Ace

Prologue

Hello, this is the author here. First off, a disclaimer: I do not own GuP. All characters are fictional and any physical resemblance to real life people are purely coincidental.

Now, with that off, let's get down to business. This is my attempt at a GuP fanfic, and the main parts of the story take place sometime after GuP: de Film. This is also my first attempt at anything involving tanks, so I'll greatly appreciate feedback!

Fair warning: although extremely rare due to them not being the main focus of the story, some scenes may feature injury or even death due to the gruesome nature of the Second World War. On a more common occurrence, profanities will be used, either for comedic effect or an expression of anger/annoyance.

I hope you'll enjoy this!

24 August 1944

The war against the Germans had turned its tide, and after the landing at Normandy, the Allies were pushing hard towards Berlin.

Tank Commander Joshua "Josh" Tuckerman looked around his French surroundings as his tank cruised steadily at 30 kilometers an hour, along with the 4 other medium tanks in the platoon.

In the single-line formation, his tank was the second from the front, the lead tank, an M4A2(75)D named Grey Wolf, right in front of him. Directly behind him was the British Sherman VC Firefly called "Pluck" by her crew, followed by Peaches and Snowball, an M4A1(76) and M4A3(75)D respectively.

And of course, there's his tank; an M4A3E8 named Ace of Spades. Or just Ace in short, with a single black spade painted around the top left of the front of the projectile-scarred hull, directly above the right headlight and unobstructed by the additional track armour she carried.

The E8, or what everyone calls the Easy-Eight, is the best tank in the platoon, being the only one with the Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension system, or HVSS for short, allowing Ace to travel more smoothly compared to her peers. Other than better mobility and a more comfortable ride, this allows the 76.2 millimeter M1 cannon, formidable and already supported by the Sherman Westinghouse stabilizer, to fire at enemy targets earlier from movement and much more accurately at low speeds.

Ace, also the only one in the platoon with this trait, also has wet ammunition racks. In the event that the enemy penetrates and hits the ammo storage, the tank would not blow up and, if lucky, be potentially able to remain operational. All in all, the Easy-Eight is, so far, the best variant of the Sherman in existence, both on paper and battlefield.

A shot was heard and Grey Wolf suddenly exploded, its turret thrown in the air as the shockwave.

All of the tanks immediately stopped.

The young man, his ears ringing, froze for a few seconds before frantically looked around for what fired upon them.

Another shot. A single shot went through the right of Snowball, the tank going silent less than a second after it was struck.

Tuckerman, recognizing the sound of the gun, got down his hatch, closed it and picked up his radio, suddenly remembering that he is the second-in-command of the platoon. "Eighty-eight! All tanks turn 60 degrees right!"

As the three remaining Shermans traversed and turned their front towards the unseen enemy, the commander shouted orders to his crew through the intercom.

"Load shell!"

With a boom, Peaches is dead, the enemy shell having gone straight through the gun mantlet.

"Enemy tank spotted!" Pluck's commander shouted through the radio. "King Tiger, 400 meters, bearing 090!"

The one tank Josh was hoping wasn't the attacker.