Fredericks POV:
Paula was rolling down the forest road, towards Savolinna. Every so often, they could catch a glimpse of a castle, or a lake. Klaus was driving peacefully, with a picture of the Princess next to the optics. Simo was humming Nyet Molotov, while reading War and Peace. Karl was snoring away in the turret, while Hans and I were standing out of the hatches. We heard what sounded like screaming and yelling, but we just thought "Nah, its just the wind" but then we heard growling, and then screaming a lot closer to us.
"Hans, grab the FG42" I told him just as 2 people burst from the clearing and onto the road. A wolf was heading straight to attack a girl. I grabbed my P38 from my holster and fired 3 rounds into the wolf. It fell down silently. The boy, clearly her twin brother by his looks, gazed at the tank in awe and shock. The girl turned and stifled a yelp when she saw the tank. She had long wavy light brown curly hair, brown eyes, a bit of freckles on her cheeks, and was wearing a white dress, now dirty from all the hustle.
"Are you alright?" I asked her
"Fine..." she replied
"But what is that?" she said pointing at Paula
"This is a tank my dear"
Hold on. Did I just flirt with her?? I didn't have time to process the thought when we heard more wolfs.
"Shit, Hans over there!" I yelled
Hans bolted the Soumi and opened fire.
Ratatatatatatat!
Bullets whizzed over the tank and into the trees, hitting wolfs, ground and trees alike.
"GET ON!" I yelled at the twins
I got out of the cupula, and helped them up. Her touch was warm, a very strange, but comforting warm... "Ugh! What is up with me?" I think to myself.
"Klaus, drop the clutch, drop it" I yelled. The tank lurched forward, the convoy got going again.
As the convoy was moving.
The tank rolled on through the road, and we came across a truck that had stopped on the side of the road, thanks to a tree thay blocked it. The driver looked in shock at how the tank simply crushed the dead tree as it went over.
The kid kept asking Hans questions like:
"What is the gun on this thing?"
"What's the thickness of the armour?"
Etc, etc. I looked down at Hans and his eyes said: Kill me please. I held in a laugh, and looked out of the cupula, and made eye contact with the girl. Her hair was messy, but beautiful, a butterfly had landed on her hand. Her white dress was loose, wavy in the wind. When she noticed me, she blushed, her cheeks turning red, which was kinda hot... I turned away, I bit embarrassed.
We reached a small village on the outskirts of Savolinna without much trouble, people gasped, kids started running to the tank, and I had to yell at them "Look were you're goin' kid!" Another old man, yelled at us waving his stick, screaming "Commies! Get out!" and people had to explain that we were Swedes. One person, a priest I am guessing, ran into the church, and soon the bell was ringing. We reached the sentry, and the person on duty looked shocked.
"Uhhh, are you the 2nd Royal?" he asked
"Yes" I told him, passing him the docs on the Battalion.
"Huh, ok, I was told yall were going to be in these" he said, passing us a photo of a Mark 4 tank.
I broke out laughing, and so did everyone in the tank. We radioed the message across the convoy, and everyone was going into hysterics.
"Don't worry lad, we all make mistakes" I told him
We drove into the city, people were hanging Swedish as well as Finnish flags outside their homes and business's. Sandbags covered windows, and were really everywhere. We spotted a Bofors gun on the roof of an apartment building. As we drove down, we spotted a shot up Yak fighter that had crashed in the road, causing a scar over 150 metres long. As we drove, I got the courage to ask the gal a question.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Hanna" she replied sheepishly.
"Beautiful name" I told her with a smile.
"What's your name" she asked with a smirk.
"Frederik Otto von Eck VII" I told her, feeling quite smug
She looked at me. "Is that really your name?" she asked raising an eyebrow "Or are you trying to hit on me" she said smiling.
"I- uhhhhh, no thats really my name, IcangiveyoumyID, I-" she was now laughing at me, and yet, her laugh, it made me feel happy- WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH ME?
