanya blinked at the surprise of this revelation “Wait, really? How?”

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you in a bit. But first I need to get something done.” Brett said, with a serious tone emphasizing the later part of his statement. The two of then made their way to a meeting room where Brett’s XO was waiting as well. 

“All right, I gathered you all here to talk about last night's attack. As you know we were escorting a VIP to the mainland and safe to say, I think the Neuroi last night really wanted to stop him from getting to port. Right now, the Britannian colonel is on board since we still have mobility. And I’ll be honest, a lot of the men are on edge from the way the Neuroi were tactically outsmarting us. A few of my sailors really want to rough the VIP up but I got them to back off.”

Sanya and Jennifer both looked at each other, both had privately discussed the new enemy type they encountered  and its ability to seemingly only evade detection and the behavior it exhibited with Jennifer. Neither of them could come to a satisfactory reason for the Neuroi’s actions.

“What are you proposing?” Sanya asked.

“It’s simple, I invited him to talk about how soon we would arrive at port, but I’m going to use that opportunity to try to get some information. He knows something about these new Neuroi type. He even radioed us to warn us about the IFF ploy. And the Neuroi were specifically targeting the destroyer he was on. Coupled with that, it seems that these same enemy types took down Squadron Leader Barkhorn and Flight Lieutenant DeBlanc.  It’s too many coincidences for me.” Brett replied. 

Sanya pondered Brett’s theory and couldn’t argue against the information he presented.  There were too many suspect actions that needed answers. A knock on the door had everyone turn towards the door as the Britannian colonel entered with a briefcase in hand. The officer looked around at the two naval officers and Sanya as he gently joined them at the table.

“Colonel Campbell, thanks for coming, we’ll arrive at Wilhelmshaven by 20:00 tonight.” Brett said in a calm manner gesturing at the map. The colonel nodded “Excellent Captain, I appreciate the update. But I feel that you brought me here to discuss something else.” he hinted.

“That is correct Colonel.” Brett said as he rose from his chair. “You seem to be withholding vital information about the Neuroi that would have helped us last night if we had known about it earlier and it seems the enemy is aware of whatever information you know, they don’t want Allied High Command to know about. So I’m going to ask you up front, what do you know about the new Neuroi type? Because it has already shot down a Karlsland and Liberion witch behind enemy lines, sank two destroyers, and killed hundreds of men.”

The colonel signed and looked around the table before he responded, “Normally, I wouldn’t tell you, but in this situation, and for the downed witch’s rescue chances, I came prepared to release the information you seek.”

Everyone at the table looked surprised, Brett was the most surprised as he expected more resistance from the colonel. They watched as Colonel Campbell opened his briefcase and produced a picture. 

“Flying Officer Litvak, your squadron did face a witch like Neuroi back in 1944 correct?”

Sanya nodded, remembering how that enemy had nearly killed Major Sakamoto. “Yes, I believe it was classified under the designation X-11.”

“You are correct, well it seems the Neuroi have introduced a newer version to the battlefield and unlike its predecessor, these two one seen far more hostile and aggressive against humanity.”

“How were you able to tell that the IFF reading it gave off was a phoney one?” Graham asked.

“The Neuroi signal it returns is quite close to ours, but if you listen really closely you can hear a bit of the Neuroi distinct screeching noise. It’s subtle and you have to know where to look, hence why no one picked it up.”

Sanya thought for a second and recalled that the false friendly IFF signals did give a bit of unique background noise that should not have been there if it was truly coming from a friendly aircraft.

“But how did the Neuroi obtain our signals?” Sanya asked as she was not the only one trying to figure out how the Neuroi obtained the ability to appear as a friendly on radar screens. 

“The most likely way is that when these Neuroi shot down an Allied aircraft, they scavenged the wreckage to reverse engineer the signals to work for the Neuroi.” Campbell responded. “Have any Liberion naval aircraft been lost recently?”

“Some of Kalinin Bay’s Wildcats were tasked to support a B-24 bombing mission of Hamburg a few days ago. If I recall, two of the fighters never came back from that mission.” Graham said.

“Then that’s probably how the Neuroi witches got their hands on our IFFs. Who knows how many different aircraft they can mimic.” Sanya said as everyone realized the implications of this Neuroi’s skill set.

“Okay, so we are facing a new enemy type that upped its specification and is an upgrade from a previous model, it doesn’t explain why it is trying to capture witches.” Brett responded. The Liberion’s statement caused the Britannian to be silent for a moment.

“I will tell you, but the theory I have for the Neuroi’s plan for the downed witches is not a pleasant one.” Colonel Campbell said as he went on to tell the two men and two witches his theory on the goal of the Neuroi. 

“You can’t be serious …” Graham murmured.

“Shit, the Neuroi always were mysterious in how they acted but damn, if what you say is right, this is sick.” Brett said as he clenched his fist.

Sanya only blinked and gave a blank stare as she worried about the fate of her comrades.

“You alright?” Captain Wheeler asked.

After a few seconds, Sanya shook her head and looked at the Britannian officer, “Have you told my Wing Commander this?”

“I was on the way to do that, but it looks like I wasn’t in time, the Neuroi moved first. I was afraid that would happen. That’s why its imperative we get to Wilhelmshaven, I was in contact with General Von Richter, we are setting up a meeting with the 501st and 506th leadership to work out a better rescue operation. Additionally, I would also like both Flying Officer Litvyak and you as well Captain Wheeler could attend. You all have recent combat experience against these new enemy types.”

“Sure, I’ll start compiling reports for the meeting. I’ve organized all the combat missions from last night’s mission together.” Brett responded.

“Excellent Captain” Colonel Campbell said as he turned to Sanya, “Can I count on you as well? Your experience report would be invaluable to help us in developing countermeasures.”

Sanya looked around for a second. For the sake of her comrades behind enemy lines, she was committed to getting them back to safety.

“I’ll do it.”