Rivalry

Mission one: against the axis

It was late morning, that day in May 1940. The lieutenant hoisted herself halfway out of the tank as it thundered over french soil, traversing fields blooming with wildflowers. The colossal  Mathilda she was in cruised onward as its vast engine burned fuel, and the tracks grated against one another, in need of some oil. The tank column felt very out of place in the serene rural countryside. The sun beamed down from wide blue skies, marred only by wisps of cloud and the occasional recon plane. Friendly or not
she could not tell. Beneath her in the metal vehicle, her crewmen toiled fixing machinery as they moved, or loading shells. Men Maria had trained, ate and was friends with. Men who she might die with.

Before them lay the dark, shadowy forests of the ardennes, where her superior and old acquaintance  lieutenant colonel Tristan Maybury had ordered her to reinforce the french. Anything could await them in those trees, and fresh out of officer school, The Lieutenant did not know what to expect. She knew only that the Nazis had broken every code and agreement, and taken Poland unnervingly swiftly. It had been one thing after another. This is where we'll draw the line.  She thought, quelling her troubled emotions.

But nonetheless the unknown enemy grew into combat monsters in her imagination. She shivered in both fear and anticipation, looking forward to finally doing some of the fighting she had trained so hard in preparation for. But she hadn't trained for a fight like this.

Apparently the higher-ups had only thought to position a small company there, due to the challenging terrain for the german panzers. Too busy glorifying the bloody maginot line, it seemed. As The lieutenant colonel had phrased it "typical french defence."  Tch. The only problem was that this would make it hard for her platoon to provide support as well. Honestly, Maybury could be such a thick idiot sometimes! He should have sent the infantry. But Maria couldn't shake the feeling he was testing her resolve. So be it.
" sir, received radio communications from the chausseurs ardennais!" Shouted private Niall weston from the transmitter with a horrific french accent.
" what did they have to say?"

" to put it politely? Get our fat English derrières down here fast- jerry closing in!"

"You must be joking!" Maria shouted over the wind in shock.

"Wish i was. Apparently it's a full on panzer division!"

This was bad. Very bad. The enemy should have been engaging their lines hundreds of kilometres north!

"Damn. Didn't think that in my first bit of the action we would be so ludicrously outnumbered." Muttered the Lieutenant. At this rate, their small column of tanks wouldn't be able to stop the full force of the german division, let alone get there on time to save the french gunners! The NCO's of the tanks behind poked their heads out in confusion. Quickly lieutenant crosse ordered weston to relay the message down the line and to order full speed for Dinant. The tank column collectively accelerated, leaving a dust cloud in their wake as they made for the forest.
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Erwin Rommel scanned the gaps in the trees through binoculars, examining the chatting french guards at their fortifications on the meuse river. His own men stood grimly at attention, ready for battle like true german soldiers. All knew the importance of their successful drive through this hilly area of the border, bypassing the notorious maginot line and conquering the french once and for all.  This was it, the Beginning of vengeance.

It's been too long since I've done this, thought Erwin, who had been on the Führer's general staff for the invasion of Poland the year before, and thus out of the action. Not that the Polish had put up much of a fight. Now, having had his request of command of the seventh Panzer division fulfilled, the stage was set for the Fatherland's great struggle against their old adversaries: the colonial powers of Britain and France.