"Is that really his name?" she asked Hans
"Yeah, no shit" he said.
I began to talk to Hanna and it was quite interesting. Her father was an architect, and her grandfather was an ace for the Tsarist Army in World War 1. Her mom was an artist, one of the best in Finland. She asked me about my family. I was honest. I told her that despite me being in a noble family, we weren't that big nowadays. We owned a few acres of land, farmed on it. We lived in a small, but stylish castle. We own a proper castle, but we entrusted it to my uncle, who kept it in good order. My mom was a mechanic, and my dad liked farming. We were nobles but we weren't the type you would expect. Before long, some people around her age called out to her, I assumed they were her friends.
"Alright, I got to go" she said. I helped her down from the tank, and once she got off, she gave me a slip of paper. "Here is my address, come down tonight for some dinner with your crew."
"Alright, will be there." I told her, but before I could move, she gave me a kiss on the cheek.
"6 sharp" she said, and she skipped away with her brother to their friends.
As I got in, it was all quite, until Klaus broke the silence.
"Ok... what was that about?" he asked me
"Hey, you get the Swedish princess, so shut up" I told him
"No he is right, out of all of us, she picked you, a person who, and admit it, cannot speak to girls." Karl said
Everyone broke out into laughter at this exclamation, but I was dreamy. I could feel my cheeks still tingle from the kiss. I wanted to hold her so badly- Hold on... do I love her? no no no, to early for such to happen.
We continued on the road to the Town centre, and when we arrived, it was not what I thought it would be. There were SPAA's everywhere, with a tent here and there. I redirected my battalion to the outskirts of the town, and set up camp there instead. Soon, we managed to park Paula outside of a cafe. We disembarked and I looked around. I saw what looked like a Panzer 3 M, and walked over to the crew. When they spotted me, they stood up at attention, the commander came out to meet me. My mind still buzzed about the cheek kiss.
"Unteroffizer Erik, 1st Royal Battalion, 3 Company" he said weakly and saluted
"Or at least, what remains of it..." he added.
"What the hell happened to the rest of your company.?" I asked while not really wanting an answer.
"Wiped out sir, wiped off the face of the earth" he said. "Panzer 4's, Czech 38's, Stugs ALL GONE!" he yelled.
"Those stupid damned officers, keep saying 'Let the air force handle everything, they will cover you' but what they don't understand that we need infantry to cover us, or we are royaly-" he started squabbling, and his crew had to restrain him.
"Sorry sir, his temper is over the roof." The crew apologised.
"What exactly happened though?" I asked.
"Well, high command see's that the air force to cover us, something that both branches have disagreed to. They launched an offensive on Kermäki, it was a massacre. The air force tried to cover us, but they could do nothing. We needed infantry to cover us, but they refused to send any, saying that we alone can send them on the run. The ruski anti-tank guns destroyed nearly the entire company, few got out alive. The officers blamed the incompetance of the tanks, and now we are blamed..." the crew explained. We then saw a group of officers march in our direction.
"I assume you are Feldwebel Frederik, 2nd Royal Battalion?" a built up officer asked. "Name is Hauptmann Adolf, please follow us to the command tent." he said, dragging me with him. I looked back at my friends nervously, but they gave me thumbs up. We reached the tent, we greeted, saluted, and sat down to discuss tactics.
"Alright gentleman, here is a map of the entire Eastern front, as well as the map of our region" he said, rolling out a map on the table.
"We are in the middle of a massive bulge, but also at a important strategic point. Helenski has been under siege, but hasn't broken yet due to the soviets lacking heavy equipment. Savolinna has the only bridges in Finland that are able to hold heavy machinery without the bridge itself collapsing. If Helenski falls, so does the Gulf, and from there, they will be able to strike Sweden, and so on and so on. Feldwebel Frederik has come here with some of the most advanced tanks in the world. His whole battalion will launch an attack on Kermäki, with support from the air force, the infantry will wait, and once the town is secure advance-" I nearly choke on my own breath. Did he just say we are attacking without infantry?! "-and I hope that the 2nd performs better than the first." he said.
"Hold on. We are going in without infantry?" I asked. "Please tell me its a joke" I told him.
He raised an eyebrow.
"No, you will have the air force to support you" he said
"The air force won't do even a dent to infantry units." I told him back
"Don't speak back, I know perfectly well what I am doing" he said, anger in his voice.
I suddenly saw why that other commander had lost his temper, just talking about him, because I lost my temper as well.
"Did you even GO to a military academy" I ask him
"Are you disrespecting a senior officer?" he yelled at me.
"YOU'RE CRIMINALY INSANE? IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT TECH WE HAVE, WE NEED INFANTRY SUPPORT!" I yelled back at him.
"GET THE FUCK OUT!" he screamed at me.
"Well, in that case, I am reporting to my Swedish superior. You don't have a clue what you are doing, and if anyone here agrees, they can follow me out."
With that, I walked out, and was surprised to see a Lieutenant from the air force, as well as some other officers follow me out. I was royaly pissed.
Hanna's POV:
I jumped off the 'tank' with my brother, and we walked over to my friends, who were just like my brother, in shock at what they had wittnesed.
"Guys help me I have been blinded" my friend Johan joked.
"Seriously though Hanna, what was that?"Lilja my best friend asked. "And what's up with your clothes?"
"Well, me and Tapio went for a picnic, when we were attacked by wolves." I explained.
"They shot and killed the wolf, and I didn't know how to thank him soooo..."
"Wow..." Lilja looked at Frederik. "He is what, our age, and he's going to fight..." she sighed.
"Do you not feel in anyway attracted to him?" Johan asked. I hated to admit it myself, his hair, his face, his voice, everything, I was attracted to. I liked him quite a bit, but the more I thought about him, the more what, heartache? Increased. I tried not to like him, since he was in the army, he might die and it would hurt a lot, but she blurted:
"Well, he's kinda cute." I admitted, blushing. My friends laughed.
"Its just about lunch, so we should get back to your place, get you in some proper clothes before you go anywhere." Tapio said.
We decided to walk back home, and the moment we walked into the Mansion, the butler Aatto looked with horror, his face pale.
"What on EARTH happened to you Hanna, Tapio?!" he said, his voice full of panic.
"Its ok, had a little stumble, I'm fine." I said smiling.
As we walked upstairs, we ran into my parents, going outside for a walk.
"My lord, princess are you ok?" My mom hugged me.
"I- I'm fine really" I said.
"You're in shock Hanna, lets get you cleaned up" he told me, before thanking my friends for brining me here immediately.
As my mom helped me to my room to get me fixed up, my dad ordered some servants to run the bath. As we walked my mom asked me something that made me freeze:
"Did you kiss someone?" she asked. I never lied to my mom, and since she SOMEHOW figured something was up, I didn't bother coming up with an excuse.
"Yes mom, it was just on the cheek..." I said, quite embarresed.
"Who was it with?" she asked a bit stern.
"Frederik, he- he's a tank commander." I told her. I then explained how me and Tapio got ambushed by wolfs, how Frederik shot them, and pretty much rescued them, entirely on accident.
"Also mom, if you don't mind, I invited them over to dinner tonight. They were on the train for quite a while, and I thought I would do something nice." I told her. She smiled.
"Of course, are your friends also coming?" she asked.
"Yes"
My mom seemed excited, and she told my dad, who I am pretty sure didn't hear her, because if he did, he would have gone bonkers. I ran to my room to get ready.
Fredericks POV:
"So... he said to launch an attack..."
"Yes"
"On the most highly concentrated town in Finland..."
"Yes"
"With no infantry support whatsoever..."
"Yes"
I was talking with my fellow company commanders in a cafe, discussing how we could possibly do such an operation. I had contacted Elli, but it might be some time before he comes and sorts out all this mess.
"Bombing maybe?"
"Nah, the civilians will be the ones affected, and anyway, it will be a defenders paradise!" I replied sarcastically.
"Wait hold on guys" Paul, one of the company commanders said. "They told us to get to Kermäki, not take it." he said, his face full of smugness.
We all broke out smiles, and began congratulating Paul, and we went back to camp with merry. As I got back, Klaus and the others were getting ready, shining their shoes, and such, and I realised: "Oh Bummer! I completely forgot!" and ran to get ready. I straightened my hair, washed my face, cleaned my shoes, and came out.
"We decided to take the tank there, since 'Why not?' When we got there, we got out, and quite a few people were there, kids ran over and began scrambling around the tank.
Klaus, Hans, Karl and I walked up to the house, and were greeted in. The moment we walked into the manor we were taken back in awe by the house. A silver chandelier hung from the ceiling, a turkish red carpet ran across the floor. On the walls, hung paintings, as well as a Lion head, something everyone gawked at.
"How did he get it?" I asked
"He shot it dumbass."
We turned and saw Hanna and some of her friends walk over, and I gawked. She now wore a small blue shirt, with a white skirt. Her face was now cleaned, and a small smirk was on her face. Her hair was more blondish in the light, and was in long strands and face somewhat shone in the light. She wasn't cute, she was hot- no beautiful! We introduced, shook hands and walked over to the dining room. There, I got introduced to the parents.
"Ahh, do you're Frederik I assume?" the father said. He wore glasses, had a goatie, and wore a very fine tailored suit I must say. A golden pocket watch with a chain was in his hest pocket, making him look like Søren Sørenssen. Her mother wore a dress, very well tailored as well, and had green eyes.
"Yes thats me sir, and you seem to have one very good tailor!" I replied.
"Its Gucci if you were wondering by the way" he replied with a smile. We all reintroduced again, and sat down to eat. As we ate, Hannas mom, Olya, asked a question:
"Frederik, how old are you?" she asked.
"17 as is eveyone else, why?"
Silence fell around the table at this announcement, and Olya replied without noticing the silence:
"Oh, Hanna is 17 as well"
Hanna blushed, her cheeks turning pink as she sat there awkwardly, her face down, her curly hair now seemed to return. She was so hot, my heart ached, and I had for some reason, wanted to reach over and kiss her.
We continued with the dinner, it was quite good. I got to know the friends. It was quite merry, even though Christmas was still 4 months away. During dessert, everyone seemed to drift off to do their own things, and I myself went outside to get some fresh air, and I needed to think. Did I really like her? I dont know, like even if I knew myself, I would be going into combat, and having a relationship in times of war is hard to keep. But every time she laughs, or giggles or even smiles, I forget all about the war. Its as if-
"Hello Frederik Otto von Eck VII" it was Hanna. Her hair was now loose, and she qas more beautiful than ever.
"I want to show you a certain place." she told me.
I followed her down a path to what looked like a pond. Once we got there, I got a better look at the place. It was a pond, with lilies, and swans and everything really. We sat down on the shore.
"I used to come down here as a kid. It was my favourite spot, and still is." she told me.
"Its a beautiful spot, we have this small stream near my house-" I said before getting cut off.
"Why are you fighting in this war?" Hanna asked me.
"I- I thought it would be something else. I dont know why-" I said. I had no idea how to reply.
"You were in the Stockholm incident, weren't you?" she said, putting an arm over me.
"Yes. I- it was only then I realised how terrifying it was..." I said. I had to hold back myself from getting flashbacks. I looked at her. I realised I eas tellong this to a person I had only met. We stared at each other for a moment. We leaned closer together. I put my hand on her hair. It felt like putting my hand on cotten, a feeling that I liked. We leaned in closer, and it looked like she was about to tell me something. And then the bombs fell.
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Hey guys, super long chapter! 3284 words to be exact. Im having to type on my phone now because my mom yeeted my PC so yeah. Anyways, stay tuned